At Zamin's statement, Tiyun completely froze.
His eyes slowly widened as the sheer weight of the name registered in his mind.
"What?" he breathed.
He quickly shook his head, physically forcing himself out of his stunned stupor. He turned his full attention back to the blue-haired foreigner.
"You want... us to help you fight The Grand Lotus?" he asked, his voice thick with absolute disbelief.
Annie casually shrugged, resting a hand on her hip. "Well, it's not that I need you for that, but you would certainly help." She waved her free hand dismissively. "The only thing I actually need from you is information about him. Where he is, what his current temperament is, if he's gotten stronger... things like that."
Tiyun let out a heavy sigh, dropping his gaze to the wooden floorboards as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "You talk like you've fought him before," he remarked.
"I didn't personally fight him," Annie corrected effortlessly, "but I know how he fights. The, uh... crescent-shaped fire kicks that throw out flames? Or those sonic-fast punches he does?"
Zamin's head snapped toward her in pure shock. "Wait. That's the version of Joshua Ambrose you are measuring yourself against?"
Annie turned to him, a playfully confused expression on her face as she tapped a slender finger against her lower lip. "Is that a problem?"
"Yes. Yes, it very much is," Tiyun said.
He slowly pushed himself up from the mat until he was standing, ignoring the lingering ache in his muscles.
"He has grown much stronger than the version of himself you are talking about. Listen... you did well... No, you did great against me. But me? I am not Joshua Ambrose." He looked her dead in the eye, his expression entirely serious. "We are both chi cultivators, yes, but I do not match up to him in the slightest. He is on a completely different realm entirely compared to me or Zamin."
Zamin gave a grim nod of agreement from his stool. "Yeah, he's telling the truth. If it was that old version of The Grand Lotus you're talking about, we could have beaten him. But now? He's completely out of our league."
Annie raised both her hands in a placating gesture, motioning for the two men to calm down. "Relax. I don't need you to help me fight him directly. I just need you to keep his disciples occupied while I deal with him myself."
She lowered her hands, resting one flat against her chest.
"After all," she continued softly.
A smile stretched across her lips. It was a perfectly polite expression, yet unlike every other time she had smiled today, this one held absolutely no warmth, joy, or mischievousness. It was entirely hollow.
"I would never let anyone else get between myself and him."
Both men felt a cold shiver crawl across their skin. Her hollow expression, paired with those softly spoken words, carried a heavy, unspoken promise—anyone foolish enough to stand between her and her target would suffer a fate far worse than death.
"Message... gotten clearly," Tiyun muttered, tearing his eyes away from her. He looked over at his friend. "What should we do?"
Zamin kept his voice low. "What else? Let's just give her the information she wants and leave it at that. We don't have to actually involve ourselves with The Grand Lotus."
Tiyun gave a firm nod of agreement. Having reached their consensus, the two hunters turned back to Annie, ready to formally decline her request for combat assistance.
But before they could speak a single word, Annie calmly pulled a remarkably heavy coin pouch from her waist.
"By the way, if you help, I'll give you this," she casually chimed.
Without waiting for a response, she untied the string and simply upended the pouch. A cascade of wealth spilled onto the wooden floorboards. Dozens of silver coins, at least a dozen gleaming gold pieces, and half a dozen incredibly rare platinum shiro clattered loudly, forming a dazzling pile at her feet.
The two hunters froze. Their eyes were completely glued to the small fortune resting on the floor. Slowly, mechanically, they raised their heads to look back up at her.
"Oh, and I have another pouch if you need more," she added, her trademark playful smirk returning to her lips.
Tiyun and Zamin slowly turned their heads to look at each other. A silent, instantaneous conversation passed between them. They gave each other a single, synchronized nod and snapped their attention back to the smiling foreigner.
"So, you need us to help you with his disciples?" Tiyun asked, his tone entirely shifted.
Zamin leaned forward on his stool, seamlessly adding, "And information on him? Yeah, we can do that. We can even lead you right to him."
Annie let out a delighted chuckle.
"Good boys," she purred, gesturing down at the pile of wealth. "Take your shiro. And yes, leading me directly to him would be absolutely perfect~"