Chapter 377: Logical and Illogical Decisions (1/2)
At the center of Yuan Clan's volunteer camp, 200 old men from various clans and small sects attended a banquet to celebrate their victory in advance.
The party was held on a large square wooden platform, which had been built to serve as the main gathering point for the leaders of all clans and organizations.
Elderly men sat on a cotton cushion while food and alcoholic drinks had been served on short tables in front of them. Everyone sat in a horseshoe formation, leaving the center area open for the performers and musicians to do their things.
Laughter, murmur chat, the clinking sound of wine glasses, and zither music mixed together. Unless one paid attention to a specific conversation, no bystander could understand what the banquet participants had been saying.
Most of the participants were either 5th-stage or 6th-stage cultivators. As for all nascent soul experts, they had been summoned to Yuan Shaoqing's main camp 10 kilometers to the east.
Even without their top experts, these people ignored the state of the alliance camp as they thought that the management was none of their business – They were only here to plunder Siren City after the top experts dealt with the defenders of the city before them.
While most cultivators here were carefree, smart ones had been busy elsewhere at the back of their camps.
At the southeast section of the camp, far back from the potential battlefront, the fat patriarch of the merchant alliance had a private meeting with several outsiders.
Yu Shun, the father of Yu Lin, had been interrogating a local rogue cultivator, who used to buy elixir water from the beastmen.
The merchant still hadn't forgiven Miaomiao for killing his son. Now, he had been working in secret, hoping to crush Miaomiao and his family with his hands.
”Aside from the 8th-stage cultivator, who else did you see?” Yu Shun asked one of the local men while he passed a refined stone to him.
The man accepted the bribe and started talking, ”Those small beasts always bragged about several nascent soul guardians and their queen. I don't know the exact number of their top fighters, but they are a lot stronger than the first-rated sects for sure.”
”Have you seen those nascent soul cultivators in person?”
”No. It was just a rumor.”
”Okay, you can go.”
Yu Shun chased the rogue cultivator out. Then, he summoned another one and asked the same questions.
The new rogue cultivator revealed a piece of new information, ”The queen of beastmen is as strong as a nascent soul expert.”
The info was old. Yu Shun kicked him about and called another one.
Another traveling merchant also got new info, ”That city hides stunning beauties inside the city! Many beastmen can transform into demi-humans, and they are gorgeous!”
Yu Shun took notes of that. Then, he allowed more eyewitnesses to sell their information.
”The beastmen are working with demons and demon worshipers! I saw several orcs dressing like monks!”
”I saw the wastrel Ma Moxi in that city! I think the Ma Clan is supporting the demons and the beastmen.”
”When we were attacked by the unknown cultivators, I saw a giant orc lord among the defenders. The people there also used strange weapons that breathed fire.”
Series of new intel continued to come in as Yu Shun continued to bribe the local cultivators and merchants. However, the more Yu Shun heard about the forces inside the city, the more he wondered if Yuan Shaoqing was making the right decision to provoke this force.
'8th-stage cultivator and several nascent soul experts… They are gathering quite a force in there. Even if they possess such priceless elixir, the first thing Yuan Shaoqing and everyone should do is to make friends with them first and assess the situation. Why did Yuan Shaoqing and other fools decide to wage war against them?'
Yu Shun hated Miaomiao with a passion, but he wasn't stupid. The merchant knew his limits, and he didn't want to provoke a potential sleeping dragon without a backup plan.
As the fat merchant was contemplating whether joining Yuan Shaoqing's bandwagon was a good idea, his men brought in another young man, who had visited Siren City and managed to slip in during the chaos. He also had taken several pictures of the city with his J-Phone.
The young man grinned, believing that the photo might fetch a lot of money.
”Sir, I have interesting information that you've never heard or seen before. I'm wondering how much will you pay for it?”
Yu Shun sighed and waved his hand, ”I've heard everything. You can leave.”
”B-But my information is unique! I have several pictures in here!”
The young man took out his phone and was about to show the photos. However, Yu Shun, who was mentally exhausted from the marathon Q&A, ordered his men to kick him out, ”Take him away. I'm done for the night.”
”WAIT!!”
The bodyguards of Yu Shun didn't listen to the young man. They threw him out of their master's tent.
The young man was infuriated. He looked back at the bodyguards and the tent of the merchant, ”You'll regret this! Once I've become successful, I'll crush your puny guild and that fatass of yours!”
After venting, the young man spat and walked away.
However, a white-haired elderly man, who seemed to be wearing a skin mask, approached the young man as if he had been waiting for him.
Mike, aka Wang Yun, was still around. He approached the young man and passed him an essence core, ”I'll buy whatever you wanted to sell that fatty. Will you sell it to me?”
The young man gazed at the essence core in disbelief. He jumped in joy, ”SURE! Here, here! Take a look at my phone.”
”Not here. There are too many people here. Come with me.”
”OH! OKAY!”
The young man followed Mike to a secluded place in glee. He thought that the old man wanted secrecy, so they needed to chat in private.
As soon as they reached a dark place where no torchlight had reached them, several shadow arms and hands emerged from the ground and seized the young man's neck. Without waiting for the young man to utter a word, Mike snapped the latter's neck with his shadow element hands.
The dead body collapsed to the ground. Then, Mike's shadow absorbed the dead body as if they were quicksand.
Yet, Mike pulled the J-Phone of the young man with his shadow hand. Not bothering looking at the photo of Siren City, he crushed the phone.
Just like that, the photos of Siren City were destroyed along with the modified jade.
Mike sighed and took out his J-Phone to make a phone call. He scrolled to a registered number with the nickname [Master Ding] and pressed it.
BEEP
BEEP
It took a while before the line was answered.
[Yeah?]
The voice of the receiver belonged to Lu Fengxian!
”All rats have been eliminated. What's your next order?”
Mike and Lu Fengxian had been exchanging information and working together in secret after Liu Bian's incidents. No one, even Miaomiao, was aware of this conspiracy since it was the ex-immortal idea to limit the information circulation.
Lu Fengxian never had faith in humans, so he had planted a spy among the orthodox cultivator's side, just in case they suddenly turned their weapons at Siren City.
As the ex-immortal had predicted, Yuan Shaoqing made a move after Liu Bian had died.
Ever since then, Mike, the shadow element user, had been leaking Yuan Shaoqing's intel and assassinated potential spies from the other side.
And now, Mike had taken out another rat among many.
[Keep pretending to work for Yuan Shaoqing. I'll tell you what to do when the time comes.]