Chapter 1238: Jungle Farming

Chapter 1243: Foraging

A peculiar glint flickered in the eyes of Xu Qing and his group.

Their recent cleanup of the battlefield had yielded minimal returns. Furthermore, as per their assigned task as a corpse-scavenging team, they were required to hand over a portion of their gains. This meant that what little remained for themselves was almost negligible.

It was utterly insufficient for their cultivation needs.

Gradually, the ascended individuals present turned their gaze towards Xu Qing.

They awaited Xu Qing's final decision.

Xu Qing surveyed the meticulously cleaned battlefield around them, then looked towards the distant starry sky. After a moment, he slowly spoke.

“Entering the battlefield prematurely is indeed a method, but it hinges on timing and the relative strength of both our forces and the enemy's.”

“Moreover, battlefields are ever-changing. A misjudgment on our part during this period could lead to a life-or-death crisis.”

“After all, our combat strength has not yet reached a level where we can act with impunity.”

Xu Qing suppressed the rising thoughts in his mind. Considering the reality of their situation, he ultimately decided against making a hasty decision.

As his words spread, everyone fell silent, and the peculiar glint in their eyes gradually faded.

But just then, Xie Lingzi licked his lips and suddenly spoke.

“Captain… truthfully, compared to scavenging from corpses, we are more adept at live extraction!”

“Live extraction yields more source essence…”

As Xie Lingzi's words left his mouth, the peculiar glint that had almost vanished from everyone's eyes resurfaced with renewed intensity. They understood the implication: he was proposing unrestricted hunting.

At the same time, they all recalled the divine prisons they had once visited.

The address of 'Captain' also made Xu Qing feel a little dazed.

This was the first time on their journey that he had heard anyone around him address him this way.

“I wonder how Senior Brother is doing now…”

Xu Qing murmured to himself. Meanwhile, Xing Huanzi, standing nearby, spoke calmly.

“Without rules, there can be no order. Our current duty is no longer to procure resources, but to scavenge corpses.”

Xie Lingzi's eyes flashed, and he emitted a cold voice.

“Can you out-scavenge those collection teams? Sixty percent of the divine corpses are harvested by them! Your order, Xing Huanzi, is useless when it comes to scavenging corpses!”

Hearing this, Xing Huanzi glanced at Xie Lingzi, a sharp glint appearing in his eyes.

Not to be outdone, Xie Lingzi's baleful aura surged, faintly emitting the fluctuations of a Quasi-Immortal.

During this period, everyone had grown to varying degrees, and Xie Lingzi was no exception. He had broken through his cultivation and entered the Quasi-Immortal realm when they left Lingxing earlier.

Seeing the tension rising between the two, Xu Qing's gaze fell upon Zhou Zhengli.

Zhou Zhengli coughed, stepped forward, and stood between Xing Huanzi and Xie Lingzi, bowing to Xu Qing.

“My Lord, we know you are concerned about our lives and deaths, and that you are thinking of us. But since we have come to the battlefield and experienced so much, who among us doesn't understand the principle that fortune is found in danger?”

“As long as the rewards are sufficient, there’s nothing we won’t risk. The key is how to maximize our gains.”

“Therefore, Daoist Xie Lingzi is correct about our aptitude for live extraction, and Daoist Xing Huanzi’s point about rules also holds merit.”

“So, we can actually find a middle ground.”

Zhou Zhengli licked his lips and spoke softly.

“We are indeed a corpse-scavenging team. If we go out and hunt for live extraction, causing divine beings to die and become corpses for us to collect—this, in itself… is not a conflict.”

“If there’s no battlefield, we create one. If there are no corpses, we make them ourselves.”

After speaking, Zhou Zhengli bowed to Xu Qing.

Xie Lingzi, with a faint glow in his eyes, also bowed.

The other ascended individuals pondered, then the peculiar glint in their eyes grew stronger, and they all bowed towards Xu Qing.

Even Xing Huanzi, after some thought, nodded and looked at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing looked at the people before him, knowing that each of them harbored their own thoughts. They were not hothouse flowers, but individuals who had walked through storms of blood and gore.

Now, the scarcity of source essence had ignited a strong urge within them to choose and devour divine beings.

Since that was the case…

Xu Qing's eyes showed resolve, and he nodded.

The moment he nodded, the ascended individuals all began to smile, like wolves unleashed from their cages. Under Zhou Zhengli's arrangement, they each flew out, scattering in all directions.

They used every possible method to search for targets, relaying information back while Zhou Zhengli and Xing Huanzi served as reviewers.

Xu Qing, meanwhile, chose a meteorite, sat down cross-legged, and awaited their intelligence.

Just like that, half a month passed in a flash.

Streams of information flowed in from the scattered ascended individuals.

All of it pertained to the movements of divine beings.

However, after Xu Qing's assessment, most of the information indicated unsuitable targets—either too numerous or too dangerous.

Another seven or eight days passed until an ascended individual named Daoist Blood Cloud transmitted information that Xu Qing deemed suitable.

“Captain, I’ve detected a squad of divine scouts—approximately thirty in number. The highest cultivation among them is a Mid-Stage Divine Altar, seemingly a member of a divine race. I've been covertly following them for two days. This group, with their varying heights, builds, and weights, is perfectly suited for our live hunting and extraction!”

Accompanying this message were the reviews from Xing Huanzi and Zhou Zhengli.

Both confirmed the authenticity of the information.

After a brief contemplation, Xu Qing’s baleful aura surged. He immediately issued a command, then his body flickered, stepping into the void.

Simultaneously, as Xu Qing’s command spread, all the ascended individuals dispersed across the eight directions received their mission. With a peculiar glint in their eyes, like hunters or vicious wolves, they sped at full throttle towards the designated location.

Finally, several days later, outside a star named Gray Ridge, Xu Qing and his group reassembled.

Upon their arrival, Daoist Blood Cloud, who had been waiting there, with Xing Huanzi and Zhou Zhengli positioned to his left and right, immediately paid his respects to Xu Qing.

“Captain, those divine beings are highly secretive. I was only able to detect and follow them due to a special method I possess. They ultimately chose to conceal themselves on this star, where they have been for several days now. To avoid detection, I did not enter the star, but I can confirm they are still there.”

Xing Huanzi also nodded.

“This area is indeed chaotic.”

Zhou Zhengli licked his lips and spoke to Xu Qing with a smile.

“My Lord, my Law also senses that they are still present.”

If it had only been Daoist Blood Cloud, the trustworthiness of his information would require further verification. However, with the review and judgment of Xing Huanzi and Zhou Zhengli, the veracity of the matter was now extremely high.

Thus, upon hearing this, Xu Qing gazed at the star before them. His Immortal Embryo power circulated, and the Law of Space-Time permeated, ultimately confirming the information's accuracy.

His voice then emerged, cold as ice.

“Gather the source essence as quickly as possible, everyone… attack!”

The moment his words rang out, all the ascended individuals around them erupted with an astonishing baleful aura, whistling down directly towards the star below.

Their speed was immense; in a flash, they transformed into over a dozen long streaks of light, plunging into the star, piercing through clouds and mist, tearing through barriers, and rapidly approaching the location of the divine beings.

Xu Qing was among them, his speed fully unleashed as he traversed the celestial sphere, already nearing their destination.

With a single glance, he saw the thirty-plus divine beings, the Divine Altar among them, and what they were doing.

They were constructing an octagonal altar, and the surrounding arrangements suggested the creation of a ritual.

At the center of the ritual, atop the octagonal altar, a black bowl conspicuously rested at the highest point.

Inside the bowl, blood churned.

A dense anomalous substance formed within the bowl as the blood churned, but it did not dissipate; it was still accumulating, seemingly waiting for a specific moment to erupt fully.

At the appearance of Xu Qing and his group, the divine beings present abruptly looked up, seemingly taken by surprise. The Divine Altar among them, in particular, narrowed its divine eyes.

“The divine altar isn’t complete, the ritual hasn’t begun, the anomalous substance hasn’t erupted, and the nexus hasn’t even formed—yet how did the cultivators arrive so quickly!”

The Divine Altar was startled and suspicious, but it acted decisively, immediately activating its divine authority. This caused the incomplete altar to ignite prematurely, the ritual to commence, and the black blood bowl within it to instantly shatter.

Instantly, a large amount of anomalous substance erupted from within, rolling like black smoke and soaring skyward.

It sought to contaminate the surroundings.

However, its current concentration was insufficient, and the contamination effect would not reach its desired level. Whether a new battlefield could even form here remained uncertain…

But, it had no other choice.

Almost the instant the divine beings' aura fluctuated, the ascended individuals descending from the sky unleashed all the greed they had suppressed for so long.

Like sharp blades, they lunged forward.

Xu Qing, among them, raised his hand, and the Immortal Embryo behind him materialized, blotting out the sky and sun as his palm descended.

This palm strike was mighty, its aura causing all the divine beings present to tremble in their souls. It directly enveloped the shattered blood bowl and obscured the black smoke formed by the dispersed anomalous substance.

With a fierce squeeze.

With a crack, the anomalous black smoke seemed to solidify and snapped apart!

Simultaneously, Zhou Zhengli's Law Eye opened, glowing crimson.

Yuan Shansu's Heavy Mountain followed, descending.

Xie Lingzi's cackling laughter, filled with murderous intent and demonic energy, sped directly towards the location.

At the same time, Li Mengtu's poison swirled, and the Sword Light of the Thousands of Troops surged skyward.

The slaughter began!

Meanwhile, in the starry sky some distance from Gray Ridge Star, a group of military cultivators on patrol duty was moving forward.

They belonged to the Thought Scale Army, one of the nine great legions of the Left Flank Frontline. During wartime, they served as vanguards, and in peacetime, they were responsible for patrolling their jurisdiction, sweeping for hidden divine beings, and eradicating all anomalous substance nexuses within their territory.

Numbering over a thousand, they sat cross-legged in teams of one hundred on large, green flying vessels.

Ten such vessels, bearing the Thought Scale Army banner, sliced through the void, stirring up vast ripples.

Just as the black blood bowl shattered on Gray Ridge Star, a muffled drum sound suddenly erupted from the foremost of these ten flying vessels.

The sound was abrupt and deafening upon emergence, causing the starry sky to fluctuate and reverberating in all directions, prompting all the cross-legged cultivators to open their eyes, revealing sharp glints.

Immediately after, a solemn voice echoed.

“Divine beings are raising an altar, establishing a new anomalous substance nexus for battle, triggering the God-Suppressing Drum!”

“Xuan, Lin, Mo, Ling, Feng—I order your five teams to use the drum sound as a guide, conduct a full investigation of the forward region, locate the altar-raising site, and eliminate everything!”

As this command was issued, five flying vessels immediately separated from the fleet, accelerating forward in different directions, whistling away.

Accompanied by a low hum.

“As ordered!”