NOVEL NEXT Chapter 501: Silver Snake
"Rotten and corrupt... This always happens with this kind of government system, but that is not my question."
"If you mean the one that holds power, it's still cultivators. Part of the council, from the outside, looks split, but I am sure now they are in cahoots. Experience tales at empire
The abbot is nothing more than a puppet portrayed as an invisible cultivator that treats everyone equally."
"How about the previous abbot, then? Do you have any information?"
Feng Xue was confused hearing Alex's question. "I don't understand what you mean."
"How long has the current abbot reigned? Has it ever changed?"
"To my knowledge, no, at least in the last 100 years."
"Tell me in detail everything that you have learned."
FengXue then began to explain the situation in detail.
Alex tapped his finger on the table, frowning as there was no answer to where Orion had gone. It seemed like he had never been here.
"It seems we have no other choice; we need to interrogate the council. Or hope the abbot has more information."
"Do you have any instructions?"
"No, just continue as you planned for now. If possible, start it faster."
"I just need to confirm a few more things to make sure I don't miss out."
"That was in the past in case they were stronger than you, but now with us here, we will back you up no matter who comes out," Alex replied with confidence.
Even fighting against one or two immortals, he knew he wouldn't lose. He also had MingYue on his side, and they had the same level of strength.
"All right, I will do as you wish."
Alex and MingYue then left her alone. Not long after, Situ Cuiying returned.
"Lady, it seems we have a problem."
"What do you mean?"
"If their information is right, there are traces of the beastman inside the temple."
"Beastman? They are rare, but sometimes we still see them."
"Yes, but the problem is, this beast is part of the beast emperor clan."
Situ Cuiying only knew about them after FengXue told her the situation in the central region. Otherwise, she would not have suspected anything strange at all.
"The emperor clan should be staying in their region and not coming out. That is part of the deal, or are you sure it's not just some stray or offspring?"
Even though now they lived in their own area, in the past, beastmen and humans lived together. So it wasn't strange if some hid themselves and survived the many wars.
"No, it's more than a group of them, so I'm sure they are part of the emperor clan. The Silver Snake."
The Silver Snake clan had a unique attribute: no matter how they disguised themselves, they either had silver hair or silver pupils. The elite of their clan would have both.
"The Silver Snake is famous for having sly and manipulative personalities, so it's not strange for them to plan something. But are you sure? If they found a way to hide their hair or pupils, they could be anywhere."
In MingYue's mind, normal people shouldn't be able to find out about them unless the clan chooses to reveal themselves.
"Tell me in detail."
"As you know, I am meaning the Heavenly Tower Pavilion and the Silver Merchant leader. Both of them have rivals supported by one of the council."
"Yes, that is why they decided to support our movement, but that doesn't explain how they know."
Heavenly Tower Pavilion specialized in alchemy pills, from diluted versions helpful for civilians to ones that golden core cultivators could use. As for the silver merchants, their main trade involved selling weapons. Both of them had been doing this for a long time and had almost a monopoly on the market.
But ten years ago, everything changed. Two new competitors suddenly rose up, selling better quality items at cheaper prices.
If this wasn't ShangXi Temple, they would have already launched an all-out attack to massacre them, but unfortunately, they couldn't. With many laws and regulations in place, they needed to find justification first and use more indirect methods.
They used their capital to bribe officials to make things harder for them and burned money to play the market.
They thought this should be enough to drive them out, but somehow, the competitors survived. Not only that, it seemed both of them had a bottomless amount of money that never ran out.
They bribed back the officials with far higher amounts, almost double. The price that had been pushed down was cut even further to the point it would result in bankruptcy if the Heavenly Pavilion and Silver Merchant followed it.
In the end, both of them gave up and instead looked for a path to survive, but this didn't mean they had truly given up. They sent people to the competitors to find out how they could have so much money.
That was when they found out they were involved in the slave market, and they seemed to have an exclusive buyer who bought everything at a high price.
In the cultivation world, slavery wasn't strange, but here in the ShangXi Temple region, it had been outlawed and banned.
They tried to use this information to report it to the authorities, but they didn't do it directly. They tried to learn more about the situation, and the result terrified them.
Many things had changed inside ShangXi Temple.
"In the past, they didn't have any way to gain information, but with the strange device you gave them, they found them."
Situ Cuiying then took out a small digital camera and placed it on the table.
"The real device has been broken, but the memory card is safe."
FengXue reviewed the data, then frowned when she saw images of the Silver Snake clan. There weren't just one or two; there were dozens of them.
They seemed to be gathered in a huge hall, with humans in cages being sold as merchandise.
From the photos, she could see the snakes looking at the humans like some kind of delicacy.