Chapter 448: Taking Over Two Countries

Chen Mobai's heart stirred at the sight of the Jade Marrow Ganoderma. This was one of the main ingredients for refining the Golden Elixir Jade Restoration Pill, which was unobtainable in the Immortal Gate region. However, it was highly valued in the Eastern Wilderness.

All seven major sects cultivated it to refine Foundation Establishment Pills, making it the very foundation and future of these great sects. Even the two Golden Core Patriarchs of the Divine Wood Sect had to abide by the rules regarding the use of Jade Marrow Ganoderma. When Fu Xingzhou failed to establish his foundation previously, Fu Zongjue had to cleverly obtain another Foundation Establishment Pill for him by leveraging Yin Qingmei, who possessed a Heavenly Spiritual Root.

Now that Mount Shaking Peak had been breached, most of this Jade Marrow Ganoderma would still be used for refining Foundation Establishment Pills. However, Chen Mobai felt he could devise a way to leverage the Divine Wood Sect's power to help him refine the Golden Elixir Jade Restoration Pill for himself. After all, collecting 666 types of herbs for one batch, especially with eight crucial main ingredients requiring over a thousand years of age, would be incredibly difficult for him alone. Moreover, there was no guarantee of successful refinement in a single attempt. Nevertheless, he still needed to carefully consider how to navigate the subtle intricacies of this plan.

"Senior Brother Yue, is there a way to purify the poisonous qi from these two Jade Marrow Ganoderma plants?" Chen Mobai asked, concerned. The Immortal Gate surely had methods for purifying herbs, but millennium-old herbs like these were registered with the Medicinal Supervision Bureau and only found in the minor realms of the six major pharmaceutical factories. He dared not take them there.

"Patriarch Zhou acquired a 'Flaw-Cleansing and Impurity-Washing Art' in the Divine Tree Secret Realm, which can be used for this situation," Yue Zutao explained. "However, the conditions are quite strict: the ganoderma needs to be grafted onto or buried within the root system of a spirit wood of the same rank, and then the spirit wood must be controlled to absorb the poisonous qi."

"This Jade Marrow Ganoderma is a top-grade third-rank spiritual medicine. To purify it, at least a top-grade third-rank Golden Sun Spirit Wood would be needed. Furthermore, the 'Flaw-Cleansing and Impurity-Washing Art' must also be cultivated to great perfection at the third rank. Within the sect, only Patriarch Zhou likely possesses this capability."

"This process is also very lengthy, requiring constant attention from the cultivator. Each wisp of poisonous qi that is extracted must be promptly refined by activating the spirit wood's Green Sun Fire to prevent the spirit wood itself from being contaminated."

Hearing Yue Zutao's words, Chen Mobai recalled Zhou Shengqing's previous mention of using Eternal Life Wood to purify Earth Mother Stone. It must have been this very spell. He had not expected such mystical art to exist within the Divine Tree Secret Realm, but realizing it was related to the wood element, he understood. One could only say that the legacy of the Ancient Eternal Life Sect was all-encompassing and unfathomable. He wondered if he would ever have the chance in this lifetime to fully extract everything from its talent tree.

Just then, three bright lights appeared in the dusty canyon of Mount Shaking Peak, not far away. One of them flew directly south. Chen Mobai recognized it as Mo Douguang. After the matters here were concluded, he did not linger.

"Greetings, Patriarchs." Zhou Shengqing and Fu Zongjue flew over, and Chen Mobai and the others immediately clasped their fists in greeting.

"I'll return to the sect first. Junior Brother Fu will leave a puppet body to oversee things here, and Nephew Chen will be fully in charge of matters on this side." After acquiring the Earth Mother Stone, Zhou Shengqing was eager to return to purify it and absorb the Earth Mother Qi to bolster his foundation for forming a Nascent Soul.

"Reporting to Patriarch, when Senior Brother Xie was slaying enemies, he seized five precious Jade Marrow Ganoderma plants. We are unsure how to handle them and request your instructions." Chen Mobai seized the opportunity to report this. The items were too valuable for Xie Yuntian to dare embezzle, so he proactively reported them.

"Oh." Zhou Shengqing was slightly surprised upon hearing this. With a flick of his finger, five jade boxes landed in his hand. He opened them and a look of understanding appeared on his face. "I'll take these five plants. Little Zeng needs to refine Foundation Establishment Pills to improve his alchemy skills, so give him these three Jade Marrow Ganoderma plants. The remaining two I will graft onto the Eternal Life Wood to purify them together."

Upon hearing Zhou Shengqing's words, Yue Zutao immediately brought out three millennium-old herbs he had snatched from Mount Shaking Peak's medicinal field. These three were also contaminated by poisonous qi, and quite severely, which was why they hadn't been taken.

"You two lads..." Zhou Shengqing said helplessly. However, even for a Golden Core Patriarch like him, millennium-old herbs were exceptionally valuable. At a Golden Core exchange meeting, they could be directly traded for cultivation techniques or magical artifacts. Moreover, he had nodded in approval for the use of the Vein-Breaking Pearl, so it was like he was filling his own pit.

After Zhou Shengqing took these millennium-old herbs back to the sect, Chen Mobai and the others, under Fu Zongjue's watchful presence, returned to the Mount Shaking Peak canyon, which had now ceased shaking. Their group searched there for half a month, digging every inch of the ground three feet deep to ensure nothing was missed, before leading the main force in retreat.

The Divine Wood Sect's army returned fully laden this time. Whether they were sect disciples, rogue cultivators, or even guides, all could be said to have made a fortune. However, there were still many subsequent matters to handle. For instance, after the fall of Mount Shaking Peak, many disciples had fled, and from the Divine Wood Sect's perspective, they would surely be hunted down to extinction.

But besides these matters, the most important task was to take over Mount Shaking Peak's assets in Yan and Xiao states. Originally, according to Zhou Shengqing's intention, the Divine Wood Sect would occupy Yan State, and Xiao State would be ceded to Golden Light Cliff. However, Mo Douguang stated that his sect had enough territory. Moreover, both states were in the northernmost part of the Eastern Wilderness, characterized by continuous mountains and barren lands, separated from Golden Light Cliff's main base by more than half of the Eastern Wilderness. He had no interest in sending disciples there and thus relinquished all claims to the Divine Wood Sect.

With Mo Douguang saying so, Zhou Shengqing naturally did not stand on ceremony. Following the old rules, two to three tenths of the profits generated from these two states would be shared with Golden Light Cliff. Not to mention other resources, Yan State alone had five spirit stone mines, and Xiao State had one. Among these, two small-sized spirit stone mines could yield over a million spirit stones annually, while the combined output of the remaining four micro-sized spirit stone mines was around two to three hundred thousand spirit stones per year. These alone were enough for the Divine Wood Sect to recoup the several million spirit stones invested in this war, and even significantly increase the sect's spirit stone income. In wars between major sects, the first thing to seize and control after victory were the spirit stone mines.

Therefore, after entering Yan State, Chen Mobai left Yuan Chiye, whom he trusted, at the border. Now, knowing the exact locations of the other spirit stone mines, he dispatched a Divine Wood Sect Foundation Establishment cultivator to lead Qi Refining disciples to occupy them first.

Yan State was renowned for its rich mineral resources. Besides spirit stone mines, it also possessed various refined iron minerals needed for refining magical artifacts, and even numerous Earth Fiend Yin Lairs capable of producing various types of malevolent energy. Ji Zhenshi, besides being a body cultivator, was also a geomancer. All these resources had been discovered by him for Mount Shaking Peak. Unfortunately, they had now all become assets of the Divine Wood Sect. Conveniently, the ledgers related to Mount Shaking Peak's assets had not been burned, perhaps because in the eyes of Mount Shaking Peak disciples, the inheritance of cultivation techniques was paramount. Chen Mobai took these ledgers and went through them one by one with the local cultivation families in Yan State.

Mount Shaking Peak had a limited number of its own disciples, so most of its numerous mines were allocated to the subordinate cultivation families for excavation. Consequently, most of Yan State's cultivation families had developed by relying on Mount Shaking Peak's mineral veins. For example, the Zhuang family of Changzhuan Mountain on the border had prospered due to two nearby spirit stone mines.

After confirming all of Mount Shaking Peak's properties in Yan and Xiao states, Chen Mobai reported them to Fu Zongjue. "Have Chu Zuoshu send people to take over. The disciples here will return in batches, and the sect's various logistics departments will dispatch their disciples here." After reviewing the thick stack of accounts, Fu Zongjue nodded in satisfaction and then issued the order for withdrawal.

"Since matters here are mostly settled, I'll lead the disciples back then." After the conquest of Mount Shaking Peak, Chen Mobai felt there was no point in him remaining here and wished to request to return to the sect to continue cultivating and farming.

"You should remain here for another half a year. These two states have just come under the Divine Wood Sect's control, and the people's hearts are unstable. Having you here will put my mind at ease." Since Fu Zongjue had said so, Chen Mobai could only nod with a wry smile.

The next day, Chen Mobai disbanded his army. Xie Yuntian, who needed to return to recover from his arm injury, immediately led the first batch of a thousand Divine Wood Sect disciples onto the airship and returned to Great Wood Ridge. However, the others, whether local cultivation families from Yan State or rogue cultivators, did not leave immediately. They set up stalls on the spot and began exchanging and selling their gains from the war, hoping to trade for spiritual items useful for improving their cultivation. Chen Mobai could not drive away these meritorious individuals, so he let them be.

Currently, they were at a spiritual vein location twenty kilometers outside Mount Shaking Peak. This place was also considered an outlying estate of Mount Shaking Peak, named Five Willows Mountain, with thirty mu of spiritual fields cultivated with a considerable amount of Blue Ridge Spirit Rice. However, due to the war, all the spiritual fields here had been abandoned this year. This was also a good opportunity for Yue Zutao to transplant the herbs from Mount Shaking Peak's medicinal field. All spirit plant cultivators within the army were conscripted by him. Anyone knowledgeable in spiritual plant cultivation who followed Yue Zutao daily for transplanting could earn ten spirit stones. Official first-rank spirit plant cultivators, however, received thirty spirit stones daily. A local cultivation family surnamed Dai in Yan State, renowned for spiritual plant cultivation, had five second-rank spirit plant cultivators and could earn a hundred spirit stones daily. Yue Zutao led this group, toiling for half a month, finally transplanting all the precious herbs from Mount Shaking Peak into the spiritual fields of Five Willows Mountain. After transplanting, these spirit plant cultivators would need to carefully tend to them, find ways to expel the poisonous qi, and strive to keep them alive.

Fortunately, at this time, the logistical support personnel from the sect arrived. Fu Huakun arrived here with three hundred people from the Spiritual Plant Department and the Spiritual Vein Department. Shi Fengping, the head of the Spiritual Plant Department, also came in person. With him taking over, Yue Zutao could finally breathe a sigh of relief. As for the Spiritual Vein Department, its head, Ma Gang, also came in person. Only after speaking with him did Chen Mobai learn that he had come to take over Mount Shaking Peak's Voidstone Mine. Ma Gang had led people in extracting Voidstone for several years at Lone Soul Ridge and was very familiar with this precious mineral vein, which was why Chu Zuoshu had called him over.

"This Voidstone Mine was directly exploited by Mount Shaking Peak's own disciples, without requisitioning any personnel from cultivation families," Chen Mobai explained as he handed the compiled mineral vein ledger to Ma Gang, as the latter was the expert in this field. "However, a portion of this mineral vein was sold by Ji Zhenshi to the Profound Expanse Dao Palace, which might cause some trouble later."

"I expect people from the Profound Expanse Dao Palace will arrive soon. I'll go check how much ore is left in this Voidstone Mine first." After receiving the ledger, Ma Gang cupped his hands at Chen Mobai and then immediately led his department's personnel to begin their work.

With the Spiritual Plant Department and Spiritual Vein Department having arrived, Chen Mobai finally felt relieved. Three months quickly passed. During these three months, although the overall situation was settled, the figures of Mount Shaking Peak disciples could still be frequently seen throughout Yan and Xiao states. Some were discovered and hunted down by local cultivation families eager to gain merit after their identities were exposed, while others were found by greedy rogue cultivators. It was well known that those who managed to escape Mount Shaking Peak must have taken a portion of the resources from this major sect of the Eastern Wilderness, and were thus surely very wealthy. After Mount Shaking Peak was annihilated by the Divine Wood Sect, these individuals became walking treasuries. These were precisely the people marauding cultivators liked the most. It was said that rogue cultivators from all over the Eastern Wilderness had flocked into Yan and Xiao states, hunting down the fleeing disciples of Mount Shaking Peak.

During these three months, as Chen Mobai presided over Five Willows Mountain in Yan State, he didn't even need to act himself. Local cultivation families would periodically offer the heads of Mount Shaking Peak disciples as a display of loyalty. By now, however, there were very few remaining Mount Shaking Peak stragglers. They had either been completely wiped out or had escaped beyond the Eastern Wilderness. Those who couldn't escape had mostly gone into hiding, changing their names and appearances.

"Master, Patriarch Fu wishes to see you." Luo Yixuan entered and spoke to Chen Mobai, who was currently enjoying tea and playing Go with Yue Zutao. Upon hearing this, he put down his chess piece. A Golden Core Patriarch would certainly not summon him without an important matter. Chen Mobai had his young disciple help him tidy his attire, then proceeded to where Fu Zongjue was located. The Patriarch's puppet body was still on Mount Shaking Peak. Since it was powered by spirit stones, the lingering poisonous and defiling qi had no effect on it.

"Greetings, Patriarch." However, besides Fu Zongjue, there were three other people today. One of them was Ma Gang, while the other two, an old man and a young man, were both dressed in golden robes with aloof expressions. Chen Mobai recognized that their robes were similar to Xuan Qiao's, but with more intricate patterns. People from Profound Expanse Dao Palace! This thought flashed through Chen Mobai's mind, and he bowed to Fu Zongjue.

"These two are True Persons Zhao Xuankang and Nan Xuanjing." Upon hearing this, Chen Mobai's eyes widened slightly. Since he hadn't used his Void-Penetrating Spiritual Eye to observe, he hadn't realized that both individuals were actually Golden Core cultivators.

"Greetings, True Persons!" As he spoke, he couldn't help but sigh in admiration. As expected of a major Eastern Yi sect with a Nascent Soul expert overseeing it, two Golden Core True Persons had arrived at once.

"So, you are the one who killed Qiao'er and Jinzhi."