Chapter 9: Signal Marks (Part 1)

Qi Wu Zhen waved her delicate little hand as if swatting a fly, causing the sprayed liquor to immediately bounce back. Jiang Hua had only sprayed half of the liquor, yet the returning liquid moved much faster. There was a snap, followed by a loud gulp—Jiang Hua, startled, had swallowed the half-chewed liquor in one go.
Li Ran and the others breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, the liquor hadn’t reached Qi Wu Zhen. Perhaps Jiang Hua and Ying Bei didn’t realize her strength, but everyone in the team knew that even if they provoked Li Ran, they must never anger Qi Wu Zhen—once she got angry, she could scare everyone to death.
Guo Shier held his chest and said, “Damn… You’re fierce! How dare you spray Sister Zhen!”
Jiang Hua flew into a rage, standing up abruptly and shouting, “Bastard!”
Qi Wu Zhen immediately frowned and slowly stood up. Before she could get angry, Jiang Hua roared, “Damn it! Come in!” Only then did everyone realize Jiang Hua wasn’t angry at Qi Wu Zhen.
Halechi wiped cold sweat from his brow, thinking, “You’re lucky. If you’d insulted Sister Zhen, you’d probably be dead by now.” Although both were at the same level—on the 16th-tier altar—they were worlds apart in strength. Moreover, the physical altar determined the virtual one. With Qi Wu Zhen’s power, it was doubtful whether Jiang Hua could even survive two moves in a fight.
A young servant stumbled in and fell to his knees, saying, “My lord!”
Jiang Hua snapped, “Damn it! Who is this…? Who the hell brought this liquor? No, this isn’t even liquor! What’s going on? If you dare lie, I’ll tear you apart!”
Ma Ri De Ta stammered, “M-my lord… This… this has nothing to do with me… It’s Mi Xian who’s in charge of the liquor… I just ordered someone to get it… I didn’t know… I didn’t know there was something wrong with it…”
Another servant nervously handed Jiang Hua a few pieces of linen and quickly hid aside. Jiang Hua roughly wiped her face with the linen and snapped, “Call that bastard Mi Xian here!”
Li Ran and the others stopped eating and sat aside to watch. Ying Bei looked embarrassed, unable to believe such a thing would happen to his old friend. He felt ashamed, and like Jiang Hua, he too felt an urge to kill. Top professionals were all extremely proud people.

Mi Xian was dragged in by a group of servants. He was already completely drunk, snoring like a whistling sound. Halechi felt an extreme discomfort in his mouth; he could hardly bear it and was also very curious—since it wasn’t alcohol, what on earth was it? Unconsciously, he cast several spells and sent out detection talismans to examine it directly.
“Residual alcohol… Hm, what is this? Dirty water? No, it’s… damn urine… Ah, gag…”
Now things got really interesting. Among those present, aside from Qi Wu Zhen who hadn’t tasted it at all, everyone else was affected, not even Guo Shier was spared. Although he only tasted a tiny bit, it still counted. Hearing Halechi’s results, everyone paled. They still couldn’t believe it and each sent out detection talismans to check what ingredients were in this strange liquid.
Guo Shier didn’t participate in the testing. Instead, he took out a cup of clean water and quickly rinsed his mouth—it was too disgusting.
Jiang Hua was so angry he trembled all over. He waved his hand to send a bolt of electricity straight at Mi Xian, followed by a flame that landed on Mi Xian’s feet. The lightning didn’t even wake up the drunk Mi Xian, but the flame made him jump up. He started screaming and hopping around on the ground, shouting before even opening his eyes, “Who… who the hell set me on fire?”
Mi Xian was one of Jiang Hua’s followers, not a servant or staff member, but a professional—though of a very low rank, not even at the level of a altar master. He wasn’t a professional from the world of spells but a descendant of professionals, a typical local who became a professional through cultivation and knew how to brew alcohol.
He had been an alcoholic for a long time. Besides brewing alcohol for Jiang Hua, he drank most of it himself. Most of the time, he was in a daze. Now, brewing was mostly done by a group of ordinary people under him; he only handled the key tasks. After being shocked by electricity and burned by the flame, he screamed and hopped around, though he wasn’t fully awake yet.
Jiang Hua was about to go crazy. He flashed in front of Mi Xian in an instant, gave him two loud slaps that made his head sway wildly, then poured a bucket of ice water over his head. With a splash, Mi Xian finally woke up. He widened his eyes and suddenly saw strangers all around him. Scrambling, he shouted, “Enemy attack…”
Guo Shier couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter, “This guy is a real joke!”

Jiang Hua’s face turned from blue to white, then red—how humiliating! He roared, “Enemy attack? What the hell…!” Another punch sent Mi Xian swaying wildly back and forth. Finally, he realized it was his own boss, the Great Lord of Jiang Hua, who was hitting him. Stunned, he stammered, “L-Lord… You… why… why are you hitting me?”

Fueled by anger, Jiang Hua couldn’t contain it any longer. He stepped forward and started punching and kicking, shouting, “You bastard! That’s you I’m hitting! I’ll kill you!” He delivered a brutal barrage of blows.

Guo Shier watched coldly, knowing full well that despite Jiang Hua’s fierce attacks and flying blood, they didn’t pose a real threat to Mi Xian’s life.

Mi Xian screamed, “Stop… stop hitting me! If you keep hitting me, I’ll die! Aww… it hurts so much… Ugh…” He had been kicked in the stomach by Jiang Hua and cried out, “Aww… stop! If you keep hitting me, I’ll poop!”

Haha! Hahaha!

Everyone couldn’t help but laugh. Jiang Hua’s hands ached—after all, it was his own follower. A scolding was enough; he couldn’t really kill him. He kicked Mi Xian hard and ordered, “Get up! Answer my question!” Faced with such a lazy guy, he didn’t know whether to be angry or laugh.

With a swollen nose and eyes, Mi Xian got up, complaining, “I’m wronged…!” He still didn’t understand why Jiang Hua was hitting him.

Jiang Hua placed the talisman bottle in front of him and asked, “What’s this liquor?”

Confused, Mi Xian replied, “What liquor?” Then he picked up the bottle and took a big gulp. Everyone stepped back at the same time. Jiang Hua, who was right in front of Mi Xian, reacted even more dramatically, instantly moving to the side.

Pfft!

Sure enough, Mi Xian spat it out immediately. He shouted, “What the hell is this stuff? Puke… puke…” He picked up the bottle again. It was a square-shaped bottle, about one and a half feet tall. Its characteristic was its spatial nature—it could hold dozens of pounds of liquid without issue.

Soon, Mi Xian’s face changed. He roared, “Who the hell took out this bottle?” He clearly knew it was his night pot.

Jiang Hua said grimly, “What is this thing? If you can’t explain it, damn it… you’ll drink this bottle clean!”

Mi Xian’s legs suddenly turned weak. Li Ran was wiser; he said, “Stop asking. Let him go… If we keep asking, it’ll only make everyone feel more disgusted.” Jiang Hua also realized this and kicked him, shouting, “Get lost!” In fact, no one wanted to delve deeper—it was simply too unpleasant. The mechanical race’s feast came to an abrupt end. As the host, Jiang Hua provided plenty of materials as an apology, including some high-quality ones. No one continued to blame him, as it truly wasn’t his fault—he had also been deceived. After arranging accommodations and escorts, Jiang Hua and Ying Bei left temporarily. As friends, they had matters to discuss, and Ying Bei had trade relations with Jiang City; many specialty products from Ying Bei’s estate were sold there. Ge Ha suggested that everyone visit the shops in Jiang City. Although he had obtained quite a few materials and support from Ying Bei, he still felt his supplies were insufficient and hoped to find suitable alternatives. This suggestion was supported by Guo Shier, Halechi, and Zhen Wuji, who also wanted to acquire local specialty materials for research. Jiang City was very famous in the Fengtai Continent—not because of Jiang Hua’s strength, but due to its unique mechanical race architecture and a large number of products unique to them, which brought convenience to many ordinary people. The mechanical race’s weapons could also be effectively used by ordinary people. For top experts, these weapons were nothing, but for ordinary people, using them could make their strength comparable to that of low-level professionals. Thus, Jiang City was home to a large number of ordinary people and low-level warriors. In the Land of Star Worship, there were countless experts who had come from smaller worlds, but spread across the discovered continents, there weren’t many top experts on each continent. For example, in the Fengtai Continent, due to material constraints, most of those who gathered there were professionals from the World of Spells. Excluding those who went elsewhere, there weren’t many true top professionals left here; the Fengtai Continent was mostly populated by ordinary people and low-level professionals. This composition was similar in every smaller world. It was difficult for experts to grow, and most of their descendants might not become experts either. Ordinary people had short lifespans, but once they reached maturity, they would usually marry and have children. A generation was formed in just over twenty years, and this rapid reproduction rate allowed them to quickly become a huge population.

If based on normal reproductive growth rates, the Fengtai Continent should have many ordinary people, rather than the current small population. After all, the Star Sacrifice Site has never been a safe place. Without the protection of the strong or large settlements, ordinary people can hardly survive in the wild. Even the beasts that pose no threat to the strong are beyond their ability to handle, not to mention other terrifying exotic creatures.

Although ordinary people’s lives are not particularly difficult, accidents are common, especially among those who work in the wild—often only half of ten can return alive. Additionally, medical conditions here are extremely poor; those suffering from even mild illnesses hardly stand a chance of survival. Especially for children, out of ten or eight born, only three or four may survive. Those who do survive tend to have relatively better physical fitness.