Chapter 699: Mantis, Oriole, Viper

He retracted his gaze.

He approached the Third Princess of the East Sea.

He picked up the Earth-Qi Dragon Pearl from the ground, a faint smile on his face.

"It is because he does not contend that no one in the world can contend with him."

"Everyone, thank you."

He had deliberately stayed out of the struggle.

He was waiting for the opportune moment.

At this point, everyone except Wang Chongxiao was present.

It was the perfect time to act.

After securing the Earth-Qi Dragon Pearl, he scanned over the few people present.

His gaze lingered on the West Sea Crown Prince and the Third Princess of the East Sea.

"Forgive me, both of you."

He patted down the West Sea Crown Prince and found many valuable marine treasures.

However, their worth was less than he expected.

"Have all the important items been handed over to the powerful members of your clan?"

"What a pity."

Qingde then looked at the Third Princess of the East Sea.

Seeing her, a veritable mountain of flesh, even as a Taoist, he couldn't help but frown.

Suppressing his aversion, he reached into the folds of fat around her waist.

Soon, he pulled out a dark red pill.

"This is a human item, isn't it?"

Qingde was curious as to what it was.

Suddenly, a "bang" sounded without warning.

Qingde's heart jolted, and he decisively threw the pill away.

But he was still a step too late.

The pill exploded on the spot, transforming into a red mist.

Just a slight touch caused Qingde to feel dizzy.

"The Great Yin Sect's Corpse-Scent Pill?"

His expression changed, and he quickly took out an antidote pill.

Before he could swallow it, several afterimages, hidden by the red mist, lunged forward and simultaneously struck him.

*Bang!*

Qingde was sent flying, and his antidote pills scattered across the ground.

Moments later, as the poison took effect, Qingde struggled to utter: "Wang... Chongxiao..."

At this moment, Wang Chongxiao emerged from a hidden spot, a smug expression on his face.

He said triumphantly, "Tsk, tsk, tsk."

"Oh, 'It is because he does not contend that no one in the world can contend with him'?"

"Isn't that just the fable of the snipe and the clam, where the fisherman benefits?"

"My apologies, but I play the game of 'the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind'."

"More advanced than your tactic."

He nudged Qingde with his foot, looking quite smug.

"I'm well aware of your Three Purity Mountain's tricks."

"I anticipated this move from you, so I placed a Corpse-Scent Pill on that dead pig beforehand."

"If you hadn't been greedy and just taken the Earth-Qi Dragon Pearl and left, you would have been fine."

"But if you're greedy, hehe, then you're out of luck."

So that was it.

Wang Chongxiao had accurately predicted Qingde's intentions when he knew Qingde would join the contention.

That's why he had a contingency.

Everything had unfolded as he predicted.

He gleefully took the Earth-Qi Dragon Pearl from Qingde's grasp.

Then, squinting, he looked at Jiang Fan, even more smug:

"You really disappoint me, falling for the Three Purity Mountain's tricks so easily."

"But I can't blame you."

"Born in such a barbaric land, how could you have seen the world as I have?"

"First, I'll search the others, then I'll deal with you."

He approached the West Sea Crown Prince.

He pried open his mouth, chuckling, "I heard that the West Sea Crown Prince was born with an internal spatial ability."

"His true treasures are all inside there, aren't they?"

"Now, they're all mine."

Just as he was about to take the treasures, suddenly, his vision went dark.

He turned to look.

A five or six-zhang-long bludgeon, whistling through the air, came smashing down.

This strike came with inexplicable speed and stealth.

He was completely unprepared.

He took the full force of the blow.

He immediately felt dizzy and disoriented, stumbling about.

Vaguely, he recognized what the weapon hitting him was.

The ancient giant's bludgeon!

The bludgeon that had been taken away by someone playing the 'mantis stalks the cicada' game!

"It's you, you son of a b*tch!"

"You again?"

The bludgeon he had worked so hard to trick the Disciples of Tianya Hai Pavilion into obtaining was snatched by this very person.

That was one thing.

For the Earth-Qi Dragon Pearl, he had endured humiliation and servitude under the Third Princess of the East Sea.

That mountain of flesh had almost squeezed the life out of him.

Did anyone know what he went through those few days?

How much hardship he suffered, how much agony he endured?

How much revulsion he had to bear?

Just when his efforts were about to bear fruit and it was time to reap the harvest, this son of a b*tch jumped out again!

"I'll fight you..."

*Bang!*

Before he could finish his sentence, another blow came down, knocking him out cold.

Jiang Fan retrieved the bludgeon and said helplessly:

"I know it wasn't easy for you."

"And I really wanted you to earn this money."

"But with so many of my friends here, it wouldn't be good to let you search them."

He approached the West Sea Crown Prince.

"Body searches are best left to a professional like me."

He pried open the West Sea Crown Prince's mouth.

Jiang Fan scanned inside with his spiritual sense.

Lo and behold, there really was a spatial storage device inside.

It was filled with a dazzling array of resources, mostly rare marine treasures.

They weren't very useful to humans.

He quickly skimmed through them.

Suddenly, he discovered a treasure chest.

Upon opening it, he found it was full of conch shells.

There were a full ten of them!

And what was inside the conch shells was none other than water essence!

Ten times the amount the North Sea had given as a gift to the Sky Demon Emperor!

"Hiss! So much water essence?"

"West Sea Crown Prince, you really don't consider me a friend; with all this water essence, you couldn't even give me one?"

"You can't use all of this, so let your brother help you use some."

He immediately transferred the entire box of water essence into the Heavenly Thunder Stone.

This much water essence was enough to exchange for a massive amount of True Spirit Blood from "Rebel"!

As for the other items, many were indeed valuable and tempting to Jiang Fan.

But considering that the West Sea Crown Prince had spared Ling Shu and Liu Li, he decided to stop there.

He then approached the Third Princess of the East Sea.

Looking at her greasy, obese body, he felt a shiver of disgust.

He certainly couldn't bring himself to reach into the folds of her fat.

Suddenly, a coral flower on the Third Princess of the East Sea's head caught Jiang Fan's attention.

He plucked it off and was surprised to discover that it was actually a naturally formed spatial storage device.

He could retrieve its contents at any time.

Why would Jiang Fan be polite?

Regardless of what was inside, he immediately tucked the coral flower into his pocket.

Then he went to Qingde.

He patted down his chest and pulled out a Taoist scripture.

"*Oblivion Charm*."

Jiang Fan opened it and was startled to find that it was precisely the hypnotic spell the man had just used.

"This is a good item!"

"Even someone like Concubine Yunxia was taken down by it."

He decisively took it.

Finally, it was Wang Chongxiao's turn.

After searching for a bit, Jiang Fan found a large bottle of those red pills he'd just seen.

"This is also a good item!"

"Taken."

Immediately after, from the deepest part of his sleeve, he pulled out a palm-sized mini bronze cauldron.

It shimmered with a faint clear light and emitted a powerful spiritual pressure.

It was actually a spirit artifact!

"Ah!"

"A spirit artifact?"

Jiang Fan was overjoyed!

He never expected such a harvest from a simple body search!

He had only found a single spirit artifact, the Heaven-Monitoring Precious Mirror, during his entire trip through the Tiger Demon Emperor's inner palace.

Now, he had directly found one on Wang Chongxiao!

This was truly an unexpected windfall, wasn't it?

"Brother Wang, you are truly a blessing to me!"

Jiang Fan unceremoniously accepted it.

In this short span of time, Wang Chongxiao's standing in his heart had sharply risen, now comparable to Wu Manyue.

"Ugh."

Qingde made a sound in his throat.

Jiang Fan was slightly startled.

Waking up so soon?

He quickly lay back down in his original spot and continued to feign unconsciousness.