Stop it, Taoist, Your Fight almost Ruins the DAO!

Gui Zhongdao found himself caught between a rock and a hard place.

He had failed to realize that the scholarly gentleman lounging on the deck was actually a high-level expert of the True Person Realm.

This ability to conceal one's presence was nothing short of terrifying.

However, Yi Chen's subsequent offer to save face and go their separate ways only made him sneer in response.

It seemed that even if this man had something up his sleeve, he ultimately couldn't be a match for himself, at least not capable of dealing with him. Otherwise, why would he have proposed such a thing?

With this thought, Gui Zhongdao's tone became increasingly forceful.

"Fellow Daoist, you killed my men, and now you expect me to give you face? Then who will give me face?"

"You simply have no respect for me!"

A blood-colored ghost head knife suddenly appeared in his hand.

Yi Chen took a deep breath, suppressing the violence in his heart.

Usually, it was he who said such things to others; he hadn't expected these words to be thrown back at him today.

Damn it, what goes around comes around.

"Gui Zhongdao, are you truly eager to ascertain the extent of my, the Life-Seizing Scholar's, capabilities?"
Experience new tales on empire

A cold gleam flickered in Yi Chen's eyes, as a plan suddenly formed in his mind.

"Hand over the treasures you possess, serve me for ten years, and I shall spare your life!"

On hearing this, Gui Zhongdao couldn't help but sneer. This man seemed fierce on the outside but timid on the inside, certainly not as strong as himself.

Furthermore, a True Person Realm expert hiding on this pleasure boat likely possessed either valuable treasures or secrets.

Either would be worth more than the easy pickings aboard this ship.

Being from the Blood Killing Tower, which also dealt in intelligence, if he could secure a great secret, its value might even surpass a major treasure.

Seeing the increasingly greedy and bloodthirsty look in Gui Zhongdao's eyes, how could Yi Chen not know that this idiot had gotten the wrong idea?

At this moment, he was speechless.

"Damn it!"

Having transformed into the professional mage Liu Haizhu and leaving behind a refined and amiable curse, Yi Chen casually slashed out a stream of cyan mana and, with one foot stamping down, he soared into the sky.

Under his current guise, he could only exert seventy percent of his usual strength. In this condition, he indeed couldn't defeat the person in front of him, whose strength was on par with the nefarious Carefree King of the Blood Killing Tower.

Time to make a swift exit.

Transforming into a streak of cyan light, Yi Chen flew towards the Nanshan mountains, which cut across the southern waters behind him.

Impudent whelp, meddling in my affairs!

"How daring! Don't run!"

"You all, tie these hostages up and take them to the base. I'll be right back!"

Seeing Yi Chen not even daring to exchange blows and directly fleeing, Gui Zhongdao's belief was once again confirmed.

He moved in a flash, blocking in front of 'Young Master Zhang.' With a great reach, a massive black hand dispelled the cyan mana from Yi Chen's subordinate. After shaking off the force with his own mana, he casually gave a command before pursuing the fleeing Yi Chen.

A black and a cyan light chased each other across the sky, closing in on one another.

As for why Yi Chen's light was cyan, of course, it was due to his ability to mimic others. If he wanted, he could easily change it to pink without any effort.

In the depths of Nanshan.

Yi Chen coldly stopped in a valley, while Gui Zhongdao, sneering, blocked his path, still holding a long sword. That was the superior mana sword of the unfortunate 'Young Master Li' Yi Chen had picked up earlier.

"Life-Seizing Scholar, are you so disdainful of your sword that you'd abandon it along with the life it seizes?"

To buy some time earlier, Yi Chen had thrown his sword, which had fallen into Gui Zhongdao's hands.

"Run, why don't you keep running!"

"Giant Spirit! Giant Spirit!"

With a slap on his chest and a sinister laugh, Gui Zhongdao's body swelled massively, transforming into a five-meter tall giant, his skin covered with red demonic tattoos. His vital spots, like his chest and head, were protected by small bowl-sized, finely interlocked scales, and a fierce large tail whipped back and forth behind him.

The top of the tail even had a muscle bulge the size of a grinding stone pendulum.

"Boy, this is the Giant Spirit Demonic Body that I coincidentally mastered while cultivating the Giant Spirit Magic. Everyone who has seen this technique of mine is dead. You're very lucky to behold my true demonic form."

"This place is desolate, not even a ghost in sight. Don't expect anyone to save you, and don't think about running away again."

"Submit! Or die!"

"Give your answer now, my patience is limited."

After revealing the Giant Spirit Demonic Body, Gui Zhongdao's aura surged once more, becoming even more powerful than that of the Sect Hierarch Yin Tianyin of the Infernal Fire Cult. Perhaps the demonic body had influenced his temperament, making his tone more arrogant and presumptuous.

"You say that no one is here?"

"You're so tall~"

Yi Chen lifted his head, looking up at the monstrous giant nearly as tall as a two-story building, with a strange smile on his face.

As Gui Zhongdao watched in terror, a silver-white Daoist figure, ten meters tall, suddenly stood tall in the valley.

Compared to the immense stature of the silver-white Daoist, his Giant Spirit Demonic Body looked like a little brother.

"Dao...."

"To hell with dao!"

"Your purity, it's too low!"

Yi Chen's figure flashed, launching a surprise attack, and his ferocious kick landed instantly on the chest of the monstrous giant.

Pfft!

Gui Zhongdao spat out a mouthful of dark green blood as he was struck face-up, his body bending into a strange angle. The continuous snapping sounds indicated how many bones were shattered under that kick.

Behind him, a segment of white bone spiked through the flesh and skin, exposed to the open air.

His body, propelled by the immense kinetic energy, flew backward like a cannonball and slammed into the rock wall of the mountain behind him.

Boom!

The entire mountain quivered, countless leaves fell in a whirlwind, and rocks the size of human heads tumbled down.

Gui Zhongdao struggled to get up, desperately gathered his Mana, and tried to flee, but immediately a large hand grabbed his long tail from behind and slammed it down hard onto the ground!

"Damn it, I was about to leave! Intending to let you handle things! And then? And then?"

"You whelp, why must you force my hand!"

"I gave you three chances, a full three chances!"

"Don't you care that your fool messed up the rules?"

"Why must you force me!"

Yi Chen's expression was fierce as he lifted Gui Zhongdao's long tail and swung it left and right against the rocky ground!

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

Soon, Gui Zhongdao was inhaling but no longer exhaling.

After a large pit was formed on the ground, filled with black-green liquid, a pair of huge silver-white hands, like mechanical arms, deeply embedded into Gui Zhongdao's skull.

The memory extraction ability activated.

A myriad of memory fragments flooded in.

Yi Chen furrowed his brows, falling into deep thought.

"The Carefree King?"

"The Wuyou Alliance?"

Among the memories of Gui Zhongdao, temporary omission of others, it was the recent big deal that caught his attention.

The Carefree King had placed an enormous order worth four million taels at the Blood Killing Tower.

He hoped for the covert collection of human bones, offering one hundred taels for a set of bones, three hundred taels if they were fresh.

Additionally, he commissioned the Blood Killing Tower to gather intel on the Demon Humans, offering a reward of one million taels for the true identity of a Demon Human.

The Carefree King is the most mysterious Loose Cultivator in the Jiangnan Circuit, the underground emperor there, with a cultivation in the late stages of the True Person Realm is certain, yet nobody knows his true level of cultivation nowadays.

This person founded Wuyou Mansion, an underground cultivation organization, and entitled himself the Carefree King.

What does it mean to be carefree?

Freedom from worries is carefree!

No matter what concerns you have, as long as you can afford the price, the Carefree King will take on your worries for you, not taking a penny if the task is not completed.

Then, because of his strong ability to handle affairs, and having too many orders he could not handle, he directly merged with other underground forces in the Jiangnan Circuit to form the Wuyou Alliance.

For example, the Blood Killing Tower is a part of the Wuyou Alliance.

After reading the memory fragments of Gui Zhongdao, Yi Chen couldn't help but admire the methods of this person.

Indeed, heroes are as common as fishes crossing the river.

Though not a perfect analogy, the Wuyou Alliance operates similarly to the business model of Jingdong from a former life, with Wuyou Mansion being self-operated and others as franchises, with the alliance taking a ten percent cut from the franchisees' tasks.

Don't underestimate this minor change; this strategy is nothing short of brilliant.

Keep in mind, if you cut off someone's livelihood, they will cut off your lifeline.

Even with strong cultivation skills, the Carefree King's advancement through the True Person Realm's later stages meant that Wuyou Mansion was certainly taking too much from its competitors.

Only absolute violence can create an absolute monopoly!

If you can't achieve that, the fate of someone who hoards everything for themselves usually isn't too pleasant.

The Great Qin fell during its second generation, having angered the nobility of the six states, do you think others will let you be?

After establishing the Wuyou Alliance, it seemed as though the Carefree King was earning less, but in reality, Wuyou Mansion completely turned danger into safety and grew substantially with the help of abundant resources.

Over the years, it became a colossal underground organization.

For instance, as long as you can pay the price, if you fancy the wife of a prefectural governor for a night of pleasure, the Carefree King can fulfill your wish.

Or, if you offer a higher price and have your eyes on the wife of the Commandant of the Zhengan Office in the Jiangnan Circuit, the Carefree King will tie you up and deliver you to the Zhengan Office.

Walking the edge between the lawful and the illicit, dealing in brokerage and platform transactions, this is the current Wuyou Alliance.

...

...

With a flick of his finger, a white flame landed on Gui Zhongdao's corpse, burning it to ashes.

Yi Chen looked at the black storage ring in his hand, his brows furrowed then relaxed, as a bold idea suddenly emerged in his mind.

The storage ring, a remnant of Gui Zhongdao, held all his belongings accumulated over the years, including a down payment of two million taels in silver notes from the Carefree King.

A man does not get rich without a windfall, just as a horse does not get fat without grazing at night.

Yi Chen hadn't expected to acquire such a vast amount of wealth and resources.

Seeing as how things turned out, it would be a disservice to his shape-shifting abilities if he didn't make a big move.

Taking out a set of black robes from the storage ring and putting them on, he adjusted his appearance a few times, and suddenly a fresh 'Gui Zhongdao' was born.

"From today on, the Death-Inviting Scholar is dead, I am Gui Zhongdao!"

After dealing with the scene, Yi Chen followed the memories to an underground bunker in a woodland.

"Sect Hierarch, you've returned. What about that lunatic?"

A group of subordinates instantly gathered around to greet him.

"With my peerless divine skills, that person has naturally been reduced to ashes by me."

"Yang Left Emissary, issue a command for me, from today onwards, our Blood Killing Tower will aggressively purchase living specters, corpse puppets, zombies, and other sinister entities."

"Tell the brothers to pause the bone collection, I'll give you a list of prices and exchanges in a bit," Yi Chen said coldly to a middle-aged man following him.