Chapter 66: Chapter 66: Chill

Then, Zhao Chunxin took Li Yuan for another stroll around the Inner City, primarily to introduce some basic information about it.

The Inner City is quite different from the Outer City; there are no restaurants, brothels, markets, or any entertainment facilities…

Here, compared to the Outer City, the biggest difference is the tranquility and safety.

In this chaotic world, this is almost the ultimate luxury.

However, what each family has inside their homes is unknown, but it’s safe to assume that beauties, dancing girls, musicians, and cooks won’t be lacking, allowing for thorough enjoyment at home.

Additionally, the spaces of the various families here are large, and they are quite a distance apart from one another.

After all, there are only forty-two houses in the Inner City. Excluding the Blood Fury Hall, the Puppet Room, and the Demon Breeding Chamber, there are only thirty-nine houses left.

The Blood Fury Hall is typically where the Blood Saber Sect holds important gatherings.

As their names suggest, the Puppet Room and the Demon Breeding Chamber are for storing puppets and breeding demon beasts.

Puppets, due to the terrain, are not very convenient for attacking cities because they lack mobility, but they are very stable for defense as they can be preset ahead of time.

Demon beasts, when confined, are fine, but if released anywhere, they’re like landmines ready to explode.

This often deters smaller forces from attacking, as the adversary can defend with puppets, and also release demon beasts in a mutually destructive move…

Returning to the previous point, the remaining thirty-nine houses include those of the Sect Leader, Vice Sect Leader, Fourth Elder, and three Tributors…

Master Li is often away, yet this house remains his.

In other words, only thirty houses are available to Inner Sect Disciples.

Of course, these thirty houses are on the periphery, while the nine houses of the Sect Leader and others are in the inner area. The thirty peripheral houses are smaller, while the nine inner ones are larger.

Each householder may live in the house with their servants and family, but if these residents wish to go out, there are only two ways: being led out by the householder or presenting an approved travel permit.

For outsiders wishing to enter, the same rules apply.

As for the travel permit, it requires Elder Liu’s signature, the secret seal of the day, and a stamp.

As the two walked and talked, after a lap, another Inner Sect Disciple hurried over from a distance, handed Li Yuan a long box and two tokens, and then quickly left, evidently urgently occupied.

Li Yuan took a look.

One was a Golden Token, marked with the number twenty-six.

The other was a black and white circle-patterned token, also marked with the number twenty-six.

Zhao Chunxin explained, “The black and white circle pattern is the Inner Sect Disciple’s identity badge. When we battled the Wei Family, four disciples died; otherwise, you would have been thirty.”

“I see…” Li Yuan nodded.

Zhao Chunxin suddenly asked, “I heard the junior brother took a wife, is that so?”

Li Yuan replied, “Senior sister, please don’t persuade me. My wife and I are deeply in love and inseparable.”

Zhao Chunxin was at a loss for words, only saying, “I hope it won’t delay your cultivation.

Also… get them into the Inner City soon, and you’ll need to register at Elder Liu’s yard. There’s a lot to do…”

“Thank you, senior sister.”

“Mm… if anything comes up, find me; my house is not far from yours.

Later, I’ll have the maid from my house drive a carriage to pick you up, take you out of the city, and help you move. She’ll also tell you where my house is then,” Zhao Chunxin said, clasping fists in farewell, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll get going.”

“Thank you, senior sister, take care.”

Li Yuan watched Zhao Chunxin walk away, glancing slightly toward the direction of the Meat Field.

In fact, when breaking into the Eighth Grade, he roughly understood something important: demon beast meat is a crucial resource for cultivation.

It took him over three months to break through to the Eighth Grade, and reaching Eighth Grade Perfection took only a moment.

Normally, it would take three to four years for someone to go from the Eighth Grade Early Stage to Eighth Grade Perfection.

During these three to four years, the practitioner must continuously utilize demon beast meat and cultivation skills to accumulate Shadow Blood… only then can they achieve Great Success.

How much Ninth Grade Demon Beast Meat would one need over these three to four years?

And for the Eighth Grade, even more, just more drastically so.

How many people could afford it?

Moreover, Eighth Grade Demon Beast Meat is very scarce and high in demand, with limited channels…

Although Eighth Grade Demon Beast Meat can be substituted with the Ninth Grade, the effectiveness is greatly reduced, and it becomes useless after a certain amount.

And then there’s the incredible… blood-colored Meat Field…

Li Yuan suddenly felt his worldview expanded again.

However, he wasn’t too pessimistic.

All his cultivation challenges essentially boiled down to Breaking Realm.

After Breaking Realm, as long as he had enough Points, he could instantly achieve Great Success, skipping countless resources in between, then start preparing for the next Breaking Realm…

…

…

After a while, two miniature versions of Zhao Chunxin appeared on the road before Li Yuan, driving a massive ox cart.

“Young Master Li, we are Grandma Zhao’s maids. I’m called Red Steel, and she’s called Blue Steel. Are you heading out of the city now?”

One of the maids said.

Li Yuan glanced at these two maids, each with “8~9” floating beside them, comparable to Qian Da, incredibly valiant.

He said no more, nodded, and replied, “Heading out now, to Hengwu Restaurant. Much obliged to both of you.”

The two burly women hurriedly said, “Young Master Li, you’re too polite.”

…

Tap…

Tap tap tap tap…

The wheel of the ox cart turned, exiting the Inner City.

Whether it was Red Steel or Blue Steel turned back and said, “Young Master Li, we’re almost there.”

Li Yuan responded, leaning back slightly against the wall of the cart.

As he was resting with his eyes closed, he suddenly heard an inexplicable commotion ahead, accompanied by the creaking of wheels and the dull thud of iron chains banging…

Some voices became clearer as well.

“This is the third Miss of the Wei Family. Now locked in a cage, is she being sent to the black market for sale?”

“The third Miss of the Wei Family, the Unrivaled Jade Sword, isn’t she the ninth-grade genius of the Wei Family… usually, she’s not someone you can easily meet.”

“Beautiful, really beautiful… tsk tsk tsk… so beautiful… It’s good to have money, who knows who will buy this third Miss, going home would be delightful.”

“There’s more at the back, everyone look.”

“The Wei Family deserved it, they released the demon beasts, causing chaos in our Silver Creek, truly deserved it!”

The sound waves drew closer, filled with a variety of emotions—mockery, vulgarity, hatred, curses…

Li Yuan felt the ox cart also come to a stop, so he raised his hand to slightly lift the curtain of the cart and looked out to see that there were also ox carts passing by on the street, with cages inside.

The cage bars were rusted, over two meters high, inside some were women sitting, and others were young strong men…

But the most eye-catching was at the very front of the ox cart procession.

There was a delicate-faced, wasp-waisted, fox-faced woman in white.

Her long hair was tied with a pearl hairpin, falling smoothly from her rounded shoulders, draping gracefully over her chest; her eyebrows showed blankness, staring dazedly and hollowly into the distance, as if her future was full of gloom and misery.

Li Yuan slightly averted his gaze, sighing lightly in his heart, not looking at this scene.

Just quietly waited as the ox cart halted.

It was not until the procession and crowd passed by that he asked: “Are these people being taken to the black market for sale?”

A response came from the front.

“Young Master Li, I heard some are to be sold, others have different arrangements.”

“I did hear that the Wei Family had a great enemy who is now joining our gang to become the new third tributor… that Unrivaled Jade Sword might be directly bestowed to him.”

A great enemy of the Wei Family?

Li Yuan’s expression tensed slightly, could this be a mole from the Wei Family?

But immediately, he shook his head. Perhaps he was being overly cautious, or maybe this wasn’t something he needed to concern himself with, so he responded casually, feeling a tinge of melancholy in his heart.

In this world, when the pillar collapses, those sheltered beneath — womenfolk, relatives — become prey to others.

That third Miss of the Wei Family was once high and mighty, living in luxury, but with the Wei Family’s downfall, her identity changed dramatically…

He glanced at the “119~190” on his own lap, feeling a flicker of security.

“Grow stronger, need to keep growing stronger, only then can I protect what I cherish…”

As he thought this, his musings were suddenly interrupted.

From the distant carriage procession came a dull crash and numerous screams and shouts.

“What happened?” Li Yuan asked.

Red Steel jumped off the ox cart, ran ahead to check, then returned to say, “Young Master Li, a woman committed suicide, directly smashed her head.”

Li Yuan was silent for a moment, then said, “Let’s go to Hengwu Restaurant.”

“Yes!”

The ox cart resumed its journey, and as they passed through the street, Li Yuan lifted the curtain slightly, seeing not far on the street a face full of resentment and extreme hatred embedded between iron bars, then it slid down the bars.

The driver hurriedly moved the woman’s body from the cart as if discarding rubbish, tossing it by the roadside.

Li Yuan felt an inexplicable shiver in his heart and urged, “Quickly, go!”

…

The journey was uneventful.

When the ox cart stopped at Hengwu Restaurant, Li Yuan got off, and Lady Yan happily ran over, diving into the man’s embrace.

The two embraced in front of the crowd.

Li Yuan felt the familiar warmth, the previously unsettling chill in his heart subsided.

He cupped his woman’s face, smiling, “Sister Yan, I’ll take you to the Inner City. From now on, we won’t live in a shack, we’ll live in a big house!”

…

…

Attached: A brief explanation of “Total Combat Power Value.”

Currently, there are three elements affecting it: the base value given by the realm, weapons, and skills.

There will be more in the future, such as “demon beasts” (it was mentioned in Chapter 2 that hounds and people can form a combined numerical value), such as “divine soldiers” (Master Li once mentioned), and others.

Everyone can treat it as data that judges strength or weakness, anyway, there won’t be any outrageous numbers like 1000000000 appearing.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep