Making Peace

It is true that most Evil Cultivator are utterly depraved. They are accustomed to doing heinous and immoral things, and they rarely have any genuine feelings for their long-time acquaintances.

But even Evil Cultivator are human, and as such, they naturally have their own circles.

Regardless of who killed the six scourges of the Bai Household, it is an undeniable fact that Dai Yuanjiang hung the heads of the Evil Cultivator who did his dirty work at the entrance of his market, causing Linghe Market to be remembered by the Evil Cultivator in the vicinity.

Admittedly, there is certainly no spirit of mutual help or humility within this Evil Cultivator circle.

However, given the shared sense of sympathy among them, it's understandable that they felt a sense of shared hatred towards the Linghe Market when they looked at the six heads hanging up and exposed to the wind and sun.

However, Kang Dabao's purpose in having the Yuan brothers Yuan Jin and Jiang Qing, perform this play was not only to prevent Dai Yuanjiang from cooperating with ordinary Evil Cultivator; that was secondary.

As long as that old bastard Dai Yuanjiang is willing to spend enough Spirit Stone, there are plenty of desperate people in this world who don't care about life and death, and this little trick won't scare them.

From the moment the Jingguan incident occurred, Sect Leader Kang Da never imagined he could salvage the image of Chongming Market in the eyes of outsiders.

Moreover, with Dai Yuanjiang's instigation, the Jingguan incident quickly escalated into a situation where rumors spread like wildfire.

How could Sect Leader Kang Da possibly have the ability to quell this controversy?

Therefore, Kang Dabao's goal from the very beginning was to ruin the reputation of Linghe Market.

He knew, of course, that the complaints made by those few troublemakers from the Bai Household at the entrance of Linghe Market would not be enough to bring down this long-established market that had been operating for many years.

Even if we say that it's only the Evil Cultivator's side of the story, we should still ask Yuan Jin to bring out the letters between the two sides.

Dai Yuanjiang would only stubbornly insist that it was false evidence deliberately fabricated by Evil Cultivator to frame him, and he would not admit a single word. Kang Dabao also never thought that he would admit it.

Whether he admits it or not doesn't matter to him. As long as the cultivators watching in Linghe Market hear about Dai Yuanjiang's Sect Leader Kang Da with Evil Cultivator, then Sect Leader Kang Da's goal will be achieved.

Of course, even if they heard it, they might not fully believe it.

Once the seeds of doubt are sown, how many people would dare to go to a market town where even the city constable has connections with Evil Cultivator?

The idea that the innocent are innocent and the guilty are guilty is nonsense. If mud gets in your pants, then even if it's not shit, it's still shit!

Kang Dabao couldn't think of any means, or how much effort and resources, would be needed to mitigate the impact of Dai Yuanjiang's dirty trick.

In any case, simply placing the heads of the six true culprits from the Bai Household at the market entrance is definitely not enough; this thing cannot give the cultivators who come here to trade much a sense of security.

They were clever enough to foresee that as long as the covert war between the two families continued, one after another, the poor souls who came to Chongming Market would become spoils of war under the lure of Dai Yuanjiang's Spirit Stone, their heads plucked by a constant stream of Evil Cultivator, helping the latter to smoothly receive the reward they deserved for their hard work.

In this way, the Evil Cultivator cannot be eradicated by relying solely on the Chongming Market.

Having spent many years mingling at the bottom of society, Kang Dabao was able to sense what the Rogue Cultivator were worried about, so he decided to drag Linghe Market into the mess as well.

In this way, the reputation of Chongming Market will naturally be enhanced.

Saying it was "pulling water" might not be an accurate description, because what was in Dai Yuanjiang's crotch wasn't mud at all! It was excrement!

So what if there are Evil Cultivator harming people in Chongming Market? Then what about the fact that the city magistrate of Linghe Market is also involved with these Evil Cultivators and harming people? Isn't that even more frightening?!

Kang Dabao has now achieved his goal.

If the cultivators in the vicinity had a choice and were cautious enough, they certainly wouldn't go to either of these two markets.

But if you have no other choice but to make a living nearby, and both markets have terrible reputations, but one sells things cheaply and the other sells things expensively, which one would you go to?

It needs to be emphasized again that Rogue Cultivator are all shrewd and know how to vote with their feet.

Six months have passed since the six heads of the Bai Household were hung on the gate of Linghe Market.

Business at Chongming Market is still not great, but the popularity has visibly recovered. It's only a matter of time before business returns to its initial opening level, or even surpasses it.

Kang Dabao didn't completely disband the patrol team that Kuai Wu had painstakingly built up.

They simply weeded out some of the mediocre members, keeping only about twenty people, and also brought Jiang Qing to the market to temporarily serve as the team leader.

Jiang Qing divided the people into groups and patrolled the vicinity of the market as usual. Every three to five days, they would bring back the heads of a few Evil Cultivator and hang them high on the market gate.

As a result, the number of Evil Cultivator near Chongming Market has indeed decreased significantly. After the atmosphere was cleaned up, the unease among people who come to the market to trade has also lessened considerably.

Because Jiang Qing's flying sword was too sharp, the Evil Cultivator unanimously abandoned the new hunting ground on the outskirts of Chongming Market and returned to the familiar territory of Linghe Market.

Perhaps because they had been angered, their methods and frequency were even more ruthless than before.

Therefore, compared with Chongming Market, business in Linghe Market has been much worse lately. The cultivators who make a living in Linghe Market have finally tasted the feeling of panic among the people.

Dai Yuanjiang has been having a very difficult time these days. This matter of rectifying the atmosphere is something that Chongming Market can do, Linghe Market cannot.

Originally, the families in Chongming Market were just doing their small business peacefully and had no interest in the Evil Cultivator harming people.

Or rather, there are very few markets or neighborhoods in the world that would regulate this.

There are even quite a few market magistrates like Dai Yuanjiang who collude with Evil Cultivator, acting like wolves in sheep's clothing.

But the six scourges of the Bai Household weren't there for the money; this is a slap in the face to Chongming Market!

People always have to retaliate in some way. Although the Evil Cultivator also hated it, after thinking about it, they felt that what the other party did was justifiable.

The reason these Evil Cultivators were so "reasonable" was that Chongming Market was still a legitimate market that had obtained a business license from the Han City Yue Household and was registered on the list.

If it were just an ordinary market town set up by a few small factions, would they have offended Evil Cultivator so much? They would have colluded long ago to break through the magic array, go in and slaughter people, and distribute some "lucky money."

As for directly harming that annoying patrol team, should we tackle this tough nut first?

Evil Cultivator are to fight such a fierce battle, their side will certainly suffer heavy casualties.

However, this is not like attacking a market, where people are willing to suffer greater losses in order to make a lot of money.

A fierce battle with a tough patrol team like this might not yield much in terms of spoils.

Even if they win, if they are lucky, they can survive unscathed; if they are unlucky, they may be seriously injured and their Law Artifact destroyed.

At this point, your comrades, who have also suffered heavy losses, will immediately have to "take care" of you.

Not to mention, a motley crew of rabble banding together might not even be able to win against a patrol team composed of elites selected from various factions.

Given the above circumstances, no one among the nearby Evil Cultivator possesses such prestige to gather everyone together to do such a difficult task.

"So, the master risked his life, even suffering death and injury, just so you later could reap the benefits, right?"

Given the selfishness and self-interest of these Evil Cultivators, many of them wouldn't even do something so selfless for their own sons.

Alright, most of these people who go to Chongming Market to buy and sell are poor and look pitiful. Anyway, they don't have much money on them, so let's just avoid them.

Everyone went back to making a living at Linghe Market, just like before.

But if your Linghe Market in Dai Yuanjiang wants to follow the example of Chongming Market and form a patrol team to cut off the Evil Cultivators' source of income, and then break the long-standing tacit understanding between the two sides, you want to hang more Evil Cultivator on your heads.

Some resentful Evil Cultivator will not be able to withstand this provocation and will come in groups to cause trouble for him, the acting city magistrate!

Although they knew Dai Yuanjiang was having a hard time lately, the merchants in the market didn't care what difficulties the market magistrate was facing.

No matter how difficult things are for them, they will still pay the annual fee to the market every year without fail!

Business is getting worse day by day, and it looks like we're about to go broke.

These merchants all became anxious, and every day, merchants from the market lined up to complain to Dai Yuanjiang.

The latter couldn't come up with any practical solutions, and could only offer excuses like "Let's wait and see, we'll find a way in time."

Finally, Dai Yuanjiang could no longer bear the disturbance and summoned several major shareholders from Linghe Market for a meeting.

"Let's discuss this: should we fight or negotiate?"

Inside the hall sat four men and one woman. Besides Dai Yuanjiang, there was a female cultivator with a large bottom, a red-haired burly man, a yellow-faced old man, and an old cultivator in white robes.

"I disagreed with the city constable asking the Bai Household brothers to do that kind of thing. But you all did it anyway, and now that it's come to light, why are you coming to me?"

The white-robed old cultivator who spoke first spoke calmly, his tone devoid of sarcasm, but rather carrying a hint of questioning.

Upon hearing this, Dai Yuanjiang was about to fly into a rage, but then he remembered that many of the businesses in Linghe Market were there specifically for this woman, so he suppressed his anger and gave the big-butt female cultivator a meaningful look.

The latter immediately understood and hurriedly said with a smile, "Alchemist Chen Yu is right. We were indeed wrong in what happened earlier, and we will apologize to Alchemist another day. However, things have already come to this point, and the reputation of the market has been damaged, which is not good for any of us. It is time to cooperate sincerely and come up with a plan."

The old cultivator in white raised his eyelids and gave the female cultivator a serious look. "I never expected that this vixen, besides having a big butt, would also have such a way with words?"

"Go ahead and fight! Of those families on Cold Crow Mountain, only Jiang Qing is somewhat capable; the rest are nothing but chickens and dogs. Since they have a trading license and can't attack the market, let's break down their mountain gate and kill them all! Let's see if their market will still be open!"

The dark-faced old man didn't want to waste his breath. He had been at the Qi Refinement Ninth Layer for over ten years, and his cultivation was even more profound than Dai Yuanjiang's. He was very confident in his strength.

"Let's talk. Chongming Sect was a major Foundation Establishment sect in its early years. There's no reason for them not to leave some trump cards for future generations. Kang Dabao was just a peddler at the Third Layer of Qi Refinement Refining back then. He's managed to live peacefully until now, and even raised his two junior brothers to adulthood. Now he's done such a big thing. He has countless relatives and friends helping him. If things really escalate, it might not be a good thing for us either."

The red-haired man who spoke was not as rough as he appeared; he spoke in a very organized and methodical manner.

After hearing the red-haired man's words, Dai Yuanjiang also felt a pang of regret.

He'd heard that joke before, "The new leader of the Chongming Sect is a peddler." Kang Dabao had frequented the Linghe Market so many times over the years; why hadn't he thought of finding a day to just kill Kang Dabao back then?!

At this moment, some wanted to fight, while others wanted to talk, and both had something to say, leaving Dai Yuanjiang at a loss for what to do.

Or rather, he no longer wanted to bear the risk of this decision alone.

The affair with those few heads in the Bai Household did indeed put him in a rather embarrassing situation, significantly damaging his prestige, making it a losing proposition.

The big-bottomed widow beside him was merely a plaything brought in to lighten the mood, so Dai Yuanjiang naturally wouldn't ask for her opinion. Instead, he turned his gaze to Chen Yu Alchemist.

"Let's talk first. If we can't reach an agreement, then we'll fight," the old cultivator in white said calmly.

Thanks to Brother Nankanle for the Extended Net Moon, and thanks to Brothers Nuhai Kuangsha and Mo'ai Caodan Shenghuo for the Extended Net Moon each.

Thank you all for your subscriptions and support. Gentlemen who've been waiting for this book to finish reading, please stop now! If you find it enjoyable, please continue reading! o(╥╥)o