Ye Tao is just a small Kaiyuan Realm cultivator, how could he know this information.
"This junior is not very clear about this." Sure enough, Ye Tao spoke with a hint of nobility after hearing this.
"Haha, it's okay, I'm just asking. By the way, do you know how many merchants there are on this street? How many residents?" Zhou Yang changed the subject.
"There are about seventy or eighty shops and dozens of stalls. As for the households, I can't tell you, but there are hundreds of households."
"Oh, so what is the highest level of cultivation in this street?"
"It seems that they are in the Tianyuan realm. The juniors also listened to what their parents said. However, these seniors have been unable to cultivate for many years, and I have never seen them."
"Tian Yuan cultivator!" Zhou Yang was startled when he heard this. There was actually a Tian Yuan master in this small boundary street. People in the world really shouldn't be underestimated.
Ordinary casual cultivators have extremely limited cultivation resources. It would be good to break through to the Lingtai realm. If you want to reach the Tianyuan realm, you must have excellent qualifications.
The shopkeeper of this tavern is an example. He is still lingering in the Kaiyuan realm in his fifties, and he may not be able to break through in his lifetime.
"When will the Chunyu family come to collect the protection fee?" Zhou Yang asked again.
"The first day of every month."
"How much does that cost?"
"Businesses above average earn one hundred spiritual stones per month, and residents earn ten spiritual stones per person per month."
"Oh." Although Zhou Yang's expression remained unchanged, he was a little surprised in his heart.
There are at least dozens of shops and hundreds of households in Liuqili Boundary Street under the jurisdiction of Dayezong. The protection fee this month is tens of thousands of spirit stones, and in a year it is hundreds of thousands of spirit stones. This is just It's a street.
This is much better than doing business. There is no cost or anything to pay. It is really the best business.
Of course, the Chunyu family still had to hand over some of the spiritual stones to the Daye Sect, or even a large part of them. After all, this was the territory of the Daye Sect.
"Does this kind of tavern also charge one hundred spirit stones?"
"That's not true. Small shops like this charge half the price."
"oh."
Hu Zhiran once told him that the amount of protection fees Song Dahu collected was only 60-70% of the Chunyu family. Therefore, the small Free Square City was finally settled in the area controlled by Tianxing Sect instead of in the northern part of Jiejie Street.
"The Chunyu family has collected protection fees. Can they guarantee the safety of businesses and residents?"
"Probably, it should be possible." Ye Tao said uncertainly.
"Really?" Zhou Yang raised his eyebrows.
"Yes, yes." Seeing this, Ye Tao became even more speechless.
"Have you ever heard about the disappearance of the cultivator, Fellow Daoist Ye?"
"Yes, I heard something." Ye Tao's face turned a little pale, and it seemed that he was also very afraid of this.
"Have the Chunyu family found out the whole story of this incident?"
"This junior doesn't know this."
"Let me answer the question, senior." At this time, a small young man at the table next to him said.
"Oh, fellow Taoist, please speak."
"What are you checking for? The Chunyu family just let it go and ignored it. They charge such a high fee, but they can't guarantee our safety. It's useless for them!" The man became more and more angry as he talked, and finally got angry. Start cursing.
"You don't want your life. Stop saying a few words!" The expression on the tablemate's face changed and he hurriedly tried to dissuade her. They were just casual cultivators and would never dare to offend the Chunyu family.
"What are you afraid of? You allow them to do it but don't allow me to complain! Besides, this senior is from the Tianxing Sect, so what's the harm in talking about it?" the little young man said, squeezing his neck.
This person seems to be straightforward, but there is a hidden edge in his words. If it had been anyone else, he might have responded immediately.
"Haha." Zhou Yang was noncommittal.
He is not a junior brother in the cultivation world. He is involved in matters between the two factions. Naturally, it is not easy to express his position on such an occasion. However, he already understands in his heart that the Chunyu family has also adopted a calm attitude and does not dare to pursue the matter. .
Thinking of this, Zhou Yang couldn't help but sigh, it's really better to ask for help than to ask for yourself!
It is unwise to leave your life and safety to others. The Chunyu family has collected your spirit stones and cannot guarantee your safety, so what can you do? In the end, it's not who has the final say who has the stronger fist.
In the cultivation world, the weak eat the strong, and the fittest survive. Only when you are strong can you be able to protect yourself and your family, otherwise everything is empty talk.
"Fellow Daoist Ye, please come back. We will talk again when we have the chance."
"Junior, I obey." Ye Tao bowed and returned to his table.
But the little young man was very depressed. The little senior in front of him was not very old, but he had a deep scheming mind. He should be an old man in the world, not a playboy from a monastic sect or family.
"Shopkeeper, settle the bill." Zhou Suo called to the tavern shopkeeper and settled the bill together with that table.
"Thank you, senior, for the meal!" Upon seeing this, Ye Tao hurriedly stood up and thanked him. Others at the same table also stood up and thanked him.
Zhou Yang waved his hand and took the lead to leave the tavern, followed closely by Bai Meng and Wu Changan.
"Ye Tao, have you seen that junior?" The young man turned around and asked.
"No, but the other two look familiar. They should be from the Tianxing Sect."
"That man is about the same age as you and me, but his cultivation seems to have reached the late stage of Lingtai. Comparing this man with others is really infuriating!"
"Perhaps he is the disciple of a big shot in the Tianxing Sect. With the vast amount of training materials and the guidance of the masters of the sect, it is normal for him to have such a level of cultivation." Another person said.
"This possibility is unlikely, because he has little knowledge about Dingbei and seems to be an outsider." Ye Tao stared at the door, unwilling to look away for a long time.
When can I reach the realm of that senior?
Zhou Yang and the others left the tavern and continued to patrol the Tianxing Sect side of Jie Street.
The boundary street here is not big, and it doesn't take more than a cup of tea to go back and forth. However, there are many alleys behind Jie Street, and it will take some effort to go through them all.
Zhou Yang wandered around the alley while digesting the information Ye Tao just told.
The Chunyu family turned a blind eye to the cultivator's disappearance, which was obviously favored by the Daye Sect. It is not difficult for the Daye Sect to guess which force did it, and they probably have to look at the expression on the Taiqing Sect's face.
Judging from the fact that Taiqing Sect and Dashun Trading Company rushed to Anping together to fight against Tongzhou Trading Company, the relationship between the two factions should be good. Logically speaking, no matter how good the relationship is, one cannot allow the other party to rob cultivators on their own territory. This is a naked slap in the face.
But the Taiqing Sect also ignored this, which was puzzling.
Is there a tacit understanding between the two factions? Or maybe the Dashun Trading Company would reciprocate the favor and provide female nuns for the Taiqing Sect?
Why did Xingzong acquiesce to this matter that day? Is Zhou Tianzong behind it also afraid of Dashun Trading Company, or is there some kind of tacit understanding between them?
A series of questions appeared in Zhou Yang's mind, which was very confusing for him.
"Forget it, don't think about it if you can't think clearly. If the sky falls, there will still be a tall person holding it up." Zhou Yang shook his head and continued to patrol around with the two of them.
There were not many pedestrians in the streets and alleys. Many residents had obviously strengthened their courtyard walls, and those with more wealth had even deployed protective formations.
Of course, they are all simple protective formations, and you only need to buy the arranged arrays and flags. Although it is a simple formation, it requires a large amount of spiritual stones to maintain it after it is activated, and most people cannot afford to use it even if they can afford it.
Therefore, the formation is rarely used during the day. It is only activated in the middle of the night when it is most dangerous, and is turned off after dawn.
Cultivators who cannot afford to purchase protective formations, in addition to strengthening their homes, can only try to live together as a family and take care of each other.
In more than a month, three cases of missing cultivators occurred in Jie Street, causing every household to panic and worry all day long. Anyone with advanced cultivation in the family did not dare to go out anymore and had to take on the responsibility of protecting their family. responsibilities.
Zhou Yang and the others returned to the station from noon to midnight, and then Pu Zheng led the team to continue patrolling.
More than half a month has passed, but there has been no more disappearance of the cultivators.
According to past crime patterns, there will be no more than two cases per month. This has already happened once this month, and problems will arise if the protection is not complete, so everyone in Team 36 did not relax their vigilance, and the patrol density was still high.
For more than half a month, Zhou Yang has lived a simple and repetitive life, patrolling, meditating, bordering streets, and stationing, living a two-point and one-line life, but he is quite comfortable.
He had finally reached the first level of his innate Qi-returning technique. The effect of virtualization was not obvious during the day, but it was very effective at night. If he hides in one place without moving, and with the help of the Wood Breath Technique, even mid-Tian Yuan cultivators will have difficulty finding his trace.
Moreover, the Wood Breath Jue also showed faint signs of breaking through to the second level, which surprised Zhou Yang. Once the Wood Breath Technique breaks through to the second level, even practitioners two or three levels higher than yourself will have difficulty detecting your own breath with your spiritual consciousness.
If it is combined with the innate Qi-returning technique, the effect will be even better.
The Wanli Chasing Wind Technique has also made some progress. If you concentrate your spiritual power and run it with all your strength, you can stride sixteen or seventy feet in one step. However, this technique cannot be used for a long time because it consumes a lot of spiritual power, but it shows its speed advantage in battle.
Since there were more people stationed at the station, there was no need to worry about safety issues, so Zhou Yang once tried to consume all his spiritual energy one night, and then only relied on absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to replenish it.
Apart from the initial dizziness caused by the emptiness of spiritual energy, what remains is the comfortable feeling nourished by the pure weather aura. However, this feeling can only last until dawn, because it is his turn to patrol again in the morning, and the deficiency can only be supplemented by Huang Ling Dan.
If time permits, he really wants to stick with it for a long time, because this kind of practice is very helpful for solid foundation and purifying spiritual power.
There is another thing that Zhou Yang is also working on, and that is the key to memorizing the alchemy technique.
The previous search for storage bags in Anping East City gave him a great sense of crisis. When facing someone you can't afford to offend, everything you own belongs to them, including everything in your storage bag, and even your own life.
Therefore, until there is no better storage device, he must try his best to store everything he can memorize in his mind, so that no one can take it away.
Of course, this move was also based on his extraordinary confidence in his own consciousness.
