Bai Da actually didn't care much—one more or less made no difference to him. And as Xiaoyao said, this would at least show good faith, making the exchange of conditions easier.

"Mr. Bai is truly wise. I'm going over now," Xiaoyao immediately flashed behind Third Master. Now no matter what big events occurred, Third Master would handle them—he was already safe.

"Speak then. What exactly do you want by doing this?" Third Master, seeing Xiaoyao released, felt a great weight lifted from his heart. As for the Luo family members inside, although he was concerned about them too, they weren't as important as Xiaoyao.

"We just want a map—the one that each of you has a portion of," Bai Da said.

"A map? You mean... what do you want that for? Combined, we only have half a map, and that's just legend anyway," Third Master was very surprised. He hadn't expected the other party to want this item. Although this thing had always been passed down among them, with many families in Flowing Moon City having portions, when combined it was still only half a map.

"You don't need to worry about what we'll do with it. Just hand over the map," Bai Da shook his head.

"It's just a useless map. Is such a big operation really necessary? I'll have the map brought over," Third Master said, very puzzled by the other party. This seemed like making a mountain out of a molehill.

Although they valued this map, it didn't seem worth such kidnapping to exchange for. Paying some price could also obtain it.

...

...

"This is simple. They want to guarantee they can get the item, and they're not afraid of offending the entire Flowing Stone Kingdom. Bai Da—this name sounds like a subordinate. He should have a master," Xiaoyao responded to Third Master's confusion. Originally Third Master was just talking to himself and hadn't expected anyone to answer his question.

At this time, Third Master just sent the message back while staying stationed here. Of course he hoped Xiaoyao would also leave for a safe place, but Xiaoyao said that since he'd already come out, he was already safe—it didn't matter.

"He's Saint Level. If he has a master, what kind of person would that be?" Third Master found this somewhat incredible. Speaking this way, this organization would be extremely powerful—completely on a different level.

"Don't know. I always feel these people's aura is somewhat familiar—maybe I'm mistaken," Xiaoyao looked at Bai Da and the others. From the beginning when he saw these people, he felt a slight familiarity, but only a little—not very strong, and he couldn't remember where this familiar aura came from.

This was also his reason for staying. He wanted more contact to stimulate this weak memory.

"What did you say?" Third Master asked with confusion.

"Nothing. Since there's nothing happening now, how about we discuss this map matter? For them to go to such lengths, it must have corresponding value," Xiaoyao asked.

"There's no harm in telling you. Actually, this happened several hundred years ago. The specific circumstances aren't well known—only that half a map appeared in Flowing Stone Kingdom at that time. Some said it was a map to the Divine Treasure Vault, which then caused bloody fight, but for unknown reasons, the map was divided into many pieces and obtained by various families in Flowing Stone Kingdom, including our Luo family," Third Master said. His vague handling of two unknown processes in the middle left listeners somewhat speechless.

But these were all past events. Even clarifying details now wouldn't matter—the result was already clear: these maps were now in the hands of various families.

The Divine Treasure Vault was just a legend. Legend said that within the Divine Treasure Vault were countless divine weapons of the gods, countless spiritual pills and miraculous medicines, countless technique manuals, and countless treasures...

And so on. In short, the Divine Treasure Vault was a legendary treasury containing many treasures both imaginable and unimaginable.

"Maybe people would have treated it as treasure several hundred years ago, but after all these centuries without anyone finding a single clue, who would still care? To exchange for those hostages, everyone would definitely agree immediately," Third Master said. Now he didn't think the map was very important, and in fact, even after handing it over, they would still keep copies—there was no real loss.

Indeed, soon those with maps all brought them over. These maps were useless to them—getting back their own blood relatives was most important.

After bringing them, they all wanted the other party to immediately release their people and ignore the others.

"You give them to him first..." Bai Da pointed at Xiaoyao.

"Why give them to me?" Xiaoyao was stunned. Why was this matter being given to him?

"I like it. No reason needed," Bai Da replied casually. This indeed had no reason—he just didn't want to trade piece by piece, and most importantly didn't want to negotiate conditions one by one.

"Fine, that's a reason," Xiaoyao nodded, helping collect the maps and piecing them together. For him this was effortless, which surprised Bai Da and saved considerable trouble.

Soon, by afternoon, everyone had brought their items, and Xiaoyao had assembled a complete half-map. He glanced at it and discovered this map had almost no practical content. If it was a treasure map, the content should all be on the other half—no wonder they had no clues at all and handed it over so easily.

This was something with almost no use—trading it for people was very worthwhile.

"Good, it's complete. Now release the people," Xiaoyao said to Bai Da.

"Give me the map first," Bai Da shook his head. Naturally he wanted the map first.

"The map is right before you. With your abilities, I believe you wouldn't worry about me running away," Xiaoyao looked at Bai Da and said calmly.

"True. Since the map is already here, release them," Bai Da ordered.

A group of young masters and ladies poured out, running to their respective camps and glancing at Xiaoyao, seeming to say: Kid, looks like you still remembered to rescue us—not bad.

"Kid, the map," Bai Da said.

Now that we've all escaped, why give you the map? Kid, don't give it to him—we need to settle accounts with them. Some people looked at Bai Da and the others with very angry eyes.

"Here!" Xiaoyao threw it out, causing many people to scream.

"Are you an idiot? Why give it to them now? We have more people—let's kill them all here."

"Exactly! Kid, I've found you displeasing for a long time—greedy for life and afraid of death, despicable and shameless..."

Many people began cursing Xiaoyao at this moment, blaming his behavior. They felt what Xiaoyao did was too stupid.

"Thank you!" After Bai Da looked and confirmed the map's authenticity, he ordered his team to withdraw.

"Leave? You think you can leave? Come, quickly capture them all."

Immediately, a group of young masters and ladies gave orders for their people to attack Bai Da and the others. At the same time, people who had been lying in ambush all appeared.

"This is our territory—we've had ambushes ready all along!!" Some people said very proudly, looking at Xiaoyao with disdain. They knew the entire area around Yanhua Temple was full of their people—now they were catching these people like turtles in a jar.

Learning that their direct junior family members had been captured, those families had definitely sent many experts. Together, they should theoretically overwhelm Bai Da and the others.

They wanted to teach Bai Da and the others a lesson—this was also a very normal move. When strength exceeded the opponent's, punishment was normal. But was their strength really superior to the other party's?

This was very hard to say.

"We're leaving!" Xiaoyao didn't pay attention to these people's looks and comments. He directly left with Third Master. Third Master originally hadn't planned to retaliate either—if this matter could be settled peacefully, let it be settled peacefully, because he knew the other party was very strong.

"The Luo family really has no guts. Being bullied to this extent, they don't even fart and just slink away like this," some people immediately mocked when they saw Xiaoyao and the others retreat.

"You..." Xiaoyao and Third Master were naturally composed, but Luo Juntao and the others were different. They were also somewhat puzzled why they didn't stay. With Third Master's strength plus their own internal energy, they should be able to take down the other party.

Although the other party's strength was sufficient, this time almost all forces in Flowing Stone Kingdom had mobilized—their martial power should be stronger.

"No need to say more. Just leave!" Xiaoyao said, wanting to quickly leave this place of trouble and not be drawn into their battle.

"You've seen too little. In this regard, Xiaoyao is stronger than you," Third Master said with a smile. This smile carried some pride because he regarded Xiaoyao as his son.

Soon they went down the mountain and got into carriages. On the way home...

"Now can Third Uncle explain why we did this? This approach weakened our Luo family's reputation," Luo Juntao asked. He still couldn't quite understand this point.

"Actually, I don't know either. Xiaoyao said to do it," Third Master said very irresponsibly.

"..."

"Alright, actually it's very simple. Do you think since these people dared to do this, would they not have thought they'd be surrounded and attacked?" Xiaoyao asked.

"Well, they should have thought of it. Maybe they're making a desperate gamble," Luo Juntao said.

Xiaoyao shook his head and said: "They act very systematically, are cautious about small matters, without any flaws. Such people wouldn't make desperate gambles. They act this way because they have absolute strength to guarantee their success. This point—from their choosing to spare no effort and use the most certain methods rather than take shortcuts—is very good proof."

Since they weren't afraid of provoking the entire Flowing Stone Kingdom and came so brazenly, they must have something to rely on, which should be martial force.

(End of Chapter)