C93

Traveling in the martial arts world, a storage spirit artifact was a good thing. He needed to bring all the necessary items with him, as well as the treasures he had accumulated over the years. He felt at ease.

He was relieved to have all his savings with him; he was unwilling to have the plan to raise funds to pay for the desires of the high-level cultivators; he was sad that all the spirit stones had been forcibly taken away.

Unreconciled, unable to do anything, sad, they could only comfort themselves. Most people were like this, but there were always people who were rich and didn't want to sit still and wait for death.

There were policies and countermeasures.

There were no rebels, no malicious incidents, and those who were unwilling and rich began to get excited again.

In fact, a certain thing was happening in an inn in the city …

There was one person whose cultivation base was not very high, and could not even be considered a cultivator. His clothing quality was far superior to rogue cultivators, and was even superior to most of the disciples in the sect.

Fu Taiming, a famous merchant from a certain city under the jurisdiction of the Hollow Jade Sect.

When did Heaven bestow upon him the age of nine? He had brought Little Dan to his city, and because Little Dan often frightened pedestrians, they had not been able to meet once since they had parted ways.

However, the story of the nine-year-old boy bringing a talking pig into the city was a story that Fu Taiming had heard many people talk about.

Just like Tian Ci and the others, Fu Taiming had just entered the city yesterday. He had originally planned to stay in the city for the night, and after purchasing all the goods he needed today, he would immediately return to the city.

Yesterday, the news about Chi Dan entering the city had already spread. Thinking that he was an esteemed guest of the Hollow Jade Sect and wouldn't carelessly harm others, Fu Taiming was in no hurry to leave the city.

He did not expect that Chi Dan would find out about Shentu Shun's whereabouts today.

Four years ago, when he heard about the Scarlet Core, he knew that there was something fishy about it. Something big was going to happen in the city, so he didn't dare to stay for a moment longer. He immediately left the city.

Perhaps it was because his luck was bad and there were countless cultivators coming from outside the city, making it very difficult to leave the city. However, he was only allowed to go in and out, so he had no choice but to return to the inn to hide.

In his mind, in order to obtain Shentu Shun, a battle within the city was unavoidable. It might have affected him in the end, but the result would have affected him in a different way.

There was a person from a sect next to Fu Taiming. His clothes had a special symbol on them. Looking at his appearance, he seemed to be around fifty years old, not like a disciple, but more like a small sect's head or an elder.

That's right, Qi Cheng was not a disciple, but rather the head of a small sect.

The cultivation of the Sect Leader of a small sect was not as high as that of a medium-sized sect. Thus, he could only collect Spirit Stones out of grievance.

"Fellow Taoist Fu, let's hand over the spirit stones!" This time, I can't help you! "

"Sect Leader Qi, you …"

"Sigh, to tell you the truth, hundreds of eyes were staring at me from above. I wanted to help, but, you saw it too, I can't protect myself!"

The city was so big, and it could accommodate a hundred thousand people. To be able to meet so many familiar people, it was indeed not easy.

In the cultivation world, cultivation sects and itinerant cultivators were on their own. Meeting an acquaintance was not necessarily a friend, and meeting a friend was not easy.

Fu Taiming was quite lucky. Under such circumstances, he could still meet half a friend.

Why half a friend? It's a long story.

Fu Taiming was a genuine businessman. His business was not bad, and he needed to replenish his stock once every ten days or half a month.

The Jade City of Song was a trading center under the jurisdiction of the Hollow Jade Sect. Pills, magic treasures, elixirs, materials, etc.

The reason why Fu Taiming's business was doing so well was because he had traveled a long way to acquire more goods in the city.

The route to purchase goods, passed by the sect that Qi Cheng belonged to.

On his way back to the city, he was followed and robbed by a few unscrupulous rogue cultivators. Fortunately, his disciples from Qi Cheng's sect had saved his life and also protected all the goods.

In order to express his gratitude for saving his life, he had specially advised Qi Cheng and gave him a gift afterwards.

Small sects had very few resources to begin with, and they still had to pay tribute to the big sect every year. The small sect's leader had no choice but to allow disciples to take private jobs outside.

After learning of this matter, Fu Taiming had lost a few rogue cultivators to protect the ship, so he chose a few disciples from Qi Cheng's sect with decent cultivation base to make up for the loss.

From then on, Fu Taiming had a business relationship with Qi Cheng.

He had business dealings with Qi Cheng, and he would continue to give gifts to him during the holidays. Once he was reborn and friends with him, everyone would naturally become friends with him.

Money hurt relationships, but their friendship was built on benefits, so how could there be any feelings? Thus, they could be considered as half friends.

When Fu Taiming and Qi Cheng met, they should have exchanged a few pleasantries, but who would have thought that it would be like this right after meeting, where they could only look at each other with bitter smiles.

Upon learning that Qi Cheng had become a collector, Fu Taiming's mind immediately became active.

Seeing that it was going to be the new year in two to three months, he had originally planned to send a gift to Qi Cheng at the end of the year.

The inn was crowded, he quietly opened his storage bracelet and took out a gift box, preparing to give it to Qi Cheng. His intentions were clear, making Qi Cheng turn a blind eye.

After receiving Fu Taiming's gift every year and having dealings with him in the business, logically speaking, this time, Qi Cheng should have helped him no matter what. He really wanted to help, but he had no choice.

First of all, he was not the one in charge of anything in the city.

In this place, he was just a small character who was collecting spirit stones. Moreover, he couldn't even keep his own spirit stones, much less Fu Taiming's spirit stones.

Secondly, there were hundreds of high-level cultivators whose divine senses covered the entire city, so no matter what happened, they would not be able to escape their notice.

Once he showed favoritism, the consequences would be unpredictable. Qi Cheng did not dare to take the risk.

Each of them had their own difficulties. Knowing that Qi Cheng wouldn't be able to help, Fu Taiming still held onto a trace of fantasy. He snot and tears flowed as he pleaded.

"Sect Leader Qi, this time, I have brought all of my wealth. You …"

Businessmen were used to taking opportunistic measures and investing in different places, so how could they possibly carry all their belongings with them? If they did, once their entire possessions were robbed, wouldn't that mean their families would be ruined and their families would perish?

Even though it was truly pitiful to have one's spirit stones stolen innocently, having a runny nose and tears on one's face was a little too much.

Everyone was adept at accidents, yet they shared the same fate. There was no need for Qi Cheng to expose them. As for the words Fu Taiming had not finished, he knew, it was just asking him to be lenient.

He actually wanted to show mercy, but he didn't know if those high-level cultivators would show him any.

Money was just a thing, keeping one's life was more important. Besides, money did not belong to him, so there was no need for him to take the risk.

Fu Taiming handed the storage bracelet to Qi Cheng, who took it, wiped his hand on the bracelet, and returned it to Fu Taiming.

After receiving the bracelet and examining it, Fu Taiming wanted to cry but no tears came out.

After all, he had met some acquaintances, some of whom were even worse off than he was.

Elsewhere in the city, there was a merchant who wanted to bribe the collectors, just like Fu Taiming.

He was unlucky to meet a rogue cultivator collector; bribing a rogue cultivator was his greatest misfortune.

Rogue cultivators lacked cultivation resources, and any kind of cultivation resources were very valuable. Especially treasures, they could only be found and not sought. There was no reason why someone would not accept gifts from them.

That rogue cultivator wasn't courteous at all and directly accepted the gift.

That merchant thought that after the rogue cultivator received the gift, he would be able to keep the spirit stones.

In the end, it was the opposite. After the rogue cultivator received the gift, he refused to stop and continued to collect the spirit stones.

Bribing the collector was already in the wrong, how could he dare to ask for justice from a high-level cultivator? If he really went to find a high-level cultivator, who knew who would be punished?

It was because he understood this that the rogue cultivators dared to openly accept bribes.

The merchant was quite tactful and handed over all the spirit stones to Nie Tian.

He didn't dare to not hand over the spirit stones because if he didn't hand over the spirit stones, he would be considered as a rebel. The collector just happened to have an excuse to kill someone and take their goods.

Compared to others, he was pretty decent. At least he managed to survive. Some merchants would lose their lives even if their goods and supplies were tricked.

The unfortunate merchant had lost his spirit stones, the unfortunate merchant had lost his spirit stones and bribed items, the most unfortunate one had lost his storage spirit artifact and his life.

Some people were covered by dark clouds, and their bad luck was right in front of them. Some people were blessed by the stars, and their luck was always changing. Everything in the world was always in an imperceptible state, and was always in equilibrium.

Those lucky merchants had their spirit stones exchanged for goods. Those lucky merchants were preparing to leave the city. After spending the last spirit stones, the luckiest merchants had already left the city.

Of course, luck would not always accompany a single person, nor would it allow one to be unlucky for the rest of their life.

Some people had already arrived at the city, but there were still others who were rushing over. The more people there were, the more chaotic things would become, and the easier it would be for anything to happen.

As for the merchants who left the city, some of them might be able to use up all of their resources. On the way back, they met with mishaps.

That was all later, back to the main topic.

After the incident in the city where the merchants bribed the collectors, many of the monks followed suit, but the bribery did not last.

Under the spiritual sense of a high-level cultivator, the collector didn't dare to give up any spirit stones, but he dared to take away any gifts.

Before raising funds, the high-level cultivator didn't say that he couldn't bribe anyone, but neither did he say that he was allowed to.

As long as one wasn't a fool, one should know that bribery was a public provocation of the authority of high-level cultivators.

Some bribes are lucky, some are unlucky.

The lucky briber met the kind collector, confiscated the gift, and only took away the spirit stone.

The unfortunate briber met the greedy collector and took away the gifts and spirit stones.

The most unfortunate of the bribes encountered the collectors of "The Way of Heaven" and took away all the materials, spirit stones, and the lives of the victims.

Nine out of ten bribes had a bad end.

The bribers didn't even think about it. They didn't know each other and knew who was trustworthy. They easily trusted other people and had nowhere to complain about when it came to this matter. They deserved their bad luck.

For example, those who had yet to hand over their spirit stones had seen the situation clearly and understood that bribery was not an option. Thus, they obediently handed over their spirit stones.

How could no one among the hundreds of high-level cultivators not have thought of a plan to bribe someone?

The briber is too naive!

Why didn't they participate in the fundraising and only supervised it? Could it be that they were truly worried that someone might be hiding something?

Of course not, someone had thought of the possibility of bribery. As long as there was such a possibility, it could not be allowed to happen.

The hundreds of high-level cultivators were suspicious and wary of each other. They didn't trust each other; they only believed in themselves.

As long as one possibility appeared, they couldn't participate in the collection of funds. Moreover, both possibilities could happen.

Too many unfortunate people, too many unfortunate things happened, there were no rebels, there were no bribes, the road to raise funds finally became somewhat smoother.

​