Two Realms: I Will Become the Immortal Emperor

Chapter 360: Chapter 331: Slaughtering the List

”The price?”

Chen Che looked over.

”If Senior would spare just a few bits of Spiritual Sand, that would be enough...”

The child said, cupping his fists.

”Let’s go.”

Chen Che nodded slightly.

It was his first time in Faqian City, so he really did need a local to help him get familiar with the place quickly.

After all, he was only here during the Zhurong Daoist School’s winter break and wouldn’t be staying long—a month at most.

Zhou Lian was overjoyed. He hastily cupped his fists and bowed again before stepping forward to lead the way.

”Senior, since you’re new here, please remember one thing.”

”No matter what happens, you must not fight within the city. Even if you face the greatest injustice, you have to suppress any indignation or rage. This is a rule established jointly by the three City Lords, and everyone in the city, from top to bottom, abides by it. If you dare to break it, anyone else can attack you.”

”Once you’re outside the city, though, the rule doesn’t apply, so you can retaliate later. Some people in the city will deliberately provoke others, trying to get them to make the first move...”

Chen Che nodded slightly.

’If there are rules, there will always be people who exploit the loopholes.’

”If you want to buy Pill Pills, you’ll need to go to the Baodan Commerce Association. As long as you have Spirit Stones, you can buy anything there, from pills for the Qi Refining Realm all the way up to the Golden Core Realm.”

”If you want to buy a Weapon, you can go to the Mystic Weapon Tower. They have everything you could want—Pill Furnaces, even Evil Artifacts... These places are all businesses owned by the City Lords. I hear many of the items came from the City Lords themselves. Their quality is the highest, so they’re quite sought after.”

”As for Celestial Paradise, that’s Faqian City’s famous ’Gold Melting House.’ It doesn’t just have Female Cultivators, but male cultivators too... It’s a great place to get lost in a drunken dream.”

Chen Che looked at him. ”How do you know so much?”

”I’ve been here since I was a kid. I’ve been a guide for two years, but most people see how young I am and don’t want to hire me.”

Zhou Lian kept up beside him.

”What about your parents?”

”They’re gone...”

”I want to know about the Slaughter List.”

His eyes narrowing slightly, Chen Che gave the boy a serious look and asked in a low voice.

”For the Slaughter List, you have to go to the Slaughter Tower...”

Zhou Lian froze for a moment. He hadn’t expected this seemingly kind Major Cultivator to be heading for the Slaughter Tower. But Faqian City was full of all sorts of people, so he wasn’t too surprised. He quickly explained:

”Originally, there was no Slaughter List. This place was built by the Second City Lord. He started out as a Tribulation Cultivator and built this tower just to make it easier to meet with clients.”

”But later, as more and more clients came to him with more and more people to kill, even the Second City Lord couldn’t handle all the work. So, he simply started posting the names, and other Cultivators could take the jobs from him.”

”Eventually, the operation grew so large that he just created the Slaughter List, which led to the current system of posting bounties, accepting them, and killing the targets.”

”The Second City Lord? A City Lord of Faqian City is in this line of business?”

Faqian City wasn’t as filthy as Chen Che had imagined. In fact, the streets were clean and orderly. On the surface, it didn’t look much different from the Jinyun Valley Market or Primordial City. The only difference was the presence of undisguised Evil Cultivators everywhere.

Hearing that the Slaughter List was actually run by one of the City Lords, he couldn’t help but let the corner of his mouth twitch.

”...This is Faqian City.”

Zhou Lian smiled but didn’t dare say any more on the subject.

’Chen Che is a Cultivator, but I’m just an ordinary person. A slip of the tongue can often lead to disaster. An unintentional word could get me killed.’

”Just tell me what you can.”

Chen Che wasn’t going to hold anything against a seven or eight-year-old boy, so he just nodded casually.

Zhou Lian nodded repeatedly and continued to introduce other things about Faqian City. There weren’t many rules, the most important being not to fight with others. Aside from that, mortals and Cultivators lived together.

If you accidentally offended someone, you didn’t have to worry as long as you stayed within the city.

Of course, you still had to be wary of those who would seek revenge for the smallest slight.

There were cases of people hiding in the city for three years only to be killed the moment they stepped out. The easiest way to handle things in the city was to pave the way with Spirit Stones.

On the way, they happened to run into Lu Kai from before.

He was being led by a young man in his twenties, riding atop a Blood Bull and heading straight for the Baodan Commerce Association. The two passed by on the street, and upon seeing Chen Che, Lu Kai hurriedly and respectfully cupped his fists.

Chen Che gave a slight nod in acknowledgment.

”Senior, we’ve arrived at the Slaughter Tower.”

A moment later, Zhou Lian stopped in front of a three-story building but went no further. The building was unremarkable, though it covered a vast area. Wine jars were piled up outside, making it look more like a tavern. The only thing that stood out was a white banner with the single character for ”Slaughter” hanging from it.

”After you, Senior. I won’t be going in...”

Chen Che nodded and stepped inside.

The inside of the Slaughter Tower also resembled a tavern. Cultivators sat in twos and threes at separate tables, drinking and chatting, making the place seem quite lively. What set it apart from an ordinary tavern were the bounty lists hanging on the surrounding walls.

The lists had portraits, names, cultivation levels, and reward amounts.

Even more surprisingly, a few of the Cultivators with bounties on their heads were sitting openly in the Slaughter Tower drinking, and everyone around them pretended not to see them.

With just a glance, Chen Che saw his own bounty notice. It was not only extremely conspicuous but also larger than those for the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Chen Che of Jinyun Valley, Yunzhou.

Cultivation: Golden Core Realm.

Bounty: 300,000 Spirit Stones.

Besides him, there were seven or eight other Golden Core Cultivators listed, but their notices were yellowed, clearly having been posted for a long time. Only his own looked brand new, as if it had been put up recently.

The Shopkeeper was a white-haired Foundation Establishment Cultivator, casually flicking the beads of an abacus. A few attendants in white scarves bustled back and forth, carrying wine.

As Chen Che was taking in the scene, a woman wearing a black iron helmet that revealed only her eyes walked directly to the counter.

Without a word, she pulled out a head and placed it on the table.

”Lu Ping of the Lu Family, Xuzhou.”

The Shopkeeper took out a Memory Stone to verify the identity, then nodded slightly. ”The bounty is fifteen thousand. The Slaughter Tower takes a thirty percent fee, so here is ten thousand five hundred Spirit Stones. Please count it...”

At the same time, he turned to an attendant and said:

”Tear down Lu Ping’s notice.”

RIP! The attendant tore down the notice and threw it into a coal stove, signifying that the target was dead.

The woman in the black iron helmet took the Spirit Stones, gave them a quick glance, stuffed them into her Storage Ring, and turned to leave the Slaughter Tower.

Immediately, several patrons who had been drinking quietly followed her out.

Staring at the head on the counter, Chen Che raised an eyebrow.

This Lu Ping was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator from Lu Qinglian’s family. The two had met once in Primordial City. He never expected Lu Ping to end up on the Slaughter List, let alone get killed.

”Is the customer here to accept a bounty or post one?”

The Shopkeeper greeted Chen Che with a smile as he approached.

”What’s the process for accepting a bounty, and what’s the process for posting one?”

”To accept a bounty, you just need to remember a name on these lists, kill the person, and then collect the Spirit Stones from us. To post a bounty, you write down your enemy’s name. As long as the price is right, someone will take care of it for you. However, you must pay upfront. The higher the price, the more people will be willing to accept the bounty.”

”I don’t know the person’s name, only their nickname.”

”Distinguishing features? Appearance? Where do they live? Where are they from?”

”I don’t know any of that...”

”That makes things difficult.”

The Shopkeeper furrowed his brow and slowly shook his head.

”Even if you post the bounty, the person who accepts it won’t know where to look. It’ll basically be a dead end. You don’t want to waste your money for nothing, do you? Unless the nickname is extremely famous... perhaps the customer could tell me what it is?”

”Wanjia?”

’He’s certainly professional,’ Chen Che thought, and decided to try giving the name.

”I know of him.”

The Shopkeeper’s eyebrows shot up. He nodded slightly and said:

”Wanjia. Real name unknown, origins unknown. But he’s somewhat well-known in Faqian City and even has some small properties here. He came by a few months ago, stayed for a while, and even posted a name in our tower.”

”However, he is a Golden Core True Master. Is the customer certain you want to post his name?”

Seeing Chen Che nod, the Shopkeeper continued:

”It’s just that the price for a Golden Core True Master is not low. Of course, our tower has no price limit; you could even post a bounty for a single Spirit Stone, but...”

”Four hundred thousand Spirit Stones.”

”Payment first.”

Without another word, Chen Che paid the Spirit Stones.

Dan Xuanzi, Feng Qianghao, and Gu Ruan had provided him with about two hundred thousand Spirit Stones. He had to cover the rest himself. But he wasn’t one to take a loss lying down. If someone dared to post a bounty on him, he would certainly post one on them in return.

’After a few waves of assassination attempts, I’ll immediately know who’s behind this. If it really is those two, I can deal with them personally in the future.’

The patrons drinking in the tower were already shocked that Chen Che wanted to post a bounty on a Golden Core cultivator. Now they were even more astonished that he had directly taken out four hundred thousand Spirit Stones.

”What if I kill him myself? How does that work?”

Chen Che thought of another question.

”You get the bounty, but we still deduct the service fee, which would be one hundred twenty thousand Spirit Stones.”

The Shopkeeper replied.

’Unbelievable,’ Chen Che thought, the corner of his mouth twitching.

’No wonder the Second City Lord doesn’t go out robbing and killing anymore. Lying here earning commission fees is a river of wealth.’ Then, right in front of Chen Che, the Shopkeeper drew up a new bounty notice. Unfortunately, there was no portrait, only the single name, ’Wanjia’.

Below it, he wrote ”Golden Core” and then added some notes about Wanjia’s activities in the city.

Chen Che glanced at it; it was all information he didn’t know.

”Done!”

After ordering an attendant to post ’Wanjia’s’ notice in the tower, the Shopkeeper turned to Chen Che with a beaming smile. ”Customer, the bounty has been posted. Now all you have to do is wait for news.”

”However, Wanjia isn’t a local Faqian City Cultivator. He’s suspected of being a Tribulation Cultivator, or perhaps a True Master from elsewhere who only comes here once every few years. If you have other business, you can go attend to it. If not, you can wait here in the city. Unless he never sets foot in this place again for the rest of his life...”

”Understood.”

Chen Che adjusted the mask on his face, then pointed to the notices on the wall. ”What if my name is posted up there? How can I get it taken down?”

Perhaps because he was dealing with a major customer, the Shopkeeper was extremely enthusiastic and explained patiently, ”You can’t. Once a name is on the list, not even the client who posted it has the right to retract it. If your name is on the list, the only way is to kill until no one dares to accept the bounty anymore.”

”I see.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. ’And here I thought I could just get my name taken down easily.’

’It seems that in the end, the only way to stop the killing is with more killing.’