Returning in Disappointment

The thick pink carpet was completely undamaged, except for a patch of ash. It was hard to believe that such a powerful flame could burn the carpet without damaging it, demonstrating the exquisite level of Yue Qianchou's control over fire. Only Yue Qianchou himself knew the secret behind it; they say that playing with fire will get you burned, but he could control it with ease.

The Demon King Wood Lady Mu was somewhat better off, having already witnessed the fate of Old Lady Teng and her husband. But the Ghost Queen You Yan was horrified. Yue Qianchou had reduced the female demon to ashes with a mere flick of his finger. She was confident she could easily kill the demon, but she could never reduce someone to dust with a single wave of her finger. Especially the intense yang energy emanating from the azure flames—she knew without even trying that it could restrain her.

This disciple of the Punishment Envoy was indeed extraordinary; his ruthless killing manner truly reflected the Punishment Envoy's style. You Yan's gaze towards Yue Qianchou grew even more respectful.

Yue Qianchou glanced at You Yan, who stood with her hands clasped. Although he hated ungrateful people, killing Peach Blossom here was somewhat like making an example of her. He wanted to show this female ghost king that he, the disciple of the Punishment Envoy, was not someone to be trifled with.

He walked unceremoniously to the chair in the center of the main hall and sat down, looking at the two people standing below him, and said, "Since the Demon King and Ghost King who are in charge of this place are here, I'll get straight to the point. I've come here to ask for your help. I need a batch of Spirit Stone. I wonder how many you can provide?"

Wood Lady Mu smiled and said, "The Spirit Stone have already been prepared, why did you have to make this trip yourself, sir?"

Yue Qianchou was taken aback and asked, "What? You knew I was coming to collect Spirit Stone?"

Wood Lady Mu and You Yan exchanged a glance. The former asked in confusion, "When He Li alive, he set some rules. Doesn't the master know about them?"

"I don't know, what are the rules?"

Wood Lady Mu explained, "The Demon Ghost Domain is divided into three hundred territories, each governed by one demon and one ghost. Therefore, He Li set a rule that each territory must pay ten thousand high-grade Spirit Stones per month. At the beginning of each month, the rulers of the three hundred territories will send people to deliver the Spirit Stone to the Thousand Mile Lake, where He Li will collect them all. There is no need for you to go door to door to collect them."

"What?" Yue Qianchou exclaimed in surprise, "Only 10,000 high-grade Spirit Stones per month per territory?" He had something else in mind but didn't say it out loud. Damn it! You're not kidding me! The territory of just one is terrifyingly large, and you can't even come up with 10,000 a month?

You Yan and asked, "Sir, is there anything amiss?"

"It's not that it's inappropriate, it's just..." Yue Qianchou hesitated for a moment, pinching his chin, and said, "Isn't it a bit too little for each territory to pay 10,000 high-grade Spirit Stones per month?"

Wood Lady Mu asked, "Does the master wish to establish new rules? How much do you think should be paid each month?"

"Well..." Yue Qianchou pondered to himself. Three hundred territories, ten thousand a month was indeed too little. In a year, it would only amount to about thirty million, which was less than what he could make from selling two Seven Star Blood Orchid. If he could increase the profit a hundredfold, it would be more than three billion a year, which would be a huge profit. After thinking for a moment, he said, "What do you think about each territory contributing one million a month?"

"What... one million..." Wood Lady Mu and You Yan exclaimed in unison, their faces filled with disbelief.

Yue Qianchou's face immediately darkened, and he coldly snorted, "What? Is one million a lot of money?"

"That's indeed too much. I estimate that most territories can't hand it over." Wood Lady Mu shook her head and smiled bitterly. "Sir, you may not know this, but Spirit Stone are the rarest thing in the Demon Ghost Domain. For example, in our territory, it's difficult to raise one million high-grade Spirit Stones in a year. Sir, you want us to hand over one million every month. It's not that we're unwilling to hand them over, but that we simply can't afford to."

Yue Qianchou was stunned for a moment, then asked suspiciously, "Is the Demon Ghost Domain really that poor?"

In his memory, the Demon Ghost Domain was not only rich in rare spiritual herbs, but also had a lot of Spirit Stone. Back then, he not only got a lot of supreme-grade Spirit Stones in the Demon Ghost Domain, but even got divine-grade ones. He was too lazy to dig up those high-grade Spirit Stones. How could a Demon King not be able to come up with a million high-grade Spirit Stones a month?

Wood Lady Mu smiled bitterly, "Compared to the human world, the Demon Ghost Domain is indeed very poor. Even among Demon Cultivators of the same level, those in the Demon Ghost Domain take much longer to cultivate, sometimes even several times longer. Fortunately, the Spiritual Qi in the Demon Ghost Domain is far more abundant than that in the human world."

Yue Qianchou was a little frustrated. He didn't believe the two women would dare to lie to him, and it seemed his plan to get rich was ruined. He asked somewhat resentfully, "Are all territories this poor? Aren't there any richer ones?"

"That's not necessarily true. A lucky territory might stumble upon an unexploited new mine, but the chances are slim. After all, the Demon Ghost Domain has existed for so many years, and the proportion of cultivators there is far greater than in the human world. Even if a new mine is discovered, the share of resources is much larger. Therefore, undiscovered Spirit Stone mine are rare; most territories are searching for overlooked Spirit Stone in older mines," Wood Lady Mu explained.

It seemed that finding the Spirit Stone mine back then was purely by chance. Yue Qianchou sat there silently, his mind preoccupied with the tens of millions of high-grade Spirit Stones that the Wu family had swallowed. After a long while, he said helplessly, "Since that's the case, let's do it the old way!"

He glanced at the sky outside; it was already beginning to lighten. He figured another day had passed, and he needed to rush back to the fields. There were still a few days left until the beginning of the month, and he couldn't afford to run out of Spirit Stone for the Deficient Flame Mysterious Fruit. It seemed he'd have to use his savings to cover the costs for a few more days. "Oh well," he thought, "Even at least I'll make 36 million a year. Even after deducting expenses, I can still earn over 30 million." He could only console himself with this thought, listlessly standing up and waving his hand, saying, "That's all for now. I have things to do and need to get back."

Dejected, he failed to consider that even in the mortal Cultivation World, how many sects could earn over thirty million a year? He should be content. However, he was used to large sums of money, and a little less money couldn't lift his spirits.

"Sir," Wood Lady Mu approached and bowed, "I just received a message that several Demon Kings and ghost kings from nearby territories have heard that you are here and are rushing here to pay their respects. Some territories have even prepared gifts for you. Would you please wait a little longer?"

Yue Qianchou glanced at her and thought to himself, "Damn it! So poor that she can't even afford Spirit Stone, what kind of good gift could she possibly have? What else could the Demon Ghost Domain have besides spirit herbs!"

Thinking of the spirit herbs, he paused slightly, reached out and took out the Pill Sect Pill Formula tablet from the Pill Sect, then took out a blank jade tablet. He spent some time copying the images of the spirit herbs he didn't have on the Pill Formula tablet, and handed it to Wood Lady Mu, saying, "There are some images of spirit herbs in here. You can make a few more copies and give them to the other Demon King and ghost kings, telling them to collect some for me when they have time. As for those so-called greeting gifts, you can keep them for me for now, and give them to me when you have the chance."

Taking the jade tablet, Wood Lady Mu asked with some surprise, "Sir, do you know how to refine pills?"

"What's so strange about that?" Yue Qianchou waved his hand weakly and said, "I'm leaving now." He didn't know that almost no one in the Demon Ghost Domain knew how to refine pills, otherwise there wouldn't be so many rare spiritual herbs that no one had picked.

Wood Lady Mu glanced at You Yan, bowed, and said, "We might encounter someone as blind as Old Monster Teng on the road. We'll see you off, sir."

"No need!" Yue Qianchou walked out of the hall alone, waving his hand with his back to the two women. "I'm in a bad mood. If anyone dares to be so foolish, I won't waste words. I'll kill them all." With that, he drew his longsword and soared into the sky...

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