Inside Myriad Herbs Hall's lobby. The brothers of Gold Core realm tightly hugged the clump of glinting object in their arms. Their bodies shivered with fear.
While laughing strangely, the old Daoist with a green skin complexion walked towards them. He managed to force a kind smile on his face as he spoke to the brothers, "Fellow Daoists, your Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom is a good treasure. Mm, the people of Myriad Herbs Hall were making too much noise trying to take their share of the loot. But, how could there be such an easy profit under the heaven? That's why we've killed them."
He cleared his throat and continued saying with a bright smile, "Don't worry, we are all good guys! Hehe! Now, can you tell us what do you want?"
The brothers huddled up together as they shivered convulsively. They were horror-stricken by the ruthless slaughtering carried out by the few Heaven Immortals. A moment ago, they were worried about how they could avoid Myriad Herbs Hall and sell the Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom at a higher price, but in just a blink of an eye, all the people in Myriad Herbs Hall were murdered. The cruel event had bluntly taught them a lesson: these were the true colors of Immortal cultivators.
Even though Qing Xu Immortal Pass had a General from the human race stationed, these Heaven Immortals still killed and robbed in broad daylight, committing a crime only evils would do.
Although the brothers were a little bit cunning, they only used their cleverness in trivial matters. Therefore, how could they withstand the mental impact of witnessing a bloody murder that abruptly unfolded before their eyes? They were stunned, and did not answer to the old Daoist question. At last, they finally woke up from the shock. The older brother said carefully, "We don't have a strong cultivation base, so we will not ask for immortal items or spirit items. We just want a slightly more advanced cultivation technique, and some magical treasures which we can use."
The younger brother quickly added, "Energy stones! We need energy stones for cultivating! The more the better! Who can pay us the highest will get the treasure!"
Wu Qi gave the seven Heaven Immortals a gaze from the corner of his eyes. Four of them were Thirty-six Tier Heaven Immortals, and two were Thirty-fifth Tier. The old Daoist with a green skin complexion was the strongest among them, barely stepping into the Thirty-fourth Tier. Also, all of them were practicing evil techniques. In fact, among those cultivators from the Righteous League, regardless they were Daoists or Monks, who would be interested in an Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom?
Cultivators from the Evil League! A cruel smile emerged on Wu Qi's face. The black dragon spirit ring hanging before his chest moved ever so slightly, spitting out a tiny bit of powder from its mouth. It was the drunken dragon incense which had been ground into powder. Then, his muscles moved gently and slowly like water, moving the powder across his chest to his navel. After that, Wu Qi made his muscles contract as he filled the navel with the powder, making it look like a tiny cauldron.
Energy flowed slowly through his body. Soon, a very mild wisp of true flame appeared in his navel, slowly burning on the drunken dragon incense. Waves of scent wafted out of his body. As there was an enormous amount of lower-grade herbs in Myriad Herbs Hall, the lobby was filled with a pungent smell of herbs. As a result, the faint scent that wafted out of his body did not attract any attention. Very carefully, Wu Qi controlled the scent and spread it out, so that these people would not inhale too much at one time.
The old Daoist chuckled. He patted the younger brother's shoulder intimately and asked with a smile, "You want energy stones? That's easy, not something really important for us. Mm, now would you mind telling me where did you find this Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom?"
The older brother quickly answered, "We found it in Mount Wangui of Great Yu's Wei Province!"
Upon hearing the answer, the old Daoist slapped the older brother's head with one of his palms, sending out a weak Palm Thunder and exploding the head into blood and gore that splattered in all directions. Before the younger brother could cry out, the old Daoist smote his head to shreds with another slap.
Clapping his hands gladly, the old Daoist grabbed the clump of glinting object and threw it on top of the seven storage bags lying on the ground. "Alright, now we've learned the origin of this treasure. If any of you are interested, you can pay Mount Wangui a visit and try your luck!" he said smilingly.
Then, he rubbed his palms complacently and said, "Now is the time we really handle this with the old rules. Mm, each of us will name our price, and the fellow Immortal who comes out with the highest price will take the Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom alone, while the rest will split the price he paid, as well as the seven bags of spirit herbs. Haha, this Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom is an upper fifth-tier spirit medicine. It is so powerful that even a Gold Immortal will be poisoned by it. It is very valuable to all of us!"
Right after he finished, a middle-aged Daoist clad in a red Daoist robe pointed his finger at Wu Qi and said, "Fellow Daoist, please show us what are you capable of. Let us see if you have the qualification to join us in handling this with the old rules! Hehe!"
All the Evil Immortals had their eyes fixed on Wu Qi's face. They smiled and took a step towards Wu Qi at the same time.
After a brief moment of pondering, Wu Qi shook his head and said, "So, these are the old rules? When there is a good treasure, those with insufficient overall strength will be killed, and the ownership of the treasure will go to the one who comes out with the highest price among all the remaining stronger people?"
The few Evil Immortals roared with laughter, nodding as one of them said, "You are absolutely right! This is how we do things in Qing Xu Immortal Pass!"
Wu Qi breathed out a long sigh, then chuckled under his breath and said, "I like this rule! Mm, don't you feel your body has become feeble?"
Even as Wu Qi's voice echoed out, four Thirty-sixth Tier Heaven Immortals collapsed to the ground without even making a sound. At the same time, two Thirty-fifth Tier Heaven Immortals staggered a few steps forward as they cried out fearfully, "What's going on? My immortal energy... What is this? What happened to me...?"
The old Daoist with a green skin complexion, who was also the strongest among them, felt his vision slowly filling up with darkness, and an itchy sensation creeping over his body that turned him feeble, reducing his immortal energy by half. The cultivation base he could bring into play right now was at most at the level of Thirty-six Tier Heaven Immortal. "What is exactly...?" He cried out in a stern voice.
With a blink of his body, four celestial fiend puppets rushed out of Wu Qi's body, leaving numerous afterimages in the air as they silently fused into three Heaven Immortals who could barely maintain their consciousness. Immediately, blood poured out of their bodies as the three of them, including the old Daoist, howled tragically. Each of them had a slit burst open on the area between their brows, from which, three immortal souls emanating an immense evil aura transformed into beams of light, trying to escape.
Following a sonorous phoenix cry, the phoenix fire pouch rushed out of Wu Qi's forehead. It sprayed out a stream of green and purple flame, which turned into a wall of fire and trapped the three immortal souls. Then, with a casual pointing of his finger, the Sword of Greedy Wolf thrust out and pierced all three immortal souls amidst a shrill wolf cry, killing them completely. The divine flame of order burned ragingly, and before long, all seven Heaven Immortals were refined into blood and soul crystals.
Wu Qi swiftly picked up the storage rings and anything he considered valuable that dropped out from the seven Heaven Immortals' bodies. After that, he walked excitedly to the middle of the lobby, pulling out the glinting object from its bundle. It was indeed an Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom. It was ranked as a Fifth-tier spirit medicine in Scroll of Stealing, and if coupled with some other deadly poisons, it could be concocted into a poison that could kill even a Gold Immortal.
It was actually a clump of mushroom the size of a human head, about 50kg in weight, soft to the touch, sticky, and pitch-black like a chunk of rotting flesh. A couple dozens of fungi about the same size with bean sprouts poked out of its surface, on top of which grew several dozens of mushroom caps. There were human facial features on the surface of these caps. The twisting facial features looked extremely ugly and ferocious, and shrill ghost howls could be vaguely heard coming out from them.
"It surely is an Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom! One that has devoured the flesh and blood of at least one million living beings!" Wu Qi sighed satisfyingly. Carefully, he shoved the mushroom into black dragon spirit ring, then transferred all the spirit herbs in all seven storage bags into his own.
Wu Qi sneered. He suddenly found that he had already gotten used to the unspoken rules in Qing Xu Immortal Pass. To put it bluntly, those with a bigger fist would be the king, and there were no actual rules or whatsoever! Initially, he planned to follow the rules and spend a huge sum of energy stones to purchase the Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom from the brothers. But since the old Daoist with a green skin complexion and his fellow Immortals had such old rules to follow, why couldn't Wu Qi follow them and rob it straightaway?
The Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom was actually one of the items which Wu Qi wished to purchase in Qing Xu Immortal Pass. Originally, what he wanted to purchase was something stronger and even more unpredictable and bizarre than Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom, such as Soul Devouring Wisterias and a few others items. However, they were all very rare poisonous items, and he might not be able to find one. Now, as he was able to find an Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom in such a short amount of time, Wu Qi felt he was really lucky.
"It seems the General stationed in Qing Xu Immortal Pass is just a mere decoration!" Wu Qi laughed mockingly as he retracted the four celestial fiend puppets, pushed open the door and walked out leisurely. People were killed and robbed here, yet nobody had come to investigate. The general stationed in Qing Xu Immortal Pass had really neglected his duty.
However, right at the moment he walked out of Myriad Herbs Hall's main door, Wu Qi's expression changed instantly. Now he understood why there was no one discovering the commotion in Myriad Herbs Hall.
The sky had turned dusky, with two huge, bizarre-looking scarlet eyeballs hovering midair, staring straight at Wu Qi. The ground had also changed into a sticky, yellowish ocean, and was emitting a pungent fishy smell. The dusky sky and yellowish ocean joined together and formed a sphere-shaped space about one hundred miles in diameter, wrapping the entire Myriad Herbs Hall within. A man and a woman were standing quietly atop the yellowish ocean, staring at Wu Qi with a smile on their face.
Wu Qi halted, bowed his head to look at the yellowish ocean under his feet, and asked, "This is the legendary Yellow Spring?"
The man smiled and said softly, "An imitation, not the genuine one. But, if a Heaven Immortal accidentally touched it, he would have shed a layer of skin, if not dying straight up!"
The woman was very straightforward with her words, "Cut the bullsh*t. Give us the Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom, your loots in there, as well as all your belongings. We've watched how Patriarch Green Heart and the other few old fools walked into Myriad Herbs Hall with you, and we had laboriously set up an illusion realm outside to buy you some time. We've done hard work even if we have not performed meritorious deeds. Now, give us all your valuable things. We can spare your life and let you leave here!"
Wu Qi laughed dryly and asked, "Are you robbing me now?"
The woman nodded seriously and said, "Yes, and we know it is a dog-eat-dog situation in here. Since you are the only person who walked out alive, it's natural and right for us to rob you! Stop uttering any bullsh*t, the illusion realm can only last fifteen minutes more. Quickly hand over all your valuables, and we won't push you too far. We will spare your life. We might still be friends in the future!"
Wu Qi did not know whether to cry or laugh. He had just robbed a group of people, and he was immediately robbed by someone else. What a karma!
Seeing that Wu Qi did not do what she asked, the woman raised her brows.
In the next moment, she pointed her finger at the two huge eyeballs. Instantly, the scarlet eyeballs spun, and a vast stream of sticky blood poured out from them, rushing towards Wu Qi along with a very pungent fishy smell.