All Heavenly destiny reduced to ashes
Chapter 369 - 19 Action (2/3)

Chapter 369: Chapter 19 Action (2/3)

"I didn’t expect that they would become so addicted to extortion. Every few days, they would bring a small batch of goods and then forcibly collect the money!"

Saying this, Shen Mubai disdainfully brought out a box of goods from inside the house. Upon inspection, An Jing saw nothing but ordinary rice and grains, along with some sour pomegranates and pickles from Northern Border used as nutritional supplements.

"They can actually eat this."

An Jing was somewhat surprised, "I thought they might just symbolically send a box full of sand and coarse grains—having real food is not bad."

"Ah, do you know how much this cost?" Shen Mubai sighed. Out of curiosity, An Jing asked, and then received a figure that even made Bai Qinghan turn his head: "Thirty taels!"

"Thirty taels?!"

An Jing glanced at the small amount of food in his hand, enough for a mere two or three days, and raised his eyebrows, "Just this? For this little food, even if it were during the Frost Calamity and without any commercial routes, one to two silver max would be the limit, yet thirty taels!"

—Aren’t these people from the Demon Sect straightforward?

"Thirty taels could buy you Jade Dew." Bai Qinghan whispered, "A whole bottle of Jade Dew is just thirty-five taels, and that could cover the needs for a decade."

"Isn’t it?" Shen Mubai shook her head. She heard footsteps outside and massaged her forehead, "Here they come again... my child, we know you are not short on money now, but you shouldn’t waste it like this. Can you make them stop for a while? We should leave here soon..."

"No problem."

Entrusted by his mother, how could An Jing not comply? He gladly agreed and walked towards the door.

Outside the door.

A small squad of martial artists clad in thick blue cotton armor stood impatiently at the entrance of the An Family courtyard.

"Was that necessary, brother? This house has martial artists."

Within the squad, an apparently experienced person cautiously said, "That voice was powerful, shaking the air, maybe already mastering Inner Breath like Tide. Missing out on this house wouldn’t matter."

"What do you know?"

The leader, somewhat portly, scoffed, "What if they are martial artists? Can martial artists not eat? Either they leave our city soon, or they obediently pay up!"

"If they can’t pay, they’ll just have to use their house as collateral. Brothers from the commerce chamber will all be coming over. These plague-ridden locals will have to leave sooner or later."

His voice wasn’t loud, and in the blizzard day, no outsider could hear, but there was no intention to conceal, clearly already very arrogant and no longer bothering to hide anything.

But Linlang Commerce Chamber indeed had the capital to be arrogant: they were currently the only source of food and medicine for everyone in Linjiang City, monopolizing the lifeline of survival, naturally thinking of themselves as masters.

Not to mention, the task they were given was ’to acquire the property rights of these key streets as much as possible’ to facilitate the commerce chamber’s future critical operations. As for the money, that wasn’t specified from above.

Thus, the money they could make now was all going into their own pockets, which naturally they shouldn’t waste.

"What an arrogant family this is."

At this moment, the leader of the martial artists was already a bit annoyed, "They can’t really think they can get away with it, can they?"

He raised his hand, signaling the two martial artists behind him to break down the door: "Open..."

Boom!

The door burst open, releasing a surging wave of air that blew the two martial artists who were about to open the door back several paces, causing the leader to instinctively raise his hand to shield his eyes.

An Jing calmly walked out from the doorway. He ignored the martial artists who were swearing and bluffing at the door but rather surveyed the surrounding streets.

Apart from this squad, two more squads were collecting fees in the surrounding blocks.

To say they were collecting fees is an understatement—they were extorting. Linlang Commerce Chamber did indeed provide food and fuel, but their fees were astonishingly high, and few families could afford such steep prices.

Of course, if they genuinely couldn’t pay up, that was also fine, but in the current Linjiang City, only Linlang Commerce Chamber could sell food, and eventually, they would still have to spend a lot of money to buy grain.

"No money and no food, but still want to feed your family? That’s fine, we are not evil ghosts after all. Come on, sign this contract..."

"A house? You can indeed continue to live here. However, once Frost Calamity is over, you’ll have to move out,"

An Jing could hear such a conversation happening in front of a nearby cottage.

Apparently, someone had sold their real estate property to buy some grain — he indeed received a large box full of grain, ten times bigger and hundred times more than the small box Shen Mubai had previously taken out.

In comparison, this was undoubtedly a lot, enough for a family to survive the Beast Tide, but compared to the price of the house, it was hard to say it wasn’t a sellout.

An Jing turned around and looked at the group of martial artists from Linlang Commerce Chamber, a wave of invisible aura spreading, causing the originally chattering team of martial artists to subconsciously shut their mouths.

"You charge thirty silver for this kind of stuff?"

An Jing said with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, "Even if it were three silver, you’d still make a huge profit, right?"

"Take it or leave it, no bargaining allowed!"

Seeing that An Jing was still talking, and not immediately fighting, the leading martial artist grew bold again, shaking his double chin and saying, "Besides, what you’re buying is not just grain, but also the protection services of our Linlang Commerce Chamber!"

"Look over there!"

He squinted his eyes, looking towards the ruins on the other side of the street end, "The city is in chaos right now with many bandits and major thieves hiding here. If you don’t want your house to be burnt down suddenly in the middle of the night, you’d better pay up for our services!"

A blatant threat. An Jing was not angry, and even felt somewhat nostalgic, "I often think that there shouldn’t be such foolish people in this world—but from another perspective, you indeed are clever and capable, no wonder you always make money and always win."

"But honestly, always winning will end in a total loss,"

Before the squad of martial artists could respond, An Jing raised his hand and waved through the air.

The air rippled in layers like flowing water; invisible Air-Strike Force surged and struck each member of the team with powerful strokes.

In an instant, they were swept off like random artifacts on a table by a large hand, smacked away by An Jing’s invisible hand, flying through a perfect arc and landing blocks away.

"Someone’s attacking!"

"Quick! Notify the headquarters!"

On the same street, the other two teams also noticed the disturbance, panicked, retreated at the highest speed, and notified the chamber headquarters, "There’s an Inner Strength martial artist resisting with Martial Force! Quickly send the offerings...!"

An Jing raised his finger towards the two teams of Linlang Commerce Chamber’s martial artists and tapped lightly; instantly, they each collapsed into the snow, twitching on the spot.

Using Lesser Yang Swordsmanship, An Jing activated the vitality in their muscles and tendons, making it difficult for them to control themselves.

He was in a good mood, so he held back; otherwise, those people would’ve lost several parts.

"Qinghan."

An Jing didn’t look back but called out; he knew Bai Qinghan would understand his intention and take good care of his mother.

"Jing’er, what are you up to?"

Shen Mubai peered from behind the door; seeing An Jing single-handedly flung those Linlang Commerce Chamber martial artists who had been extorting her for many days, she felt immensely satisfied but was curious why An Jing did not return, "Aren’t we supposed to pack up and leave early?"

"No, mother, I still have something to do."

An Jing had also planned to leave Linjiang City as soon as possible and then go to Broken Blade Mountain to search for Subdue Evil fragments—but just now, he became intrigued, "Will the Chamber’s brothers all come here? Is Linlang Commerce Chamber planning to move their entire organization here? What’s so special about Linjiang City?

Although there was no obvious evidence, various elements were telling An Jing that there must be a great conspiracy behind Linjiang City... related to Heavenly Demon and also related to Da Chen.

An Jing wouldn’t miss this chance; he planned to visit Xu Tai to see what was happening on his side.’

Upon hearing this, Shen Mubai knew her son was in that state—just as she could not stop An Jing from selling himself to save her, An Jing might respect his mother, but if he wanted to do something, he would definitely take action.

"Then I’ll hide first." So Shen Mubai sighed and encouraged, "Be careful!"

"I will, mother, take good care of yourself." An Jing smiled, his figure flickered, and then he disappeared.