The rank 7 cultivator nodded and said without any shame, "Exactly."
Then clapped as he said, "It seems you’re smart. I like that. I like talking with smart people. After all, time is money."
Before Loki could speak again, he said, "So what will it be?"
But Loki still didn’t understand, so he said, "Why me? Why go through so much effort for just me?"
His question made the rank 7 snort while other money cultivators like Forced Exchange shook their heads. They were clearly disdainful of his question.
However, no matter how disdainful they were, the rank 7 money cultivator still answered his question. He said to Loki, "We didn’t do all of these just to target you. When we began losing too much lifespan in the struggle for the continents, we initiated a deal with the other alliances to expand our benefits by attacking lone divine beings."
"At first, the deal was between the five of us of the sect. But those two from the Martial Body Sect and the Nexus of Truth Sect came, so we took time to convince them to take action with us."
"You were just a convenient target that we picked after setting up the net. None of this was solely for you. If you weren’t here, someone else would have borne your fate."
Then he curled his lips and said, "I know you’re smart, so I can guess that you’re stalling for time. You’re probably waiting for that other divine being who helped you kill Gold Body to come and rescue you. Tell him to hurry up cos we can’t wait to meet him or her."
Unlike what they expected, Loki didn’t panic after his plan was exposed. Instead, he smiled and said, "Since you already know my plan, can you tell me who the leader of your alliance is?"
The rank 7 money cultivator frowned when he didn’t get the expected reaction from Loki. But he still decided to play along with Loki.
As he was frowning, he said, "You will know when you join us."
But Loki wasn’t satisfied with this answer. He said, "You don’t even need to tell me their title. Just their cultivation rank will do."
However, the rank 7 cultivator had had enough. The voice of the money cultivator was full of frustration as he said, "Enough chit chat. Escape, call your reinforcement, submit, or die. Those are your only options. Pick one quickly."
It was Loki’s turn to sneer and say, "Stop tempting me to try and escape. I won’t summon my Cave Heaven no matter what you say."
Then he looked around at the five of them surrounding him and said, "As long as I don’t summon my Cave Heaven, the worst thing you can do is kill me. In a few decades, I will be back to my Divine Position."
In response to his arrogance, the rank 7 money cultivator folded his arms across his chest and said haughtily to Loki, "First of all, death is not the worst thing we can do to you."
"The worst thing we can do to you is to kill you and replace your Divine Position with someone else in your absence. Your replacement will be someone sympathetic to our cause and willing to join our alliance."
"Secondly, we won’t need to go through much effort to make a replacement for you. We can have your replacement today, and we will make sure to destroy your Cave Heaven while we are at it. That way, you will never reincarnate, and you will never take back your Divine Position."
When he still didn’t see the look of fear or any trace of submission from Loki, he decided to stop talking and to carry out a little action to show that he meant business.
So the rank 7 money cultivator said to Forced Exchange, "Show him what I mean. And make it as painful as possible."
Monarch Forced Exchange received the order and smiled as he said, "Gladly."
Then he activated the Forced Exchange Metac on Loki. The target was the Gold Body Metac in Loki’s Cave Heaven.
The Forced Exchange Metac is a Metac for buying something by force from a target. As long as you know that something is in the target’s possession, you can forcefully pay for that thing and take it.
Monarch Forced Exchange knew that the Gold Body Metac was in Loki’s possession. He also knew that this Divine Metac was the sole one for maintaining Loki’s Life Fire. So he knew that if he removed the Gold Body Metac from Loki’s Cave Heaven, Loki would surely die.
By removing the Gold Body Metac from Loki, he will create a lot of pain for Loki, and he will gain a Divine Metac, which he can use to create a replacement for the position of Gold Body. So this can be called killing two birds with one stone.
As they watched, they realized that Monarch Forced Exchange’s move seemed to work because Loki became solemn for the first time since they surrounded him. Loki stopped looking carefree and had become serious.
His eyes focused on Forced Exchange as he thought to himself, "What great power! He broke through my defense immediately. If a single rank 6 cultivator like him can do this because of his large Cave Heaven, I can only wonder what three other rank rank 6 cultivators and one rank 7 cultivator can do to me.’
The rank 7 money cultivator smiled and said, "Just wait and see. The worst is yet to come."
"What you’re feeling right now is Forced Exchange locking onto your precious Divine Metac. He is currently evaluating the value of that Divine Metac now. When he is done with the evaluation, he will pay the price for the Divine Metac and take it. You will get the money he paid with, but you won’t be alive to enjoy it."
His grin widened as he said in mockery, "I’ll repeat your options in case you’ve forgotten them. Escape, call your reinforcement, submit, or die. Those are your only options."
"Pick one of them quickly. If you haven’t made up your mind which option to pick, I won’t mind if you give me a cocky reply like you did last time."
Then he raised his voice as he urged Loki, saying, "Go on. Say something or do something."