Chapter 355: Tell Me Why
'I see. Sun Wentai finally made the right decision for once.'
At the courtyard of Sun Clan's residence, Zhou Gongjin gazed at his phone, reading the clan announcement notification.
Sun Wentai had texted everyone in the clan that they had to pack their belongings, weaponry, armory, food supplies, clothing, and household utensils as they had to move out of Jianye City within today.
Secondly, they had to board one of their battleships or transport ships so that they could travel along with the Jiangdong White Tiger Sect's flying island.
Although Sun Wentai didn't clarify why they had to move, Zhou Gongjin figured that it had something to do with the envoy, Cao Mao.
As Zhou Gongjin thought that Miaomiao had completed his mission, he was relieved.
'Good. Now that Sun Wentai and Sun Bofu won't be sitting around and waiting for their doom, it's time for me to make my moves. First off, I need to either recruit Gan Xingba or steal his secrets.'
He immediately texted his servant, Lu Meng, whom Zhou Gongjin had entrusted with a task.
"How's Gan Xingba's family? What're their answers?"
Beep
Lu Meng texted back.
[They said they already disowned Gan Xingba. They also declined our offer.]
"Huh? Why are they disowning their child? He's such a talented man."
[Gan Xingba is known to be a delinquent in his village. The local population said that he ravished every woman, widow, and young maiden in town in front of their families.]
Zhou Gongjin was surprised. In his previous life, Gan Xingba was a valiant figure who always stood at the forefront when trouble arose. He was not the lecherous scoundrel type of a person who ravished every woman he saw.
"Is that just a rumor, or did their family members tell you that? Did you ask those victims about their opinion?"
[I was about to report it to you. The information contradicts. The men said Gan Xingba was either a bandit, a rapist, or a criminal. As for the women, they didn't seem to hate him. When I asked them about the incidents, they said nothing about the matters. But one of the widows said that the women were the ones seducing Gan Xingba since he always flaunted his power and newly acquired spirit stones that he got from a bunch of pirates, thieves, or mountain bandits.]
"And what's your opinion?"
[Evidence said Gan Xingba was a righteous hoodlum. He killed vicious pirates and bandits that threatened the local neighborhood and distributed their wealth with the local towns, to be exact, buying women. It's the women who sold their bodies for spirit stones while the men are jealous of Gan Xingba.]
"Figured as much."
As Zhou Gongjin had predicted – Gan Ning wasn't a bad person. However, his lecherous behavior and rough demeanor were probably the cause of the misunderstanding. From Zhou Gongjin's point of view, Gan Xingba was a good candidate to join his newly established forces.
Unfortunately, Miaomiao had stolen Gan Ning, and Zhou Gongjin couldn't do anything about it.
"Well, abort the mission. I'll send a map to you, and I want you to investigate that area. There should be a hidden cave or a sealed underground room there. Secure whatever corpses or items you can find, and bring them to me."
Zhou Gongjin took a picture of his painting and uploaded it to the chat room.
[Understood. I'll investigate the area.]
Since Zhou Gongjin couldn't use Gan Ning, he might as well steal the latter's future fortuitous encounter. Although he might fall out with Ling Cao later, it was better than giving the precious legacy or a supreme cultivation technique to a stranger.
…
The sect examination had ended several days ago. All successful candidates moved to the flying island.
Zhu Qiao ended up becoming the only successful inner disciple this year. However, due to her status, she was later promoted as the core disciple of Wu Guotai and Sun Wentai. Yet, the promotion hadn't been publicized as it might create a scandal.
Currently, Zhu Qiao had been meditating in her room on the first floor of Wu Guotai's manor. However, the noise from above irritated her.
Wu Guotai and Sun Wentai seemed to be having a sexy time, and the man's noise was too loud.
"Go fuck each other somewhere else! I need to concentrate on absorbing the Qi!"
Zhu Qiao wanted to yell out loud, but she could only complain to the mirror. She sighed as she regretted not picking the obvious choices when she had talked to Miaomiao.
'I should have raised the flag right there and be done with it! I don't like being here!'
The first day that she had toured the flying mountain, several groups of inner disciples assaulted her, attempting to make her their sex slave.
In retaliation, Zhu Qiao broke their arms and legs. One of them, a fifth-stage cultivator, got his entire right arm severed due to his rudeness.
Even after the brutality, more daredevil inner disciples ambushed her. Of course, Zhu Qiao left behind a trail of bloody crippled men as she strolled through the inner disciple's school and training grounds.
The neighborhood was too unfriendly, and Zhu Qiao wanted out. However, she couldn't leave the island as she had no other place to go.
Returning home wasn't an option anymore since her mother had tricked her to come here. Had she gone home, Zhu Huifang would have sent her back here.
Without a choice, Zhu Qiao patiently stayed in Wu Guotai's residence, using it as a buffer against horny inner disciples.
An hour had passed after both husband and wife got their sexy time. Sounds of footsteps were audible from upstairs, moving from Wu Guotai's room to the first floor. Then, one of the adults left.
A minute later, someone knocked on the door.
"Zhu Qiao, let's talk."
It was the voice of Wu Guotai, but her tone was different than before. When she had first arrived here, Wu Guotai sounded sweet and caring. Most of the time, she always talked about her sons.
But now, her voice seemed cold.
"The door isn't locked. Please come in."
Getting permission, Wu Guotai opened the door and entered Zhu Qiao's room.
"Huh?"
As soon as Zhu Qiao saw the dull pupils and sensed the incubus miasma inside her lungs, she was astonished.
Incubi had already been extinct. However, their aura and their pink miasma had a similar scent as the succubus gas. As such, Zhu Qiao noticed the unusual condition of Wu Guotai.
Zhu Qiao grinned.
'Aha! This bitch has been brainwashed by someone! Who is it? System, scan this woman's status for me.'
Ding
[Scanning…]
[Wu Guotai's status have been appraised.]
[Due to insufficient authority, you have managed to appraise basic information.]
…
Name: Wu Guotai
Abnormal Status: Enslaved, Brainwashed.
…
Other than her name and her abnormal status, everything was hidden.
Ding
[The master of this woman is a system user with a higher authority. To obtain more authority, please cultivate your luck.]
'Authority again!?'
Zhu Qiao squinted her eyes as she had a theory. As Miaomiao had a system with a higher authority than her, she guessed that Miaomiao might have mutated into an incubus during his time at Poseidon Spa House, and ultimately brainwashed this woman in front of her.
Still, Zhu Qiao needed more information. She was also vexed by the restrictions.
'How do I get more luck points, then?'
[Please complete more quests from the system. I would recommend you to try completing the main quest by capturing Mao Miaomiao's heart.]
[Hint: This protagonist is a tough target to conquer. You must be ready to sacrifice your virginity to capture his heart as normal means are impossible.]
Zhu Qiao was annoyed every time that her system wanted her to increase her luck points. Unlike other cultivation techniques, she had to raise this status by completing mundane quests or capturing the hero's heart.
Still, losing her virginity to Mao Miaomiao was unacceptable since she hated his guts. She didn't want to raise a flag by copulating with him.
Before Zhu Qiao could continue conversing with her system, Wu Guotai sat on her bed and revealed her thoughts.
"Zhu Qiao, I have a job for you."
"Yes?" Zhu Qiao snapped back to her senses and paid attention to the woman.
"Soon, the Jiangdong White Tiger Sect shall mobilize northwest to aid Siren City. We will ambush the Yuan Clan and their allies' forces. However, I need your help in this war."
"What? Me!?"
Wu Guotai grinned, "Yes. You."
Zhu Qiao was baffled. Currently, she was a lowly 4th-stage cultivator. Although her strength might surpass her peers, every cultivator on this continent only considered 5th-stage cultivators as proper soldiers or military personal. Anyone weaker than that was as good as being useless in combat.
"But I'm just a weak 4th-stage cultivator. Could you TELL ME WHY you pick me?"
"Hahaha! Don't worry. We trust that you can fare better than most 6th-stage cultivators here. Even my master praises your ability."
"Master?" Zhu Qiao raised her eyebrows. Now, she was curtained that Mao Miaomiao might be Wu Guotai's master.
Wu Guotai's face distorted as her mouth slipped. She coughed and feigned ignorance, "Anyway, I'm here to tell you about your job, so you can be mentally prepared. I'll tell you when we need your strength."
"Uh, okay."
Reluctantly, Zhu Qiao accepted the duty.
Seeing how obedient Zhu Qiao was, Wu Guotai was satisfied. She left Zhu Qiao and returned to her room to clean the dirty bed.
After Wu Guotai had left, Zhu Qiao returned her attention to the system.
'First off, is Mao Miaomiao that woman's master? System, can you identify it?'
[Your system lacks authority to confirm this information.]
Zhu Qiao clicked her tongue, 'Fine. I won't ask about him anymore. But isn't there another way to conquer Mao Miaomiao's heart other than losing my virginity to him?'
Ding
[This system is created so you, a heroine, could win the protagonist's heart and become his wife. Losing your virginity to a man is a duty of a good wife.]
'… I thought I only needed to win a protagonist's heart to complete the goddamn quest!'
[Unless you want to have a harem of husbands, you should only focus on conquering one man with everything you have. If you aim for the harem route, please don't be concerned about your purity since you will lose your innocence eventually.]
"…"
…
Meanwhile, Chicken Ann City became a busy place as 3,000 demons from Mountain Goose City had arrived.
Normally, local cultivators would have started fighting against these demons on sight. However, the local city lord opened their city gates for them as instructed by Yuan Shaoqing.
Goblins and Onis strolled the streets without harming the human cultivators and commoners. Still, the local population kept their distance from them because of their lewd gaze or their murderous glare.
Among the demon races, Wei Xiang was there as well. As a nascent soul realm demon, he was in charge of this army.
His next task was to probe Siren City's strength. However, attacking it directly was not a wise decision. Thus, Wei Xiang had come up with a plan.
And that involved the local population and the Chicken Ann City's troops.
Wei Xiang visited the city lord as he had made the reservation yesterday.
Within the citadel inside Chicken Ann City, the city lord was from the Holy Land, who had replaced the old lord recently.
Sitting on the throne was Liu Xuande, the long earlobe man with long arms. Standing next to his chair was his two sworn brothers, Zhang Yide and Guan Yunchang.
Liu Xuande, aka Liu Bei's counterpart, had been observing his subordinates, who had been drinking and enjoying the banquet in the throne room. His eyes and his brain memorized every reaction and conversation.
Wei Xiang entered the throne room and stood before the three men. He glanced at the two giants behind Liu Xuande and the bodyguards in the room.
Surprisingly, Wei Xiang spotted Jian Meng and Jian Yong, who were the agents of the notorious organization, the Poison Pavilion. Both of them acted like they were a part of Liu Xuande's men by standing firm next to the bodyguards, watching over the people in the banquet.
Seeing how influential Liu Xuande was, Wei Xiang cupped his fist and showed respect.
"Wei Xiang, the eldest son of Wei Huang, greets esteemed seniors from the Holy Land Continent."
Liu Xuande gazed at the young demon for a moment. He scanned Wei Xiang from head to toes before he sighed.
"You're too ambitious and greedy. How could you do that?"
"Excuse me?" Wei Xiang was taken aback.
Liu Xuande pointed at Wei Xiang's feet, "How many souls have you enslaved so far? The spirits are crying and begging me to release them from your shadow."
Wei Xiang gulped and took a step back by reflex. The next moment, Liu Xuande's presence seemed to grow bigger.
A second later, Wei Xiang felt like he had been standing in front of a god, who could see through his disguise and his abilities.
"T-This junior is following his dao god's instruction. This lowly demon doesn't dare to enslave these souls under the great presence of the great senior!"
Wei Xiang sweated while his knees trembled in fright. Now, he didn't dare to look at Liu Xuande's face.
Suddenly, the pressure subsided, and Liu Xuande clapped his hands.
"Well, I don't mind what you've been doing since it's none of my business. However, I have to warn you not to harm MY CITIZENS, got it?"
"O-Okay."
"Secondly, it's about the little conflict. My troops will not participate in whatever you, your father, or Yuan Shaoqing are planning on doing to Siren City. You see, an envoy from Siren City has visited me recently, and we have just signed a peace treaty and a trade agreement. I want no trouble."
"You… what!? I-I thought you would join us in this fight? Aren't you violating our agreements?"
Liu Xuande burst into laughter, "Oh, please. Yuan Shaoqing commissioned me to spy on Siren City, not attacking it. I completed the reconnaissance mission and provided him with the necessary intel. That's it."
"B-But I heard that you're our ally!"
"True, I'm YOUR ALLY. At the same time, I'm Siren City's ALLY!"
"WHAT!?"
Liu Xuande shrugged, "As you can see, I'm neutral to all this. Don't expect me to join you in your little game for that cultivation resources or whatsoever."
"…"
Wei Xiang's mind was blank.
At first, he had planned to threaten the local lord or kill him. Afterward, he would take over the local forces and send them to attack Siren City.
With Liu Xuande's interference, his scheme was now ruined. He got stuck on a suicide mission without anybody's help.
Still, Wei Xiang was smart. He came up with another idea.
"How much do I need to pay you to hire your troops or request for your help?"
Liu Xuande stopped laughing. His expression turned solemn as he leaned forward.
"TELL ME WHY I should help a heretic shaman like you. If your answer is satisfactory, I'll quote the price."
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