Chapter 470
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
You can buy coins here to unlock advanced chapters: https://gravitytales.com/coins-purchase-page/
Chapter 470: Wasted Effort
He Liang, Jie Zichuan, and the young general clearly had no idea why Luo Ji reacted so strongly.
The young general’s face, in particular, turned utterly ashen, whether from the cold or from anger, it was hard to tell.
“What do you mean?!”
“No, nothing really…”
Luo Ji waved his hand with a wry smile.
“That name, Huo Qubing, Huo Qiguang gave it to you, didn’t he?”
Upon hearing this, the young general’s eyes clearly flickered.
Though he remained silent, Luo Ji had pretty much guessed what was going on.
Champion Marquis Huo Qubing! This was a famous general from their ancient Celestial Dynasty, a national hero even.
Most people, even if they didn’t know much history, had likely heard that name. Its significance was not light.
After confirming that Huo Qiguang had named this greenhorn Huo Qubing, Luo Ji’s mind couldn’t help but stir.
Given a player’s mindset, would they be bored enough to name a weakling like him Huo Qubing? Clearly not.
If he was given this name, it meant Huo Qiguang valued this young general highly. He might even believe this young general was his civilization’s Huo Qubing!
“Could I have misjudged him?”
Thoughts raced through Luo Ji’s mind as his eyes scanned the young general, who had remained silent since Luo Ji started observing him.
“To live up to Huo Qubing’s name, he’d have to be a 5-star divine general, wouldn’t he?”
Although the young general’s performance against Guo Zhen earlier was truly poor, he was still young, only 18 or 19.
His attribute panel likely hadn’t reached its full potential yet.
If he had another 4 or 5 years, or even 5 or 6, he might indeed become a divine general.
Following this line of thought, this Huo Qubing was a potential stock worth investing in.
To be honest, Luo Ji began to consider trying to persuade him to surrender.
If he was merely a fierce general, he wasn’t worth gaining another enemy over. But a divine general was a different matter entirely.
Just as Luo Ji was pondering this, Huo Qiguang’s message finally came through.
Right off the bat, it was concise and straight to the point.
“I want to ransom my people.”
A faint smile touched Luo Ji’s lips as he saw this message, and an idea to probe arose in his mind.
“Ransom whom?”
“Everyone.”
The reply was swift, and it completely gave away no indication that he particularly valued any one person.
Luo Ji, however, remained calm.
This Huo Qiguang was undoubtedly the type with some tricks up his sleeve, and Luo Ji didn’t expect him to reveal himself so easily.
After some thought, Luo Ji replied again.
“Two city lords, two defending generals, that’s five Silver-tier items in total.”
Huo Qiguang frowned upon seeing this reply, a hint of irritation visible in his expression. But he eventually took a deep breath and responded.
“You’re asking for too much. Three Silver-tier items at most.”
“Then your talents are truly worthless. My final price is five Silver-tier items. I refuse to bargain.”
At this moment, Luo Ji was perfectly calm, like someone sitting firmly on a fishing platform.
He was convinced that Huo Qiguang’s focus was on Huo Qubing.
You’re desperate to ransom that kid back, aren’t you? Then I won’t talk to you about him.
As long as the ransom of five Silver-tier items wasn’t settled, he would remain stubborn.
He wasn’t the one in a hurry anyway.
This was also a good opportunity to continue probing.
If that Huo Qubing was truly a divine general, then the other party would surely want to ransom him back quickly, lest things change.
But if he wasn’t a divine general, Luo Ji’s asking price of five Silver-tier items was indeed an exorbitant demand.
A normal player would likely be stuck in a stalemate for a while.
Huo Qiguang’s reaction didn’t disappoint him. After several rounds of feigned bargaining, facing Luo Ji’s unwavering demand for five Silver-tier items, Huo Qiguang finally seemed to give in and accepted.
“Alright, five it is! What about the rest of them?”
Huo Qiguang, unaware that he had largely exposed himself, casually brought up the remaining captives.
Just looking at the message, it was almost as if he was lumping Huo Qubing in with all the ordinary cavalry.
He probably wanted Luo Ji to feel that the young general was insignificant.
However, Luo Ji, who already had his suspicions, wouldn’t fall for it now.
“Those 300 or 400 cavalry, let’s package them for one Silver-tier item. Of course, the warhorses are separate. If you want to ransom the warhorses too, add another Silver-tier item.”
Upon seeing this message, Huo Qiguang inwardly cursed, calling him a cunning merchant. Yet, he was somewhat helpless.
Warhorses, as important military resources, he obviously had to ransom back.
In some ways, a single warhorse could be even more valuable than a cavalryman.
If cavalrymen were lost, they could be retrained, because the human population base was very large. But what was the total number of horses? And warhorses were even rarer.
300 to 400 warhorses was practically a devastating loss.
How could he just give them up? He couldn’t avoid this rip-off.
“Deal.”
Huo Qiguang almost gnashed his teeth as he typed this one word.
Then, seeing Luo Ji immediately send a trade request, Huo Qiguang’s facial muscles twitched.
“Friend, I remember there was also a young general you captured, right?”
In his previous messages, he had lumped Huo Qubing with the ordinary cavalry, but Huo Qubing’s armor was so distinctive; he didn’t think Luo Ji wouldn’t have noticed. Luo Ji’s current action made him feel a bad premonition.
Luo Ji, upon seeing this message, was full of playfulness.
“Oh, you mean him? We hit it off right away and had a great chat. He said he doesn’t want to go back. So, let’s leave it at that.”
Upon seeing this message, Huo Qiguang inwardly unleashed a barrage of curses.
Hit it off right away, and had a great chat? What nonsense are you spouting?!
Suppressing the urge to explode, Huo Qiguang typed again.
“Friend, that joke isn’t funny at all!”
“I’m not joking with you. We really did hit it off.”
While replying to Huo Qiguang, Luo Ji glanced at Huo Qubing, who was locked in the cell, with a half-smile.
Huo Qubing, who was currently silent and refusing to answer any of Luo Ji’s questions, felt a strange sense of unease.
He had a feeling this guy was plotting something.
On the other side, Huo Qiguang then sent an exceptionally resolute message.
“I want to ransom everyone back.”
“He’s just a young general, why are you so persistent? Isn’t it better to help someone achieve their desire?”
“Help someone achieve their desire…”
Looking at these words, Huo Qiguang almost choked on his own blood from sheer anger.
Just as the blood got caught in his throat, Luo Ji sent another message.
“How about this? What if I trade him for those two defending generals and the city lord? One young general, and you save five Silver-tier items. You’d be making a huge profit on this deal.”
As this message was sent, Huo Qiguang’s previous doubts were thoroughly confirmed. Luo Ji had probably discovered something.
At this point, he was too lazy to feign cordiality with the other party any longer and directly laid his cards on the table.
“Don’t waste your effort. He won’t submit to you.”
Luo Ji’s lips curled into a grin, seeing Huo Qiguang no longer pretending.
“How would you know if you don’t try?”
After sending the message, he leisurely took a sip of tea. But he hadn’t even swallowed the tea when, upon seeing the newly incoming message, he involuntarily spat it out again.
“Because he’s my son.”
“?!”
