The Divine Nine-Dragon Cauldron
chapter-761

Regarding the hiring of mercenaries, the Severed Fairy Cliff could hire late stage Fairies. Some of its branches, the ones which had fairly great influences, could even hire Almighty Divine Masters.

Moreover, almost all of the most famous thieves and robbers were related in many ways to the Severed Fairy Cliff. As for their underground money farms and casinos, they could be found throughout every corner of the world.

Needless to say, it was a colossal faction, which wouldn’t hesitate to use both fair and foul means in order to gain more and more wealth. In fact, its branches had already spread throughout the whole Jiuzhou World!

It was said that the Severed Fairy Cliff’s influence and power even rivaled that of the nine prefectures’ kings’. It was even said to be as great as Jiuzhou’s tenth king, the Darkness King!

Yuan Wanbi never expected that she would come face to face with the legendary Severed Fairy Cliff. Moreover, the faction had already set their eyes on the Yuan family’s ancient elixir recipe long ago.

“Hehe, since you know now that I’m from the Severed Fairy Cliff, you should have already guessed your fate! It would have been fine if you were merely average looking, but you are quite pretty, which means that many people will want to buy you for a high price!” Xiao Tao erupted in a fit of frightening laughter.

Yuan Wanbi’s heart was engulfed by fear, and her whole body shuddered. It was clear that human trafficking was still one of the Severed Fairy Cliff’s dirty businesses, and now, it seemed that she would become one of their rare commodities, as she was quite pretty!

Yuan Wanbi’s face turned pale as she thought about it, and grief welled up in her heart. She couldn’t help but think that if she hadn’t left her family rashly and trust Xiao Tao so easily, she wouldn’t have found herself in such dire straits!

“Eldest miss, don’t look so sad. You can’t blame anyone but yourself for such a fate. After all, you chose to not trust your younger sister, who respected you, instead placing your trust in an outsider like me.” Xiao Tao raised Yuan Wanbi’s chin in mockery, seeming to examine her, just like one would examine a beast of burden.

Yuan Wanbi bit her lip, then chuckled bitterly. “Is this retribution? It really came quickly…”

Although she hated Yuan Yingying, she had to admit that the latter had never harmed her, nor held any grudge against her. Stll, Yuan Wanbi hated simply because she stole the limelight from her. She was so upset about this that she even planned to kill her younger sister after achieving greater success and power.

“You young misses from prestigious house’s are all pampered, and you always step on others in order to get your way! Even I pity your younger sister!” After Xiao Tao finished examining her, she took out a rope and bound Yuan Wanbi with it, then carried her on her back, just like one would carry a pig.

A complacent smile was plastered on Xiao Tao’s face as she laughed and said, “Hehe, I finally managed to finish the mission. Moreover, I didn’t just get the elixir recipe, but I even got a beauty!”

As Xiao Tao asked her next question, she revealed a creepy smile, “Do you remember the Demonic Ape? Didn’t you ever wonder why the Heavenly Fragrance Pill was useless, and you ended up being tracked by the ape in the end, nearly being captured by it?”

Yuan Wanbi was greatly shocked by these questions, and she asked immediately, “You mean… You were the one controlling the Demonic Ape?”

Her thoughts began to swirl in her head… The Severed Fairy Cliff’s main aim was to amass wealth, and the Demonic Ape was blocking the road and robbing people. So… Could the two be related?

Xiao Tao chuckled, then replied, “Eldest miss, you are clever, which makes this even better, as a clever woman can be sold for a higher price! Regarding the answer to your question, you aren’t mistaken. The Demonic Ape was the Severed Fairy Cliff’s Demonic Pet, and all of the wealth and women that it obtained was taken from it and sold by the Severed Fairy Cliff.”

She then added, “The prettiest women that it captured were taken to a remote place, where they were auctioned off. Only those who couldn’t be sold would be returned to the ape.”

She paused to take a breath, then continued, “I wanted to capture you and the second miss at that time, but sadly, a mysterious Divine Master intervened and wrecked my plan. However, you still fell in my hands in the end, and I even got your family’s ancient elixir recipe! Thus, my mission has come to an end.”

Xiao Tao slapped Yuan Wanbi’s butt, then said, “You can be at ease, as since you treated me well these past years, I will surely sell you to a good customer.”

Despair welled up in Yuan Wanbi’s heart as she looked at the Blue Mountain City, which was gradually becoming further and further away. She felt completely disheartened.

It appeared that, even though she was clever and strived hard in her life, in the end, she would be reduced to being a mere slave. If she got another opportunity to redo her entire life, she would surely treasure her relatives the next time around. But, it was a pity, as it was too late for regret now.

“Fine. As this is my fate, I must resign myself to it.” Yuan Wanbi gave up on resisting, as she closed her eyes and bowed her head low.

At this moment, a faintly discernible voice drifted over from the horizon, “Wow. The Demonic Ape was really being controlled by someone! You really hid it well. How interesting!”

“Who are you?” Shock appeared on Xiao Tao’s face, as she called out and turned around instantly, trying to discern where the voice was coming from.

However, before she could even make a move, both she and Yuan Wanbi were engulfed by a burst of spatial power, which appeared to be about to swallow them up entirely!

“Ah! How awful! Spatial power!” Horror appeared on Xiao Tao’s face, and she wanted to abandon Yuan Wanbi and flee, yet she couldn’t manage to free herself. She was being swallowed by the spatial power!

When the surroundings finally calmed down, Xiao Tao took out a dagger and looked around carefully. At that moment, her dagger shook and was sent flying out of her hand to the ground by something… Or someone.

When she looked around again directly after that, she discovered that she and Yuan Wanbi were now beside a lake. She also saw an old man, who had an air of otherworldliness. It was clear that he was the one who had deflected her dagger.

“Su Yuxian? Is it you?” Xiao Tao was shocked. After all, such a miraculous spatial ability wasn’t something ordinary people possessed. This old man was clearly no mere mortal.

Yuan Wanbi was also taken aback, and she felt like Su Yu, who she had hated intensely in the past, seemed quite amiable now.

“It seems like the mantis was stalking the cicada, while being totally unaware of the oriole behind it! Xiao Tao, it seems like you got excited too soon.” Yuan Wanbi chuckled bitterly. After all, she knew how terrifying Su Yu’s power really was.

“Shut up!” Xiao Tao poked Yuan Wanbi with her elbow, causing the latter to groan softly as pain appeared on her face.

Xiao Tao then looked at Su Yu and said, “I don’t care who you are, but just remember that you and I don’t have any grudges between us. On the other hand, this woman wanted to kill you! Hence, you don’t need to save her.”

Su Yu nodded, then said, “You aren’t mistaken, as I really don’t have any reason to save her.”

Yuan Wanbi bit her lip. She couldn’t bring herself to hate him just now, as she had brought this all upon herself. She couldn’t blame anyone else at all.

“Don’t worry about me. Just take care of Yingying. Also, please don’t inform her of my current situation. Just say that I left the family. Moreover, please apologize to her on my behalf,” Yuan Wanbi said bitterly. She hadn’t expected that Su Yu would let Xiao Tao go, but even so, she still wouldn’t ask him to save her.

Xiao Tao revealed a faint smile as she said, “Thank you!” As she spoke, she carried Yuan Wanbi, then began to retreat slowly.

However, Su Yu spoke again, “However, although she has nothing to do with me, she’s still related to the second miss. So… That reminds me… Eldest miss, if you want to apologize to her, you must do so yourself.”

Xiao Tao’s expression became gloomy when she heard his words, “Why are you meddling in other people’s business? I’m from the Severed Fairy Cliff, and you will face dire consequences if you kill me.”

Su Yu smiled calmly as he replied, “I am not even afraid of the Central Prefecture’s king’s threats, so I certainly won’t be cowed by the threats of a trifling thief and human trafficker!”

As Su Yu spoke, a white light flickered in his eyes and a sphere of soul flames flew out of them. As Xiao Tao’s cultivation was just at the Half Fairy Realm, her soul was burned up entirely before she even managed to scream, while her body fell weakly on the ground.

As Yuan Wanbi, who was on her shoulders, was falling down to the ground, Su Yu caught her just in time. Then, after Su Yu untied her, he turned his attention back to Xiao Tao. He then threw a ball of flames at her, which burned her corpse into ashes, and only her spatial ring and a purple badge remained.

When Su Yu looked at the spatial ring, he saw that it had just a few ordinary objects in it. Clearly, she didn’t bring anything special with her, as she had hid beside the eldest miss for a long time.

However, Su Yu did find a black needle in the spatial ring, which was the same as the one he found in the Demonic Ape’s cave. At that time, he felt like the ape was probably being controlled by someone due to that fact that the black needle was dipped in a poison that he knew was specifically concocted for controlling souls.

However, he really didn’t expect that it was really the case, much less that it had come from a mysterious organization called the Severed Fairy Cliff! As Su Yu crushed the spatial ring, he looked at the other object, the purple badge.

Su Yu remembered that Xia Jingyu had once reminded him to pay attention to all purple objects, as they could change his fate and increase his chances for survival. Hence, he had to wonder… Is this purple badge one of these special objects she spoke of?

After Su Yu examined the badge closely, he didn’t find anything special about it, besides the fact that it was made of some rather unusual materials and had the three words “Severed Fairy Cliff” imprinted on it.

“Thank you,” Yuan Wanbi said as she stood up. She wore a complex expression as she bowed to Su Yu.

However, Su Yu didn’t pay any attention to her, but continued staring at the badge. He was trying to discover the badge’s function.

“This is one of the Severed Fairy Cliff’s badges. It’s rumored that each badge has a different color, which represents a different rank. There are seven different colors in total, including red, orange, yellow, green, greenish blue, blue and purple. The purple color represents the lowest rank, which means that Xiao Tao’s status in the Severed Fairy Cliff was quite low,” Yuan Wanbi said.

It’s an identity badge? As Su Yu turned the badge over, he asked calmly, “Why doesn’t it have a name on it?”

Yuan Wanbi felt excited for some unknown reason when Su Yu paid attention to her, and she answered readily, “It’s because she still hasn’t passed the test.”

“When the purple badges are sent out, they will belong to anyone who gets them, as they don’t have any names on them. Whoever receives a purple badge will then try to finish a mission in order to become an official purple member of the Severed Fairy Cliff. It is only after completing such a mission that the individual’s name with be placed on his or her badge.”

Su Yu was surprised to hear this, so he asked, “Isn’t that a bit careless? Don’t they fear that someone will take advantage of this by getting ahold of a nameless badge and infiltrating their ranks?”

Yuan Wanbi shook her head. “They aren’t worried about that, as even if someone infiltrated the ranks so expertly and became one of its members, that person would still never gain access to the the organization’s head.”

Su Yu then asked, “I still don’t get it. What is the significance of getting an identity badge? Isn’t it basically useless?”

“Oh no! It’s useful!” Yuan Wanbi said. “Once one becomes a true member of the Severed Fairy Cliff, a mission will appear on the badge each month, and if you manage to finish the mission, you will get more points, as well as a corresponding reward.”

She then added, “For example, if this month’s mission was to kill someone, and its reward was a fourth grade spirit elixir and three points, after someone finished the mission, he would get both of those rewards. The elixir would be placed at a specific place, and they would notify him of it location via the badge so that he could go and get it.”

Well, that is quite amazing! Su Yu was startled. It seemed to him like the Severed Fairy Cliff really had great influence and strong power, since they were capable of delivering rewards to their members, who were spread throughout every corner of Jiuzhou, in such a way. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised if even the Blue Mountain City had some Severed Fairy Cliff’s members within it!

“What’s the use of the three points then?” Su Yu asked.

Yuan Wanbi replied, “It’s just for one’s points accumulation. A hundred points are needed to be promoted from a purple badge to a blue badge, and a thousand points are required for blue badge to be promoted to a greenish blue badge, and so on. Each promotion needs ten times more points than the last, and the higher one’s badge grade, the higher level of rewards one receives from the missions.”

She then added, “The accumulated points can also decrease, as a person who is issued a mission can also request that another Severed Fairy Cliff’s member finish the mission on their behalf. Hence, the points decrease, as they get less credit for the mission.”