Jun tried to change the subject but that was quickly shot down by Yin Hu. He needed all the information. Even the gritty horrific stuff best not heard. A well informed decision was far more valuable than a moment of terror, disgust, or fright.

Plus he could dodge them if they were too strong. Can't do that if he had no clue what they were capable of.

She closed her eyes. Took a deep breath. Shuddered a few times. "They… The Spider Cult Valley…"

Yin Hu stared as Jun started looking sick to the stomach. Pale. Whatever it was that happened seemed to affect her greatly. Even after witnessing horrors already. This was something beyond the simple kill or be killed he expected from a cultivation world.

Wouldn't be a demonic cultivator unless they did demonic things. How bad could it have been?

"Jun," he said. Voice stern and demanding.It helped her break out of this spiraling loop. "What happened?"

"The Spider Valley Cult captured an entire convoy of refugees. Dragged them in front of the town. Beheaded each one slowly. Inflicting as much pain as they could with dull blades," She shuddered. "Their eyes were still moving, leaking blood from their severed faces. Still screaming but voiceless. Being tortured even in death—"

Holy shit. That's brutal.

"—It was a message. A guard didn't get out of the way quick enough on their last visit. They murdered hundreds of people, made pyramids out of their heads."

Yin Hu grit his teeth. The ancient ancestor persona cracking, pulling apart at the seams. Making pyramids out of heads? Still screaming faces? What the hell was this? Berserk? Where the hell did he end up at? He knew from reading that demonic cultivators were evil, but this was beyond just that.

He needed time to think. Consider how it affected his current plans to be surrounded by beauties and be pampered. What should he do if they decided to eliminate the entire town? How much time did they have? Could he and the girls hide in this house? Or would the problems boil over their heads like fate was playing a prank on them?

It would not be wise to just sit here as an army of sadists decide to kill them all.

Images of what it could look like involuntarily appeared in his mind. Heads of little kids, elderly, women, the weak and destitute. Scrawny refugees that had no place to go. It would scar any cold man or woman, much less little children and young adults like Shui and Jun. Both of them should be busy with things appropriate for their age.

Not this. Seeing traumatic things no eye should witness.

"They were still alive!" Hu Shui shouted. Eyes wide and bright. She nodded, affirming her words. "Yep! All of them. Crying and begging for someone to help them—"

"Shui!" Jun said. It came out a hiss. "What did I say about speaking such words? Those dreams aren't real."

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"Not dreams! I saw them! None of them left until the town cleared and buried the heads! You never believe me! They even said goodbye to me. And said thank you. And said to feed the birdies too."

Yin Hu stood up. "I'll be right outside."

He needed space. Room to breathe. Clean air to fill his burning lungs. The house seemed cramped and without enough oxygen to inhale. Pressing a weight onto his chest. Yin Hu stepped out into the courtyard and even walked outside of the gate.

Making sure to dodge the greedy Qi sucking tree. He could see its leaves reach out for him.

Yin Hu let out a deep breath. Leaned back onto the outside walls of the house. It was getting late in the day. Sunlight turning into a stark orange rather than the soft yellow it usually was. Touches of pink in between.

Bright blue skies still. A single cloud lazily floating away. It reminded him of his solitude.

He shut his eyes. Reminiscing about his time on the floating island. All the memories were blurry. Each one bleeding into the next few or even a dozen. Had he gotten his first reward exercising? Or was it mental strain? Or maybe the moment he woke up? He wasn't sure any more.

At what point had he figured out the truth?

That he was alone. For eons.

Only the excitement and joy of getting new rewards and weapons kept him sane. A drug that rocketed his dopamine levels out of the world. But even that faded eventually.

Happiness is not fake. The joy I felt was not fake!

Yin Hu refused to let himself think it was not real. That it was all just forcefully induced ecstasy rather than motivational love and excitement that drove him into getting better. Even if they were distant and fleeting memories he struggled to recall perfectly.

What the hell do I do now? No. We. What do we do now?

It took a long time to think of anything worthwhile. Mostly empty thoughts and a struggle to formulate anything substantial or worth the time it took. But when he did, he focused on it fully. It wouldn't be wise to stick here for too long. Find a real city. A place without the constant threat of maniac, sadistic, demonic cultivators and being at their mercy.

The more prosperous the better. Richer economy meant he could leverage his super ability of vast riches better. Develop his own disciples in peace rather than them dying left and right to a thousand and one attacks that constantly bombarded them. From what Jun was hinting at, the only reason this place existed was because the Gang Boss was sufficiently strong enough to ward off attacks.

Or maybe enough to cause too much damage to take out hastily.

But what would happen when he fell? Or keeled over and died to a stiff breeze by mistake?

Would the spider people group finally come to burn this little broken and raggedy town to the ground? Yin Hu understood he was strong. But fight Pinnacle Immortal level cultivators strong? He doubted that. Mostly because he had no clue what that meant, just that it sounded very strong. Much less the thought of fighting an entire army of them led by two of these supposedly genius Pinnacle Immortal realm guys.

In other words, they had no chance of surviving as they were. Sitting on a ticking time bomb that was destined to explode.

He nodded to himself. Ignoring the odd looks the rare person gave him. The path forward was clear. Laid out for him, even if it wasn't in great detail as he hoped. That was better than nothing. Reach a rich city.

Become the ultimate baller.

Start the Hu Clan and recruit talent.

Begin a super business to fund all the nukes… disciples development.

And lastly, bribe anyone that needed bribing to keep their relative safety at hand. He had more than enough wealth to pay off an entire city of millions in their weight of gold. Much less bronze, silver, or gems of any kind. He could say much about the system. Of them, he could reliably say it was not stingy. The exact opposite.

He could already imagine it. Mansa Musa-ing an entire economy just by passing by. Flooding entire cities with his wealth. Yin Hu could really see it, established properly. He would then find him cute, buxom wives! They would pamper him! Love him.

And then…

Yin Hu laughed to himself. Freaking out the few passerby that happened to cross the alleyway they were stationed in.

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