Chapter 164: Fire Dragon Burns the Warehouse

Wang Yu simply treated these embezzled assets as a reward, acting generously for once, since he couldn't have recovered them anyway.

They maintained a semblance of dignity.

"Next, as City Lord, I need to verify the lost spiritual fields, the account books of all shops in the five major districts, and the taxes due from the three major families."

"I wonder, esteemed talents of Guiling, do you have the confidence to accomplish this? If successful, I can recommend your outstanding descendants to enter the Holy Sect's inner circle directly."

Everyone in the hall looked at each other.

However, the reward Wang Yu offered, while tempting, was utterly insignificant compared to the difficulty of accomplishing the task.

Some things simply could not be done.

Even Madam Chaoyun smiled wryly. "My Lord City Lord," she said, "you vastly underestimate the difficulty of this task. Even the City Lord's Mansion at its peak might not have been able to collect everything, let alone now."

As she spoke, she glanced at the people from the Inkwell Sect and Scent Sect, her implied meaning clear.

She was, in essence, cautioning Wang Yu.

These Core Formation sects understood the terror of Nascent Soul powers. On matters of great import, they were willing to lend people to help him, the new City Lord, navigate the awkward period of having no available staff.

However, when their own interests were involved, these individuals were untrustworthy. Attempting to collect five years of back taxes was tantamount to Wang Yu challenging the entire city alone.

But if he failed to collect them, the inertia of a large organization would continue for the next five-year cycle, with persistent arrears of spirit stones and unpaid taxes.

Silence lingered in the hall for a long time; still, no one answered.

Wang Yu snorted inwardly.

A mere collection of parasites, how could they ever make Guiling City truly flourish!

If no one was willing, then they wouldn't do it at all. If he couldn't get what he wanted, he would overturn the whole pot.

Without destruction, there can be no new beginning. In any case, the City Lord's treasury contained a million spirit stones to cover this tribute, and there was still time until the next five-year cycle, so there was no immediate rush.

Just as Wang Yu was contemplating whether to use the array to keep them all here or let them go and find other methods,

The Bai family's Grand Elder finally spoke.

"City Lord, my Bai family is willing to set an example and fully repay all the taxes we missed over these past five years."

"Oh—"

He had to admit, this truly startled him. In his eyes, the Bai family was a typical troublemaker, and he had expected the Jiang family to be the first to yield.

The Jiang family had a weak foundation; if pushed, they would just admit defeat.

The Bai family, with its deep foundation and numerous powerful cultivators... could it be that he had ignited their fear of the Spirit Reversal Blood Sect?!

Patriarch Guan and Patriarch Jiang were both somewhat shocked. Words of dissuasion came to their lips, but upon sensing Wang Yu's icy gaze, they forcibly swallowed them back.

The Bai family's Grand Elder then gently advised them.

"Patriarch Guan, Patriarch Jiang, the City Lord is magnanimous and overlooks our past misdeeds. Don't resist any longer. Settle this matter to avoid future reckoning by the Holy Sect!"

Wang Yu, who deeply understood the nature of the Demonic Dao, knew that demanding every last penny was unrealistic. However, the general amount had to align.

The Bai family's Grand Elder served as an excellent mouthpiece.

Thus, major issues could be reduced to minor ones, and minor ones could be completely resolved.

"Today's matters conclude here."

"Bai family Grand Elder, I, the City Lord, give you one month to make up all outstanding taxes. Severe penalties will be imposed for overdue payments, and this applies to everyone."

"You may disperse."

"Yes."

"Yes."

"As you command."

Some were pleased, others unwilling. After everyone had left the City Lord's Mansion, Patriarch Guan grabbed the Bai family's Grand Elder and sharply questioned him, "What exactly are you doing?!"

The Bai family's Grand Elder shrugged innocently, his lips moving slightly.

He quietly performed a secret sound transmission.

The next moment,

Patriarch Guan's hand loosened, his eyes filled with shock.

"This... won't this completely enrage that brat?"

"So what? He's just a callow youth who relies on arrays to act tough. He has no loyal soldiers or generals. What can he possibly do to me?"

After their secret conversation, Patriarch Jiang also approached.

"Brother Guan, what did Elder Bai tell you?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Of course."

"Heh heh—"

Patriarch Guan leaned in, and four words shocked Patriarch Jiang as well, even making him feel a bit uneasy. He had a strong premonition that this was not a good idea.

"Burning the granary with fire dragons!"

On the other side.

After seeing everyone off, Wang Yu no longer concerned himself with these petty machinations. Since the Bai family willingly submitted to clear up the misunderstanding of their Patriarch's death, he was naturally willing to give them a chance.

He had been in Guiling City for a while now; it was time to shift his focus back to cultivation. No matter how clever one's calculations, or how cunning one's wisdom, none could compare to a single punch from a Nascent Soul Grand Ancestor!

In the cultivation world, cultivation realm was the ultimate power.

If he had reached Core Formation cultivation, he wouldn't need to worry about these matters; he could simply subdue everyone by force and make them operate under his rules.

Cultivation was where he should invest his greatest effort. Governing Guiling City was fundamentally a means to aid his cultivation; this order of priority must not change. With a good start, the next step was simply to wait.

This day.

Wang Yu went into seclusion in the Qi Refining Chamber, the most spirit-energy-rich area of the City Lord's Mansion. At least it was built upon a mid-grade Tier 3 spirit vein, and there were many similar Qi Refining Chambers.

Such cultivation facilities offered the greatest benefit to those with spiritual roots of Tier 2, 3, and 4. They were also most positively affected by changes in the environment.

Back in the Ice Snow Pavilion, he had considered the Qi Refining Chamber useless, but now it was a powerful tool to accelerate his main body's cultivation. Over time, it could produce a considerable amount of true essence.

After lighting an incense stick to calm his mind, Wang Yu sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion.

Without the enhancement of the Heavenly Enlightenment Cushion beneath him, he felt a bit unaccustomed at first, but as his cultivation technique circulated, he gradually entered a state of focus.

He was there to advance his spiritual sense realm.

Taking a deep breath, dense black ghostly energy emerged from his limbs and bones. The black armor talisman, formed at his navel by the Soul Devouring Evil Armor Technique, also glowed brightly.

Inside the silent chamber, a cold wind howled, extremely chilling.

All the beings whose souls Wang Yu had devoured seemed to come alive at this moment. Their eyes were crimson, their mouths full of fangs and sharp teeth, both human and demonic.

Looking at Wang Yu's seated position, his physical body seemed to have disappeared, with only a translucent soul body sitting there, frowning, emitting white mist around it—this was precisely the divine sense secret art, Heavenly Soul One Qi.

The hundreds of fierce souls, existing by clinging to the evil armor, rushed forward eagerly. These were their enemies; when else would they attack if not now?!

Outside.

Wang Yu remained seated on the meditation cushion, with no change other than being covered in black demonic armor.

The ghostly faces carved on the armor's surface seemed to come alive, constantly shifting. Even with his eyes closed, Wang Yu was immersed in some kind of devouring illusion.

His fingers continued to tap his body.

This was the "Soul Shattering Finger" at the Minor Accomplishment stage. He was using the fierce souls devouring his body to temper his spiritual sense, so he naturally had to control the upper limit. Those fierce souls he shattered would return to their respective ghostly face carvings.

They would enter a completely dormant state, awaiting enough power absorption from new members before reviving again to retaliate against their enemy.

This was the entire mystery of the demonic art, Soul Devouring Evil Armor Technique. If they were completely dispersed, the power of the black demonic armor would also decrease, leading to more harm than good.

Maintaining a precise balance was crucial.

After an unknown period, when Wang Yu awoke, he was drenched in cold sweat, a testament to the pain he had endured.

His body felt somewhat weak, but his eyes were incredibly bright.

"Indeed, tempering by fierce souls is an excellent opportunity. My spiritual sense realm has smoothly advanced to the late Foundation Establishment stage..."

The Ancient Soul Art and Lunar Essence were causing his cultivation to surge rapidly.

After concluding his session, Wang Yu rested for a while, then continued to actively trigger the fierce souls' devouring effect. He wanted to put them all into dormancy at once to avoid interference during combat.

It seemed he had managed to circumvent the side effects of this demonic art.

At the same time.

Guiling City, Bai family.

When the Bai family's Grand Elder explained his brilliant self-conceived strategy, "Burning the granary with fire dragons," to the Bai family ancestor,

This Foundation Establishment peak cultivator, who was nearing three hundred years of age, had accumulated many hidden injuries in his youth, and had used longevity spiritual items, was so enraged that he slapped him flying.

"—Idiot!"

The Bai family ancestor's blood surged, and his already critical physical condition made him dizzy. He pointed a trembling finger at the culprit.

"Bai Zhiyang, I told you to go and apologize, and this is what you do?! Do you not realize you'll destroy the entire Bai family?!"

The Grand Elder scrambled up from the architectural debris, clutching his swollen, reddened cheek in embarrassment. He gritted his teeth and said,

"Old Ancestor, that kid is only a cultivator at the second level of Foundation Establishment. If it weren't for the City Lord's Mansion's array, the Patriarch wouldn't have died there. He has already shown his intent to kill our Bai family."

"You... you—"

At this moment, more Bai family elders rushed out, anxiously supporting the ancestor and cautiously saying,

"Old Ancestor, please don't let anger harm your health."

Whoosh~

After a long while, the Bai family ancestor punched himself in the chest. After spitting out the congested blood caused by his surging anger, his complexion instantly became much rosier. He gasped and said,

"You keep calling him 'that kid,' and you look down on his Foundation Establishment second-level cultivation. You should be able to sense how incredibly young his life aura is, right?"

The Grand Elder was immediately speechless, stammering,

"I feel... he won't be over fifty years old."

"Ah? Such a genius! No wonder he can govern a prosperous place like Guiling City at such a young age. This is clearly the Holy Sect's reward and investment in his cultivation!"

Among the elders, some expressed shock and concern, showing signs of yielding, but others revealed disdain and greed.

"So what? Since he's come to Guiling, if he's a dragon, he must coil; if he's a tiger, he must crouch. If he wants to extract spirit stones from the Bai family, we'll burn them all! Let's see how he collects them. Does he dare to come out?!"

"Exactly! He's just a coward who hides. As long as we don't enter the City Lord's Mansion, what can he do to us?"

Faced with the pronouncements of these juniors, the Bai family ancestor felt deep despair. He struggled to get up without another word.

"Foolish! Utterly foolish!"

"Guiling City belongs to the Holy Sect! You can defy anyone but not the Holy Sect! Even if we cooperate with the Yellow Springs Temple, we must pay the due portion of our earnings as tax!"

"—Old Ancestor!"

The Grand Elder, who had reached the ninth level of Foundation Establishment and still had fifty years of life remaining, completely changed his demeanor.

"Someone, take the Old Ancestor back to the ancestral home outside the city. Send all direct descendants of the third branch there too."

"Burning the granary with fire dragons, I am determined to do it!"