Yun Qiang stood still in the wet bog, his spear held towards the sky. Behind him, his team was still recovering, Sun and Lee had already started moving the remaining bodies while Yun Qiang guarded them.
Occasionally while nobody paid attention to him, Yun Qiang's gaze would involuntarily fall on his burned hands. As time passed and his mind became clearer, surprise and confusion crept into his mind.
He didn't know why but he had lost control of his emotions during that fight. This was the first time one of his allies attacked him yet it gave a sense of deja vu.
Even the rage and indignation that he felt when he recalled the fight felt familiar, however he couldn't understand why he felt those kind of emotions. He closed his eyes and exhaled a long breath forcing his mind to focus on the task at hand.
He couldn't forget his place, this was a battlefield, not a cave or a calm room where he could meditate in peace.
"Sir is there anything I can help you with?"
Yun Qiang turned slightly, the one who spoke was a sturdy man in his thirties, his voice trembled, as he bowed towards Yun Qiang.
"No don't worry, I'm...." he turned around "I'm a bit tired. Now rest this place isn't safe"
Obviously this was a lie, Yun Qiang wasn't tired at all, however he couldn't explain his confusion to others.
The man bowed again.
"I'm sorry, we used all of your herbs..."
Yun Qiang let out a small smile, relaxing the grip on his spear then changed his grip so the injured hand kept it still.
"Don't worry, it's not serious"
During this exchange Yun Qiang didn't turn around choosing instead to look at the swamp boundaries trying his best to project strength. However, if he did, he would have seen that the man's gaze had shifted from fear to respect.
However as he stood there a strange thought surfaced in Yun Qiang's mind.
Why can't mortals cultivate?
He shook his head it was a stupid thought, he already knew why mortals couldn't cultivate, the rules were simple if you have a spirit root you can cultivate if you don't you can't.
When they returned to the Fort it was late afternoon, as they entered nobody stopped them or greeted them it was as if they didn't exist. It was only when they drove the cart to a small alley that a humpback man talked to them.
"You are here to deliver bodies?" his voice was indifferent.
"Yes, area 17" Yun Qiang's voice was equally indifferent, he just wanted to complete the quest and leave.
There was a small pause before the man let out a low humph.
"Since you have 3 extra bodies you will receive 30 contribution points."
Yun Qiang barely nodded then let their emblems touch receiving the extra points.
After the exchange a group of zombies exited a nearby building and started unloading the wagon, the man gave him an unfriendly look.
"Scram"
Yun Qiang didn't even nod and left with his team, accompanying them to their lodgings before going back to his private quarters.
Once he was alone he calmly sat down on his bed and took out an emblem from his space ring. The emblem was completely black and the words "Heng Lee" were etched on its back. This and an empty space ring were the only things that he had managed to find on today's attacker.
Yun Qiang took out his emblem and touched Heng Lee's, slowly the amount of contribution points Yun Qiang had grew by 100 points until it stopped completely. Clearly the man was extremely poor both in points and resources.
A loud knocking sound came from his room's door. Yun Qiang unhesitantly destroyed Heng Lee's emblem before carefully responding at the door. Today's events had destroyed his hopes for a friendly collaboration with other captains, before opening the door he had already made up his mind. If it was another captain asking for his collaboration then he would directly refuse them; he couldn't trust strangers around here.
The one who was knocking at his door was a young man wearing a white robe, just like Heng Lee's the man was extremely pale and a strange ghostly aura followed his movements making him seem more like a ghost than a human.
The moment he saw Yun Qiang the man didn't hesitate and spoke in a cold indifferent voice.
"You are the one that killed Heng Lee?"
Since the man already knew this Yun Qiang didn't hesitate and admitted it.
"Yes he ambushed me, I defended myself."
"Well since you admit it, I will be direct" the man's voice was still indifferent as if he didn't care about Heng Lee's death
"I'm Lee Shan. If you don't want people like him to bother you then you must pay me a protection fee."
There was a small pause between the two before Yun Qiang responded.
"No."
Yun Qiang's answer was short and before Lee Shan could say something else, Yun Qiang slammed the door shut.
He let out a long sigh and started meditating on his bed.
During his time at the Skyward Pavilion Sun and Brook had explained to him how protection fees really worked. At the start the protection fee looked small almost non existent making it look like a good deal, however with time the protection fee would increase until the victim was unable to pay and either sold his belongings or died due to some accidents.
According to Sun a lot of sects and cultivator families used this kind of scheme when they wanted to suppress the growth of outsiders or unfavorable people.
The underlying principle was simple extract value from one person and redistribute it to other people, when your victim tries to rebel or can't give you anything valuable you will be in an advantageous condition due to all the fees that you received.
Knowing this Yun Qiang directly refused and started planning his next moves; slowly he started forming a mental list of things that would help him survive.
By early night he had managed to form a small plan, however the more he thought about it more details and ideas came to mind, when it was midnight a mischievous smile formed on Yun Qiang's lips.
With anticipation he took out a list that he had received his first day and started checking it.
This list contained every item he could buy using contribution points, including a brief description of the item and the price. To start his plan he needed a specific item and he didn't know if they sold it.
With every item he skipped his anticipation grew, until finally his eyes stopped in the middle of the list. Slowly he read the item he was interested in.
Yun Qiang gulped, this item would cost him the majority of his points, and he didn't know if his plan would work.
Still he wanted to try.
A glint of determination flashed in his eyes. He had already made up his mind.
Tomorrow morning he would start his plan.