In order to make sure that he had plenty of resources to work with when concocting flame, Bai Xiaochun even woke up the little turtle. The little turtle was also very fond of shakedowns, and when he worked together with Zhou Yixing, they created a windstorm of calamity for anyone in their path….
Quite an audience went along with Bai Xiaochun to watch him shake down the nine heavenly marquis clans, and the sight left them stunned. Soon, all sorts of stories began to spread.
“This Bai Hao was born to shake down clans…. How heartless!”
“Heavens! He doesn’t even let the houses stand… he tears them down!!”
“What eyes he has! Every time he points his finger, he finds hidden treasures!! This Bai Hao… could he have been a packrat in a previous life?!?!”
The entire city was abuzz. Even more shocking to the people who were paying close attention was that Bai Xiaochun’s first shakedown took six hours. However, by the time he got to the fourth, he only needed four hours to clean the entire clan out, and even leave most of the buildings in ruins….
By the time he reached the seventh clan, he acted with explosive efficiency. He only took two hours to leave the seventh clan as little more than a crater in the ground….
And yet, that almost didn't count for anything. Most shocking was the ninth clan…. It only took a single hour, and when he departed, not even a grain of dust was left behind…. It was a stunning event to anyone who could see it.
Although Bai Xiaochun had experienced many things in his life, the amount of wealth he was amassing by shaking down these nine clans caused even his heart to pound. In fact, he managed to get his hand on quite a few complete fifteen-colored flames, and even some flames of higher quality!
Those completed flames were extremely important, because they would enable him to cut down on the souls necessary to practice with eighteen-colored flame.
As far as Bai Xiaochun was concerned, seventeen-colored flames were like precious treasures.
By the time he reached the ninth clan, it took a lot of restraint on his part not to go shake down the clan located just across from them.
When the members of that clan saw his greedy, bloodshot eyes, they hurried out to confirm that their clan wasn’t on the list. After all, it would only take a single order on the part of Bai Xiaochun to send his 3,000 corpse troopers into their clan and ruin it completely.
Because of his frenzied shakedown of the nine clans, the name of Bai Hao grew even more infamous in Arch-Emperor City. In fact, it also spread throughout the Wildlands to certain almighty figures in the sects in the Heavenspan River region, who were privy to some of the things that went on in the Wildlands.
By this point, Bai Xiaochun was basically addicted to shakedowns, and thankfully, it was at this point that the Grand Heavenmaster issued another set of arrest warrants. Seven more heavenly marquises were apprehended!
When the Dharmic decree came down, Bai Xiaochun was delighted. Laughing heartily, he descended upon the offending clans in a storm of shakedowns. As a result, the nobility and aristocracy in Arch-Emperor City began to use every means they could think of to reach out to the Grand Heavenmaster and express their loyalty.
For the first time ever, the Arch-Emperor voluntarily went into secluded meditation, which seemed to be a clear message that he was trying to protect the aristocracy and officials. However, the truth was that he was bowing his head in an attempt to win public favor.
The Grand Heavenmaster knew that, but didn’t care. He didn’t want public favor; he wanted people to fear him. And that was exactly what he was accomplishing.
Bai Xiaochun was very pleased, and shook down the next seven clans with even greater efficiency. The spoils caused his eyes to shine as if they were made from gold.
He was not a person who cared much about wealth, and yet, was struggling against the impulse to go shake down all of the heavenly marquis clans in the Arch-Emperor Dynasty…. However, he was always careful to send ninety percent of the goods to Heavenmaster Hall, with one main goal being… helping the Grand Heavenmaster understand how fabulously wealthy these heavenly marquis clans were.
Furthermore, that wealth was one of the reasons for their wild ambitions!
Sadly, after striking twice against the heavenly marquises, the Grand Heavenmaster didn’t do so again.
Bai Xiaochun waited for a while, and then sighed sadly as he thought about the remaining ninety or so clans.
“The Grand Heavenmaster is far too merciful. It would be way better to keep shaking down more of those clans!” However, this session of shakedowns was over, and Bai Xiaochun had no choice but to go back to the Inspections Manor, where he once again went into secluded meditation.
Thanks to all of the multi-colored flame he had acquired, he began to get more and more familiar with eighteen-colored flame. In fact, he advanced by leaps and bounds, to the point where it was almost impossible to calculate how much time and effort he was saving.
The fall of those sixteen heavenly marquises pushed the Grand Heavenmaster’s power to new heights. The Arch-Emperor was now in seclusion, and so were the imperial princes and princesses. Nobody from the imperial clan dared to even take half a step out of their official residences.
Even the four heavenly kings chose to submit to the Grand Heavenmaster in this situation. None of them did anything to provoke him. The Grand Heavenmaster was currently the most powerful and glorious person imaginable, even more so than when he had become a demigod and forced the Arch-Emperor to become his puppet.
Three months passed by. Because of the shakedowns, and because of the Grand Heavenmaster’s power, Bai Xiaochun was more famous than ever. In fact, there were few people in the Wildlands who hadn’t heard of the name Bai Hao. Savages in tribes both large and small feared him, and his notoriety grew as the stories about him spread….
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Chapter
781: Dark Undercurrents Appear
“So you’ve also heard of Inspections Commissioner Bai Hao? He kills people without batting an eyelid. He’s vicious and merciless, and a complete madman!”
“He’s a self-proclaimed wife-stealer who cheats his superiors and defrauds his subordinates! Everyone says that he’s an unabashed brown-noser who even managed to hoodwink the Giant Ghost King!”
“He’s very skilled with shakedowns, to the point where he doesn’t even leave the grass behind! He’s shaken down eighteen clans in the Arch-Emperor Dynasty, and is so ruthless everyone hates him!”
“He's a complete villain who cultivates an evil technique that absorbs life force! You can find people all over the place in Arch-Emperor City who had life force stolen away by him!’
According to the stories which were spreading through the Wildlands, this Bai Hao was a person who was wicked beyond redemption. In fact, in many of the savage tribes, his name was a very effective tool used to frighten naughty children.
As for Bai Xiaochun, he didn’t really care at all about that. However, his apprentice did! Bai Hao would occasionally go out into the city, thanks to the infinite shapeshifting abilities that came with being a ghost cultivator. Furthermore, since he was acting as Bai Xiaochun’s soul slave, he could go out and about without attracting any attention, as long as he maintained a stiff appearance. Besides, Bai Xiaochun had arranged for him to be escorted by corpse troopers wherever he went, and therefore, no one ever dared to cause problems for him.
Bai Xiaochun’s flame conjuring was a very expensive thing. Even with everything he had acquired in the shakedowns, he still couldn’t sustain the work for too long. After all, each attempt required ten tongues of seventeen-colored flame.
As such, both Bai Hao and Zhou Yixing would often go out to acquire more souls for him to use.
It was because of such frequent outings that Bai Hao continued to hear more and more stories with his name in them. From what he could tell, his Master really was ruining his name….