Cultivating in Different Professions

Chapter 185: Chapter 132: Merit

In a single day, the Hu Family was no more in Wuling City.

Aside from the disciples training elsewhere, not a single member of the Hu Family was left alive.

Members of the Taiping Imperial Guard took a headcount of the Hu Family. For any who had slipped through the net, wanted posters were issued for their capture. The local Government Offices and Ghostwriters would naturally ensure they had nowhere to hide.

”Captain Su, the Hu Family had two hundred fifty-six members. Two hundred nineteen have been executed, and thirty-seven who were away have not returned. I have already ordered my men to send their information to the local Government Offices and issue wanted posters for their arrest.”

A captain of the Taiping Imperial Guard came over to report to Su Mu.

”Also, please provide instructions, Captain Su, on how to handle the items confiscated from the Hu Family.”

”Martial Arts Techniques, Cultivation Elixirs, and Divine Weapons are all to be turned over to the Bureau. Turn over thirty percent of the silver, and let the brothers divide the rest.”

Su Mu pondered for a moment before speaking slowly.

”Thank you, Capital Captain!”

The Taiping Imperial Guard captain said, overjoyed.

This kind of clan extermination and property confiscation was the Taiping Imperial Guard’s favorite type of assignment.

The reason was simple: it was a chance to make a fortune.

With a bit of luck, the haul could be worth several years of their salary.

Although the Taiping Imperial Guard were paid much better than ordinary constables, their limited strength prevented them from leaving the city to hunt demons like the Taiping Captains and Taiping Capital Captains. Therefore, large-scale operations like clan exterminations were their chance to earn extra money.

Of course, the actual gains depended on the target of the extermination and the person in charge of the operation.

If they ran into a more rigid Taiping Captain or Taiping Capital Captain, the benefits they could take would be fewer.

This time, they were raiding the Hu Family, one of the four great families of the Inner City, and they had a generous leader in Su Mu. They were definitely going to make a killing.

Su Mu wasn’t a stickler for the rules. Everyone had worked hard and taken great risks, so it was only normal for them to share some of the silver.

Besides, Master Wan had told him to wrap things up, which gave him the authority to make these decisions.

The Taiping Imperial Guard captain left, profusely thanking him.

Soon, cheers from the Taiping Imperial Guard echoed from within and without the Hu Family estate. They went about their work with even more vigor.

A short while later, the captain returned with two packages in his hands.

This was Su Mu’s and Luo Anning’s share.

Su Mu smiled and accepted his share, then passed the other one to Luo Anning.

Luo Anning shook her head. ”I don’t need silver.”

”It’s not a question of whether you need it. If you don’t take your share, how can the others take theirs?”

Su Mu said, ”Junior Sister Luo, water that is too clear has no fish, and a person who is too pure has no followers. Sometimes, it pays to be a little ignorant.”

Luo Anning thought about it seriously for a moment before finally reaching out and accepting it.

A flash of gratitude appeared in the Taiping Imperial Guard captain’s eyes, and his reverence for Su Mu deepened.

The Hu Family was a major power, so the process of confiscating their property lasted for several days. Su Mu and Luo Anning didn’t participate in the remaining matters, leaving them to the Taiping Imperial Guard and the Wuling City Government Office to handle.

They still needed to investigate every family connected to the Hu Family one by one.

All the businesses the Hu Family was involved in had to be completely reorganized.

The various powers in Wuling City naturally needed to divide the cake that the Hu Family had left behind.

But that is a story for another time.

Su Mu and Luo Anning had already left Wuling City and were heading straight for Supply Point Seven.

They had another very important mission: to exterminate the Corpse Demons that the Hu Family had been raising.

...

”Junior Sister Luo, how many merit points do you think we’ll get for this?”

Su Mu asked Luo Anning on the way to Supply Point Seven.

In the Taiping Bureau, merit points were more useful than silver.

They could be used to exchange for anything, from Martial Arts Techniques to Spiritual Medicines and Weapons.

Moreover, merit points were directly tied to one’s chances of promotion.

”Generally speaking, independently dealing with a first-rank demon is worth one thousand merit points.”

Luo Anning said, ”For dealing with a family like the Hu Family that colluded with demons, the merit points vary based on their strength.

I estimate that the points we’ll get should be around three hundred.

The Corpse Demons we killed last time weren’t very strong, so that should add up to about two thousand merit points.

If we can get another one or two thousand merit points from exterminating the Corpse Demons with Captain Lin this time, we should have around five thousand points in total for this operation.”

A pleased expression appeared on Luo Anning’s face as she finished her calculation.

Five thousand merit points might not sound like much, since you could earn that just by independently killing five first-rank demons.

But in reality, most Demon-slaying Captains could work for an entire year and still not earn that many points.

Independently slaying a first-rank demon was no easy task. First of all, just finding them took a considerable amount of time.

On a normal day, even with good luck, getting a chance to independently slay a first-rank demon once every two or three months was considered good.

Unless, like this time, they happened to run into a large horde of Corpse Demons.

Of course, the problem with that was if you truly encountered a large horde of demons, it was hard to say if you’d even escape with your life, let alone earn any merit points.

Last time in the cave, if it hadn’t been for Su Mu, Luo Anning probably would have had a very difficult time escaping on her own.

Even Su Mu hadn’t considered going back alone to deal with those Corpse Demons and take all the merit points for himself.

’Who knows how many Corpse Demons the Hu Family was actually raising, or how strong the most powerful one is.’

Now that the Taiping Bureau had arranged for Lin Qi Huan to lead a team to exterminate those Corpse Demons, they would probably receive far fewer merit points, but the advantage was safety.

”Are five thousand merit points enough to exchange for a Blood Strengthening Pill?”

Su Mu asked thoughtfully.

”How could it be?”

Luo Anning shook her head. ”I’ve asked about the Nine-Turn Blood Transformation Technique. Exchanging for it requires nine hundred ninety thousand merit points.”