Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 136 - 136 0146 Selling Captives

Chapter 136: Chapter 0146: Selling Captives Chapter 136: Chapter 0146: Selling Captives The bearded male cultivator watched as Chu Yang brought along nearly a hundred disciples from the Imperial Master Mansion. His expression didn’t change in the slightest.

When Chu Yang got within about ten meters of the bearded cultivator, he stopped, looked at him from a distance and said with a bow, “Head of Cai family, we meet again.”

The bearded cultivator is Cai Qilong, the current family head of the Cai family, the most powerful force in Lianying Realm. Qi Tian once knocked down his eldest grandson, Cai Wenzhi, with a single punch.

Cai Qilong returned the courtesy and said, “I hear you’re about to lead your disciples back to the Imperial Master Mansion tomorrow. I came especially to bid you goodbye.”

Chu Yang: “I am grateful for the farewell from Head of Cai family and all the cultivators present.”

Cai Qilong said: “I know you won’t agree if I ask you not to use our Lianying Realm as a training ground for the Imperial Master Mansion. So, I won’t bring it up.”

However, Chu Yang said, “Head of Cai family, you are mistaken. Our Imperial Master Mansion’s predecessors accidentally discovered a space gate leading to your realm. They sent a team over to initiate exchanges. But people in your realm were the first to kill. They killed all the envoys we sent. Can’t deny that, can you? Each time we sent people for cultivation practice, your people of Lianying Realm started killing. Every time, our Imperial Master Mansion suffered heavy losses. Can’t deny that either, can you? In truth, our Imperial Master Mansion has always been peace-loving. We still wish to establish exchanges with your realm.”

Cai Qilong huffed and didn’t respond to Chu Yang’s words. It was a case of each party sticking to their guns, and no one convincing anyone. As for getting the people of Lianying Realm to agree to exchanges with Imperial Master Mansion, that was even more impossible. They once had a developed cultivation civilization. Although it’s fallen, it’s still theirs, something they will not allow outsiders to interfere with. Any ambition, however minor or justified, is a capital offense.

“To establish exchanges, alright. Let the Mansion Master come over and talk to me personally. Otherwise, how can I see your sincerity?” Cai Qilong said coldly. He was clearly being deliberately difficult. Everyone knew that one couldn’t enter the Lianying Realm after transcending the Qi Cultivation Period. Chu Yang’s Half-step Foundation in the Lianying Realm was already the maximum limit the world laws there could tolerate. As for the Master of the Imperial Master Mansion, Xiao Xiaowu, a Gold Core cultivator, going to the Lianying Realm meant certain death. Moreover, Cai Qilong, a Qi Cultivation cultivator, could be crushed to death easily by Xiao Xiaowu, yet he shamelessly demanded a dialogue. It was simply suicidal.

Chu Yang didn’t continue arguing with Cai Qilong. More talk would just result in a dead-end argument with no other outcome. So he said, “I won’t talk about it anymore. Let’s get to the point. I’ve brought all the disciples of Imperial Master Mansion who have passed the trials. If you have something to say, now is the time.”

Cai Qilong nodded and said, “Good, I’ve been waiting for you to say that. Everyone, bring them out.”

At a wave of Cai Qilong’s hand, cultivators standing behind him cleared several pathways. Then some local cultivators lead, as if herding animals, dozens of tied-up Imperial Master Mansion disciples from behind the crowd. Some Imperial Master Mansion disciples who were injured and couldn’t walk were dragged out from behind the crowd like dead dogs.

Seeing this scene, almost every disciple of the Imperial Master Mansion felt upset. Those were their fellow sect members. Being mistreated by the local cultivators like livestock, even the most cold-blooded people couldn’t stay calm.

Chu Yang was the only one from the Imperial Master Mansion who remained calm. He fiercely stared at Hao Zhigang and a few other second-rate stewards who were itching to fight. There were so many local cultivators opposite them. Even if all of them rushed over, risking their lives, it wouldn’t be possible to save their fellow disciples. On the contrary, they could all perish. Even if the Imperial Master Mansion sent someone later to avenge them, they wouldn’t be able to save their lives.

Qi Tian and the others had undergone various transformations during the three months of training in the Lianying Realm. These would inevitably become valuable wealth in their future growth. If they were all lost here, the loss to the Imperial Master Mansion would be enormous and couldn’t be recouped by just killing a few local cultivators later.

Cai Qilong had initially hoped that someone from the Imperial Master Mansion would run over to attempt to rescue. That way, he could make a public example to deter others without having to worry about violating their agreement and facing punishment after the fact. However, when he saw that no one from the Imperial Master Mansion side took the bait, he realized his plan had fallen through. So, he moved on to his second plan, saying, “These people are the prisoners we captured. They are your fellow disciples. All of them are still alive, at least they are still breathing. In addition, we have also found some of your colleagues’ bodies. These people or bodies can be handed over to you, but you have to pay a price. We are very fair. Every native cultivator who captured prisoners can set a price for their prisoners. If you can afford it, you can bring them back. If you can’t afford it, get ready to collect their bodies. Of course, if you want to retrieve their bodies, you need to redeem them with wealth. However, it’s much cheaper than a live person. Now, come one by one.”

With a wave of his hand, Cai Qilong signaled a group of native cultivators pulling a captured disciple from Imperial Master Mansion to the center of the two opposing sides. This was a male cultivator at the Qi Cultivation 7th Level. Although he would be considered rather low-level among the disciples headed for the Lianying Realm, he was fortunate to have survived up to this point. Now, one of his arms hung limbless and broken, and he had a limp in his walk.

The cultivator who had seized this disciple from Imperial Master Mansion stated in the universally used language in the Cultivation World, “This man, we are selling him for 400,000 coins, or the equivalent in goods. Anyone interested?”

400,000 coins, equivalent to 400,000 taels of silver. For the life of a 7th level Qi cultivation cultivator, it was definitely not cheap. Although a Qi Cultivation 7th Level cultivator might have consumed resources worth more than 400,000 coins from the very beginning of their cultivation, but it wasn’t so simple because they were not selling pigs but selling prisoners, or to put it more bluntly, selling slaves. 400,000 coins were far from low, and could even be considered high.

The dozens of disciples from the Imperial Master Mansion were filled with righteous indignation, but when it came to the matter of money, nearly everyone fell silent.

There was a very realistic problem: there were rich and poor among these disciples. Some had a lot of money, while others lacked it. The disciples from the Imperial Master Mansion who came to the Lianying Realm, the ones who had a large income were few and far between. The majority made little, and 400,000 coins might clean out their pockets, or even if they emptied their pockets, they might not be able to gather such amount of money.

And the disciples from the Imperial Master Mansion who could afford it faced two issues. One was like Wang Haiyan’s dilemma. He lacked cultivation resources. Following Qi Tian through the array, while Qi Tian feasted, he only managed to get some soup. It had taken quite some time to accumulate a small amount of money. If he suddenly had to spend 400,000 coins on a prisoner, he would have to weight it carefully.

For such a trade, was it worth it for him? Should he keep the 400,000 coins to purchase various cultivation resources in the future, allowing him to break through another level of Qi cultivation, or to open up another meridian, or to elevate his martial arts skills to a new level, or should he use it to save a person that had no connection with him?

Furthermore, the native cultivators had captured dozens of people. Even if he saved one, he couldn’t afford to save eight or ten.

Wang Haiyan gritted his teeth and decided not to step forward. He had already made up his mind. If any of the captured were close friends or people he had good impressions of, he would fork out several tens of thousands of coins to save them. If not, then he would just ignore it.

Another type of affluent individuals included people like Li Yuman and Li Hongbin who had a lot of subordinates and were relatively powerful themselves. However, when they saw the native cultivators initiating the prisoner money-raise ceremony, they knew things would be difficult.

The wealth they had gathered in the Lianying Realm was limited and couldn’t be easily increased. They had already planned where this wealth was going, the bulk of it going towards competing for the final selection of the County Master. The remainder was for rewarding the meritorious, and some was reserved for personal cultivation. 400,000 coins didn’t seem like much compared to what they had harvested, but if they didn’t handle this well, all their wealth might vanish in an instant.

Of course, they understood the benefits of ransoming their Fellow disciples. Buying people’s hearts, earning a good reputation in the Imperial Master Mansion. But what use was it for a cultivator to have a good reputation? Without cultivation resources, just like a man without money in his pocket, they wouldn’t even be stand straight. When you can’t progress because you are short of cultivation resources, who would give them away just because you have a good reputation?

There was another way, redeem the people first, then make them sign IOUs to repay slowly over time. However, this would still require a large outlay of wealth, in which case they could forget about competing for the final selection of County Master. Besides, it wasn’t easy to earn money in the Cultivation World.