Chapter 743: Bounty Order

As the headquarters of the East Sea Cultivator Alliance and the largest human faction in the East Sea, Penglai Island truly presented an extraordinary spectacle. Whales continuously docked at the shore, and as their mouths opened, cultivators swarmed out from within.

While mortals still made up the majority of the island's residents, cultivators were far from few. Qi Cultivation and Foundation Establishment stage cultivators were seen everywhere, making Fangshan Island seem incomparably inferior by comparison.

The Island Master of Penglai Island was a seasoned Tribulation Transcendence cultivator. According to Great Xia's classification, Penglai Island was a Super-grade force, one of only nine such powers in the entire Great Xia.

Moreover, Penglai Island gathered the vast majority of East Sea cultivators, possessing a profound foundation that made it several times stronger than even Great Xia's Super-grade sects.

Hero Yan arrived at the Alliance Headquarters, a nine-story pagoda. The pagoda was ancient and weathered, its age unknown, having withstood countless years. Each level of the tower body was carved with talismans, formations, or patterns containing profound principles of the Great Dao, embodying the mysteries of heaven and earth's laws. Standing before the pagoda, a person appeared as small as an ant.

"Honored Daoists, I will go inside to register with the Alliance first. After I'm done, would you like me to show you around Penglai Island?" Hero Yan asked, cupping his fists. Non-Alliance members were not permitted inside the pagoda.

"No worries, no worries. Hero Yan, please attend to your business first," Lu Yang said with a smile. They were not in a hurry.

Soul Transformation stage cultivators held some influence within the Alliance. After Hero Yan entered the nine-story pagoda and explained his situation, a Soul Transformation cultivator quickly emerged to greet him. Upon hearing that Hero Yan had transcended his lightning tribulation through his own efforts, their tone became noticeably more respectful.

"Come on, Hero Yan has his own business to attend to, so let's explore on our own first." Lu Yang gestured to the others, assuming that not having a local guide wouldn't significantly impact their experience.

"Come see, freshly caught Nine-Star Thunder Eel!" Someone shouted, holding up a glossy black eel over a meter long. It had four spots on each side and one spot in the center of its head, making it a very rare Nine-Star Thunder Eel.

"Elder, how much for this Nine-Star Thunder Eel?"

The elder chuckled and casually uttered two words: "Not for sale."

The person was annoyed: "If it's not for sale, why are you hawking it?!"

"If I didn't hawk it, how would you know I caught a Nine-Star Thunder Eel?"

"Ancient elixirs, just unearthed from a secret realm, 100,000 spirit stones a bottle!" Someone had several small medicine bottles displayed before them, their surfaces still covered in dirt.

This was a common practice in the cultivation world: elixirs dug out from secret realms were sold unopened, a gamble on their quality and a test of one's discernment.

"There are ancient elixirs here," Tao Yaoye whispered, quite surprised.

The Immortal Ascension Herb scoffed, "Ancient elixirs? Only the mud is ancient."

As a minor medicine king who had lived since ancient times, it had eaten countless amounts of dirt in its life. It could tell the age of mud just by looking, without needing to taste it.

"Skewers, freshly grilled mutton skewers! Eat one to extend your lifespan, two to break through your realm, three to achieve immortality!"

Lu Yang instinctively turned his head upon hearing the familiar shouts and discovered a "Come Again BBQ" stall by the roadside.

"Even a BBQ stall has opened here?" Meng Jingzhou was surprised. The Nine Nether Sect was truly desperate for money, expanding their overseas business all the way to Penglai Island.

Lu Yang shook his head, his expression solemn: "Our BBQ doesn't taste like this, and they're not using true fire. This is a pirated version."

Besides that, Lu Yang also spotted flying cars without trademarks, unauthorized Illusion Bubbles... a whole array of pirated goods.

Great Xia enforced strict copyright management, but the East Sea was different. Here, as long as it made money, murder and arson were commonplace, let alone intellectual property protection.

For this very reason, Great Xia's elixir formulas, formations, and other knowledge were strictly passed down through lineage; unauthorized dissemination was punishable by death.

Lu Yang calculated that he had lost at least eight million spirit stones in the East Sea.

Lu Yang's heart ached. Eight million! That was enough to buy Old Meng's dog life.

Meng Jingzhou eyed Lu Yang suspiciously, feeling as though the kid was talking bad about him.

Li Haoran kindly comforted him: "That's just how the East Sea is; you'll get used to it. Back then, Qin Haoran made a fortune by dealing in pirated goods in the East Sea, and that's how he got the capital for his marriage with Yiren."

Lu Yang was speechless.

"Why is there a portrait of Master here?" Lu Yang noticed a portrait of Daoist Buyu posted on the bulletin board. A glance at the title revealed it was a wanted poster.

Daoist Buyu, Sect Master of Wendao Sect, bounty: one billion spirit stones.

The bounty was even issued jointly by both the Sea Race and the Human Race.

"I'd long heard that Master commanded a high price on the black market; it's true today," Lu Yang commented.

One billion spirit stones — that was much more expensive than Old Meng's eight million.

Besides Daoist Buyu, many other familiar faces appeared on the wanted poster, such as the Grand Elder, Sixth Elder, Seventh Elder, and Eighth Elder.

Half of Wendao Sect's high-ranking members were listed here. Of course, their bounties couldn't compare to Daoist Buyu's; he firmly held the top spot, his position unshakable.

Before leaving, Lu Yang had heard from Elder Ba that the Grand Elder had entered and exited tombs on Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou islands seven times. Furthermore, he had constructed a tomb in the East Sea, mimicking ancient tomb styles. When the Three Penglai Islands discovered this tomb, they all believed it to be their own ancient burial ground and nearly fought each other to exhaustion. Ultimately, Penglai Island emerged victorious and joyfully moved the coffin back, spent half a day comparing genealogies, knelt and bowed to the coffin, only for the Grand Elder to then lift the lid and rise...

At that time, the Sixth Elder was undergoing a breakthrough with her Immaculate Immortal Physique, making her Immaculate Domain quite unstable and voice-activated. When she attended banquets, her domain would open every time the host spoke, leading to her being blacklisted from all future gatherings.

As for the Seventh and Eighth Elders, they took advantage of Great Xia's laws not extending to this area, engaging in scams everywhere. Their trickery grew increasingly sophisticated until the East Sea residents could no longer tolerate it. After multiple failed attempts to apprehend them, they requested Great Xia to invoke the principle of personal jurisdiction and bring the Seventh and Eighth Elders to justice. However, Great Xia refused to hear the case, citing respect for the East Sea's sovereignty.

Some passersby who saw the wanted poster found it very nostalgic and reminisced about past events.

"I can't believe Daoist Buyu is still on here. It's been hundreds of years; he hasn't shown his face in the East Sea for at least two centuries, has he?"

"Indeed! I remember when Daoist Buyu's bounty was five hundred million spirit stones. He feigned capture and conspired with Wendao Sect's Grand Elder to swindle the bounty."

"After that incident, his bounty increased to one billion, and any news of his whereabouts would prompt Tribulation Transcendence grand cultivators to personally lead an arrest team."

"One billion spirit stones! If only someone could capture Daoist Buyu, they wouldn't have to worry about cultivation resources for generations."

"Capture Daoist Buyu? You're dreaming. I heard that some rogue cultivators used to commit crimes under Daoist Buyu's name, but after all this, even they don't dare to use his name anymore."

Lu Yang felt fortunate that he was currently using the identity of a Five Elements Sect disciple.

Given the relationship between Wendao Sect and the Five Elements Sect, even if the Five Elements Sect had any objections, it likely wouldn't matter.