Hairy Secret

"So, this is your room?" Chen Wei, dragging Li Xin by his long white hair, asks the old man, who desperately nods in agreement. "You are quite extravagant for an old man with a humble appearance."

Chen Wei gazes around the room adorned with luxurious items, highly valuable to the eyes of mortals who could work their entire lives and never amass enough wealth to buy even a small part of this room.

But to Chen Wei, born into an aristocratic family of Rank 3 Gu Masters with a century-long history, this seems nothing more than a pathetic display by a relatively wealthy person trying to show off more wealth than he actually has.

In fact, it almost reminds Chen Wei of his world, where newly rich people tend to flaunt their wealth by buying cars, houses, and walking around covered in gold, while those born into old money behave modestly, using their significant money to influence the country's operations in their favor while staying out of the public eye.

"Believe it, this old bastard has always extorted us poor mortals to gain his own wealth!" a guard, with his spear at Li Liu and Li Bai's necks, says, trying to please Chen Wei with his words.

"Indeed, he is a despicable and greedy old man in the eyes of everyone in Yu Village!" the other guard, with his spear at Li Xin's wife's neck, adds.

Wang Mei, Yu Lian, and Feng Hua, standing beside Chen Wei, look on with contempt, sighing at the despicable and cowardly attitude of the guards who claimed to be extremely loyal to Li Xin not even a few hours ago.

But Chen Wei couldn't care less about the guards' words. And the little he does care about is to reflect on and admire the actions of these two guards, which are a perfect demonstration of how corruptible and treacherous the human heart is.

For example, these two guards had sworn their loyalty to fight to the death for Li Xin. Given the trust Li Xin had in them before, they had perfectly fulfilled these promises up until now, but now, for mere interests, they betrayed their leader without a second thought.

In fact, Chen Wei was even surprised at how easy it was. With small threats of death and promises of wealth, women, and power, these guards enthusiastically betrayed Li Xin and now obey Chen Wei's orders as if he had always been their leader.

They even go so far as to insult and humiliate Li Xin as if he were a long-despised enemy of theirs. Such shamelessness leaves Chen Wei speechless in admiration.

"You two, stop talking unnecessarily and search the room for any traps and valuable items!" Chen Wei says while dragging Li Xin into the room before throwing him forcefully against an elegant, luxurious fireplace.

"And you, get the primeval stones you mentioned!" Chen Wei says with an impassive look on his face, waiting for Li Xin to retrieve the primeval stones he claimed to have stored in a secret compartment in the fireplace.

"Yes! Yes! Of course, young master Yi!" Li Xin leans on the fireplace to stand up with difficulty due to his battered body.

In truth, it is a really pathetic sight for anyone looking from the outside—a disheveled old man, his hair torn out, his body covered in blood, urine, and shit, trying to stand with great difficulty while crying profusely in despair.

It is an especially painful and helpless sight for his wife and daughters, who weep quietly while watching the entire scene, their hearts aching but not daring to protest, for the bruises on their faces indicate that Chen Wei is not at all willing to hear complaints.

"You should stay alert by my side," Chen Wei tells Yu Lian, Wang Mei, and Feng Hua, as he creates a large amount of black blood ready to form a protective barrier at any moment, "...in case this is some sort of trap."

Of course, he knows the chance of this being a trap is almost nonexistent, but since "almost" is not a certainty, he prefers not to take unnecessary risks. Thus, he keeps a good distance from Li Xin, who quickly works on the fireplace.

But as Chen Wei expected, nothing happens; no last-resort trap is triggered when Li Xin retrieves a medium-sized red box from a hidden compartment at the back of the dark stone fireplace.

"Young master Yi, here it is!" Li Xin kneels with his face to the ground while presenting the box to Chen Wei.

The three girls behind Chen Wei remain alert, moving closer to him, for although the chance of danger is nearly nonexistent, no one likes to risk their own life when it can be avoided.

Chen Wei says nothing, simply using the black blood under his skillful control to grab the box and carefully open it to see a total of seventy-three primeval stones, which, according to what Li Xin had said earlier, is all his savings in primeval stones.

"Seventy-three? Isn't that too little for a veteran village leader like you? I suppose you are trying to deceive me, right?" Chen Wei looks directly at the kneeling Li Xin to see his reaction while also observing how his wife reacts.

Feng Hua and Wang Mei beside him nod in agreement with Chen Wei's questioning, knowing that generally, older Gu Masters tend to have more wealth than this, especially if they are mortal village leaders.

Even Yu Lian, who comes from a family of average wealth by Xiong Mao Clan standards, finds the amount relatively small, considering that most young Gu Masters in the clan have around twenty primeval stones.

"Young master, I swear that's all! Forgive me for it being too little in your eyes, for this old man is a poor bastard!!" Li Xin doesn't even try to hide the desperation on his face after hearing Chen Wei's words.

In truth, he never expected in his life that the wealth of seventy-three primeval stones, which had once been a great pride of his, could now put his life at risk not because of someone's greed to steal them but because the amount is so little that it raises suspicion.

But how could he have anticipated this? Compared to other mortal village leaders of the Huo Clan like him, they tend to be much less wealthy, having at most fifty primeval stones, since generating wealth in these mortal villages is truly difficult due to the lack of Gu Master resources they can use and they do not receive any form of salary from the Huo Clan.

Even so, with all the difficulties, he, with his good management and sales of fish delicacies and the luck of having both his Gu fed by sunlight, managed to accumulate his wealth over the years through hard work.

But now, in just a moment, everything has been taken by Chen Wei, and not only that, but he also looks at the amount as if it were worthless shit, causing Li Xin's heart to bleed in anguish, but fear prevents him from saying anything against Chen Wei.

"Ah well, I suppose I can't expect much from a Rank 1 Gu Master bastard from a medium to small-sized clan..." Chen Wei sighs disappointedly as he starts to swing his hand to cut off Li Xin's head.

Yu Lian, seeing the scene, looks at the old man with pity but watches silently, saying nothing to try to save his life.

But the same cannot be said for Li Xin's wife and daughters, who now cry and scream in despair, not seeming to care about Chen Wei's potential wrath.

"Young master, please!! My basement!! In my basement, there is something valuable that might interest you!!" Li Xin, faced with death, completely breaks and reveals the last piece of information he believed he would be able to keep hidden.

Feng Hua and Wang Mei look at the old man with interest before shifting their gazes to Chen Wei, who seems to be thinking the same.

For hearing this, he pauses his movement and looks with deep, impassive thoughts into Li Xin's eyes, where amid the terror, despair, and hatred, he can see the old man is telling the truth.

"So, tell me, what is this highly valuable object in your basement that might interest me?" Chen Wei asks simply as he approaches the old man while maintaining his guard.

"Slaves! To be exact, three of them! Three young women, young master, and they are all yours! I will take you to them, so please spare my life," Li Xin says, feeling a sharp pain in his chest.

Especially after seeing the shocked and disgusted looks on his daughters' faces upon hearing these words, but now he cannot afford to care about that because his life is more important.

"Slaves? Who would have thought that Leader Xin was so despicable..." Chen Wei says ironically, for he cares little about the fact that he has slaves or what he uses them for, but the same cannot be said for the girls.

Especially Yu Lian, who previously looked at the old man with pity in this situation, now looks at him with contempt and disgust, quickly changing her mind about showing mercy to Li Xin.

"...but tell me, why would I be interested in a bunch of mortal slaves?" Chen Wei asks, looking at Li Xin, expecting there to be more to this story. "...Do you think I'm a lustful young man who loses his mind at the mention of women?"

"Of course not, young master!... These three women are not human," Li Xin says each word with difficulty while watching Chen Wei store the box of primeval stones in his clothes. "They are Hairywomen, young master!"

"Three authentic Hairywomen? All slave traders only sell Hairymen, even demonic Gu Masters..." Chen Wei frowns after hearing the old man's words, which are hard to believe. "...How did you manage to obtain three females with your status as an insignificant Rank 1 Gu Master?"

"Sir, they are from a family of Hairymen who became refugees after their clan was destroyed, and they ended up near Yu Village by coincidence," Li Xin speaks quickly, not daring to utter a single lie. "I was able to capture the three who, by bad luck, got separated from their families without the Huo Clan knowing."

Wang Mei, hearing the story, looks interested, as it is the first time she might encounter a being from another species, which she always considered a fantasy.

But as she looks at Yu Lian, who seems to have a face of contempt and disgust for the old man, and Feng Hua, who appears unimpressed, she wonders if they come from worlds where diverse species are common.

Chen Wei, on the other hand, hearing the story, simply nods because it does not seem false, and he can also see in Li Xin's eyes that he is telling the truth.

In fact, cases like this are relatively common in the Gu world of this era, as the variant human clans living in the main Gu world have not yet been completely exterminated and still occupy a small part of the land.

Of course, as he knows from Kuang Luo To, most of these clans have an immortal of their race to defend them, but there are still various mortal forces that live in constant danger of invasion, with most of them living hidden in places that humans generally have no interest in exploring.

But when it happens that humans find these clans, it always ends the same way, with the variant human clan being attacked from all sides by the human forces of the region and eventually exterminated, with most of their members becoming slaves.

"Hmm, they could indeed be quite useful due to their proficiency in Gu refinement," Chen Wei murmurs while thinking about his plans to refine his main Gus for Rank 2.

"Of course, young master! In fact, they are even more skilled than most human Gu Masters, even though they are mere mortals!" Li Xin doesn't spare any praise for the Hairywomen slaves, now believing they might save his life by a thread.

"I am actually training them personally to become even more capable in refinement! I guarantee you, young master, they will be worth it!" Li Xin says, ignoring the despairing looks of his daughters, who remain completely silent, listening to his words.

His wife, who already knew everything, just stands there with a complicated expression because she knows how important these three Hairywomen were to Li Xin, as they seemed like a gift from the heavens to help them make a fortune in Gu refinement.

In truth, the prospects of wealth were so attractive that both of them did not hesitate to perform all sorts of tortures and cruel training to make them loyal slaves who would never dare disobey them.

It even reached the point where some of the information leaked somehow, and to hide this secret from the village, which would take this endless source of primeval stones from him, Li Xin himself created the rumor that he had sinful and lustful desires to be dominated by Hairywomen.

This was an excellent idea because when the rumor reached the Huo Clan in this manner, they simply thought it was some idiocy of mortal peasants with nothing better to do and did not bother to send anyone to investigate, which was the best outcome for them, even though he had to sacrifice a bit of his reputation.

"So that's how it is..." Chen Wei grabs Li Xin by the hair again before starting to drag him once more. "...And did you find anything?"

"Aside from what was expected, we didn't find anything of hidden value, young master!" one of the guards says while saluting Chen Wei on his knees.

"Well, ahhh, just as I expected..." Chen Wei says as he drags Li Xin to the door of the room before stopping and saying, "...So, what are you waiting for, Leader Xin? Show me the way to the basement!"