While munching on a bun and sipping on the porridge, Lao Ai narrowed his eyes and sized up three enchanting girls standing amongst the young men. He could tell that they were no longer virgins. Not only that, from the seductive look on their faces, it seemed they were practicing some cultivation technique which formed a 'fate' with him.
However, in Lao Ai's opinion, their cultivation technique was too shallow. The ultimate realm of dual-cultivating technique was to look like a Buddha externally while having a heart of evil. Despite how evil and brutal the true nature of the technique was, one had to maintain a solemn exterior. Only then one could be considered to have reached the pinnacle realm!
"They are just three little vixens! Nevertheless, they do make good candidates who can help to heal my injury!" Moistening his lips with tongue, Lao Ai muttered, "I'll take two, and you can have one."
Madman Xue took a bite on the bun in his hand, then using his elbow to lightly touch Lao Ai, he said, "Master, we can't even kill a chicken with our current condition. How do we have the strength to capture them?"
Lao Ai pondered for a brief moment. Before long, he and Madman Xue turned to look at Wu Qi at the same time.
Wu Qi picked up the storage bag and poured out all the energy stones in it. One by one he counted them. Sure enough, there were one hundred pieces of energy stones. However, their sizes were too small. Although in terms of quality, they could be considered as lower-grade energy stone, he had never seen a lower-grade energy stone as small as a date pit!
A standard lower-grade energy stone had the size of an adult's fist. No matter it was the size, weight, and the amount of energy, they had to meet specific criteria. Only then they could be considered as lower-grade energy stones. Perhaps, the sum of energy in these one hundred pieces of energy stones was probably the standard of one piece?
By right, the storage bag worthed some value as well, but Wu Qi had never seen a fist-sized storage bag with only an internal space about the size of a human head! What were the things that it could contain? If it were put on sale in a market, most probably it would just cost thirty to fifty silver coins!
Laughing dryly, Wu Qi carefully picked up a lower-grade energy stone with his fingers, turned to the few men and girls, and said, "Fellow... Daoists... Seniors... Immortals... is this a lower-grade energy stone? Wow, I've never seen lower-grade energy stones with such fine quality! I'm Daoist Greed. To be honest, this is the first time I have seen a lower-grade energy stone so finely polished! They can simply be mounted on rings as gemstones!"
Wu Qi's words filled with a sarcastic undertone, but it seemed the few men and girls were not aware of that. The man who threw the bag out previously clasped his hands behind his back and said arrogantly, "Indeed, those are one hundred pieces of lower-grade energy stones, not one extra, nor one less. We, the Min clan from An He City, have purchased a land measuring three hundred miles in circumference here, and we'll turn this place into a summer garden. This valley is now ours!"
While hefting the one hundred pieces of lower-grade energy stones with his hand, Wu Qi grabbed a bun and took a bite out of it. Then, with his eyes darting from side to side, he shouted, "Hidden Heart! Someone is here to seize your land! They are using one hundred pieces of lower-grade energy stones to seize your Temple of Hidden Heart!"
"F*ck! Who dares to touch Temple of Hidden Heart?" A loud roar echoed out like a sudden thunderclap, immediately followed by hurried footsteps that shook everything around. The fat monk who worked in the kitchen rushed out furiously with glaring eyes, hands holding a sickle as he came out of the door like a whirlwind.
He stood before the door, panting heavily as he let loose a furious roar and bellowed, "I'm the Guardian of Temple of Hidden Heart, Qi Tian! Who dares to be presumptuous here?"
A ringing of silvery laughter came out from the three girls' mouths. One of them, who was clad in a long green dress, casually pointed her finger out, chuckled and said, "He is one big monk! I wonder if he is just big on the outside, but small on the other side?" With the pointing of her finger, Qi Tian's belt suddenly broke apart, causing his pants to drop down instantly. And, that was not the end, as even his monk robe was ripped with dozens of large openings. A breeze came blowing by and brought all his clothes away, exposing his naked body with fair skin. He stood there motionless, with a blank expression.
All three girls burst into laughter, while the other four men did the same, shaking with laughter and assuming a proud look on their faces. The man who threw out the storage bag narrowed his eyes and told the green-dressed girl, "Sister, it looks like you have gained a significant progress in your divine ability. Even I can't tell how you did that!"
The rest of the men quickly chimed in to flatter the green-dressed girl, praising her for the incredible magical power.
Wu Qi and Lao Ai exchanged a glance. Conveniently, Wu Qi shoved the one hundred pieces of lower-grade energy stones into his own storage bag hanging on the waist. To him, a batch of energy stones so finely polished was indeed rare, and it seemed that this group of cultivators were someone with prestigious status. Thus, they would not use things like this to cheat others. They were from Min clan of An He City, and from the look of how they conducted themselves, could they come from a stingy clan?
Out of the seven men and girls here, apart from the man who obviously was their leader, and the green-dressed girl, who both had just formed their Gold Cores, the rest of them were still in the realm of Xiantian. The cloud they used to come here was materialized by a magical item, not a real cloud taking shape using their own ability. Furthermore, in Wu Qi and Lao Ai's opinion, the technique used by the green-dressed lady to strip the monk naked was not something that incredible. They were not impressed at all.
In a trance, Qi Tian bowed his head to look at his big, fat belly. He burst into a cry suddenly, throwing away the sickle and spinning to run away. However, as his feet were caught by his own pants, right after he spun and took the first step, he tripped and fell face down with a thud. His fat muscle wobbled violently, and the heavy impact shook the front door, causing the wooden plaque hanging on top of it to sway a little, before falling off together with dust, knocking right onto the back of his head.
"Ugh..." He passed out with foam burbling from his mouth.
Wu Qi and Lao Ai exchanged another glance. They brought Madman Xue and carefully retreated to the left of the front door, standing under the statue of the Guarding Vajra. With one hand holding a bun and the other holding a bowl of porridge, they continued feeding themselves with the coarse food.
Lao Ai sighed lightly and said, "Aye, trouble is here. All my meridians are broken now, and I can only rely on these mortal foods to replenish my strength, absorbing bits of the sun and moon essence during midday and midnight to heal myself. Aye, if these monks were chased away by them, where should I find another place for free accommodation and food?"
Wu Qi swallowed the last bun in his hand, glared at Lao Ai, and snapped, "Don't place your hope on me. I was nearly killed by someone with a palm strike, and it left me with less than one percent of my original cultivation base. Tsk, this Min clan of An He City is not easy to deal with. I'm sure these monks will be chased away. Well, you and your disciple have to be on your own!"
Wu Qi would never tell Lao Ai that he still had eighteen celestial fiend puppets of Heaven Fiend realm, and he would not reveal the fact that he had cultivated the Dragon Transformation Script to the level of Thirty-six Transformations of True Dragon, which gave him a formidable fleshly body that could fight head-on against ordinary Heaven Immortals. Furthermore, he would not let Lao Ai know that he had ten thousand Long Bo people in his spirit breeding ring, who had almost broken through the realm of Nascent Soul.
Since he would never tell Lao Ai all of these, he would also not be telling Lao Ai that he still had many, many spirit pills and medicines stored inside of black dragon spirit ring. Ugh, why should he be telling Lao Ai all of that? Unless Lao Ai could swear an oath that he would forever be Wu Qi's lackey, why should he help him?
"For the benevolence of the Buddha, Sādhu! Sādhu! Kind people, are you here to donate to the Temple of Hidden Heart?"
As the voice rang out, the little monk, Guarding Heart, walked out of the temple with his left hand holding on a big bun and his right hand holding a bowl of porridge. He was immediately stunned on looking at Qi Tian, who was knocked out on the ground by the wooden plaque. His face darkened. Slowly and carefully, he placed the bowl and bun on the threshold, then walked next to Qi Tian and picked up the wooden plaque. A cloud emerged under his feet, carrying him up to the lintel of the front door as he placed the plaque neatly back to its original position.
With that being done, he retracted the cloud and landed back on the ground. He walked down the stairs before the front door, put his palms together before his chest, and bowed to the group of men and girls, "Could what Daoist Greed have just said be true? Are the few of you here to forcibly seize the property of Temple of Hidden Heart?"
Footsteps were heard coming from behind him, as the old monk, Hidden Heart, swaggered out with a bun held in his hand. Behind him followed a few fat and strong-looking hunting dogs. The old monk gave Qi Tian a glance, who laid unconscious and fully naked on the ground. He sighed and said, "My heart had been racing these few days during meditating. I knew a calamity was on its way, but I never expected it to be something like this."
He gave Hidden Heart a glare and muttered, "These people are not benefactors who will donate to our temple, but villains who come here to demolish our home!"
Wu Qi pulled out a finely polished lower-grade energy stone from his storage, hefting it with his hand as he said with a dry smile, "Old monk, this is one of the one hundred pieces of lower-grade energy stones they gave us, and they are here to demolish the temple so they could build a summer garden!"
Hidden Heart took a deep breath as he stared at the group of men and girls. "Little benefactors, I have an official title deed for the land signed by the City Lord of An He City. The ten miles valley here is the private property of Temple of Hidden Heart. I am the one who built the temple, and I've been dwelling in secluded cultivation here for over seven hundred years. Every single blade of grass, every tree here, are personally planted by me..."
The green-dressed girl chuckled, twisting her slender waist as she walked up and said complacently, "Who wants to listen to the nagging of a bald donkey? Old monk, I reckon you must not have left this place for many years, have you? The current City Lord of An He City is Reverend San Le, the Patriarch of Min clan! All the titles of deed signed previously are no longer valid!"
The girl tilted her head up proudly, pointing her finger at Wu Qi as she said, "The price of one hundred pieces of lower-grade energy stones is more than enough to purchase this valley. You've gained a significant wealth in the deal, so why are you still not satisfied? Aren't you just looking for trouble?"
To match her statement, Wu Qi pulled out all one hundred pieces of lower-grade energy stones and showed them to Hidden Heart.
The old monk was taken aback. Putting palms together and calling the name of Buddha, he said in a low voice, "Please allow me to ask this, what happened to the previous City Lord, Grandmaster Jin An?"
The leader held his head up arrogantly, took a few steps forward, and said with a sneer, "That old bald donkey is dead, with his head broken into pieces! You have the time to finish a pot of tea to move out from here. If you refuse, don't blame us for showing no mercy!"
Wu Qi shoved the energy stones back to his storage bag and took a bite out of a bun as he turned to look at Hidden Heart.
The old monk's face flickered. He sighed lightly and said, "It saddens me to learn that Grandmaster Jing An is dead. How cruel are you!"
After saying that, he placed the bun in his hand neatly on the stairs behind him, then took a few steps forward and said in a deep voice, "If that is the case, you can't blame me for eradicating the demons today by slaughtering you bunch of evildoers!"
All of a sudden, a Lion Roar burst out of his mouth. Even as that happened, from underneath the withered skin of his came radiating out a large sheet of golden light. With his palm tightly clenched into a fist, he forcefully thrust it towards the chest of the young man.
Among the crowd of men and girls, three men and two girls were shaken by the Lion Roar. Their eyes were rolling as they howled and were thrown several hundred feet away, collapsing to the ground with blood oozing out of their mouths, losing their consciousness.
The leader and the green-dressed girl cried out in shock. Almost at the same time, they opened their mouths and shot out a pinkish beam each.