Chapter 425 Everything has a price

Lu Yao returns to the temple and asks about Puxi and the wise bug.

Bartfred said, "My Lord God, the Wise Bug has cooperated with the Blackhearted Duke in the past. When the Duke sent someone to contact the Wise Bug, it did not inform us immediately."

"It was about a year after it had been in contact with the Duke that it informed Mayor Porto of the matter. The reason for the delay was that it said it needed to further observe the Duke's movements to determine their true intentions and avoid alerting them."

"That's why I have some doubts about it. So I asked the wise insect to participate in this front-line battle to prove its loyalty."

King Yan continued, "We have always known that people from various forces on the fifth level have infiltrated Sifang City. Considering that it is tedious and laborious to check these people one by one, and it will also affect the vagrants and extraordinary people who really want to migrate here, we chose to relax on the outside and tighten on the inside, and specifically keep a close eye on key suspicious people."

"If we can make good use of them, these spies from various forces on the fifth layer and the scattered cross-border people will help the Four Kingdoms to carry out propaganda on the fifth layer and further absorb the population of various forces on the fifth layer."

Lu Yao thought there was nothing wrong with this idea.

The four countries do not adopt a closed-door policy, and the display of comprehensive strength is also a deterrent.

Due to the regional environmental differences in the abyss, the planting and animal husbandry on the fourth layer cannot be copied to the fifth layer at all, which also means that the food of the Sifang Kingdom will become a long-term export advantage industry.

“This strategy ultimately proved to be successful.”

The Mountain Golem said proudly, "The population of the Quartet Kingdom continues to grow, and the vast majority of them are immigrants. They heard about the development of the Quartet Kingdom on the fifth floor, came through the cracks out of curiosity, and then chose to settle down permanently."

"According to the natural reproduction of the Four Kingdoms, the population growth is very slow. The birth rate of extraordinary people is generally low, and the largest proportion of the fifth-layer population is ordinary people such as the Abyss Nomads."

"The vagrants near the fifth-layer crack channel have gradually come to the Four Directions Country. What hinders the further growth of the population of the Four Directions Country is the constraints of the region itself. Because on one side of the crack is the Mage Tower, and on the other side are Chicken King Dalia and Bone King Nitia. These demigods who own territories will also snatch the population, and it is difficult for the vagrants to escape from their territories..."

"I'm sorry, sir, but talking about government affairs involves a lot of things, but I have to talk about it."

The Rock King brought the topic back: "The Black-hearted Duke Stoke wants to understand the true strength of the Four Kingdoms through the wise insects, and also wants to determine the attitude of the wise insects themselves."

"The wise insect also clearly told the other party these two points. It is your follower and a member of the Four Kingdoms. However, Stoke didn't seem to believe it. He suspected that the wise insect might be Norland's spy..."

Lu Yao thought to himself that this suspicion was normal.

Zhichong and Noland are also old acquaintances.

Speaking of which, the wise insect is indeed good at managing interpersonal relationships.

Although it is a member of the cursed insects, all forces give it face.

"Later, Stoke got into trouble with Puxi. To be precise, Stoke was the one most affected by Puxi's [Golden Plate Ceremony], because among the three demigod lords of the fifth layer, only Stoke was extremely dependent on exporting goods to obtain resource supplies."

Stock's dilemma starts with the wonder [Ertang Galan].

The wonder has two halls: the public hall and the dining hall.

The Zongtang is where monks gather to practice. The monks of the Garan here will meditate at their respective positions and learn from the Garan guardian statues.

The dining hall is the place where monks give food to the public. It is more like a charity hall than a dining hall.

These two places had to operate non-stop. Stocker had to make donations every day and try to recruit more people to become monks and meditate.

In order to have more food available, Stock always added grass roots, leaves, and mud to the donated food... Later, in order to achieve better results, he ground all these added ingredients into powder and cooked them into a thick soup.

In addition to the abyss nomads, there were also various wild animals that received alms, including many extraordinary creatures. When they were hungry, they had no choice but to pinch their noses and drink the thick soup in the cafeteria.

Part of the nickname of the Duke of Stoke-on-Trent also comes from this.

But the effort to maintain the Second Hall was rewarding.

This wonder can summon powerful guardians of the temple to join the battle, and it can also allow monks to condense the omnipotent stone through meditation and practice. After the monks die, they will be cremated and the omnipotent stone will be separated from their corpses.

"...But this is just what Stoke said to the outside world. According to the number of monks who died, it is not enough to support the large-scale sale of the Omnipotent Stone to the outside world. The Second Hall Temple must have other ways to produce or collect the Omnipotent Stone."

King Yan paused for a moment and said, "According to the information obtained by the Four Kingdoms, the number of monks in the Second Hall is about 2,000 now."

"To become a monk, one must complete meditation and practice day after day and participate in charity. Most people cannot endure this ascetic life for a long time. Monks must practice what they preach and do what they preach. If they cannot persist, their title as monks will eventually disappear."

"The total population of Stoke Territory is about 100,000, of which at least 50,000 are serving the Second Hall, participating in trade exchanges with the outside world, and looking for monk candidates."

Lu Yao understood.

In order to maintain the operation of the Second Hall, the black-hearted Duke Stoke not only had to trick people into becoming monks, but he also had to stabilize the monk team and consider the issue of the canteen's external donations.

All we can say is that he has created a spectacle that has a very high ceiling but is extremely difficult to operate.

The demigod Puxi led the Jinpan merchants to commit fraud everywhere, causing great damage to the trade ecology of the fifth layer of the Abyss. The demigods, who did not trust each other, further tightened the trade, which was a major blow to Stoke, who needed to import a large amount of food.

That's why there was a scene where he sent the businessman Piz to discuss with the wise bug.

Stock hopes to reach official-level cooperation with the four countries as soon as possible to obtain a stable supply of food imports and further crack down on roving fraud in Puxi.

…

Most of the ghosts in Puxi are represented by merchants from the [Golden Plate Ceremony], but it is difficult to locate them.

Unfortunately, there is no such person in the World Encyclopedia, and there is no way to find him.

Just when Lu Yao was worried, Noland, who had just joined the group, volunteered.

"My Lord God, I have a way to find Puxi."

The eleventh apostle said, "In my [Spell Bag], there is an advanced spell called [Identify and Track]. I can find his trace by using this golden dice that I bought from Puxi and never touched."

The masked koala showed a hint of pride: "Originally, I wanted to punish this guy at a critical moment, and now it comes in handy."

Lu Yao asked it to hurry up.

The only problem is that the spells that Noland takes out from his [Spell Bag] are random.

It summarizes some practical tips for specific use, such as being able to filter out spell levels by adjusting mana consumption.

For example, if Norland only wanted to cast a simple [Illumination], he only needed to invest 10 mana points. He would randomly draw from a bunch of low-level spells, and the probability of pulling out [Illumination] would be higher.

In other words, as long as you have cast a spell before, you will know its mana consumption. The next time you adjust your mana, the possibility of casting the same spell will be greatly increased.

"【Tracking Objects】is a high-level spell, so I adjusted the mana cost to about 850."

The koala said as he dug his claws into the pouch on his stomach.

It picked and chose, and finally grabbed a ball of light.

The ball of light suddenly blossomed and turned into many pink bubbles, covering almost half of the temple.

Slender fairies flew out from between the bubbles. It was hard to tell whether they were male or female, but they were all handsome. These fairies sang light songs, danced around the koala, and rubbed its ears and shoulders.

Lu Yao saw that an entry appeared behind Noland's [Spell Bag].

…

[Fairy Town]: Summon a group of legendary fairies and let them stay here for a short time, dedicating their singing, dancing, flattery and praise to the user.

…

Summon a goblin idol group?

Lu Yao looked at the koala with suspicion.

What kind of magic does this guy usually study? The Dark God commented that Noland was not doing his job properly. Lu Yao initially thought it was a disagreement on the training route, but now he is a little suspicious.

"Please listen to my explanation... This was a pure mistake, a mistake."

The koala wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his paw. "It's a random problem with the spell bag."

It waved its claws, and the pink bubbles around it instantly disappeared.

Noland reached his paw into his pocket again.

It grabbed out a second ball of light.

The ball of light burst into pieces, and countless lightning burst out from it. Noland quickly grabbed it and threw it into the air, then lay down on the ground...

After experiencing uncontrollable spells such as burning fire, flooding the Golden Mountain, and poisonous fog, the embarrassed Noland finally grabbed a scroll from the light ball.

“That’s it!”

The koala said excitedly: "God, this is it. Please wait a moment. I will find the mark that Puxi gave you."

It carefully took out a crystal box and dropped the golden dice inside onto the reels.

A picture slowly emerged on the scroll.

In the picture, there is a traveler standing with a long pole.

His body was completely covered by a robe, and he wore a brass mask on his face. His exposed arms and legs were also covered with brass armor. He carried a backpack that was larger than a person, and a golden disc behind the backpack shone with metallic luster.

He was at the entrance of a forest, talking to a wanderer who was passing by.

"This is... the Duel Forest."

Noland recognized him at a glance: "So this guy went there to deceive people. Recently, Hu Yizi's cavalry is attacking a demigod over there, and Puxi always appears in turbulent places."

Lu Yao suddenly discovered that Puxi opened his hand to the vagrant and raised his brass index finger to point to the sky.

The homeless man raised his head in a trance and looked at the golden disk that appeared above his head. His eyes were coated with a layer of gold, and then returned to normal.

At this moment, Youmin showed a very satisfied smile on his face. He kissed Puxi's metal hand, as if he was swearing an oath, and his eyes became fanatical and morbid.

Noland said, "My Lord, this is the Golden Plate Ceremony. Puxi uses deception and fraud to turn many vagrants into his Golden Plate merchants... These Golden Plate merchants usually look normal, but they only show madness during the Golden Plate Ceremony."

Lu Yao could feel that time was running out.

While the body is still useful, we must get rid of this cancer as soon as possible.

…

The Duel Forest is located in the southeast corner of the fifth floor, adjacent to the Mage Tower to the west and Hu Yizi's territory to the north.

Fortunately, Noland used a specific spell to build a portal, which was enough to cross a large area of ​​territory in a short time and reach the outskirts of the forest.

Lu Yao stood not far from this spectacle.

It is called a forest, but it is actually a bunch of short trees less than one meter tall.

They snuggle closely together, and the texture of their leaves and trunks is close to plastic, with a sense of self-righteous falsehood, like some kind of garden scenery.

Lu Yao was not surprised. The Duel Forest was also part of the [Miniature Empire], and the [Inherited Mage Tower] was a scaled-down model, so the style was consistent.

The Duel Forest is one of the four wonders on the fifth floor. Although it is occupied by the head-tailed insects, anyone can use the power of this wonder: a duel of life and death.

If two or more people walk into the Duel Forest together, they will get lost and wander in it. Only when only one person is left alive can they find a way to leave the forest.

Lu Yao stared at the plastic forest in front of him.

…

[Duel Forest]: A forest that was originally used for duels. It was shrunk for unknown reasons and was cursed. Anyone who enters the forest will be shrunk and marked. If they fail to complete the duel, they will be unable to leave.

【Duel Curse】

Anyone who enters will trigger the curse, and the curse will be lifted when only one person is left alive. If only one person enters, the person will be lost in the forest until the next person enters, triggering the duel curse together.

【Survivor Rewards】

If there is only one survivor left in the entire forest, he or she will be able to share the power absorbed by the Duel Forest's curse until the second survivor enters.

…

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

Duel Forest's abilities are curse-based, and similar to Battle Royale, the competition is about who can survive in the end. In this game of survival, strength and brains are equally important.

The reason why the head-tail worms are entrenched here is obviously to monopolize the [survivor rewards]. They wait in ambush inside and hunt down people who enter for various reasons.

It can squeeze out the critters, parasitic insects and wise insects, and occupy this place alone. Its strength is stronger than other curse insects. Only by getting rid of it can we take down this wonder. Does that mean we need to send an apostle into the Duel Forest? Lu Yao suddenly realized that it seemed that he didn't need to go through so much trouble.

The wonders on the fifth floor are all ownerless. As long as you use the power of faith to transform them, all demigods will be unable to use them - they cannot use the fire of faith to take them back.

In other words, as long as you are willing, you can easily take these four wonders and piece them together into an incomplete version of the [Miniature Empire].

However, we have to deal with Puxi first and avoid alerting the enemy.

Lu Yao walked towards the plastic forest. As he got closer, the short trees visibly grew taller and stronger, and the size of the forest seemed to expand suddenly.

He knew that it was not the tree that had grown taller, but he himself who had become smaller.

At the entrance outside the forest, Puxi, dressed strikingly, is still there.

He was like a classic merchant in various game copies, standing there quietly, waiting for adventurers to come and buy various props at high prices.

Lu Yao looked at this unknown demigod, but only saw a string of garbled characters.

There is indeed a problem.

He summoned the [Spell of True Sight], and the opponent's data panel slowly appeared above his pupils.

…

[Sacrifice Master LV97] Hu Yizi HP: 86559/86559Mana : 12561/19002Damage: 268Defense : 198Speed : 14 [Wisdom LV22]

【Thick skin】

【Family】

A race transformed by the God of Greed.

【Golden Plate Ceremony】

By holding this ceremony, other individuals are granted the ability to [bewitch]. Participants can pray through the ceremony and be guided by the person with the ability.

[Alcoholism]

By drinking various types of alcohol, you can temporarily improve your various attributes slightly.

[Heavy Attack Mastery LV30]

When attacking, there is a chance to cause additional damage and put the opponent into a [Stiff] state.

【Drunken Tiger LV4】

[Hu Yizi's exclusive ability] Hu Yizi drinks a large amount of liquor and transforms into a drunk tiger. He is not affected by any negative status and is in a state of continuous speed change, making it impossible for the enemy to judge the attack method and frequency.

…

Lu Yao suddenly realized.

It turns out that the so-called Puxi was a pseudonym created by Hu Yizi.

He holds some unknown item that can change his appearance and hide his identity.

Moreover, this guy is a follower of the God of Greed.

Lu Yao flipped through the world backstage.

The God of Darkness only had one line of words to evaluate Hu Yizi.

"You're a fool who lost your bet."

Both Noland and Butterfly described Hu Yizi as a warmongerer.

Hu Yizi was the one who waged the most external wars among the three demigods, and he was constantly attacking and conquering other demigods.

Unlike the steady and cautious Noland, Hu Yizi's subordinates are all cavalrymen, who often plunder in the wild. Due to his fierce and brutal style of behavior, the demigods adjacent to his territory have banded together to resist Hu Yizi.

It is difficult to associate Puxi, who is extremely fond of attacking and Hu Yizi and likes to hide in the dark to engage in fraudulent trade, with these two characters.

Lu Yao was not interested in what his motives or conspiracies were.

Today I came here mainly to teach him a lesson.

Puxi must know that there will be no good consequences if he comes to Yaoshen’s territory to cheat and deceive.

Lu Yao stood in front of Hu Yizi.

The other party was stunned for a moment, and a dull voice came from under the brass mask: "Dear customer, is there anything you can do for me? Whether you need some props or someone, Puxi will do his best for you."

Lu Yao said: "I want to buy something from you."

"What would you like to buy?"

"Are there any epic items?"

Hu Yizi was stunned: "There is no such thing in the abyss."

"A spectacle is fine."

“…I’m sorry, but I don’t have any either.”

Lu Yao nodded: "The goods are not complete, this is not a good way to do business."

Hu Yizi held his cane tightly, looking as if he was suppressing his anger.

"Then I'll give you something and you can estimate the price."

"Please take it out and let me see it."

Lu Yao raised his hand and grabbed, and there was a [Flavor Storage Tank LV3] in his hand.

Hu Yizi observed it for a while and said: "The fire item is of low level and poor quality. I can give it 120 omnipotent stones."

Lu Yao sneered.

This price-cutting is indeed the work of unscrupulous businessmen.

He put away the Taoist soldier and took out a [Paper Taoist Soldier LV7].

The other party looked at it for a moment and said, "It's a fire item, of medium to low level, of average quality. I can give you 240 Almighty Stones."

Lu Yao took out another shiny stone.

"And this?"

Seeing the glowing stone on his claws, Hu Yizi's body suddenly froze, as if he couldn't believe it: "Is this... a godhead?"

"You are not a sapient insect. A sapient insect cannot possess godhood!"

"Who are you?"

Facing this question, Lu Yao just played with the Godhead in his hand: "You don't know who I am, but I know who you are. But identity is not important."

"I'm here today to do business with you."

Lu Yao said: "I respect the rules of businessmen. Everything has a price. So, I want you to measure your own value now."

“…”

Hu Yizi was silent for a while: "I can't measure my own price."

"So, what is the price the God of Greed gives you?"

"Who...are you?"

He took a step back, looking extremely alert and nervous.

Lu Yao smiled slightly: "I am your customer. You need to give me a satisfactory price to buy your right to survive here. Then, give me a price first."

Hu Yizi seemed to have finally realized something. He held the cane with both hands, and his voice trembled: "Entering and exiting the abyss, descending on behalf of others, holding the godhood... You have inherited the legacy of the Lord God of Darkness!"

His tone also became somewhat excited.

"If I can become your god, I will tell you everything I know and offer you all my strength!"

Hu Yizi priced himself quite high.

It's a pity that Lu Yao doesn't like bargaining.

"I've given you an estimate."

Lu Yao said: "The conclusion is that it is not worth buying."

He raised his hand and a giant of divine descent walked out of the white mist, covering Hu Yizi, who was trying to escape, with his huge figure...

(End of this chapter)