Chapter 349: Aggressive Entrance Fee
Back at the temporary base, Damian leaned lazily against the doorway as Cassandra, Linsey, Cynthia, and Evelyn finally returned.
The five servant girls followed behind them, each carrying part of the loot they had stripped from Kaiven and Elder Garrick.
Damian’s eyes immediately moved toward the storage rings and weapons in their hands before he looked at Cassandra. "So? How’d our first delivery go?"
Cassandra pulled off her crimson mask and casually tossed it onto a nearby table. A viciously satisfied grin spread across her face. "Beautifully."
Damian raised an eyebrow.
She shrugged. "We beat the shit out of them, took everything valuable they had, stripped them down to their underwear, and had Linsey throw them toward the nearest town."
Damian stared at her. "You stripped them?"
Cassandra’s grin widened. "Obviously."
She spread her arms as though the answer should have been obvious. "What’s the point of humiliating someone if nobody gets to enjoy the fucking result?"
Damian slowly rubbed his forehead. "Damn..."
He glanced toward Linsey. "You people are vicious. Beating them was already enough, but you actually stripped them before throwing them away?"
Linsey immediately raised both hands. "Hey, don’t look at me! That part was Queen’s idea."
She pointed at Cassandra.
Cassandra proudly placed one hand against her chest. "And it was an excellent idea."
Evelyn quietly added, "Efficient."
Damian turned toward her. "How is stripping someone efficient?"
Evelyn thought for half a second. "They can’t hide weapons."
Silence.
Damian slowly nodded. "You know what? Fair."
Cynthia sighed. "Please don’t encourage her."
Damian looked toward the piles of loot again and chuckled. "Still, at this point, anyone who hears what happened to those two and still comes here looking for trouble has to be incredibly fucking stupid."
Cassandra raised one eyebrow. "Who said they won’t come?"
Damian looked back at her. "Hmm?"
Cassandra leaned against the wall and pointed lazily toward Linsey. "You’re forgetting something important."
Linsey blinked before following Cassandra’s finger down toward the enormous [Tempest Severing Chakram] in her hand.
Damian’s expression immediately changed as he understood.
Cassandra chuckled darkly. "Exactly. Linsey used that thing right in front of a Nascent Soul cultivator."
Cynthia calmly added, "And anyone experienced enough should realize the weapon’s grade is far beyond ordinary equipment."
Linsey scratched her cheek. "Was I supposed to hide it?"
Damian immediately shook his head. "No. Hell no."
Instead of looking worried, his lips slowly curled upward. "Actually... this might be better."
Cassandra laughed softly. "There it is."
Cynthia glanced toward him. "You’re thinking about the greed it will attract."
Damian snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "Exactly! Poison Dragon knows me too damn well."
He folded his arms as his mind started working. "If people realize Wind Dragon is walking around with a King Grade weapon, fear won’t be the only rumor spreading."
Cynthia nodded. "Some factions will avoid us."
Damian’s grin widened. "But the greedy ones? They’ll think, ’Those idiots have a King Grade weapon. If we kill them, it becomes ours.’"
Linsey tilted her head. "So they’ll voluntarily come here?"
Damian immediately corrected her, "They’ll voluntarily come here carrying donations."
Linsey blinked. "Donations?"
Damian corrected her. "Their storage rings."
Cassandra burst out laughing. "Hahaha! Fuck, Damian, I knew there was a reason I liked you."
Damian rubbed his hands together while staring happily at the stolen loot. "Hehehe... perfect."
He pointed toward the storage rings. "Forget free advertising. Greed is even better."
Evelyn quietly looked toward the surrounding forest. "More food."
Damian immediately nodded with approval. "Exactly, Frost Dragon."
Cynthia pinched the bridge of her nose. "You’re all starting to sound less like a faction and more like bandits waiting beside a road."
Damian looked genuinely offended. "Bandits?"
He placed one hand against his chest. "We’re businessmen."
Cynthia gave him a flat stare. "You’re robbing people who come here."
Damian shook one finger with a serious expression. "No... we’re just charging an extremely aggressive entrance fee."
Linsey burst out laughing.
Cassandra laughed even harder, wrapping one arm around Damian’s shoulder. "Hehehe... I’m starting to think this faction really might become something amazing."
Cynthia sighed. "That is exactly what worries me."
---
Several hours later, Serina, Miona, and Helena finally arrived at the cultivation city closest to Damian’s temporary base.
The moment they passed through the city gates, all three immediately realized something was wrong.
The place was packed.
Cultivators crowded nearly every street, restaurants and inns were overflowing, and expensive carriages bearing the emblems of different clans and sects were parked wherever there was space.
There were far too many unfamiliar faces for an ordinary day.
Miona slowly looked around, her expression becoming increasingly suspicious. "What the fuck happened here?"
Her eyes moved across the crowd, quietly taking note of the different robes, insignias, and faction symbols around them. "This wasn’t remotely this crowded when we left."
Helena had already stopped walking.
Unlike the sisters, she was focusing entirely on the powerful auras hidden throughout the city.
She turned around, checking them one by one as her expression gradually became serious. "Golden Core... another Golden Core... and even a Nascent Soul."
Miona immediately turned toward her. "Nascent Soul?"
Helena nodded.
𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶
Miona’s expression twisted. "We were gone for a few fucking days."
Serina quietly sighed. "Somehow, I don’t think this is a coincidence."
Helena’s first thought immediately went to Damian, and somehow, that only made her even more worried.
Serina quickly approached a nearby group of cultivators gathered outside an inn. "Excuse me. Why are there so many factions here?"
One cultivator looked at her strangely. "You seriously haven’t heard?"
Serina shook her head.
The cultivator casually replied, "It’s because of the [Forbidden Immortal Harem]."
All three women froze.
The cultivator excitedly continued, "Apparently they wiped out the leaders of the Blue Mist Sect and Nether Blood Moon Sect, humiliated the Morath Clan’s young master, defeated his Nascent Soul protector, and now..."
He lowered his voice dramatically. "They supposedly possess a King Grade weapon."
Both Serina and Miona’s eyes widened before they slowly turned toward Helena.
Helena rubbed her forehead and sighed. "Goddammit... Master."
Miona’s eyebrow twitched. "We leave for a few days and that bastard already starts a fucking regional disaster?"
Serina remained silent, staring toward the direction of Damian’s base.
Their own problem had just become far more complicated.
Unfortunately, it seemed Damian had been equally busy.