It was not like Qin Feng did not want to repay the favor. However, it had to be at least within his capability. Most importantly, Z was simply too dangerous. Qin Feng probably would not accept whatever Z was going to demand from him.

  “After bringing back the Cinder Pine from your place the last time, I had another breakthrough in my study. The success rate of mutation has increased by a lot now. It will definitely suit you!”


  “Don’t ever think about it.” Qin Feng’s face looked bleak. As he expected, nothing good would come out of Z’s mouth.

  Z’s expression did not change after being rejected. He continued to ask, “Then, why don’t you give me some of your blood? I can create a clone easily from that.”


  Qin Feng sneered, “Do you think the clone you make would have the same physique as mine? How could a clone bear your vicious injection? Besides, what makes you think I would give you such an important sample?”


  It would be easy to clone a commoner. However, it was a different story when it came to awakened users. Ability users and ancient warriors had different genetic and cellular make-up as compared to normal people. They could not be cloned using the normal means, and the clone would be soulless. These clones would need the originals to imbue part of their consciousness for them to become truly alive.

  As such, Z was not only asking for Qin Feng’s blood but also part of his conscious energy.

  “No to this, no to that. I don’t think you are being sincere at all.” Z snorted.

  “At least ask for something that I can really do. Anything about my body is out of the discussion.”


  Z nodded and said, “Alright. How about this? Since you could handle a B-tier Cinder Pine previously, I bet you can do the same against an A-tier now that you have grown stronger. I want ten essence cores from an A-tier Cinder Pine.”


  Qin Feng rounded his eyes. ‘This man’s greediness knows no bounds!’


  “Don’t tell me you can’t do even such a small favor. If so, 100 B-tier beast emperor Cinder Pines would do, too.”


  Qin Feng’s grim face almost turned into a helpless laugh.

  “Z, are you going to wait for me here forever until I get you the essences?”


  ‘100 B-tier beast emperor? Why doesn’t he go annihilate the entire Cinder Region?’


  “Come on. I am just maximizing my leverage here. The items I requested would only cost you at most 500 trillion. Am I, an S-tire, not worth that amount?”


  Qin Feng sneered, “Not at all. I can only promise you 10.”


  “That wouldn’t cut it. At least 90!”


  “20!”


  “80!”


  “You are talking as if the essence would grow like cabbage. Thirty is all I can give you.”


  “You can use A-tier essence to compensate. Seventy is my minimum!”


  They went back and forth and could not come to terms. Qin Feng did not want to give in too much and refused to back down when the number reached forty.

  Forty Cinder Pine’s essences were equal to the value of a B-tier beast emperor ability core, which was roughly 200 trillion.

  Of course, any problem that could be solved by using money was not a problem from Qin Feng’s perspective.

  Still, this would be a laborious task.

  Though a lot of B-tiers had visited the Cinderclast Dimension, not many had successfully killed a Cinder Pine other than the immature ones.

  In the end, Qin Feng would need to deal with the matter himself but he was rather occupied at the moment.

  “I have things to do right now. I will deliver the essence to you once I am done with it.”


  “Okay. My experiment can still run for another month. I hope to get the things within a month.”


  “Are you kidding me? The monsters are not standing there waiting to be killed. A month? I can only give you one per month. That’s more likely.” Qin Feng said.

  “Alright, alright! One per month it is.”


  Qin Feng said again, “You will receive the first core two months from now.”


  “Now you are getting ahead of yourself. It’s too long for me to wait.” Z then changed the topic. “But, from what I heard, you killed a monster called Glutton Leviathan in the East Sea not long ago. I believe you still have the flesh of the monster? Give me some and I will tolerate the two months delay.”


  Qin Feng’s face could not be grimmer. He knew Z had him cornered.

  “Fine!” Qin Feng said the word grudgingly. He swore he would hang Z up and bash him one day.

  Then, Qin Feng added Z’s communicator contact. This was the first time Qin Feng had added an S-tier, and he never thought it would be the number of his nemesis. How ironic!

  “Okay. Now that we are done, you should get going.” Qin Feng wanted Z to leave after handing him some of the Glutton’s flesh.

  “Haha, enough with your hostility. My research is advancing at lightspeed now. Feel free to find me once you think it through.” Z left after leaving those words.

  Qin Feng’s face contorted into a grimace. Z was right. In Qin Feng’s memory, the human experiment of mutation had indeed grown rampant around this period.

  He wondered how the future would look like this time, especially with the presence of the Cinderclast Dimension and him providing the research materials to Z.

  Against someone as powerful as Z, Qin Feng could only comply for the time being so that Z would not oppress him. He still did not have enough strength to defy Z.

  But Qin Feng believed such a stance would not last forever.

  “What a terrible guy. Why did he order us around when he could do that easily by himself?” Bai Li complained sullenly.

  Qin Feng sighed. “It’s normal. True, he may be powerful enough to get things done with little effort. In fact, I believe the reason he appeared in Cinderclast City is that he has just visited the Cinderclast Dimension.

  The Cinderclast Dimension was vast, yet the number of Cinder Pine was relatively scarce. One would need to spend a lot of time searching for a high-tier Cinder Pine.

  “To an S-tier, rather than wasting his own time doing such laborious work, it’s better to let someone else do it for them.”


  That was probably what Z was thinking when he willingly helped Qin Feng to deter Eye Devil.

  Qin Feng had seen through Z’s intention when the latter first brought up hunting out of the blue.

  “No matter what, it’s best not to owe him a favor. Otherwise, it would be hard to take him down in the future,” Qin Feng said.

  “I see. But humans always say that there’s never a forever enemy and benefit is always on top of everything. It seems that you, too, have things that you couldn’t let go of.”


  Qin Feng rubbed Bai Li’s forehead and said, “I will talk about profit when I am on the same level with him. Right now, I have zero ground to negotiate.”


  Bai Li gave it a thought and nodded. “I understand.”


  Of course, Qin Feng could collaborate with Z now. However, Z could easily manipulate him judging by the disproportion of their power. It was better to maintain the relationship as it was.

  They did not waste any time further on this topic. After all, Z was gone and the terms were set. All Qin Feng had to do was hunt the Cinder Pines and return the favor.

  He had no time to worry about it just yet.

  Qin Feng switched on the communicator and contacted Xue Xingfu.

  “It’s time for you to report on the progress.”