72: Robbery of rogue cultivators

In the following days, Zhang Daobai went into closed-door cultivation to practice the Visualization Diagram, striving to form a Contract with the Void Shadow Demon as soon as possible.

Given the Void Shadow Demon's Aptitude, as long as he could bring it to the outside world after the Contract, it would surely grow rapidly.

At that time, Zhang Daobai would be able to use the Void Shadow Demon's cultivation to feed back into his own, quickly boosting his level; it was even possible he might overtake Lin Luoxue in one fell swoop.

Every time he thought of this, Zhang Daobai's exhausted spirit would find relief, and his heart would be filled with anticipation.

While Zhang Daobai and Lin Luoxue were in seclusion, another major event occurred in the outside world within Purple Maple Immortal City.

The Heavenly Fire True Lords Tomb, which had originally been shrouded by a fifth-grade Formation, suddenly saw its Formation fail for some unknown reason!

While the various families of Purple Maple Immortal City were still dealing with the aftermath, many Loose Cultivators had already rushed into the Heavenly Fire True Lords Tomb.

Soon, after learning of this, the families of Purple Maple Immortal City quickly appeared to gather teams and return to the Xuantian Mountain Range.

By the time the families arrived at the Heavenly Fire True Lords Tomb, more than half of the small mountain had already been ransacked.

Seeing this, the members of the various families immediately grew red-eyed with anxiety.

One must know that the losses these families suffered during the Evil Cultivator invasion were immense; they were now counting on making a fortune from the Heavenly Fire True Lords Tomb to compensate for part of their losses.

As a result, with more than half of the items now scavenged by this group of Loose Cultivators, how could they not be anxious?

In their desperation, some Family members began to rob and kill the Loose Cultivators who had broken into the Heavenly Fire True Lords Tomb, looting their gains.

However, the Loose Cultivators who entered the Heavenly Fire True Lords Tomb were not all pushovers; facing the robbery and killings from some families, they began to fight back with all their might, even killing Family members in return.

In an instant, the Heavenly Fire True Lords Tomb transformed into a battlefield, with life-and-death struggles playing out everywhere.

Some clever Loose Cultivators took advantage of this chaos to decisively choose to withdraw, quickly fleeing the Heavenly Fire True Lords Tomb.

Not long after the events in the Heavenly Fire True Lords Tomb occurred, the news spread back to Purple Maple Immortal City.

Upon learning that some families were wantonly robbing and killing Loose Cultivators for the resources in the Heavenly Fire True Lords Tomb, Purple Maple Immortal City was immediately abuzz with discussion.

At first, they were only discussing individual families robbing Loose Cultivators, but the news soon evolved into a narrative that all the major families were slaughtering Loose Cultivators to monopolize the treasures in the Heavenly Fire True Lords Tomb.

Having just experienced the Evil Cultivator invasion and not yet fully regained their sense of security, the Loose Cultivators panicked upon hearing this.

"The Evil Cultivators wanted to kill us, and now the families in the city won't let us off either. Can we still stay in Purple Maple Immortal City?"

In an atmosphere of panic, many Loose Cultivators began choosing to leave Purple Maple Immortal City to live elsewhere.

This was a major characteristic of Loose Cultivators: having no fixed Foundation, they could leave whenever they wanted.

When the day of the appointment with the Wanbao Chamber of Commerce arrived, Zhang Daobai and Lin Luoxue emerged from their seclusion together.

The moment he saw Lin Luoxue, Zhang Daobai felt that the Sword Intent on her body had become a bit more sharp and fierce.

At the same time, Lin Luoxue felt that Zhang Daobai's spirit and energy had become more towards Perfection.

"It seems your gains from this seclusion were quite good," Zhang Daobai said with a smile upon seeing her.

"Have you been practicing the Visualization Diagram during this time?" Lin Luoxue guessed thoughtfully.

"Mm, the earlier one starts practicing this thing, the better." Zhang Daobai nodded without hiding anything.

After a few moments of casual conversation, the two left the Small Courtyard and walked toward the Wanbao Chamber of Commerce.

Not long after they started walking, Zhang Daobai and Lin Luoxue noticed that Purple Maple Immortal City was unusually deserted; the oppressive atmosphere from a while ago had not only failed to ease but had actually intensified.

"Could it be that something else happened during this time?" Zhang Daobai couldn't help but wonder to himself at the sight.

Since the people they encountered along the way were all in a hurry and no one stopped to chat, Zhang Daobai didn't hear any news.

Arriving at the Wanbao Chamber of Commerce in silence, Zhang Daobai found that even the business there had become somewhat quiet.

Seeing this, he became even more certain that something major must have happened in Purple Maple Immortal City during this time.

After entering the Wanbao Chamber of Commerce, led by a maidservant, Zhang Daobai and Lin Luoxue arrived at Steward Wang's office.

As soon as he entered the door, Zhang Daobai saw Steward Wang's haggard face.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, Fairy Lin, you've come! Forgive me for not greeting you sooner, please sit!"

Upon seeing Zhang Daobai and Lin Luoxue, a smile immediately appeared on Steward Wang's face.

Once the maidservant had closed the door and left, Steward Wang took out three jade boxes and placed them on the table.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, these are the three types of spiritual items you ordered: Wind Sound Sand, thunder pearls, and Profound Ice Marrow. You may inspect them first."

Hearing this, Zhang Daobai gave a signal to Lin Luoxue beside him.

Lin Luoxue opened the jade boxes to inspect them and, after confirming everything was correct, nodded to Zhang Daobai.

"Since there are no problems, let's pay the balance," Zhang Daobai said with a slight nod.

Hearing this, Lin Luoxue took out a Storage Pouch and handed it to Steward Wang. Only after Steward Wang also confirmed it was correct did she put away the three jade boxes on the table.

"Transaction complete, a pleasure doing business!"

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, if you need any more spiritual items in the future, please feel free to come to me."

After putting away the Spirit Stones, Steward Wang said to Zhang Daobai with a smile.

"Definitely next time!" Zhang Daobai also responded with a smile.

"By the way, Steward Wang, we have been in seclusion at home for the past period and only emerged today."

"On the way here, I noticed the atmosphere in the city is a bit strange, so I wanted to ask you, has something happened in Purple Maple Immortal City recently?"

After the transaction was completed, Zhang Daobai could no longer suppress the doubt in his heart and immediately asked.

Hearing Zhang Daobai's words, the smile on Steward Wang's face slowly faded, replaced by a look of melancholy.

"Sigh, Fellow Daoist Zhang, you wouldn't know, but Purple Maple Immortal City has been plagued by constant disasters during this time."

Next, Steward Wang first gave a detailed account of the families robbing and killing Loose Cultivators.

"They actually dared to do such a thing?"

Listening to Steward Wang's words, Zhang Daobai couldn't help but wonder if the families in Purple Maple Immortal City had gone mad.

Wantonly robbing and killing Loose Cultivators was undoubtedly destroying one's own Foundation!

If the Loose Cultivators in Purple Maple Immortal City were driven away, who would go to the Xuantian Mountain Range to scavenge resources? Who would drive the economic flow of Purple Maple Immortal City? And to whom would the houses and shops in the city be rented?

"Originally, there were some elements of rumor in this matter, but someone used a Shadow Recording Pearl to record the scenes of those Family members robbing and killing Loose Cultivators, and as a result, the matter was completely confirmed."

"As you should have noticed by now, more than half of the Loose Cultivators in Purple Maple Immortal City left all at once, and some of the remaining ones are still hesitating."

At this point, the worry on Steward Wang's face grew even deeper.