Chapter 92

After needling the shopkeeper a few times, Song Yi stopped keeping him in suspense. “This is a research project from my school. I can help facilitate a collaboration.”

Actually, she still had quite a lot in her storage pouch.

Heavenly Tribulation energy had not yet entered market circulation. It had only begun to be supplied to certain special projects in Cloud City, and she herself had no shortage of it. Besides, she was used to stuffing her entire net worth into her storage pouch.

But Song Yi was very guarded. She was afraid that having “too much” would stir up people’s greed.

If she facilitated a collaboration, future handovers would all be matters conducted inside the city, which would be much easier to handle. The chances of the shopkeeper and the others taking desperate risks would be much lower.

It was only after Song Yi arrived here that she realized Heavenly Tribulation energy had a broad market in this place: spirit-energy could be contaminated by ghost creatures, but Heavenly Tribulation energy did not seem to require much worry on that front.

Things with spiritual energy were very attractive to ghost creatures, because those were exactly the targets they contaminated. But Heavenly Tribulation energy? That was truly hard to say.

Using Heavenly Tribulation energy directly to bombard ghost creatures would definitely be a huge loss. Transformed power was more stable than Heavenly Tribulation itself. How much energy would it take to kill one ghost creature?

But Song Yi let her thoughts spread and came up with more possibilities.

What was the degree of mutual influence between ghost creatures and Heavenly Tribulation energy?

There was a data gap here. They could catch a few and run experiments.

If stable energy did not work well, could they reverse-transform the energy and let Heavenly Tribulation deal with ghost creatures?

Song Yi did not understand this part very well, because the research on energy transformation was the achievement of predecessors, not something Song Yi had researched. She could ask Teacher Yuan to inquire about it later.

Or, suppose turning the energy back into Heavenly Tribulation in reverse was not very feasible. Then what effect would some unstable byproducts produced in the research have on ghost creatures? This also needed verification.

Song Yi’s eyes began to shine along with her thoughts. If the negotiations went well, she could even have the shopkeeper and the others act as her test subjects.

But “test subjects” did not sound very nice, so she definitely would not say it that way. Even prisoners had to work hard to fight for the chance to become lab mice, and dealing with these profiteers was no exception.

“Applying for a special trial opportunity,” “to spread the radiance of civilization,” “priority usage rights,” and so on were all pretty good reasons.

She had to give them the feeling that they had made a huge profit.

As for Song Yi? She was merely earning a tiny little bit during the process of “yielding benefits.” Barely worth mentioning.

Thank goodness for New Era education. Otherwise, Song Yi would not even know how to use these words.

Sometimes, it really was not that Song Yi deliberately repeated certain adult talking points to needle people on purpose. It was that her ability to learn and imitate was too strong. If she thought something was useful, she would move it over and use it.

Li Wenwen looked at Song Yi, then could not help looking at Lin Ze. For some reason, she felt that her family’s Little Yi was becoming profiteer-like too.

But scamming other people? Yay! Count her in!

A shrewd old hand like the shopkeeper could still faintly sense that he was being scammed, but when one wandered the martial world, how could one possibly never get scammed?

No matter how he calculated it, it was still a good thing. If so, then this was a good thing. Some details did not need to be minded.

The shopkeeper smiled as he chatted idly with them. Although his words were still exaggerated—ghost creatures for a thousand li, all slain beneath his sword and so on—compared to before, there was a bit of substance amid the exaggeration. He could still give these children quite a few useful exploration suggestions.

It was just that Song Yi still had a small objection. “Our rooms don’t even have spiritual flowers.”

Did he think she did not know? This still was not the best room here.

The shopkeeper, who had just been boasting that he had given them the best treatment and was hosting them completely at a loss, immediately looked awkward. She even knew about the spiritual flowers used to entertain that honored guest. This child was too hard to fool!

If he had known earlier, he would not have spoken so absolutely.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, it was Teacher Yuan who came forward to help the shopkeeper out of the bind.

He patted the child’s head and said, “That fellow Daoist holds a gold medal. It’s different from us.”

“A gold medal?” Song Yi had indeed seen that person briefly reveal a golden plaque earlier, but it had happened too quickly for her to see clearly what it was.

“Those who have made outstanding contributions to humanity and to the cultivation world can receive medals. They are recognized by everyone across the Four Continents. Very few gold medals have ever been issued. Since that fellow Daoist is also active outside the Human Realm, he may be a very formidable pioneer, or he may be a cultivator who has hunted and killed countless ghost creatures. You must not be rude.”

Teacher Yuan’s tone was complicated.

When Song Yi had described it to him, he had already guessed that it was a gold medal. He simply had not explained it to her. Who would have thought she would turn around and go stir up trouble, trying to compete with a gold medal holder?

Many newcomers would feel maladjusted after coming outside, but he did not know whether it was Old Yuan’s imagination or not. He felt that Song Yi had blended directly into this place.

Perhaps influenced by Song Yi, the other children did not have too much nervousness or fear either.

He seriously suspected that if he were not following along, she could do something even more outrageous.

“All right.” Song Yi finally stopped demanding a room change.

She did know about medals. Back when they had caught Hunter, a staff member had said that she might possibly be able to receive a medal.

Of course, it would have been the lowest-rank bronze medal.

But in the end, she had only received a brave-citizen banner. Perhaps it was because the reward for that achievement had been given to her in other forms, such as helping her successfully win first place in the Hundred Clubs War, or allowing Iron Round to attend Cloud Elementary.

From this, it could also be seen that medals were issued very strictly.

When it came to issuing medals for exploring treasures and research results, there would be a certain delay, because the most essential value of some things could not be seen immediately.

Song Yi was just a little surprised. She had not known that medals also carried weight out here.

Because the shopkeeper looked like the kind of person Song Yi had been familiar with before, someone who put his own interests above everything else. She had thought that guy had some unspeakable deal with the shopkeeper and had only then obtained that kind of special treatment.

Teacher Yuan did not explain in detail. He felt that Song Yi experiencing it personally would be the most real: in fact, the people who made a living out here respected medal holders more than anyone else, especially medal holders who moved around outside.

It was not only the shopkeeper. Many people who “only followed rules in principle” had all expressed respect toward that man in the same way.

After learning that he was a gold medal holder, no one continued prying into his background.

Song Yi felt that she had grasped something, but she still did not understand it especially clearly.

The setting sun was like blood. The horizon was crimson. Amid gusts of demonic wind, yellow sand filled the sky, dancing through the desert.

The shopkeeper looked into the distance and sighed. “I wonder what that fellow Daoist is here to do. If he’s an explorer, that’s fine. If he hunts ghost creatures, then the fact that he came here means a ghost creature wave has appeared somewhere.”

In the blink of an eye, a smile appeared on his face again. “To prevent any accidents, would you like to equip yourselves with a bit more gear? I’ll go negotiate a cost price for you.”

Like she’d believe a ghost of what he said.

Song Yi knew that he definitely would not slaughter them like fat sheep the way he had before, but as for a cost price, his “errand fee” was probably included in it too.

Lin Ze was secretly taking notes. In the past, he had sold whatever other people needed. Now he understood. Even when there was no demand, one could create demand. For example, like now, by creating a little sense of crisis.

Just as they thought the shopkeeper was merely talking nonsense to promote his goods, a sword-riding cultivator rushed into the settlement, then collapsed weakly to the ground from exhaustion. In a hoarse voice, she roared, “Alarm! A ghost creature wave is approaching! Evacuate!”

The faces of those who heard her changed drastically.

The cultivator closest to her immediately stepped forward on guard, keeping a distance while checking her condition. The cultivator was drenched in blood and also smeared with ghost creature mucus. One of her arms was already severed, and her aura was faint. She had made it to the settlement on her final breath.

Someone gave her a painkilling pill, but their eyes still showed regret. She could not be saved.

Neither the severed arm nor the complete exhaustion was a fatal injury. The fatal part was that she had already been infected. What flowed from the stump of her arm was no longer crimson blood, but a thick slurry tinged with black qi.

Even the blood vessels on her neck had already turned blue-black. Fast would be an hour or two. Slow would be the end of tonight. Then she would turn into a ghost creature.

“Please state the specific situation!”

“We’re explorers. Under the earth caves, we encountered a nest of ghost creatures. At first, we thought we could clear them out completely... but they seemed to have already been secretly gathering strength and forming a scale... We couldn’t kill them all... They may have already devoured several settlements... They can launch sneak attacks from underground...”

Outside the Human Realm, the Spirit Net did not work well. At most, certain relatively powerful settlements formed an internal communication “small Spirit Net.” Although they called it that, it was much worse than the real Spirit Net. This meant news would be much slower, and even mistakes would appear.

Her teammates had bought her the opportunity to come here and deliver the message: those ghostly things were accumulating strength.

According to their direction, this might be their next target.

This was also the settlement closest to Sand City, and it would become their stepping stone for coveting the Human Realm. If the people inside the city did not receive the news, they might even continue coming out to feed themselves to them, becoming nourishment for their growth.

She narrated intermittently.

A strange whistle sounded within the settlement.

The mysterious cultivator from the inn arrived in an instant. He murmured, “How could it spread this fast?”

He had indeed heard news that a ghost creature wave had appeared outside, which was why he had come to hunt them.

He had come all the way from another direction and had not seen any ghost creatures along the road. He had only passed through this settlement to rest and recover. He had not expected...

He arranged with two or three cultivators and left. The messenger had told them to evacuate, but establishing a settlement was not easy. Evacuation was the final option.

They were going ahead to scout the true situation, then report back to the settlement so the next deployment could be made.

At the same time, one person went to Sand City to deliver the message. They had to synchronize the latest information there to prevent the worst-case scenario from happening, and also request reinforcements.

A medical cultivator came forward to heal the messenger. At the very least, it had to be like end-of-life care, reducing her pain before death and letting her finish saying what needed to be said.

The shopkeeper was mobilizing manpower. “If the evacuation order sounds, everyone with minors will evacuate in the first group. Those at Foundation Establishment or below will evacuate in the second group. If there is no evacuation order, low-level cultivators and minors are also requested to do their best to participate in the outer perimeter defense.”

“Please have every cultivator provide your areas of expertise so I can allocate resources. Anyone who does not want to get involved may leave immediately.”

No one left.

When someone went to register with the shopkeeper, his voice trembled a little. “I-I-I... I just came out to see the world... I’ve never encountered this kind of situation before.”

The tavern owner asked him, “Can you drink?”

He nodded.

The owner handed over a large bottle of wine. “Drink a little to bolster your courage.”

He gulped it down, ton-ton-ton. His eyes reddened, but he did not run.

That guy looked just about the same as Song Yi’s classmates. They were all newbies, with “easy to fool” written all over their faces. After coming here, he had probably been scammed out of quite a bit of money too. He probably did not know a single person here, let alone have any sense of belonging.

Why did he not run?

Song Yi silently watched all of this.

At first, she even thought this might be a performance.

For example, some kind of drill. The school occasionally held them.

Or perhaps they were creating a sense of panic so the outpost could rake in money more conveniently.

Because this did not fit Song Yi’s understanding.

This place was outside the Human Realm. She had already witnessed how blackhearted those people were earlier, and she had even seen two people go out to fight.

No morality, limited use of law. That was her understanding of this place.

In a place like this, shouldn’t it be basic practice for the strong to run faster than the weak? The weak were the best cannon fodder. At most, this counted as a moral flaw, and it was not even illegal. Weakness was the original sin. If you’re bad at it, who can you blame?

But they did not do that.

Of course, this was not a drill.

Perhaps the signs had long been there, like faint traces hidden in grass and ash. Wenwen’s parents had not come back during the New Year either. Reportedly, in previous years, they would still take leave and come home for New Year.

Wenwen’s parents were not patrolling outside Sand City, but when the situation in various places grew bad, there would often be corresponding movements.

For the sake of a performance, the blackhearted shopkeeper did not need to take out his own inventory and distribute it for free. Nor did he need to list himself among the first group for resistance and covering the retreat.

Teacher Yuan and Teacher Wang both looked solemn as they had the students prepare to evacuate.

If the news from the front came back wrong, then Teacher Wang would immediately take the children away. Traveling by night was even more unsafe, but she was good at this. As for Old Yuan, no matter what happened, he would join the battle.

The entire settlement was noisy and clamorous. People cursed from time to time, making it seem extremely chaotic.

But within the chaos, there was also order.

Song Yi found this very strange.

“Teacher, why aren’t they running?”

That person who had come to see the world could run. Teacher Yuan and the others could also run. There were neither interests nor emotional ties. The survival of one’s own people should come first.

The shopkeeper and the others could run too. They could pack up everything they could take, collect everything valuable, and then make money somewhere else, couldn’t they?

Of course, if they followed that path, then if luck was poor, the weak would die in greater numbers.

Teacher Yuan looked at Song Yi solemnly. “Student Song Yi, do you still remember the discussion we had before departure about contribution and dedication? I think this is part of the answer. You feel that strangers have no emotional ties with you, but in this world, there is one most important bond: we are all human.”

“Do you know what the flame of civilization is? Actually, as I see it, the flame is not the torches burning in the border cities, but every person’s obsession with being human, held inside their hearts. Every person is leaving behind a flame for civilization, regardless of where they are.”

There would still be schemes and struggles between people, but with an external enemy before them, was it not only right and proper for the strong to protect the weak, and the elders to protect the young? Cowardice was fine too. One could leave quietly. Just do not use cowardice to mock courage.

Teacher Yuan laughed loudly, then went with his staff to support the construction of the defensive line. “Otherwise, what do you think cultivation cultivates? A thousand-year-old turtle?”

Song Yi bit her lip.

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