Chapter 200: Negotiation

Xu Yuan had completed an important "deal."

Previously, he had used the Merchant Art twice, forcing banknotes into the hands of this evil spirit.

The Merchant Art was fulfilled because the other party had indeed accepted the money.

But it was not done willingly.

This was actually a case of forced buying and selling.

During the casting of the Merchant Art, in the vast majority of cases, it involves forced transactions, fraud, and bullying to dominate the market.

This seriously violates the fundamental purpose of commerce.

Therefore, there is a very unique aspect to cultivating the Merchant Art: when casting the spell, it consumes one's own cultivation.

It is consumed during casting and replenished during cultivation.

If a battle involves a spell-caster using the Merchant Art more than ten times, then his power level will directly drop during the fight.

This is also why, although the Merchant Art is simple and easy to cultivate, there are very few high-level practitioners.

But these ten taels of silver were accepted by the other party willingly.

Xu Yuan guessed that this strange entity, different from its kind, might be capable of communication, and he could also shout directly at it.

The reason he cast the Merchant Art again was first to show his attitude: a deal for ten taels of silver, I am not scamming you.

Second... he really wanted to complete this deal for ten taels of silver.

Although the money was small, the counterpart was of very high level, at least Sixth Grade, and most likely Fifth Grade!

This deal was completed because the other party's level met another criterion for cultivating the Merchant Art: great impact!

The cultivation lost from the previous two forced transactions had already been recovered, and there was even some growth!

"We have not offended Your Excellency," Xu Yuan said, standing beneath that massive face. "Why have you brought us here and sought to kill us?"

The mouth on that face alone was three zhang long, and the entire face was fully seven or eight zhang in size.

Xu Yuan simply stood there; a mere extension of the long tongue from that giant mouth could swallow him, yet Xu Yuan remained calm and composed.

That face surged and fluctuated violently, revealing an emotion of anger: "This village was originally a place of eternal slumber, and what have you done?!"

Xu Yuan frowned and asked, "Those white bones?"

"Hmph!"

At this, even the subordinates behind Xu Yuan understood and couldn't help but shrink their necks: They had dug up someone's grave...

Xu Yuan said, "It was truly an unintentional mistake; we were also plotted against by others."

Xu Yuan explained roughly, but before he could finish, that massive face suddenly pressed out from the fleshy wall. With a thunderous boom, it surged down above Xu Yuan and roared like a mountain crushing down: "That is your business! I am only responsible for punishing crimes!"

The roar directly knocked everyone from the Purification Bureau to the ground.

The blood-soaked ground erupted into waves of blood.

Fu Jingyu sat slumped in the blood, fresh blood seeping from his nose and mouth, his pupils dilated—at this moment, even a seven-year-old child holding a sharp blade could kill him.

Everyone from the Purification Bureau, except for Xu Yuan, was in the same state as Fu Jingyu.

Xu Yuan was not well off either; two streams of blood slid down from his two ears.

But the resistance of "Hundred Taboos Forbidden" against ghost techniques still allowed Xu Yuan to stand steadily.

"What does Your Excellency want? Do you really want us to pay with our lives? That would force us to fight to the death.

And the people who harmed us are actually plotting against Your Excellency as well; if we both suffer losses, it will only allow them to reap the benefits!"

"Both suffer losses? Hahaha!" That face loomed over Xu Yuan from above, laughing wildly three times.

Within this space, the blood waves exploded upward again, and the members of the Purification Bureau were already slumped in the blood.

"Enough!" Xu Yuan shouted in anger: "I invited Your Excellency out to discuss a solution, not for you to show off your power! If you continue to harm my people at will, then please return.

Let us lay our cards on the table and fight to the death!

Let us see if we truly have the ability to fight you to the death!"

Xu Yuan gripped the Yin-Yang Guillotine once more.

However, this time, the ability of the Yin-Yang Guillotine to "separate Yin and Yang" seemed to be affected by some power.

His right eye saw Yin, yet what lay before him was a blur; Xu Yuan blinked his right eye three times, and with each blink, it felt as if a steel needle had pierced it.

With each blink, the scene seen in the eye became a little clearer.

After three times, Xu Yuan's right eyeball was covered in bloodshot veins.

There were even a few blood vessels that, like thread-like worms, wriggled and drilled out from the eyeball!

But they were quickly extinguished by the power of some higher existence, their "vitality" snuffed out, turning back into mere blood vessels.

In Xu Yuan's right eye, that massive face had transformed into a form that was half-snake and half-dragon.

However, there was some dissonance between this soul and the massive physical body.

Upon the flesh and blood, it could not even clearly manifest its own form, which is why that massive face appeared so blurry.

Xu Yuan released the Yin-Yang Guillotine and closed his right eye to let it rest.

"It truly fears us igniting the small cannons."

"But it fears not the damage the small cannons do to the physical body, but rather the massive vibration produced by the explosion of the small cannons, which shakes the soul."

"The explosion is like a thunderclap; this will cause the separation between its soul and physical body to intensify."

The flame in Xu Yuan's other hand once again pointed toward those small cannons and gunpowder.

That face suddenly became hideous; Xu Yuan's threat made it feel offended.

"Ignorant!"

It roared, and the three-zhang-wide mouth opened with a boom, countless sharp teeth and a scarlet, slender tongue swaying wildly together within the giant maw.

Some aura sprayed out from the giant mouth, and a deep fear rose from the bottom of everyone's hearts.

"Ah—"

The entire Purification Bureau erupted in chaotic screams.

Everyone seemed to have experienced the most terrifying thing of their lives.

In Xu Yuan's heart, countless thoughts sprang up out of nowhere, compelling him to conclude: if he resisted this thing, not only would he transform into a flesh-eating horror, but he would also endanger his stepmother, Elder Shen, Aunt Wang, Uncle Mao Si, and everyone else!

Even his own father would rise from the grave as a reanimated corpse!

Transforming into a black-furred, red-eyed ghoul...

"Trivial tricks!" Xu Yuan sneered. "Hundred Evils Forbidden" took effect at the right moment, dispelling the fear in his heart.

Xu Yuan turned and walked to several crates, kicked one open; the crates were filled with gunpowder and small cannonballs.

Xu Yuan sat atop them, stepped on several small cannonballs with one foot, opened his mouth, and spat out the gunpowder core from his abdomen.

"If I die, how much damage do you think your soul will suffer?!"

The gunpowder core radiated intense explosive properties.

Xu Yuan's stance was clear: if we are all to die, I will detonate everything, including my core!

Can you withstand it!

Xu Yuan sheathed the Yin-Yang Guillotine, and another object appeared in his hand: a carriage bell.

"Let you hear a sound first." Xu Yuan lifted his face, flashed a grimace at that massive visage, raised the carriage bell above his head, and gave it a gentle shake.

"Ding-ling-ling-ling..."

This carriage bell came from the Funeral Aid Gang; the cymbals inside were specifically designed to target souls.

That massive visage twitched, stiffened for a moment, then that terrifying thirty-foot-wide mouth closed shut.

(End of this chapter)