Chapter 4523 — An Uncanny Situation
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
Having thrown in its lot with devil cultivators, its reputation could hardly be good to begin with. And now, with the Xishan Old Sect seated in residence, its strength was beyond doubt—but the question was, who could guarantee that the Xishan Old Sect would stay at the Longzhou Escort Agency forever?
If these guilds signed long-term, large contracts with it, and then one day the Xishan Old Sect suddenly up and left, would they not lose enormously? Merchants are profiteers by nature; if they cannot see stable returns, getting them to hand over great piles of spirit jade is harder than ascending to heaven...
Long Kuiba, who had set his heart on surpassing the Qingtian Escort Agency, was plainly dissatisfied with this middling result. He could never have imagined that even with the Xishan Old Sect personally in residence, the Longzhou Escort Agency's business would remain so half-dead and listless. This was a far cry from the booming scene he had envisioned.
Such a vast gap left Long Kuiba so gloomy he wanted to vomit blood. After all, these past days he had been driven out every single day to search for Nascent Soul female cultivators. So immense a pressure, and all it bought was such meager returns—how was he supposed to bear the shame?
Yet no matter how gloomy he was, Long Kuiba was utterly powerless. Business, after all, was a matter of mutual consent. As the owner of an escort agency, he could hardly go about using the Xishan Old Sect's name to force the merchant guilds into buying and selling by coercion, could he? If he truly stirred up a storm of public resentment, the first to come settle accounts with him would be the Xishan Old Sect—and that devil-cultivator titan was bent on keeping a low profile. Would that not be Long Kuiba making trouble for him?
Weihu City returned to its former calm. If one had to name a difference, it was that noticeably more outsiders were now coming to the Weihu Sea. Such was the centripetal effect brought by an escort hegemon: in the past everyone had gone to the Moleng Sea, but now the wheel of fortune turned, and it was the Weihu Sea's turn...
In the South Island Forest, after the ghost thing had given the Xishan Old Sect a fright and sent him off with more alarm than harm, Wei Zhao stayed where he was to rest briefly. Only after his wounds had healed did he continue onward through the dense woods. Though the place was entirely unfamiliar, with the ghost thing as a competent guide, he need not worry about losing his way.
What struck Wei Zhao as rather strange, however, was that he had walked through these dense woods for three full days and nights, and yet had not encountered a single spirit beast. This was the stronghold of the Spirit Beast clan; by all reason, a strong spirit beast ought to come tumbling out at the slightest kick. So why was there not one? It made no sense.
After all, even in the Rufeng Forest, which lay at the very fringes, spirit beast traces were still frequently found. And according to the ghost thing, this place was much closer to the core heartland of the South Island than the Rufeng Forest. If the Rufeng Forest was a remote mountain village, then this place was at least the outskirts of a city. Yet the scene before him was like this—it was a little too abnormal.
Not only Wei Zhao; even the ghost thing was beginning to find it uncanny. However one looked at it, this could not be called normal.
If it had been empty like this at the fringes, that would have been understandable. But they had now walked three days and nights, long since deep into the heartland, and it was still as deathly silent as a graveyard—that truly made no sense.
"Senior, do we keep going deeper, or should we turn back? I have a feeling this place is a bit uncanny." Wei Zhao could not help frowning. When things were abnormal, there was sure to be a demon behind it—especially in a place like this, the stronghold of the Spirit Beast clan. One careless step, and it could cost a life.