Mercenaries in Two Worlds

at night

"Ten thousand top-grade spirit stones, when will I ever be able to collect enough!" Looking at the pile of spirit stones on the table, Zhang Qian had lost all joy.

"Forget it, there's no deadline anyway, sharpening the axe won't delay the work of chopping wood, let's improve our cultivation first." Without further ado, Zhang Qian decided to start cultivating with spirit stones.

After just one night of cultivation, Zhang Qian had already reached the second level of Qi Refining, which was incredibly fast. However, looking at the mid-grade spirit stone that had exhausted its energy and dissipated, Zhang Qian felt another pang in his heart.

"What supreme Dao technique? More like a money-absorbing technique." Zhang Qian felt no joy whatsoever. He had already used up a mid-grade spirit stone at the second level of Qi Refining. He couldn't believe how much it would cost to cultivate to the foundation level.

Even the most refined and pure spiritual energy could only provide a slight warmth. For a moment, Zhang Qian even considered switching cultivation methods, since he had no shortage of techniques. But after thinking about it, he couldn't bear to give it up; you can't catch a wolf without risking your cub.

A month later, after Zhang Qian used up all the low-grade spirit stones and forty-four mid-grade spirit stones, his cultivation level rapidly increased to the fifth level of Qi Refining, which was incredibly fast. This made the Wang family members, who had been cultivating for several years and were still stuck at the Qi Refining level, feel quite ashamed.

Of course, having a "huge" fortune like Zhang Qian's could increase it several times over, but it's still hard to match this speed.

Firstly, this cultivation technique of unknown rank is too powerful. Its speed of operation and ability to refine spiritual energy are unmatched by ordinary cultivation techniques. Zhang Qian compared it with the Earth-rank cultivation technique and found that it was worlds apart, more than ten thousand times faster. It even skipped the step of condensing spiritual stones needed to improve cultivation, and was already extremely pure.

Secondly, Zhang Qian's aptitude far surpasses that of the three members of the Wang family, though Zhang Qian himself is unaware of this...

Zhang Qian has been training like crazy for the past month, which is perfect for the Wang family mercenary group to get rid of Zhang Qian, this "burden," and go on missions.

Looking at the remaining fifty mid-grade spirit stones, Zhang Qian simply couldn't bring himself to spend them. After thinking for a moment, he activated the necklace, and a while later, when he opened his eyes, he was back in his familiar room.

He picked up his phone and saw that only a little over thirty minutes had passed. He felt a dreamlike, unreal feeling, a situation that was hard to describe. It was as if he had just woken up from a dream, but Zhang Qian knew perfectly well that this was not a dream.

Just as he was staring blankly into space, the notebook in front of him typed out a line: "Welcome back alive."

"Hehe, thank you and your whole family."

"It has been detected that you have activated the Yin-Yang Mirror function. The number of top-grade spirit stones required to collect has increased by 10,000."

"What? You idiot... Do you know how expensive spirit stones are?" Zhang Qian was furious at the thought of spirit stones. It would have been better if he hadn't mentioned them, because once they were, he knew this was a huge pitfall. He didn't know if he could even scrape together 10,000 spirit stones even if he dug up all the spirit stones in Tianxing Continent.

"Mr. Zhang, you have one opportunity to terminate the contract. Would you like to cancel the agreement?"

This 1024 is unpredictable, leaving Zhang Qian completely bewildered.

"Breach of contract... I haven't even seen the contract yet, what are you talking about breaching it for? Besides, besides..." Zhang Qian stood up agitatedly, pointing angrily at the computer, wanting to curse, but not knowing what to say. The other party was so "magnanimous," giving the customer a real experience first, and then giving them the opportunity to breach the contract—this was completely reasonable.

"Ugh~ They forced a huge gulp of meth into my mouth, and then asked me if I wanted to quit, haha... hahaha..."

Having tasted the wonders of this other world, Zhang Qian could never bear to part with it. "Who said I was going to break the contract? Twenty thousand it is. I'm not bothered by the many lice I have."

“Foolish humans.” 1024 typed out the five words in a low voice.

"..." Zhang Qian slammed his laptop shut, deciding that not looking at it would only bother him.

After putting away his otherworldly clothes, Zhang Qian changed into a tracksuit and went downstairs to find something to eat. Sensing the slightly polluted air of this new world again, he felt quite uncomfortable. Since there was no such thing as spiritual energy on Earth, Zhang Qian could only replenish his spiritual energy with spirit stones once it was depleted.

Carrying a bag of McDonald's, Zhang Qian strolled leisurely into the alley. It was not yet ten o'clock, and the alley was already deserted. The bustling market during the day was completely different at night, as quiet as a ghost town.

When Zhang Qian first moved here at the beginning of the year, he was quite frightened one night. There's a custom in this town that on the night someone in the family dies, they have to be paraded through the streets. Of course, it's not about carrying the body through the streets, but rather the deceased's relatives dressed in black, following two people dressed as ghosts or ghosts, around midnight, to remind the neighbors and villagers that so-and-so has passed away.

Zhang Qian, a newcomer at the time, was unaware of these things. He was standing downstairs waiting for his director's car to pick him up for a late-night snack when he suddenly saw this scene, which terrified him so much that he broke out in a cold sweat. The alleyway was dimly lit and flickering, making the group of people seem to float on the street, almost like real ghosts. Just then, a cold wind blew by, and Zhang Qian, feeling a chill run down his spine, felt a little dizzy. Fortunately, he managed to calm himself down and then realized that they were all people.

But he still fell ill the next day and asked the director for a day off. Although the director, surnamed Ouyang, knew that Zhang Qian was frightened, he didn't publicize it and understandingly granted him an extra day off. Later, he heard that such parades used to be even more terrifying, with the filial son holding a white banner and wailing mournfully. In recent years, they were banned by the government because they disturbed the peace. When he was a child, whenever he heard that someone had died nearby, he would definitely run to his grandmother's house in the neighboring town to hide that night.

It was this incident that made Zhang Qian, who already harbored resentment about being assigned to such a remote place by his work unit, dislike this place even more.

However, now that he has vital energy, he is no longer afraid of these things and strolls leisurely with small steps.

"I've given you all the money, please let us go!"

Just as Zhang Qian was about to go upstairs, he suddenly heard something strange coming from around the corner and couldn't help but listen intently.

"Hehe, we want the money, and we want this beauty too. We two haven't had any fun in ages..."

"Well said, hahaha, you fatso, you'd better get out of the way. You're just a prostitute, it doesn't matter who sleeps with you."

Two lewd voices came from outside the town, one of them with a heavy out-of-town accent. Although the town was remote, the industrial development on the outskirts was quite good. Some lazy young people refused to do honest work and instead colluded with local thugs, engaging in petty theft and other shady activities.

“This watch of mine is worth over 100,000 yuan, and I’ve given it to you. Just let her go! Sell that watch, and you can make as much money as you want.”

"Oh my, I didn't even notice you were wearing this pocket watch. Not bad, not bad."

"Then let us go!"

"Hehe, for the sake of this watch..." The out-of-towner paused, offering a glimmer of hope, but then changed his tone, "I can let you go, but this woman still has to stay and keep us company. Tsk tsk, that figure, that big mouth... hehehe."

Zhang Qian hated two kinds of people most in his life: traitors and lewd people. Even if they had no cultivation, he wouldn't sit idly by, let alone someone with the cultivation of the fifth level of Qi Refining.

He put the food on the ground and shouted, "Stop!"

In the corner, two thin, monkey-like youths, each wielding a fruit knife, cornered a fat middle-aged man in a suit and a flamboyantly dressed young woman behind him.