664 Daylight Robbery

"A million merits to enter the island and 100 million merits to reside in the city?"

Jiang Yi's rubbed his face and looked at the old woman with wide eyes and asked, "Your Honor, you are not kidding me, right?"

He went out of the city for an entire day to risk his life and worked together with Feng Luan and the others to kill several Heaven Monarchs—just to obtain over a thousand thunder stones. If he was to exchange all of them with merits, he would only have slightly more than a thousand merits.

"Is there a need to cheat you?"

The old woman didn't get angry and spoke gently, "You can go out and ask anyone to know this information. Putting aside the Gods Bestow Island, you would need merits to enter the White Dragon Archipelago's cities. Without any merits, you can only venture the outside world and might be killed at any moment. You are merely able to enter the Sky Thunder City in the entire White Dragon Tribe, and didn't this city required thunder stones, too? The White Dragon Tribe consists of a hundred small cities, ten major cities, and one massive city. If you want to reside in the small cities, you would need at least 100,000 merits, major cities would require 500,000 merits, and the massive city would require you a million merits. You should now know the importance of merits, right?"

Jiang Yi was struck dumb!

He originally thought that if he had obtained enough thunder stones, he would be able to venture out in a few more months and be free of worries. He didn't expect that it was far from enough.

Apart from the cities within Sin Island, nowhere was safe. If he wanted to bring a group of people to live and cultivate in peace, he would need to find a city to reside in!

Even if he managed to finish their service in half a year, he would still have to think of a way to obtain merits and reside in cities. It was impossible to peacefully cultivate in the outside world as they had no way to know when would an expert randomly appear and kill them.

Jiang Yi's mind revolved quickly as he thought through things. He asked with cupped hands, "Your Honor, are there other ways to obtain merits?"

"Of course, there are."

The old woman nodded and said, "There are plenty of ways to obtain merits. Firstly, you can exchange it with me using celestial stones, treasures, demonic beast corpses, spirit herbs, and many other things. Secondly, you can serve as laborers in Sky Thunder Island, Earth Dragon Ravine, Vicious Sea, and various other places. Of course… once your service term is up, like in Sky Thunder Island, you will have to pay double the thunder stones if you want to continue staying here. Thirdly, you could join the Lu Clan's army and obtain 5000 merits every year, which would allow you to stay in the city for free. Heaven Monarch martial artists would get 10,000 merits in a single year. Fourthly, you can accept missions which are posted up in the various cities. The missions might be to pursue and kill a martial artist where you will obtain merits afterward. There are many more ways to obtain merits, which you will get to know once you go to the various cities…"

"How many celestial stones for one point of merit?"

Jiang Yi tried to find out and was utterly speechless by the number that the old woman gave. Hu San said that a single thunder stone would cost 800 celestial stones, which meant that a single point of merit should be 800 celestial stones. This place actually asked for 1000 celestial stones. The Lu Clan was truly bandits, and this was daylight robbery.

"Alright. Many thanks for Your Honor's clarification. If I have more thunder stones, I will come and exchange for merits!" Jiang Yi bowed with cupped hands and bode goodbye.

The old woman smiled, nodded, and didn't say anything else. Her eyes saw Jiang Yi out, and her face immediately turned cold. She mocked and said, "Ba Dao, since I accepted 10,000 celestial stones from you, I have already done what I am supposed to do. It will be up to your luck whether this kid exits the city or not. Kid… don't blame me either. Even if you don't die in Ba Dao's hands, one year later, if you do not have enough merits, you will also suffer the same fate."

…

Jiang Yi returned to his courtyard with heavy feelings. Along the way, there were odd eyes that looked at him, but he turned a deaf ear to them.

After returning to the courtyard, he took out a piece of message token and sent a message. In just a short moment later, Hu San came over. This token was given to him by Hu San, and he mentioned to use it whenever Jiang Yi required information.

After throwing over a thousand celestial stones, Jiang Yi obtained the information that he wanted. That old woman didn't tell a single lie, and all the cities in Sin Island had a night curfew. If one didn't have a courtyard in the city and one dared to roam around, one would be killed ruthlessly!

Moreover, even the small courtyard in the small cities would need 100,000 merits for purchase.

Without any merit, one would have to roam around in the wilderness and might be plundered or kill at any moment. The islands and the sea region within the Sin Island were bandits that kill and plunder for a living. A fat fish like him would definitely be pursued endlessly!

Jiang Yi had also obtained beneficial information from Hu San. He found out that there were plenty of thunder stones in the thunder ridges, but no one dared to go dig for it. Only he, who had the Fire Spirit Pearl, dared to dig for it as normal martial artists didn't even dare to approach the thunder ridges. Even the ten chiefs would avoid the thunder ridges as though it was a vicious snake or scorpion.

Thus, as long as Jiang Yi was able to avoid his pursuers and enter the thunder ridges, he would be able to excavate a huge portion of the thunder stones.

The Sky Thunder Island was huge, and the thunder ridges occupied nearly two-thirds of the lands. If he was to excavate all the thunder stones—even if there weren't several hundred thousand, there should at least be tens of thousands. As long as he could obtain tens of thousands of thunder stones, he would at least be able to stay in the Sky Thunder City for many peaceful years before he could plan again.

The problem was… how was he going to safely arrive at the thunder ridges?

Ba Dao and Chief Long's men would definitely be looking out for him. Jiang Yi reckoned that before he even made it out of the city, there would be a large group of experts waiting for him outside. Even if he could get out and make it to the thunder ridges, how was he going to return to the city after excavating the thunder stones? Ba Dao and Chief Long simply had to station people at the city gates to wait for him, and he would be helpless.

After sending Hu San out, he activated the barrier of his courtyard and went into deep thoughts. The rest of the people were in the Thearch Palace, and the courtyard was cold and desolate. Jiang Yi sat by himself for an entire day, and when it was nighttime, he finally had an idea.

He had just clarified with Hu San that during nighttime, the thunderbolts would stop striking. However, the mountains would be scuttling with Thunder Fire everywhere, which was why no one dared to stay outside the eastern side of the city.

The others didn't dare, but he dared!

He wasn't afraid of fire. The Thunder Fire might be very high in temperature, but as long as he didn't go near, he would be fine. When the Thunder Fire spread over, he could just instant-shift away. The nighttime outside the city would be hell for others, but it would be no different to him as though it was his back garden.

"En… I will venture out in another half a month and excavate all the thunder stones in the thunder ridges. Hehe, I will let Ba Dao and Chief Long wait for half a month first and make them so frustrated that they would vomit blood before I venture out."

Jiang Yi had made the decision that he would first cultivate for half a month and increase his essence force level a little higher first. This way, he would be faster; and it would greatly increase his survivability.

He was going to venture out of the city in the middle of the night and excavate all the thunder stones first. If Ba Dao and Chief Long's men continued to block the city gates, he would not return to the city. He would spend a few months on the thunder ridges. Since he had already handed over all the thunder stones, he would be able to persist for five months! He didn't believe that Ba Dao and the others would wait at the city gates for four to five months.

He took a glance inside the Thearch Palace and saw that everyone was waiting for him. He quickly teleported everyone out and didn't say much. He just said that he had already handed over 100 days worth of thunder stones, and so everyone could stay and cultivate with peace. He asked them not to overthink; and if there was going to be combat, he would notify them in advance.

Zhan Wushuang, Qian Wanguan, Yun Fei, and Jiang Xiaonu were all reassured as they went back into the Thearch Palace to cultivate. Feng Luan also sat in her room to refine that shuttle-shaped transcending saint artifact, while the Golden Flood Dragon obediently went to a corner of the courtyard to cultivate, sparing out space for Jiang Yi and Qing Yu.

"Little Qing Yu, I am going into seclusion for half a month to cultivate my essence force. Would you feel bored during these two weeks?"

Jiang Yi saw that Qing Yu had nothing to do and spoke with a frown, "Why not enter the Thearch Palace first? When Feng'er finished refining the transcending saint artifact, I will teleport her in again. Yun Fei is also in there so you wouldn't be bored."

Qing Yu nodded, and her eyes quickly turned passionate. Her delicate body leaned over lightly while her hand gently caressed Jiang Yi's firm chest muscles. She then looked at Jiang Yi with charming eyes and said, "Young Master, I have not been able to see you during this recent period of time. Qing Yu misses you very much. Why not… let Qing Yu have a 'good meal' to settle the yearning in my heart?"

"Little hussy!"

Jiang Yi looked down at the bewitching and attractive Qing Yu while berating with a smile, "Are you still not going to take a bath?"