Stranger Danger-Chapter 1699: Sand Worm Feast

“Stop screaming. It is only thanks to your ancestors that you’re alive today.”

If at first he was still feeling a little resentment and plotting a little something in his mind, all that was gone the moment he heard that they knew the ancestor of the Demonic Mountain.

The answer was very simple. It was because Ancestor Black Robe was the one person he neither had the courage nor the strength to challenge, ever.

This was also why he tolerated Yu Shuanglu’s stupidity and outrageous behavior. It was because she was the Saintess of the Demonic Mountain, and the Demonic Mountain was backed by Ancestor Black Robe.

So long as Ancestor Black Robe was still alive, there wasn’t a single person in the entire world who would dare to look down on the Demonic Mountain or their disciples.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Sages weren’t merely affiliated with Demonic Mountain. They were affiliated with Ancestor Black Robe himself. He would have to be insane to plot against them after knowing that.

Thank goodness he hadn’t agreed with Yu Shuanglu’s stupid idea. Otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable.

“Anyway, stay in the office and educate your son properly. You are not allowed to head out without my express permission.”

......

“Wei Nandou really is a smart guy. What a shame.”

Sitting at a table in a restaurant of a city called the Sand City, Ye Qing raised a unique wine they sold called the Bitterheart and took a light sip. His mouth was instantly filled with a bitter taste. However, the bitterness quickly passed and left behind only faint sweetness.

The wine was scorching when it hit the throat, but it melted into a cool, refreshing sensation the second it entered the stomach. He felt the torrid heat clinging to his body vanishing in an instant and soothing everything.

Bitterheart was a local specialty. It was brewed using the heart of a Sandworm.

The Sandworm was a Phenomenon-class Stranger that resided in the desert. A small Sandworm was dozens of meters long, whereas a big Sandworm was over three hundred meters long. They fed on passing caravans and animals.

Although a Sandworm was massive, it was very slow. Because of this, it often hid itself in the sand and opened its mouth. Any caravan or animal that passed through its mouth would be devoured in one gulp.

One could say that the Sandworm was one of the most common and dangerous Strangers near Sand City.

Despite the danger it posed, a Sandworm’s body was a treasure trove.

Its flesh could be eaten, and its blood could be drunk. Its heart could be used to brew wine, and its bones could be used to forge Strange Artifacts.

A Sandworm’s flesh was sour, and its blood was smelly. It was anything but delicious. Even so, it was valuable to the people of Sand City because it was a source of food and drink; a necessary resource to their survival.

The Western Regions boasted plenty of rich and prosperous places, tribes, and countries. However, there were even more places where poverty, harsh environments, and hardships were the main theme.

The Central Plain had a suitable climate and abundant rainfall, but the Western Regions were the opposite. The environment was harsh due to poor rainfall, water shortage, and a naturally dry climate. Yellow sand and desert were everywhere. Barren lands were everywhere.

The few resource rich and water rich places were all occupied by powerful tribes or countries. For obvious reasons, they did not allow anyone to have them.

Besides that, they did not share a standardized government system like the four empires of the Central Plain did. Instead, they were populated with all sorts of countries and tribes. Although they were collectively known as the Thirty Six Countries and Seventy Two Tribes, there were countless weak and tiny tribes and settlements that didn’t have a name.

Sand City was one such place. Situated at an oasis, it was originally a resting ground for caravans until the populace grew bigger and bigger. Eventually, it became a small city.

The oasis was too small to grow an enormous amount of crops or raise a sizable herd of livestocks. Therefore, resources were scarce. The only way the citizens of Sand City could live was to find another out. Hunting Sandworms was one of them.

Sand City had specialized Sandworm hunting squads to hunt down the Sandworms. Today, Sandworms were one of the city’s most critical food resources.

Food and wine made purely from Sandworms were called a Sandworm Feast. It also made Sand City famous. Caravans that happened to be staying in Sand City would try out a Sandworm Feast. A lot of travelers had shown up to try out the local delicacy as well.

Of course, most of these people who tried out a Sandworm Feast were people who never tasted it before. It really wasn’t all that tasty after all. The only drink produced using a Sandworm part that was okay was Bitterheart, but a Sandworm’s heart was terribly small considering its size. To give an example, a Sandworm’s heart was only the size of a basin, and it could only brew three or four jars of Bitterheart max.

Moreover, it was inadvisable to drink too much Bitterheart because it was where the essence of a Sandworm was stored. Drinking too much meant becoming influenced and eroded by its anomalous power. It was unhealthy to put it mildly.

This was why it was impossible to earn major money through Bitterheart, though the occasional tasting was perfectly fine as a matter of course.

Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou happened to catch wind of the Sandworm Feast while passing through Sand City. So, they decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, Bitterheart was the only delicacy out of everything that was pretty good. Everything else was... very local, let’s put it that way.

“What’s wrong? Are you disappointed that Wei Nandou caved?” Feng Qingyou took a small sip of Bitterheart and unconsciously furrowed her brow from how bitter it was.

Amused by her expression, Ye Qing took another sip himself before replying, “If he was foolish, then we could have made another killing.”

Feng Qingyou giggled. “Are you really complaining about wealth after taking out the Five Evils?”

Ye Qing countered, “There’s no such thing as too much wealth, is there?”

That’s right. The mysterious gods or elites or whatever that the people believed to have taken out the Five Evils and done right by countless civilians were none other than Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou.

No one else could be bothered. No one else would go after the Five Evils over something as petty as wealth either.

After killing Blood Plum and seeing all the cash and treasures she had stashed up in her treasure trove, Ye Qing had immediately thought of eliminating the other Four Evils.

The Four Evils might not be as rich as Blood Plum, but they couldn’t be poor either.

In that case, why not take them all out and make a couple more killings?

Besides, the Five Evils were only terrifying to others. They were just ants he and Feng Qingyou could wipe out with the snap of a finger. It wouldn’t cost them too much time or effort.

Besides, they were bad people. Killing them would be doing the people a service. They felt zero guilt or burden from killing and robbing such people.

So, he did it.

As it turned out, Feng Qingyou was right. They were filthy rich. It was seriously not an exaggeration to say that their gold piled up like mountains, and their treasures could fill up a sea.

Even Ye Qing had never seen this many valuables in his life.

That wasn’t to say Ye Qing didn’t have a valuable or two of his own. In fact, he had plenty of stuff that were better than what they had. For example, any one of his Strange Artifacts of secret art manuals would be more valuable than the standard currencies. They were all priceless items that could not be measured by mundane currencies.

However, quantity was a quality of its own. When the gold piled like mountains, the silver looked like a sea, the jewelries resembled sand, the treasures stacked up like grains, and even the pottery, the silk, the spices and more were innumerable...

Man oh man... it was a sight of its own.

Of course, the most exciting part of it all was that these treasures were all his.

Thanks to their kind “donations”, he and Feng Qingyou had just made back everything they spent on the Celestial Market On A Cloud and more.