Chapter 20: The Blood Viper President

The Blood Viper President Mu Yang’s eyes turned cold: “I’m not borrowing from you! I’m asking—have you found any good prey lately?”

“We’ve ordered our subordinates to search for prey,” explained Vice President Lai Mo. “But you know as well as I do, every Void True God in Hu Yang City is extremely cautious, never revealing their treasures—it’s hard to pick suitable targets. In the last eon, I slew 122 Void True Gods and collected 1,800 cosmic sands. I gave you nine-tenths, as agreed.”

“In the last eon, I slew 132 prey and collected 1,200 cosmic sands—I gave you your share too,” said Vice President Mu Lin. “We’ve all sworn karmic oaths; we wouldn’t lie about this.”

Mu Yang spoke coldly: “I want good prey! Not these pitiful scraps!”

The two vice presidents shook their heads.

“If we can’t find good prey, the Lord’s Mansion has already set the baseline,” said Lai Mo. “The number of kills allowed within the city is severely limited, and those Void True Gods are too careful. Even if they acquire treasure, they’ll never show it.”

Vice President Mu Lin worriedly asked: “President, you’ve made enough from the Blood Viper Association since we founded it. You never seemed this desperate before—why are you growing more frantic now?”

He and the president belonged to the same clan, having drifted together to Hu Yang City—he could say these things; Lai Mo wouldn’t dare.

“How’s the residence fee collection going?” the Blood Viper President pressed. “Has it increased?”

“The city is flooded with True Gods, most of whom survive by hunting beasts. They venture out, make a fortune on one raid, then return to the city to settle down—rarely leaving except to buy goods, usually just closing themselves off in seclusion. We can’t collect any residence fees,” Lai Mo shook his head.

“Has the total increased at all?” Mu Yang pressed.

“No,” Lai Mo shook his head. “This eon, it’s probably declined further.”

“Useless trash!”

Mu Yang exploded in rage: “We maintain so many subordinates just to find prey and collect residence fees in the city! If you can’t find prey, and residence fees have dropped this eon—what good are these useless wastes? Get every incompetent fool out of the Blood Viper Association!”

Maintaining a subordinate is costly—they must pay the Lord’s Mansion a residence fee of ‘one chaos crystal per eon,’ plus they need cultivation resources. On average, the cost per True God subordinate is about three chaos crystals per eon.

The stronger the subordinate, the higher the cost!

A vast dark organization has enormous operational costs. After all, you can’t send Eternal True Gods out to collect residence fees from millions of residents.

Finding fat lambs isn’t easy.

“The Lord’s Mansion has rules: once a True God moves into a cave dwelling, they’re guaranteed absolute safety. In Hu Yang City, True Gods are everywhere—if we strike, others will notice. If there’s solid evidence, the Lord’s Mansion must apprehend the killer,” Mu Lin shook his head. “The Lord’s Mansion uses every method to protect residents—making residence fee collection extremely difficult.”

The Lord’s Mansion collects residence fees officially—every True God must pay. But once paid, they receive protections—this is why many True Gods aspire to live in major cities.

Dark organizations also collect residence fees, but most residents go to great lengths to avoid them.

For example, they hide inside their cave dwellings, only venture out where True Gods are dense, or even travel in large groups.

“I’m the one holding up the Blood Viper Association—you two need to think of solutions!” President Mu Yang’s gaze grew fiercer. “How do we find good prey? How do we collect more residence fees?”

“We’ll think of something,” the two vice presidents replied, but after so many eons of operation, every possible method had already been tried.

“Hmm?” President Mu Yang suddenly looked outside. “Mo Li Meng has arrived. You two leave first.”

“Understood.” Lai Mo and Mu Lin exhaled in relief and departed immediately.

Soon, a middle-aged man with four purple curved horns—Mo Li Meng—entered.

“Here to collect again,” sighed President Mu Yang.

“The five hundred thousand cosmic sands for this eon—give them to me,” Mo Li Meng said, staring at him. “You won’t have trouble paying after losing two hundred thousand to Luo He, right?”

President Mu Yang shook his head: “Five hundred thousand cosmic sands? I can afford it. But Mo Li Meng, with the Blood Viper Association’s tiny territory, must pay five hundred thousand cosmic sands every eon—isn’t that too much? Can’t you reduce it?”

“No choice,” Mo Li Meng said, smiling faintly. “Unless you dissolve the Blood Viper Association and abandon your territory. The rule in Hu Yang City is: whoever controls a territory pays the cosmic sands. That’s the five families’ bottom line.”

President Mu Yang felt stifled.

When he originally fought other dark organizations for territory, he refused to pay the five families—and they punished him severely. He suffered heavy losses and eventually backed down, which is why they tolerated him.

“Then can we increase our kill quota?” Mu Yang said. “The city’s rule limits deaths to one-thousandth of the population per eon—that’s too low. True Gods and Void True Gods naturally clash and die over long eons—the normal death rate already approaches one-thousandth. Our allowed kill quota is far too small!”

“No more than one-thousandth!” Mo Li Meng said calmly. “Last eon, your Blood Viper Association assassinated over a million True Gods and hundreds of Void True Gods—more than enough!”

“Hu Yang City has countless True Gods. What we kill is negligible compared to natural deaths,” Mu Yang shook his head, handing Mo Li Meng a jade vial. “Five hundred thousand cosmic sands—not a single grain missing.”

Mo Li Meng took it, his expression softening slightly. “I’ll warn you: over the past dozens of eons, your Blood Viper Association has done too much.”

“What? I don’t know what you mean,” Mu Yang feigned surprise. “Don’t blame everything on me.”

Mo Li Meng glanced at him, said nothing more, and turned to leave.

Mu Yang watched him go. “The five families of the Lord’s Mansion are the cruelest!” His eyes turned icy, but he knew well—if he crossed the line, the five families would spare nothing to crush the Blood Viper Association entirely.

“The Blood Viper Association needs vast cosmic sands every eon. The five families demand cosmic sands. And Luo He took two hundred thousand cosmic sands.” Mu Yang felt himself growing poor. “This eon, I’ve barely made any profit.”

Mu Yang’s will shifted—the hall’s array activated, severing all contact with the outside.

Hum~~~

Before him, the void condensed into a mirror, revealing a white-robed figure wearing a red mask.

“Blood Cloud Shenjun,” President Mu Yang grew more humble.

The two most terrifying forces in Hu Yang City were, naturally, the Lord’s Mansion’s five families—the ruling power—and the Shiguo faction. Hidden within it was an immensely terrifying entity named “Blood Cloud.”

The conflict between the Shiguo faction and the five families was the most intense—not mere petty harassment of dark organizations.

“Why have you suddenly contacted me, President Mu Yang?” Blood Cloud’s voice was calm, utterly without fluctuation.

“The lower half of the ‘Hun Tie Xue Sha Fa’ requires one million cosmic sands—I simply can’t gather it all,” Mu Yang said. “Could I pay half now and owe the rest?”

Blood Cloud smiled lightly: “Bloodline cultivation methods reach only the Chaos Realm’s limit. The ‘Hun Tie Xue Sha Fa’ is a ‘perfect-grade’ Chaos Realm bloodline cultivation technique—perfectly suited to you. Such a technique is rare beyond measure. Had you not rendered great service, we would never have offered you the chance to purchase it.”

“I know—but one million cosmic sands is too hard to gather,” Mu Yang said.

!.

“You only get this chance because you serve Shiguo. Try buying it at Yan Feng Hall—you won’t find it,” Blood Cloud said.

President Mu Yang understood perfectly.

Shiguo was generous enough to release the ‘Hun Tie Xue Sha Fa’—one of the pinnacle bloodline cultivation techniques—and it drove Mu Yang to madness.

Ordinary cultivation methods offered him no hope of reaching Chaos Realm. But this perfect bloodline technique gave him at least a glimmer of hope.

“You run the Blood Viper Association slowly—you earn slowly,” Blood Cloud murmured. “If you want to earn more, you must take risks. Think carefully.”

The connection severed.

President Mu Yang pondered—he had dealt with every faction in Hu Yang City, entangled deeply with both the Lord’s Mansion and Shiguo.

“Normal business in Hu Yang City is all under the Lord’s Mansion’s influence—impossible to earn much. It takes time to accumulate. To make a fortune, you must take risks,” Mu Yang’s gaze grew colder. “Once I obtain the ‘Hun Tie Xue Sha Fa,’ I’ll leave Hu Yang City immediately. Let the Lord’s Mansion and Shiguo fight all they want—I won’t get involved.”

Chaos Armor No. 913 Cave Dwelling.

On a high mountain, Luo Feng sat alone on a large rock, drinking.

In truth, he was practicing the ‘Great Destruction Mind Refinement Art,’ his spiritual will constantly shattered and ground down, each reformation making it denser and more refined—this was normal survival adaptation.

Under such extreme destruction, each reformation naturally required resistance against the erosion.

Short-term progress was inferior to the ‘Seven Emotions Mind Refinement Art,’ but the ‘Great Destruction Mind Refinement Art’ could be practiced continuously—over time, its effects became profound.

“With Elder Xie Tianyan guiding me, I’ll soon fully grasp the theory of the second layer of the ‘Chaos Great Power Diagram,’” Luo Feng’s understanding of the Dao was profound—he grasped concepts quickly. “But even if I master it completely, what good will it do?”

“I’m poor! I can’t afford the materials for secondary body refinement.” Luo Feng sighed.

“The first body refinement—just laying the foundation—consumed ten million cosmic sands in materials.”

“According to estimates, the second refinement will require several times more.”

“The third refinement will increase again by several times.”

“Where am I supposed to get cosmic sands?”

Luo Feng was deeply troubled.

With his current strength, to significantly improve, he needed either a breakthrough to the peak of Chaos Realm willpower, or secondary body refinement of his perfect divine body.

His divine body was enormous, his divine power incredibly pure—each refinement brought obvious growth.

“Willpower advancement can’t be rushed—it requires slow, steady cultivation,” Luo Feng knew this. “But I must find a way to gather materials for secondary refinement. Sigh—I’m still too poor!”

Thinking of this, Luo Feng activated his Yan Feng Hall secret transmission token to check bounty missions.

——

Thank you to the two patrons: An Yue Cang Ye and Ni Yan Li Shi Hai.

(End of Chapter)