Chapter 406 - 15 in 1

"Ah… Argh…"

Woldemar let out a shrill scream and blood came spurting out of his mouth. Seconds later, the Violent Colossal Rhino wielded its horn at Woldemar. The two of them moved so fast that ten strikes were passed within the blink of an eye. At the third strike, the rhino managed to shatter Woldemar's long sword and at the seventh strike, it managed to break Woldemar's defense. Seeing that his defense was down, the rhino launched multiple strikes on him relentlessly. And at the tenth strike, its horn penetrated Woldemar's Dantian. This battle was enough to prove that why Demonic Beast was such a terrifying presence to humans. Elites that had the same combat power with them would never be able to defeat them.

"Help…. Help me… Ning Yuchen! Save me! Please… help me…"

With his Dantian pierced, Woldemar's cultivation was destroyed. He could nothing else but wait to be rescued.

Ning Yuchen was no fool He just had a brush with death, why would he save Woldemar?

Most importantly, even if he did fight the rhinoceros, it would be useless.

"Roar!"

The rhinoceros was not in a rush to kill Woldemar. It speared through Woldemar's body with its horn and threw him into the air, as if it was showing off its trophy.

But upon closer look, that was not its intention. The giant rhinoceros had fixed its eyes on Chen Xiaobei, waiting for him to issue the final order.

Chen Xiaobei was a Celestial Cultivated Gold-tier Elite after all! If Chen Xiaobei did not make his intention known, the giant rhinoceros would not know if it would live or die!

When Chen Xioabei nodded his head subtly, the giant rhinoceros let out a sigh of relief.

"Roar!"

The giant creature threw up its head violently, tossing Wodema like trash onto the ground and then raised its barrel forelegs to prepare to squash Woldemar's head.

"Help… Help me…"

Woldemar did not expect things to turn out the way they did. His cultivation was trashed, he was badly injured and moments before his death, he wet his pants.

Smash!

Woldemar's head was crushed like a grape under the heavy stump of the rhinoceros. His blood painted the ground and the trees nearby an eerie red.

He had taken this upon himself. He did not deserve mercy from anyone.

The giant rhinoceros took a peek at Chen Xiaobei, saw that there was nothing else he wanted it to do, and fled for its life.

"What… happened?"

Ning Yuchen scratched his head.

Hu Ben and Liu Chen hurried down the tree, mouth ajar and wondering.

"Why did the rhinoceros turn around and attack Woldemar?" Nin Yuchen asked.

"Woldemar was so strong. The giant rhinoceros killed him but left us the weaker ones alive… That doesn't make any sense…" Hu Ben gulped.

"Strange… That's what this is…" Liu Chen said. "Captain, did anything strange happen when the rhinoceros stood right in front of you?"

"I was too nervous to notice anything…" Ning Yuchen scrambled through his thoughts and then looked at Chen Xiaobei. "Zhufeng, you were mumbling some gibberish just now. Were you talking to the beast?"

"No." Chen Xiaobei shrugged. "Where would I learn how to speak their language? Stop kidding around."

"But after you finished mumbling, the giant rhinoceros charged toward Woldemar!"

"I think it must be because the rhino thinks that that idiot looks really ugly!" Chen Xiaobei chuckled. "You know that this is a superficial world. Ugly people should stay at home more! Someone as ugly as he is must have frightened the beast! It's his own fault!"

Ning Yuchen raised an eyebrow. "What kind of reason is that… Woldemar died because you are good looking and he was ugly?"

"Maybe it's also because he was despicable?" Chen Xiaobei shrugged. "Let's not get too hung up on this. All that matters is that everyone is fine! The world is better with one less dickhead! If he had lived, he might launch some sort of attack on us!"

"Zhufeng is right!" Hu Ben chimed in. "What's more important is that both of you are unharmed. Tomorrow, we'll have beers on me! We won't leave until we're all pissed drunk! Zhufeng, you must give face!"

"Me? Alright!"

Chen Xiaobei nodded.

Drinking is a good way to build rapport, and the watering hole was the best way to get to know this environment.

"Liu Chen, are you coming?" Ning Yuchen asked.

"I…" Liu Chen looked at Chen Xiaobei and said, "I'm going! I need to apologize to Chen Zhufeng! All that time, I was standing by Woldemar, making fun of Chen Zhufend's cultivation… But in the face of danger, the one with the highest cultivation sold out his fellow comrade! Instead, the one with the lowest cultivation stood by his comrade… I was prejudiced. Chen Zhufeng, I'm really sorry! I won't tease you about your cultivation anymore… Even though it's low, you are brave! A true ma! I, Liu Chen is truly impressed by you!"

Chen Xiaobei smiled at this and said, "We shouldn't make each other's life difficult since we are on the same level!"

With all the experiences he had gathered, Chen Xiaobei had turned from an inexperienced big boy who would drool at any pretty girl to a real man who was calm and steady.

"Haha…" Liu Chen smiled. "I am Three-Star Black Steel. You are zero star. From now on, I will not trouble you; in fact, I will protect you!"

"Haha…" Ning Yuchen and Hu Ben laughed. "Our Liu Chen has grown up! She's become so sensible!'

"Humph! What do you mean? Was I very childish and fickle?"

Liu Chen stamped her feet angrily.

"No! No! No! Liu Chen is the best!"

Ning Yuchen and Hu Ben quickly shook their heads.

Seeing this merry moment, Chen Xiaobei suddenly felt that being the newbie was not so bad after all.

"What should we do next?" Hu Ben asked.

"We retreat to the outer part of the forest! The beasts in the core are too strong! It'll be dangerous if we stay!" Ning Yuchen said in a serious manner.

"Wait a minute." Liu Chen called for their attention and then pointed at Woldemar's limp body. "There are some pretty good things in his Storage Bracelet. Should we… divide them among us?"

A look of astonishment spread across Ning Yuchen's face. "Usually after the kill, the beast will eat its victim's flesh and then take away the Storage Bracelet. Why did the rhinoceros leave empty-handed? Could it be a trap?"

"You mean that the rhinoceros left the Storage Bracelet behind as a bait?"

"Stop being so suspicious!" Chen Xiaobei strode toward the body. "If it wanted to, the rhinoceros would have killed us already. Why would it need to leave traps?"

"Zhufeng is right! Let's go split our bounty!" Liu Chen skipped excitedly behind Chen Xiaobei.

"Is this the Storage Bracelet?"

Chen Xiaobei took a techie-looking wristband off Woldemar's right hand.

"Yes, that's it! You only need to think it and it'll open!" Liu Chen said.

"Mm."

Chen Xiaobei nodded. He then shook his hand and the wristband vibrated and all the items stored inside tumbled out.

Clothing, rations, water all these scraps were overlooked.

What was left were four valuable Beast Cores and four crystals the size of a fist.

"Damn, this idiot is so poor…" Chen Xiaobei said in disgust.

Compared to his Infinite Space Ring, those items were pathetic.

"My god! Woldemar was so rich!"

Liu Chen and the others exclaimed.

"Er…" Chen Xiaobei asked, "Are these things really that valuable?"

"Of course!" Liu Chen was over the moon. "These Beast Core belonged to Patinated Bronze Two-Star Demonic Beast. A single Beast Core could increase our health or combat power by 100!"

"So much?" Chen Xiaobei's eyes lit up.

Back in the secret space, Chen Xiaobei used up 3,000 Spiritual Stone's worth of Spiritual Qi during his training and his health only increased by 300.

That meant that one Beast Core was equivalent to 1,000 Spiritual Stones. Four Beast Cores, 4,000 Spiritual Stones!

That was way more Spiritual Qi than Chen XIaobei's Green Jade Gourd could hold!

"Then, what are the other four crystals?" Chen Xiaobei asked.

"That's a Spiritual Stone!" Ning Yuchen explained. "The ones on earth are lower-grade, hold lesser Spiritual Qi, and are not as pure! This is a medium-grade Spiritual Stone. The exchange rate in the market is one medium-grade Spiritual Stone for 1,000 lower-grade Spiritual Stone!"

"You mean 4 medium-grade Spiritual Stones are equivalent to 4,000 lower-grade spiritual stones?! Combined with the Beast Core, that's a total of 8,000 lower-grade Spiritual Stones!"

Chen Xiaobei was astonished by how rich the idiot Woldemar was!

"That's right! The things here are much better than those on Earth. You'll know soon!" Ning Yuchen said, "The total number is perfect. We can divide the loot equally amongst ourselves! One Beast Core and one Spiritual Stone each!"

Liu Chen and Hu Ben were used to Ning Yuchen's way of allocation, so they took their share as-a-matter-of-factly.

"I will help myself to it then."

Chen Xiaobei smiled and then took for himself one Beast Core and one medium-grade Spiritual Stone.

This was not a small number to Chen Xiaobei!

It was difficult to even get his hands on 2,000 Spiritual Stones back on Earth!

…

After that, the four of them retreated from the forest.

On their way out, they met a few more Northern Wilderness soldiers who also killed some Demonic Beasts.

Chen Xiaobei did not find the Three-Star Spiritual Medicine that Xiao'er told him about because he did not have the opportunity to act on his own. But being able to procure 2,000 Spiritual Stones worth of bounty was enough to make him happy. The Spiritual Medicine would not be going anywhere anyway. He would just come back for it later.

…

The four of them arrived at the 2nd Regiment campground before dusk.

It was only then that Chen Xiaobei found out that the full name of the regiment was Northern Wilderness Starfield Silver Plume Praetorian 2nd Regiment!

In Ning Yuchen's own words, Northern Wilderness Starfield was like a large country.

There were many planets in Starfield, which were like provinces.

And the Northern Wilderness soldiers were like the soldiers of each provincial military regiment, that protects the safety and stability of the area.

There were 3,000 people in each regiment. And 50 of these regiments on Silver Plume Planet alone! That was a total of 150,000 people!

The 'weakest ones' Zero-Star Black Steel were already at early phase of True Nirvana cultivation!

Chen Xiaobei was shocked by this discovery. 150,000 True Nirvana soldiers were enough to crush Earth a hundred times over!

And that was only one of the many planets in Northern Wilderness Starfield. All of the Northern Wilderness soldiers combined would total up to a few million, maybe even billion soldiers!

Just thinking about it sent shivers down Chen Xiaobei's spine.

"Zhufeng, I've spoken to the Colonel, we'll add a bed to our room for you to stay!"

Ning Yuchen and Hu Ben approached Chen Xiaobei. They had already changed out of their uniforms.

"Then my identity…" Chen Xiaobei asked.

"The Colonel said that you are still a lucky survivor of the 3rd Regiment…" Ning Yuchen said, "The 3rd Regiment will be re-established soon. You will have to return then!"

"Tsk! That's just the nicer version of it! Colonel must be hesitant to accept him into our regiment because Zhufeng's cultivation is low!"

Liu Chen who was also in her casual clothing appeared. "If Zhufeng could reach Five-Star Patinated Bronze, the bigger regiments nearby would be begging to have him in their group!"

"Ahem! Let's not talk about it anymore!" Ning Yuchen was afraid that Chen Xiaobei would feel uncomfortable so he changed the topic. "Let's get to the city now. We won't get any spot if we're late!"

"Hurry! Get into the car!"

Hu Ben took out a 'car' that nearly made Chen Xiaobei trip from the Storage Bracelet.

It was an enormous convertible SUV. Judging from its size, it was spacious enough to fit Hu Ben comfortably and it looked very cool, very manly as well.

But what was shocking was that it had no wheels! It was a flying car!

Chen Xiaobei had only seen it in the movies. So, he was too stunned to react.

"Let's in the car!" Ning Yuchen chuckled. "This place is really different from Earth. There are many unusual things around here! Take the transportation for example, there's flying cars, and spaceships. There are even people riding around on Spiritual Beast or Flying Spiritual Beast! You will get to see more of that next time!"

Chen Xiaobei nodded and got up onto the flying car.

It may look a little unusual but other than its speed, it was like riding in a regular car. Soon, Chen Xiaobei got used to it.

…

Silver Plume City!

When they finally arrived at their destination, Chen Xiaobei caught himself gawping once again.

This place called a 'city' was as big as a small country! From the bird's eye view, it looked like boundless.

"Silver Plume City. 1 million square feet. Population, 200 million people. Nearly all of the people of Planet Silver Plume lives here!" Ning Yuchen explained voluntarily.

"200 million people in one planet. Isn't that a really small population?" Chen Xiaobei gasped.

"That's pretty normal." Ning Yuchen said, "The people of Silver Plume are often in danger because of the beasts in the forests, That's why the population is not growing. What's more, Northern Wilderness soldiers are not allowed to marry Silver Plume people. After your ten years of service ends, you are required to return to your homeland, unless you're chosen by the shrine. That is why the population has been stagnant. This is actually true for most of the planets in Northern Wilderness Starfield—a small populace congregated in a large capital city!"

Chen Xiaobei nodded and then asked, "Do they also speak Mandarin here?"

"Yeah. In fact, Chinese is the universal language!" Ning Yuchen said proudly. "And the Chinese influence doesn't stop there! In higher ranked starfields, you will find even more oriental elements like traditional chinese medicine, immortality pills, martial arts, etcetera!"

"Er… Why is that?"

Chen Xiaobei found this rather puzzling.

"There is a legend—I'm not sure if you've heard of it before—that claims that the Chinese are the forefathers of the entire universe!"

"Oh, yes! I've heard that before!" Chen XIaobie nodded eagerly.

Billions of universes, the shadows of the past!

Millions of stars, the sands of a bygone era!

The entire universe was the product of the collapse of the ancestral land; thusly, its people were the ancestors of the universe!

The higher ranked starfield are closer to the heavenly realm and naturally, bears a closer semblance to the Void Land!"

"Are people who are skilled in concocting immortality pills and those who practice traditional chinese medicine highly sought after here?"

"Of course!" Liu Chen intervened. "Traditional chinese medicine goes back thousands of years, way before western medicine even existed. The high officials and the rich of the higher ranking starfield only seek traditional Chinese practitioners; only the poorest of the poor consult western doctors!"

'Wow! That's great!" Chen Xiaobei was thrilled.

When it came to traditional chinese medicinal practice, Chen Xiaobei had managed to snatch the Red Envelopes from Hua Tuo, Li Shizhen, Sun Simiao. Technically speaking, he had already mastered the art of traditional chinese medicinal practice.

Chen Xiaobei was most certainly the top traditional Chinese medicine practitioner even in the higher ranked starfield.

"Then what about alchemists of immortality pills?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Liu Chen explained. "Chinese alchemists have an even higher standing than traditional Chinese medicine doctors! Immortality pills are considered superior to traditional Chinese medicine. It can induce remarkable effects which are very valuable to practitioners! A true Chinese Alchemist may even be consecrated in capital cities. They can do whatever they want in the castle. Even the governors have to pay them high respect!"

Chen Xiaobei was ecstatic.

He also knew how to concoct pills!

Even though he had limited prescriptions, he could always get more from the Three Realms Red Envelope Group!

For him to become the best Chinese alchemist was only a matter of time!

"Oh yeah, by governor you mean the leader of Silver Plume City, right?"

"Yup!" Ning Yuchen replied. "Like I told you, the planets are like provinces, and the governors are the leaders."

Li Chen added, "If you can make yourself becomes the VIP of governor, you can basically do whatever you like in this planet!"

"Hey, why are we talking about this? It's not like its something we can achieve! Hurry up! We came here to drink!"

Hu Ben put away his flying car and ushered the group into the city.

The city was really exotic.

Amidst the modern, futuristic towers were building that boasts of the curved roof and elaborate cornices of ancient Chinese Architecture.

There were people in flying vehicles and there were also people on snow-white, one-horned beasts.

Even the people of the city were made up of a rainbow of nationalities, and skin color—enough to dazzle you.

The physical appearance of the people of Silver Plume Planet were similar to people from Earth. The most prominent difference was the silver hairband shaped like feathers that grew on their ears. Hence, the name Silver Plume.

"Don't underestimate those two silver hairs. In this planet, it is the symbol of nobility!" Ning Yuchen warned, "Foreigners like us are just civilians! Never ever engage in conflict with them!"

"Don't worry. I'm just a Zero-Star Black Steel rookie. I will not be ruffling anyone's feathers, especially not the nobles'!"

Chen Xiaobei smiled.

"Little brother Zhufeng, what happened to that macho manliness from earlier? How could you just admit defeat like that?" Li Chen teased.

Chen Xiaobei merely smiled at her, then turned around to ask, "Is that the pub in front? It looks pretty good!"

"Yeah, that's the one!" Hu Ben quickened his pace to almost a sprint and said, "I'll go ahead and try to get us a table! Hurry up!"

Chen Xiaobei and the others followed his lead.

The pub was in full swing—loud and crowded. People were shouting at each other above the noise, trying to converse, some were chugging down bottles after bottles of liquor, and shoving hunks of meat down their gullet.

"No wonder Hu Ben likes this place. It's full of loose macho men like him!"

"Why? You're not used to this kind of environment?" Ning Yuchen asked.

"No! No! As long as you're with the right people, you can still have a great time no matter where you go!" Chen Xiaobei shrugged.

"That's more like it!" Liu Chen wiggled her brows. "Let's get over there. Hu Ben found us a table!"

Once they had settled down in their seats, Hu Ben wasted no time ordering three large jars of liquors. Ning Yuchen ordered some food to accompany the wine, and Liu Chen ordered some roasted meat and vegetables.

The three of them had great synergy and close bond. They were the quintessence of comrades who fight by each other.

The dishes arrived quickly.

But an extra dish was served up. The woman who brought it was a well-groomed woman in her thirties. Her skin was firm and her body ravishing. All eyes were glued on her as she made her way to their table.

"Sister Hua! Giving Hu Ben an extra dish again?"

Li Chen smiled cheekily.

"Ahem…"

Hu Ben cleared his throat, his chiseled face reddened.

The woman called Sister Hua smiled. "I heard that Hu Ben brought a new friend with him! That's why I brought a Golden Spiritual Fish for you to taste!"

"Thank you Sister Hua!"

Ning Yuchen accepted the dish with both hands and placed it on the table.

Sister Hua remained at the table for a while then chided Hu Ben, "You fool! Are you going to introduce me to your new friend or what?"

"Huh? Oh!" Hu Ben jumped from his seat. "This is Chen Zhufeng and because him, boss gets to live to see another day! From today onwards, he is my good brother!"

"What? He's so young! How could he save Yuchen?"

Sister Hua was rather shocked by it. She then took a good look at Chen Xiaobei and asked, "May I know what is your current rank? You are a hero!"

"Sister Hua, I think you have misunderstood me. I'm really weak. I'm just a rookie with Zero-Star Black Steel! Yes. You heard it right. Zero Star!"

"It all began like this…"

Everyone chimed in, describing how Chen Xiaobei saved Ning Yuchen to Sister Hua, so that she exclaimed in wonder.

"The Demonic Beast really didn't attack? And it ran off just like that? I have never heard anything like that before!"

Sister Hua was an intelligent woman. She merely listened to the story and did not ask any questions.

When they had finished telling the story, Sister Hua smiled and said, "Cultivation aside, courage to step forward like that deserves our praise! Zhufeng, I will drink to you!"

Sister Hua took out two wine bowls and shot Hu Ben a look.

Hu Ben picked up the wine jar and poured the pale green liquid into the bowls.

"I will drink first!"

Sister Hua raised the bowl and shot Chen Xiaobei a smile then downed the bowl of wine in one gulp.

"Wow! Sister Hua, you're quite the drinker!" Ning Yuchen and Liu Chen cheered animatedly.

Chen Xiaobei was impressed. She did not seem like a woman who could hold her liquor.

"Alright, my turn!"

Chen Xiaobei picked up the bowl and guzzled everything in one go.

"Sweet!" Sister Hua praised. "This brother right here is a true man! I'm glad that Hu Ben got to know a rare friend like you!"

"Heh, you're too kind."

Chen Xiaobei smiled, his tone almost formal and he made no attempt at cottoning up to her.

This little act, or lack thereof, raised Sister Hua's opinion of him.

Most of the men who visited the pub came specially to see this gorgeous pub owner. If she had made a toast to any of them, practically of them would take the opportunity to worm their way into becoming friends with her.

Chen Xiaobei, on the other hand, remained calm and unaffected. He was not one to be roused by mere beauty.

"Great! Now that I've made a new friend, I will have to go take care of business. Go ahead and enjoy yourself! Drink and eat as you like! Remember to put it all on Hu Ben's tab! Don't be shy!"

Sister Hua bid them farewell and left them to make merry.

It was the busiest time of the night and she had a lot to do.

"Come! Come! Let's drink to Zhufeng!" Ning Yuchen exclaimed and poured each person a bowl of wine.

"No, we can't do it altogether at once! We have to do it individually!"

Liu Chen winked.

"Yeah! We'll take turns! I like that!"

Hu Ben grinned.

"Hey! What about not making each other life difficult? The two of you are just trying to get me drunk!"

"Oh, so it's okay for Sister Hua to drink individually with you but it's not okay for us to take turns drinking one-on-one with you?! Oh, that hurts!"

Liu Chen feigned a frown.

"Zhufeng! Don't try to dawdle! We are all true men here! Oh… and a strong woman!" Hu Ben said, putting on a straight face. "If you're a man, you will not refuse us!"

"Er…" Chen Xiaobei was at a loss for words for a moment. "Alright! You can all take turns to drink with me! I will sacrifice myself today!"

"That's more like it! I'll go first!" Liu Chen picked up a bowl. "First, I want to thank you for saving our best team leader! Second, I'd like to apologize for insulting you! Here's to you!"

Liu Chen gulped down the entire bowl until there was not a single drop left.

Since this petite girl did it, Chen Xiaobei would have to honor that. So, he raised his bowl and did the same.

"I'm next!"

Ning Yuchen could not wait any longer. He picked up his bowl, thanked Chen Xiaobei for saving his life and guzzled down.

Chen Xiaobei honored the toast by downing another bowl.

Hu Ben was next.

The bugger picked up the whole jar and said, "When I'm done, you follow!"

Gulp… Gulp… Gulp…

Because of his giant body size, his tolerance was naturally better than the common folk. He finished the whole jar in a matter of minutes.

"You… How can I…"

Chen Xiaobei picked up a bowl and drank.

"Hey, Zhufeng, that's not how it's done!"

Liu Chen chuckled.

"Alright! I won't! I'll drink till the end!"

Chen Xiaobei picked up the other jar and said, "But, just to be clear, after I finish this jar, none of you are allowed to make a toast to me again! Let's eat, drink and chat! Don't treat me like an enemy! Okay?"

"Alright! If you finish this jar without getting drunk, I, Liu Chen, will pay you the highest respect!"

Liu Chen looked at Chen Xiaobei, with a rush of excitement.

"I'll carry you back if you get drunk!"

Hu Ben smiled at Chen Xiaobei.

"Maybe we can just call it off… I've never seen anyone with an alcohol tolerance as high as Hu Ben…" Ning Yuchen sounded worried.

The liquors here were very different from the ones back on Earth. Even an elite could get drunk on them!

"Gulp… Gulp… Gulp…"

But before Ning Yuchen could finish his sentence, Chen Xiaobei had already raised the jar and was guzzling it down!

"My god! You're really doing it!" Liu Chen stared. "I was just teasing you… Don't force yourself!"

"Zhufeng! That's enough. Liu Chen was just joking with you. Just drink what you can. You don't have to finish the whole thing!" Ning Yuchen said.

"I've already finished!"

Chen XIaobei put down the jar and looked at them as if they were being overly dramatic.

"He…really finished it!" Hu Ben peeked into the jar and exclaimed, "Brother! That was impressive!"

Chen Xiaobei was a little slower than Hu Ben, but he did not stop to take a breath halfway. He finished the entire jar in one breath!

"Wow! Zhufeng! You can really drink!" Ning Yuchen cried. "My tolerance is only one-tenth of Hu Ben's. I would never dare drink like that!"

"Zhufeng, are you alright? Do you feel dizzy? Or like you want to vomit? I can go buy some anti-alcohol drugs!"

Liu Chen was worried. She did not expect Chen Xiaobei to take her joke so seriously.

"I'm fine. Drinking alcohol is like drinking water to me. I just have to pee and I'm fine."

Chen Xiaobei shrugged.

"How… How is that possible…"

The three next to him scratched their heads.

"This is one of the purest starfield hard liquor! If I drink half of the jar, I'd pass out immediately. How can you say that it's like drinking water? That's insane!" Ning Yuchen said.

Both of Liu Chen's eyebrows were raised. "Hu Ben's tolerance is the best among the three of us! Look at him, he's already sweating and his face is beet red! Look at Zhufeng. He looks like he did not even have a drop of alcohol in his system! That's incredible!"

"Brother! That's some extremely good alcohol tolerance!"

Hu Ben praised. "It looks like I have been demoted to 2nd place in the team!"

"That's normal." Chen Xiaobei said. "It's not just you guys. There's no one else in the universe who can drink more than I can!"

Chen Xiaobei placed his hand on his chest as he said this. The secret to his alcohol tolerance lied therein!

"Wah! Zhufeng, don't you think that's a little too much? How could you make such a claim?" Liu Chen said.

Hu Ben nodded and said, "Yeah! You shouldn't be cocksure like that! Or you'll get beaten up!"

Ning Yuchen did not believe Chen Xiaobei either. "There's someone in the 8th Regiment who can drink better than Hu Ben. If you match with him, I'm afraid you'll be vanquished!"

Chen Xiaobei merely shrugged at the comments and said nothing to defend himself.

He was no longer that youth who was eager to win a fight. He no longer felt the need to convince everyone that he was right. Whether he was received with praise or skepticism, he would just laugh it off and not take anything to heart.

Because he understood that no one else knew him better than himself.

On his chest was the Cleansing Bodhi from Duobao Rulai. It was releasing its Special Abilities on him.

Purify, preventing the invasion of dust or poison. Everything cleansed.

That was the Spiritual Ability of the Cleansing Bodhi. It separated the harmful toxics in the liquor that Chen Xiaobei had drank and cleared them from his body.

Which was why whatever Chen Xiaobei drank just now was equivalent to water!

That was the reason he claimed that no one in the universe would be able to drink more than he.

He was not tooting his own horn. He was merely stating a fact that Ning Yuchen and the rest knew nothing about.

Chen Xiaobei did not explain it to them and they did not pursue it any further.

After that, none of them dared drink too much. They settled to chatting and munching, enjoying each other's company.

"I think I was wrong about Hu Ben liking this place. He likes the people here!" Chen Xiaobei raised a new conversation topic.

When Sister Hua came to make a toast, Chen Xiaobei noticed that her relationship with Hu Ben was pretty special. Then all throughout their time there, Hu Ben would steal glances at Sister Hua. Even a fool would know that there was something going on between the two of them.

"Ahem… I don't know what you're talking about…"

Hu Ben blushed and pretended to be really fascinated by the dishes in front of him.

"So, there is a story!" Chen Xiaobei giggled.

"Of course there is! And it's a romantic story of a hero saving a damsel in distress!" Liu Chen blurted. "Once upon a time, there was a beautiful woman called Sister Hua. She gave up the chance to be selected by the temple and came to Silver Plume City to start a small business. She would run it until her ten years is up and then return to her land!"

"Whoa, hand on a minute! What do you mean gave up to be selected by the temple?" Chen Xiaobei interrupted.

"Well," Ning Yuchen began to explain. "During their 10 years' service, if any Northern Wilderness soldier is afraid to die or is not confident that they would be selected by the temple, they can opt to resign from their positions as soldiers. After which they could choose to either to return to their homes or live in the nearest capital city. They will be forcibly sent back to where they came from once their 10 years is up! The referrals of the people who choose to leave after their resignation will not receive any sort of remuneration. But the referrals of those who are sent back forcibly will receive a payment of 30,000 Spiritual Stones!"

"So, you're saying that other than the 150,000 Northern Wilderness soldiers here in Silver Plume, there are also foreigners who had abandoned their posts but did not leave?"

"Yup." Ning Yuchen nodded. "There are nearly 150,000 of them! Sister Hua is only one of them. A lot of people can't take being attacked by those beasts on a daily basis…"

"Excuse me! Do you guys want to listen to my story or not?"

Liu Chen crossed her arms.

"Yes, yes, yes. Continue your story!"

Chen Xiaobei nodded.

Li Chen wet her lips and continued, "As I had mentioned earlier, Sister Hua was a beautiful woman. And beautiful women will always be in the minds of perverted wolves! So, on one dark, windy night, one such pervert was about to get his claws on Sister Hua! This stupid pervert stood over her, his pants already on the floor… But right at that moment, Hu Ben came down from the skies and beat the pervert bloody, screaming and crying as he fled! From that day on, Sister Hua fell in love with the heroic Hu Ben! The both of them would have romantic tryst in the bar nearly every day. They live… er… happily ever after!"

Hu Ben was a deep shade of red. "You little bugger! Don't simply add to the story! It was not as dramatic as you said!"

"Who said I was being dramatic?" Liu Chen retorted. "Isn't Sister Hua pretty? Didn't you kick that pervert's ass until he was half-dead? Or…"

Bam!

Before Liu Chen could continue her defense, the bar door was kicked open.

An obese, big-eared fatty walked in.

He had a bandage wrapped around his head and his arm was still in a cast. From the look on his face, you could tell that he had come to look for trouble.

Smack!

Liu Chen smacked the table and pointed at the fatty and barked. "Who the hell are you? Don't you know who's guarding this bar?"

"Who am I?" Fatty looked straight back at her. "I am the stupid pervert you were talking about!"

"Huh?" Liu Chen's anger was fueled. "So, you're the shithead who bullied Sister Hua! It seems that Hu Ben's punches didn't make an honest man out of you! Where did you find the balls to come pick a fight?"

Ding!

[Cultivation: Early Phase of True Nirvana; Health: 3; Combat power:3]

Chen Xiaobei looked at the idiot. No wonder he got beaten up by Hu Ben.

But why was he so arrogant when he was that weak.

The answer was pretty obvious. He had people backing him up!

"Black Cloud Faction is taking over now! If you don't want any trouble, you should scram!"

Behind the fatty came about twenty men. They all looked like they meant business!

"Black… Black Cloud Faction! What did Sister Hua do to offend them? We better leave! Hurry…"

"We should never come back again…"

"Let's go… We do not want to get involved with the Black Cloud Faction…"

The bustling bar suddenly became empty, leaving only Chen Xiaobei and his friends.

Even the cook and the workers bolted.

"Is this Black Cloud Faction really that scary?" Chen Xiaobei asked out curiosity.

"Of course!" Liu Chen knitted her brows together. "The three factions here at the outer city, Black Cloud, Vicious Dragon, and Formidable Heaven have powerful nobles backing them! No one in their right minds will mess with them!"

"What are the outer and inner city?" asked Chen Xiaobei, taken aback.

"We told you earlier that the Silver Plume citizens are the nobles of this planet. They all live in the inner city!" Ning Yuchen said, "Foreigners are just regular citizens who live in the outer city and are forbidden from entering the inner city! If the people from the outer city have help from those in the inner city, they can stir up trouble and do as they please!"

The fatty's smile grew wider at this. "Since you already know how powerful Black Cloud Faction is, then get down on your knees and apologize!"

"Dream on! A lady like me will never say sorry to a bastard like you!"

Liu Chen glared at the fatty and rejected him.

"Hehe… You are such a cute girl! Well, you can choose to not apologize to me! But, you must sleep with me tonight!"

"Not in a million years! Who gives you the right to bully me! If Hu Ben is powerful enough to beat you into pulp, I can do so as well!" said Liu Chen while swinging her fists.

"That's right! Ju Fei, you better don't cross the line! We are more than willing to beat you up again! We will not step foot into Black Cloud Faction anymore!" said Hu Ben.

"Dream on! You want to beat me up? Do you really think that the men that I bring with me are useless?"

The nickname of the fatty that stood in front of them was Ju Fei. Earlier, he was alone when Hu Ben beat him up. From there, he got to know that Ju Fei was one of the members of Black Cloud Faction. Upon hearing that, Chen Xiaobei activated this Netherspirit Battlesouter to check out the men that came with Ju Fei. Their combat powers were between 33,000 to 35,000. All of them were more powerful than Hu Ben. That was why Ju Fei was bold enough to avenge himself.

Just like Ning Yuchen mentioned earlier, all these people that came with Ju Fei were ex Northern Wilderness Warriors. Now, they were working for Black Cloud Faction. In other words, all of them were cowards that had given up their dream. After knowing that, they were weaker than him. Chen Xioabei had decided that he would not bother to fight them. He then continued to eat his barbequed meat and watch them.

Right after that, Ning Yuchen stood up suddenly and shouted, "No matter how many people you bring with you, I will never allow you to hurt my friends! Hurt them and you will get to have a taste of my wrath!"

"Eh? Who the hell are you? How dare you act in such an arrogant manner in front of me? Tell me your name!" said Ju Fei.

"You have no right to know my name! All you need to know that I'm a Four-Star Patinated Bronze Northern Wilderness Warrior! I'm more than willing to have fun with you if you insist to mess with us!"

"What?! Four-Star Patinated Bronze Northern Wilderness Warrior?!"

Immediately, Ju Fei and the rest of the men that came with him felt extremely shock after knowing how powerful Ning Yuchen was. None of them dare to make another move toward them. If the fight broke out, Ning Yuchen alone was enough to defeat all of them.

"Damn! Captain! You are so cool!"

Liu Chen stared at Ning Yuchen like a little fangirl.

"You finally know that I'm actually a good man!"

The moment Ning Yuchen heard Liu Chen's praise, he was delighted!

"Boss! You are the best!"

Even Hu Ben gave him a thumbs-up and complimented him.

"Stop acting cocky in front of me! Four-Star Patinated Bronze elite is nothing to me! You have 10 seconds to kneel down in front of me and apologize! Prepare to bear the consequence if you don't do what I ask you to do!" shouted Ju Fei.

"Stupid fatty! Are you out of your mind? A pile of trash like you guys will never be able to defeat my captain! Clearly, all of you here have a death wish!" said Liu Chen.

"That's right! You guys are supposed to be the one that kneels down before our boss!" said Hu Ben.

On the other hand, Ning Yuchen chose to not say a single word. All he did was glare at them with his chin raised. Since he knew that he was powerful enough to defeat all of them, he would not miss the opportunity to act cocky in front of his enemies.

To their surprise, Ju Fei was not afraid of Ning Yuchen at all.

He then put on an evil smile and said, "Seemingly, none of you are going to do what I just say! Well, let me give all of you a pleasant surprise!"

"Shit! Sister Hua!"

Immediately, Chen Xiaobei jumped up and dropped the barbequed meat in his hand.

At the same time, Ning Yuchen, Liu Chen, and Hu Ben were taken aback by Chen Xiaobei's sudden move as well.

"You finally remember! It's too late!" said Ju Fei.

Just like what Chen Xiaobei expected, there were two intergalactic gangsters came out from the kitchen and they had Sister Hua as their hostage. One of them was holding his hand and put a knife on her neck.

"Ju Fei! I warn you! You better don't do anything stupid!"

Seeing that Sister Hua was being held as a hostage, Hu Ben exploded in anger.

"Well, if you don't want me to do anything stupid, don't stand there and talk to me… Kneel down right now!" shouted Ju Fei.

At the same time, Ning Yuchen and Liu Chen were too shocked to do anything about it. Considering that the enemies were holding Sister Hua as hostage, Ning Yuchen knew that he would not be able to attack the enemies even if he was powerful enough to do so. Let alone Ning Yuchen, not even Chen Xiaobei dared to make any sudden move. After all, a small mistake from them could cost Sister Hua's life.

"Ju Fei! Let me bear all the responsibility! I'm the one that started everything! Come and capture me and let them go!"

Right at the critical moment, Sister Hua managed to act in a calmer manner than the rest of them. She took the initiative to protect all her allies.

"Shut the f*ck up! You have no place to negotiate with me! I was being beaten up and was in the clinic for a whole month before I could walk again! Do you really think that I will do whatever you ask me to do?!" shouted Ju Fei angrily.

"I'm not trying to negotiate with you! Nothing is going to happen to Black Cloud Faction if you guys choose to torture a nobody like me! Don't you forget that you are facing a group of Northern Wilderness Soldiers! They are the one that protects Silver Plume Planet! Have you thought about the consequence if you go against them today? Let me remind you something else! You are just a small-time mob in Black Cloud Faction! You are not the leader or the core member! Black Cloud Faction will not protect you if you make a huge mistake!"

The thing that Sister Hua just said actually made perfect sense. She wanted to use Northern Wilderness Soldier's identity as a chip of bargain to change Ju Fei's mind. The thing that they did not know was Sister Hua had actually came up with all these reasoning long time ago, if not she would not dare to continue to stay here to carry on with her tavern business. Unfortunately, Ju Fei was not afraid of Northern Wilderness Soldiers at all.

"You are right! It's true that I don't dare to mess with the Northern Wilderness Soldiers! But I can make them disappear from here easily!"

Ju Fei swung his hand and the green-eyes intergalactic thug walked towards them and poured a sachet of powder into the alcohol. He then poured it out into four different bowls.

"Drink it if you want Sister Hua to stay unharmed!" said Ju Fei while glaring at them.

"No! Don't drink! No…" shouted Sister Hua.

"Don't worry! It's not poison! It's just some powder that will make you become unconscious! I want to bring them to my place and have fun with them!"

Upon hearing that, Ning Yuchen and the rest of them were drenched in fear. They could already imagine the torture that they were going to go through later. And the reason why Ju Fei insisted to bring them to his place was to make sure that he could kill them without alerting the 2nd Regiment.

"I will drink it!"

Suddenly, Chen Xiaobei stood up and drank the alcohol.

"Zhufeng! Don't…"

Ning Yuchen wanted to stop Chen Xiaobei but Chen Xiaobei had already downed the spiked liquor.

"For the sake of Sister Hua's safety…" Chen Xiaobei said weakly, then using his Oscar-worthy acting skills, he feigned exhaustion and crumbling to the ground and then 'blacking out'.

"See, this kid understands!" Ju Fei smiled with his sausage lips. "I give you three seconds to drink! If you don't, I'll do some artistic carving on your precious Sister Hua's face!"

Then he took out a dagger and waved it around Sister Hua's face.

"No! I'll drink! I'll drink now!"

Hu Ben was true to Sister Hua. He would just have to worry about the consequences of drinking the bowl of liquor later.

Hu Ben drank everything and in a matter of seconds, his large body started to sway. Before he collapsed, he glanced at Sister Hua.

'Idiot…"

Sister Hua shook from head to toe. The rims of her eyes reddened.

"Captain, what should we do?" Liu Chen did not know what to do. There was no way to guarantee Sister Hua's safety if she refuses to drink it. But if she does, she would have to fall into the dirty claws of Ju Fei!

Liu Chen could not accept either consequence.

"Let's just drink…" Ning Yuchen said, having thought about it, "There were so many people in the bar just now. Who knows, the news might have traveled all the way back to base. The colonel will come and save us… If we don't drink, we'll be putting Zhufeng, Sister Hua, and Hu Ben's lives in danger!"

Ning Yuchen was quite the fitting captain. He was calm and made an informed decision.

"Alright…" Liu Chen understood that Ning Yuchen's decision had its basis.

Ning Yuchen was strong but he did not possess remarkable powers.

If he did fight them, Ning Yuchen's mind would be too distracted with Chen Xiaobei, Hu Ben, and Sister Hua. His kind heart would not be able to focus on the battle.

It was all very clear to them. Ning Yuchen and Liu Chen picked up the bowl and fell into a state of unconsciousness.

"Alright! They're all taken care of!" Ju Fei smiled, delighted by his accomplishment. "Take them outside and separate the men from the woman!"

"What about this woman? She has 30,000 combat power. Should I watch her?" The thug forcing down Sister Hua asked.

"Keep watch my ass! Give a bowl of that spiked liquor! I want to invite my brother to have a good time later. Why are you still standing there?" Ju Fei spat.

"Yes, yes, yes… I understand!" The thug nodded and then smiled. "Please send my regards to the leader, Ju Niao!"

"Shut up and do your work!"

The Ju Niao he was talking about was Ju Fei's birth brother. His cultivation was Three-Star Patinated Bronze, which was also 43,000 combat power. He was one of the leaders of Black Cloud Faction.

And because he had this brother, the 30,000 combat powered Ju Fei could lead a group of thugs who were stronger than he was, turning tables and picking fights wherever he went.

…

Outer city, 66th Street.

There stood a pretty big mansion with a garden out front and a pool in the back. While it was no match to the inner-city houses, it was the most luxurious building in the outskirts.

This was where Ju Niao and Ju Fei lived.

Four flying cars parked in the driveway.

Ju Fei walked in the front. As soon as he reached the mansion, a group of his thugs walked up to him, lighting up a smoke and greeting him warmly.

The people following behind were carrying their unconscious guests. They locked Ning Yuchen, Hu Ben, and Chen Xiaobei into a room.

Then sent Sister Hua and Liu Chen to the second floor, into Ju Niao's bedroom.

"Is my brother back?" Ju Fei asked with a cigar hanging from the corner of his sausage lips.

"Not yet…" one of the thugs said, "I think Boss Ju Niao went to visit the Formation Master at 1st Street! He wanted to change the formation here so that he would be able to draw more Spiritual Qi from the Qi Path that lies beneath the ground!"

"Absorb Spiritual Qi? For training again?" Ju Fei shook his head. "I really don't know what's with my brother. He had already resigned from his duty but he is still training! We'll be forced to leave in 5 years' time. What's the point of doing all that?"

"What does that mean?" A dignified voice rang behind him.

It was a man who looked very much like Ju Fei. But while Ju Fei was overweight, this man was well-built and muscular!

"Brother!" Ju Fei gulped and then hurried over to greet him.

"If I don't train hard, do you think you'll be able to live in such a nice house and bring a bunch of your boys to go wreak havoc in town?" Ju Niao said in a frosty tone.

"Er… Of course not! Without your fists, we would both still be living in poverty."

"Remember that!" Ju Niao said, "We still have another three years. If we work our way into 1st Street, we won't be forced to leave and can even be treated as half-nobles!"

"Get… into 1st Street? How's that even possible?"

"Retreat, all of you!" Ju Niao gestured at his people to leave before continuing, "The backup of Black Dragon Faction is gone! A new noble is rising to replace them!"

"The backup of Black Dragon Faction is Zhen Nan from the Lu family, right? Their family history goes back to hundreds of years ago! And, they are well supported by the governor! How is it possible that they are gone now?!"

"Something big happened!" Ju Niao said, "The Southern Town Star Temple on Earth was destroyed! They could not afford to rebuild the portal. Restoration will require a lot of resources. The Lu Family failed to protect it and they need to bear all the responsibility!"

"What… What happened?" Ju Fei's eyeballs nearly fell from their sockets. "Earth is a low-ranking starfield. How could they destroy the Southern Town Star Temple? The very temple that the powerful people form temple built with his own hands! This… is unbelievable!"

"You and all the people of Northern Wilderness Starfield find it unbelievable but it's true!" Ju Niao said, "The Silver Plume City's higher-ups were shaken! The Lu family will be cast out soon! We'll have to wait for the portal to be fixed to find out what really went down. But that does not concern me! What I am concerned about is the new power that is about to replace the Lu family! Knowing that Black Dragon Faction is loyal to the Lu family, the new power will definitely not support the Black Dragon Faction! They will grow their own power instead! If I get the opportunity to become their faction, I will be the next faction leader of Black Dragon Faction The both of us will live in 1st Street and become half-nobles of Silver Plume Planet! Just thinking about it gives me the chills!"

Ju Fei, too, got excited. "Big bro the best! Big bro the strongest! Your little brother has prepared two beautiful women for you. Take it as an early celebration!"

"Beautiful women? Where?"

Ju Niao laughed.

I

"They're in your bedroom!" Ju Fei smirked like the sicko he was. "This pair of beauties are top class products! One of them is a ripe, feminine woman, and the other one is a fair-skinned petite loli. Two of them are the perfect combo!"

"Then what are we waiting for! Let's go! I could really use some relaxation after the whole day of work!"

Ju Niao, who had given a whole speech about working hard and being ambitious, turned into the same lewd man his brother was when he heard the words 'beautiful women'.

These two were as disgusting as they come!

"Come on! Let's have fun until morning! Hehehe…"

Ju Fei smiled.

But before they could even leave the room, someone stood in their way.

"I'm so sorry. But your plans will go down the toilet because you probably won't even be able to see the sunrise!"

Chen Xiaobei walked out of the mansion's front door.

'Aren't you supposed to be with Hu Ben?" Ju Fei looked puzzled. "How could you have woken up so quickly after you drank my psychedelic?"

"Hu Ben? Isn't that the guy who beat you up last time?"

Ju Niao's face darkened momentarily.

"Yeah!" Ju Fei nodded. "Hu Ben had four other people with him. I drugged them all. I don't know why this kid is unaffected."

"Humph! Whatever it is, the fact that he dared stand in my way seals his fate in the grave today!" Ju Niao said, "Someone! Get rid of this idiot for me! Toss him into the beast den! Feed him to my Saber Tooth!"

"There's no need to rush! I want to hear more about the Lu family!"

Chen Xiaobei shot them a harmless look.

The Lu family of Southern Town.

Chen Xiaobei was more than familiar with the name.

Back in Atlantis, Chen Xiaobei was supposedly able to go through the portal peacefully but the retard called Lu Tianbi ruined everything. And another f*cker called Lu Kang who indulged his bully of a son, drove Chen Xiaobei up against the wall.

It resulted in a battle that saw the destruction of Atlantis.

Lu Tianbi and Lu Kang were the cause of Demonic Fox's death!

Chen Xiaobei did not know if both father and son survived but it was his every intention to wreak vengeance on the entire Lu family! It was not enough that they fell from power, Chen Xiaobei wanted every single one of the Lus dead!

Of course, Chen Xiaobei was also interested in the mysterious noble that was about to take over 1st Street.

Getting in would mean becoming half-nobles of Silver Plume Planet and gaining a foothold.

When he finally brings his friends and family over, they would be able to train safely in the secret place and then entertain themselves here during their free time.

Moreover, with the status as half-nobles of society, would win him respect and approval. Then he would be able to live meaningfully and with dignity.

This was what Chen Xiaobei pictured for the future.

He did not want to keep his loved ones confined in the secret space with nowhere to go. How was that any different from being locked up in prison?

"The Lu family? You heard all that?" Ju Niao asked.

"Yeah!" Chen Xiaobei shrugged. "I've been awake the whole time. I even toured the house! I didn't find anything outside but the Spiritual Qi inside the house is really quite dense!"

"You were awake?" Ju Niao said icily, "Then I will have to kill you! Brothers! Charge!"

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

About a dozen of the intergalactic thugs who gathered around Chen Xiaobei.

These were all Zero to Five-Star Black Steel. Amongst the exiles outside of Silver Plume City, their strength was considered pretty good.

Sadly for them, they were weak as f*ck against Chen Xiaobei.

"Die, you bastard!"

The green-haired thug stood in front of the rest. His True Kang formed a Phantom Claw and used his skill, Black Tiger Heartsnatching Skill to attack Chen Xiaobei.

This was a very fierce attack. He was obviously trying to beat the others to the game, to perform well in front of Ju Niao.

"Green Hair! That's not bad at all! Your cultivation is increasing. You're almost Six-Star Black Steel right?" Ju Niao praised. "If you knock this piece of shit over, I will allow you to enter my training room and you can use as much Spiritual Qi as you want the whole day!"

"Thank you Bro Ju Niao!"

Green Hair was ecstatic. He increased his True Qi and reinforced his attack.

The other thugs looked envious. They gritted their teeth and gathered all their energy to attack Chen Xiaobei.

BAM!

Seconds later, Green Hair was sent flying like a human cannon.

His True Kang collapsed and the arm he pointed at Chen Xiaobei with shattered into pieces!

BAM!

BAM!

BAM!

It was not just Green Hair. The 3 other thugs who were standing behind him were sent flying and landed on top Green Hair. Their True Kangs also collapsed. One could imagine how powerful Chen Xiaobei was here. The flying force of Green Hair had just brought forth immense collateral damage to the people that stood behind him.

The wall where the four of them hit crumbled on top of them, burying them alive under its rubble.

"What… the hell…"

The other thugs watched their comrades died in disbelief.

They were completely demoralized.

"Brother… did you see what happened?"

Ju Fei was hiding behind Ju Niao.

"I didn't…" Ju Niao frowned. "Hey kid! What the hell did you do?"

"What did I do? Why don't you come and experience it yourself?" Chen Xiaobei said, straight-faced.

Chen Xiaobei had only punched the palm of Green Hair's claw.

But he was too fast for them. With their cultivation, they would not be able to see Chen Xiaobei's movements. That was why they did not know what happened.

"Try?" Ju Niao sounded hesitant. "What rank are you?"

"Rank?" Chen Xiaobei smiled. "They said I am Zero-Star Black Steel. They wouldn't even give me a uniform."

"Bullshit!" Ju Niao barked. "Do I look stupid to you? How could a Zero-Star Black Steel be as brash as you?"

"Then, what cultivation do you think I am?" Chen Xiaobei asked.

"From what I'm seeing…" Ju Niao rubbed his chin and said, "You are definitely Zero-Star Patinated Bronze! You tried to trick me so that I will attack you with less force! Then you can play dumb and take advantage of that! I'm not that easily fooled, you know!"

"Oh my goodness! You are so smart!" Chen Xiaobei wanted to laugh but he reigned it in. "Then, do you have the balls to fight a Zero-Star Patinated Bronze?"

"Humph! I am afraid of nothing!" Ju Niao narrowed his eyes and said, "I am also Zero-Star Patinated Bronze. I have no reason to be afraid of you! Come, let us have a proper fight!"

'Brother, aren't you three…" Ju Fei looked at his brother with furrowed brows.

"Shut up!" Ju Niao barked. "Our enemy is right in front of us! Don't you let that mouth of yours run!"

"Oh?"

Ju Fei realized his mistake and obediently kept his mouth shut.

Ju Niao was actually a Three-Star Patinated Bronze, 43,000 combat power. He lied so that Chen Xiaobei would not fight him as aggressively. And he wanted to defeat Chen Xiaobei with only a single hit.

Although to Ju Niao, Chen Xiaobei was not considered a threat but Ju Niao wanted to save his energy and win the fight without having to put too much effort into it.

After all, Ju Niao was a thug and not a hero, he could not even be considered as the folks that lived in Jianghu.

He had used this trick on quite a number of people before.

"If you want to fight then fight! Stop talking so much!" Chen Xiaobei said impatiently.

"Alright! Take this!" Ju Niao cried out as he charged forward.

When he saw that Chen Xiaobei looked unafraid and unintimidated, Ju Niao rejoiced inside, thinking that his deception had worked.

"Go to hell, you retard! Haha! Who told you to pick a fight with my brother?!"

Ju Fei laughed.

From his perspective, Chen Xiaobei had taken the bait and underestimated his brother. This meant that his brother could beat Chen Xiaobei without so much as lifting a finger! They would never, even with a hundred borrowed brains, figured out that Ju Niao's cultivation had already been revealed to their enemy via the Netherspirit Battlescouter.

What was more, they would never, for the life of them, figure out that this young man before them was not just a fierce tiger, but a formidable dragon!

One might be able to cheat a tiger into falling into a trap but not a fire-breathing dragon!

Slap!

Just as both brothers were celebrating their small victory, a loud, crisp sound filled the air. It had come from Ju Niao's face.

"Argh…"

A scream like a pig being slaughtered followed.

Ju Niao spun around for ten rotations like a spinning top before collapsing head first to the ground. Whatever Three-Star Patinated Bronze or True Kang Armor did not even get a chance to be used.

Blaaaargh…

Ju Niao opened his mouth and blood and fragments of teeth came pouring out. One half of his face was swollen so big it looked like it was about to burst open. There was even a dark purple palm print on that side of his cheek.

'What just happened?" The other thugs looked at each other quizzically. None of them saw what happened.

"What happened? Who can tell me what just happened?"

Seeing the brother he worshipped lying on the ground like that threw Ju Fei off balance, losing control of his emotions.

"Do you really want to know what happened?" said Chen Xiaobei who suddenly appeared next to him.

"What rubbish! Of course I want to know!" Ju Fei shouted back. He was too worked up to notice who was talking to him.

Smack!

Chen Xiaobei raised his arm and slammed it across Ju Fei's mouth.

"Arghhhh! Urghhh…"

Because his cultivation was low, Ju Fei was sent flying into the air where he spun 180 degrees before falling down hard onto the floor.

"Aaaaargh… Ooof… Brfff…"

The idiot's face was angled to one side, and his sausage lips were squished, making him look like a big, fat duck lying in his own pool of blood and dental remnants.

"So, do you know what happened now?"

Chen Xiaobei looked down at Ju Fei, smiling.

"I… I…"

The pain was too much that Ju Fei could not even get his thoughts out.

But it was also mostly because he was too frightened to speak, for fear that his lips might betray him and say something stupid. What he said earlier was enough to provoke Chen Xiaobei to smack him this hard. He could only imagine what Chen Xiaobei would do to him if he did it the second time.

"Hey kid, you are so sly…" Ju Niao sucked in a deep breath and said, "Aren't you Zero-Star Patinated Bronze… How could you be so strong…"

"You are the one who said that. I never told you that!"

Chen Xiaobei shrugged, looking nonchalant.

"I… Blaarrrgh…"

Ju Niao was so upset he threw up another puddle of blood.

He realized that he was the one who had been deceived. His plan came back to bite him in his ass!

"My friend… I admit defeat… You can take your people. From today onward, we will not interfere in each other's' business…" Ju Niao said breathlessly.

Chen Xiaobei was too strong for Ju Niao. So, other than begging to be at peace with each other, Ju Niao had no other option!

"We will not interfere in each other's businesses? Ha! Keep dreaming, buddy!"

Chen Xiaobei walked over to Ju Niao, picked him up with one hand and then his little brother with the other hand, and walked into the mansion.

"My friend… We can sit down and talk… Don't do anything rash… Buddy… Hero… Big Brother… Boss…"

Ju Fei and Ju Niao begged.

All the other thugs remained where they were, too afraid to move, what more to try and stop Chen Xiaobei.

Inside the house.

BAM!

BAM!

Chen Xiaobei tossed the brothers in the center of the living room and then sat on the couch, with one leg crossed over the other.

The brothers huddled together, too afraid to even breathe aloud.

Chen Xiaobei was not in a rush. He took out the Green Jade Gourd, popped the lid open and said, "Absorb!"

The gourd sucked in the Spiritual Qi that filled the mansion!

From what he found out earlier, Chen Xiaobei understood that the Northern Wilderness Starfield's Spiritual Qi were much denser than those on earth. But since he left the secret space, Chen Xiaobei had not detected the presence of an abundance of Spiritual Qi. Apparently, the Spiritual Qi were all amassed by the powerful people of this planet who used Spiritual Qi Harvest Formation to stash the Spiritual Qi away into their homes.

Take this mansion for example.

There was no spiritual Qi outside the house. But through a small formation, all the Spiritual Qi from the Spiritual Path were accumulated inside the house for the owner's personal use. Only now did Chen Xiaobei experience the density of the Spiritual Qis here in Northern Wilderness Starfield. A rough estimation puts about 5,000 Spiritual Stones' worth of Spiritual Qi in this house.

That was a quite a harvest for Chen Xiaobei!

"My… My Spiritual Qi…"

The uninjured half of Ju Niao's face showed a forlorn expression.

Clearly, it took quite an undertaking to fill the house with Spiritual Qi.

How could Ju Niao not be upset when Chen Xiaobei took it all away from him just like that?

"Is your life or Spiritual Qi more important?" Chen Xiaobei asked, his lips curved into a half-smile.

"Li…life, of course…" Ju Niao said.

"You are not that stupid after all!" Chen Xiaobei said, "If you don't want to die, you will answer whatever I ask!"

I

"Ask… Just ask! I will tell you whatever you want to know!"

Ju Niao nodded subserviently.

Here in this world, strength was the law. Chen Xiaobei had the ultimate strength, and therefore the power to kill.

The only way to live was to comply.

"Frist, let's talk about the Lu family!" Chen Xiaobei said, "Tell me everything you know. I want to understand as much as possible!"

"Erm… the Lus…" Ju Niao dug deep into his memory and said, "We'll have to start from 200 years ago. They were foreigners who came from a low-ranking starfield! The Lu family's ancestor was chosen by the Northern Wilderness Temple to be their disciples and was granted the rights to permanent residency. So, he would do complete the tasks assigned to him by the temple. On all those missions, he would always encounter incidents that would increase his cultivation. In a short period of ten years, he became a demigod! Once a person reaches this status, they could become a 1-star elder of the temple, recognized by the Northern Wilderness Starfield and treated like royalty! Shortly after, the Lu ancestor came to Silver Plume City and brought his own people from the low-ranking starfield here! The Lus had officially set their roots here! For the rest of the 100 years, they have been continuing their bloodline! Other than that first ancestor, two other members of the family became demigods. They were dispatched to low-ranking planets to become the head of the temple over there! I can say that their pockets are full! Many Silver Plume citizens were envious of the Lu family's prosperity and wealth! So, when Southern Town Star Temple was in trouble recently, many people, mostly those in power and money, wanted to take the opportunity to crush the Lus!"

Ju Niao revealed a lot. After all, the thing that he just told Chen Xiaobei was no secret. Those who were in power knew everything about the Lu family.

"Will the Lus be overthrown?" Chen Xiaobei asked. "Their ancestor was an elder of the temple and two of his descendants were demigods! After so many years, they are packed with resources! I don't think even the governor of Silver Plume City has the power to remove them!"

"I'm not too sure about that…" Ju Niao shook his head and said, "The incident has not been made known to the public. Maybe the governor is waiting for the leaders of the temple to make up their mind!"

Whether the Lu family would be let off the hook or if they would be severely punished rested on the Northern Star Temple's decision.

Chen Xiaobei figured that out himself so he did not ask Ju Niao about it.

"Black Dragon Faction is assisted by the Lus. How did they react?" Chen Xiaobei asked.

"Black Dragon Faction's leaders are panicking. They had a full day of meeting today! Everyone knows that if the Lus fall, Black Dragon Faction will also fall…" Ju Niao suddenly paused and swallowed hard. "Er… are… you thinking of forming a new Black Dragon Faction in the outer city?"

"No! I'm not interested in gangs!" Chen Xiaobei chuckled to himself and said, "But I have a friend who might be interested in becoming a gangster boss at a foreign planet like this!"

Your friend? Hu Ben?" Ju Niao was stunned for a moment. "They are soldiers! They don't have the skills to manage a gang!"

"No, of course not Hu Ben!" Chen Xiaobei's eyes then turned frosty. "Everything that I've done today and everything that I've said will be kept a secret from Hu Ben and the others! If you let anything leak, I will come back at any time to kill the both of you!"

"Yes, yes, yes… We won't say a word to anyone…"

The brothers nodded their heads earnestly. At that moment, Chen Xiaobei was like their emperor. Every word he said was sacred.

If they fail to obey the emperor's orders, they would be sentenced to death!

"The friend I was referring to is not in Silver Plume Planet. They might come here in the future…"

Chen Xiaobei smiled at that thought.

The friend Chen Xiaobei was talking about was his homeboy Fire Boss back on earth.

He thought about how they used to visit the street with the pubs and dominate the entire area until they controlled the entire Green Town's underworld! During that time, Chen Xiaobei did not feel anything about it. Now, whenever he thought about it, he could feel the rush going into his mind! To him, it was his most glorious time!

The gang here in outer space brought back memories of the time he spent with Fire Boss.

If he ever got the chance, Chen Xiaobei would bring Fire Boss here and gave him the position of intergalactic boss! Of course, this plan was all in his head for now. Chen Xiaobei himself did not have a firm footing in this place yet. If he brought Fire Boss here now, things might not end well for them.

"Alright. That's all I want to know for now. I will leave some Spiritual Qi to you. When I have time, I will come back to have tea with you!"

Chen Xiaobei put away the Green Jade Gourd and stood up from the couch.

He now had taken 5,000 Spiritual Stones worth of Spiritual Qi.

The last time he spoke to the Prime of Tongtian, Chen Xiaobei learned about Laotzu's character and the way he dealt with different matters.

Instead of cutting them off completely, he left some backup for himself so that it might benefit him in the future.

"You'll come…back?" Ju Niao gulped.

"Why? Am I not welcomed?" Chen Xiaobei asked.

'No! No! You're welcomed here! The door is open for you!"

And because of Chen Xiaobei had decided to spare their lives, Ju Niao was grateful for that. At least they would not turn into sworn enemies.

"That's great!" Chen Xiaobei ordered. "Bring Hu Ben and the others out. If anything else happens to Sister Hua's tavern in the future, I will hold you responsible!"

"No! No! Nothing will happen!" Ju Niao shook his head repeatedly. "I swear, not only will there not be any trouble in her tavern. Her business will flourish and prosper!"

"Good! That's very good!" Chen Xiaobei nodded and said, "I am reasonable. You helped me so when you need help, I can also help you!"

"Re… Really?" Ju Niao asked in disbelief. He did not expect to receive such an unexpected surprise!

Ju Niao was in no position to even be in the company of the likes of Chen Xiaobei. To be able to get help from him was like an amazing surprise!

"I don't simply make promises!"

Chen Xiaobei shrugged.

'Then… Then… Leave us your number…" Ju Niao said.

"Number?" Chen Xiaobei raised a brow. "Can a lowly phone be used here?"

"No… Didn't the army give you an intergalactic mobile phone?" Ju Niao asked.

Chen Xiaobei shook his head.

"Alright! Let me give you one!"

Ju Niao ran upstairs and came back with a phone. "My brother gave this to me as a gift only a few days ago. I haven't had the chance to open it! Dami 17 Intergalactic Cellphone! It doesn't require charging, is waterproof and dropproof! The alarm will ring if the distance between you and it are more than ten meters! Definitely a top-tier security system!"

"Are you going to say that this cellphone is going to sell for 998 RMB?"

Chen Xiaobei felt like they were about to sell him a replica cell phone from Earth.

When the crowd woke up in the second morning, they found out that they were being sent to Sister Hua's tavern.

"Erm… Hu Ben… Where are we…" asked Ning Yuchen while opening his eyes slowly.

Hu Ben then lifted up his head and checked his surroundings.

"Boss… This… This is Sister Hua's tavern!"

"Something is not right! Get up! Everyone wake up! I thought we are supposed to be kidnapped by Ju Fei? How did we come back here? How is this even possible? Sister Hua! Where is Sister Hua?!" asked Liu Chen in astonishment.

"I'm here!"

Sister Hua was the one that woke up the earliest. So, she went to the kitchen and prepared breakfast for all of them.

"I have no idea what happened to us as well. When I woke up just now, I saw everyone lying on the table like a drunkard." Said Sister Hua.

"Where is Zhufeng? He is the weakest among us! I hope nothing bad happened to him!"

Amongst them, Ning Yuchen cared about Chen Xiaobei the most.

"He's there! Still sleeping like a baby!"

Sister Hua pursed her lips and stared that Chen Xiaobei like he was her little brother.

"Zhufeng is fine! That means everyone is unharmed! This is great! False alarm!" said Hu Ben with a sigh of relief.

"Hold on! Something is really no right!"

Liu Chen walked toward Chen Xiaobei and checked on him.

"Alright! I don't think there's anything wrong with him! It's not like you don't know that he is the weakest among us! Now that everyone is fine, please don't go and disturb him! Let him sleep longer! He drank the most last night," said Ning Yuchen.

"He is right. Let him sleep in the tavern for a little longer… After breakfast, we will have to say goodbye to this place for good." said Sister Hua with a long sigh.

Upon hearing, everyone was shocked.

"I can understand her decision… Since we have offended the Black Cloud Faction, there's no way that Sister Hua can carry one with her business here!" said Ning Yuchen.

"It's okay! I still have some savings with me. We can go to other places to continue the business!"

Though Hu Ben was disappointed, he knew his responsibility as a man very well.

"All 20 streets here belong to Black Cloud Faction… You guys can only move to territories that belong to Black Dragon Faction or Formidable Heaven Faction! We will have to start from zero since we are going to lose all of our regular customers!" said Liu Chen, frowned.

"It doesn't matter anymore. I'm don't want to continue with this business anymore! I don't wish to trouble Hu Ben! I have some saving as well. I plan to look for a place to settle down and have a peaceful life for a few years. When Hu Ben is done serving the planet, I will leave this place with him…"

Everyone felt really sad when someone important was about to leave them really soon.

"Everyone is here?"

Suddenly, a muscular and plump man entered the tavern. The two of them look really similar. There was a high chance that they were brothers. Everyone could notice that their faces were wrapped with bandages.

"Ju Fei! Ju… Ju Niao! What the hell are you guys doing here?"

Every single person in the tavern was taken aback when they saw them.

Ju Niao was the big boss for the few streets around them. The reason why Ju Fei dared to do whatever he wanted here was all because Ju Niao vowed to protect him.

"Ju Fei! What the hell you want now?! You just messed with us last night! And now you bring your brother with you to mess with us again?! Do you really think that we will do nothing this time?" said Ning Yuchen angrily.

As for yesterday, the reason why Ning Yuchen did not dare to fight with them was because they had Sister Hua as hostage. Now that Sister Hua was safe, Ning Yuchen had nothing to fear anymore. At the same time, Hu Ben and Liu Chen were prepared to fight with them as well. The moment Ning Yuchen constricted Ju Niao, the two of them would charge at Ju Fei and beat him into pulp.

"No! No! No! This is a huge misunderstanding!"

Feeling nervous, Ju Niao took a quick peek at the sleeping Chen Xiaobei.

"We did not come here to mess with you guys. We are here to say sorry!" said Ju Niao.

"What? Say sorry?"

None of them could believe what they just heard. Those that knew Ju Niao from Black Cloud Faction would never apologize to anyone. He would rather choose to fight if things did not go his way. That was how he took control of the few streets here.

"You guys heard it right! I'm here to say sorry! My brother, Ju Fei had a high fever last night and he ate the wrong medicine! That explains why he did not know what he was doing yesterday! For that, I want to apologize on behalf of my brother!" said Ju Niao in a sincere manner.

"What? High fever? Ate the wrong medicine?"

"Ju Niao! Are you sure you are not messing with us?! This whole thing looks really fishy!" asked Liu Chen.

"I will never dare to mess with you guys!"

"Will not dare? What are you afraid of?"

Because of her paranoid nature, Liu Chen soon caught the key point of Ju Niao's statement.

"I… I…"

Rendering speechless, he promised Chen Xioabei that he would not say a single word about his true strength.

"I know! I think he's afraid of telling something that he shouldn't tell! If he does so, the captain of the 2nd Regiment might come looking for him!" said Ning Yuchen with a smile.

"Right! Right! Right! I'm afraid of the captain of the 2nd Regiment!"

Right when he was trying to figure out some logical excuse, Ning Yuchen did him a favor unconsciously. Liu Chen felt that it all made sense. That was why she did not ask more about it. Upon hearing that, Chen Xiaobei smiled secretly. Ning Yuchen and Liu Chen had always like to argue with each other. Because of her paranoid nature, Ning Yuchen would need to constantly look for some logical explanation to make her feel better. As time passed by, this had become their default way to communicate with each other.

"If that's the case, does that mean Sister Hua can continue with her business here?" asked Hu Ben in an excited manner.

Though Sister Hua did not say anything about it, she was actually glad as well.

"Of course! Not only that, I will make sure that your business will become better than before! It will be smooth sailing from now on!"

"This…"

Hu Ben and Sister Hua felt like they were living a dream that they had longed for. Knowing that Ju Niao was the boss of this area, they knew that he would definitely keep his promise.

"This is great! Too great!"

Liu Chen and Ning Yuchen felt happy for them as well.

It was at that moment Chen Xiaobei decided to get up from his 'sleep'.

He then put on a smile and said, "Breakfast smells really good! I want one too!"

"Are you a pig? Who would ask for food seconds right after they wake up?!" said Liu Chen.

Ning Yuchen, Hu Ben, and Sister Hua laughed together when they heard Chen Xiaobei's request. On the other hand, Ju Niao and Ju Fei could not figure out why a powerful elite like Chen Xiaobei wanted to act weak in front of them.

Ju Fei and Ju Niao left.

Liu Chen told the whole story to Chen Xiaobei who had 'just woken up'.

Chen Xiaobei had to put on an act and play along with Liu Chen.

"Oh, yeah. Let's exchange numbers so that we can contact each other easily."

Chen Xiaobei took the opportunity to change the subject.

"Do you have an intergalactic cellphone?"

"Of course!"

Chen Xiaobei took out the Dami 17 that Ju Niao had given to him. "It's the military's! I still haven't had a chance to use it!"

'That… That's a Dami 17?!"

Liu Chen stared at the phone in Chen Xiaobei's hands.

"Why?" Chen Xiaobei furrowed his brows, realizing that something was off.

"You're a liar! The military uses Dami 16! It doesn't have an antitheft system!" Liu Chen grunted. "Tell us honestly! Why did you have to lie?"

"I…"

Chen Xiaobei felt a trickle of sweat run down the side of his forehead. That idiot Ju Niao did not tell him this little detail! He did not know what to do, so he looked to Ning Yuchen.

Knowing Ning Yuchen's personality, he would have a reason to counter Liu Chen's question.

"Do you really have to ask?" Ning Yuchen's mouth flew opened to explain. "Zhufeng must have asked the elder from the temple to help him buy it! He didn't want to appear 'special' so he tried to cover it up by saying that the military gave it to him!"

"Is that true?"

Liu Chen looked doubtful.

"Of course! Of course, it's true!"

Chen Xiaobei exhaled. The only person who could handle this girl was Ning Yuchen.

To his surprise, he did not know that he could ask the Star Temple elder to help him buy stuff from the galaxy. This intergalactic cellphone must work on Earth too. That must be how the news about Atlantis traveled so fast to Northern Wilderness Starfield.

"Zhufeng! I really have to reprimand you for this. We are so close now, we shouldn't be hiding things from each other." Ning Yuchen said, smiling. "Tell us honestly, you spent a lot of Spiritual Stones for it, didn't you?"

"Huh? You have to use Spiritual Stones to buy this phone?" Chen Xiaobei accidentally let slip.

"You are the one who bought it. Didn't you know that you have to spend some Spiritual Stones?" Liu Chen asked.

Chen Xiaobei did not need Ning Yuchen's help this time. "Er… My family on Earth took care of everything. They must have gotten it…"

Liu Chen nodded, which meant she bought it.

The people who were able to enter Northern Wilderness Starfield would need the recommendation of six demigods!

Other than prodigies, only fuerdai brats would get the chance.

Liu Chen believed that Chen Xiaobei was a rich brat that got the support from powerful people, that was why his cultivation was so low. He would not even blink when buying a Dami 17.

"Alright! Now that we've cleared all that, let's exchange numbers!" Ning Yuchen said.

So they gave each other their phone numbers.

After everything was done, Chen Xiaobei asked. "How many Spiritual Stones for this phone?"

"Your is the latest model. It's priced at 998 lower-grade Spiritual Stones!" Ning Yuchen replied.

"What the hell! No way! How could a shitty phone cost so much?"

Chen Xiaobei's eyes widened.

It would be very difficult to get 998 Spiritual Stones! But you could only buy a crappy phone with it!

"That's nothing unusual! Remember that this is not Earth!" Ning Yuchen explained. "Northern Wilderness soldiers don't need to work, and the jobless vagrants are shunned by the locals. They are not allowed to help with the production! Which is to say that, the people who make these phones are all nobles! They are paid with Spiritual Stones. Their monthly payments begins with 5,000 lower-grade Spiritual Stones!"

Chen Xiaobei was astonished by this information. "What the hell?! 5,000 lower-grade Spiritual Stones as starting salary? Let me go and work this job as well!"

"That's nothing." Ning Yuchen shook his head and said, "The things that are really expensive are the raw materials. Take the parts used to make this cellphone as an example!"

"Metal, glass, plastic… There are all readily available on Earth It would require a very complicated process to import it to the factories! The copper mine that produces the parts are from Black Neutron Star, and the silicone mine that produces glass in Sapphire Aqua Planet. To transport all these, the fuel for the spaceship, the Spiritual Qi for the portals, these are all numbers! You could say that the phone in your hand is made up of Spiritual Stones. Its production doesn't really make any profit."

Chen Xiaobei was dumbstruck. "One phone for 998 Spiritual Stones and yet they don't make any profit off it? That's insane!"

But when you really think about it, it's really not that strange.

In Silver Plume Planet, the nobles lived a comfortable life in the capital city. The work they did were also relaxed. Outside the capital city, other than the military camps, were just uncultivated land inhabited by Demonic Beasts, making it difficult to even mine the available resources.

Interstellar transportation was a distance of hundreds of thousands of kilometers and thousands of light years. If you take all of that into consideration, the price of the phone was actually really low.

Chen Xiaobei looked at the Dami 17 in his palm. It suddenly felt very heavy in his hand.

An audacious thought crossed Chen Xiaobei's mind.

If he could gather a whole bunch of Returning Bracelets, he could mark each of the places where the raw materials are produced. Then, the exorbitant cost of interstellar transportation would be reduced to zero!

Then the profit margin would shoot through the roof!

"Okay, so other than cell phones, what are other living costs that are just as high? What about the price of items here?" Chen Xiaobei asked.

Chen Xiaobei had planned to bring his family and friends over here after all. He would need to know the price of the commodities so that they would not have to live in poverty.

"Items here are quite expensive as well." Ning Yuchen said, "Dining at Sister Hua's place would cost about 35 Spiritual Stones!"

"No way!" Chen Xiaobei was sweating under his shirt. "If you convert that to yuan, that's 3 to 5 billion yuan for one meal! In one week's worth of meal could bankrupt the entire richest families at Green Town City which is the Lan family!"

"You really need to change your thinking! This is not Earth! This is not Earth! This is not Earth! Important things need to be repeated thrice." Ning Yuchen said, "Sister Hua uses only the organic Spiritual Ingredients from the nobles' farms! The roasted meats are from the Half-Spiritual Beast' that the nobles rear! How could it be cheap?"

Liu Chen added, "You haven't even eaten at the banquets prepared by the chefs in 1st Street. If you don't have at least a few hundred spiritual stones, you will be kicked out!"

"Hnm…"

Chen Xiaobei's eyes lit up as a certain top chef popped up in his mind.

The bad thing about expensive things is that the people buying them will spend a lot of money. But the good thing about it is that the people selling them would earn even more.

Chen Xiaobei toyed with the idea of bringing Uzuishi Akaihi here so he could open up a restaurant. The other chef's dishes might cost a few hundred spiritual stones but Uzuishi Akaihi would have no problem taking less than a dozen.

That would catch the attention of the Silver Plume nobles. Then, Chen Xiaobei could sell each table for tens of thousands.

Chen Xiaobei smiled to himself thinking about it.

"What the hell are you thinking about now?"

Liu Chen gave Chen Xiaobei a strange look.

"Nothing. I just thought of a friend of mine. He is one of the top chefs on Earth!"

"Why? He wants to open a restaurant here?" Liu Chen laughed. "Not to rain on your parade or anything, but no matter how good the chef is considered on Earth, he wouldn't know how to work with the ingredients here! It took a lady with a pure heart like Sister Hua many years to master it!"

"Are you sure you're not exaggerating?" Chen Xiaobei gasped.

"Liu Chen is right." Ning Yuchen nodded and said, "If any top chef can just waltz in and master intergalactic delicacy, then the governor of Silver Plume City would have died of over consuming food!"

"Silver Plume's governor? What about him?" Chen Xiaobei asked.

"You don't know?" Liu Chen explained. "He is a major foodie! Every month, he will travel to 1st Street and people will offer up extravagant dishes to him! If he is satisfied with a dish, he will reward the cook handsomely!"

"Foodie? Rewards?"

Memories suddenly flooded Chen Xiaobei's mind.

He thought about how his earliest best friend Yanwang was a foodie. Almost all the deities and monsters from Red Envelope Group were happy with the food that Chen Xiaobei sent to them. That was how Chen Xiaobei was rewarded with piles of Red Envelopes.

Chen Xiaobei suddenly had an idea and he grinned. "Brother Ning, do you think he will like it if I give him a packet of spicy sticks?"

It was with spicy sticks that Chen Xiaobei made Yanwang gave him whatever he wanted.

But his question was not well received. They all shot him an anxious look.

"Why? Why are you guys looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?"

Ning Yuchen answered, "Here is Silver Plume city, the words spicy sticks is forbidden!"

"Huh? What? Why? What did spicy sticks ever do?"

"Many years ago, someone from Earth tried the same thing you are suggesting. He gave the Silver Plume's governor a packet of spicy sticks and he even told everyone that spicy sticks were a rare delicacy!" Ning Yuchen said, "In the beginning, the governor enjoyed eating the spicy sticks. He treated it like gold and would only eat half a piece every meal! The person who served him the spicy sticks was rewarded handsomely. He was even allowed to marry a noble woman and live in the inner city!"

Chen Xiaobei exclaimed, "Sigh, someone had already used this great idea! That's too bad…"

"Too bad? Listen to the whole story before you make your judgment!" Ning Yuchen continued. "He was not the only person from Earth in Silver Plume Planet. Very soon, someone reported that the spicy sticks were a junk on Earth that you could buy for 5 cents! Just imagine, someone like the governor that is high in power in Silver Plume City esteemed a cheap junk food as a gem! In the people's eyes, he was no more than a fool! Soon, his reputation suffered. He was so pissed that he sentenced the person who gave him the spicy sticks to death! He ordered the body to be fed to the Demonic Beasts! From then on, no one dared utter the words spicy sticks. Saying it is like slapping the governor in the face!"

Chen Xiaobei was speechless for a moment.

He had also claimed that the spicy sticks were a rare gem. He used it to exchange for the Netherspirit Battlescouter, Hundred Herbs Potion, and other items.

It ended in a similar way when Xiang Yu revealed the price of spicy sticks to the group.

All the members of the group attacked Chen Xiaobei, calling him the liar. They all wanted to kill him back then!

But luckily, Chen Xiaobei had the Prime of Tongtian's protection.

If he did not have a powerful Sifu, Chen Xiaobei would have been kicked out of the group a hundred times over.

It looked like his idea yielded temporary rewards only. It was unreliable in the long run.

Ding Ring ring!

Ning Yuchen's phone suddenly rang. His conversation with whoever on the other line was brief.

"We have to get back to base! A group of Demonic Beasts appeared. It seemed that they are trying to get to the capital city. We have to stop them now!'

Ning Yuchen stood up first, and the rest followed. After bidding Sister Hua's farewell, they all returned to base camp.

In the base camp of the 2nd Regiment.

Troops after troops of Northern Wilderness soldiers were transported with large flying military convoy to the frontline of the battlefield.

'Why are you only back now?"

A middle-aged man with thick lashes and large eyes stood at the gate of the camp shouted.

"We're sorry, Colonel. We didn't know that there is an urgent mission today!" Ning Yuchen explained.

"Stop babbling and go change into your uniforms! This group of Demonic Beasts are not to be underestimated. We have to deploy all of our men!"

"Everyone? Even you, Colonel?" Ning Yuchen asked.

"Nonsense! Can't you see that I'm in my uniform?"

Chen Xiaobie looked at the colonel's uniform and noticed that the paddings were silver!

That was the symbol of Silver tier!

Ding

[Cultivation: Early phase of Celestial Cultivation; Health: 70,000; Combat power: 70,000]

The rhinoceros had told Chen Xiaobei that he was a golden tier elite because Chen Xaioebei had exerted 90,000 combat power.

This confirmed that at True Nirvana cultivation, every 10,000 combat power would be upgraded to a new rank. As for Celestial Cultivation, every 20,000 combat power would be upgraded to a new rank. The more powerful the person was, the harder it was for him/her to gain a new rank.

"You only need 70,000 combat power to be a colonel. I wonder what I can be?"

Chen Xiaobei thought to himself.

"Colonel! What about Zhufeng?" Ning Yuchen asked.

"Him?" The colonel pointed at Chen Xiaobei with a look of disdain and said, "He'll stay here, of course! I already said that this group of beasts are different. Even the Nine-Star Patinated Bronze Woldemar died! This guy is just a Zero-Star Black Steel. Are we going to feed him to the Demonic Beast for breakfast?"

"Er, you have a point…" Ning Yuchen nodded and then turned to Chen Xiaobei. "Zhufeng, you can wait in our room. If you're bored, you can go find Sister Hua. We'll contact you on our way back."

"Okay. I don't want to inconvenience you. Hurry, go and get changed." Chen Xiaobei conceded.

The three of them, Ning Yuchen, Hu Ben and Liu Chen hurried to their rooms.

"Good, at least you know what to do!" The colonel eyed Chen Xiaobie and then said, "Be good! If you could get to Three-Star Black Metal in the shortest time possible, I will make an exception and take you into our regiment!"

"Thank you, Colonel!"

Chen Xiaobei smiled but he secretly disagreed.

'I would never be a common soldier in the 2nd Regiment. I might not even agree to become your superior even if were to beg me.'