The shopkeeper now had great patience with them. He tilted his head with a smile, his face full of kindness, "Little Immortal, just ask whatever you want to ask."

Hearing this, Xiao Wu smiled and asked directly without beating around the bush, "I want to ask why, when the Feiyu Sect was wiped out by the evil cultivators, you didn't feel scared or anxious at all, but instead seemed quite happy?"

The shopkeeper's smile suddenly disappeared, cold sweat broke out, and he hesitated, not daring to speak, "My dear guests, it's not that I don't want to say it, it's really, I'm afraid that if I say it, it will bring repercussions to the restaurant."

Li Fengyao and the others looked at each other, and there was indeed something fishy.

Li Fengyao showed his identity jade card, and he injected a stream of spiritual energy into it. The Wuji Sect's emblem emerged from the jade card.

He said in a serious tone, "Boss, we are cultivators from the Wuji Sect. We are here to investigate the Feiyu Sect's massacre. If you know anything but don't tell us, we can only invite you back for some tea."

The shopkeeper then believed what he said was true. When he heard that he was invited to have tea, he wiped the sweat off his forehead, thought for a few seconds, closed the windows and doors, and set up a soundproofing array in the box.

Mu Qingchen waved his hand and set up a more advanced soundproofing array. The shopkeeper felt that this soundproofing array was different from the one he had set up, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

He bowed, "Master, I didn't mean to hide anything just now. The truth is, the Feiyu Sect still has not been wiped out, and there are still many disciples and elders who are out on missions and haven't returned yet. They haven't truly fallen yet, so I'm afraid that saying something I shouldn't say will bring about a fatal disaster."

"Aren't you the people from Feiyu Sect's territory? You have the protection of Feiyu Sect, so why are you still so afraid of them?" Xiao Wu asked back.

"Huh! Protection?" Speaking of this, the shopkeeper became extremely excited. "Their protection is just for the five major clans and other aristocratic families to see. In reality, if anything goes wrong, it's ordinary people like us who will suffer!"

"What they call patronage is nothing more than using tactics to silence the people whenever something happens, so that we dare not speak out. What they call patronage is that they do nothing at all, yet they demand that we pay tribute every month, and the amount keeps increasing!"

"Is this true?" Li Fengyao couldn't believe that in today's world, there were still such tyrannical and unreasonable sects. How was that any different from evil cultivators?

Su Simian couldn't believe what he heard and frowned. "Then how did they cover your mouths and prevent you from speaking? Tell me everything. I will report everything you say. Don't worry, your identity will not be exposed."

The shopkeeper thought that since he could say such words, his rank in the sect must be quite high, so he told him in detail all the persecutions suffered by the people over the years.

"This place is full of Feiyu Sect's spies. They can hear everything a family eats and says. If they find anyone passing on information that's detrimental to the Feiyu Sect, they'll kill them!"

The shopkeeper's eyes widened, his breathing quickened, as he spoke in fear, "If anyone dares to spread the news, the Feiyu Sect will arrest their family members and kill them one by one in front of the person who spread the news."

"If they don't have any family, then arrest them, accuse them of a random crime, and skin them alive in public in the busy streets!" He shook his head. "Even if outsiders saw the Feiyu Sect doing this, they wouldn't say anything."

"What if the truth is known to outsiders? How will they be dealt with? Will they be killed?" Xiao Wu couldn't help but ask a question after listening for a while.

"You guessed right. They were all killed. In all these years, I haven't seen a single outsider who knew about the situation escape alive. They sent disciples or elders to assassinate those with low cultivation, and sent the old monsters raised in the sect to kill those with high cultivation."

He looked around and lowered his voice, "I heard that when the Black Tiger Gang attacked the mountain that night, the old monsters guarding the sect abandoned all the disciples of Feiyu Sect and fled for their lives. Now we don't know where they are."

The shopkeeper glanced at them cautiously. "If these old monsters hadn't deserted the battlefield, their Feiyu Sect wouldn't have been wiped out. In my opinion, it's a good thing they deserted the battlefield. Otherwise, after such a heavy blow, the Feiyu Sect would have had to exploit us ordinary people to recover in the future."

If what the shopkeeper said was true, then the Feiyu Sect's behavior was similar to that of evil cultivators, and it was not unfair for them to be exterminated.

"You mentioned earlier that we have to pay tribute every month. What's that about?" Xiao Wu held a pen and kept recording in a small notebook.

In the territory of their Wuji Sect, ordinary people only need to pay one hundred medium-grade spirit stones every year, but her intuition tells her that the Feiyu Sect will definitely do something earth-shattering and awe-inspiring.

The shopkeeper sighed, "Every household has to hand over one hundred medium-grade spirit stones every month."

Even though he was mentally prepared, Xiao Wu was still shocked when he heard the number, "Mr. Duo?"

"Junior Sister, you heard it right, it's one hundred mid-grade spirit stones." Xiao Shuze rolled his eyes and blurted out, "The Feiyu Sect could have robbed them, but they still had to come up with a high-sounding excuse to make money."

The shopkeeper nodded in agreement, "That's right. The Feiyu Sect wasn't well managed to begin with, which resulted in the people having less and less spirit stones in their pockets."

"Although Anjiang City is relatively prosperous compared to other cities, an average family can only earn a little over a hundred mid-grade spirit stones every month even if they work hard. Even so, they still find ways to exploit us. It's clear that they don't want to give us a chance to survive!"

After the shopkeeper finished his rambling, Xiao Wu put away the paper and pen and nodded at him, "Shopkeeper, thank you for your cooperation. We will report the matter to the Five Sects management staff truthfully. If there is nothing else, you can leave first."

"Okay, okay, let's just pretend we haven't talked about this topic today." The shopkeeper took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off his face, steadied his body, and escaped impatiently.

After he left, Li Fengyao re-installed the soundproofing device and said, "I will send a message to Master now, asking him to send someone over to secretly monitor this place."

???

Chapter 3 is here~