Huh? Isn't this an adventure kingdom building game?!-Chapter 774 - 745: Pulverizing Bones and Scattering Ashes, Great Satisfaction to the Bear Heart (Part 2)
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City Lord Mingqingyan’s decision received support from more than half the clan, after which subordinates were informed of the suggestion to seek divine protection.
She thought to herself, she had already planned to build a temple for the gentleman under the name of the Fire Deity. Today, he once again, in front of the entire clan, reduced the five arrogant treacherous merchants to ashes with his fire wings, greatly boosting the morale of the bears. Why not request protection?
"Alright then, once the gentleman has dealt with those scoundrels, we will seek protection," Mingqingyan nodded and replied, "Having such a powerful entity as a backer is a great blessing for our tribe.
At the very least, those timid clansmen will straighten their backs knowing they have someone to protect them.
Though our tribe has quite a few cowards, to progress smoothly, I request all of you to gather some young and robust bears from your respective jurisdictions, at least twenty thousand, to await orders. Once the gentleman is done, I will lead us to request protection.
Go quickly! Ensure no bear demon causes trouble at this crucial moment! Whoever dares to defy, kill without mercy!"
"Yes!" The leaders hurriedly took leave to carry out their orders.
Mingqingyan squinted her eyes, observing the scene of deterrence with bones reduced to ashes in the sky, her heart brimming with hope.
As long as they could obtain the gentleman’s protection, the new generation would be born in a brand new living environment.
No more cold poison, no more oppression by treacherous merchants, they would no longer have fear. Growing up in the abundant and safe Sand Hill City, certainly more bear cubs would successfully transform into demon cultivators, the Furious Fire Bear Race would flourish once again!
Jiang Yuan was busy absorbing lifespan and soul-searching one by one, oblivious to the commotion in the city below.
He found that since his Soul-Devouring Demon Skill upgraded to Level Three, as long as he didn’t continuously absorb lifespan for a long time, he wouldn’t easily go into a frenzy. Moreover, if there were any signs, swallowing a Clear Heart Pill would immediately bring him to his senses.
Anyway, he wasn’t in a rush. He would finish absorbing one, pull out another and chat about something casually, waiting for enough time to elapse before continuing.
Finally, with the intention of not polluting the environment, Jiang Yuan released an Earth Spirit Flame to incinerate the looted corpses and bloodstains completely, before flying back to Sand Hill City in high spirits.
"Sir, please accept the thanks of the Furious Fire Bear Race!" No sooner had Jiang Yuan landed, Mingqingyan, accompanied by the crowd of bear demons and leaders, knelt down, right fist placed solemnly on her chest, "This bow is to thank you for bestowing Elixir upon us, saving Sand Hill City from peril!"
She stood and bowed again with her clansmen, "This bow is to thank you for traversing thousands of miles to crush the enemies of the Furious Fire Bear Race to dust!"
Standing up she bowed again, "This bow is to ask the gentleman to show great kindness and protect the Furious Fire Bear Race! Sand Hill City is willing to build a Fire Deity Temple in your honor and engrave today’s blessings on a sacred stone tablet, ensuring the incense offering never forgets your kindness!"
Facing the bear demons who were kneeling in unison, it would be a lie to say Jiang Yuan wasn’t moved.
Looking at their fervent eyes and anticipation, Jiang Yuan felt that acting cool when needed was indeed meaningful. Saving a city and a tribe, just thinking about it, having a system is really awesome, something he couldn’t even dare dream of doing before.
However, building a Fire Deity Temple?
He glanced at the dazzling fire wings and slowly associated them with the scenario where the Soul-Devouring Demon Skill reduced people to ashes.
The array he set could block the aura, thinking since the bear demons below couldn’t sense it, there was no need to conceal it, but they could witness it; could they mistakenly think the fire wings could directly incinerate a demon cultivator?
This misunderstanding was quite interesting, he chuckled and went to help City Lord Ming to stand up.
But the other party firmly refused, "The Furious Fire Bear Race sincerely prays for protection; please, sir, make it happen!"
"Alright then, this action can ease the city folk’s minds, so it counts as a good deed," Jiang Yuan thought, since the city’s array was on the system interface, in case of real trouble, he couldn’t just stand by.
Besides, exchanging incense offering for some Faith Value would be mutually beneficial.
"Thank you, sir, for your grace!" Mingqingyan was overjoyed to hear this, knocking her head three times vigorously.
They were genuine demon cultivators; when hitting their heads sincerely, the street tiles cracked.
Looking at the stone tiles broken into pieces, Jiang Yuan felt a slight heaviness on his shoulders. The safety of a city was on his shoulders, and he had to find ways to enhance his strength quickly; otherwise, encountering a super-advanced monster that couldn’t be beaten would be troublesome.
Of course, he also needed to develop more connections, in case it couldn’t be beaten, calling for help would count too.
Handing the newly forged Fire Gathering Basin by Leng Yutang to Mingqingyan, explaining how to use it, he then teleported back to his courtyard and further to Elder Dragon’s cave.
After using the Farming Acceleration Item, the automatic sprinkler and automatic seeder obtained through system exchange could return 50% of the experience, coupled with harvesting and planting by hand, the agricultural experience of the system’s basic skills far surpassed average, reaching level 12;
As for cooking, besides the three meals a day, Jiang Yuan would make some popular dishes whenever possible, preparing for emergencies, so the experience naturally remained steady;
The last time he used bookworms to upgrade skills in combat, logging, animal husbandry, scavenging, and fishing, they all remained intact. The only slightly lacking aspect was the mining skill that required gaining experience in Elder Dragon’s cave.
Conveniently, the Rainbow Gem, which the little elf You Meng liked, could only be mined at a random depth of about two hundred thousand meters into the Second Layer dungeon, extracted from a Crystal Stone.
Jiang Yuan’s pickaxe could only advance ten centimeters with each hit, just moving deeper to two hundred thousand meters would require consuming a vast amount of time and physical strength, so he buried himself in mining while brushing up on his mining skills!
Feeling exhausted and bored, he released a delicate paperman carrying a mining pickaxe to take over, pushing forwards without acquiring experience, but it didn’t waste time.
Then, Jiang Yuan took out the Soul-Searching Notes occupying much of the storage bag to look through one by one.
"Walt? Really?" Just flipping through Stone Lesong’s Soul Searching Notes for a couple of pages, he was stunned— the owner and Head Shopkeeper of Flamefire Trading Company, Li Dehai, had been killed by the five treacherous merchants?!
My gosh! Could this have anything to do with my part-time job?
Previously facing Chuci, he was confident and well-reasoned, but suddenly felt at a loss.
Clearly, when heading to the dock early in the morning to deliver goods, he heard Shopkeeper Li cursing and making a racket, although only the sound and not the person was heard, he was alive and kicking then.
Comparing with the soul-searching notes of the other treacherous merchants, they indeed corroborate each other.
Moreover, based on the timing calculated in the notes, shortly after Jiang Yuan left Flamefire Trading Company after delivering goods in the morning, Li Dehai went to Silver Valley to find Shi Kesong.
Following a quarrel and mutual suspicion, it angered the arrogant Shi Kesong, and Li was killed silently, his body disposed of so cleanly that no one even knew he had been to Silver Valley!
"The owner is dead, so Flamefire Trading Company is really not far from collapse, is it?" Jiang Yuan was dazed for a moment, continuing to browse the notes.
Taking the Level Three Fire Stone of the best quality as an example, five treacherous merchants acquire the goods from Sand Hill City for a price of twenty Spirit Stones per piece; they resell each for one Spirit Stone to Li Dehai, then Flamefire Trading Company adds a markup of ten Spirit Stones per piece for wholesalers.
By the time it reaches the buyers’ hands, a piece of Level Three Fire Stone costs a hundred Spirit Stones.
It truly is a profiteering industry! But since the five treacherous merchants are swimming in wealth and have other businesses, why not cut out the middlemen and directly procure to sell at Trapped Snake Island, wouldn’t that earn more?
Soon, he found the reason in the Soul-Searching Notes.
Long, long ago, Li Dehai’s ancestor saved five unrelated brothers venturing together in Silver Valley, teaching them business techniques and supporting them in various ways.
With the benefactor’s financial backing and by monopolizing all industries in Silver Valley, the five merchants became wise, further uniting to monopolize the teleportation array in the city. Blocking the escape routes of Sand Hill City’s bear demons, they began implementing their plans step by step, trapping them to exploit the fire stone resources.
At that time their business was just beginning, and the benefactor’s family was a huge commercial giant of the era.
To repay the favor and also leverage the benefactor’s trading company to sell the fire stones at high prices, the ancestors of the five treacherous merchants described the fire stones as unique to Silver Valley, and both parties allied under a poison oath to share the lucrative profits brought by the fire stones.
As the long years passed quietly, with each generation changing Patriarch and Shopkeeper. As the Furious Fire Bear Race became increasingly weak being trapped, everything went smoothly, literally making money while lying down, and thus both sides adhered to the agreement made that day, never crossing the line.
