The Strongest Businessman

Executing the first dance of the Seven Crane Dances, Wind Gliding, Dylan's​ speed soared until it reached 70 kilometers per hour! After a minute of sprinting, he finally reached the entrance of the cave and saw a silhouette of a man walking into the forest​. Dylan did not stop and continued as he went by the man.

"Who the heck...?" Barry murmured with a surprised expression. A shadow went by him and stopped a few steps in front of him. When Barry saw his face, he immediately knew who he was. "So it's you..."

Dylan stood there calmly and could now see Barry's appearance. Barry was a normal-looking 25-26 year-old young adult with the strength of Initial 11th level Awakened Spirit. He did not have any redeeming features aside from his dark green hair. He also did not have the ferociousness that the hunters have but he had a hidden shrewdness in his eyes that made him seem like a survivor rather than a hunter. Now, that Dylan had a clearer examination of the man, his impression of him was changing.

"Are you here to kill me?" Barry was strangely calm when he asked this.

"Oh, you are not afraid?" Dylan was slightly surprised by this response.

"Of course I am. But I know you are here to silence me so that no one would know about the Heavenly Formation you possess or the Heaven Rank Technique you have." Barry exhaled deeply.

"How did you know...?" Dylan's​ voice abruptly became colder. He did not expect that Barry could identify that the Minor Heavenly Refining Formation would be a Heavenly Formation and the Thundercloud Monarch Art would be a Heaven Rank Technique. It seemed that he needed to silence him as soon as possible.

"Because, like you, I have my secrets." Barry confessed plainly.

"So if you knew, why didn't you run for your life?" Dylan decided not to pry any longer because he knew everyone had their own secrets.

"Because I thought you would at least take 18-20 minutes to kill all of them despite you possessing a Heaven Rank Technique due to the large difference in strength. By then, I would have long reached the depths of the forest. But, I never would have thought that you would kill them within 7 minutes. Normally speaking, a Spirit Veins cultivator would not be able to support the usage of a Heaven Rank Technique due to high expenditure. I thought that you would at least use one or two Low Earth Rank Herbs​ to recuperate during the battle. But seeing that you were able to kill all of them swiftly, I could speculate that you did not recuperate but instead have a terrifying amount of energy reserves that could rival an Origin Realm Expert." Barry told his calculations to Dylan. This caused Dylan's eyes to become colder because Barry knew way too much.

He was right because Dylan was quite shocked when he discovered that one Heaven Rank skill's energy expenditure was equal to him expending 5 Crescent Moon Slash! His expenditure on the joint skill was even more shocking because it reached an equivalent of using 8 Crescent Moon Slashes!

Meaning that Dylan could not have performed the skills he used earlier back when he still had a Spirit Core! His deduction on his energy reserves was on point because the energy reserves of a peak Spirit Veins cultivator was only one-fifth the reserves of a Origin Realm Expert.

It was fortunate that he was able to catch up to this man because if Barry chose to spread information regarding this matter, then he would be finished because a batallion of greed-driven cultivators would flock to where he was and dissect every single secret that he contains!

Dylan decided that he would need to kill Barry in order for his secret to be buried alongside with him. He summoned the Waning Moon Sword and prepared to use one more Crescent Moon Slash. However, Dylan suddenly thought of something even more beneficial to him rather than killing Barry.

"Very well said. It seems that you are very knowledgeable about various fields." Dylan commented while a gentle smile replaced his cold expression. He even clapped softly in recognition.

"..."

Barry had a foreboding feeling when he saw Dylan's sudden shift in attitude towards. He was beyond speechless when he noticed an undeniable crafty glint he saw on Dylan's eyes.

"Because of the diverse knowledge you have, I want to recruit you as my butler." Dylan brought up a shocking proposal.

Barry was dumbfounded when he heard Dylan's proposal because it was absolutely eccentric! Why would a person want his enemy to be his butler?!

"Are you serious?" Barry questioned Dylan's odd behavior towards him right now. If he didn't personally knew that he ruthlessly massacred​ the entire hunting crew, he would have mistakenly taken​ Dylan as a retard.

"Of course, I am. You just need to sign this Soul Lock Scroll and you would immediately be my butler." Dylan smilingly offered the scroll.

"Of course, you plan to use the contract to force out the knowledge that I have and even want to learn the secrets I hide." With the appearance of the scroll, Barry started to understand the situation better. Dylan wants to ruthlessly make him admit all of his secrets forcefully.

"Well, that's not my only reason." Dylan smiled coolly.

"You do know that you wouldn't have need to go through the trouble to do all of that if you just use a Soul Search Technique." Barry suggested but he immediately felt that what he said was wrong since it would be bringing​ a disaster to himself. He could just hope that Dylan did not possess one.

"Fortunately, I don't have one or else you would feel the pain of your brain being sucked out of your body." Dylan said calmly. Dylan having​ knowledge about a Soul Search Technique and about the cultivation world was due to his ample time of reading light novels while he was still in earth.

"You are right..." Barry sighed in relief that he would not have to suffer the horrifying pain but he was inwardly stunned when Dylan knew the effects of Soul Search Technique despite not having one in his possession.

"But what if I say no?" Barry calmly continued.

"Then, I kill you." Dylan said with a smile.

"I see. Using death as a consequence, not bad. Though it would not be easy to kill me, if I go all out." Barry praised but his eyes had a cold glint when he reached the end of his sentence.

"It would be quite easy for me to agree depending the conditions but you need to be a Mystical Magnate to be activate the... No way!" Barry's​ sentence was cut off midway when he saw Dylan present his Magnate Strength freely out of his arms.

"Don't worry. I can." Dylan confidently said.

"You're already a Rank 5 Magnate... Wait, no... you're not using a Mystical Technique... that means... You're a Magna Magnate?!" Barry was even more shocked when he discovered that Dylan was not projecting his Magnate Strength using a Mystical Technique. He was even more shocked that the unrefined Magnate Strength he possessed would be as strong as a Rank 5 Magnate Strength."An... S-GRADE?!"

" How.. how did you find me?! Are you here to take the scroll from me?! Who sent you here?! From what True King Clan are you from?! Are you from the Hurricanes'? The Ford's? The Aster's?!" Barry immediately became hostile. He mistook Dylan for a genius from the True King Clan's because of his outrageous talent!

Such a type of talent was not something anywhere could produce. A cultivator with level-skipping strength and an SS-GRADE Magna Magnate at the same time. Only the True King Clan's are able to produce such a peerless talent with their unparalleled bloodlines, inexhaustible resources and arsenal of mighty experts!

"You know what a Mystical Technique is? You even know what grade of Magna Magnate I am? You are from a True King Clans? What makes you say that I am from a True King Clan?" Dylan was lost for a moment. He did not expect that Barry's knowledge would be vaster than he originally thought. Even his background seemed to be even more shocking. By the way he's acting, it seemed that his secrets are beyond Dylan's current scope of knowledge. Now, it seemed that his judgement was not off and was even worth it.

"Don't play dumb with me! You clearly want to kill me so that you could retrieve the sacred scroll for your clan! You beasts have been eyeing my clan's sacred scroll for years now! I'd rather die than to let you sully our sacred scroll!" Barry roared with hostility. He was ready to self-destruct along with the sacred scroll. His life mission was to protect the scroll and prevent it from falling to the hands of the greed-driven cultivators of the True King Clan's!

Dylan recovered first before calmly saying: "Calm down before you start falsely accusing people. Think about it. If I had a grievance with you and knew you, I would have killed you first and take the scroll away back at the cave. I am absolutely not sent by the True King Clans you spoke of. I do not even know who you are, much less this sacred scroll you spoke of."

"You are right... I'm sorry..." Barry realized that he let his emotions get the best of him. It has been years ever since he fled away from his clan and never to return to again. Since then, he went in to hiding, not daring to appear again. He was never been found and he definitely would not be found on a forest. He got too flustered that he let his cover be blown off due to hysteria.

"But that doesn't mean that I'm not from the True King Clan." Dylan continued.

"But you just told me earlier that..." Barry became confused.

"I told you I wasn't​ sent by the True King Clan but that does that doesn't mean I am not related to one." Dylan revealed.

"What do you mean...?" Barry asked.

"I am the bastard son of True King Derik Ford and Magma Phoenix, Melissa Magma, Dylan Ford." Dylan revealed his identity.

"What?! You are the rumored bastard child 18 years ago?! " Barry was beyond shocked when he knew who Dylan was. "Why are you telling me all of this?" He could not understand why Dylan revealed his identity to Barry.

"Because of two reasons: First, I hold your life at the palm of my hands. Meaning I can kill you in order to not let you spread my identity to anyone. Second, I can feel that you and I are similar to each other. I feel that we can sympathize with each other. Thus, to show my cordiality, I revealed my name so that you can feel free to tell me your name as well. That's all.​" Dylan explained with a clear voice.

"Is that so...? I guess there's no reason to hide it any longer. I will trust you. Since you have introduced yourself, I shall reveal who I am. I am Barton Vernon, the sole survivor of the fallen True King Clan, Vernon Clan." Barry revealed his name.

"The Vernon... Clan." Dylan was shocked. He did not expect that Barry was part of such a famous clan!

Dylan recognized that clan immediately when he heard it. It was the clan of True King Charles Vernon! He was extremely popular, every single citizen within the Mystical Clouds Country knows who he is and was even renowned as the True King of Nature due to the gift given to him by the Harmonic Convergence which is heavenly affinity​ to all plants!

But the reason for his popularity was because he was the king who was plotted against and slayed by the six kings of the Mystic Cloud States 500 years ago!