Cheat Cultivator's Ascension-Chapter 538: An Offer No One Can Refuse?

"Enough chit chat for now, this guy looks like he wants to talk to you about something."

Pointing at the young dragon prince who seems intent on speaking with his student, Su Xiaotian said, snapping Liliana out of her mind, already starting to spiral into panic, returning it back to focus as she shifts her attention towards Noveus as well.

"This is a mistake that you're making, Miss Liliana…" despite the surroundings shifting into a terrifying landscape of slaughter, the dragon prince maintains his calm, staring at the owner of this realm with a threatening look on his face, his confident, even proud, expression making both Liliana and Su Xiaotian wonder just where said confidence is coming from.

"You show up in my land without any warning, planning to carry out this 'punishment' just because I don't give you people what you want, and now I am the one making a mistake?? Exactly what mistake am I committing, Your Highness??"

Mocking tone laces her voice as she stares down on the prince of the dragons, submerged in the blood flooding the vast expanse of her mind scape, her question a sting to the prince's mind as it is only now in his life that his words are questioned by anyone.

"The fact alone that you're offending the entirety of us Great Ones by committing this act is a great mistake!! Sure, you can handle us, but what about the people behind us??" seemingly regaining his momentum, Noveus raises his voice for the first time since him and his group arrive in this place, making the people behind him think that this might not be a show of strength, but it still is a show of power solely focused on the dragon prince in front of them.

"What about the Elven High Priestess? The Bloodstar Duchess? Not to mention them, my father's involvement will spell the end of you even if the vampire queen herself interferes!!" the young man added as he watches the pair, both of them appearing to be vampires, fall into what can only look like contemplative silence, boosting his confidence of getting out of this situation even more to the point that he wants to follow up on his words now.

"It isn't too late for you, and that person beside you, though, there's one solution, one way to end this without any problem," he said with what seems to be a generous tone, which is a complete façade wrapping the crafty cunning within.

What the remaining Great Ones think of the prince's action as one that stems from his confidence, his action looks like nothing but a joke to the student and teacher pair, the two of them trying their hardest not to laugh at his words, the lady feeling annoyed, still asking what this proposition will be for the sake of curiosity and curiosity alone.

"What solution could that be, Prince of the Dragons?" she asked with a tone more neutral than before, a faint smile on her face appearing to be genial, yet fully hiding the mocking deep beneath.

A smile completely took over Noveus' face as he heard the question of the lady, along with the tone that she used, partnered with the smile on her face; he felt fully certain that she would fall into the trap he was about to set.

"The solution is simple, really, you just have to join the Great Ones, promising to act along with the interest of the majority among us…" he paused before taking a good look at the young man standing beside the vampire earl, a flash of hatred surfacing from his eyes for a moment before he managed to subdue it as he smiles thinking of digging a deeper hole for these two to fall on.

"Of course, you can bring along this subordinate of yours to join us, but only if he will follow our orders as well, our group takes care of all of the members after all" he added, gradually recovering himself from the initial shock of witnessing such hellish, nightmarish landscape, a smile on his face as he reaches out his hand, intending to seal the deal with this lady.

While the slower ones among his group might wonder why it is that the greatest among them wants to invite the lady they are supposed to mete punishment out on among their ranks, the remaining front row seats already see through the plot of their unofficial leader, all of them thinking that it is quite the nasty plan.

The reason for that? Simple.

The Great Ones, despite their notoriety in some places within the Western Continent, is practically the greatest circle of elite there is, after all, its members are among the most influential and talented, if not outright the most influential and talented individuals in the entire continent, princes and heir to powerful houses and clans, once in a lifetime talents and era defining geniuses gathering here, meaning it is practically a group that will lead the continent in the future.

Now with this as a foundation of judgement, any genius in the Western Continent, no matter where they came from, will definitely join given the opportunity to do so, and even if they are just straight up insane and somehow want to reject this offer, they still need to offer some modicum of respect, stating that they need to think about it for a while or something else along those lines.

Returning to the situation, to the prince of the dragons, it matters not what the vampire earl ends up choosing, as whether she enters or not, the benefits are on him.

Entering means that a genius on the same level as him will be within his own playing field, and even if she were somehow stronger than them, she lacks one thing that all other geniuses in their group have: backing. This probably means more than enough deterrence for her not to try anything funny like taking control of their group through brute force.

Add to that the fact that she has a strong follower who can also order her around the moment that she accepts this offer of his.

And even if she were to reject this offer, the words that would come out of her mouth alone, the fact that she still "needs to consider it" before she can completely reject, possibly more than enough to drive a wedge between her and this young man, a wedge that he can capitalize on to probably deal with them using each other in the future.

Of course, all these meticulous plans that he had to prepare in the future, once the vampire earl answers all, rely on the notion that she will pick either of these two paths, meaning his plan should've been foolproof if not for the outlier that she had become due to her studying under an outlier as well.

Throwing him out of his reverie of this small victory he earned after consecutive, repeated loss, this prince of the dragons was forced to reveal a confused look on his face as he heard amused, melodious laughter ringing from the vampire lady in front of him, the laughter, despite the beauty of the owner's voice, sounded all too painful to him.