A Wealthy Woman Rich Enough to Rival a Nation

On Black Wind Mountain, the autumn wind blew bleak and cold.

A few withered yellow leaves spiraled down, landing squarely on a massive blue-black boulder.

A dark-skinned youth lay on the Giant Stone.

He was about fifteen or sixteen, dressed in coarse hemp clothes washed almost white, with a foxtail grass stem between his lips as he stared listlessly at the sky.

His name was Chun Xiaobai.

He was the one and only Mountain King whose name struck terror throughout Black Wind Stronghold's eight-hundred-li domain.

"Great King, Great King, look! A fat sheep's coming!"

Among the withered grass, the One-Eyed Dragon, the Second Boss, drew his lone eye away from the official road and broke the bleak silence in a lowered voice.

"Three whole wagons!"

Chun Xiaobai rolled onto his side and lifted his eyelids.

Beside the stream ahead, a caravan flying an escort agency's banner rattled and clanked toward the foot of their hill, guarded by a troop of men.

"Is that one eye of yours just there to breathe through? Can you show a little professionalism?"

Chun Xiaobai took one glance before looking away, the foxtail grass between his lips bobbing as he spoke.

"Look at those wheel ruts. Two inches deep. With a load that heavy, they're either hauling whole wagons of gold bricks, or... a load of scrap metal."

"Now look at the guards. Wobbly steps, glazed eyes, yawning nonstop."

"Tell me, if that were real gold and silver, would the owner hire a bunch of weak-kneed shrimp like that to escort it?"

Chun Xiaobai paused, then emphasized his point again.

"I told you, Black Wind Stronghold only goes after high-end targets now. We rob them of banknotes! That way, I can carry the money when I go off to cultivate immortality!"

While the bandits were still half-convinced, the caravan drew near.

A gust of autumn wind swept past and flipped up the first wagon's rain cover.

Beneath it were no gold or jewels, no silks or satins-only a long, dusty-gray, cold stone slab, with faint lettering carved into its surface.

"..."

The bandits instantly fell silent as crows without a caw.

"These fucking... are three wagons of gravestones?"

"What rotten luck! We mountain bandits don't rob that kind of stuff!"

Then every gaze swung back in unison, looking worshipfully at the youth who had lazily lain back down on the blue-black Giant Stone.

"The Great King really is a professional!"

"Enough! Quit kissing ass and keep your eyes peeled!"

Chun Xiaobai barked the order, shifted the foxtail grass to the right corner of his mouth, and rested his head on the cold stone to look at the sky again.

His father had been the chief of Black Wind Stronghold. Once, he had taken his brothers out to "earn a little extra," had the bad luck to run into a tough customer, and got himself killed.

Before dying, his father had passed the position of Mountain King to him and left his final instructions.

Save money!

Once the court's destiny ran its course, they were to raise a banner in rebellion, seize Great Liang's dragon throne, and fill three palaces and six courts with consorts to spread the Chun family bloodline far and wide!

Inheriting his father's trade, he had become a Mountain King at six.

But three days earlier, while gazing at the sky just like this, he had actually seen an immortal riding a flying sword shoot over his head with a whoosh.

At that moment, after ten years as a Mountain King, he finally learned that this world wasn't some fucking parallel ancient era—it was a world of immortal cultivation.

Having carried memories of his previous life on Blue Star since the moment he came out of the womb, he had finally found his goal in this life.

And so, Chun Xiaobai had made a decision on the spot that defied his ancestors.

Forget seizing the imperial throne!

If he was going to seize a throne, he would become an immortal emperor! Then his three palaces and six courts would all be filled with Nine Heavens Mysterious Goddesses. Now that would bring glory to his ancestors!

Boom!

His thoughts had barely drifted to the Palace of Soaring Firmament when a muffled thunderclap suddenly exploded overhead.

The sky, still azure a moment earlier, seemed to have had a basin of thick ink dumped over it. Dark clouds gathered in an instant, and fierce winds sprang up.

"Damn heavens. Even a kid's face doesn't change that fast."

Chun Xiaobai snapped upright with a kip-up and shouted toward the clumps of grass.

"The umbrella! Hold an umbrella over your Great King!"

"Ah!" Scarface, the Third Boss, poked his head out, looking miserable. "It's about to rain buckets! Don't we usually call it a day and go home to warm some wine?"

"Warm your sister!" Chun Xiaobai glared fiercely and kicked the tuft of grass in front of him.

"Can you show your Great King a little dedication?"

"We've been lying in wait for three days without catching a big fish. If we leave now, someone might try sneaking past under cover of the downpour! Wouldn't that be one hell of a loss?"

While they were bickering,

on the far side of a nearby peak, empty space suddenly tore open with a ripping sound, revealing a pitch-black fissure.

Immediately afterward, a woman in a fiery-red silk dress tumbled awkwardly out of the rift and plunged straight down beside the stream below.

"Pfft-!"

The moment the woman in red landed, her body doubled over, and she spat an arrow of crimson blood, turning the clear pool into a shocking red broth.

Disheveled as she was, nothing could conceal her cold, haughty bearing, which sent the surrounding temperature plummeting.

She struggled to rise and formed a hand seal, trying to tear space open again. But her spiritual power had long since run dry; she couldn't activate even the most basic spell.

"Damn it!"

She clenched her teeth, a vicious light blazing in her eyes as she stared at the heavens. Though weak, her voice carried the majesty of one who looked down upon the world.

"Once I recover from my injuries, I shall slaughter every last one of you-not even your chickens and dogs shall survive!"

Up on the hill,

Scarface, the Third Boss, heard the argument and found it convincing. He had just opened a battered oil-paper umbrella when the mass of dark clouds overhead drifted away, as though its task were done.

The sky, which had been filled with howling winds a moment earlier, instantly cleared.

"Hm?"

The sharp-eyed Second Boss's lone eye narrowed slightly. Suddenly noticing the fiery-red figure beside the stream, he hurriedly tugged Chun Xiaobai's sleeve.

"Great King, you're practically a god! Someone really is trying to fish in troubled waters while it rains!"

"Tsk, tsk... looks like a woman, too. Trying to sneak past alone by water!"

Chun Xiaobai looked in the direction he pointed.

At that glance, purple light instantly blazed in his eyes.

Now, in his sight, a purple pillar of light steamed from the woman in red and shot into the sky.

The light was dazzling, thick as a bucket and three zhang tall, staining half the sky purple.

Only he could see this light. It was a special ability he had possessed from the moment he was born.

Whenever he focused, everything in the world appeared in different colors to his eyes, such as gray, yellow, and green.

After years of exploration, he had reached a conclusion: these colors represented levels of "wealth aura."

Gray meant dirt-poor, while yellow meant comfortably well-off.

The three wagons that had just passed, along with the penniless underlings around him, were all a sea of gray.

One level above that was yellow.

For instance, the Second Boss and the Third Boss beside him gave off a faint yellow glow. That meant those two old bastards had secretly stashed away plenty of private savings behind his back.

Above that was green.

He had only seen green light once in his life: the immortal riding a flying sword three days earlier.

But even that had only been a pale, tender green, like a freshly sprouted chive.

This one before him, though... was so purple she was black, and so black she shone!

What did that mean?

It meant the woman before him was even richer than that immortal!

A walking mountain of gold-a wealthy woman rich enough to rival a nation!

"This is one fat fish... I'm going to be rich...!"

Chun Xiaobai spat out the foxtail grass, sprang up from the Giant Stone, and swept his hand forward.

"Boys! Grab your weapons and tie that woman up!"

"Listen up! If you let this rich woman get away today, you can all go down the mountain and beg for food!"

At his command,

the bandits of Black Wind Stronghold charged down the slope, howling like a pack of wolves that had gone hungry for half the winter.

Dust flew, and withered grass snapped.

The Second Boss, One-Eyed Dragon, led the charge, with Scarface, the Third Boss, close behind. The two groups formed a great pair of pincers, closing in on the stranded figure in red.

The woman in red had just withdrawn her gaze from the heavens when her nostrils twitched.

A stench of sweat mixed with sour feet slammed into her nose.

She frowned and turned her head.

What met her eyes was a pack of ants in ragged clothes, their mouths full of yellow teeth, brandishing rusty iron blades and strange crossbows as they clattered toward her from all sides.

The Second Boss slammed his broadsword into the ground, narrowed his lone eye, and curled his lips into an arrogant grin.

"This road was opened by me, these trees were planted by..."