195: Chapter 195 Green Snake and the Black City Slave Auction
Entering Black City.
Like any typical city, there weren't any foul odors, corpses littering the ground, or people killing each other everywhere like the exaggerated rumors suggested.
Rumors from the outside world were indeed unreliable.
The vast majority of people on the streets were Mortals, though these Mortals all wore standardized Magical Artifact collars around their necks.
This displayed their status.
Slaves.
Mortals had no status in this city; they were merely slaves and property.
They would even capture and sell Loose Cultivators and loose demons from the Central Region.
This was the reason Xu Qing had been so cautious back at Snake Cave Mountain.
He had always hunted Yao Beasts to the south within Snake Cave Mountain, never daring to take a single step into the Central Region to the north.
Otherwise, he, a green snake, would have likely ended up with a Magical Artifact collar of his own.
“If I killed everyone in this entire city...”
A dangerous thought surfaced in Xu Qing's mind.
Being keen, he realized this was all the influence of the Demon Lord.
That wretched Demon Lord!
He had come to the Central Region specifically to kill people and demons to gather evolution points for his evolution.
Whether it was a Demon Disciple or an ordinary evil cultivator...
...he would kill them all without hesitation.
“Heh heh, a fish took the bait so quickly?”
Xu Qing felt several tails following him.
Though he hadn't revealed his face, he had kept his Charm skill active since entering the city.
It was very easy to hook a fish.
He turned into a small alley, and after a short while, he was the only one who came back out.
[Ding! Proficiency has reached the requirements.]
[Vicious Beast Lv5 promoted to Vicious Beast Lv6.]
The System was as rude as ever.
It never reacted when he did good deeds, but when he did bad things, it leveled him up like crazy.
“Hey little lady, want to play something spicy with big brother?”
“Mine is very big, you'll have to bear with it for a bit.”
Just as Xu Qing was silently complaining about the System, a Golden Core cultivator blocked his path.
“Sure.”
[Ding! You have killed...]
A week passed like this, and Xu Qing went from being cautious at the start to becoming increasingly bold.
As the saying goes, the first time is awkward, the second time is familiar.
At first, he might have been a bit unskilled and hesitant.
But after doing it many times, he naturally cast aside that ridiculous reserve and even began to enjoy it.
Now, whenever he heard someone try to pick him up, Xu Qing's heart couldn't help but throb violently.
It was as if he were hearing the pleasant notification sound of the System.
During this week, legends of Xu Qing also began to circulate in Black City.
A Green Demoness who specialized in luring people close, only to kill them for sport.
She didn't seek wealth, only lives.
They even gave Xu Qing a nice-sounding nickname.
He was called the Green Demoness.
A terrifying female Devil Head with extremely high Dao Cultivation, dressed in green, whose face was obscured yet who inexplicably made people want to approach her.
These unreliable rumors seriously affected Xu Qing's business.
Now, even when he went out with Charm turned up to the maximum, few people approached him.
Black City was bullying an honest snake.
Xu Qing walked down the street as usual, using Charm to fish.
“Are you the legendary Green Demoness?”
A group of people surrounded Xu Qing just as he started his day's work.
Their cultivation levels were not low; the leader even had a cultivation at the Golden Core Stage.
Dressed in uniform attire, it seemed they belonged to the same organization.
“I'm not, that's not me, don't talk nonsense.”
How could Xu Qing admit to it?
Whatever 'Green Demoness' was, she sounded terrifying and should be locked up so a peaceful citizen like him could live a good life.
“We wish to invite the Green Demoness to attend an auction.”
“I believe the Green Demoness will certainly be interested.”
Huh?
They weren't here to hold him accountable for killing people everywhere?
“You're not here to cause trouble for that Green Demoness?”
“Of course not.”
“After all, this is Black City. If they caused trouble for the Green Demoness and died because their skills were inferior, they got what they deserved.”
Ah.
What a wonderful, marvelous place.
Just listen to those words.
He had been so stifled being the West River God; these were the kind of words he had been wanting to hear for a long time.
“That's true, this is Black City after all!”
“Then I'll admit it, I am the Green Demoness.”
“But you just said you weren't.”
“I am now.”
“...”
Look at the flexible moral compass of this green snake.
“In that case, Lady Green Demoness.”
“This is the invitation to the auction. Please keep it safe.”
Xu Qing took the pitch-black invitation. It had blood-red characters on a black background, specifying the location and time of the auction.
Blood-red characters on a black background—what a chuunibyou invitation.
Even just holding it, Xu Qing felt a sense of secondhand embarrassment.
People in the Cultivation World had been chuunibyou for more than a day or two; it was best to just follow the local customs.
The people who delivered the invitation left.
Xu Qing watched them depart.
He glanced at the invitation again and then tucked it away.
Until the day of the auction.
Xu Qing took the invitation and headed to the auction.
As expected of Black City, the auction was also arranged underground in a secretive style.
He walked down the steps into the auction venue.
After checking the invitation, he entered the auction hall.
Only then did Xu Qing understand what exactly was being auctioned today.
This was an auction for human slaves and Yao Beast spirit pets.
There were beautiful young girls, young children with dao roots, and Spirit Opening Demon Beasts for sale.
The ones of the highest quality would be sold in the form of an auction.
Xu Qing had principles.
He found this kind of slave and Yao Beast auction to be most un—
“How much for this Frog with ten years of Dao Cultivation?”
“Fifteen taels of Spirit Stones.”
“Here, it's mine.”
He tucked the Frog into his gourd and decided to take back his previous thought.
This wasn't a slave and Yao Beast auction at all.
This was clearly a premium ingredients auction; they should just auction off Frogs entirely.
Ten-year Frogs, hundred-year Frogs, thousand-year Frogs.
If a Frog with a thousand years of Dao Cultivation were really for sale, Xu Qing would go bankrupt...
Well, maybe not bankrupt, but he'd be willing to trade his green tail white hair sword for it.
The status of the green tail white hair sword dropped another notch.
It was now even lower than a Frog.
“Next, the first item.”
“A stunning young maiden who is still a virgin. Although she lacks a dao root...”
“...I guarantee her beauty is not much lower than the current three—no, it should be the four great beauties of the Cultivation World.”
Xu Qing felt a slight bit of interest and looked toward the auction stage.
However, the face-blind snake still couldn't tell how good-looking she was.
After all, even for one of the genuine four great beauties, the East Sea Dragon Girl Hai Mu, he hadn't thought she was particularly beautiful.
Deep within the East Sea Dragon Court.
A sleeping Blue Flood Dragon let out a sneeze, causing the entire Dragon Palace it was in to tremble.
The Fish-girls serving the Dragon Girl swarmed into the Dragon Palace, fearing something had happened to her.
“It's nothing, someone must be praising this Dragon Girl.”
The massive Blue Flood Dragon spoke in human tongue, then rolled over and went back to sleep.
She was so lazy that she didn't have the slightest air of one of the four great beauties of the Cultivation World, the Dragon Girl.
Nor did she show any of the gentleness she had displayed in front of Xu Qing.
“The next item.”
“A green snake Spirit Opening Demon Beast of the same race as the rumored West River Maiden!”
“You can look forward to the Transformation of this green snake!”
Green Snake: ?