YIN-YANG DEVOURER

Poor guys… If only they had hidden for a while longer…" Lira said with a wry smile as she watched as the mercenaries of her squad captured a group of Elders and disciples of the Three Swords Sect who had been hiding behind some rubble.

The battle had been quite chaotic so it was not unusual to find cultivators straggling around. Ruvan's squad had captured nearly thirty Three Sword Sect cultivators who had been wandering around, many of them too injured to put up any resistance.

The Three Swords Sect was a fairly large Sect for the region, it had around ten thousand members, including elders and disciples. Many of them had died in previous battles but at least five thousand members remained at the time of the siege.

"Sometimes there are people with shitty fates" Ruvan said with a wry smile as he ordered the mercenaries to continue their march. At this time, they were using carriages to transport their prisoners. These carriages were pulled by lizard-type spirit beasts, which were quite sturdy to carry large amounts of weight. Each squad of the Mercenary Band had its own carriages and beasts; naturally Ruvan's group was no exception.

Finally after a few minutes of wandering around the Sect grounds, Ruvan's group finally met up with the rest of the people. When they saw him, all kinds of expressions flooded him; however he did everything possible to act normally as he walked towards where Commander Aaron and the rest of the captains were gathered.

"Commander"

"Jiri"

"What happened to you? You look like a charred pig" The moment Ruvan turned his gaze towards Wiltord he noticed the latter's charred appearance.

"FUCK OF!" Wiltord spat. He was refusing to to explain however that was what Jiri was for, who was more than willing to tell what had happened.

"The poor idiot was caught off guard when one of the Elders blew himself up hahahaha" Jiri mocked while covering his mouth with a fan like he was an embarrassed lady.

"And where were you bastard? While we were fighting. What the hell did you do?" Wiltord shouted angrily, causing his men to take a dim view of Ruvan's group of mercenaries.

"Working… Or maybe, you don't see the captured Elders?" Said Ruvan while pointing his finger at the large number of captives his troops were carrying. To save face he had also brought a couple of elderly corpses to justify his actions.

"Did you make the arrangements, boy?" Aaron asked, completely ignoring Wiltord's tantrums.

"The work is done. None of them survived," Ruvan said with a knowing smile.

"And Captain Dalbert?" Ruvan asked when he saw the absence of one of the captains.

"Poor Dalbert passed away… It's a shame he was a pretty attractive boy, I mean talented~" Jiri said with a false expression of sadness.

Ruvan could only smile ironically when remembering how the late Captain Dalbert was almost assaulted at night by Jiri after a night of drinking in the tavern. Since that time poor Captain Dalbert kept a considerable distance from Jiri.

"How many of his squad survived?" Ruvan asked curiously, after all they had to decide what to do with the remains of the squad including their assets of course.

"That fool Dalbert seems to have gone too far into enemy territory… I spoke to his second in command and he told me that at least sixty percent of his men are dead or badly injured."

"It's a shame but it's not something we're not used to, when we return to the base we will decide how to distribute the goods," Commander Aaron said with a calm tone of voice. Deaths like those of poor Captain Dalbert were not something uncommon in the mercenary band, several captains had perished before Dalbert even became captain.

"Are you not planning to appoint a new captain?" Jiri asked curiously after all they were short of people after this battle.

"I'm sure anyone would be interested if you make the recruitment announcement official" Ruvan said. The fame they had acquired as mercenaries in the region was at its peak so it would not be strange if several reputable cultivators came to them to join their ranks.

"That's something we should also discuss more calmly… For the moment, let's focus on what we have right now" Aaron said as he observed his surroundings.

"How is everything going here?" Ruvan asked as he watched Sect Leader Lawrence converse with other Elders of his Sect. Next to it were some wrapped bodies, apparently they were the corpses of the last leaders of the Three Swords Sect.

"The Purple Mountain Sect has been quite decimated after this battle… They are in no position to reject our requests" Aaron said with a cruel smile to which the rest of the captains joined him.

"Excellent… It seems that everything is ready for the commander to go to negotiate" Ruvan said with a smile. Aaron was a skilled negotiator, he was undoubtedly the best at obtaining the best deals for the mercenary band. This was one of the main reasons why he was the commander.

"Sect Leader Lawrence… I think it's time for us to renegotiate our terms" Aaron said as he walked closer. Behind him stood Ruvan and the other two captains.

"Renegotiate? "I think Commander Aaron is joking," Sect Leader Lawrence said with a dark expression. They had had many more losses than they had initially planned so they were not in a position to raise the initially agreed rate.

"I'm sorry Sect Leader, but we have incurred many more losses than initially thought. Even one of my captains along with almost his entire squad were completely annihilated" Aaran said while pointing towards the corpse of Captain Dalbert.

"And you think our Sect is different? More than half of our Elders have died in this war!!" Said one of the Elders who was standing next to Lawrence.

"It's true! I even dare to say that it is quite suspicious that none of the Elders who accompanied their captains have returned alive" said another Elder while raising a suspicion.

As the discussions began to escalate, the disciples of the Purple Mountain Sect and the Mercenaries began to take up their weapons while looking at each other with threatening glances. It was somewhat ironic to see those who a few moments ago were allies now seeing each other as if they were mortal enemies.

"Are you implying thar we are not trustworthy?" Aaron asked with a cold look.