After saying his goodbyes, Yi Tianyun packed his things and set off for Lian’s village. If it weren’t for her, he would have gone directly to the Treasure Pavilions to buy materials and forge weapons to sell.
That way, he could first make a huge profit, then use the materials to craft weapons, and finally convert them into Madness Value! Right now, all he wanted was to rake in a large amount of Madness Value. Otherwise, his other Martial Arts would be too difficult to level up; they all required far too much Madness Value.
Next, he planned to upgrade his Luck Aura. He’d used it a few tis and knew how important it was. It had a massive impact on drop rates after a battle. If he wanted to strike it rich, he had to rely on it!
But for now, he had to go to Lian’s place. It wouldn’t be too late for them to go shopping together afterward. He had prepared plenty of Elixir Pills, enough to last him a very long ti.
’If I had enough materials, I’d forge a whole mountain of Soul Artifacts and upgrade all my weapons. Once they break through to the Divine Artifact level, won’t I be invincible?’ Yi Tianyun desperately wanted to do this, but the process would take far too long.
He currently had Advanced Forging Mastery and could forge Soul Artifacts, but his success rate was only ten percent. Even when stacked with his Luck Aura, the chance was rely twenty percent! Therefore, in the short term, it would be difficult to succeed even if he had a ton of materials. The success rate was just too low. He might as well try forging top-grade Spiritual Artifacts instead.
Forging one occasionally was feasible, but doing it continuously was out of the question.
So, he was just daydreaming. Divine Artifacts weren’t so easy to upgrade. His Frost Fist, for example, was only a Low-Grade Soul Artifact. It was still three full grades away from the Divine Artifact level, and the required Skill Level would surely be imnse.
He imdiately picked a direction and set off. The place where Lian lived was quite remote, even farther than Celestial Wind City, so the journey would be longer. It was a pity he had left the Snow Wolf at rak Palace as a Guardian Divine Beast; otherwise, riding it would have been much faster.
’It should be in this direction... I think it’s called Yunluo Village?’
Yi Tianyun had heard Lian ntion the general location, so he knew which way to go, but he wasn’t sure of the exact spot. After crossing several mountains, he finally spotted a small village from a high peak in the distance. He wasn’t sure if it was Yunluo Village, but he could find out by going over and asking.
’Huh, sothing doesn’t seem right...’
Yi Tianyun’s gaze sharpened as he faintly made out the situation in the distance. He saw a group of people storming into the village and starting to plunder it. Many villagers were kneeling on the ground, too scared to move. As he looked closer, his expression changed—he saw Lian!
...
"Lord Yun, we already paid our dues three months ago! Aren’t we supposed to pay every six months? Why are you demanding more now... Please, Lord Yun, spare us. We truly have no more money to give. If this goes on, the people of our village will starve to death."
The chief of Yunluo Village, Wu Liquan, knelt and pleaded, his old body trembling. Many of the villagers behind him also fell to their knees, begging the n to spare them.
The n before them were a band of bandits. Their leader, nad Cloud Celestial Saint, had a respectable cultivation, having reached the second level of the Spirit Refining Stage. The bandits behind him were his underlings, all at the fourth or fifth level of the Body Refining Stage or higher.
This group’s cultivation wasn’t bad at all, but they had no desire to join a sect. After all, sects lacked freedom, and if one’s talent was insufficient, the allocated resources were pitifully scarce. Being a bandit was different. They could plunder resources regularly, allowing them to raise their cultivation even with diocre talent.
Crucially, they could act as kings of their own mountain, living carefree lives. They took whatever they wanted and abducted any woman who caught their eye. It was a far more pleasant existence than joining so bullshit sect.
"Who said it’s every six months?! You pay when we tell you to pay!" Cloud Celestial Saint swept a cold gaze over the crowd and snarled, "Anyone else have an opinion? I wouldn’t mind dragging you back to our stockade for so... ’proper discipline’!"
Those present were mostly the old, the weak, won, and children; there were very few able-bodied n. Resistance was impossible. Besides, the bandits were all Cultivators. How could ordinary mortals possibly fight back?
At these words, many of the villagers trembled, but their eyes burned with helpless anger. They desperately wanted to fight back, but they were powerless.
"But... but we’re truly out of money, we really can’t pay..." Wu Liquan pleaded. "Lord Yun, could you please give us more ti? We’ll pay you later!" His old body, already kneeling, could not withstand much more abuse, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.
"Can’t pay, is that it? Fine. I rember there being a few able-bodied n here. Seize them!" Cloud Celestial God signaled his n to grab them. There were indeed a few young n in the village, but they were only seventeen or eighteen—barely more than boys who had just co of age.
This startled Wu Liquan, who scrambled to his feet and cried out, "We’ll pay! We’ll pay!"
As he spoke, he hastily signaled for soone to bring the money. Another villager quickly brought over so silver taels and handed them to Wu Liquan.
Wu Liquan, trembling, held out the silver—a full fifty taels. While not a huge sum, for this declining little village, it was a considerable amount of money.
Cloud Celestial Saint narrowed his eyes at him. He didn’t take the silver. Instead, he lashed out with a kick.
BANG! Wu Liquan was sent flying and imdiately spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Chief!" At that mont, Wang Decuan rushed forward to catch Wu Liquan. He glared at Cloud Celestial Saint in a rage. "Why are you still attacking him? We already paid the silver taels!"
"Why did I hit him?" Cloud Celestial Saint sneered. "A mont ago, you were all crying about having no money, so what’s this?! It seems you were hiding sothing. Did you think I wouldn’t find out? I heard a pretty girl returned to the village and brought a lot of silver taels with her. Now, where is she hiding?!"
The villagers’ faces went pale. ’Who could have leaked the news?’ they wondered.
"Not going to talk, are you? Fine, I’ll just have to make an example out of you," Cloud Celestial Saint said, drawing a Longsword and pointing it at Wu Liquan. "If you don’t tell where she is, I’ll kill every last one of you until soone does! And I’ll start with you, you incompetent chief!"
"If you want to harm the chief, you’ll have to get through first!" Wang Decuan shielded Wu Liquan with his own body, showing no fear of Cloud Celestial Saint.
"Oh? Got so backbone, do you?" Cloud Celestial Saint sneered. "Fine, we’ll start with you. Kill him!"
Instantly, a nearby underling drew his sword and charged, slashing down at Wang Decuan without a mont’s hesitation.
Wang Decuan didn’t even try to dodge, bracing himself to et the blow head-on.
BAM!
The sword never struck Wang Decuan. Instead, the bandit was sent flying by a kick, left sprawling on the ground and unable to get up.
"You bandits! I’m right here! Leave them alone!" Lian erged from one of the houses, glaring furiously at the n. She couldn’t bear to hide any longer and had finally run out.
"Lian, why did you co out..." Wu Liquan said, his voice trembling.
"If I didn’t, they would have killed him!" Lian retorted angrily.
"Well now, aren’t you a kind-hearted one. I like it!" Cloud Celestial Saint licked his lips, a predatory grin spreading across his face. "I hear you brought back plenty of silver taels, and even so Elixir Pills? Be a good girl and co back with . I’ll promise not to harm a single hair on their heads, and I’ll even waive this village’s paynts for the next three years. How about it?"
Was it a good deal? Of course not.
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