Chapter 135 - 132: Iron Hammer Mercenaries

Mo Qianqian crossed his arms and smiled with great interest. "I won’t interfere in your grudge."

"Hahaha!" The leading burly man laughed heartily. "As expected of Great Treasure Master Asura! Brothers, do it! Send them on their way first!"

With that, the seven of them made their move, swinging huge iron hammers to attack the three men.

"THUD!"

The middle-aged man was sent flying by a heavy strike.

"No!" a terrified scream rang out. The two young men from the Ling Family were smashed to death on the spot.

"You will regret this!" the middle-aged man yelled just before he, too, was bludgeoned to death by the other men.

The most powerful among the three from the Ling Family was that middle-aged man, but he was only at the Spiritual Mysterious Realm Eighth Layer. On the other hand, the leader of the seven burly men was at the First Level of Tongyou Realm. With the others helping, they had disposed of the Ling Family trio effortlessly. Turning away from the fresh corpses, the seven men focused their attention on Mo Qianqian.

"You don’t happen to want to kill me too, to silence a witness, do you?" Mo Qianqian asked with a smile.

"If it were before, we definitely would," the leading burly man said.

"And now?"

"Now, we’ve been hired by the Slaughterer with the Evil Blade. He sent us to Black Demon Ridge to find you. How could we sell out our financial backer?"

"Uh..." Mo Qianqian paused, momentarily stunned. The Slaughterer with the Evil Blade hired people to find him? "He came to Black Demon Ridge?" he asked.

Back when they left the Imperial City, the Grand Elders of the three major families had all mobilized. It hadn’t been a ploy to lure the Slaughterer with the Evil Blade out of hiding; he had genuinely been in secluded cultivation. Since he could now hire these mercenaries, it meant he had finally emerged.

The Slaughterer with the Evil Blade was previously at the Seventh Level of Tongyou Realm. After refining three Tongyou Pills, it was unknown whether he had broken through. If he had, given his formidable combat power, Lingyun Shan might not even be his match anymore. Not to mention, Lingyun Shan and the others should have battled the Black Widow eight days ago. Considering how badly injured the beast was, it would be a miracle if Lingyun Shan’s group had even survived.

"He came. Let’s take you to our leader first. He knows his whereabouts," the burly man said.

"What is your leader’s cultivation level?" Mo Qianqian asked. Although mercenaries were generally straightforward—they either attacked outright or told the truth—he still had to ask for safety’s sake.

"Sixth Level of Tongyou Realm," the burly man answered truthfully.

Hearing this, Mo Qianqian’s worries vanished. With his current strength, even if he couldn’t defeat an expert at the Sixth Level of Tongyou Realm, escaping from them would be no problem. "I’ll go with you, then," he agreed.

The seven mercenaries swiftly looted the bodies of the Ling Family trio before leading Mo Qianqian away.

Over an hour later.

Mo Qianqian was brought to a mountain where quite a few members of the Iron Hammer Mercenaries were stationed. Their leader happened to be among them. He was a middle-aged, burly man nearly two meters tall, likely weighing over three hundred pounds, and looking exceptionally imposing. Draped over his body was a massive iron ball attached to a thick iron chain, clearly his weapon of choice.

"Grand Leader, we found Asura," the burly man at the First Level of Tongyou Realm immediately reported upon approaching.

A dozen or so people nearby gathered around, their eyes sizing up Mo Qianqian.

"You are Asura?" the Iron Hammer Mercenary Leader asked in a gruff voice.

"I am."

"I am Zhao Dachui, a friend of the Butcher. Please wait here, sir. I’ll go get the Butcher now." After saying that, Zhao Datie soared into the sky and rushed off into the distance.

Mo Qianqian let out a long sigh of relief. It seemed they weren’t lying; the Slaughterer with the Evil Blade had indeed hired them to find him.

"Great Treasure Master Asura, I heard you saved the Slaughterer with the Evil Blade and even gave him three Third-Grade Superior Elixirs to help him break through?" a robust, black-haired old man remarked at this moment.

"Indeed," Mo Qianqian replied.

"To be able to save someone from the brink like that... Spirit Masters truly are miraculous!" the black-haired old man couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.

"Senior, eight days ago, the experts of the three major families and Chu Yiming fought the Black Widow. How did the battle turn out?" Mo Qianqian couldn’t help but ask.

The black-haired old man was somewhat surprised. Asura had been in Black Demon Ridge for eight days, yet he didn’t know? However, he didn’t overthink it and answered, "Master Chu Yiming was heavily injured, the Grand Elder of the Ling Family and the Grand Elder of the Yuwen Family were heavily injured, and the Grand Elder of the Lie Family perished. Furthermore, seven experts at the middle and high levels of the Tongyou Realm died, and over a dozen experts were injured. This matter has caused quite an uproar across the Great Xia Dynasty."

Mo Qianqian was shocked. The Grand Elder of the Lie Family died just like that? Even the Third-Grade Spirit Master Chu Yiming suffered heavy injuries? The Grand Elders of the other two families were gravely wounded, and seven mid-to-high level Tongyou Realm experts perished? It was that tragic in such a short amount of time that day? No wonder the Black Widow was injured to such an extent! This was a massive battle that would surely shake the entire Great Xia Dynasty.

"I heard that the Black Widow was in its molting period and severely weakened. It was heavily injured as well. If the Black Widow had been at its peak strength, I’m afraid none of those people would have survived," the black-haired old man added.

Mo Qianqian was amazed. The Black Widow was truly terrifying! Chu Yiming was one of the absolute pinnacle figures in the entire Great Xia Dynasty, yet even when the beast was weakened from molting, he was still beaten into such a miserable state. How strong would the Black Widow be at its peak? And if it molted successfully, how powerful would it become? Of course, it definitely wasn’t just the Black Widow fighting; there must have been a massive swarm of Black Demon Spiders. But the one who wounded Chu Yiming and the others was mainly the Black Widow.

He sighed inwardly, "What a pity that the one who died wasn’t Lingyun Shan!"

If Lingyun Shan had died, the Ling Family’s strength would have been slashed by a massive margin. After all, he was the Grand Elder of the Ling Family.

"Did anything happen to the Yuling Sect Master?" Mo Qianqian asked.

"I don’t know, haven’t heard anything," the black-haired old man shook his head.

Mo Qianqian felt a bit worried. Could the Yuling Sect Master be among those who perished? However, given his strength, that shouldn’t be the case. This also indicated that the Yuling Sect Master didn’t have much of a reputation in Central Earth, so others simply wouldn’t know of him.

"Are any of you interested in joining my Asura Conglomerate?" Mo Qianqian suddenly asked.

"Join the Asura Conglomerate?" The group was taken aback.

"We’re mercenaries," someone pointed out.

"We even dared to recruit the Slaughterer with the Evil Blade. Just treat it as us paying to hire you long-term. Our Asura Conglomerate has plenty of money," Mo Qianqian offered.

"Uh, our Grand Leader has to be the one to decide on this," the black-haired old man replied.

An hour later.

The Grand Leader of the Iron Hammer Mercenaries, Zhao Datie, returned. Beside him was the Slaughterer with the Evil Blade.

"Great Treasure Master!" the Slaughterer with the Evil Blade greeted Mo Qianqian with cupped hands as soon as he landed.

"Butcher, did you break through to the Eighth Level of Tongyou Realm?" Mo Qianqian asked. He deliberately spoke in the youthful voice he had used previously at the Asura Conglomerate to allow the other man to recognize him.

Hearing this voice, the Slaughterer with the Evil Blade confirmed he was indeed Asura and immediately replied, "Yes!"

"There’s a matter I’d like to discuss with you in private," Mo Qianqian said.

"Alright!" The Slaughterer with the Evil Blade nodded. He then swept Mo Qianqian up, flying out from this mountain peak towards another one.

Upon landing, Mo Qianqian looked around before turning to the Slaughterer with the Evil Blade. "Do you want to get revenge and slaughter your way into the Ling Family?"