The sudden voice made Baldy Zhao freeze. He instinctively looked toward its source and saw the two people he least wanted to meet standing in the corner, their faces expressionless.
Baldy Zhao's heart clenched. He had just started to rise when metal chains shot out of thin air and bound him tight.
Tang Ya reacted quickly, snatching up a rag nearby and stuffing it into Baldy Zhao's mouth.
"Mmmph! Mmmph!"
Watching the figure thrash on the ground, Mu Guiyun slowly crouched down and said calmly, "Now, I ask and you answer. If you say one word of nonsense, I'll send you on your way. Understand?"
"Mmm! Mmm!"
Baldy Zhao nodded repeatedly. He could feel the chains around him absorbing his Soul Power.
Mu Guiyun pulled the rag from his mouth and asked his first question outright. "What exactly is this so-called protection money?"
Driven by the instinct to survive, Baldy Zhao told them nearly everything he knew. Mu Guiyun's brows furrowed as he listened.
"The Shrek City Defense Army..."
Shrek City had an army of its own, fixed at ten thousand men. Three thousand of them were Soul Masters, most of them graduates from the Outer Court who hadn't been selected for the Inner Court.
According to Baldy Zhao, the people they usually charged protection money were ordinary folk without Soul Power, like Ke En's family. The slightly more upscale shops had other people sent to collect from them.
In the end, all the protection money was pooled together and distributed by the higher-ups.
The "higher-ups" Baldy Zhao had mentioned were low-ranking officers in the Shrek City Defense Army. They were also the ones shielding the collectors.
As for the senior officers in the City Defense Army, they wouldn't stoop to taking such petty sums.
Well, would you look at that—collected in one place and divided equally. They were practically building an entire industry chain!
Mu Guiyun's expression turned grave. Tang Ya, beside him, was already gaping in shock.
Not only was someone daring to collect protection money in Shrek City, but the people shielding them were actually from the City Lord's Mansion...
It wasn't as if no one had tried reporting it to the City Lord's Mansion. Most never even caught sight of the officials in charge before being sent packing.
Besides, even after handing over a portion of their earnings, people still made far more than they would in other cities. And Shrek City was widely recognized across the continent as the safest city.
So in the end, everyone chose silence. Better not to stir up trouble.
As for why Ke En's family had refused to pay protection money, it was because Baldy Zhao was greedy and wanted to pocket an extra share for himself...
"What are the names of those officials you mentioned, and which departments do they belong to?"
It wasn't that Mu Guiyun was sticking his nose where it didn't belong. Left unchecked for long enough, this could turn into a ticking time bomb.
Baldy Zhao, who had seemed fairly cooperative until then, suddenly began to stammer. His eyes darted away, too.
Oh? Still not talking?
At the sight of this, Mu Guiyun's mouth twisted into a grin. Gold Element swirled wildly before him, eventually forming a blade so thin it was like a cicada's wing.
"You're not going to talk? Do you know what this is?"
Baldy Zhao shook his head. A cruel smile curled Mu Guiyun's lips. "It's called the Happy Brand Blade. As for what it does, you'll find out soon enough!"
"Tang Ya, turn around!"
"Huh? Oh, okay!"
Though Tang Ya had no idea what Mu Guiyun was planning, she obediently turned away.
As Mu Guiyun approached with a sinister grin, a terrible feeling welled up in Baldy Zhao's heart.
"I've told you everything I know! Don't come any closer—aaaaah!"
"Is it really okay to just leave the body there?"
Recalling everything that had just happened, Tang Ya's pretty face flushed again. The sweet, bloody tang in the air had even made her Soul Power stir, as if she were on the verge of a breakthrough.
Hearing that, Mu Guiyun smiled faintly. "Don't worry about it. After this, those parasites should behave themselves for a while."
Before leaving, Mu Guiyun had deliberately left a Shrek Inspectorate Wanted Order beside Baldy Zhao's corpse.
If those people dared to stir up trouble under the pressure of the Inspectorate, Mu Guiyun would have to give them a thumbs-up.
At that point, it wouldn't be a simple case of corruption anymore.
"I see. Huh? Candied hawthorns!"
Tang Ya nodded slightly. Her gaze happened to sweep across the street corner, where she spotted a candied hawthorn vendor. She immediately took Mu Guiyun by the hand and hurried over.
"Boss, how much are the candied hawthorns?"
"Five Copper Soul Coins a skewer. If they're not sweet, you don't pay!"
"Five Copper Soul Coins..."
Tang Ya rummaged around in her clothes for a long while, then finally pulled out a handful of scattered coins.
"Five, six, seven..."
After counting them, Tang Ya's face fell with regret. She looked at Mu Guiyun and gave him an embarrassed smile. "Gui Yun, could you lend me two Copper Soul Coins? Hehe!"
Mu Guiyun: ...
On the Shrek campus, Tang Ya had one arm around Mu Guiyun's and held a candied hawthorn skewer in the other, licking it with obvious delight.
"Delicious!"
Savoring the sweetness on her tongue, Tang Ya narrowed her eyes happily. "By the way, our Outer Court is holding an inter-grade challenge tournament next week. Do you want to join? Slurp, slurp!"
Glancing at Tang Ya's less-than-elegant way of eating, Mu Guiyun thought it over for a moment, then readily agreed.
For some time now, Mu Guiyun's sparring partner had always been Zhang Lexuan, a Soul Douluo. He had no idea how he measured up against Soul Masters of his own rank, so this was the perfect chance to find out.
"You'll join? That's wonderful!"
Tang Ya was thrilled when Mu Guiyun agreed. She beamed and tightened her grip on his arm without thinking.
Still, given Tang Ya's current build, she couldn't put much pressure on Mu Guiyun.
"With your strength, this Sect Master will bet on you to win every match. Won't I make a killing? Hehehe!"
Tang Ya chuckled, as if a pile of glittering Gold Soul Coins were already right in front of her. Mu Guiyun could only look at her in exasperation.
The two wandered around the Outer Court for a while before finally parting ways.
Now that Gilded Langxiao was finished, Mu Guiyun no longer needed to spend all his time in the Soul Tool Laboratory. He simply headed home.
As soon as he opened the door, a fiery red figure rushed toward him.
Having been through this countless times, Mu Guiyun instinctively opened his arms. Her soft body fell straight into his embrace.
"You're back!"
Ma Xiaotao rubbed against Mu Guiyun's chest. Because she had been cultivating without restraint, the Evil Fire that had been suppressed was once again on the verge of running wild.
Feeling her soft body in his arms, Mu Guiyun smiled. "Yeah. I've finished making the Soul Tool, so I finally have some free time starting today."
At that, Ma Xiaotao's face lit up. She was just about to speak when a strange fragrance reached her nose.
She would swear on her own ample chest that the scent definitely wasn't Zhang Lexuan's. Looking closely, she could even pick up the distinctive fragrance of Blue Silver Grass.
At the thought, Ma Xiaotao's face, which had been all smiles as she cuddled up to him, instantly darkened.