Chapter 53: A Dispute Begins

Let you be arrogant for a while, wait until my Uncle Hu comes, then I'll make you beg for mercy on your knees!""Bold of you to be disrespectful to His Highness!" The four pretty maids on the carriage..."Good, let's unite our forces and forcefully suppress the rebellious cultivators. It's better than letting the Dharma Pearl fall into someone else's hands for nothing. Even if it gets swallowed, there won't be enough time to refine it. We must get the Dharma Pearl back no matter what!" Patriarch Liao sneered.

Lu Xiaitian heard this from a distance and felt a chill in his heart. Fortunately, he had a mysterious barrier in his body that could accommodate spirits. Otherwise, it would be really dangerous. However, he was used to putting all the spirits into the barrier. The storage bag was just for show, hanging empty at his waist. He didn't even have a low-grade spirit stone, which wasn't normal for an adventurous casual cultivator venturing into the mountains.

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And just now, his arm brushed against mine, and everyone around looked over. Lu Xia Tian's mind raced, and he cursed, "Damn it, I don't know which bastard took the magic bead. We worked for days and didn't get a single hair! Now the best treasure is gone, let's just pick up some spirit stones to make up for the loss."

Hearing Lu Xiaoteng's words, the others suddenly realized. That's right, most of them were chasing after the Fa beads and demon cores. Now they had been taken by someone else. They wasted so much time. Fortunately, there were still many water-based and ice-based spirit stones at the bottom of the lake, and if they were lucky, they could even find a few rare ores for refining weapons. Anyway, let's pick out the good things first.

Lu Xia Tian put several low-value spiritual herbs and a few spirit stones into his storage bag.

Looking up, he saw the strange man with long eyebrows and also the head of the Liao family looking in his direction. It seemed they wanted to remember the nearby people firmly. Then, several major cultivation families, each leading a group of casual cultivators, left separately. While the casual cultivators were busy under the lake, these family leaders and heads of casual cultivators had already led their teams to guard the lake path.

Lu Xia Tian raised his head and glanced at the departing people with a smirk, then joined the underwater treasure hunting team.

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The lake bottom wasn't very large, accommodating thousands of people and offering some room for activity. However, everyone had been preoccupied with vying for the Dharma Pearl and Demon Pill before, and few had paid attention to the scattered spiritual creatures beneath their feet. Now that the most valuable treasures were gone, the cultivators searched frantically, turning the lake bottom upside down. The lake bottom was quickly emptied of anything valuable. There was nothing left but silt and some weeds.

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But when these wandering cultivators wanted to disembark and leave, they were blocked by the heavily guarded family disciples at the lakeside.

"Why Why won't you let us pass" someone immediately shouted in dissatisfaction.

“You are the cultivators from Wang Yue City, rich and powerful. But do you think that just because your family has cultivators, it makes you great We have twice as many people as you. If we really fight, you won’t be able to handle it!” Another Qi Refinement Seventh Layer, big bearded rogue cultivator roared angrily.

Lu Xia tian smiled inwardly. He had seen this bearded hermit earlier collect a piece of ore, its value surpassing his own zhiwu ore. Seeing the family cultivators blocking the lake shore, he naturally couldn't stand for it. From the scattered cultivators' outrage, it was clear that their conflict with these family cultivators wasn't something that had just arisen.

"In order to slay this fourth-order Crystal Toad, our family cultivators paid a great price, but now the talisman bead has been secretly stolen by an unknown person. We only want the talisman bead, and the other spiritual objects will not be harmed in any way."

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A young man in dark-colored spirit armor, with a cold and imposing demeanor, was followed by dozens of guards. They were all clad in the same armor – these were the cultivators of Moon Viewing City's troop.

After a moment of uproar among the cultivators present, they gradually fell silent. Even the city guard officers from Moonlit City stepped forward to speak. With so many people here, ordinary family cultivators could still argue their case logically. However, the cold young man represented a powerful organization behind Moonlit City.

"No, we disagree. Wangucheng has an unwritten rule: anything obtained during adventures in the mountains belongs to the individual who finds it. No one has the right to forcibly demand it, unless you intend to openly rob us!" An elder at the late Qi Refining stage roared angrily.

“Yes, we disagree!” A large number of individual cultivators responded in unison.

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“Disagree, that’s not up to you. I state again, as long as someone hands over the Dharma Pearl, we guarantee not to touch anything else. However, if anyone wants to lead trouble, then they will be our Liao family’s enemy!”

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“He is also an enemy of our Guo family!”

As a number of family cultivators shouted their names one after another, the voices of the scattered cultivators obviously weakened.

"I'll show you, there's not much anyway, just take a look." A young boy with a childish face, clearly a newcomer to the mountains, had only a few spirit stones in his storage pouches. There were no valuable spiritual objects. It wasn't worth provoking these family cultivators.

"Damn it!" The Qi Refining late-stage elder glared angrily, and the young wandering cultivator hurriedly turned his head, not daring to meet his gaze.

“Is it fun to bully young people This young friend is reasonable. I'll make the call. You go to our Liao family’s forge and refine weapons, with an 80% discount on spiritual tools.” The head of the Liao family was a shrewd man. He directly stepped in front of the young wandering cultivator, blocking the old man’s menacing gaze.

"Yes, our families joined forces to manage industries like elixirs, martial arts techniques, and spiritual artifacts. The top 100 cooperating independent cultivators can enjoy an 8% discount when purchasing items from the task agency!" Soon, other family heads also proposed similar measures.

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The casual cultivators present were in an uproar. Spiritual artifacts and cultivation techniques are things that cultivators need to spend a lot of money to buy. The medium-grade spiritual artifact in Lu Xia Tian's hand cost him over sixty spirit stones. An eight-discount could save him over ten, which is a huge amount for a casual cultivator.

Many people, just like this young man, didn't have much of value in their storage bags. It wouldn't matter if anyone took a look. Those who truly resisted strongly were mostly those with considerable wealth, afraid of being targeted. After all, there were too many individuals among the wandering cultivators who sought to take advantage of others. However, these people were ultimately just a minority among the wandering cultivators. A significant portion was attracted by the preferential policies offered by these families, as earning a spot in the top one hundred meant they could avoid spending several months risking their lives in the Moonlit Mountain Range. Thus, they willingly opened their storage bags for inspection.

As someone took the lead, the scattered cultivators, who were already a disorganized mob, quickly lost their nerve. They saw that these family cultivators were indeed only interested in finding the whereabouts of the Fa-seeing Pearl and had no other intentions. Although they were unwilling, they could only open their storage pouches.

More and more people are leaving, though some stubborn ones remain. But they are no match for the family alliance and can only grit their teeth and accept it.

Lu Xia Tian followed at the back of the queue, responsible for checking the storage pouches. Behind him was a woman in armor, her presence both valiant and intimidating. Upon seeing only three ounces of spirit stones and a couple of spiritual herbs in his pouch, she muttered, "With such meager possessions, what's he dawdling around for"

"Keke, Sister Hong is treating him like a golden son-in-law, isn't she" A younger woman beside her giggled, covering her mouth.

“Who said it wasn't, I wasted my eyes on him for nothing.” The spirited woman Hong Jie yawned and said boredly.

Lu Xia Tian put away his storage pouch, touched his nose awkwardly, and walked away, blending into the crowd of casual cultivators. It wasn't his fault that there was little in the storage pouch after all. emanated moments before.But at this time the fluctuation of that space seemed to have weakened considerably."Well met, friend! Let us proceed first!" Jian Tiangang bowed to Jing Kangyi and, with Cao...