Calamity of Tomorrow

"Move aside, move aside, after today you won't have any more business here." Zhou Bai walked past Yan Shan and approached his younger brother Yan Hai, smiling as he said, "Brother Yan Hai, your brother has already contributed, shouldn't you, as the younger brother, add a little more? Your brother and I are good friends; his brother is like my own. Just lend me 1500 and that will do."

"You're courting death!" Yan Hai became angry upon hearing this, and between the opening and closing of his eyes, the power of his Primordial Spirit surged wildly, as if lightning was about to scatter out.

Zhou Bai, "Then how about 1000? Surely you have 1000, right?"

Yan Hai's eyes flared with electric light, and he pulled out a bottle of Ice Heart Pill, smashing it hard into Zhou Bai's hand, grinding his teeth as he said, "You take it!! Since you're someone my brother approves of, I'll trust you too!"

The Ice Heart Pill was a type of medicinal pill that could condense one's spirit and calm the heart, very useful for pacifying inner turmoil, and nearly every cultivator needed it. Therefore, in the Heavenly Court, it had already become a common item for bartering, and almost every Heavenly cultivator had it. At this moment, it conveniently facilitated Zhou Bai's needs.

Zhou Bai nodded in satisfaction, and under the surprised and puzzled gazes of the crowd, he looked towards Yan Yan.

"What's going on?"

"Yan Shao, are you really lending money to this guy?"

"Tell me! Have you played some kind of trick?" Yan Yan shouted loudly, wanting to capture Zhou Bai and reveal his tricks.

She was enveloped in a gust of vital energy that exploded, turning into waves being blown out, her right hand scorching hot, emitting a temperature that distorted the surrounding air.

She reached out with a grab, covering a distance of over ten meters, and clawed towards Zhou Bai's shoulder.

With Yan Yan's cultivation at the 6th realm, an ordinary cultivator at the 3rd realm would probably be picked up as easily as a small chicken, especially since she was of a Heavenly lineage and had been nurtured with abundant resources from the Heavenly Court since childhood, cultivating divine charts specifically provided by the Court. Whether it was her foundation, potential, or current strength, she was far superior to ordinary cultivators of the same level.

With her move of the Red Flame Claw, she was confident she could scorch half of the opponent's body, then slowly deal with him and force the truth about his origins and intentions out of him.

This was also how Yan Yan got used to directly taking action against ordinary human cultivators in Central City.

After all, in the Heavenly Court, deities held the highest position, followed by immortals. Below the gods and immortals were people like her, of the Heavenly lineage.

As for ordinary human cultivators, unless they were top-notch cultivators at the 7th, 8th, or even 9th realm, even if they were beaten up by them, the worst that could happen was a reprimand or being confined for a period of time, not allowed to leave their residence.

Take, for instance, Yan Shan, who was most favored by the Plague Department's Zheng Wenguang, with his own 7th realm strength, background hard enough, and strength strong enough, to go virtually unbridled in Central City as long as he did not offend any gods or immortals.

He once, while riding in a chariot pulled by nine-headed black dragons, had one of the dragons bite a cultivator to the point of disability.

When other cultivators tried to capture him to apologize and make reparations, dozens of them were injured by Yan Shan, who then left with arrogance. In the end, all that happened was that he was grounded by Master Yan Zhen, told to reflect behind closed doors in his own cave dwelling for a few days.

At this moment, Yan Yan felt no burden in acting against the man before her, aiming to severely injure him with her first move.

But she was not facing an ordinary man, but Zhou Bai, who had surpassed countless human limits.

Zhou Bai faced Yan Yan's offensive with unruffled composure, extended a finger towards her, and shouted, "You!"

"Lend me 1000 credit points!"

Yan Yan was momentarily stunned, as if Zhou Bai's pointing and shouting had subdued her, and she withdrew her Red Flame Claw, beginning to fumble around on her person.

Zhou Bai thought to himself, "Sure enough, this guy has about the same limit as Yan Hai; 1000 credit points were a success in one try."

Seeing that she fumbled around and couldn't pull out anything, Zhou Bai said impatiently, "Can you do it or not? Do you have 1000 credit points or not? It's better if it's items; collecting credit points is too troublesome."

Yan Yan said somewhat embarrassedly, "I... I didn't bring anything with me, I'll go back to my room and get it..."

Watching Yan Yan turning to leave the room, Zhou Bai said irritably, "Didn't you see so many people waiting to borrow money? Who has so much time to wait for you? If you don't have anything, Yan Shan does, can't you ask him for a loan? You can pay him back later."

Yan Yan looked towards her brother Yan Shan, who frowned slightly, instinctively not wanting to lend to the other, but thinking about how he had also lent to Zhou Bai, refusing to lend to Yan Yan now would be denying his own actions. Then thinking that Yan Yan could surely pay him back later, he reconsidered.

So he nodded and said, "Yan Yan, now you believe in my judgment, right? I have a good eye for people." As he spoke, he took out another bottle of Ice Heart Pills and handed it to Yan Yan, who in turn gave it to Zhou Bai.

"There, that's more like it." Zhou Bai snatched the Ice Heart Pills and then turned to look at the others.

The celestial beings he looked at stepped back in fright, and everyone else watched the bizarre scene unfold, completely clueless as to what was happening.

Zheng Wenguang was both shocked and amazed. His Primordial Spirit power surged, transforming into ripples that swept over the scene, but he detected no odd spiritual fluctuations; "No Daoist magic, no traces of martial skills, this man hasn't used any methods at all. Did he really just persuade Yan Shan, Yan Hai, and Yan Yan with a few words?"

At that thought, Zheng Wenguang felt truly surprised, looking at the trio as if he were looking at three pigs: "These three guys, raised by the Plague Department's Lord Yan Zhen like pigs, could it be they've really become pigs? Even pigs wouldn't just hand over pills worth thousands of credits upon a first meeting."

"No, something is very wrong here. Could it be divination?"

Just as Zheng Wenguang discreetly backed away, feeling that something wasn't quite right and thinking of making an exit, Zhou Bai, who was already keeping a sharp lookout in all directions, caught the change in his expression and his retreating movement.

Then Zhou Bai pointed at him and demanded, "You! Lend me 1000 credits."

Zheng Wenguang hesitated, his face showing a struggle, but he continued to back away.

Zhou Bai raised his eyebrows, then declared, "Lend me 800 credits!"

Despite still appearing reluctant, Zheng Wenguang slowly approached and took out 8 Ice Heart Pills from his own bottle.

Finally, other celestial beings began to sense that something was amiss, some wanting to flee, others wanting to make a move against Zhou Bai.

Then they saw Zhou Bai sitting on the ground, casually catching the Hand Palm Thunder of a Level 5 celestial being and saying, "How about you lend me 1000 credits?"

The opposing party glared furiously, forming hand seals; spiritual power bubbled up around him as streaks of fire rose behind him, sweeping toward Zhou Bai like lasers.

Zhou Bai, lying on the ground, bore the brunt of the attack, frowning as he said, "900? 800? Such a miser. Alright, next."

To borrow more credits, Zhou Bai didn't ask everyone all at once but went one by one, trying to borrow the maximum possible from each person.

Some persons, sensing that the situation was off, tried to flee, but they were blocked by Zhou Bai's effortlessly controlled Coiling Gold Sword.

Zhou Bai's Coiling Gold Sword now possessed more than 5000 extraterrestrial forces and integrated hundreds of swordmanship techniques, practically equivalent to a Level 5 Sword Cultivator in its own right; with Zhou Bai supporting it from the sidelines using the Tianhe Star Explosion Sword and having persuaded the strongest—the trio of Yan Shan, Yan Hai, and Yan Yan—the others found escape nearly impossible.

A cultivator pinned down by the Tianhe Star Explosion Sword's gravity yelled in anger, "Demon! You demon! I will never lend you my credits!"

Zhou Bai said, "Officially, it's a loan, but it's really an investment. We're all pooling our strength together to get rich and achieve financial freedom."

Yan Shan added, "Come on, Ah Long, don't resist so much. This young fellow is good; I'm not wrong about people. I feel like lending him credits will definitely pay off. You'll understand once you lend."

Ah Long replied in sorrow, "Lord Yan! What's gotten into you? It must be this demon's doing! Snap out of it, you've been deceived!"

A moment later, Yan Shan patted Ah Long on the shoulder: "How about it? Ah Long, do you understand now?"

Ah Long nodded, excitedly admitting, "I get it now, Lord Yan, it's called investment. We're going to get rich!"

Yan Shan corrected him, "Don't just call it getting rich; it sounds so crude. We're about to achieve financial freedom."

Ah Long said joyfully, "Right, right, we're going to achieve financial freedom."

Watching this, Christina exclaimed, "This is terrifying, the poverty plague is just too scary. Even more frightening is that the poverty plague has fallen into Zhou Bai's hands, it's like a horror show."

Christina shook her head, "Zhou Bai, this kid, is simply a genius at borrowing money."

"It's called investment," Zhou Bai looked at his haul for the day, a huge stash of pills in his arms, and shook his head: "These guys are still too poor, I have to come back tomorrow and pull in more investments."