What a Coincidence

[Today's debt: twenty-seven Joy Coins, one holographic projection player, seventy-two decorative rivets, two navel studs, three ear studs, three butt studs, one custom genuine leather belt, one exquisite inner lining, and one high-end lighter.]

[Signed: Mu Liang.]

Lan Yuzai held the IOU and nearly burst into tears.

Was that just a little?

That was a billion little!

He'd been robbed, hadn't he?

He was sure he'd been thoroughly looted!

If his tattoos could be peeled off, would they be taken away and traded too?!

After removing all those unnecessary accessories, Lan Yuzai looked a little more respectable as he stood in the corner of the shops on the forty-sixth floor, holding up his pants.

He turned to look at "Mu Liang," who was happily carrying bags upon bags of goods, wanting to say something but not knowing where to begin complaining.

Right... he'd been caught by this big shot and beaten into submission... Even if the big shot stripped him naked and sold him off as livestock, that would be perfectly reasonable by the rules of the Lower City and their thug circles.

Lan Yuzai silently tilted his head up at the ceiling, tears streaming down his face in wordless grief.

"Let's go!"

Wang Jixuan tossed over a nylon rope he'd picked up off the roadside:

"Find somewhere to stay. A cheap inn will do."

Lan Yuzai eagerly trotted after him.

He could clearly feel that after bleeding him dry this time, the big shot's attitude toward him had softened!

Learning some skills was just around the corner!

"Boss, what the hell is an inn?"

"It's... a hotel."

"The two of us are staying at a hotel? Isn't that a little suggestive? Hey, hey, hey, Boss, don't hit me! I've got a filthy mouth, a filthy mouth!"

A few minutes later, Lan Yuzai, with one eye blackened, led Wang Jixuan dejectedly to a cheap hotel he had stayed at before.

Lan Yuzai was beginning to reasonably suspect something.

This big shot just wanted to keep beating him, venting on him, getting revenge for the fact that he'd led his underlings to steal his rations for the past half year!

The problem was...

Why had this big shot looked so easy to bully before?

Lan Yuzai found that impossible to understand. When he entered the cheap hotel, he instinctively held his head high and puffed out his chest again.

The old man behind the counter instinctively gripped the pistol at the edge of the desk, then revealed a smile and greeted them warmly:

"One room, three nights, one Joy Coin. I've got the cheapest place in the City of Joy. Every room comes with a high-strength alloy door that can withstand a single Rocket Launcher blast.

"None of the rooms have spare keys!"

Wang Jixuan took out the two thumb-sized coins he had just exchanged at a shop.

The old man accepted them with a beaming smile.

"Two rooms or one room? One, understood... Here are a few reminders. All electrical appliances in the room require coins to operate. Here is your key."

Lan Yuzai rolled his eyes beside him and muttered, "Crook."

Wang Jixuan had not thought much of it at first, but when he saw the automatic flush tank in the tiny bathroom in the corner of the suite classified as an electrical appliance, several dark lines appeared across his forehead.

Cunning merchant.

Two-thirds of the forty-sixth floor was occupied by the City of Joy gang.

The City of Joy gang was said to have extremely deep backing, with forces from the Upper City supporting it. It maintained a friendly relationship with the Silver Party on the same floor, and the Silver Party even actively provided protection and combat personnel for the City of Joy.

To create a stable atmosphere for entertainment, public security in City of Joy territory was generally quite good. This was the fortress's large-scale entertainment district, roughly divided into the gambling district, nightclub district, shopping district, Pervert Zone, and recuperation district.

Wang Jixuan and the others were currently in the transitional area between the gambling district and the nightclub district.

The emergency food they had brought was enough for two people to last four or five days. The Joy Coins Lan Yuzai had previously saved up could also buy quite a few survival supplies.

—The most expensive things here were entertainment services.

After settling in temporarily, Wang Jixuan immediately began making talismans.

To avoid exposing his secret, he deliberately used wooden crates to partition off a simple compartment.

He did not restrict Lan Yuzai's movement within the room, merely requiring him to stay quiet and not leave the room without permission.

Then... Wang Jixuan began suffering under Lan Yuzai's snoring.

How could this guy sleep?! Wasn't he being held hostage by me?!

Wang Jixuan secretly shook his head.

Fortunately, the talisman-making process went rather smoothly.

Paper soaked in Deactivated Blade Beast Blood for several hours and then dried could now serve as basic talisman paper.

After Blade Beast Blood was simmered thick over an alcohol lamp, it became a simple Spiritual Fluid.

Wang Jixuan dipped his finger into the Spiritual Fluid and eagerly wrote his first talisman onto a strip of cut pink spirit paper.

Explosive Fire Talisman!

Formed in one stroke!

As soon as the talisman was completed, the markings on it began to glimmer faintly. Weak threads of spiritual energy gathered from the air and seeped into the talisman's lines.

The talisman slowly floated up and trembled lightly before Wang Jixuan pressed it down with his palm.

A thread of inner breath wound around it, sealing in the gathered spiritual energy. This paper talisman could then last for about a month.

This talisman could be attached to various objects and detonated, or thrown out to explode into a fireball. Since the spiritual energy in the air was rather thin, Wang Jixuan did not know its exact power.

He glanced at the gang leader in the corner, who had started standing on his head and picking his nose...

Although Wang Jixuan wanted to continue venting Mu Liang's anger, this Rotten Fish had already been taught quite a few lessons by him. He would spare him for now.

Wang Jixuan drew twenty-four talismans in one go and only stopped when more than half of the energy in his body had been consumed.

Close Eyes and Concentrate, embrace the origin and guard the one.

Wang Jixuan began meditating, rapidly restoring his inner breath.

Throughout this cycle of consumption and recovery, his total inner breath was slowly increasing, while his meridians were continuously being opened up.

Wang Jixuan was very fortunate that this body's Primordial Yang had not been lost. That had greatly increased his cultivation speed.

He needed at least five days to produce two hundred talismans, mainly Divine Movement Talismans, Explosive Fire Talismans, Adamantine Talismans, Force Slowing Talismans, and Blood Stopping Talismans. He also needed to prepare a few other talismans that might come in handy, such as Miasma Repelling Talismans, Water Repelling Talismans, Fire Repelling Talismans, Ghost Dispelling Talismans, and so on, for self-defense.

In this fortress where day and night were indistinguishable, three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Lan Yuzai finally could not help asking, "Boss, what exactly are we doing here?"

"Preparing for a magical battle."

Wang Jixuan looked up at him.

This guy really... did nothing but eat and sleep, or lie on the bed staring blankly into space. He perfectly embodied the principles of a fish's life.

Lan Yuzai raised a hand to stroke his chin and muttered, "Boss, are you really going to take revenge on the Black Fire Gang?"

"Before I went looking for you, I got rid of two Black Fire Gang lackeys. I took this pistol from them."

Wang Jixuan shook the pistol at his side and continued organizing the talismans he had made.

He had sewn the inner lining himself, adding more than a dozen pockets to sort the talismans by type for easy access.

Wang Jixuan added, "Before I go find them, I'll lock you somewhere and leave you enough food to last several days."

"Huh?"

Lan Yuzai's fish eyes widened:

"You're really going to go up against the Black Fire Gang? Fuck, Boss, you're seriously awesome! The Black Fire Gang has more than a thousand lackeys alone! They might not have the most members among the seven gangs, but they have the biggest business, deep backing, and ruthless methods. Their territory even has those Laser Cannons you only see in movies!"

Wang Jixuan became interested and asked with a smile, "What is a Laser Cannon?"

"It's... I'm terrible at physics, Boss!"

Lan Yuzai gave a bitter smile.

"Leaving everything else aside, each of the seven major gangs keeps several snipers who can shoot someone in the head from hundreds of meters away. They say every sniper is treated like an uncle. They're the Lower City's true killing weapons!

"A pistol like the one we can get easily loses accuracy beyond ten meters, jams if it isn't maintained properly, and can't even penetrate ordinary body armor... They aren't in the same league at all."

Wang Jixuan asked, "If they want to kill me, why can't I kill them?"

"How far can you fling a Nut Cap?"

"Thirty zhang... about a hundred meters. Within a hundred meters, it can pierce a thick wooden board."

Wang Jixuan explained simply.

His current realm was too low. If the distance became any greater, the thread of energy attached to the Nut Cap would dissipate.

Lan Yuzai asked, "Then how many can you throw in a row, Boss?"

"Thirty or forty."

"Then you can deal with thirty or forty people at most!"

Lan Yuzai smiled bitterly.

"Two fists can't fend off four hands. No matter how strong you are, you're only one person. But then again, if the Black Fire Gang wants to take you out, you really won't have anywhere to run... How about you just fulfill me, Boss? I'll sell you to them and earn the reward, hehehe."

A chill entered Wang Jixuan's eyes as he slightly Flicked Finger.

Lan Yuzai instinctively squatted beside the bed with his head covered, hurriedly saying, "A joke! It was a joke! I'm your little brother now! How could a little brother betray his big brother?!"

Wang Jixuan snorted and stared at the pistol, beginning to ponder carefully.

Perhaps he needed more than talismans. He also needed more ingenious objects like this.

Lan Yuzai added softly, "And it's not just guns. They also have lots of bombs. Those things are even more powerful."

"Bombs?" Wang Jixuan asked quietly.

As they spoke, the window behind him, two-thirds of which had been sealed with an iron plate, was lit up by a flash of light.

A ball of fire suddenly appeared at the corner of the window, streaking in at incredible speed from afar before landing on the street outside!

Lan Yuzai's eyes widened and his mouth fell open, but he did not have time to speak.

Boom!

The room's glass instantly shattered, the barrier was shoved inward, and rolling heat rushed into the room.

The blast had struck the street right outside!

Flying glass stabbed Lan Yuzai in the face, making him cry out twice in pain. Before he could yell again, a figure flashed before his eyes. Then he felt his arm being yanked up, while a piercing ringing filled his ears.

Gunfire crackled outside the window like beans popping in a pan!

Smack!

A slap brought Lan Yuzai directly back to his senses.

He shook his head and stared blankly at Wang Jixuan before him in the emergency light from the bathroom.

Wang Jixuan was uninjured. The compartment he had made earlier had blocked most of the glass shards, though he was inevitably covered in dust and grime.

Daoist Wang frowned as he pulled the glass embedded in Lan Yuzai's face out. Before Lan Yuzai could howl, he quickly tapped him with a finger, took out a Blood Stopping Talisman, and stuck it to Lan Yuzai's neck.

Lan Yuzai suddenly felt his wounds grow very warm.

"Boss... the gangs are fighting... we need to run..."

"They're exchanging gunfire outside," Wang Jixuan said. "It's relatively safer here. Don't move. I've already stopped the bleeding."

"Okay, okay..."

Wang Jixuan got up and went into the room. Because of the explosion on the street, the power inside had gone out, and everything was in a mess.

He picked up the pistol from among the shattered glass and, following the method he had figured out over the past few days, opened the magazine to check the five remaining bullets.

He glanced at the street, where gunfire was still rattling away, and sighed softly.

Beasts outside, slaughter within.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, he heard someone on the street shouting through a loudspeaker:

"Black Fire Gang! Have you lost your minds?! Captain Zhou came to negotiate with you! This is City of Joy territory!"

Black Fire Gang?

Captain Zhou?

Infinite Heavenly Venerable.

Daoist Wang moved to the window and observed for a while. Without much hesitation, he stuck two Divine Movement Talismans to the outer sides of his thighs, flipped over the window, and leaped down from the third floor!