NOVEL NEXT The Price of Freedom
Huu-!
Zhao Yunxiao let out a deep breath after deactivating the concealing array in his inn room.
It was half a day's journey from Blueflag Mountain to Thousand Autumn City, but that was by taking the most direct method. Because he had to make a long detour, Zhao Yunxiao Two actually took a full day instead.
But such a delay was nothing, all as long as he could draw as little attention to himself as possible. After all, the entire city's attention was now focused on the East Gate, eagerly awaiting the return of the second coalition, so the security at the other gates ended up lacking in comparison.
That said, it would still be far too eye-catching to carry two full corpses through the gate. Because of that, Zhao Yunxiao had his clone hide the two corpses outside the city before personally bringing them in by hiding them in his spatial pouch.
The moment he returned to his room, Zhao Yunxiao immediately set up a concealing array and began investigating the two corpses.
He simply could not wait to see what treasures they had in store for him.
And thankfully for him, both Shao Chen and the frail-looking member of the Scarlet Leaf Sect truly lived up to their names as cultivators at the Origin Core realm!
There were a wide variety of treasures in their spatial items, including spiritual herbs, talismans, equipment, accessories, spirit stones, and jade slips that recorded information of all sorts. Zhao Yunxiao could feel his heart beating faster the more he saw, overcome with excitement at the sheer value of the items.
The disappointing thing was that each of them only had one item that could truly be considered a treasure at the Origin Core realm. That could not be helped, considering how difficult it was to acquire Origin Core realm treasures without the support of a powerful faction.
Still, these two items alone were probably already worth far more than everything else combined!
From Shao Chen was a ring that shone with a dull grey light. It might not look like anything impressive at first glance, but a simple injection of essence energy would cause it to explode with energy of the metal element, creating a barrier around him akin to a piece of invisible armour.
From the frail-looking man was a pair of crescent moon blades. They were completely black in colour, with a clean metallic sheen. But unlike the ring, these blades did not seem to possess any special abilities at first glance, only emitting a very faint aura of death even after a huge injection of essence energy. From the looks of it, he would have to put in some work to figure out the true nature of this weapon.
Zhao Yunxiao took deep breaths to calm himself.
He did not know the original names of these items, but that no longer mattered. Now that they belonged to him, it was up to him to name them. The Ring of Steel and Dark Crescent Moon Blades – those would be their names from today.
For Essence Gathering realm cultivators like him, just obtaining one Origin Core realm treasure in their lifetime would have been a great fortune. But along with the Window of Tunes and the Bamboo Barricade, this now made four Origin Core realm treasures that had now fallen into his possession within the short span of a month!
Even inner disciples would be jealous of such a haul, so Zhao Yunxiao could only hope that he had not used up his lifetime's worth of luck all for this!
He opened the window and looked at the huge commotion that was happening outside.
Cong Liexian had safely escorted the survivors of the vanguard party back to Thousand Autumn City by now, but their return actually ended up drawing mostly negative reactions from those in the city. This was exacerbated by the fact that Cong Liexian offered little to no explanations before quickly leaving the city again.
All he mentioned was that the Scarlet Leaf Sect outfit had been taken care of, these were the only survivors, and that he had to leave immediately.
With him gone just like that, the survivors of the vanguard party were left to face the relentless bombardment of questions coming from the various factions within the city.
After all, not a single person had returned from either the trailing group or the main strike force. It was indeed shocking for the cultivators of the main strike force to be killed, but that still did not anger the people of the city.
However, that was not the case for the members of the trailing group.
Most of those among the trailing group were either influential merchants or trusted members of the various influential factions within the city, tasked to gather first-hand information about the coalition's strike on the Scarlet Leaf Sect outfit.
How could the leaders of these factions accept the safe return of mere slaves, when their trusted subordinates had all ended up missing?
And to claim that both Ren Xiexing and Ke Huofen had been colluding with the Scarlet Leaf Sect?
What were the chances that such an outrageous scenario would come to pass?
In comparison, it was far more likely that there was something amiss with these slaves who had managed to escape a situation that even cultivators could not survive!
At the very least, that was what many had in mind. It was just that they had no proof, so all they could do was hurl accusations at them without a definitive conclusion.
With regard to this, the city hall had actually chosen to leave things be instead of stepping up to pass any judgement, seemingly contented with the report that the Scarlet Leaf Sect outfit had been taken care of.
Because of that, the survivors – essentially ex-slaves who had now obtained freedom – had ended up in an awkward situation.
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As ex-slaves, they all used to stay with their employers and thus had nothing to their names. In addition, silently regarded by the community as traitors with no way to clear their names, they were naturally unable to acquire any jobs to sustain themselves.
Without any money, accommodation, or job, they naturally turned into homeless people who had no choice but to roam the streets.
And from the looks of it, this situation would not be changing anytime soon.
How did these slaves survive when the entire coalition had been wiped out?
Could this coalition strike be considered a success?
Was the Scarlet Leaf Sect outfit truly taken care of?
As long as these questions went unanswered, not a single survivor of the vanguard party would be truly accepted back into the Thousand Autumn City community.
After all, cultivators had all sorts of abilities.
Who knew if these people had been infected with some strange technique of the Scarlet Leaf Sect, and were deliberately sent back to Thousand Autumn City as puppets or spies?
Zhao Yunxiao closed his eyes as he thought about how to help them out.
It was meaningless to spread the truth anonymously to help these people. The survivors of the vanguard party had already repeated the story countless times, so another anonymous person saying the exact same thing would add nothing to the credibility of the story.
On the other hand, he could convince everyone if he chose to reveal his identity, but that would inevitably draw everyone's attention to him. With Ke Huofen still out at large, Zhao Yunxiao simply dared not risk doing something this dangerous. He wanted to help these people, but not nearly to the extent that he was willing to sacrifice his own life.
No, there was no need to worry too much about it.
Once Fei Qing and Cong Liexian were done with their investigation of the cave, they would be able to return and clear the air.
Surely they would not return to wherever they came from without first coming back to take a look... right?
Until then, these survivors of the vanguard party would just have to endure through the pain and hunger.
That said, had they not chosen to join the vanguard party, they would have remained in their familiar cage of safety, continuing to live off the factions to which they used to belong. That might not be a life of freedom and comfort, but it was definitely stable.
Now that they had survived the coalition strike, they had successfully shed their previous statuses as slaves and earned their freedom. However, this also meant that they could no longer expect to be sheltered by these same factions.
Such was the price of freedom – a responsibility that they would have to learn to bear.
At this moment, loud shouts could suddenly be heard on the street, accompanied by rhythmic strikes of the gong.
"Survivors of the vanguard party, listen up! The Hei Residence is willing to take you in! Anyone who wishes to join the Hei Clan as slaves, come with me! As long as you manage to pass our selection, you can expect free food and accommodation!"
Zhao Yunxiao looked over in surprise, only to see several servants of the Hei Clan walking down the street while striking the gongs in their hands. Behind them, a slightly plump young man sat comfortably in a sedan chair that was carried by four servants, with another four well-built men wearing combat robes walking alongside him.
Who else could it be but Hei Lao, the prodigal young master of the Hei Clan?
Most of the survivors of the vanguard party were hungry, exhausted, and had injuries of varying severity. Some of them had already resigned to their fate, expecting to die of their wounds since nobody was willing to treat them.
With death looming close, many were already deeply regretting their foolish decision to join the vanguard party for the meaningless promise of a free life. Therefore, the Hei Clan servants' words immediately caused them to light up with hope.
Still, they hesitated.
They had gone through so much just to be free, so was it really worth throwing it all away once again?
To some, it was.
Having gone through the terrifying ordeal at Blueflag Mountain, many of them now believed that it was far more important to be able to live in the present than cling onto meaningless dreams of grandeur.
In a way, this could be considered the only path to survival, a way for them to undo their foolish and ignorant decision!
"M-Me! I want to join the Hei Residence!"
"I can do anything! I used to be a servant at the Mo Clan, so I know the basics!"
"I used to be a chef!"
"I used to be a guard!"
After a brief moment of hesitation, they started to swarm forward, fighting to be the first in line to express their interest in joining the Hei Residence.
In response, Hei Lao's entourage stopped, and a few servants started writing down the applicants' names and details. At the same time, others continued to shout and broadcast the fact that they were hiring.
"Don't rush! We won't consider any unruly people, so form two neat lines and register your interest one by one! We will bring you back for an interview before deciding!"
With that, two long lines quickly formed in front of the entourage.
Zhao Yunxiao could not help but sigh at this sight.
He could understand the survivors' decision to return to a life of slavery. In this chaotic world, even thinking about leading a life of freedom could be considered a luxury. As a cultivator, he did not know when he would be able to obtain true freedom either.
He could also understand why, unlike the leaders of the other factions of the city, Hei Lao did not have as many reservations about the survivors of the vanguard party. It was likely because the Hei Clan had always been protected by the statue of the Untethered Sage.
If even cultivators could be repelled by this protection from the statue of the Untethered Sage, what could these ordinary mortals do to harm the Hei Clan, even if they had been infected with some strange technique by the Scarlet Leaf Sect?
By taking them in, not only would Hei Lao be gaining experienced servants for cheap, but he would also be acquiring servants who had joined him of their own accord. In their eyes, he would be someone who had rescued them from a hopeless situation, so it naturally translated to a greater sense of loyalty!
And speaking of the statue of the Untethered Sage, perhaps it was time to go check it out once more.
With the destruction of the strange ritual of the Scarlet Leaf Sect, everything should have returned to normal by now!