Chapter 77 – Florida Man Scot-Free After Murdering 200 Local Cops and Establishing Crime Syndicate
As Wu Buyi sensed the killing intent of the lurkers, he ignored everything and went to find Leo. Fortunately, Leo was busy calculating his lifespan and planning his next expansion. He still stood in the middle of the first farm plot.
"Lord Florida Man, sir." Wu Buyi humbly approached Leo and called for him, "My lord, the lurkers around here will probably attack us tonight. Should I go out and hunt them down?"
Hearing that the store would be attacking soon, Leo snapped back to his senses. He then beamed Wu Buyi with a bright smile.
"Let them come."
"Is that a good idea?"
Wu Buyi doubted it was the right action. After all, the disciples were fragile. The golden core and the nascent soul cultivators around here could easily crush them by just waving hands.
"Nah, they'll be fine as long as they stay in-door after sunset. Tell them to get inside the store when the sun goes down. Remember this. Never go outside when the sun goes down. If they're going to raid the store, let them attack first. I'll deal with them later."
"…If you say so, my lord."
Wu Buyi disagreed with this decision, but he obeyed the order. He called every disciple over and told them to rush into the store when before sunset.
.
.
"And that's the order. Remember, never wander out at night! Lord Florida Man stresses that! This place is not Life Sword Sect. There are beasts and monsters lurking in the forest, and they sometimes wander around the stream."
Gao Yan and others listened to Wu Buyi and nodded. Still, the teenagers and the kids were still immature - The more warning, the more temptation. Everybody was curious about what would happen at night.
Seeing the sparkling pupils of the disciples, Wu Buyi narrowed his eyes as he could see through their thoughts. He threatened them.
"Also, I've spotted multiple nascent soul and golden core cultivators in the forest, and they have been watching this place for days. I believe they will raid this place tonight. Therefore, if you don't wanna die, DON'T. YOU. FREAKING. GO. OUTSIDE!!"
"…"
The threat worked like magic. The mischievous smiles vanished from the disciples' faces. Even Gao Yan, who was the strongest among the bunch, broke a cold sweat.
Noticing that the threat was effective, Wu Buyi taught them about today's event.
"Listen. Just now, we've been attacked by 200 nascent soul cultivators. We're lucky that Lord Florida Man and his pet are around. Now that those lurkers have seen their strength, they will aim for their weaknesses next. Do you know what their weaknesses are?"
"What are they, sir?"
"You!"
"E-Eh?"
Wu Buyi paced back and forth as these disciples were too naïve and clueless about the cultivation world's dark side. This was a world of anarchy where the strong devoured the weak. They were bullied and almost lost their lives, but they didn't learn.
"Brat. Do you remember what they did to you?" Wu Buyi reminded them.
"T-They stole our artifacts."
"Those were the treasures of Lord Florida man. They're not yours to begin with."
"…"
The disciples sulked as they couldn't get back the fancy thorn whips. They wished that they could have an artifact like the adults.
Wu Buyi read them like a book. He snickered at them, "You will get one eventually. For now, you're not strong enough to use a strong artifact. Once you reach where I am, you will be swimming in a pool of spirit stones and artifacts! Just focus on getting stronger!"
Hearing Wu Buyi's encouragement, they felt better. Everybody agreed to work hard in cultivation. Being motivated, they returned to the store building to rest and get used to their new living quarters.
After the disciples were herded into the building, Wu Buyi was relieved. He also entered his house and entered temporary seclusion, waiting for the upcoming night. He prayed that the invaders wouldn't be too strong.
.
.
Meanwhile, Leo rubbed his hands while he stood on the mystic realm platform. He couldn't stop laughing.
<Current Lifespan: 178,072 Years, 6 Months, 27 Days, 9 Hours, 57 Minutes.>
Stealing lifespan from strong cultivators was the best. He managed to gather a lot in less than a day!
"Dear Lord. Please send more my way. I LOVE IT!"
Leo opened the domain menu and checked the available structures.
.
Livestock Shed
Requirement – Humble General Store Level 7
Price – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
Space – 10 x 10
.
Parking Lot
Requirement – Humble General Store Level 8
Price – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
Space – 30 x 30
.
Warehouse (2)
Requirement – Humble General Store Level 8
Price – 500 Years of Lifespan
Space – 5 x 5
.
Granary (2)
Requirement – Humble General Store Level 8
Price – 500 Years of Lifespan
Space – 5 x 5
.
Employee Apartment
Requirement – Humble General Store Level 8
Price – 10,000 Years of Lifespan
Space – 20 x 50
.
Domain Expansion
Requirement – Humble General Store Level 8
Price – 10,000 Years of Lifespan
Expansion Range – 100 x 100
.
Although Leo barely used 10% of the available area, he needed more territory for his future buildings and other expansion projects. After all, there were many useless areas that Leo couldn't touch, such as streams and shallow rivers.
Domain Expansion was what Leo desired the most. However, the system's offer seemed lackluster as it could only expand the domain by 10,000 square meters. Comparing it to the domain of one square kilometer, it was insignificant.
Still, it was necessary and useful as Leo could designate the entire area as an empty yard. He could also erect a parking lot there, turning it into an airstrip for the local cultivators from afar to park there.
As Leo planned to purchase the expansion, he studied the item and pressed on it, checking the preview.
DING
The mini-map zoomed out. Instead of showing the 1000x1000 grids, it had another display mode. It showed 3x3 grids while Leo's domain was at the center. The west grid, southeast grid, and northeast grid were marked with red stripes, which disallowed Leo to expand toward the directions.
In the map, all major geographical landmarks were highlighted. In the center, the Sword Saint Boulder and a blue home icon marked the area as Leo's home base.
In the West, Magpie City and Life Sword Sect were the closest neighbors. They were only 10 kilometers away, and their landmarks appeared at the edge of the mini-map. A portion of the area was highlighted in red, which indicated that Leo couldn't expand his domain to that area.
As for the East, Leo could see the stream that Leo had been using as a water source. It flowed down from the north, and it headed southeast. However, the mini-map didn't show the stream's destination. At the southeast edge of the map, an icon of a black cone and three red swords was noticeable as the city was 10 times bigger than Life Sword Sect and Magpie City. It also came with a label.
Fatui Cult, Frozen Fire City
Leo finally understood why those KKK wannabe guys came from the South. Their headquarters was there.
Fatui Cult wasn't the only new hostile neighbor. Directly to the north, a skull and a black sword image icon were directly north of Leo's domain. Furthermore, the territory's borders were connected to the Magpie City's area of influence.
Death Sword Sect and its town, the Mantis Dragon City, expanded from east to west. On the map, Leo could only see the urban town, but he couldn't see the full layout of the city.
Sword Saint Forest was also highlighted, but it only covered the west of Magpie City. One-third of the forest already became an empty field as Leo had removed them.
Looking at the geography, terrain, and map, the expandable area seemed so tiny. He was disappointed in the system.
"Cheapskate system. This is too small."
As Leo was worried about the farm and the mystic realm platform, he expanded toward the south. Then, the system allowed Leo to pick the location.
However, it didn't allow Leo to freely pick an area. It showed 10 locked blocks, which were attached to the southern territory of his domain. When Leo pressed it, the system warned him.
<Will you unlock this area? Cost – 10,000 Years of Lifespan.>
"…"
Leo raised his eyebrows and pressed an adjacent block in curiosity. When he touched the button, the system asked Leo again.
<Will you unlock this area? Cost – 10,000 Years of Lifespan.>
With that information, Leo understood how the system was playing with him. He muttered.
"This is a waste of lifespan. I should wait for more useful facilities. I'll only build it when I don't have a space to build anymore."
Leo canceled the purchase. But as soon as he closed it, the domain system gave him a hint.
<Tips: You can acquire Domain Expansion Tickets by completing a mystic realm exploration. The number you can acquire depends on the difficulty.>
<Tips: Domain Expansion Tickets can be used to unlock more land.>
"…HMM?!"
Leo almost cursed out loud as the system was toying with him.
"System, what do you mean?! Can I get the expansion for FREE?!"
The system didn't answer, but Leo already got enough hints. His widened eyes locked on the mystic realm portal platform as if he had found a fully grown marijuana plant in the wild.
Leo stuck out his tongue. He panted like a perverted old man on crack. He rubbed his hands to get his dry palm wet.
"Well, well, well. I see what the system is trying to do. Encouraging me, eh?"
