Reborn as a Hatrack in the Mystical Land-Chapter 598 - 55: The Extortion Incident

In the next few months, the days at Blood Cherry Duke Mansion went rather smoothly. After Yue Jinghua’s successes with the Human-faced Falcon Queen, she consecutively refined Dark Beast Vein Crystals several times. Unfortunately, aside from the one called "Gray Feather," she couldn’t produce a qualified Dark Beast Vein Crystal using any other Dark Beast.

It seems the refinement of vein crystals demands a high-grade requirement for Dark Beasts; only from the corpses of high-quality, high-level Dark Beasts can a Dark Beast Vein Crystal be refined.

It looks like Yue Jinghua has a long way to go if she wants to widely promote this special type of Xuan Crystal.

During this period, with the cooperation of the Yanyue Chamber of Commerce, Yue Jinghua smoothly took over several stores on Linlan Street.

Together with the other stores on Linlan Street secretly acquired through Hong Yao’s efforts, by the end of May, Yue Jinghua had acquired nearly eighty percent of the street.

After another half month of reorganization, in mid-June, the first duke-owned grocery store opened on Linlan Street.

All beginnings are hard. Moreover, due to the limited quantity of goods transported from the "Bilun Transmission Channel," the grocery store’s business could initially only be described as deserted.

Outside the store, only a few prostitues who came to gawk stood. Not a single legitimate customer was seen.

As time passed, Hong Yao also noticed something wrong. Having checked around the store several times, he found local rascals with shifty eyes loitering nearby, occasionally using threats to drive away passersby.

There were also some customers who were pulled away by heavily made-up prostitutes as soon as they got close.

"Boss, I’ve already made inquiries. Those people are from the four major powers of Linlan Street. In earlier years, they didn’t get along; somehow, they’ve recently banded together and seem to be secretly opposing us," Hong Yao, having been accustomed to dangerous situations in the nightclub, naturally did not take these local rascals seriously.

However, if they continue this way, the Duke Mansion’s store simply cannot gain a foothold on Linlan Street.

Yue Jinghua thought for a moment, then whispered a few words in Hong Yao’s ear.

The latter understood and proceeded according to Yue Jinghua’s arrangements.

That day, just like usual, a clerk in green was bent over arranging the shelves of the grocery store when suddenly a loud noise of footsteps was heard.

A few Dark Practitioners with narrow eyes and sparse eyebrows walked in boldly. Observing their steps, one could tell these men were different from ordinary gangsters and local rascals.

One of them approached the young clerk and shouted loudly: "New guy, call your boss out here."

The clerk’s face was shielded by a cap, obscuring his expression, but his voice was trembling as he responded, "The boss is out. Customers, may I ask what brings you here?"

"Pay up. Have you paid this month’s protection money for your store?" the leading Dark Practitioner said fiercely.

"Customer ... no, sir, we are a legitimate store. We pay taxes according to the requirements of the Ministry of Revenue, not missing a single penny. Sir, you might have entered the wrong store," the clerk shrank in fear, burying his head even deeper.

"You need to pay the taxes to the Ministry of Revenue, and the protection money for Linlan Street too," the Dark Practitioner glanced around the grocery store, noticing the shelves full of various goods from north to south, and a trace of greed flashed in his eyes.

"Protection money? What is that?" The clerk summoned all his courage and asked, his neck turning red.

"It’s the money that ensures the safety of everyone and everything in the store. If you don’t pay, who knows, you might mysteriously break an arm today, break both legs tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow fire may accidentally break out in the store, or it might be robbed...we can’t guarantee anything," said the Dark Practitioner, his spit flying as he spoke with a smug expression.

After hearing this, the young errand boy was at a loss for words, unable to speak properly.

He shivered and struggled for a while, finally squeezing out a question: "So, sir, how much peace money needs to be paid?"

"One hundred thousand Dark Pills per shop," declared the Dark Practitioner boldly, stating an astonishing figure.

"That’s too much, our shop has just opened, we can’t come up with that much money suddenly," the errand boy, evidently inexperienced, was so frightened by the astronomical figure that his tongue tied itself into knots and he could barely speak.

"Can’t pay? Then we’ll smash it," the Dark Practitioners, like bandits, made motions to start looting and smashing.

The errand boy, in desperation, stammered, "Sir, I beg you, please don’t smash it. We don’t have so much money, but we can use goods to compensate."

Hearing that the errand boy could substitute goods, the group of Dark Practitioners stopped, "Using goods is fine, bring out your items for us to see."

"I’ll get them, I’ll get them," said the errand boy, his previously downcast face now flashing a glint of cold determination in his bright starry eyes.

He suddenly moved like a nimble monkey, leaping from behind the counter and deftly grabbing hold of the right arm and shoulder meridian points of the Dark Practitioner with Dark Earth Cultivation.

After forcefully using his elbow, a crisp "snap" was heard; the leading Dark Practitioner felt extreme pain in his shoulder, his Dark Energy unable to circulate freely, instantly losing his ability to resist.

The remaining Dark Practitioners, seeing their comrade captured, charged towards the green-clothed errand boy.

In the shop, a black Little Xuan Beast the size of a domestic cat leaped down from a high spot, its sharp claws flashing with a chilling cold light.

It was the Seventh-stage Peak Dark Beast, Little Shanshan.

"It’s Black Yama," seeing Little Shanshan, the Dark Practitioners immediately felt their legs go weak, barely able to stand.

Meanwhile, the errand boy who had captured the leader of the Dark Practitioners removed his hat, revealing a face covered with a golden mask.

Ever since the last Beast Fighting Arena, where Little Shanshan fought against ten War Beasts and maintained an undefeated record, Little Shanshan’s black fur and astonishing speed amazed everyone who witnessed that battle.

A Fierce Beast that could easily defeat ten Sixth-order Peak contenders, facing these Dark Practitioners of only Dark Earth Peak, killing them would be as easy as slicing a watermelon with a knife.

After receiving the news about Hong Yao, Yue Jinghua immediately sent someone from the Eagle Department to investigate the identities of these local rascal Dark Practitioners loitering outside the grocery store, discovering they were all underlings of one of the local four major powers, Ripper Lun Feng.

Lun Feng, among the four forces, has the most Dark Practitioners, mostly retired Imperial Soldiers.

To avoid unnecessary damage, Yue Jinghua decided to personally get involved, disguising as an errand boy, just to lure these people into her trap.

After recognizing Yue Jinghua and Little Shanshan’s identities, the leader of the Dark Practitioners, still unwilling to give in, kept shouting, "I’m telling you, if you dare to do anything to me, our boss will not let you off."

"Tsk tsk, don’t misunderstand, I did not subdue you to make you beg for mercy. Since I’ve come to Linlan Street, I naturally abide by Linlan Street’s rules. As for that peace money, I will indeed pay it, just in a slightly different manner," Yue Jinghua said with a grin, clasping the shoulders of the Dark Practitioner leader and suddenly exerting force.

The leader of the Dark Practitioners let out a piercing scream of agony.