The Demon Saint and Zi Yunshu both frowned when they heard this.
Jade Shura let out an “ah,” turned to look at Bao Gu, and said, “Bao Gu, why don’t you just find a place far away from the cultivation world and go into seclusion? Stop playing with the people from the cultivation world!”
Yu Mi turned to Bao Gu and said, “So what if we have a few more enemies? Do they really think that just because they have numbers, we’re going to sit here and wait to die?”
Bao Gu replied lightly, “They don’t represent the whole world.” She glanced calmly at Wang Ding, then continued carving the jade slip in her hand as if nothing had happened.
“Just suffering heavy losses isn’t enough to get all the big powers of the cultivation world to join forces and make such a big move.
There must be enough profit involved too.
If all the powers are working together and speaking with one voice, they must have held an alliance meeting, maybe even picked a leader, right?”
Wang Ding answered, “The nine major powers, led by Ziwei Dao Sect, have formed an alliance with all the other forces in the cultivation world.
If they actually held a big meeting to elect a leader, it would take at least ten days or half a month, and by then, you’d be long gone.
Basically, they’re afraid you’ll run off, so to save time, they’ve just made a verbal agreement to catch you.”
Bao Gu looked up at Wang Ding and said, “Then tell me, what’s their goal in catching me?”
Wang Ding said, “Everyone knows Xuantian Sect was the first to enter the Archaic Mountains, so they must have gotten something extraordinary, while the other powers suffered huge losses.
You’re rich enough to rival a nation, with countless rare treasures, so of course they want you to make up for their losses.
Then there’s the Ascension Road map.
And another thing: the drought demon in the Archaic Mountains is making everyone uneasy, so they want to force you to ask that person from the demon realm to deal with it.
Because they’re wary of that person, they don’t actually plan to kill you.”
Bao Gu said, “So you’re saying I can just pay them off and it’ll be over?”
Wang Ding replied with one word: “Hard.”
Bao Gu said, “At least you get it.”
Wang Ding asked, “So, what do you want to do about this?”
Bao Gu stared sharply at Wang Ding and said, “Wang Ding, the demon scholar, your mind is almost demonic.
You keep three thousand advisors in your Shadow City mansion to help you plot and scheme.
Don’t tell me you don’t have a plan.”
Wang Ding replied, “It’s too big a deal for me to decide on my own.
With things this chaotic, if we try to hold onto all the cities and territory we’ve taken, the losses will be huge, maybe unbearable.
But if we don’t care about losing a city or two, we can use the biggest strength of the Chopping Gang.
In fact, this could be another chance for the Chopping Gang to expand and get rich.
The thing is, all the cities we’ve taken were won by Madman and his army, and he won’t want to give them up.” What he was most worried about was that the boss wouldn’t want to let go of the cities.
Seeing Bao Gu stay silent, he added, “The Chopping Gang’s biggest advantage is the scattered cultivators everywhere who answer the call.
Take Cangdu City, for example.
It’s the capital of the Yue Kingdom, heavily guarded with two hundred thousand troops stationed there all year, but there are over two million rogue cultivators in the city! As for the smaller cities, some only have a few hundred or a few thousand soldiers, but at least tens of thousands or even over a hundred thousand rogue cultivators.
If the big powers gather their armies to attack Yue Kingdom, their rear will be left unguarded, and they won’t have enough troops to protect all their cities and lands.
If the Chopping Gang strikes at their rear while they’re attacking Yue Kingdom, if they turn back to defend, Yue Kingdom will chase and slaughter them, causing huge losses.
If they don’t turn back, the Chopping Gang will rally the rogue cultivators and loot their cities one by one!”
Bao Gu said, “Tell Madman that the Chopping Gang’s foundation is Shadow City and the Chopping Gang Inn.
Ask him if he wants troops and supplies or cities.
Wang Ding—”
Wang Ding saw Bao Gu hesitate as she was about to speak and said, “Boss, just say the word.”
Bao Gu said in a low voice, “While they’re attacking Yue Kingdom and their rear is empty, loot as many of their cultivation resources as possible, and use this chance to gather all the rogue cultivators in the world.
Destroy as many powers as you can, and do as much damage as possible to the forces attacking Yue Kingdom.”
Wang Ding looked at Bao Gu in shock and surprise.
He said, “If we do that, once they give up attacking Yue Kingdom, the Chopping Gang… will definitely be hunted down!”
Bao Gu asked, “Can they really wipe out all the rogue cultivators in the world? When the drought demon comes out, the first to suffer won’t be the big powers with spiritual mountains and layers of defensive arrays, but the scattered rogue cultivators and the small powers without enough defense.
The big powers can’t stop the drought demon.
If they really cared about the people and wanted to destroy the demon, they’d be surrounding the Archaic Mountains right now, not Yue Kingdom.” She changed the subject.
“Get the carriage ready, I’m going to the palace to see Si Ruo.”
Wang Ding answered, “Yes!” and left to carry out the order.
The Demon Saint sighed and said, “Disaster is at our doorstep, and the cultivation world is still fighting itself.”
Bao Gu said, “I bet a lot of people think the drought demon is only active in the Archaic Mountains.” She finished speaking and kept carving the jade slip in her hand.
Jade Shura propped her chin and thought for a while before saying, “This move of yours is kind of like stirring up a peasant rebellion against the nobles in the mortal world!”
Bao Gu ignored Jade Shura’s comment.
Jade Shura blinked, her eyes sparkling, and looked at Bao Gu with a mischievous smile, clearly plotting something.
Bao Gu still didn’t respond to Jade Shura.
Jade Shura cleared her throat and asked, “Bao Gu, aren’t you planning to do some business with Soul Chasing Pavillion?”
Bao Gu said, “If Soul Chasing Pavillion wants to do business with the Chopping Gang, they can talk to Wang Ding.
Can’t you tell I’m just the hands-off boss?”
Jade Shura replied, “Right!” She put away the jade slip the Demon Saint gave her and hurried after Wang Ding!
Bao Gu finished carving the jade slip in her hand.
Seeing it was getting late, she put away the set of jade slips the Demon Saint had copied and said, “I’m going to the Yue Kingdom palace.”
Zi Yunshu said worriedly, “Just send someone else.
Why risk yourself?”
Bao Gu said, “Yue Kingdom won’t do anything to me.
I’ll be back soon.” With that, she left.
Not long after, Bao Gu’s carriage appeared at the gates of the Yue Kingdom palace.
After being announced, a close attendant of Si Ruo led Bao Gu into the Golden Throne Hall.
Some of the ministers in the hall still looked angry, while others had unreadable expressions, as if the argument had just gotten heated! It looked like there had just been a big fight.
Si Ruo saw Bao Gu come in, stood up with a bright smile, and asked, “What brings you here? Worried I’ll sell you out, so you came to check?”
Bao Gu said calmly, “I’m expensive.
They can’t afford me.” She took out two jade slips and handed them to Si Ruo.
Si Ruo glanced at Bao Gu in confusion, took the jade slips, and asked, “What’s this?”
Bao Gu said, “Methods for dealing with the ghost things the drought demon made.” She changed the subject, “All the big powers have joined forces to surround Yue Kingdom.
How are you going to handle it?”
Si Ruo said, “What else can I do? Fight! Yue Kingdom has cities to rely on for defense, didn’t lose any sacred artifacts in the Archaic Mountains, and didn’t lose any peak Void Tearing cultivators.” She couldn’t hide her delight as she handed a memorial to Bao Gu.
“This is a list of the losses all the powers suffered in the Archaic Mountains.
Yue Kingdom worked hard to get it!”
Bao Gu opened the memorial and saw it was a list of Void Tearing cultivators who died in the Archaic Mountains and a list of lost sacred artifacts.
She knew a lot of powers had gone to the Archaic Mountains, but seeing the list, she realized she’d still underestimated it! Just on the list, there were people from over a hundred powers involved.
Some sent only one or two Void Tearing cultivators, others sent more than a dozen at once! Over four hundred Void Tearing cultivators died in the Archaic Mountains! More than eighty sacred artifacts were lost, and over two hundred damaged sacred artifacts were lost!
Si Ruo said, “There are just over a thousand Void Tearing cultivators in the whole cultivation world, and about four hundred sacred and damaged sacred artifacts.
Take away the rogue cultivators and small powers, and the ones who died and the artifacts lost in the Archaic Mountains make up most of the big powers’ strength! In terms of peak power, Yue Kingdom is now the number one power in the cultivation world!” Yue Kingdom didn’t lose anyone or any sacred artifacts in the Archaic Mountains, so the sacred artifacts and Void Tearing cultivators they have now outclass any other power, even Ziwei Dao Sect, which used to be a bit stronger.
As she spoke, she unrolled the jade slip Bao Gu gave her, looked at it closely, and asked, “What’s this?” She looked at the talisman on the jade slip and said, “This talisman… kind of looks like demon script.”
Bao Gu said, “It’s a primordial demon talisman.”
Si Ruo asked, “Your master gave it to you?”
Bao Gu shot back, “What do you think?”
Si Ruo laughed, “Your master is really good to you.” After reading the two jade slips, she put them together and said, “Thanks!”
Bao Gu said, “Don’t thank me, name your price.
There are fourteen more jade slips like this, worth a fortune.”
Si Ruo started to make a speech about the greater good, “The drought demon is a disaster for the whole cultivation world…” but when she saw Bao Gu’s look, she swallowed her words.
She said, “Let me see the fourteen slips first, then I can make an offer.”
Bao Gu moved the fourteen jade slips into her storage ring and handed them to Si Ruo.
Si Ruo looked through the jade slips carefully, then had them distributed to the ministers so they could look too.
She sat back on her throne and let them discuss.
After the ministers passed the jade slips around and whispered among themselves, the prime minister finally spoke up and said they were worth buying, then asked Bao Gu how much she wanted.
Bao Gu asked back, “How much do you think they’re worth, Prime Minister Song?”
Prime Minister Song Yi looked troubled.
It was really hard to put a price on this.
If Bao Gu had brought them out when Yue Kingdom was surrounded by corpse demons and zombies, they’d have paid any price.
But now, they weren’t worth as much.
As prime minister, he had to be careful with money, so of course he wanted to bargain hard, but he also knew Yue Kingdom and the Chopping Gang were allies with a common enemy, so he couldn’t push too hard.
He asked, “Do you want to be paid in spirit stones or magic treasures?”
Bao Gu could tell Song Yi wanted to haggle with her in court, so she said, “One jade slip for the price of an undamaged sacred artifact.
Of course, I don’t want your sacred artifacts.
Just give me the equivalent in refining materials, rare spirit herbs, or spirit stones.”
As soon as she said this, the whole hall erupted.
Sacred artifacts are priceless treasures! The strength of a nation in the cultivation world is measured by sacred artifacts and Void Tearing cultivators! She actually wanted one sacred artifact per jade slip—this price was insane! The big powers had risked everything to go to the Archaic Mountains for sacred artifacts and ended up wiped out, and Bao Gu wanted to trade a few jade slips for sacred artifacts.
No matter how valuable the slips were, they couldn’t be worth that much!
Bao Gu said indifferently, “If you think it’s too expensive, that’s fine.
Come find me when you want to buy them.
Oh, by the way, I’m leaving Yue Kingdom in the next couple of days.” With that, she started putting the jade slips away one by one.
Si Ruo asked, “Leaving Yue Kingdom?”
Bao Gu said, “Of course! Do you think I’m the type to just take a beating and not fight back?”
Si Ruo said, “Leave the jade slips.
Song Yi, Cheng Fu, take the Chopping Gang boss to the treasury to pick something out.”
Song Yi cupped his hands and said, “Your Majesty, the price is just… too high!”
Si Ruo nodded knowingly and said, “Buy them!” She looked at Bao Gu and said, “But I have one condition!”
Bao Gu asked, “You don’t mean I can’t sell them to anyone else, do you?”
Si Ruo smiled and nodded, “Smart.”
Bao Gu replied, “Fine! I won’t sell the jade slips to anyone else.”
Si Ruo added, “If you want to make and sell finished products, it’s best if we talk first and agree on a price.”
Bao Gu thought about it and nodded.
The ministers weren’t stupid.
As soon as the empress said that, they realized what was going on! The Chopping Gang boss was asking a sky-high price, but if they bought the slips, they could resell them.
Even if they couldn’t get a good price now, they could mass-produce the finished products.
When the drought demon disaster hit, all the powers would pay anything to protect themselves, so they’d easily make their money back.
Plus, they could see that some of the ballistae and war chariots were far more advanced than current siege equipment, and would be deadly against cultivators.
This was a huge profit!
Bao Gu was escorted out of the Golden Throne Hall by Prime Minister Song Yi and the Minister of Revenue.
After Bao Gu left, Si Ruo looked around the hall, her expression turning stern as she swept her gaze over the ministers.
“Is there any point in arguing further?”
Many of the ministers who wanted to hand Bao Gu over had already fallen silent.
But some stubborn ones still wouldn’t give up.
“Your Majesty, I admit the Chopping Gang boss is valuable, but Yue Kingdom only has a million troops.
Even with the advantage of terrain, we can’t stand against eight million enemy soldiers.
The drought demon is a distant threat.
The enemy army is at our gates! Distant water can’t put out a nearby fire.”
Si Ruo rubbed her forehead and said, “Si Xiangnan, your brain is better suited for raising kids at home! I grant you leave from court meetings!”
The minister called Si Xiangnan stubbornly knelt and said, “Your Majesty, forgive me, but how can a million troops stand against eight million? All of Yue Kingdom’s borders are under threat, and with only a million soldiers, we can’t defend them all! If even one place is breached, the enemy will march straight to the capital!”
Si Ruo shot Si Xiangnan a cold look and ignored him.
She personally appointed generals and arranged the defenses.
Her only order was that Yue Kingdom should use sacred artifacts and city-protecting arrays to pin the enemy armies down and wait for a chance to strike back!
