"Gah!"
"Resist and I'll break your neckss," the black snake whispered in Alex's ear.
Alex was startled by the voice as he looked at the snake, wondering if he had heard it right.
"You heardsss it right. I'm a Golden Core Beastsss."
Alex's face immediately paled, and he stopped resisting. He looked at the old nanny and asked, "You… you're not the old lady Marj."
"Marj, yes, that's her name."
"What did you do to her!?"
"You still worry about others in this situation?"
The 'old nanny' pushed her face and molded it like clay. Bones cracked, and her skin stretched. It was a disturbing sight.
"W-what are you?"
"This'll take some time. Anyway, Alex, my name's Jasper. I'll give you two choices. Die or accept my attempt at enslaving you."
"... I don't understand," Alex's face further darkened as he looked around, thinking of ways to escape this situation. However, with a Golden Core Beast apprehending him, all methods that came to his mind could be dismissed.
"It is what I said it is. I'll attempt to enslave you with this," Jasper took out a black coin and continued explaining, "However, it has a condition that I can only force it on someone with a cultivation stage three stages below me. Thus, you have to agree to be enslaved."
A cultivation aura of Peak Stage Body Tempering Realm exuded from Jasper's body.
"Who would agree to such a thing?" Alex growled.
"Wait, wait, I'm not finished," Jasper pulled his fingers to make them longer, fitting his new appearance.
"During the enslavement process, we will have a battle with willpower. Whoever wins becomes the master of the other."
"..." Alex gave it some thought and understood. He couldn't believe that such an item exists. Doesn't that mean that any powerhouse can just enslave anyone with three cultivation stages below them? What a dark world this is!
"Why would I believe you?"
"Good question. It's because you have no choice," Jasper signaled, and Nyx revealed its ferocious fangs. The odor from the venom alone made Alex nauseous. "That beast is my slave as well."
"A Golden Core Beast is a slave to a Peak Stage Body Tempering Cultivator?"
"You don't have to believe it. It could be the other way around as well. I'm that beast's slave."
"..." Alex couldn't rebuke that. It is true that either way, there's still the fangs of a Gold Core Snake Beast directed at his neck.
"I've already revealed to you my name. I can't let you live. It's either you die, you become my slave, or I become your slave, and you can have that Golden Core Snake Beast yours as well. What do you think?"
"Can I think first?"
"I'll give you one second."
Isn't it usually three seconds!?
"Alright!" Alex didn't have much time to think. He tried to rationalize his decision, "Even if you're lying, the chance is still not zero. A non-zero chance of survival is better than a certain death!"
"Smart!" Jasper applauded, "I'll ignore the fact that you tried to stall. Come, accept the enslavement."
He put forward the black coin.
'A battle through willpower? I am Alex Miro, few can contest me!' Alex prepared his mentality and welcomed the black coin's red glow into his head.
[Alex Miro has been enslaved]
[Slave Count: 5]
Alex was so shocked he fainted.
The next day, Sunday evening.
Jasper got to his next target. He is now in the appearance of a middle-aged man in uniform. The original owner of this appearance is a chauffeur. Jasper got into the car and went to pick up the target.
"It's hard to drive while keeping up with the appearance. Nyx, nudge me if you find my appearance failing. I can't see my face while driving."
"As you wish, Master."
Arriving at the destination, a young lady entered the backseat of the car.
Without anyone uttering a word, the chauffeur drove off. The young lady didn't suspect anything. She gazed out the window, feeling the strange comfort of fatigue.
Her name is Cassandra Ivon. She just got off from a prestigious training center with her own training mentor at the Golden Core Realm. Her background is truly powerful.
Even though she just came out of training, her twirled blonde hair was still neatly kept.
In the middle of the drive, Cassandra found something strange.
"Mister, why did you pick a different route?"
"Young Lady, it says on the navigation map that there's heavy traffic on our usual route. We'll have to make a detour. I apologize for not stating this earlier."
"Yes, please let me know in advance next time."
"Understood, Young Lady. It is my fault this time."
"No need for that." Cassandra immediately shot down the conversation.
As the drive went on, she found that they had missed a few corners. She had lived in this area her entire life. She knows every street and corner in this area.
Glancing at the chauffeur, Cassandra touched something behind her ear. To others, it just seemed like she fixed her hair.
"Did you call for your Grand Elder?"
"!!"
As soon as those words left the chauffeur's mouth, a black snake came out and bit Cassandra's shin.
"Argh!!" she groaned in pain. Cassandra was too slow in activating her protective array, an item that, when activated, will form a shield around her body.
"You have twenty seconds before you die."
Cassandra's face paled as she bit her lips. It would take the Grand Elder at least thirty seconds or more to arrive at her exact spot. Was it a coincidence?
"I can't die here!"
"Then," Jasper took out a black coin, "become my slave."
"!?"
"You can't have Ivon Trading Center losing their only inheritor, right? Your cousin may inherit it if you die here."
"How do you—!"
"Ten seconds."
"Stop, sstrugling," Nyx added intimidation as it did before with Alex along with the pressure of time.
A snake beast at the Golden Core Realm!? Cassandra wanted to calm herself, but she slowly felt death approaching as weakness approached her body. This man is not lying!
"Five seconds."
She can't die, but a slave? Wouldn't that be worse than death?
"Three seconds."
No, death is the end of it all. As long as one lives, there will always be a chance.
…
Moments earlier, when Cassandra sent out a distress call, the Ivon Family's Grand Elder was immediately notified. He detected her location, and it was close. He just needs less than a minute to arrive there.
The Grand Elder, Gedan Ivon, is the strongest among the elders of the family and is usually concerned with protecting the most valuable in their family, such as their only heir. Gedan Ivon is also Cassandra's great-grandfather and the group's Protector.
Gedan rushed and weaved through traffic. As a Peak Stage Golden Core Cultivator, he's faster than cars speeding through the highway.
At the same time, he was fuming with rage. His one and only great-granddaughter is in danger?
"Whoever dares to harm my little princess will be ripped apart!!"
His roar reverberated throughout the streets, sending out fear among the people. Even those at the Qi Refinement Realm are disturbed. Those at the Body Tempering Realm felt like fainting.
Obviously, no one could stop a Golden Core Cultivator unless a high-ranking police force in the same realm or above came to respond.
In under a minute, Gedan thought of countless ways to torture the perpetrator as he found the car with his great-granddaughter inside.
"Cassie!"
Using a cultivation skill, the car that weighed a ton was easily lifted from the ground by an invisible force. The door was violently broken open, and the mysterious force from the old man's cultivation skill gently retrieved the blonde teenage girl from within.
"Grand Elder!"
"What happened!? Who's the soon-to-be dead fool who tries to harm you!?"
Gedan inspected his great-granddaughter and was relieved to find that she was unharmed, except for some strangeness in her energy.
"Grand Elder," Cassandra paused, then answered with a troubled look..
"I don't understand what you're talking about."