Chapter 98 - 95: Bai Xiu Conglomerate Comes Looking for Trouble

Walking beside the young man in white was a woman, also dressed in white, who looked to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight. She was as radiant as the autumn moon, possessing a rare and peerless beauty.

"Luo Wushuang? The Bai Xiu Conglomerate?" Mo Qianqian guessed at first glance.

It was Luo Wushuang, bringing people from the Bai Xiu Conglomerate to make trouble for him. If his guess was correct, the young man in white leading the group was the Second-Grade Spirit Master, Bai Xiu.

"Great Treasure Master!"

"Great Treasure Master!"

"Elder Asura!"

The people gathered at the entrance of the Wind Shelter Inn greeted Mo Qianqian one after another. It had been a few days since the Asura Conglomerate was established, but Mo Qianqian had not yet met these people, as they had been entirely managed by Pei Hong. Nodding to the crowd, Mo Qianqian stepped to the front of the group.

"Is that Asura, the Second-Grade Spirit Master from the Southern Wilderness?"

"I heard that on his very first day in the Imperial City, he clashed with the Ye Xiao Conglomerate and beat up their men. Then, he formed his own conglomerate and gathered a whole team in just a few days."

"Bai Xiu is one of the top three Spirit Master geniuses. It looks like the Bai Xiu Conglomerate is here to cause trouble for the Asura Conglomerate. I didn’t expect Asura to offend two great Spirit Master geniuses so soon after arriving."

"You haven’t heard the news from Luocheng, have you? Asura killed Luo Wushuang’s grandfather and younger brother. Since Luo Wushuang happens to be a member of the Bai Xiu Conglomerate, it’s obvious they’re here for revenge."

The gathering crowd broke into a flurry of animated discussions.

On the other side of Bai Xiu’s group, a squad dressed in Brocade Guard Uniforms approached. The Imperial City Guard squad consisted of over a dozen men, all wearing delighted expressions. The more people caused trouble, the more money they stood to make.

Bai Xiu soon led his people to a halt right in front of Mo Qianqian and his group.

"Asura, how dare you bully a member of my Bai Xiu Conglomerate, travel to Luocheng to kill her grandfather, and murder her younger brother!" Bai Xiu said coldly.

Standing beside Bai Xiu, Luo Wushuang glared at Mo Qianqian with icy eyes, wishing she could kill him right then and there.

"Her brother was kidnapping innocent women in broad daylight. Her grandfather tried to kill me, so I simply returned the favor," Mo Qianqian said indifferently.

"Nonsense!" Bai Xiu scoffed coldly. "Asura, you can’t even protect yourself. Even if you’ve formed the Asura Conglomerate, you’re nothing but a bunch of small fry."

"What did you say?"

"Who are you calling small fry?"

"Someone in your Bai Xiu Conglomerate has a brother who kidnaps women in broad daylight, and now you’re sticking up for that kind of scum! You’re nothing but a motley crew!"

Furious, the members of the Asura Conglomerate shouted back their curses.

"You can talk all you want, but can you prove you aren’t small fry?" Bai Xiu sneered. "We of the Bai Xiu Conglomerate challenge your Asura Conglomerate. Do you dare to accept?"

This was Bai Xiu’s true goal: to provoke their anger and force them into a fight.

Mo Qianqian raised a hand, signaling for the Asura Conglomerate to quiet down. He looked at the Bai Xiu Conglomerate and said, "We don’t accept the challenge. Are you still going to fight us?"

The corners of several mouths in the Bai Xiu Conglomerate twitched. If anyone else had said those words, it would have been taken as cowardice and fear of battle. But coming from Asura, it meant something entirely different. This phrase had practically become his trademark; he had repeated it several times a few days ago, ultimately scamming the Ye Xiao Conglomerate out of a fortune.

"Asura, are all the members of your Asura Conglomerate willing to admit they are small fry who don’t dare to fight?" Bai Xiu shot back.

"I call the shots in the Asura Conglomerate. We do not accept. If you don’t have the money to pay for a fight, then scram," Mo Qianqian said with a resolute attitude.

"You..." Bai Xiu and his group were furious.

The onlookers had mixed reactions, continuing their endless discussions. Some felt the Asura Conglomerate had lost face, while others thought Asura’s words perfectly forced the Bai Xiu Conglomerate to swallow their pride. After mobilizing such a large force, it would be humiliating for them to leave without doing anything. Furthermore, they would earn a reputation for being too poor to fight. However, if they paid the fee to fight, their representatives might not even win. Even if they won, they still had to pay, and after a few rounds, the financial loss would be significant.

"Everyone, how about this? We can offer you a discount on the Combat Tax." At that moment, a middle-aged man’s voice rang out.

Immediately following that, another large group marched toward them. The man who spoke was leading the group, a middle-aged man dressed in a Brocade Guard Uniform. Behind him was a squad similarly outfitted in Brocade Guard Uniforms.

"Vice Commander!"

"Vice Commander!"

The City Guard members who were already present quickly saluted the middle-aged man.

"Xiajin Shi! A direct descendant of the royal family and Vice Commander of the Imperial City Guard! To think Vice Commander Xia came in person!"

Seeing this, the crowd hastily backed away, giving them a wide berth. Mo Qianqian and the members of the Bai Xiu Conglomerate also looked at Xiajin Shi in surprise. There were discounts on the Combat Tax?

"Vice Commander Xia, what kind of discount is this?" Bai Xiu asked.

Xiajin Shi smiled and said, "I’ll give your two conglomerates a discount. For a melee brawl with no casualties, it will be one hundred top-tier second-grade pills. If someone dies, it will be three hundred pills. The losing side pays. How about it?"

"What?" The crowd gasped in shock at his words.

A direct brawl between the two conglomerates? One hundred top-tier second-grade pills from the loser? Three hundred pills if someone died?

Whether it was one hundred or three hundred, unless one belonged to a major family or was a Spirit Master, it would be impossible to produce that many pills. This was an astronomical Combat Tax. However, if over a dozen or even dozens of people were involved in the fight, it was technically within a reasonable price range. Yet, under normal circumstances, it was almost impossible for both conglomerates to deploy over a dozen people at once. Fighting a few one-on-one matches was usually the limit; otherwise, the Combat Tax would be overwhelmingly high.

The crowd cursed inwardly, thinking the City Guard was greedy beyond belief, though no one dared to say it out loud.

"Interesting." A smile played at the corners of Bai Xiu’s mouth. "We would love to, but I’m afraid these small fry from the Asura Conglomerate wouldn’t dare accept the challenge."

"If they don’t accept the challenge, then you pay the fee to fight them anyway. That is the baseline rule, and it cannot be broken." Xiajin Shi’s lips curled into a grin. "Spending one hundred top-tier second-grade pills to beat up a group of people, or three hundred pills to kill them all—it’s a very good deal."

Mo Qianqian frowned. On the opposing side stood several old men. One of them was the very same old man who had previously wanted to join the Asura Conglomerate and asked if he had any background backing him—a cultivator at the Third Level of Tongyou Realm. Meanwhile, their side didn’t have a single person in the Tongyou Realm.

If a fight broke out, they would clearly be at a severe disadvantage. If the enemy intended to kill, and the Yuling Sect Master and the others had to intervene, things would become extremely complicated. The members of the Asura Conglomerate also looked grim. In a one-on-one fight against opponents of the same cultivation level, they were not afraid. But in a team battle, they were outnumbered and outmatched in cultivation. It was a completely unwinnable situation.

"If you don’t have the money, you can write an IOU," Xiajin Shi added with a smile.

The members of the Asura Conglomerate frowned collectively. One look was all it took to see that this Xiajin Shi was absolutely up to no good!

"Brother Bai, if we kill Asura, my Luo family is willing to pay the three hundred pills," Luo Wushuang suddenly spoke up, her eyes locked dead on Mo Qianqian.

If Xiajin Shi hadn’t offered this "discount," they wouldn’t have been able to kill Asura in the Imperial City; they could have only beaten him up to vent their anger. But since killing was now an option, she could bear the cost.

Naturally, the Luo family couldn’t afford such a massive sum either. However, they could write an IOU. As a Spirit Master, she could have the Luo family pay a portion upfront, and she could continuously refine pills to earn money later. It would take at most two or three years to pay off the debt. If she devoted all her effort to refining pills, it would be even faster.

As for the possibility of the other side accepting the challenge, where the loser would pay the Combat Tax—that was almost impossible, and Luo Wushuang held no hope for it. Instead, she was perfectly willing to pay the price upfront.