Worse Than Ants

Seeing the displeasure on Tang Yuan's face, Wu Ningning hurriedly explained, "The Wu Household does have over a thousand strands of moon jade radiance, but they don't sell much under normal circumstances, so the shop only keeps twenty or thirty strands in stock. Most of it is stored in the warehouse in Huai'an City.

"Could you wait half a month, Fellow Daoist Tang? I'll go to Huai'an City and fetch it right now."

*Only today can I get the five percent commission the Wu Household was supposed to give the Song Household. After today, it'll be gone.

But it really is hard to find a shop that can produce over a thousand strands of moon jade radiance all at once. Tang Yuan frowned and said, "I'll give you nine days. I'm only staying in Ascension City for nine days, though I can wait a few days longer.

"But after nine days, the total price will be discounted by a hundred Spirit Stones for every extra day I wait. I'll wait twenty days at most."

*A round trip from Ascension City to Huai'an City takes about fifteen days. If I travel day and night, ten-odd days will be enough.

*The thousand-odd strands of moon jade radiance in the clan have been sitting unsold for almost thirty years. The household head said that selling them for a minimum total price of fifteen hundred Spirit Stones would be a major accomplishment, and any Spirit Stones earned above that would all belong to the seller.

Even if the round trip takes me two or three days longer than nine, these thousand strands of Spiritual Qi will still sell for over two thousand Spirit Stones. I'll get at least five hundred Spirit Stones myself. Wu Ningning calculated for a few breaths, then cupped her fists. "All right, we'll do as you say, Fellow Daoist Tang. I'll return to Huai'an City and fetch a thousand strands of moon jade radiance right now."

Wu Ningning turned to leave the shop, but Tang Yuan reached out and stopped her. "It seems you're sincere about selling, Fairy Wu, and I'm sincere about buying.

"But the world is unpredictable. Perhaps something urgent will delay you at the last minute, or perhaps something urgent will force me to leave Ascension City early.

"How about this? If this deal doesn't go through, I'll come to Ascension City again in three months. The price will remain the same.

"Words alone are no proof. We should write up a simple agreement."

"You've thought of everything, Fellow Daoist Tang." Full of admiration, Wu Ningning called for the blue-robed shop assistant to bring out a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone...

An incense stick's time later, Tang Yuan watched Wu Ningning hurry toward the city gates alone. He yawned and began wandering aimlessly around Ascension City...

The more Tang Yuan wandered, the more he marveled at Ascension City's prosperity. He even felt a twinge of envy at the wealth of the Song Household, a Purple Mansion Lineage.

Since he had the Honored Guest Privilege Slip from the Song Household, he could stay in Ascension City for free in the future. Naturally, he would stay at the most luxurious inn for the next ten-odd days.

After wandering for the better part of an hour, Tang Yuan went to the Song Household's medicine pavilion to collect the Honored Guest Privilege Slip they had issued him.

Several dozen characters were carved into the Jade Slip in firm, powerful strokes:

Ascension City Honored Guest Privilege Slip

Valid for: sixty years

New Immortal Calendar, year 4037, third month, thirteenth day, six quarters past the hour of the snake

Written by Song Ping'an of the Song Clan of Falling Clouds Island.

Jade Slip in hand, Tang Yuan headed straight for an inn he liked, intending to check in.

After strolling leisurely for a while, Tang Yuan heard the bell in the drum tower ring. It was just noon, and he had arrived at the inn.

Before he could step inside, the earth suddenly shook and the mountains trembled. Tang Yuan felt his Divine Sense grow hazy for a breath.

He looked up. The sky had suddenly turned pitch-dark, and the radiant formation that had once covered the entire city had shattered.

At the same time, countless black and red specks trailing cold, sinister Sha Qi swooped down upon the city like a raging storm. Those black and red specks were none other than Devil Cultivators and Bandit Cultivators, killers by nature!

In an instant, cries of battle, wails, and sinister laughter rose and fell throughout the streets of Ascension City.

In less than half an incense stick's time, the black smoke and foul stench filling the air made Tang Yuan feel sick.

*Have Devil Cultivators breached the city?

Where are the Foundation Establishment cultivators stationed here by the Song Household? Tang Yuan thought instinctively.

Shouts rang out across the streets. "There are no Song Household Foundation Establishment cultivators left in the city, nor any Song Household cultivators above the Middle Stage of Qi Refinement. They've all been sent north to defend Falling Clouds Island.

"Pillage for a day, pillage for a day!

"This is a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity. You'd be doing yourself wrong if you didn't grab enough!"

Amid the frenzied cries of battle, only the Bandit Cultivators were killing and robbing at first. In less than half a quarter-hour, the Rogue Cultivators who had come to Ascension City to trade, the stallholders, and the shopkeepers had all taken up weapons and begun killing and plundering one another.

The hundred-odd Song Household guard cultivators responsible for keeping order in Ascension City had done their utmost to maintain it at first, but gradually, they too joined the ranks of those burning, killing, and plundering.

Tang Yuan's eyes also turned scarlet. He drew his devil saber. "Anyone who passes up a chance to profit is a bastard. This is the perfect time to fish in troubled waters!"

Suddenly, the Mystic Spoon hanging around his neck stirred, and a chill swept through Tang Yuan's overheated mind.

He hurriedly slapped several Calming Talismans onto himself, ones he had bought from Kou Cheng at a high price. Only then did his mind settle somewhat.

*Something's wrong!

*This must be a Purple Mansion cultivator fishing with explosives!

*I've become so greedy and frenzied. I must have fallen prey to some mind-bewitching Divine Ability of a Purple Mansion cultivator.

*I can't touch anything a Purple Mansion cultivator has set their sights on!

*I can't pick up anything in the city, not even a single grain of Spirit Sand.

*If I become entangled in the karma and a Purple Mansion True Person divines it, I'll be in serious trouble later!

Even if a Purple Mansion cultivator isn't fishing with explosives, there must be something fishy about the Bandit Cultivators breaching the city.

First, Ascension City's protective formation was at the Foundation Establishment level. Yet it was clear that most of the Devil Cultivators and Rogue Cultivators burning, killing, and plundering in the city were at Early Qi Refinement. Even those at the Middle Stage of Qi Refinement were rarely seen.

Judging by their numbers, there were fewer than a thousand Devil Cultivators and Rogue Cultivators who had breached the city to plunder it. They couldn't possibly have broken the protective formation in an instant.

Could it be a case of shutting the door to beat the dogs? Had the Song Household opened the protective formation themselves, letting the cultivators throughout the city attack one another so that the Song Household's Purple Mansion cultivator could reap the fisherman's profit?

Ascension City had no shortage of treasures, but they were all for the Middle Stage of Qi Refinement or below. Surely the Song Household's Purple Mansion cultivator wouldn't give them a second look. Surely the Song Household wouldn't ruin its reputation and destroy Ascension City, which it had painstakingly built up over more than two hundred years, for this little bit of supplies and treasure.

If not for supplies and treasure, then what?

Tang Yuan looked at the thousands of cultivators around him, frantically fighting and plundering, and suddenly grasped the answer: "Lives!"

This time, the Purple Mansion cultivator was fishing with explosives for no other reason than to reap the lives of these thousands of cultivators!

Run! The faster, the better!

Tang Yuan revealed his Qi Refinement Seventh Layer cultivation, gripped his devil saber, and raced toward the city gate.

Although he could use the Mystic Spoon to go to the Demon Realm now, Tang Yuan thought he should avoid using it if possible. Who knew whether a Purple Mansion True Person capable of stepping into the void could detect him and pursue him once he used the Mystic Spoon to flee to the Demon Realm?

Even if the Purple Mansion cultivator couldn't pursue him to the Demon Realm, being targeted by one was never a good thing...

Whether Devil Cultivators or Rogue Cultivators, all hastened to get out of Tang Yuan's way when they saw him gripping his devil saber, waves of sinister, uncanny Sha Qi emanating from him, with his Qi Refinement Seventh Layer cultivation:

"That's a genuine Late-stage Qi Refinement Devil Cultivator. Stay as far away from him as you can."

"But why isn't he stealing anything?

"Oh, he's at Late-stage Qi Refinement. He doesn't think this little bit is worth his attention.

"But all this stuff can be exchanged for Spirit Stones. Who would ever complain about having too few Spirit Stones?"

"Maybe he's a Devil Cultivator who doesn't like killing or robbing, a kind person."

Ignoring the other cultivators' astonished looks, Tang Yuan ran for all he was worth. But just as he reached the end of the market street, the sight before him rooted him to the spot:

The bun shop owner, who had chatted freely with Tang Yuan and looked forward to a wonderful life in the future a little over two hours ago, had now been beheaded.

Behind him, his wife and four children lay in a pool of blood, their bodies also hacked into pieces.

"Greetings, senior cultivator. Have you taken a fancy to this jade pendant too? The carving is crude, so it's only worth a few grains of Spirit Sand.

"If you like it, senior, I'll offer it to you with both hands." A young Devil Cultivator at Qi Refining First Layer trembled as he held out a jade pendant.

"This twin-fish jade pendant was made for the bun shop owner by his mortal wife. The twin fish symbolize a loving marriage and many children and blessings.

"Did you kill the bun shop owner?" Tang Yuan murmured expressionlessly.

"He was only at the Meridian Opening Realm. Cultivators with low cultivation are all ants. Kill them if you feel like it." The young Devil Cultivator looked utterly disdainful.

"Then why did you kill his mortal wife and mortal children?"

"Mortals are worse than ants. I killed his whole family to reunite them." The young Devil Cultivator spoke as though it were only natural...