Chapter 208: The Suspicious Peasant Woman and the Qi Queen (6000)

Chapter 208: The Suspicious Peasant Woman and the Qi Queen (6000)

Olkan laughed and said, "You have quite the discerning eye, my lord."

Hearing this, Cao Xing's mouth twitched.

He had boasted about his rudimentary brewing skills as if they were exceptional; these merchants truly stopped at nothing to inflate prices.

Cao Xing was speechless. "Just tell me the price directly."

After thinking for a moment, Olkan quoted a price.

"20,000 crowns, my lord."

Hearing this number, Cao Xing rolled his eyes again.

He said directly, "2,000 crowns."

Olkan was stunned to see him bargain so aggressively.

He had praised this slave to the skies, yet the other party didn't seem interested at all.

With a troubled expression, he said, "My lord, this price is a bit difficult…"

"At the Giant Merchant Guild, even the cheapest slaves cost over a thousand crowns."

"Delio may not be much of a fighter, but he's hardworking and knows how to brew. Could you add a bit more?"

Cao Xing heard this and made another offer.

"2,500 crowns, and that's my final offer."

Hearing this, hesitation flickered in Olkan's eyes again.

After a moment, he said slowly, "Deal…"

A look of delight gradually appeared on Cao Xing's face.

After paying 2,500 crowns, Olkan stroked his goatee.

Then he glanced at the guard beside him and signaled with his eyes.

The slave named Delio was escorted to stand behind Cao Xing.

The first transaction had already allowed Cao Xing to pick up a talented individual, which put him in a good mood.

Meanwhile, Cao Xing looked at a 13th-level woman named Sabina nearby.

She had a skill for Intermediate Medical Proficiency, and her 13th-level physique gave her a bit of combat capability.

Cao Xing asked, "How much for her?"

Olkan examined her for a moment, then said, "Sabina was originally a well-known physician in the Duchy of Palas, with exceptional medical skills. But for some reason, one day while treating a patient, she murdered a baron and was captured by the knights."

"Sabina was supposed to be hanged on the spot, but she was rescued by a knight she had once treated, and fled the Duchy of Palas. After being pursued, she fell into the hands of our Giant Merchant Guild."

Hearing this, the woman in the prison cart looked cold, her gaze at Olkan filled with chill.

Olkan remained unmoved, a faint smile still on his face as he said, "My lord, this one is a bit more expensive—50,000 crowns."

Cao Xing heard this and a thoughtful look appeared in his eyes.

Clearly, Olkan had a good understanding of the backgrounds and abilities of these slaves.

He even knew the origins of this Sabina clearly.

Of course, he must have exaggerated somewhat.

Sabina only had Intermediate Medical Proficiency, yet the merchant Olkan was boasting about her exceptional medical skills.

However, what Olkan didn't know was that Sabina had an even more impressive skill besides medicine.

That was [Advanced Poison Proficiency]!

This skill allowed Sabina to be proficient in various methods of poisoning, and she could also develop powerful poisons to apply to weapons or arrows, greatly enhancing attack capabilities.

It was likely with this method that Sabina had poisoned the baron and managed to evade the knights' pursuit.

Cao Xing even wanted to buy this woman on the spot.

Not just 50,000—even 100,000 crowns would be worth it.

But he didn't rush; instead, he continued to bargain, saying, "I can only offer 5,000 crowns, Master Olkan."

Hearing this, Olkan's goatee twitched again.

He realized that this lord really knew how to keep his composure.

He had praised her to the skies, yet the other party remained completely unmoved.

This made Olkan wonder if their Giant Merchant Guild's method of concealing aura had failed.

However, he checked again carefully and found that the slaves' auras were well hidden, so he gradually relaxed.

After some haggling, Cao Xing finally bought Sabina for 12,000 crowns.

Both sides wore satisfied smiles.

Afterwards, Cao Xing picked out a few more with decent physiques who could serve as laborers.

Among them were two slaves with skills like Intermediate Culinary Proficiency and Beginner Fishing Proficiency.

A total of seven people.

After Cao Xing's bargaining, he spent a total of 20,000 crowns to buy them all.

Olkan narrowed his eyes, a genuine smile on his face.

Cao Xing had purchased nine slaves from him, making him a decent customer.

"My lord, is there anything else you need?"

Cao Xing didn't speak, but instead cast his gaze over and inspected each one.

He hoped to find another hidden gem like Sabina, someone with advanced skills!

However, after looking through them, Cao Xing felt somewhat disappointed.

The remaining slaves were ordinary people, not of much use.

And the warriors were too expensive; a second-tier warrior started at a minimum of 20,000 crowns.

For Cao Xing, these ordinary warriors were of little use.

Just as he was about to conclude the transaction, Cao Xing's gaze suddenly fixed on one of the prison carts.

In the corner squatted a burly peasant woman dressed in dirty cloth.

Seeing Cao Xing's gaze, the peasant woman opened her mouth and made 'yiyayaya' sounds.

She looked at Cao Xing with pale pupils, a silly smile on her face, and a yellowish drool at the corner of her mouth.

Any normal person would instinctively avoid her at the sight.

However, when Cao Xing looked at her carefully, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

He pointed at the peasant woman and said, "Master Olkan, how much for her?"

Olkan was taken aback, seemingly not expecting Cao Xing to take an interest in this simple-minded peasant woman.

At that moment, a faint smile appeared at the corner of Olkan's mouth, showing an expression of understanding.

He said slowly, "This is Mpo, originally an acrobat from the Vermont Circus. Later, the Vermont Circus was attacked by mountain bandits, and everyone was killed."

"Only this Mpo was spared by the bandits because she seemed so simple-minded. Later, she was picked up by our Giant Merchant Guild."

"If you want her, my lord, I can give you a bottom price. How about 1,500 crowns?"

It was clear that Olkan was eager to get rid of this peasant woman.

After all, not many people would be willing to buy such a simple-minded peasant woman.

So Olkan gave an extremely low price right away.

At that moment, Cao Xing noticed a hint of anxiety in the peasant woman's eyes.

She seemed reluctant to be bought by Cao Xing.

However, Cao Xing smiled and said, "Alright, deal."

Smiles appeared on both their faces.

Then, Cao Xing paid 1,500 crowns.

The peasant woman was forcibly taken down by two burly guards.

After completing this transaction.

Olkan looked at Cao Xing and said, "My lord, do you have any other slaves you'd like to buy?"

Cao Xing shook his head. "Not for now."

He had carefully inspected everyone; aside from this peasant woman and the physician, there was basically nothing else he had missed.

Hearing this, Olkan said, "Then, do you have any people you'd like to sell?"

"For example, these warriors of your territory. I can see they have a formidable aura, at least second-tier strength."

"If you're willing to sell, I can offer you a minimum of 20,000 crowns each. How about it?"

It was clear that Olkan had his eye on Cao Xing's Ascalon Warriors and Wild Boar Warriors.

But his gaze kept lingering on Liu Muxue and Renice beside him.

However, Cao Xing shook his head and said, "Master Olkan, they are my people, my loyal subordinates. I will not sell them."

Hearing this, Olkan said with some regret, "Then… very well."

He didn't press the matter further.

After all, as a merchant's instinct, he knew how formidable this territory was.

Compared to those Wild Boar Warriors, Olkan actually wanted Cao Xing to sell him beauties like Renice and Liu Muxue.

The moment he saw Liu Muxue's face, Olkan was already struck by her beauty!

Coupled with her Eastern features, if she appeared at an auction, her value might even surpass that of the Elf Clan!

But what Olkan didn't know was that Cao Xing's territory also had many beauties whose looks were no less than Liu Muxue's, each with different styles.

For example, Isabelle, the Tree Spirit Race sisters, Ilena and Hilda, and others.

However, these beauties were resting in the territory and hadn't been brought out by Cao Xing.

Olkan didn't dare to mention this request, fearing he might anger the lord before him.

In fact, his decision was correct.

If he had dared to bring it up, Cao Xing would have made him suffer.

Olkan suppressed his various thoughts and continued, "My lord, we need to find our next stop before dark."

"To be honest, we've been to many Chosen Lord's territories before, but your territory is the largest I've ever seen."

"If I get the chance, I'll visit you again. Next time, I'll be sure to save some good merchandise for you!"

It was evident that he wanted to build a good relationship with Cao Xing.

Cao Xing smiled and said, "Alright, thank you, Master Olkan."

They parted ways.

Olkan led the Giant Merchant Guild's convoy away, gradually disappearing from Cao Xing's sight.

At that moment, Renice beside him said with an uncomfortable expression, "My lord, that merchant's gaze made me very uncomfortable. I wanted to pierce his eyes with an arrow."

Cao Xing smiled. "Don't overthink it, Renice. With your and Muxue's beauty, it's normal to attract the attention of such people."

"Rather, it shows that you have stunning looks that make people covet."

Hearing Cao Xing compliment their appearance, Renice and Liu Muxue both blushed.

The discomfort in their hearts disappeared, replaced by great joy.

After all, what woman doesn't want to be praised by the one she likes?

At this moment, Renice lost some of her heroic bearing and gained a bit of a shy, feminine charm.

"I… I'm not as beautiful as you say…"

"And, I only let you look at me, my lord…"

Liu Muxue beside her also replied, "A Xing, me too…"

Cao Xing smiled and nodded.

Although his territory had many female combatants,

[part:gemini-3.5-flash-lite]

However, these women were all very sensible and easy to coax, especially when their loyalty was at 100. Basically, whatever Cao Xing said, they would agree with it a hundred percent.

At this moment, a petite figure wrapped in a cotton-padded jacket darted out from the side.

It was Elisa.

She said, "My Lord! What about me!"

"Is Elisa pretty?"

Cao Xing was slightly stunned. Come to think of it, he hadn't even noticed Elisa.

She was relatively short and was hiding behind the tall Assam.

At this moment, this little girl blinked her gem-like, brilliant eyes, looking at Cao Xing with an expectant expression.

Cao Xing scrutinized her fair face, with its rounded jaw and exquisite features, exuding a strong sweet-girl vibe.

He had to admit that Elisa was also a rare little beauty.

After a moment, Cao Xing said, "You are very pretty too."

After receiving Cao Xing's praise, Elisa let out a silly chuckle, 'Hehehe'.

After coaxing these women, Cao Xing turned around again and looked behind him.

At this moment.

In the snow before him, ten ragged figures stood respectfully.

These were the slaves he had purchased for over thirty thousand crowns.

Cao Xing also looked at the group of slaves before him, a slight smile forming at the corner of his mouth.

Then, he said directly, "No matter what you have experienced in the past, you have now come to my territory."

"From now on, everything about you will belong to me, and you must obey my orders from here on out. Understood?"

The slaves exchanged glances with one another, then nodded one after another.

Most of the people here, upon knowing they had become slaves, already understood that their lives no longer had the right to choose.

Their only wish in their hearts was that this new master before them could treat them a little better.

Cao Xing did not say much more. People like them had long experienced all sorts of deceit and lies during their slave careers.

Simple words could not move them; only actions could give them a sense of belonging.

Then, Cao Xing directly issued a recruitment prompt to them.

Those ordinary slaves all clicked accept.

Only the farm woman Mupo and the physician Sabina were still somewhat reluctant, flashes of struggle crossing their eyes.

Even the two women secretly scanned their surroundings, as if they wanted to escape.

However, when they saw the fiercely aura-laden guards around Cao Xing, as well as the Ascalon Legion and Wild Boar Warrior legion behind him.

They finally clicked accept in the end.

[Recruitment successful: Sabina / Michaela / Fredy… have joined your territory, territory population +15]

Clearly there were only 10 people, yet they occupied 15 of Cao Xing's population slots.

Cao Xing did not say much more, instead saying directly, "Assam, take them to get familiar with the environment."

The loyalty of these newcomers was very low, only in the early fifties.

Especially that farm woman, whose loyalty was only 42.

This meant she could run away at any time.

Therefore, even if Cao Xing applied a blessing to her, it would be useless.

She needed to be locked in the territory first to cultivate her loyalty for a period of time before she could further develop a sense of belonging to the territory.

Assam walked over respectfully, then led these newcomers into the territory.

Watching their retreating figures, Cao Xing could finally no longer suppress the joy in his heart, the corners of his mouth curving into an arc.

This time, he had picked up two massive bargains!

Sabina, who possessed [Advanced Poison Mastery], wasn't even the most important one!

The most important thing was that farm woman's identity.

Her background seemed somewhat astonishing.

Cao Xing gazed at her sturdy, bear-like retreating figure and glanced at her stats.

[Queen of Renova: Victoria · St. Cruz]

[Race: Human]

[Level: Level 38 (Tier 4 Commander Class)]

[HP: 673 / 193,644 (Pale Tree Blessing + Sealed State)]

[Attack Power: 54 ~ 6,278 (Sealed State)]

[Armor: 11 ~ 872 (Sealed State)]

[Skills: Expert-level Qi Control (Masters advanced Qi methods, increases damage by 40% when using Qi attacks)

Qi Orbit (Condenses four orbs of Qi, attaching them to oneself or friendly units while rotating at high speed, dealing 100% Qi damage to approaching enemies, duration 100 seconds, cooldown: 150 seconds)

Qi Phantom Step (Condenses Qi to gather at one's feet, increasing movement speed by 50% and creating up to 5 Qi illusions during movement to interfere with enemy judgment;

the Qi illusions' HP is 10% of one's own, and when shattered, they deal Attack Power * 54% damage to nearby enemies, duration 120 seconds, cooldown 300 seconds)

Qi Shield (Condenses Qi to form a massive Qi shield around oneself, protecting all friendly units within range from taking damage; the Qi shield has a maximum diameter of 50 meters, durability equal to 120% of HP, duration 30 seconds, cooldown 120 seconds)

Energy Convergence Shockwave (Condenses the power of Qi, charging for 1 to 3 seconds to deal Attack Power * 300% impact damage to all enemies in a 3 * 100 meter area ahead, damage multiplier increases by 100% for every 1 second charged, cooldown 120 seconds.)]

[Commander Skill: Flurry · Thousand Leaf Flower (Increases Qi-type skill casting speed by 50% and applies 1 stack of Thousand Leaf Flower mark to up to 1 enemy; each subsequent attack will trigger a Qi explosion effect, mark duration: 60 seconds, cooldown 300 seconds)]

[Talent: Qi Perception (Can clearly perceive Qi in the air, speeding up Qi-type skill training speed by 30%)]

[Talent ②: Qi Queen (Increases movement speed of all friendly units by 20% and grants an additional Qi shield with durability equal to 10% of HP)]

[Status: Domination Seal, Pale Tree Blessing]

(Character Introduction: Victoria has possessed astonishing Qi talent since childhood. After being noticed by a master-level powerhouse of the kingdom, she was taken in as a disciple.

Victoria cultivated wholeheartedly under this master powerhouse, quickly breaking through to Tier 4, and was later favored by the King of Renova, who appointed her as Queen.

During her time as Queen of Renova, Victoria not only displayed astonishing combat power but also demonstrated formidable political talent.

Under her auxiliary governance, the Kingdom of Renova flourished day by day, and Victoria also gained a massive amount of supporters; her popularity within the kingdom reached an unprecedented level.

Over a decade later, the King of Renova grew increasingly elderly and announced that Victoria would become the kingdom's new ruler, causing a nationwide sensation.

Just as Victoria was about to be crowned as the first Queen of the Kingdom of Renova, the hostile nation—the Kingdom of Ostia—launched a full-scale war.

During the war, the Kingdom of Renova was defeated, the king died in battle, and Victoria, who had yet to become the new queen, became the primary target of pursuit and assassination.

To evade the pursuit of the hostile nation, Victoria proactively accepted the Domination Seal, completely concealing all of her aura, and after a series of twists and turns, successfully escaped the Kingdom of Renova.

Afterwards, she fled all the way, hiding her name and identity, waiting for an opportunity to take revenge against the Kingdom of Ostia, and later, due to a coincidence, ended up in the hands of the Giant Chamber of Commerce.)

…

After reading this farm woman's hidden attributes and character introduction.

A strong look of shock appeared in Cao Xing's eyes!

"Damn… Just as I thought, this farm woman has a somewhat astonishing background!"

Through her character introduction, Cao Xing also roughly understood her experiences.

As it turned out, she was once the Queen of the Kingdom of Renova.

However, because the kingdom was defeated and the king died in battle, she chose to accept the Domination Seal in order to survive, and then fled all the way.

Victoria's enemies also learned the news of the queen's escape and began hunting her down across the Western Continent.

Therefore, Victoria could only keep hiding her identity, walking across the continent under the identity of Mupo.

However, what she didn't expect was that her disguise was actually seen through by this Otherworld Lord, and she was bought at an extremely low price.

However, for Cao Xing, Victoria's identity wasn't the most important thing.

The most important thing was that she was actually a commander-class powerhouse!

This was the first time he clearly saw the attribute panel of a commander-class creature!

Terrifyingly powerful!

Every single skill had various powerful effects.

Especially her [Qi Orbit] and [Qi Shield], which could bring immense help to Cao Xing and his territory.

Moreover, she also had a commander-class skill, [Flurry · Thousand Leaf Flower]. The description of this skill was somewhat vague, and its specific effect could only be known through actual combat.

However, since it was a commander-class skill, it certainly had its unique aspects.

The farm woman 'Mupo' seemed to have sensed Cao Xing's gaze, turning her head to give him a covert look.

And in her eyes, Cao Xing saw a trace of scrutiny and appraisal.

A faint, ethereal smile appeared at the corners of Cao Xing's mouth.

Clearly, Victoria, in her capacity as queen, definitely wanted to continue running away.

However, having arrived at his territory, how could Cao Xing easily let this existence with commander-class strength slip away?

Thus, Cao Xing came to Sarah's side and whispered, "Sarah, secretly keep an eye on that farm woman from behind. If she shows signs of escaping, stop her immediately."

"Be careful, this woman might be very strong."

Although a Tier 4 Commander was powerful, given Sarah's abilities, Cao Xing was still confident in keeping her.

Even if they couldn't defeat her, holding her off for a period of time was definitely possible.

Hearing this, Sarah waved the Shadow Blade in her hand and then nodded slightly.

She did not cast her gaze toward Victoria.

Because she knew that powerhouses of this level were extremely sensitive to gazes and could instantly realize that someone was watching them.

Sarah disappeared from the spot without a sound.

…

After everyone else had left, Cao Xing also led people back into the territory.

At this time, Liu Muxue softly asked, "Axing, are we going out this afternoon?"

…

(PS: Some book friends cursed me saying: The first paragraph of every chapter is the last paragraph of the previous chapter, saying I'm padding the word count. This minor author would like to explain here, this is to ensure continuity between each chapter, allowing book friends who read daily to quickly recall what happened in the previous chapter, and I write an extra few dozen to a hundred words in almost every chapter, these are not charged T – T…)

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