Chapter 374 - 344: Incredibly Stupid

Chapter 374: Chapter 344: Incredibly Stupid

Leaving the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, Chu Mu walked along the street. Amidst the bustling crowd, he surveyed the shops lining the road, a thoughtful look already on his face.

At the auction, he had spent hundreds of thousands of Spirit Stones and won quite a number of rare treasures.

But there were also many rare treasures he had failed to win.

He didn’t much care whether he had overpaid.

He was considering that perhaps... he now truly needed a stable channel to collect the items he required.

The higher his Cultivation grew, the rarer the items he would need, and relying solely on himself to find them would surely be extremely difficult.

Take this Hundred Treasures Pavilion auction, for example. If he had a channel like the Pavilion’s, he wouldn’t have even needed to attend personally.

Not to mention that even when he did win these items, he had to pay prices far exceeding their intrinsic value to obtain them...

As Chu Mu mulled it over in silence, the idea grew more and more distinct.

However, with his current Cultivation and status as a Loose Cultivator, establishing a small enterprise wouldn’t be a problem, but making it large would likely be no easy feat...

He glanced around and ultimately buried the thought deep in his heart.

’No matter what, I can only be a passerby in Dubhe City.’

Although the Wanted Order had been rescinded, he had slaughtered quite a few Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Longevity Sect back in Jingmen.

How could Cultivators who had reached Foundation Establishment not have friends and family?

Since he was just passing through and the Wanted Order was gone, given his reputation, it was unlikely anyone would be hot-headed enough to cause trouble for him.

But if he were to settle here, let alone establish an enterprise, he would be placing himself completely under the jurisdiction of the Longevity Sect.

When that time came, he didn’t need to think twice to know that trouble would be inevitable...

He took out a Sound Transmission Talisman and sent a message. A moment later, a young boy’s figure appeared at the end of the street.

Chu Mu glanced over, his brow furrowed. He took out another Sound Transmission Talisman and sent a second message. The boy, who had not yet seen him, heard the transmission and immediately changed direction, heading toward the city gates.

Chu Mu remained where he was, watching the boy leave the city. The streets behind the boy were bustling with people, but it was not hard to see that he was being followed.

The boy clearly hadn’t noticed the figures following close behind him. He was still admiring the sights with great interest, occasionally ducking into a shop to spend Spirit Stones on whatever caught his fancy.

Chu Mu’s brow tightened. This kind of tailing could only mean one thing: the boy had shown off his wealth in the city and gotten himself targeted.

He was all too familiar with the act of robbing and killing for profit; he had seen, heard of, and even personally experienced it on numerous occasions in the past.

He had warned the boy many times before they came. Furthermore, Elder Li’s hopes rested on this child, and he had surely been given plenty of similar warnings during his regular instruction.

And yet the boy was being so ostentatious and completely letting his guard down...

Even if his own presence made the boy feel secure, this was still unacceptable.

If he weren’t here, the moment the boy left the city, the slightest misstep would mean his death, his very soul extinguished!

’Hopefully, he’ll learn his lesson from this...’

Chu Mu shook his head to himself. Their three-year agreement was long fulfilled; he couldn’t protect the boy for the rest of his life.

He patted Wangcai, then set off, following the direction the boy had taken out of the city.

Events unfolded just as Chu Mu had expected.

After the boy had traveled a few dozen miles from the city, several Cultivators followed him out.

Standing atop his Flying Boat, Chu Mu looked down upon the scene of robbery and murder about to unfold below.

The five of them were all Cultivators of the Qi Cultivation Realm, their Cultivation levels close, all ranging from the Late Stage of Qi Cultivation to Qi Cultivation Perfection.

The group had clearly placed some kind of tracking Magic on the boy. Despite being dozens of miles away, they still had a firm lock on his trail and were closing the distance from behind.

Looking down from the heavens, it was easy to see that the area outside Dubhe City was no different from anywhere else in the Cultivation Immortal Realm.

Outside the Marketplace, the law of the jungle still reigned supreme.

The boy had left the city alone, and within just a few hundred miles, several groups of Cultivators had already targeted him, only to be scared off one after another by the group now following him.

But the boy remained completely oblivious, swaggering along fearlessly as if bolstered by the confidence that his Foundation Establishment Elder provided...

As they drew farther from Dubhe City, the pursuers closed the remaining distance with increasing brazenness.

The boy seemed to sense something was amiss, and his previously nonchalant demeanor was now tinged with nervousness.

Chu Mu raised his hand and clenched his fist. The Sound Transmission Talisman connecting him to the boy turned to ash and scattered on the wind.

After sending several messages in a row and receiving no reply, the boy finally began to panic.

’Just escaping with his life shouldn’t be a problem, right...?’

Chu Mu’s gaze shifted slightly. In their three years together, he had taught the boy more than just the Alchemy Skill.

Magic, Magical Artifacts, Talismans... He had taught the boy plenty of techniques for combat and survival.

Soon, a deadly struggle of murder and robbery unfolded before Chu Mu’s eyes.

This time, however, things did not go as he expected.

Completely panicked, the boy failed to use even a tenth of the techniques he had been taught. After just a few flashes of Magic, he was covered in bloody wounds, his life hanging by a thread. He even seemed to have forgotten how to run for his life.

"Hopelessly foolish! What a waste of precious gifts!"

A rare look of anger crossed Chu Mu’s face. ’I gave him so many tools—Top Grade Magical Artifacts, Tier Two Talismans! Using just one of them would have given those Cultivators a hell of a time. Even if he panicked and couldn’t win, couldn’t he at least run?’

But in the end, he hadn’t used a single one and was about to get himself killed...

"Go, bring the idiot up!"

Chu Mu turned away, unwilling to watch any longer. At his sharp command, Wangcai leaped from the Flying Boat.

"ROAR!"

With a roar, the aura of a Tier Two Demon Beast billowed out in all directions.

The boy looked as if he had been granted a pardon. As for the besieging Cultivators, they were forced to their knees, almost uncontrollably, by the terrifying Spiritual Pressure.

BOOM!

Wangcai landed, sending up clouds of dust. Its slender Demon Body was encased in Battle Armor, the silver-white Armor a stark contrast to its crimson, bestial eyes.

"Spare our lives, Senior! Spare our lives!"

The men had completely lost their earlier ferocity, kneeling on the ground and begging for mercy.

Wangcai slowly approached the men and sniffed the air as if smelling its next meal. The Cultivators’ faces turned deathly pale, and they dared not even breathe.

"Let them go. Bring the idiot up!"

Just then, a voice descended from the sky. The Cultivators immediately understood they had become pawns in an elder’s test for a disciple. As if granted a great pardon, they hastily kowtowed, pressing their foreheads to the ground.

The boy’s face was pale. In the next instant, Wangcai lifted a paw and waved it gently. The boy was bound by an invisible force and lifted into the air.

Wangcai leaped into the air and landed back on the Flying Boat. The powerful impact caused the vessel to shudder several times and rock back and forth.

The boy collapsed in front of the cabin. Seeing Chu Mu’s ice-cold expression, he hastily scrambled to his feet and bowed respectfully. "Senior."

"We’re returning to Tongyou Village."

Chu Mu watched the boy, his expression now completely devoid of anger. But that one short sentence struck the boy like a lightning bolt, leaving him so shaken he could barely stand.

After Chu Mu entered the cabin, the boy seemed to lose all his strength. He staggered and collapsed to the floor, his face a mask of despair.

Chu Mu sat down in the cabin, ignoring the boy’s condition as if he hadn’t seen it.

The three-year agreement was long fulfilled. The entire purpose of bringing the boy to the Chu Capital was to let him experience the Cultivation Immortal Realm.

Although he was displeased with how it had turned out, his objective could be considered accomplished.

If the boy still couldn’t learn his lesson after this, then... there would be no point in protecting him for a lifetime...

...