The dark future ahead

In reality, five gold coins were certainly not a small sum either. You could stay at a decent inn for ten nights with just a single gold coin and the inn would not only give you accommodation to stay in but it would also give you three meals a day and anything else you'll need to live comfortably.

For commoners and humble cultivators from poor sects, five gold coins were more than enough. They could live fully and take care of all their needs with those five coins and even after all that, they would still be able to save up some of the money. However, the same could not be said for cultivators from rich sects, or to be more exact, cultivators who belonged to one of the great four sects.

The cultivators who came from the great four sects didn't lack money and they were not only given financial support from their sects, but they could also earn for themselves by doing tasks. Commoners would hire them and give them a huge sum of money just because these cultivators belonged to one of the great four.

The fact that they didn't lack money at all need not be said. Most of them were accustomed to staying at a lavish inn that would probably be the most expensive in the whole city, they would eat freshly cooked dishes that had to be warm and should contain ingredients that were added according to the most perfect measured quantity. Even the clothes they wore were made out of special and rare fabric that commoners couldn't even dream of owning.

They were the definition of living the rich life, and hence, if one were to hand them five gold coins, these cultivators would laugh in their faces and toss the five gold coins over to a beggar who sat at the corner of the street.

However, even though Maple passion pavilion was also the same, one certain section, to be more specific, the disciples who studied under Elder Dayu, were all brought up different. They were taught to value money. The five gold coins given to them every month were supposed to be more than enough for them and they had already gotten used to it.

Nobody except them knew how much allowance they got every month, so when someone from the outside saw these disciples under Elder Dayu, they would automatically assume that all of them had their pockets filled and overweighing with gold.

Fu Jie sighed as he listened to the lifestyle of these disciples.

They had already started walking as they discussed their pitiful financial situation.

Fu Jie had never learned how to save money in his life. If his father was unwilling to give him money, he could still depend on the money he earned through gaming, so he never really had to worry about spending too much money. Money was an abundant resource for him. That was just the way he was raised. In order to make one value something, you must first teach them why they should value it. Fu Jie had sadly never been taught this lesson. He never knew why there was a need for him to value money simply because there was no need for him to value money in the real world.

But Fu Jie would now be forced to learn this lesson that he had skipped due to the silver spoon in his mouth.

Five gold coins every month...

A life without money was dark...

He could already see his dark future ahead...

No!

He could literally see his dark future ahead!

Fu Jie's eyes slightly widened as he saw something that would probably traumatize him for life and haunt his nightmares.

"Who..." Fu Jie stopped and corrected himself, "W-What is that?!"

They didn't realize where they were going, or maybe it was just Fu Jie who didn't pay attention enough. As they kept themselves busy in a financial conversation, their feet had led them to the street located on the side of the famous Peach Tavern.

This was the street where the body of the young girl from the Mayor's house was found.

Fu Jie gulped as he saw the lifeless, bloodless, eyeless body that lay on the ground, covered in some black substance that looked a lot like blood, with its tongue hanging out as if someone had pulled at it a bit too much.

Fu Jie unconsciously faltered a step back and his back hit Dai Xiaobo's firm chest.

Xu Lifen smirked wickedly as she commented, "Would you look at that. We got to be the first at the crime scene."

Chen Qiao nodded happily as he strutted closer to the corpse on the floor. He crouched down near it and seemed to be carefully observing the corpse without touching it.

He gasped as he recognized the body.

Fu Jie also had the same reaction, but it wasn't the face that he had recognized, it was the body. The face already looked terrifying and beyond recognizable, so of course, Fu Jie wouldn't even try to look at it for more than once.

Thankfully, even without having to look at the face, he was still able to recognize the person. This body wasn't something that he would see every day.

This was the corpse of the buffed-up guys who had started a fight with the two commoners who were giving them information about the mayor and the murders.

"So he..." Fu Jie gulped, not daring to even complete what he wanted to say.

This man had certainly died a terrible death that one could only pray not to go through.

Dai Xiaobo held Fu Jie's shoulder, trying to give him support as he asked, "Are you okay?"

Fu Jie took a minute to answer, but he was still able to calmly give an answer as he nodded, "I'm okay..."

"Good," Dai Xiaobo let go of his shoulder and passed by Fu Jie to go and take a better look at the corpse.

It seemed that Fu Jie was the only one who didn't want to go near that corpse even if he was forced to.

He suddenly wondered if it would be alright to run away, but just as he was pondering over this solution, his eyes caught a glimpse of a figure.

She was standing on the roof of the Tavern and Fu Jie was sure that she saw him looking at her. Their eyes met and Fu Jie instantly recognized her, but before he could react, she was already gone.

She had run away.

It was the girl from the Jade pavilion sect that had given Fu Jie the red pouch filled with medicinal herbs.

Fu Jie was shocked and confused. The gut feeling got stronger. This girl was certainly not planning something good!

Fu Jie gulped as he wondered if he was supposed to tell the others what he saw, but in the end, he decided that it was better not to speak up without evidence. The girl had already run away and there was nothing left behind to prove that she had been there.

"Poison," Xu Lifen suddenly commented and Fu Jie's attention was drawn towards her in an instant.

"Huh?"

Xu Lifen squinted at the corpse as she added, "He was poisoned first."

Fu Jie glanced at the corpse and immediately regretted it as he snapped his head back to look at the beautiful face of Xu Lifen, "How do you know?"

Xu Lifen pointed at the open mouth of the corpse, "The tongue."

Dai Xiaobo also seemed to have put the pieces together as he added, "The inside of the tongue is eroded. The same poison that was mixed with the wine."

Fu Jie felt a shiver run down his spine as he heard this.

The same poison that was in their wine...?!

Didn't this mean that whoever tried to assassinate them was the murderer?! And if Dai Xiaobo hadn't knocked the wine out of Chen Qiao's hands... They would have also ended up like this corpse?!

Xu Lifen suddenly chuckled and her voice that mixed with the cold atmosphere sounded rather eery.

"It seems that someone wants to kill us." Xu Lifen spoke up, "And here I thought, we were going to be welcomed."

Chen Qiao, "Did we ever offend someone?"

Xu Lifen seemed to be thinking about it for a solid minute before she responded, "We offended too many people, but none of them should have the guts to pull off something like this."

Dai Xiaobo suddenly frowned as he glanced up at Fu Jie in a manner that made one think that he was suspecting Fu Jie.