Chapter 73: Chapter 68: Harvest, Reaction
True Person Nanfeng moved swiftly, and within half an hour, he had gathered his disciples and left the Sect Gate, preparing to head for Illusory Spirit City.
He took away the bodies of all the disciples of Night Light Pavilion, including Lai Baojiang.
Before leaving, he also made a trip to the Purple Stone Imperial Capital to notify the Royal Family of the place, advising them to act cautiously.
After True Person Nanfeng left, Chu Zheng, accompanied by Fu Quanliang, entered the Imperial Capital and temporarily settled in hiding.
He first needed to refine the Fire Seed of Earth Fiend True Flame to advance his cultivation with the Taixuan Divine Fire Scripture and to take inventory of his gains.
At the same time, he also wanted to observe the reactions of Night Light Pavilion and Phantom Spirit Sect.
Even if he carried people with him, a cultivator at the Entry Dao Realm could reach Illusory Spirit City in less than ten days, and the results would soon be evident.
Without making a sound, the Night Light Pavilion had already infiltrated the heartland of the Phantom Spirit Sect.
The Phantom Spirit Sect would inevitably react.
The Storage Bag acquired by Fu Quanliang contained a total of twelve, all in pristine condition.
Apart from a few Spirit Stones, elixirs, and magic artifacts, there was nothing else.
Not a single book or scroll, not a trace of evidence that could prove their identities.
Upon discovering this, Chu Zheng's eyebrows slightly twitched.
Night Light Pavilion was too clean in its preparations, clearly experienced, having readied these people for their potential deaths before the operation.
True Person Nanfeng's journey might not go smoothly.
As long as Night Light Pavilion steadfastly denied everything, he actually had no solid evidence in his hands.
If Tai Xu Holy Land became more suspicious, they might even suspect that this was a plot orchestrated by the Phantom Spirit Sect.
Moreover, what role the Tai Xu Holy Land played in this battle remains unknown.
Chu Zheng shook his head and stopped thinking further, emptied the Storage Bag's contents, and after a brief tally, had a rough idea of this haul.
Converting all Spirit Stones to low quality, the total came to over thirteen thousand pieces, half of which came from Lai Baojiang's Storage Bag.
There were nearly twenty First Order magic artifacts of varying qualities, which if sold, would yield at least twenty thousand low-quality Spirit Stones.
Only one Second Order Magic Treasure.
[Night Shadow Sword (Second Order): Low Quality Magic Treasure, has slain over a thousand lives, imbued with Blood Fiend, crafted by a Fourth Order Artifact Refiner, materials pushed to their limits, flawless.]
A sword, essentially a weapon of slaughter, coupled with its numerous killings, made its edge even more frightening.
It was clear that Lai Baojiang had engaged in more than this sort of activity just once, such as with the Tianhe Sect incident.
The rapid rise of the Night Light Pavilion, surpassing the Phantom Spirit Sect, was somewhat related to these deeds.
Pillaging has always been the quickest way to accumulate wealth.
In a casual manner, Chu Zheng tossed the Night Shadow Sword to Fu Quanliang and nonchalantly said, "Your head will soon be worth more than just two thousand low-quality Spirit Stones."
"What do you mean?" Fu Quanliang felt a sense of unease.
"When that True Person Nanfeng asked me earlier, I gave him your name, no need to thank me."
Chu Zheng's eyes slightly narrowed as he calmly spoke,
"Entering the Spiritual Spring and slaying an Entry Dao Realm cultivator, your name will soon resonate across the entire battlefield."
Fu Quanliang was momentarily stunned, his throat dry, looking at Chu Zheng, feeling a chill rising in his heart.
By this account, his worth was no longer just barely better than nothing.
Congratulations were in order.
Chu Zheng took out the brocade box holding the Fire Seed and slowly opened it.
The material of the brocade box was Sky Fire Wood, typically used to house a Fire Seed, as this type of Spirit Wood, encouraging fire from wood, could keep the Fire Seed vital for years and sustain its burning indefinitely.
A tuft of orange-red flame the size of a baby's fist lay quietly at the center of the brocade box, slowly drawing energy from the Sky Fire Wood to burn.
Fire Seeds do not burn through their own power but require spiritual energy as fuel, usually aided by formations, and filled with Spirit Stones as kindling to be used in alchemy and artifact forging.
Mere burning of a Fire Seed alone, no matter how abundant its origin, would burn out over the years, even for Immortal Flames, which could not withstand this toll.
What Chu Zheng intended to do now, was to follow the methods in the Taixuan Divine Fire Scripture, refining this Fire Seed into his Dantian to hasten the advancement of his cultivation.
He opened his mouth and drew the Fire Seed directly into his body.
[Earth Fiend True Flame (Second Order): Extracted from the heart of the earth, it is one of the most common among the Spiritual Fires of this age, has burned for a thousand years, some damage, can be repaired (0/4)]
Upon receiving this information within his mind, Chu Zheng did not hesitate and instantly repaired it fully.
In an instant, the Fire Seed returned to its peak from a thousand years ago, its energy swelling multifold.
Chu Zheng's skin turned instantly reddish, his blood Qi surged, emitting searing heat, his every strand of hair defying gravity and gradually adopting a hazy orange glow.
After swallowing the Fire Seed, he could commence the cultivation of an Immortal Law known as 'Fire God Transformation' according to the Taixuan Divine Fire Scripture.
Cultivated to its ultimate, one could completely revert the bodily flesh of any living being, turning oneself into a mass of Divine Fire, drawing spiritual energy from the universe to burn eternally.
That was the Fire Immortal.
According to the Taixuan Divine Fire Scripture, numerous preparations were necessary before absorbing the Fire Seed, as the flesh of ordinary cultivators, upon their initial experience, cannot withstand the smelting of Divine Fire and would end up charred.
But after comprehensive studies in Qi Refining Techniques, Chu Zheng discarded the extremely cumbersome preparations.
The Qi of Divine Fire is, after all, merely a variant of the manifest Yang Qi.
Now, with the Yuan Qi in his body reversing and Yang Qi gradually converting to Yin, he protected his internal organs and channels around his body, quickly suppressing the intense fire poison step by step.
Within moments, his complexion returned to normal, with tendrils of white smoke faintly swirling around his nose and mouth as his breathing gradually steadied.
Seeing Chu Zheng start his cultivation, Fu Quanliang did not disturb him further; he took out a handful of Spirit Pills, stuffed them into his mouth, moved to the side, sat down crossed-legged, and closed his eyes to cultivate.
His net worth had grown significantly, demanding him to cultivate even harder.
After an initial shock, a sense of unexplainable gratification followed.
His life was gradually becoming valuable, no longer worthless.
No Immortal Path Cultivator would dare to consume elixirs in such large quantities for cultivation like Fu Quanliang, as it could potentially cut off their path to immortality, even reducing their lifespan.
But with Chu Zheng as his backup, Fu Quanliang was simply consuming as much as he could survive, impressively accelerating the pace of his cultivation progress, even surpassing those with High-Quality Immortal Bone.
There are myriad paths in the cultivation of the great Dao, and shortcuts are the fastest.
Chu Zheng was the greatest shortcut on his path to immortality.
......
......
Illusory Spirit City.
True Person Nanfeng traveled day and night, and within a mere seven days, he arrived here with a group of his disciples.
The disciples guarding the city, upon hearing this, did not dare to be negligent and immediately reported it.
Within half an hour, True Person Nanfeng met with the master of the Phantom Spirit Sect, Gu Chunyang.
Regarding this matter, Gu Chunyang showed extreme caution and immediately sent a messenger to Ling Qi, seeking high-level officials of Night Light Pavilion for a face-to-face confrontation.
Still at the Phantom Spirit Sect's station, thirty thousand miles away.
Supporting a giant peak, Green Stone Grand Hall.
Signing the Battle Pact again, it wasn't but a few months before the three parties gathered once more.