Chapter 249: Expansion of Ma Clan – Part 1
After dealing with the orcs, Jia Shan returned to the city.
As for Ma Ping, he gazed at the cultivators in front of the city and on the battlements. He frowned and pondered what he should do with these people.
'Moxi said that the weakest orc's strength is 4th-stage. Even if I recruit these people to my clan, they will still be useless in the battle. Some of them will probably take the money and run away at their first opportunity.'
Ma Ping didn't like how these people had reacted during the crisis. As soon as the orcs came, they either begged for help or ran away. Although it was logical to flee when a stronger cultivator had pursued them, they should have at least showed some backbones.
He didn't want to hire weak-willed cultivators as his soldiers.
Still, the situation was dire. Ma Ping had guessed that the orcs might have begun to mobilize south toward Siren City as they had deployed a vanguard to probe him.
'I should employ them as mercenaries for now. If they perform well, I'll consider hiring them. However…'
Ma Ping's sight locked at a certain masked old man, who had the presence of a core pillar realm.
'That bastard isn't trustworthy. He has enough strength to fight back, but he was the first to run away. Ha, injured? That's bullshit. You can lie, but you can't escape my domain sense!'
Ma Ping's sight shifted toward the north. He pondered for a moment before he came up with an idea.
…
"This city is fucking insane! They're hiding so many experts in there!"
"That's pretty obvious. This place used to be a deserted town. But now, it has become a fortress. It must have been those people's doing that has transformed the ruined town into this!"
The crowd speculated of what had happened to Siren City. They gazed at Ma Ping with awe and respect as they thought that he was the mastermind behind the restoration of this place.
Li Jue paid attention to the rumor. He also agreed with them.
As Li Jue had been listening to the crowd, a knowledgeable cultivator recognized Ma Ping.
"Isn't he the war hero, Ma Ping!?"
Everyone turned to the speaker, "Are you sure!? Really!?"
"There's no mistaking it! I used to work near the Ma Residence in Xuan City. I have seen him before, but…"
The cultivator didn't understand how Ma Ping had regained his strength. The person that he knew was a crippled old man, who could no longer use Qi.
Unbeknownst to him, he had started a fire. The people in front of the gate and on top of the battlements had heard it, and they believed him.
Everyone cupped their fists and paid respect to Ma Ping. Over a hundred cultivators introduce themselves and tried to get Ma Ping's attention.
On the other hand, Li Jue and Niu Fu's faces changed. They had a chill running down their spines as the man in the sky was once known as the strongest 7th-stage cultivator, who was only second to Immortal Fengxian during the previous Demon War.
As the crowd was thrown into an uproar, Ma Ping slowly descended and hovered in front of the city, looking at everyone.
"My name is Ma Ping, the patriarch of the Ma Clan!"
Everyone gulped and stopped making noise. Everybody looked at the expert in admiration while they listened to his next words.
"As you can see, we have been invaded by the orcs. My scout has informed me yesterday that their number is at least 10,000 men, and they have built a camp north of here."
Li Jue smirked. He had been watching the orc camp closely, so he knew the exact number of these orcs.
In reality, about 20,000 orcs had already been transported to this continent and more transport ships continued to bring more of them here. Unless a major force, such as Jiangdong White Tiger Sect, Mountain Goose Sect, or the imperial clan had mobilized their elite troops, nobody here would be a match against the massive army of orcs.
Ma Ping might be able to handle 5,000 to 10,000 orcs on his own. However, his stamina and Qi were limited. Sooner or later, he would run out of gas, and he would become useless against hidden 7th-stage orcs.
Against this massive army, Ma Ping couldn't defeat them alone!
That was what Li Jue had believed.
"But fear not! My clan and my allies consist of three 7th-stage experts, three 6th-stage experts, and over a dozen of promising youths, whose strength is comparable to 5th-stage and 6th-stage experts! We have enough manpower to defend the city!"
Ma Ping made a bold move by revealing their city's strength. However, he didn't tell them about the beast girls, who had departed from the city last night.
Upon hearing about the power of this hidden force, everyone dropped their jaws in shock and astonishment.
On this continent, not many clans could employ a 6th-stage cultivator as they usually demanded at least 3,000 to 5,000 refined stones as their annual wage. Only a few rich organizations could afford to hire multiple 6th-stage cultivators.
These organizations were considered as a 1st-rated sect, company, or clan.
Then, there were powerhouse clans and sects, whose leaders had the strength of the 7th-stage, such as the Silver Phoenix Sect, Xia Clan, or Jiangdong White Tiger Sect.
Still, these powerhouse organizations only possessed one or two nascent soul experts as their top fighters. Even the major sect like Silver Phoenix Sect only one 7th-stage cultivator as its pillar. The same applied to Xia Clan and Jiangdong White Tiger Sect.
The exceptions were the imperial family and the Myriad Cauldron Sect under the dictatorship of Yuan Shaoqing, who had imported experts from the holy land to help him. Only these two forces had hired multiple 7th-stage cultivators as their main combatants.
The reason was because of their upkeep and their standard wage, which jumped from a few thousand refined stones to a handful of essence cores. Top fighters, such as Zhang Junyi, had the wage of 100 essence cores a year!
And now, a new force showed up and stated that they had the supports from three 7th-stage cultivators. This development was unprecedented!
Of course, none of them had realized that Ma Ping had included Zhao Bao, who was a part of Huangjin Monastery in the list. He had exaggerated the number a bit.
"We can easily defend the city, but we can't possibly protect you every time."
At this point, everybody's faces darkened. They were aware that they had come here to leech off the Qi in the air, but they hadn't contributed anything to the city. Therefore, Ma Ping had no obligation to protect them.
"But I have a proposition for you."
The crowd's ears perked. They gazed at the war hero with bright eyes.
"If you're willing to join my clan as a temporary mercenary, I'll let you in the city. However…"
The crowd didn't wait for Ma Ping to finish his sentences. They raised hands and volunteered.
"My name is Pao Luo! I'll join you!"
"I'm in!"
"Take me! Let me join the force and let me in the city!"
Their intention was obvious. All of them didn't care about their duties, but they wanted to get inside the city.
Ma Ping sighed and shook his head. As he had predicted, these people were no good.
Still, he went through with his plan anyway.
"However, we will test your abilities, wits, teamwork, and loyalty! We will give you a few simple tests!"
Ma Ping pointed at the north, where the orc camp was located, "As long as you can bring me a head of an orc, I'll let you inside the city. Of course, one orc's head is only a ticket for one person. But for the mercenary positions, you'll have to take another test."
"W-What!?"
The crowd was shocked. This test was too difficult as they had no confidence that they would be able to kill one. After all, the attacking force consisted of 6th-stage orc warriors, and they believed that they had to fight orcs like those.
Moreover, there was a second test after this!
No one could utter a word.
Still, smart ones immediately sprinted toward the location, where the 100 orcs had fallen. As nobody had claimed the loot yet, they had planned to cut the corpses' heads and obtained some fortune.
Unfortunately, when they got there, they found no corpse. Ma Moxi had already cleaned the battlefield, leaving nothing behind, including dead bodies.
Ma Ping laughed at the opportunists, "I have to admit that you're smart. However, as I said before, this is a test to evaluate your abilities, wits, teamwork, and loyalty. This is not something that you can accomplish alone!"
After Ma Ping had reminded them of his purpose, everybody understood the former's intention.
Abilities, wits, teamwork, and loyalty were the theme of this test.
Abilities determined their combat prowess. Wits were their wisdom and intelligence of how they could defeat stronger enemies. As for teamwork, it was self-explanatory.
The problem was the LOYALTY.
If they were to form a team of ten 4th-stage cultivators, their objective would be to hunt 10 orcs, who were stronger than them. However, they couldn't possibly kill 10 stronger orcs at once. Instead, they had to kill one at a time with their teamwork and well-executed plans.
But once an orc died, the test of loyalty would begin. Everyone had to continue hunting more orcs to ensure that all members could get the city entry ticket. However, dishonest ones might backstab the group and take the orc's head to the city alone.
Therefore, not only did they had to work as a team, their characters would be tested as well. Also, nobody could tell whether Ma Ping would fail the potential backstabbers or not.
While everyone had a grim expression, Li Jue had been grinning from ear to ear.
This test would be so easy for him. After all, he had already killed so many orcs, and he also had a corpse in his spatial ring.
Still, he needed another orc's head for his disciple since he only had one corpse.
Meanwhile, Ma Ping summarized the test, "You have a week to complete this task. After a week, I'll seal the doors and city walls. Whatever happens to you afterward is none of my business. Now, you can go. I'll wait for you here."
Ma Ping landed on the rooftop of a sentry building on top of the wall rampart, directly above the city gates. Then, he sat cross-legged, meditating.
"…"
The crowd reluctantly looked around, searching for strong people to be in their team. Many people looked at Li Jue, planning to invite him. Unfortunately, the latter grabbed his disciple and flew away.
As such, 4th-stage cultivators grouped together and made a big team while 3rd-stage cultivators and weaker people were excluded.
The latter group sulked as they lost hope, giving up the test. They relocated themselves to the south gate, avoiding a potential war between Siren City and the orcs.
Had the fight broken out, they would have had enough time to flee.
As such, the people outside of the north gate dispersed. Weak-willed cultivators migrated to the south gate while strong and brave ones teamed up and planned for their test.
…
A few hours later, the people who had given up the test spread words to the cultivators at the east gate and the south gate. More cultivators were overjoyed when they heard that they could use an orc head as a ticket to enter the city.
Remnant 4th-stage cultivators and a couple 5th-stage newcomers rushed toward the north, hoping to gain their fortune by joining this event. On the other hand, the weaker ones gathered at the south gate, being satisfied with their current status.
After all strong cultivators had left, Ma Moxi appeared on top of the south sentry tower above the city gates. He looked at the people with a wide smile before his face turned solemn.
He bellowed, "ARE YOU LOTS SATISFIED WITH THIS!?"
"Who!?"
All weak cultivators opened their eyes and stared at Ma Moxi.
The ex-protagonist continued to provoke them, "ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH BEING LEFT BEHIND!?"
Everyone bit their lower lips. They wanted to join the hunt, but they were not strong enough. Moreover, all strong cultivators excluded them from their groups.
One of them, who had once introduced himself as Luo Pao, was a 2nd-stage cultivator with colorful pink hair and body hair. His arms, chest, and legs were covered in thick hair as if he were a gorilla. Even his face was full of facial hair.
He only had pants and shoes on. His upper body showed the smooth silky pink hair that stood out in public like a sore thumb.
The fluffy guy shouted at Ma Moxi, "Then, what am I going to do!? I'm just 2nd-stage trash! Do you think I can contribute something in a real fight against 6th-stage cultivators!?"
Ma Moxi laughed, "THAT'S THE MENTALITY OF LOWLIFE 3RD-RATED CULTIVATORS!! AS LONG AS YOU KEEP THINKING OF YOURSELF THAT WAY, YOU'LL NEVER IMPROVE!!"
"What!?"
"ARE YOU TIRED OF BEING MOCKED, TRASH!?"
"…"
"ARE YOU ANGRY WHEN I CALL YOU A TRASH!?"
"Tsk!"
Seeing that everyone was frustrated, Ma Moxi waved his hand and ejected several hundreds of heaven-grade pills that he had made from his spatial rings. They hovered and orbited around him.
"Do you want power!?"
Everyone stared at the floating pills in astonishment. They wanted to reply, but they weren't shameless enough to ask for the pills.
"These pills are refined yang pills, which are suited for lowlife trashes like you. However, I won't give you for free."
Pao Luo gritted his teeth. He shouted, "What do you want, then!?"
"Simple," Ma Moxi brought out several scrolls, which he had written beforehand. He tossed one to Pao Luo, "Swear allegiance to me with your dao heart! Write your name on the scroll with your blood essence!"
"W-What!?"
The crowd was shocked. Giving an oath like this was equal to selling their souls to a devil.
"If you sell your soul to me…"
Ma Moxi paused before he revealed an evil grin. He stored the pills back to his spatial rings before he blinked and reappeared behind Pao Luo.
Then, he whispered to the Pao Luo's ear while he tapped the tip of his knife at the latter's neck.
"I'll make you the best assassin in the world."
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