"Isn't Exterminating Nine Clans a Bit Much?"

After Chen Qiu asked that, he said nothing more. He merely looked quietly at Fat Dragon, hoping for a three-seven split.

Three for him, seven for Fat Dragon.

That would also settle the debt of gratitude he owed Fat Dragon from this Minor World. He did not like owing favors.

"Make it seven-three."

Fat Dragon pondered for a long while before speaking. "You get seven, I get three. Your combat strength is about to surpass mine now. Your luck is better than mine—you got a combat-type trait while still in the Qi Refining Realm."

"With traits like mine, I'm basically useless in the Qi Refining Realm. I won't have any particularly outstanding performance."

"I'll probably have to rely on you in the future."

"You take more this time. From now on, the two of us can travel together, so we'll have someone to watch each other's backs in this unfamiliar world. What do you say, Brother Chen Qiu?"

"Works for me."

Chen Qiu nodded without saying much else.

The last bit of time swiftly ran out. Huang Shikai, nearby, also died in despair beneath the Wolf King's jaws. Chen Qiu discovered something rather interesting as well: the Wraiths of those cultivators killed by the Wolf King could likewise be summoned by him.

In other words, any creature his Wraiths killed also counted as a kill by him.

In a sense, it was a perpetual motion machine.

That meant he could summon three cultivator Wraiths at the Sixth Level of the Qi Refining Realm and one at the Fifth Level of the Qi Refining Realm whenever he wished. It was a small trump card, but it gave him at least a little sense of security.

Dawn came.

The white vortex exit in the Minor World slowly emerged once more, while the Wolf King Wraith completely dispersed between heaven and earth.

The scenery before Chen Qiu's eyes shifted as he stepped into the white vortex. When everything settled, he had reappeared in the bamboo forest three li east of Windward City—but by then, quite a few people had surrounded them.

More than a hundred people, inside and out, had surrounded the two of them so tightly that not even water could pass through.

Many wore heavy killing intent on their faces, their features packed with brutish flesh. At a glance, they were clearly not people to provoke.

"I forgot to mention this."

Fat Dragon's mouth twitched slightly as he cautiously tugged at Chen Qiu's sleeve and whispered, "The biggest drawback of a Heavenly Dao Secret Realm is that you exit where you entered. That means plenty of people like to wait at the entrance, surround and kill those who come out, and reduce the risk to the lowest possible level."

"We seem to have forgotten to hire escorts from an escort agency."

"If you hired escorts, then once you came out of the secret realm alive, they would successfully protect you as you escaped this crisis."

"..."

Expressionless, Chen Qiu looked at the brawny men several zhang away, who surrounded the two of them with covetous eyes. He casually took a step back and said evenly, "What if there are no escorts?"

"Then you bring up your background, your faction. That can scare off quite a few people."

"And what if we have neither?"

"Then it depends on fate."

Just then—

"Kill!"

A group of vicious-looking burly men wielding woodcutting blades stood among the crowd. Their leader was the very same man who had encountered Chen Qiu earlier. His expression was shifting unpredictably as he raised his blade and roared, "The treasures from this secret realm have to be on those two! Whoever grabs them, keeps them!"

He had not expected this young man to emerge alive from the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm, much less that only two people had survived out of the hundred who entered.

Everyone knew that Slaughter-Type Heavenly Dao Secret Realms were dangerous, but that was only rumor. Few had ever seen one.

Now that he had seen it today, its danger was terrifying beyond belief.

Yet though the leading burly man's voice was filled with viciousness and his roar thundered loudly, he had no intention of taking even one step forward. Still, that shout instantly ignited the desire in everyone's hearts.

No one wanted to strike first, lest they run into a hard case.

But they were also afraid someone else would move first, worried that the treasures would all be snatched away.

When the first person charged forward, the entire scene immediately dissolved into chaos. The sky was just beginning to lighten, and countless burly men in the bamboo forest rushed at the skinny and fat young men in the crowd with weapons in hand.

Roars, the sound of blades cutting through flesh, blood spraying through the air.

In such circumstances, people quickly lost their reason.

They could not even tell friend from foe. They only felt that everyone around them was attacking them. They were merely cultivators in the Qi Refining Realm, and their methods were still as crude as those of country villagers in a brawl. The sight looked frightening.

But in truth, it was not even as grand as a full-scale armed fight between two villages.

At some point, the scene began to calm.

Many people panted heavily, covered in wounds. Looking around, they could not find any trace of the two young men. Each eyed the others with suspicion, wondering who had snatched away the treasures.

Meanwhile—

Chen Qiu and Fat Dragon were already walking along an official road.

Using the Earth-Escaping Technique and Illusion Technique they had obtained from the secret realm—both of which reached Major Accomplishment the moment they learned them—Chen Qiu had taken Fat Dragon underground amid the chaos and easily escaped far away.

Until they reached this official road.

"Here."

Fat Dragon took out a piece of dried ration from his robes and handed it to Chen Qiu. "Eat something to fill your stomach first. There's a relay station a few li ahead with hot food. Then keep following the official road for another ten li, and you'll reach a cultivator market."

"They call it a market, but it's really more like a city. It's just not one of Great Xia Kingdom's three hundred and sixty-five cities, so it pays no taxes."

"That market is mostly filled with cultivators. Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators aren't anything rare there. The market's owner is a Rogue Cultivator at the Mid-Stage Golden Core Realm, known as the Barefoot Immortal."

"It's safe once you're on the official road. Under Great Xia Law, no one may attack any living creature traveling on an official road—whether mortal, cultivator, wanted criminal, demon beast, or foreign race."

"Even if it's only a rabbit, once it steps onto the official road, you cannot kill it."

"This law is enforced with utter thoroughness in Great Xia Kingdom. No matter how powerful a high official or noble you are, you cannot be exempt. Once you violate it, your nine clans are directly exterminated."

"Mm."

Chen Qiu nodded. Taking the ration Fat Dragon handed him without complaint, he wiped the dust from it with the corner of his robe before putting it into his mouth. "The importance of transportation to a country goes without saying. If different regions cannot frequently travel and trade with each other, and even the safety of official roads cannot be guaranteed, the impact would indeed be considerable."

"It's clear that Great Xia gives official roads the highest possible status."

"Only... isn't exterminating nine clans a bit much?"

"It is a bit much."

Fat Dragon silently nodded. "According to rumors among the people, this was how it was enforced five hundred years ago. But not long after it began, one of the emperor's sons at the time grew furious that his father favored his younger brother, and in broad daylight, he rushed onto an official road and killed a rabbit."

"Many people saw it happen."

"According to the law, the entire Great Xia Imperial House should have gone down to meet their ancestors."

"But granting special exemption would undermine the status of both the official roads and the law."