#5 - The world is fickle
The Xiao family's dilapidated little courtyard.
Jun Wuxie returned to find Yue Yao still fast asleep.
He sat by the bed, using his finger to scoop out some Skin Nourishing Muscle Regenerating Balm, gently applying it to her chilblains.
“Wuxie Gege.”
Yue Yao's eyelashes fluttered, and she opened her eyes, looking at him with blinking eyes, secretly smiling.
Things are so good now, Wuxie Gege is finally well, she no longer needs to be afraid.
Jun Wuxie gently stroked her little nose and said softly, “Did Gege wake you up?”
“No, Yue Yao was already awake.” Little Yue Yao hugged Jun Wuxie's arm, vigorously burrowing her head into his embrace, and said, “When Gege was sick before, Yue Yao was so scared. Xiao Qi and the others always bullied us. Yue Yao is useless, unable to protect Gege…”
“Silly girl, it’s only Gege who protects his sister, how can a sister protect her Gege?”
“No, Yue Yao just wants to protect Gege. Yue Yao really wants to grow up quickly, so she can cultivate.” She said, waving her small fist in frustration, “When the time comes, whoever dares to bully Gege, Yue Yao will beat them until they cry!”
“Yue Yao.” Jun Wuxie held her tightly in his arms, and said, “From now on, no one can bully you again. Whoever dares to bully you, I will kill them!”
“Wuxie Gege, will you leave Yue Yao in the future?”
“No, I won’t.”
“Then Yue Yao wants to be with Gege forever, okay?”
“A lifetime is not enough. Gege will be with Yao’er for this lifetime, the next lifetime, the lifetime after that, forever and ever…”
“Hehe, Wuxie Gege, you have to keep your word, don’t lie to Yue Yao~ Let’s make a pinky promise~”
……
Jun Wuxie carried Yue Yao's little medicine basket on his back and carried her away from the Xiao family.
He was going to do a bounty mission and didn't feel safe leaving her here.
At some point, the phenomenon caused by Xiao Xu had dissipated, and the sky had returned to daylight.
The Xiao family was extremely lively.
Along the way, the Xiao family members, upon seeing Jun Wuxie, all revealed expressions of disbelief, but soon their faces showed disdain, and they began to discuss.
“I didn’t expect him to recover. It’s just a pity, the former genius, how dazzling he was back then. But now, even if he has recovered, he is still dim and dull under Xiao Xu’s brilliant light.”
“Hmm, that’s right, even if he recovers his former talent, he has already fallen from the altar. Only Xiao Xu is the most dazzling genius in our Qingyang City!”
“Hehe, just a discarded son of the family. It’s a pity we once held him so high…”
……
Various taunts continued.
For the Xiao family, Xiao Xu becoming the Chosen One and attracting an astonishing stellar phenomenon was an absolute genius. Even if Jun Wuxie recovered, he was far inferior to Xiao Xu.
Jun Wuxie ignored them. These people used to flock to him when he was dazzling, but now they sneer and mock him. Human nature is so fickle.
There is no point in responding to them now. Only by forcefully defeating their so-called genius in front of everyone is the best way to respond.
When he arrived at the gate of the Xiao family, he saw a sea of people.
The heads of various large and small forces in the city brought lavish gifts and lined up to offer their congratulations.
Those people couldn't help but be shocked when they saw him, but then they shook their heads, and no one greeted him.
Jun Wuxie didn't care about these things. Now that Xiao Xu was in power, everyone's eyes were naturally only on that Chosen One.
“The Bi family head, Bi Fenglin, and the elders bring gifts to congratulate!”
“The Ji family head, Ji Xiang, and the elders bring gifts to congratulate!”
“The Jiang family head, Jiang Chen, and the elders bring gifts to congratulate!”
“The Qingyang City Lord, Wang Cheng, brings gifts to congratulate!”
……
The Xiao family was riding high. Even the guards at the gate held their heads high, and their gazes towards the high-level figures of various forces no longer held the reverence they once had.
“What are you pushing for? Get to the back of the line!”
Xiao Qi was also at the gate, but he didn't see Jun Wuxie coming out of the mansion. His mind was focused on the people who came to congratulate.
“Young Master Qi, a small token of appreciation, I hope you will accept it.”
Xiao Qi scolded the head of a small family. He had been honestly waiting in line, but faced with unwarranted difficulties, he still took out a large bag of gold coins and handed it over.
“What do you mean? Do you think I’m a beggar?”
Xiao Qi slapped the family head in the face, causing blood to trickle from the corner of his mouth. He covered his face and dared not resist. Although he felt humiliated, he had no choice but to keep smiling and quickly stuffed a gold coin card.
“Consider yourself sensible.”
Xiao Qi checked the amount and revealed a satisfied expression, moving on to the next target.
The crowd shook their heads secretly, not daring to say a word. Xiao Xu's rise marked the rise of the Xiao family, and no force in Qingyang City could compete with them.
After Jun Wuxie left the Xiao family, he also took a few glances from afar. Xiao Xu had just attracted the phenomenon of heaven and earth, and some people in the Xiao family had already begun to inflate.
He originally wanted to kill Xiao Qi in public, but it was not advisable to entangle with the Xiao family at the moment. Obtaining money as soon as possible to exchange for cultivation resources was the most important thing.
……
The Hunter Guild was located in the south of Qingyang City.
Every day, a large number of bounty hunters came here to complete their missions.
These bounty hunters were mostly in groups, and some even formed large mercenary groups, living a life of licking blood from the edge of a knife. Lone hunters were extremely rare.
Jun Wuxie had not done bounty missions before, but he had some understanding of the Hunter Guild.
It is said that the Hunter Guild was formed by nine powerful rogue cultivators who were hunters long ago.
The guild hall was very spacious, divided into a mission posting area, a mission acceptance area, a hunter registration area, and a mission waiting area.
“Isn’t that the young master of the Xiao family, Jun Wuxie?”
Some bounty hunters revealed strange expressions.
The news that the young master of the Xiao family was seriously injured and paralyzed had spread throughout Qingyang City half a year ago.
“He’s actually healed?”
“Now that Xiao Xu has risen and is a peerless genius, Jun Wuxie probably can't stay in the Xiao family any longer. Otherwise, he wouldn't be dressed so raggedly and come here. It seems he wants to be a hunter.”
“Hey, if we have the opportunity, we can try to pull him into our mercenary group. If he recovers to his peak state, he still has some value.”
In the mission waiting area, a burly man with a beard and a fair-skinned young man were talking in low voices.
At this time, in the hunter registration area.
“Hello, how can I help you?”
A seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl with a lively temperament, skin like congealed fat, and a very beautiful appearance smiled at Jun Wuxie.
She wore a work badge on her chest with the name Qin Keqing written on it.
“I’m here to register as a bounty hunter.”
“Okay, please wait a moment.”
Qin Keqing took out a form, registered it according to the procedure, took out a bronze medal and gave it to him, saying, “Please keep it safe. This is your primary hunter token, and it is also your symbol of identity.”
Jun Wuxie put the hunter token into his pocket and said, “Can I accept missions now?”
“Yes.” Qin Keqing smiled and pointed to the mission posting area, saying, “You are a primary hunter, and currently you can only accept bounty missions with a difficulty of two stars or less. You can also wait, new missions will be assigned before dark.”
Jun Wuxie nodded and went to the mission posting area to take a look. The missions here had been almost all taken, and there were only a few left.
The rewards for these one-star and two-star missions that no one had taken were not high. One-star missions were only worth dozens of gold, and two-star missions were worth hundreds of gold, but the difficulty must be high, otherwise they would have been taken long ago.
His gaze swept across the one-star and two-star bounties, and finally settled on a five-star public bounty mission.
Mission: Kill the Flame Python.
Location: Outer Dragon Ridge Mountains, Flame Valley.
Bounty: 100,000 gold!
His pupils shrank!
An entire 100,000 gold bounty!
He had some understanding of bounty missions before. Even the rewards for five-star missions were only about 10,000 gold, but this mission was as high as 100,000 gold?
Such a bounty was really too generous, breaking the bounty record in Qingyang City!
