Chapter 571: Sold Out!
Chapter 571: Sold Out!
Sect Mission Hall, 12th Initiate Mountain Peak.
Sun Bin stood before Tugu, listening to the report.
"So, you're saying that the centipedes are tamed monsters?"
Tugu nodded, "Yes, elder. Please confirm them."
Ten centipedes crawled toward Sun Bin and stayed in a formation. They looked at the elder with their innocent eyes.
Sun Bin gazed at the small centipedes before he looked at the bigger ones behind Tugu, "I ȧssume that those are now your pets."
"Yes, elder. They're now listening to my commands."
"Good. You have completed your mission. Here are your coins."
Sun Bin passed 50 coins to Tugu. Then, he brought out a storage orb and pulled the 10 baby centipedes inside the orb's pocket space.
Tugu and others felt a bit of discomfort as the connections between them and the monsters were cut off. Fortunately, no one was harmed.
The group excused themselves. They walked toward the mission board to find another job.
Sun Bin also returned to his office. He contacted a grand elder, using an elder badge as a telephone.
"We have the samples that you require. Please send someone to pick them up."
The badge glittered and a voice from the opposite side sounded, "You're fast. I thought it would take years to complete the subjugation."
"I also have a new report. The new samples are domesticated pets, and we can actually acquire them from one of our initiates."
"Oh! That's big news. Who is that rookie?"
"The rumor illegitimate child of Lord Adam."
"Oh, him? I thought he wanted to stay low-profile. He is going to create a commotion if he starts using those centipedes."
"From the report, he is selling them, though."
"They're for sale? How much for a centipede?"
"One year of lifespan per one baby. Ten years for an ȧduŀt one."
Sun Bin could hear the sound of someone falling off a chair. A few moments later, the grand elder's voice got louder, "I'll head there myself!"
"…"
Sun Bin ended the call. He leaned on his wooden chair and sighed, "Mao Miaomiao, what kind of business are you running? Why are you seeking trouble when you can hide and cultivate in peace?"
…
Day 51
Strangely, the creatures were sold like hotcakes. Even candidates and other vendors showed up to see what was going on.
A rumor about the shop soon spread throughout Cherry Boy City. Everyone was surprised that they could buy a monster pet for one year of lifespan, so they rushed to Miaomiao's stable and the ex-garbage pit to see them.
Noticing that the weakest centipede was as strong as a stellar constellation immortal, they didn't hesitate to buy them in bulk. Many wealthy clans, rogue cultivators, candidates, and initiates fought to buy as many centipedes to use them as their bodyguards or combat helpers.
Because of the chaos, deacons from the sect came down to maintain order. Everyone settled down and formed queues, waiting in line to purchase the pets.
Miaomiao was happy with the booming business and the ȧssistance from the sect. He stood in front of the stable, managing the floating system menu and waiting for new customers.
"Next please," Miaomiao called for the next customer after he had sold 10 ȧduŀt centipedes to a rogue cultivator.
The next in line was an elder of a clan. He examined the semi-transparent screen in astonishment.
"So, I can see my lifespan here, too?"
As the elder was a 7-Star Constellation Immortal, his lifespan was in 7 digits. He seemed so happy that he had so many years to live.
"Can I buy the queen centipede?"
Miaomiao shook his head, "The queen is not for sale. We only sell the babies or the ȧduŀt ones."
"What a shame. Then, give me 1,000 ȧduŀt centipedes."
Miaomiao narrowed his eyes, "Are you sure? That's 10,000 years of lifespan."
"I have two million years to live. Why not spend 10,000 years for my clan? We, cultivators, usually die in battle. No one can tell if I can live until I run out of lifespan."
Being a cultivator was harsh. Most of them never got to die old as they were either killed in a battle or perished by an accident. Therefore, not many immortals could live past 100,000 years.
Miaomiao grinned. He happily transferred 1,000 ȧduŀt centipedes to the elder.
The crowd in the queue was shocked when an army of giant centipedes followed the elder and departed from here. It looked like a monster parade that they could only see in picture books.
Everyone was excited. They wanted to have a private army like that as well.
"Next please."
The next one was a rogue immortal, who was also an outlaw. He examined his remaining lifespan.
"Twenty thousand years? I have that many years to live?"
The rogue cultivator's reaction was the same as everybody else. Every disciple, initiate, candidate, and local cultivator here were all strong fighters, so their lifespan was long.
This was a city of elite cultivators. The weakest among them was a nascent soul cultivator.
"Well, how many centipedes would you like to buy, sir?"
"I-I want 100 baby ones!"
CHA-CHING
The rogue cultivator finished his purchase. He laughed and ran toward his resident, carrying small centipedes in his arms.
Then, the next one in the queue rushed to the floating system panel. As he had observed everything for a long time, he knew what to do.
Without saying anything, he input the number and bought 10 ȧduŀt centipedes and 1,000 baby centipedes. Then, he brought out an orb and pulled his new pets into the orb's pocket dimension. He left without saying thanks to Miaomiao.
The next customer came in. This time, he was the innkeeper who had chased out Miaomiao when he first arrived here.
The guy bashfully smiled at Miaomiao, "H-Hello, fellow Daoist. Umm, 20 ȧduŀt centipedes please."
Miaomiao smirked and shook his head. Although he remembered the innkeeper, Miaomiao prioritized business. He transferred 20 centipedes to him after he had confirmed the payment.
The innkeeper bowed to Miaomiao several times before he left.
The next customer rushed to the system panel, and the loop repeated.
…
Day 55
"I'm sorry. The centipedes are sold out."
Miaomiao dryly laughed as a million centipedes in the pit except for the centipede queen were sold out.
"Nooooooo!"
The remaining cultivators, who had arrived late, held their heads in regret. However, several people bellowed, "I'll buy the queen centipede! Name the price!!"
The others followed suit. They surrounded Miaomiao, demanding him to sell the queen.
Miaomiao shook his head, "The queen is not for sale."
One of the people shouted, "I'll pay you 100,000 years of my lifespan for it!"
Miaomiao declined again, "The queen is not for sale."
The crowd was angry. One of the 9th-stage cultivators suddenly decided to make a bold move. He suddenly sent a palm strike at Miaomiao, "If you don't sell it, I'll take it from you!"
Before the angry cultivator could hit Miaomiao, a little catopus spirit appeared in front of him to use his Dao Power. Then, a transparent wall appeared.
BOOM
The palm hit the wall and reflected the attack back to the user!
The cultivator was knocked backward by his own power.
Miaomiao smirked. This transparent wall was one of the NPC System Dao's power. As long as Miaomiao was in the middle of attending a shop, no attack from anyone under the deity realm could harm him. Every attack would be reflected back to the ȧssailant!
Some of the angry crowd was astonished while the rest was alarmed. They stopped protesting and became cautious of Miaomiao.
Barrier and shield techniques were common. However, a shield wall skill that could reflect attacks was a high-ranked technique. Only top disciples and top clansmen possessed it.
Seeing how Miaomiao easily repelled a 9th-stage cultivator's attack, they believed that Miaomiao was an immortal or a deity that had been hiding his cultivation base. The crowd closed their mouths and backed away.
Miaomiao snorted and turned around. He entered the stable before he left them with a piece of good news.
"These centipedes take time to cultivate. I'll post an announcement somewhere when I have more for sale."
"R-Really? You will have more of those?"
"Yes. Please be patient, okay?"
Everyone rejoiced. They cheered and bid Miaomiao farewell while representatives from clans and families contacted their superiors to relay the news.
The crowd dispersed. Still, a few cultivators stayed behind to monitor the stable, hoping to learn Miaomiao's secret of monster taming technique or his true identity.
After the crowd was gone, a military general in his battle armor descended. The aura of a deity frightened every onlooker.
The badge and the uniform of the general shocked the onlookers.
"A-A deity! No, that's Grand Elder Sun!"
Although of them had done anything wrong, they hid from the Eden Garden Sect's grand elder. A few curious immortals observed the deity from a distance with their Qi sense while mortals frantically ran away from this place.
They thought that the elder came here to find fault with the stable owner.
The military general slowly took off his helmet, revealing his aged skin and long straight beard. He walked toward the centipede pit to look at the centipede queen.
"This centipede is odd. It doesn't seem strong, but it carries quite a lot of negative karma."
The elder boldly jumped onto the queen centipede's head and inspect her condition and power.
The centipede did not like being stood on. She screeched and lunged at the elder.
The elder immediately dodged her teeth and teleported away. He smiled and nodded in admiration.
"Okay. Now that I'm sure that it can use negative karma, and it can even steal my Qi. Very interesting!"
In a good mood, the deity left the centipede alone and visited the stable. He knocked on the door and expanded his Qi sense. Then, he directly transmitted his voice to Miaomiao's mind.
'Junior. I want to buy that centipede of yours.'
CREAK
Miaomiao opened the door and frowned at the elder.
As soon as the elder saw Miaomiao's face, he smirked, "We finally get to meet face to face, junior."
"Do I know you?"
"I'm Sun Yang. My brother, Sun Wu, told me a lot about you!"
Again, the Sun surname alarmed Miaomiao that he was in the territory of the Sun Family. Moreover, this deity, Sun Yang, had just declared that he was a relative of Sun Wu.
He wondered what Sun Yang was doing here, "May I help you, senior?"
"I'll get to the point. Give me the centipede queen."
Miaomiao clicked his tongue, "That's impossible. I can't give away my pet for free."
"Who said that I would steal it from you? I'll pay you a thousand Adam Coins!"
Miaomiao was not interested in the coins. He sighed, "I don't need coins. Again, she is not for sale."
Sun Yang frowned for a moment. Then, he had an idea, "How about this? On top of the 1,000 coins, I'll issue a decree to the sect that no one can touch or harm you! Even elders will have to bow down to you!"
"Are you serious? I thought this sect doesn't give preferential treatment to anyone." Although Miaomiao didn't care about the coins, getting a free bouncer was always welcome.
"Of course, I'm serious! See this?" Sun Yang showed Miaomiao of the grand elder's badge, "I'm one of the 12 grand elders of Eden Garden Sect! Not even an elder can offend me or they'll be kicked out from the sect on the spot!
"Oh!"
"Now, give me the centipede."
"…"
Initially, Miaomiao had planned to auction the centipede queen. Unfortunately, Sun Yang suddenly appeared and demanded it.
Miaomiao could always refuse, but he didn't want to provoke the grand elder yet. Moreover, offending Sun Wu, Sun Bin, and Sun Yang might be a bad idea.
For the sake of his peaceful cultivation life, Miaomiao decided to concede the queen centipede to bribe the elder.
It was fine giving her away. After all, Miaomiao could always create a new batch of centipedes as long as he had a sacrificial lamb to kill. He believed that his protagonist luck would bring him more third-rated villains the moment he came out of the stable, and he would get a free hatchery for the next batch.
"Please wait a moment. Let me handle something first."
Miaomiao laughed and operated his shop system. He added the queen centipede to the list.
…
[Quest Management Status]
NPC Name: Mao Miaomiao
Role: Antagonist
Lifespan: 2,801,170 Years
[Quest Achievements]
Quest Level: 0
Farmed Lifespan: 0 Year
Quest Completed: 0
Issued Quests: 0
Quests in Stock: 0
[Vendor Achievements]
Vendor Level: 1
Profited Lifespan: 2,800,000 Years
Item Sold: 1,000,000
Item in Stock: 1
…
[Mao Miaomiao's Shop]
Immortal Queen Centipede (1)
Price – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
…
Miaomiao had sold 800,000 centipede babies and 200,000 ȧduŀt centipedes so far. As a result, he earned 2,800,000 years of lifespan from the business.
The price tag of the centipedes was automatic. Miaomiao couldn't do anything about it since the NPC System Dao never allowed Miaomiao to adjust the rate.
Miaomiao didn't want to sell the centipede queen was for this reason. The price was too cheap, and it should have been over a million years of lifespan instead of 1,000. After all, a queen centipede was as strong as 10-Star Stellar Constellation!
However, Miaomiao couldn't transfer the ownership of his pets to other cultivators without this shop. He added the queen to the list and showed the shop menu to Sun Yang.
When Sun Yang saw the system menu, he was stunned, "Such a strange power. By the way, why does it cost my lifespan?"
Sun Yang inspected his remaining lifespan. Then, he snickered.
Miaomiao also peeked at the status panel, and he had a wry smile on his face.
This freaking deity's lifespan was in 10 digits! It was ridiculous!
Sun Yang didn't mind paying a meager sum of 1,000 years of his lifespan. Then, the centipede queen started crawling toward her new master.
Sun Yang laughed and petted the centipede's glittering scales. He totally ignored Miaomiao's power and the system panel.
Miaomiao coughed, "Senior, 1,000 coins and the insurance please."
Sun Yang smirked. He tossed a jade plate, which his name had been engraved in it. Then, he gave Miaomiao a bag of Adam Coins.
"As promised, here are your coins. You can use them to exchange for our sect's treasures and cultivation manuals. As for the token, just inject your Qi into it when you're in trouble."
Miaomiao inspected the jade token. However, the grand elder instantly vanished and left the stable along with the centipede.
"Haiz."
Miaomiao grumbled. He believed that Sun Yang just conned him, but he couldn't do anything about it. The other party was a deity, and it would have been suicide had Miaomiao provoked the grand elder.
He stored the coin bag and the token in his spatial ring. Then, he shut the stable door.
Now that Miaomiao gained enough lifespan, he was safe to convert another familiar into the next Dao Sentinel. Also, he would test several theories about lifespan consumption with everyone inside his dantian space.
…
The deed of Sun Yang was quickly reported to everyone in the city and local cultivators.
Some of them complained that Miaomiao was being unfair, but many believed that Miaomiao's action was reasonable. After all, the buyer was other than one of the 12 grand elders.
However, Sun Yang's movement attracted the attention of other elders and grand elders as well.
The Black Sun Array hid a prefecture-level city on the surface of Adam's home planet, the Eden Garden. However, the entire city was a private residence of a grand elder, servants, and disciples.
The signboard in front of the protective walls was written in black.
Xie Clan Manor
The Xie Clan and a certain relative of Xie Tian lived there.