Stranger Danger

Chapter 1181: Why Should We?

“There’s four of you, huh? Fifty silver each.”

It didn’t take long before it was Ye Qing’s turn to enter the town. A man wearing a brocade shirt watched their group of four for a moment before announcing their fee with a strange smile on his face.

“Fifty silver?” Xu Kailu exclaimed in surprise. “Wasn’t it just one silver per person last time?”

“That is then, this is now,” the brocade shirt man said with a smile that didn’t reach the eye. It was the same for his companions.

“The guy who went in just now only paid one silver! Why is it fifty silver when it’s our turn to enter?” Yi Pin accused.

“Haha. Them is them, you are you.”

The brocade shirt man’s smile remained unchanged. “They only need to pay one silver per person. You need to pay fifty.”

“Why should we?” Xu Kailu grumbled.

“Why should you? Because I said so. Because the Myriad Buddha Town belongs to the Brocade Shirt Marquis.”

“You—” Xu Kailu’s face turned as red as a tomato. “This is daylight robbery!”

“The audacity! I have reason to suspect that you are remnants of the Animitta Sect, and you are plotting to disrupt the peace and stability of Myriad Buddha Town!”

The brocade shirt man’s face darkened, and he ordered harshly, “Capture them!”

The brocade shirt man’s companions immediately unsheathed their weapons and surrounded them with ugly smiles on their faces.

The jianghu warriors standing close to the gate entrance were wearing schadenfreude smiles as well.

Emboldened by the fact that Zhao Changming, the Brocade Shirt Marquis was the master of Myriad Buddha Town, these brocade shirt men often abused their power for their own interest. They extorted anyone who was entering Myriad Buddha Town for the first time or looked weak in general.

If their victims were wise enough to pay the unfair fee without complaint, then the most they would lose was some wealth. Otherwise, they would lose both their wealth and their lives.

It was that simple; that tyrannical.

Of course, Ye Qing’s group wasn’t the first group to try and resist their rule. The Animitta Sect the brocade shirt man spoke of was one such example. The Animitta Sect used to be a middle-sized sect. Because they clashed against the brocade shirt men, the Brocade Shirt Marquis denounced them as traitors of the imperial court and wiped them out to the last man.

In Snowview City, the Brocade Shirt Marquis was the heavens. No one could or would offend him unless they had a death wish. Those wearing brocade shirts were trusted aides of the Brocade Shirt Marquis, so they were just as untouchable as him.

This was why the jianghu people felt both pity and schadenfreude when Ye Qing’s group were extorted.

It was always entertaining to watch another person suffering misfortune.

When the brocade shirt men approached though, Old Man of Snowy Mountain took a step forward and harrumphed imperiously. “Get lost!”

At the same time, the aura of a Great Trueman washed out.

In an instant, every man and woman standing near the gate entrance turned as white as a sheet. The brocade shirt men in particular felt weak in the knees and collapsed to the ground.

“It’s been a few years, and you still enjoy bullying the weak as ever, Brother Bai. What kind of senior bullies a junior?”

It was at this moment a thin, feminine-looking man stepped out of a distant restaurant.

The man had a pair of hands with long, slender fingers and silky smooth skin. He was spinning a black bamboo flute about three inches long between his fingertips.

As he did this, layers of invisible sound rippled out wave after wave like a tide. It felt nothing like an ordinary tide, however. It was murderous and treacherous like that of a tide of the Nine Nethers.

Every time the feminine-looking man took a step forward, his presence and his invisible sound tide would grow a tad stronger. Bit by bit, he was dispelling Old Man of Snowy Mountain’s pressure.

The feminine-looking man was just an ordinary Trueman, but he was able to go up against Old Man of Snowy Mountain, a Great Trueman, head on and even gain a small advantage. It was a testament to his strength.

“What a strange martial art!”

Ye Qing lifted a curious eyebrow. He didn’t know about the others, but he clearly saw the invisible sound produced by the spinning flute was split into countless hair-like threads that filled this entire corner of the world. They pierced through the heavens, the earth, and the people and connected everyone’s aura and energies together like a giant web.

This was why the feminine-looking man was able to push back against Old Man of Snowy Mountain. He wasn’t fighting alone; he was borrowing strength from hundreds, even thousands of people. This was why he was able to dispel Old Man of Snowy Mountain’s pressure.

“It’s you, Ink Flute!” Old Man of Snowy Mountain’s tone grew a tad icier when he saw the feminine-looking man walking toward him. Then, he gathered his aura and launched it in his direction.

Buzz!

The two auras clashed like a snow mountain crashing against the lake; the sea. The entire Myriad Buddha Town seemed to shake once as a storm blew, and everyone caught within the wind turned as white as a sheet and bowled over.

Old Man of Snowy Mountain backed a few steps away from the point of impact; his aura untable and erratic.

In comparison, the feminine-looking man, Ink Flute, only shook a little, expression unchanging.

The dozens of people standing close to Ink Flute suddenly bled from all orifices and fell unconscious, however. Somehow, they were hurt even worse than those who were unfortunate enough to stand between the two warriors when their powers clashed.

The unconscious people were none other than those who were connected by Ink Flute’s invisible, intangible threads. As it turned out, the threads couldn’t just connect and borrow the strength of those they were connected to, they could transfer the energies and pressure Ink Flute was enduring to them as well.

When Ink Flute and Old Man of Snowy Mountain clashed earlier, he had immediately transferred the energies and pressure he received to his victims. That was why he was perfectly fine, and those around him weren’t. It was because the poor bastards had endured the large majority of Old Man of Snowy Mountain’s attack.

“Tsk tsk, you haven’t improved at all despite all these years, Brother Bai.”

Ink Flute shook his head and said scornfully, “You’re just as weak as ever.”

“And your mouth still stinks as bad as ever, Ink Flute.”

Old Man of Snowy Mountain sucked in a deep breath to soothe his distorted energies before saying coldly, “Tell your men to get lost and stop blocking my way.”

“Leaving already? Although we parted ways on bad terms, we were friends, weren’t we? Why don’t you and your friends join me for a drink?”

Ink Flute looked at Ye Qing, Yi Pin, and Xu Kailu’s direction. Specifically, he was looking at Ye Qing with unconcealed curiosity. “Speaking of which, why don’t you introduce them to me?”

When he and Old Man of Snowy Mountain clashed earlier, everyone nearby had taken some degree of injuries. However, the trio who were standing closest to the center, were completely fine.

Ink Flute saw what happened. The young man had waved his sleeve and easily dispelled the shockwave. Looking at him, he was probably as strong as him or Old Man of Snowy Mountain, if not stronger.

The reason he couldn’t be sure was because the young man appeared to be a ball of chaos to his spiritual senses. Both his aura and his energies were difficult to perceive, much less measure. Therefore, he could not tell his cultivation level or his strength.

“There’s nothing to be introduced. Get lost.”

Old Man of Snowy Mountain rejected immediately.