Chapter 3 : Chapter 3
Chapter 3: The Oni Girl
A young man in an inconspicuous black robe had appeared at the edge of the crowd without anyone noticing when he arrived.
The shadow of his hood covered most of his face, revealing only the neck wrapped in a black scarf.
Neither of his hands could be seen. No one knew whether he was holding a weapon.
Old Beli sized Chenxi up from head to toe. As a veteran slave trader, sharp judgment was essential.
This man… was not simple.
Beli weighed the situation in his mind, and a greasy merchant’s smile instantly spread across his face, as though the furious outburst earlier had never happened.
“Ah, young sir, you have a good eye!”
Beli rubbed his hands together and pointed at the Oni woman on the ground.
“This is top-quality merchandise! A genuine red-skinned Oni!
Just look at that physique, those muscle lines! Incredibly strong—one of her could match several laborers!
And her appearance… hehe, among the Oni race she is absolutely one in ten thousand!
You can buy her and use her for anything…”
Chenxi interrupted the sales pitch. His voice remained calm and emotionless.
“She is very disobedient. She nearly injured you just now.”
Old Beli’s smile stiffened for a moment before widening again.
“Hehe, young sir, you are joking.
A spirited horse only needs a skilled rider!
A little wildness is normal. It only proves she has strong vitality.
There is a slave contract in place, so what is there to fear? Train her a bit and she will behave.
Rest assured, we provide professional ‘taming’ services. Guaranteed satisfaction…”
Toward the end, his tone carried a hint of obscenity.
For a slave, nothing was more troublesome than disobedience.
“Taming services?”
Chenxi’s voice revealed no emotion.
Did he think Chenxi did not know what that meant?
Erase the mind, and what remained would only be a lump of flesh.
All future growth would be cut off.
“Yes! We will make sure she becomes completely obedient. You can have her do whatever you want…”
Beli grinned.
“No need.”
Chenxi refused decisively.
“Adding taming fees is not worth it.
Just tell me the price.”
Old Beli’s eyes shifted slightly. He raised two fingers.
“You are straightforward, young sir! Since you truly want her, I will give you a flat price—twenty gold coins!
With that physique and potential, she is absolutely worth it!”
Chenxi said nothing. His gaze fell once more on the Oni woman pinned to the ground.
She seemed to have heard the conversation. Her crimson eyes turned toward Chenxi.
There was no pleading in her gaze.
Only undisguised disgust and violence, as though she were looking at another slave trader.
She struggled violently again. The chains rattled loudly as a deep growl escaped her throat.
Chenxi withdrew his gaze and looked at Old Beli, shaking his head.
“Twenty is impossible.
Boss, she nearly tore you apart just now.
No one wants a disobedient slave.
If you keep her, next time she might snap your neck.
Or attract the city guards and be neutralized on the spot. Then you will not earn a single coin.”
Chenxi looked at the merchant whose forehead was beginning to sweat.
“The cost of feeding her, the wages of your guards, and the risk you bear…
Keeping her means losing money.”
Beli swallowed nervously.
Damn it… he had run into an expert.
The pressure was enormous.
“You just said you would dispose of her.
Why have you not done it?
You cannot bear to, can you?”
Chenxi leaned slightly forward, lowering his voice so that only Beli could hear.
“To dispose of a slave like this, you must pay someone to do it—or do it yourself.
It wastes time and effort.
Then the corpse must be dealt with. It earns you nothing.
You would lose a piece of merchandise that could have brought you money.
You cannot bear that loss.”
Chenxi stepped back and spoke at normal volume again.
“Ten gold coins.
I take her away.
Ten coins are better than zero.
Better than spending your own money to dispose of her.
Clear your stock and cut your losses, boss.”
“Ten?! Are you joking?!”
Beli exploded immediately.
“That does not even cover the cost!”
“Fifteen.”
Beli lowered his voice, gritting his teeth.
“That is the lowest I can go! With that physique, she could serve as a meat shield. She is worth that much!”
“Ten gold coins.”
Chenxi’s tone did not budge.
From the moment you became angry yet did not drive me away, I had already won.
“And one condition.
Remove the mental suppression portion of her slave contract. Leave only the basic control rune.
I want her completely conscious.”
He needed her wildness and instincts.
He needed her to fight, not to become a mindless shell suppressed into stupidity.
She was not particularly clever to begin with, and suppressing her mind further would only make her useless.
Beli stared at him as though he were insane.
“What?! Remove the mental suppression?
Are you crazy? Then she—”
“The core rune of the contract remains. Her life is still under my control with a single thought.
What I need is a slave who can fight, not a wooden puppet.”
Chenxi spoke slowly.
“At least this way she can fight and block blades for me.
Otherwise, if she slowly becomes a useless fool, what is the point of buying her?
If I truly wanted a meat shield, I could buy an actual shield for two silver coins.”
The muscles on Beli’s face twisted as he struggled internally.
Fifteen gold coins already pained him.
Now he also had to remove the mental suppression?
That would require hiring a specialist!
“Ten gold coins… absolutely impossible!”
Old Beli gritted his teeth.
“At least… at least twelve! Twelve gold coins!
Removing the suppression is possible, but the contract adjustment fee must be separate!
It requires a professional mage. It is expensive!”
“Eight gold coins.”
Chenxi calmly gave a new number.
“You cover the contract adjustment fee.
Or you can keep her until she kills you next time.
Or I can walk away right now and you will get nothing—and still have to pay someone to dispose of her.
Your choice.”
“You—!”
Beli’s face turned purple with rage. His finger pointed at Chenxi, trembling.
The guards and spectators around them had fallen completely silent. None had ever seen Old Beli pushed this far by a buyer.
Even the Oni woman on the ground stopped struggling.
Her yellow pupils locked onto Chenxi.
Time seemed to freeze for several seconds.
Beli’s chest rose and fell violently as veins bulged on his forehead.
In the end, the fear of a total loss overcame everything.
He waved his hand violently as though driving away bad luck, his voice filled with defeat and bitterness.
“Fine! Get lost! I am unlucky today!
Eight gold coins!
Money in one hand, goods in the other!
Contract adjustment… damn it!
I will figure it out myself!
Pay up and take this disaster far away from here!”
Chenxi said nothing more.
He took eight worn gold coins from the small pouch at his waist and placed them on an empty wooden crate nearby.
“The contract document.”
A guard hurriedly handed over a rough parchment contract.
Chenxi scanned it quickly, confirming the transfer of slave ownership and unconditional control clauses—especially the clause concerning life and death.
He dipped a finger into the ink pad offered by the guard and pressed his fingerprint onto the buyer’s section.
Beli cursed under his breath as he pulled out a small black stone engraved with runes.
He muttered obscure syllables while rubbing his fingers across the stone. A faint black light flickered.
Walking up to the Oni woman, he pressed the stone roughly against the glowing rune on her temple.
“Urgh—!”
The Oni woman let out a short cry of pain.
Her body trembled violently as the rune on her temple suddenly flared with blinding light.
Then it quickly dimmed again, returning to its original brightness—but something heavy seemed to have been removed.
The crimson fury in her eyes remained, but now there was also a trace of clear pain and vigilance.
She no longer looked mindless as before.
“Done!”
Beli withdrew the stone impatiently and shouted at the guards.
“Untie her and let her go!”
The guards quickly removed the chains and stepped back several paces as though avoiding a plague.
Chenxi glanced at Beli.
He claimed he would need to find someone to handle the contract adjustment.
Clearly, he could do it himself.
Freed from the restraints, the red-skinned Oni woman suddenly sat up from the ground.
She did not stand immediately.
Her eyes first swept across the nervous guards and the livid-faced Beli.
Finally, her gaze fell on Chenxi.
Her expression was complicated.
Hatred, vigilance… and perhaps a faint trace of confusion about the unknown future.
She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, moving with the caution of a wild beast.
Chenxi walked slowly toward her.
He took a brand-new black robe from his backpack and placed it in front of her.
“You can stay here.
Or you can follow me.
To put it more clearly—do you want to die, or do you want to live?”
She could feel the calmness in his gaze.
Chenxi stood up.
“If you want to live, follow me.”
After speaking, he turned and walked toward the exit of the slave market, his steps steady as ever.
As though the dangerous Oni slave behind him did not exist.
The red-skinned Oni woman stared at his completely unguarded back.
Her huge fists clenched, loosened, and clenched again.
Finally, she picked up the black robe from the ground and put it on. Her tattered clothes barely covered the essential parts of her body.
She was not particularly clever, but she understood one thing.
If she did not follow him, she would most likely die.
There were still things she had yet to accomplish.
She could not choose death when there was still a chance to survive.
Chenxi walked ahead, his expression calm.
But inside his mind,
“Woohoo! It worked! SSR teammate, acquired!”