The Patrol Envoy Mu on the side had long been used to this kind of situation and hurriedly cut in.

"City Lord Ye, you also know, the Jiu Provinces Hall needs quite a bit of funding to operate every year, and Master Chen has always been worrying over these funds. Some informed and tactful City Lords will send over some Respect Money to help resolve Master Chen’s urgent needs. Considering that Huangquan City is just a small city, the Respect Money doesn’t need to be much, five hundred thousand Intermediate Spirit Stones will be enough."

Five hundred thousand Intermediate Spirit Stones?!

Ye Lingyue’s heart surged like a stormy sea; she almost wanted to rush up and tear apart Master Chen’s ugly face.

Five hundred thousand Intermediate Spirit Stones, that was equivalent to Huangquan City’s tax revenue for five years.

Master Chen opened his mouth and asked for five hundred thousand Spirit Stones; that was outright robbery.

Seeing that Ye Lingyue refused to answer for a long time, Master Chen’s face instantly turned from clear to cloudy.

"City Lord Ye, if you are powerless, then I, Chen, can only act according to the orders of the Jiu Provinces Alliance. Next month, when the Jiu Provinces Heaven List is released, if Huangquan City still cannot reverse the situation of citizens fleeing and the overall ranking dropping, the Jiu Provinces Alliance will revoke Huangquan City’s city qualification."

"Master Chen, you mean, as long as Huangquan City’s overall ranking rises, Huangquan City can be preserved?"

Ye Lingyue would never submit to someone like Master Chen.

"Heh~ As long as Huangquan City escapes the bottom three, it can be kept. It’s just, I don’t believe City Lord Ye has that kind of ability. See the guest out."

Master Chen laughed as if he’d heard the funniest joke in the world.

The Jiu Provinces Hunting hadn’t even started yet, and Huangquan City was already so poor it clanged; on the Jiu Provinces Heaven List, with the green indicator (number of people on the Earth List) and the red indicator (overall city strength) both impossible to rise in the short term, raising the yellow indicator (total population) became Ye Lingyue’s only option.

And Huangquan City’s current overall ranking was second to last among all cities; judging from the degree of population loss, next month it would definitely fall to dead last.

In this situation, Ye Lingyue actually openly rejected Master Chen’s extortion, and delusionally wanted to, in less than a month, climb two places from second to last and escape the bottom three. Any City Lord in her place would find that laughable.

In fact, not to mention Master Chen, even Ye Lingyue herself felt that it was an impossible task. Thinking back, City Lord Ma’s earlier warning very likely came from him knowing in advance that Huangquan City would be revoked.

Ye Lingyue walked out of the Council Hall. Those City Lords who had already gotten wind of the news were whispering behind her back, clearly without the slightest bit of sympathy for Ye Lingyue’s predicament.

Master Chen using the Jiu Provinces Hall to line his pockets was nothing new. Aside from the City Lords of the top ten Super Cities, whom he didn’t dare extort, every other City Lord present had, to greater or lesser extent, been squeezed by him.

"City Lord Ye, why the long face? Did you run into something troublesome?"

At this moment, a sudden voice came from behind, calling out to Ye Lingyue.

Ye Lingyue turned her head and saw the Wuling City Lord standing not far away.

Seeing the Wuling City Lord, Ye Lingyue quickly walked up.

After all, the Old City Lord had managed Wuling City, a mere Newbie City, into a well-ordered place, turning it into an Intermediate city on the Ancient Nine Provinces Continent. He naturally had his own strengths; Ye Lingyue just so happened to ask him how to attract new immigrants.

"Attracting new immigrants, with Huangquan City’s situation, I’m afraid won’t be easy." The Wuling City Lord pondered with a solemn face after listening. "The reason Wuling City can attract a large number of newbies is because Wuling City has abundant Five Spirits Qi. That is a natural condition. In this respect, Huangquan City really has no advantage. Besides, you only have less than a month’s time."

Ye Lingyue thought about it; as far as Spiritual Energy went, Huangquan City could only be described as lacking. For Martial Artists, that really wasn’t any kind of attraction.

"If there’s no advantage, then create one. A few hundred years ago, Shui City wasn’t much better than Huangquan City, but ever since the legend of the Water God appeared, new immigrants greatly increased."

As Ye Lingyue and the Wuling City Lord were discussing, City Lord Shui, Luo Qianche, of Shui City walked over; it turned out Luo Qianche was leading Shui City’s delegation to register.

"City Lord Luo is right. For most cities, advantages are not Innate, but Postnatal."

The Wuling City Lord let out two hearty laughs.

Ye Lingyue was somewhat surprised by what Luo Qianche said. After all, just a few days ago, the two were still enemies; she hadn’t expected the other woman to offer advice.

"Don’t tell me, the Water God legend has always just been a gimmick."

Ye Lingyue suddenly understood. It seemed that to be a City Lord, strength alone wasn’t enough; sometimes you also needed a bit of cunning. It was just, what exactly was Huangquan City’s advantage?

"Whether it’s a gimmick or not, I don’t know. But the Water God Waterfall and the canal ancient path of Shui City were both painstakingly developed and dug out by generations of City Lord’s Mansion. Shui City has beautiful scenery, and according to the ancient sayings, water can store wealth. Many wealthy merchants and fishermen like to settle down in Shui City. Sometimes, people’s blind worship of gods can bring great effect. If you have no natural advantages at all, then personality worship is the best way to attract immigrants."

After speaking, Luo Qianche glanced at Ye Lingyue.

"I’m not giving you ideas; I just don’t want my opponent to become a stray dog, stripped of her city before the Jiu Provinces Hunting even starts, and in the end lose even the qualification to participate in the Jiu Provinces Hunting."

This woman just loved saying one thing and meaning another.

How could Ye Lingyue not hear that Luo Qianche was indeed offering her advice.

Whether it was Luo Qianche or the Wuling City Lord, after learning of Master Chen’s harsh conditions, both were stunned.

"Ye Lingyue, you usually seem pretty clever. How come at a time like this you’re being so stubborn? In one month, where are you going to recruit new immigrants? If I were you, I’d rather agree to Master Chen’s demand. He has Elder Chen backing him. If you go against him, you’ll just die miserably."

Luo Qianche shook her head.

"If there’s a first time, there’ll be a second. Besides, even if we paid enough Spirit Stones, if Huangquan City can’t escape the bottom of the rankings, there will be countless five-hundred-thousand-Spirit-Stone payments in the future. For that kind of person, I never compromise."

Just thinking that ten thousand Spirit Stones could buy one entry into the Divine Power Pool, Ye Lingyue would sooner die than agree to the condition of five hundred thousand Spirit Stones.

"Master Chen’s behavior is getting more and more rampant. But City Lord Ye is right as well; people like that can’t be indulged. City Lord Ye, I can’t help you with the matter of new immigrants. But you can carefully study that Heaven List at the entrance of the Hall. If this old man remembers correctly, for Huangquan City to escape the bottom three, within this one month, you’ll need to recruit at least over a thousand new residents. That’s not an easy task to complete; you need to think this through carefully."