Give it to me right now."Bang!A fist collided with his jaw. The force snapped his head to the side. His feet tangled together and he plummeted backward. The back of his skull connected with a jagged garden stone with a sickening crack. Darkness swallowed him in an instant.“Wait. That is not right.”He gasped for air and rolled onto his side. Bile rose in his throat and spilled onto the cold dirt. He clutched his chest while his heart hammered a frantic rhythm against his ribs. His skull throbbed with a blinding intensity.“I was in my car, I was driving home.”The memory of the blinding headlights burned in his mind. The freight truck crossed the median and crushed the hood of his sedan. Metal tore and glass exploded inward. He remembered the distinct feeling of his bone snapping against the steering wheel. He had just finished compiling the final version of his game hack.He dragged a hand across his face. It came away slick with warm blood. He stared at his fingers in deep confus

"Not to mention the rumors from the outer villages." Xia stammered and gripped her knees. Her voice barely carried over the clanking wooden wheels of the cart. "The survivors are flooding into the lower districts tonight.""What kind of rumors?" He leaned his head against the vibrating sideboards and watched her face pale in the dim moonlight."Evil spirits are slaughtering mortals in the farming settlements." She swallowed hard. "Whole families are vanishing in the night. The Capital magistrates are terrified the blight will reach the inner walls. They paid the Azure Sect a fortune in spirit stones to exterminate the threat."He processed the political logic of the cultivation world. "So the early recruitment trial is not a blessing or a chance for the younger generation to prove themselves. It is a military draft.""They need fresh bodies." Xia nodded and pulled her knees tight against her chest. "The sect needs common disciples to throw at the rogue spirits while the elders prepare

"Pour it out on the table."Xia untied the leather drawstrings and upended the large pouch over the scarred wood. A cascade of metal coins spilled across the surface, clinking together in a chaotic rhythm. She retrieved the smaller belt pouches they took from the enforcer and emptied those as well. A small mountain of wealth formed under the flickering light of the oil lamp."There must be over one hundred thousand copper coins here." Xia traced a finger along the edge of the pile. Her voice held a mixture of awe and terror. "The Golden Toad inn charges fifty coppers a night for this alcove room. We could hide here for years and never go hungry."Lu Chen leaned back in his wooden chair and examined the stolen loot. He picked up three ornate rings from the edge of the table. The polished green stone caught the lamplight to reveal intricate carvings of mythical beasts. These were not cheap trinkets found in a street market."Gou did not earn this by working the docks." Lu Chen tossed th