Chapter 787

Chapter 787: Choosing Treasure

Among all the cities, Chibi City is, at most, of medium size, yet it boasts a population of hundreds of thousands.

The daily consumption of food and supplies by its residents far exceeds what the city can produce on its own; a significant portion is sourced from the surrounding villages and through trade with other cities.

Thus, the Sacred Ancestor Path serves as a vital lifeline.

If this path is severed by bandits, Chibi City can only hold out for one or two months before descending into chaos.

This is a scenario Zhao Zhenxuan absolutely cannot tolerate!

This innate strong fighter has already dispatched multiple teams to eradicate the bandits, but each time, they have returned empty-handed, suffering substantial losses.

So far, two Innate Martial Artists have fallen in battle, dozens of Peak of Marrow Refinement martial artists have been lost, and the overall casualties are even greater.

No matter how large Chibi City is, it cannot endure such continuous losses.

Wang Chen was taken aback: “The bandits are that strong?”

“Exactly.”

Zhao Zhenxuan nodded grimly: “Their leader is at the top-level of cultivation!”

A top-level fighter involved in banditry?

Wang Chen found this hard to believe.

Such an expert, even if they couldn’t thrive in one place, could easily conceal their identity and prosper in another city, which would be far better than living as a bandit, right?

Was it for the thrill?

Zhao Zhenxuan offered a very reasonable explanation.

He speculated that these bandits troubling Chibi City were likely backed by other cities.

This is not something unimaginable.

There are countless examples of cities supporting or forming bandit groups to plunder resources from other cities, especially in years of poor harvests; such incidents occur frequently.

These bandits not only attack the Sacred Ancestor Path but also raid the villages beneath the city, displaying extreme cruelty.

Currently, Chibi City has lost contact with multiple villages, and it is suspected that several have already fallen.

Therefore, eradicating this notorious band of bandits has become the most pressing task for Chibi City.

The problem is, as the most critical combat force in Chibi City, Zhao Zhenxuan cannot easily leave the city to deal with the bandits.

“There are many spies from the bandits in the city.”

The innate strong fighter said in a deep voice: “If I leave, they will inevitably cause trouble in the city.”

Bandits excel at guerrilla warfare; they would never confront Zhao Zhenxuan directly but would resort to ambushes and underhanded tactics.

Zhao Zhenxuan must stabilize his foundation, which is why he came here to seek Wang Chen’s assistance!

After listening, Wang Chen straightforwardly asked, “What’s in it for me?”

At this moment, Wang Chen was tempted, for eradicating these evil bandits posed no burden on him, and he could earn a substantial amount of Qi and blood value.

But agreeing to it outright would make him seem too cheap.

Wang Chen didn’t want to leave the impression of being an easy target!

“How about a divine weapon?”

Zhao Zhenxuan had clearly pondered this question long ago and replied without hesitation: “There are two divine weapons in the secret vault of the city lord’s office. Once we eradicate this group of bandits, you can choose one!”

The innate strong fighter felt a pang in his heart.

Divine weapons are exceedingly rare; if it weren’t for the dire circumstances, he would never have considered parting with one as a reward.

“Divine weapons, huh.”

To his astonishment, Wang Chen seemed unimpressed: “I already have some.”

Wang Chen not only possessed a divine weapon but three of them!

Even that was of no use to him.

Wang Chen’s refusal of the divine weapons left Zhao Zhenxuan utterly perplexed: “Then you tell me what you want!”

Zhao Zhenxuan had wealth, women, power, and techniques—he had it all, but he suspected these mundane offerings wouldn’t sway Wang Chen either, so he decided to leave the decision to him.

Wang Chen was also somewhat stumped—he lacked nothing!

After a moment’s thought, Wang Chen said, “How about this: let me choose three items from the secret vault, excluding divine weapons.”

“Deal!”

Zhao Zhenxuan agreed without hesitation.

The secret vault of the city lord’s office housed all his private treasures, with the most valuable being the two divine weapons. Since Wang Chen didn’t want the divine weapons, Zhao Zhenxuan was more than willing to part with three items, or even a few more.

To demonstrate his sincerity, he said, “Let’s go and make your selections now.”

This innate strong fighter was quite straightforward, and Wang Chen didn’t refuse, following him to the city lord’s office.

The city lord’s office was undoubtedly the largest and most magnificent complex in Chibi City, with high walls and grand buildings, resembling a city within a city.

Zhao Zhenxuan led Wang Chen directly to the heart of the estate, dismissed the attendants, and opened the entrance to the underground secret vault.

The scale of this vault was comparable to the one Elder Yao had in North Mountain, with its contents neatly displayed on shelves—weapons, tools, materials, elixirs, techniques, and more, though the quality was clearly inferior.

Among the items, the most striking were undoubtedly the two divine weapons, a hammer and a staff.

However, the divine weapons that Zhao Zhenxuan treasured paled in comparison to Wang Chen’s Overlord Spear and Mountain Slayer Blade.

“The armor shield in the second compartment of the rightmost row looks promising.”

Just as Wang Chen was carefully selecting, Elder Yao’s voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

Wang Chen calmly walked over and found the item the Nascent Soul true immortal had pointed out.

It was a palm-sized shield-shaped metal plate, about two fingers thick, with a dark golden hue and countless intricate runes etched on its surface, though it lacked any spiritual resonance.

“This is a protective treasure.”

Elder Yao’s voice carried a hint of amusement: “I wonder which fellow traveler brought it down.”

The one he referred to as a fellow traveler was undoubtedly a practitioner of the same level!

The item remained, but the person was long gone.

Wang Chen didn’t even glance at it and immediately stashed it away.

This treasure wouldn’t wield much destructive power in the Misty Mountains Realm, but once returned to the Haotian Realm, its value would skyrocket.

He had worked hard to come to this world, and it was only fair that he reaped some rewards.

Next, under Elder Yao’s guidance, Wang Chen collected two more valuable items.

These items were relics left behind by practitioners from the lower realm, and only those at the Yuan Ying level could bring such items down; those still preserved were undoubtedly of high quality.

Zhao Zhenxuan, a native of this realm, likely sensed their uniqueness but couldn’t discern their origins or uses, so they had been left in the vault gathering dust.

Over time, he had probably even forgotten about them.

Now that Wang Chen had unearthed them, Zhao Zhenxuan’s gaze flickered with contemplation.

Not wanting the divine weapons but taking these seemingly useless foreign objects—if there was nothing remarkable about that, he would be quite foolish!

Yet Zhao Zhenxuan showed no intention of reneging on the deal.

“Alright.”

Wang Chen felt quite satisfied after making his selections from the vault.

Now it was time to get to work.

“City Lord Zhao, please provide me with all the information related to this group of bandits.”

Wang Chen stated, “Within three days, I’ll bring their heads back!”