Chapter 504: An Incident Occurred

Xiao Lingli flew nervously in mid-air, waiting for the mysterious Core Formation senior to decide her fate. Although she still possessed a secret life-saving technique, she clearly understood that with such a vast difference in cultivation realms, even ten such techniques wouldn't allow her to escape the grasp of a Core Formation cultivator.

"I wonder if this senior just happened to pass by, or if he was waiting here for this demonic beast?" As Xiao Lingli's heart pounded with unease, Chen Mobai merely glanced at her, then transformed into a fiery red streak of light and vanished.

"This..." Xiao Lingli's eyes widened, and a deeper sense of dread filled her.

In the Sky River Realm, there was no such thing as "seeing injustice and drawing your sword to help." According to custom, if a senior intervened to save someone, the saved individual was expected to offer spirit stones or other valuable items as compensation.

Xiao Lingli had just been wondering if her most precious purple bamboo flute artifact, now damaged, along with half a high-grade spirit stone and several mid-grade ones, would be enough to impress the senior. To her surprise, the other party simply left.

Could he be planning to return later, kill her, and take her entire storage bag? No, that didn't seem right. With a Core Formation cultivator's power, he could have killed her on the spot and destroyed all traces, making it impossible even for the Nascent Soul patriarch of Kongsang Valley to find any clues. Why bother with such an unnecessary act? Or was he testing her sincerity?

As Xiao Lingli waited, her heart pounding with fear, Chen Mobai was already heading towards the Eastern Wilderness.

He was not a very social person. Although, according to the rules of the Eastern Wilderness, encountering such a situation would typically mean killing Xiao Lingli to silence her and plundering her storage bag. However, Chen Mobai still had some principles; such a reason was not enough for him to kill.

On his way to the Eastern Wilderness, he sat atop the Scarlet Cloud Smoke Silk, taking the Taishui from his inner domain. This spiritual entity had now completely shrunk into a ball, trembling within the confines of the Green Flame Sword Net. However, the hundreds of wounds originally pierced by the sword aura had now healed. If not for some charred marks still visible, Chen Mobai would have thought the Taishui was completely unharmed.

Indeed, compared to other spirit herbs, the Taishui's most potent ability was its self-regeneration. After cutting off a part, as long as it was supplied with enough spiritual energy, it could fully recover over time.

It was precisely for this reason that the Taishui nurtured by the Heaven-Mending Dao Academy had shown signs of evolving to the fifth rank over thousands of years. Unfortunately, it was extremely difficult for spirit herbs to transform into human form, and combined with the limited spiritual energy of the Immortal Sect itself, that Taishui remained stuck at the fourth rank.

Chen Mobai had no idea how many years this captured Taishui had grown, but its vitality was abundant, almost reaching the peak of the third rank. If it hadn't lacked cultivation methods, relying solely on instinct to devour spiritual energy and thus unable to exert its full power, he likely wouldn't have captured it so easily.

However, this was also a characteristic of the Sky River Realm. The inheritance of cultivation techniques was strictly guarded between masters and disciples. It was incredibly difficult, almost impossible, for demonic beasts or spiritual entities to obtain cultivation methods. Powerful bloodline demonic beasts could acquire innate divine abilities from their ancient saint ancestors during advancement, but there were no records of spirit herbs or plants ascending to become powerful beings.

So, after intimidating it with his sword aura, Chen Mobai easily formed a contract with the Taishui using his divine sense and a blood curse. From now on, this Taishui would essentially be his spirit beast.

After the contract was signed, Chen Mobai released the net formed by the Green Flame Sword Aura. Just as he was about to cut off a piece of the Taishui for study, he noticed the latter suddenly burst forth with powerful earth elemental energy, plummeting directly from the Scarlet Cloud Smoke Silk towards the ground. It seemed to be trying to escape.

Chen Mobai made a strange expression and formed a hand seal. The recently signed contract activated, and the Taishui, still in mid-air, suddenly let out a pained shriek. It then convulsed uncontrollably, losing command of its earth elemental energy, and crashed to the ground with a loud thud.

"It's as simple as a three-year-old child." After the Taishui endured a round of painful contract backlash, Chen Mobai sighed, descended, and once again scooped it onto the Scarlet Cloud Smoke Silk.

Clearly, this Taishui had no understanding or fear of contracts. After Chen Mobai lifted the sword net's restrictions, it thought it had a chance to escape and decisively headed towards the ground. Being an essence nurtured by the earth, it naturally possessed earth-escape techniques. As soon as it touched the ground, it could disappear into the earth's depths at the fastest speed.

Previously, Chen Mobai had captured it by first attracting its attention with the Azure Wood Divine Thunder, then secretly burying sword aura around it to form an impenetrable net. That was how he succeeded. Unfortunately, now that they had signed a contract, even if the Taishui fled to the ends of the earth, Chen Mobai could easily retrieve it.

Subsequently, the Taishui attempted to escape six or seven more times. Each time, it suffered the contract's backlash, enduring pain that caused it to overturn a forest and two small hilltops. Finally, it understood one thing: it could not leave this human's side. If it moved too far away, its entire body would ache as if it were tearing apart, as if it were about to disintegrate.

With this realization, though it still didn't understand what a contract was, it at least stopped trying to leave the Scarlet Cloud Smoke Silk.

Then, to curry favor with Chen Mobai, it even regurgitated the Foundation Establishment cultivator from Xuanxiao Dao Palace whom it had previously swallowed. It pushed the largely digested corpse towards him, implying the leftovers were for him to eat. Speechless, Chen Mobai directly incinerated the corpse into ashes with his Green Sun Fire. The fleshy mass of Taishui shivered upon seeing this, seemingly heartbroken. But it dared not say anything more, shrinking to the very edge of the smoke and clouds.

However, besides the corpse, the Taishui also regurgitated a storage bag and the round golden ring artifact. Since it hadn't had time to digest them, these items were still intact, and Chen Mobai had specifically avoided them when burning the corpse.

A second-tier high-grade artifact was essentially useless to him. After a glance, he tossed it into his inner domain. However, opening the storage bag still held some anticipation for him. After all, the first storage bag he had opened in the Sky River Realm had brought him the first substantial amount of spirit stones for cultivating the Pure Yang Dharma Body, a very pleasant memory.

With his powerful divine sense at Core Formation second-tier, opening a Foundation Establishment cultivator's storage bag was naturally effortless. Soon, various miscellaneous items piled up on the cloud, but what most captivated Chen Mobai's attention was the heap of dark golden crystals.

These were all Gold Crystals, and counting them, there were a full thirty-eight pieces. At market price, this amounted to over ten thousand spirit stones. However, in Chen Mobai's eyes, these Gold Crystals could further enhance his Treasure-Dropping Golden Light.

Besides the Gold Crystals, there were also three high-grade spirit stones, as well as a number of mid-grade and low-grade ones. But these quantities no longer stirred any emotion in Chen Mobai.

Other items like pills, talismans, and artifacts were all tossed into his designated miscellaneous storage bag after a quick glance. They would be perfect to reward his two disciples upon returning to the sect.

After emptying the storage bag, Chen Mobai immediately picked up a Gold Crystal and began cultivating the Treasure-Dropping Golden Light. After reaching Core Formation, his refining speed had significantly improved. On the way back to the Eastern Wilderness, as he disciplined the Taishui, he also refined the crystal, and the Gold Crystal in his palm visibly shrank.

Estimating by this progress, he could refine one piece in approximately two months. Compared to the two years it took during Foundation Establishment, this was a world of difference. And at this point, he finally flew into the borders of the Eastern Wilderness.

Bordering the entrance to the Desolate Ruins were the states of Xiao, Yan, and Hong. However, the State of Xiao had a safe path, opened by Eastern Wilderness cultivators, which had minimal dangers and led directly to Eastern Yi. Chen Mobai had initially chosen to depart from here. "Go the same way, return the same way." Chen Mobai paid great attention to such details.

Upon arriving in the State of Xiao, he naturally first sought out Zhou Wangshen. During his last time in the State of Yan, Zhou Wangshen had voluntarily offered to guard the State of Xiao to Fu Zongjue. Over the years, despite the pressure from the Nanxuan Sect and making little progress, he had at least stabilized the Divine Wood Sect's influence here, effectively replacing the destroyed Trembling Mountain Peak and becoming the nominal ruler.

Unfortunately, after the Nanxuan Sect established a firm foothold in the State of Yan with the help of Foundation Establishment Pills, they also turned their attention to the State of Xiao. By the time Chen Mobai borrowed a path to leave for Eastern Yi, the Nanxuan Sect had already colluded with local cultivation families, using the pretext of opening markets to gradually erode the Divine Wood Sect's prestige here.

Because Zhou Wangshen had performed quite well over the past decade, he was not recalled by the sect when his guardianship term ended, and he continued as the guardian here. Besides him, Yue Zutao of the State of Yan and Yuan Chiyi of the State of Lei were in similar situations. Facing the powerful and well-established Nanxuan Sect, the three of them could only struggle to maintain the situation, but at least they hadn't lost their composure and still preserved the Divine Wood Sect's nominal rule in the region.

Chen Mobai arrived at the Divine Wood Sect's outpost in the State of Xiao, only to find that Zhou Wangshen was not there. Moreover, there was no one left to guard the place. He entered and saw that the Divine Wood Sect members seemed to have left in a hurry; there was even a table with half-eaten food.

"Strange? What's going on?" Chen Mobai muttered to himself, his gaze suddenly sharpening. For Zhou Wangshen to act in such a way, it must be a major event threatening the sect's survival! Had the Nanxuan Sect and Divine Wood Sect gone to war?

With that thought, Chen Mobai immediately rushed towards the outpost's teleportation array, only to find that it had been sealed off from the other side and was unusable. Without wasting any time, Chen Mobai determined his direction and headed towards the closest market town in the State of Xiao. He needed to use a teleportation array to return to Redwood Ridge as quickly as possible and also to inquire about what had happened in the Eastern Wilderness.

Xuan Guang Market! It was one of the four major market towns in the State of Xiao, operated by the Immortal Cultivation family Tie.

After the Divine Wood Sect took control, the Tie family was considered the first in the State of Xiao to switch allegiance, even sending people to the State of Yan to help attack Trembling Mountain Peak. Because of this merit, after the Divine Wood Sect annihilated Trembling Mountain Peak, they gave Xuan Guang Market to the Tie family. Later, when Zhou Wangshen came to serve as guardian, he also relied on this market town of the Tie family to gradually establish a foothold before the Nanxuan Sect could extend its influence.

It was originally thought that the Divine Wood Sect and the Tie family would be allies. But today, the Divine Wood Sect's shops in Xuan Guang Market were being plundered by a group of rogue cultivators and raiders who had suddenly stormed in. At a crucial moment, if not for Zhou Bingyan, a true disciple of the Divine Wood Sect, being present to command and gather the more than twenty sect disciples in the market in time, it was likely that, besides their pills and artifacts being plundered, all sect disciples would have been killed.

They gathered inside the spirit stone shop, which was protected by a second-tier formation, fending off the ferocious raiders outside and the opportunistic rogue cultivators from the market.

"Senior Sister Zhou, we can't hold this place any longer. Why don't we each try to escape?" After a young disciple, controlling a flying sword, slew two rogue cultivators who had breached a gap in the formation, he immediately swallowed a spiritual energy recovery pill and spoke to a white-robed girl with a cool demeanor.

"The Foundation Establishment raiders outside are just waiting for us to abandon the formation. Once we flee, not only will this spirit stone shop be completely looted, but none of us will have any hope of survival under the pursuit of the surging rogue cultivators."

"Damn it, where's Old Ancestor Tie? He used to call Senior Uncle Zhou 'brother,' so why has he suddenly become a coward now?!" "Without the Tie family's tacit approval, how could these raiders have infiltrated Xuan Guang Market so stealthily?" Zhou Bingyan, wielding her Divine Wood Sword, stood at the center of the grand formation, speaking with a cold tone.

Hearing her words, the remaining Divine Wood Sect disciples grew even more desperate. "We're going to die anyway, why not abandon the formation and fight it out?" "If we abandon the formation, we'll die immediately. If we hold on a bit longer, perhaps the sect will receive the news and send reinforcements!"

As Zhou Bingyan spoke, her gaze also fixed sadly on the raider leader standing in mid-air. This was a tall, thin Foundation Establishment cultivator with a gloomy face. He controlled a purplish-blue flying dagger, manifesting streams of sharp blade light that rapidly slashed down towards the Divine Wood Sect's spirit stone shop formation.

Amidst the surging spiritual energy and whistling sounds, the second-tier formation began to waver. Some parts even cracked open, and rogue cultivators and raiders seized the opportunity to rush in, wielding various artifacts and talismans to engage in life-or-death combat with the Divine Wood Sect cultivators.

With a light wave of her delicate hand, Zhou Bingyan's second-tier Divine Wood Sword instantly unleashed magnificent sword energy, killing three ninth-level Qi Cultivation raiders in one swift move, greatly boosting the morale of the Divine Wood Sect disciples present.

But at this moment, the Foundation Establishment raider in mid-air noticed this scene. After a cold snort, the purplish-blue flying dagger descended directly, its target precisely Zhou Bingyan's head.

The second-tier formation's spiritual light flickered violently, but under prolonged attack, the formation was already at its limit. The Foundation Establishment raider's strike was clearly aimed at exploiting this weakness. With a boom! The flying dagger struck, and the formation shattered with a crash. Zhou Bingyan's usually cold and composed face suddenly turned pale. That last sword strike had been her ultimate move, almost completely draining the spiritual energy from her Dantian Qi Sea. Moreover, facing a Foundation Establishment cultivator, even at her peak, she was no match. In the Eastern Wilderness, there had never been any legend of someone fighting across major cultivation realms.

"Am I still going to die?" Facing the flying dagger descending upon her head, a bitter smile appeared on Zhou Bingyan's lips.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle! At that very moment, she suddenly heard a crisp peal of thunder. Like a spring thunderclap, distant at first hearing, but in an instant, it resounded right by her ear! The unstoppable purplish-blue flying dagger in Zhou Bingyan's sight was shattered by a streak of green lightning. The lightning, its momentum unbroken, shot skyward and, to the horror of the Foundation Establishment raider, pierced through his forehead!

With a thump! A headless corpse was already plummeting from the sky!