Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“This…”
The continuous battles would still cause men to die, no matter how unprepared and outnumbered the bandits were.
Right now, all the thunder stones belonged to Jiang Yi. However, he had to hand them in to the City Lord Mansion according to the population in the city. With fewer people, he needed to hand in fewer thunder stones and would make more money.
“Will we be punished for being so treacherous?”
Jiang Yi scratched his nose. He wouldn’t even blink when it came to killing tens of thousands of martial artists. However, it didn’t feel right to send people to death using some crafts.
“Pfff!”
Both Feng Luan and Qian Wanguan smiled. Feng Luan glanced at Jiang Yi and said, “Young Master, you are very strange. Why will we be punished for this? We never force them to go. Right now, many people even competed for being the candidates. These battles are not very dangerous, and one will get a great share of celestial stones and treasures. You can just look around in other Gods Bestow Tribes, there are so many people vying to collaborate with us. Men die for wealth, birds die for food. This world is just this cruel. Which war has no casualties?”
“I see!”
Jiang Yi nodded and didn’t ask further. Pausing, he looked at the east and said, “You’ll deal with these matters. I’m currently realizing a kind of upper-tier dao pattern so don’t disturb me unless it’s necessary. I’ll visit the City Lord and the top ten commanders later before returning to the Thunder Mountains to cultivate.”
“Upper-tier dao pattern?”
Feng Luan’s and Qian Wanguan’s eyes brightened. They were well aware of what upper-tier dao patterns meant. Qian Wanguan nodded repeatedly and said, “Boss, rest assured and continue with your cultivation. With us, there won’t be any trouble in the city. If there is something important, I will inform you immediately.”
Jiang Yi took Qian Wanguan to visit City Lord Lu Ping first before the top ten commanders. This time, he felt clearly different. The City Lord and the top ten commanders were obviously much more polite and friendlier to Jiang Yi.
Jiang Yi was their cash cow. If they kept the cooperation going, they would make a ton of money. With the money, they would not only be able to bribe the people with high positions but also purchase many resources for cultivation, to improve their strengths and be valued by their clan.
After visiting the commanders, Jiang Yi went back and ate with the group. Then, he left the city to the thunder mountains to cultivate on his own. He just started the realizations of the second dao pattern. He desperately wanted to finish the deduction and realize the dao pattern completely.
…
The Sky Thunder City returned to calm again. Ten days later, Yang Dong led a group to kill the bandit legions again. This time, he brought nearly 100 Heaven Monarch Realm martial experts and 8,000 Vajra Realm martial experts.
Although some of them had yet to complete their service, with the help of the top ten commanders, they left the island blatantly before quietly swimming to a giant island several kilometers away.
There were many bandits on that island. There were more than 10,000 men in total, and over 49 Heaven Monarchs. The leader was even a mid-tier Heaven Monarch!
The group returned on the sixth day. However, fewer than 4,000 Vajra Realm martial experts were left, and eight Heaven Monarch Realm martial experts also lost their lives. However, those who made it back alive were thrilled as the harvest was too great this time.
As expected…
After the spoils of war and the celestial stones were divided, the entire city was shocked. The Vajra Realm martial expert who made the least contribution got nearly 10,000 celestial stones and one Saint Artifact. The top ten commanders were overjoyed as the dividend they got for this time alone was sufficient for them to live the rest of their lives comfortably. They needed to stay as the commanders for 100 years to get Lu Clan’s salaries as much as this.
After some time, the golden flood dragon led another team out again and brought only 50 Heaven Monarchs, which made many low-grade Vajra Realm martial experts unhappy. Why were they left out this time?
As unhappy as they were, nobody dared to voice it out. Under Qian Wanguan’s iron ruling, even the Heaven Monarchs didn’t have the audacity to reveal any trace of dissatisfaction—let alone these Vajra Realm martial artists. In this world, people worshiped power. Under the absolute mighty strength of Jiang Yi, whoever dared to come out from the crowd had to die.
As they kept selling the thunder stones and ambushing the bandit legions, Jiang Yi, his group, and the City Lord Mansion all reaped great profits as the time went by. Although the population of martial artists in the city continued to dwindle, those who stayed alive got huge rewards; the same was for the Heaven Monarchs. Everybody was more loyal to Jiang Yi as they were getting richer and richer.
After half a year, Qian Wanguan worked out the math. The money that they made was already equivalent to 30 billion celestial stones, which could be traded for three billion merits on the black market!
Qian Wanguan had asked his men to trade for one billion merits and secretly ordered people to take the merchant ship to the nearby Blue Dragon City on the Blue Dragon Archipelago and buy a house there. He was going to send Yun Fei and Zhan Wushuang over to cultivate.
This was not a last-minute idea that Qian Wanguan came up with but the result of a discussion between Jiang Yi and the rest. Zhan Wushuang and Yun Fei were a couple. They needed a stable life to cultivate. Following the crowd was too dangerous. The selling of thunder stones might be exposed anytime. Then, Jiang Yi had to bring the group to escape from Sin Island, continue to wander around the world, and find a place to stay. Moreover, the Lu Clan might send absolute masters to chase after them, and they might all die.
If Zhan Wushuang was alone, Jiang Yi might not consider sending him away. However, he was married to Yun Fei now, had a family, and needed stability now. They seldom showed up in the Sky Thunder City. They either cultivated in the Thearch Palace or stayed in their courtyard. If they went to the Blue Dragon City, their essence force would double as well. They could conceal their identities and wouldn’t attract any attention. As long as they didn’t leave the city, they would be absolutely safe.
Jiang Yi returned to the city especially for this matter and to see Zhan Wushuang and Yun Fei off. He also promised to get them back if they went to the God Bestowing city and settled there.
Zhan Wushuang was not an indecisive man. On the same night, there was an operation to trade the thunder stones. They hid among the troops. Qian Wanguan personally arranged them to go to the White Sprout Island and take the merchant association’s ship to directly go to the Blue Dragon City.
Jiang Yi was planning to send Jiang Xiaonu and Qing Yu with them, too, but Jiang Yi gave up as they said they would rather die than to leave him. After cultivating for half of a year, Jiang Yi made great progress in this dao pattern cultivation. He realized six out of the nine dao patterns. After realizing the remaining three dao patterns, he would fuse them together to the upper-tier dao pattern.
Zhan Wushuang and Yun Fei leaving made Jiang Yi more or less sentimental, even though it was for their own good. He didn’t instantly leave the city to cultivate but stayed in the city, waiting for Qian Wanguan’s return. He would only be relieved after knowing that they safely got on the merchant ship.
Jiang Yi stopped cultivating over these few days and spent his time with Feng Luan, Qing Yu, and Jiang Xiaonu. Xiaonu had been in seclusion for some time and attained some breakthrough in the Ink Feather Divine Art. However, she was still quite far from the second-stage perfected realm. In the days, he took those three to stroll around the city. At nights, he had fun with Feng Luan and Qing Yu in bed. Lives were comfortable and jolly.
On the fifth day, the men that went out to sell the thunder stones returned!
However… to Jiang Yi’s alarm, less than half of the men came back; and Qian Wanguan wasn’t among them!
Jiang Yi went mad. After asking the golden flood dragon about what happened, roaring killing intent surged through his body. He almost released the Thunder Fire and killed all the Heaven Monarchs that returned.
When Qian Wanguan was his way back to the city—after seeing off Zhan Wushuang and Yun Fei and successfully making the trade on the White Tiger Island, he was ambushed by a bandit legion. Both Qian Wanguan and the golden flood dragon were captured alive. Half of the 50 Heaven Monarchs were slaughtered. The other men barely made it back.
The reason why the golden flood dragon could return was that the leader of that bandit legion asked them to pass a message to Jiang Yi: Prepare 10 billion celestial stones if he wanted to ransom Qian Wanguan. If they didn’t see the celestial stones in half a month, Qian Wanguan would be dead.
“Feng’er, prepare 10 billion celestial stones. I’m going to see the City Lord now!”
All the celestial stones were with Feng Luan. After giving the order, Jiang Yi rose up and flew straight to the City Lord Mansion.
“Uh…”
Countless men in the city saw Jiang Yi flying to the City Lord Mansion with a murderous aura, their faces all turned pale… for they had a strange feeling that something big was about to happen.
…
