I have to get lucky right away.

Chapter 534 Those who dared to say "yes" are already dead.
The finance officer stood outside the spirit stone exchange point in the market, yawning boredly. Although he seemed utterly listless, he was actually terrified inside.

"The situation is worse than I imagined. Last month, there was still a 30% chance, but I've been here for five days and not a single person has come to exchange for spirit stones. Next month, forget about 30%, even half a percent would be good!"

Thinking of this, the deacon couldn't help but recall the elder's stern face, and a chill ran down his spine. This was already the largest market town in Xizhou, and if there was no news from him, the other markets were probably in similar situations. As for the black market…

Are you kidding me? If you could exchange spirit stones on the black market, even a fool would know that it's the righteous alliance's spies, right?
Just as the steward was thinking that he would probably have to return empty-handed again today, he suddenly saw a cultivator walk into the exchange area, and his mind immediately tensed up.

……

Zhao Ping touched the spirit stones in his pocket, feeling uneasy. Lately, he didn't know why, he recognized fewer and fewer faces, and the group of people who used to fight for demon beasts and spirit beasts had all disappeared.

At first, he thought it was a good thing, but as time went on, there were fewer and fewer cultivators in the market. Compared to the neighboring mortal cities, it was like a ghost town. This made him suddenly wonder if he had been under an illusion.

Fortunately, the spirit stone was real after all. He carried the spirit stone around while absorbing the spiritual energy inside it bit by bit.

Although the number of cultivators has decreased significantly recently, he still maintains the habit of absorbing all the spirit stones before leaving the market.

But this time, as soon as I stepped out of the exchange area, I felt a gust of wind rushing towards me!

"Damn it, how could someone start a fight in front of the exchange counter? Are they out of their mind?!"

Zhao Ping was terrified, hoping that the powerful cultivator at the exchange office would hold back and not kill him as well.

But things took a turn for the worse—

No one came out at all.

"What's going on? Surely even the powerful cultivator at the exchange point can't have disappeared? But if they have, why didn't you rob the exchange point instead of me?"

Although Zhao Ping's cultivation level was average, he was still a cultivator after all. As soon as his thoughts began, many ideas flashed through his mind. Just as he was thinking about taking another breath of spiritual energy from the spirit stone to reduce the loss, he suddenly felt a dull pain and was thrown to the ground.

"Senior, I..."

Before he could finish speaking, a sudden pressure swept over him, the aura of a Spirit Realm expert instantly choking him up. Then, he heard that cold, indifferent voice—

"I ask, you answer!"

"Please ask me anything, senior. I will answer to the best of my knowledge!"

Zhao Ping quickly adopted a docile posture, slightly extending his hands as if to express that he was absolutely not in danger.

The steward didn't care about these things. Even if a rogue cultivator who hadn't even condensed his Yuan Dan was attacked, he couldn't be harmed in the slightest.

Seeing that Zhao Ping was willing to cooperate, he immediately said:

"How many spirit stones did you exchange this month?"

"!!!" Upon hearing this, Zhao Ping's face turned pale, and he hurriedly said:
"Senior, I've absorbed all the spirit stones I exchanged..." "I'm asking you, how many spirit stones did you exchange last month? Don't make me ask a third time!"

The deacon's sharp, blade-like aura pressed Zhao Ping to the ground, and he quickly said:
"Seven! Seven in total!"

"How can there only be seven?" The steward frowned, and Zhao Ping, assuming he didn't believe him, quickly replied:
"For some reason, there have been far fewer cultivators going out hunting these past few months. My cultivation level is too low, and I have no one to team up with, so I can only catch some low-level demonic beasts and gather some herbs that can be found everywhere, which is not enough to exchange for more! Everything I have said is true, and if there is even a single lie..."

"How many cultivators are missing?" The deacon interrupted Zhao Ping's oath again. Hearing this question, Zhao Ping hesitated for a moment before answering somewhat tentatively:

"I'm not entirely sure about the specifics, but you almost never encounter any independent cultivators outside the market. Even inside the market, you might only run into one or two cultivators every three to five days."

"Do you have the contact information of any familiar cultivators?" The steward was satisfied that Zhao Ping hadn't wasted any words this time, but Zhao Ping could only shake his head at this question:
"In response to your question, senior, my cultivation level is low, and I am a rogue cultivator. Those I have interacted with are mostly of similar cultivation levels, and I dare not leave any communication marks. We usually just agree on a place to leave a message for each other, or simply wait at the exchange point."

"Not a single familiar face?" The deacon seemed somewhat incredulous, but Zhao Ping was telling the truth. How could a rogue cultivator like him be qualified to form a long-term team? He'd just go wherever there was work to be done. If there were too many people, wouldn't they just be fighting over jobs? As for contact information? Wouldn't that just invite people to hunt him down?
However, judging from the fact that this person could ask such a question, Zhao Ping realized that the person in front of him was probably a high-ranking member of the Righteous Alliance. Only such a person could ask such an otherworldly question, and only such a person could arrest someone at the entrance of the exchange office without being hunted down.

"It seems the Alliance intends to investigate the missing cultivators... So, this disappearance wasn't orchestrated by the Alliance? Then who could it be? A demonic cultivator? An evil cultivator? Or perhaps that extraterrestrial demon?"

Thoughts flashed through Zhao Ping's mind, but on the surface he simply shook his head and said:

"There really isn't a single one. If you ask a hundred Foundation Establishment stage cultivators, ninety-nine of them will tell you there isn't one."

"And what's the last one?" the steward asked coldly. Zhao Ping never expected him to press further, and could only reply with a bitter face:

"The remaining one was probably already a corpse when you found it."

"Hmph!" The deacon was quite displeased with Zhao Ping's shrewdness, but this was his only gain from staking out the area for the past few days. He couldn't just kill him outright, so he could only flick a wisp of spiritual energy to make the man suffer a bit before speaking to the rogue cultivator, who was covered in cold sweat and bleeding from the corner of his mouth:

"So you have absolutely no idea why the number of cultivators has decreased?"

"I don't know." Zhao Ping uttered three words weakly, and then, seemingly worried about being hit again, added:

"I noticed last month that there were fewer familiar faces, and at the time I thought..."

At this point, he suddenly stopped speaking, his face turning deathly pale. The deacon immediately glared at him, and his imposing aura instantly descended:
"Why?"

"I thought the Alliance had taken him away..." Zhao Ping said with some hesitation, but the steward did not get angry this time.

In fact, if he weren't a member of the League himself, he would also think that the League did it.

After all, besides the Alliance, what other organization in the world could make 70% of the independent cultivators disappear without anyone noticing?
"Wait!" The deacon suddenly paused, his eyes flashing rapidly.

"Could it be that……"

A somewhat absurd, yet at this moment, only plausible explanation arose in his mind...

(End of this chapter)