Chapter 306: Less One Person

Faced with the elders' scolding, how could the two conflicting parties dare to resist? Naturally, they reported the detailed location and sequence of events.

One side spoke with righteous indignation, while the other spoke vaguely.

The disciples from Oblivion Valley were the latter, as they were unable to reveal the true facts or disclose the details.

Fortunately, these ten elders merely put on a show of non-intervention. Once they asked, that was it; they had no intention of investigating the truth.

And so the matter concluded, with no further intention to interfere.

After Wu Jinliang and Lao Changtai, who were hiding in a sloped cave on the hillside, finished eavesdropping, Wu Jinliang quietly withdrew and left. He first found Lao Changtai to ask about Shi Chun and the others' current location. After confirming the address, he immediately hurried to deliver the news.

Now Shi Chun had ample personnel at his disposal. The arrangements were complete, and personnel could be deployed flexibly. Whenever they reached a new location or were about to head to the next, he would send Chu Jingxiang and others to take turns making the trip, specifically to inform their side.

It seemed cumbersome, but to maintain high efficiency, it was actually quite necessary.

Oblivion Valley's efficiency was also high. They already had several divine fire clues stored up. With the divine fire lent by Shi Chun as bait, they immediately cleared out and backed up each location one by one.

As a result, Shi Chun and his group's efficiency was also very high.

Coupled with the divine fire clues occasionally sent back by the Four Cauldrons Sect's mole, the divine fire clues sporadically emerging from the Thousand Rocks Sect's 'lure the tiger out of its mountain lair' tactic, and the divine fire clue locations accumulated and passed down through generations by Summer Dao Mountain, the Ming Mountain Sect and Summer Dao Mountain group were incredibly busy.

Calculating by the day-night cycle of the Divine Fire Domain, they were initially truly overwhelmed. They had to acquire three to four divine fires daily, spending most of their time traveling or temporarily resting to restore their magical power. However, this efficiency in acquiring divine fires was an unprecedented and astonishing speed.

Gu Lianni and the other leaders were very pleased, grateful for their cooperation with Shi Chun. Their happiness represented the happiness of Summer Dao Mountain.

The reason for saying "represented" was because most people from Summer Dao Mountain still hadn't fully grasped what was going on. In most cases, they were just following along, running here and there, and didn't actually know the specific details.

Because each time divine fire was retrieved, Shi Chun, along with Gu Lianni or Yuan Yao and a few others, would secretly carry it out. Once the divine fire was obtained, except for occasional unavoidable exposures, it was generally not openly displayed to the Summer Dao Mountain personnel.

Most of the Summer Dao Mountain personnel only knew that they had been diverted by the Ming Mountain Sect, that they were cooperating with them, and that some situations seemed unusual and mysterious. However, they had no idea of the true situation. They were summoned and moved around simply by following orders, and were only called upon when their intervention was permitted. Most people were unaware of the core insider details.

This was also Shi Chun's intention: for Gu Lianni and the others to control the spread of information within Summer Dao Mountain as much as possible.

To put it bluntly, with so many people from Summer Dao Mountain, who knew what kind of people with hidden motives might be among them?

However, the people from his Ming Mountain Sect were different. They were all screened through a kind of "purely natural" method. While some might develop disloyalty for certain reasons, their backgrounds were controllable.

This was also why he used Chu Jingxiang and others. Their starting point was good; what they would become later depended on the direction they took.

As for the people from Summer Dao Mountain, he knew nothing about them. Given the cautious habits he had developed in the land of exile, he naturally had to maintain a certain level of vigilance.

Seven days later, in Divine Fire Domain time, after obtaining the Flowing Flame, the Ming Mountain Sect and Summer Dao Mountain group acquired another eighteen divine fires.

The Ming Mountain Sect received ten of them. Tong Mingshan alone obtained six, and the remaining ones were equally divided between An Wuzhi and Zhu Xiangxin.

By then, Tong Mingshan had absorbed ten divine fires alone, Zhu Xiangxin had absorbed four, and An Wuzhi had absorbed three.

Gu Lianni personally absorbed five, Yuan Yao two, and Pang Hou one. Similar and surplus divine fires were passed on to other Summer Dao Mountain disciples.

Regarding the allocation of divine fire types, Gu Lianni's group respected the Ming Mountain Sect's priority selection rights. Shi Chun earned their respect with his ability to find divine fires, and everything depended on Shi Chun's arrangements.

Besides, there was still a long way to go, and they would continue to rely on Shi Chun's abilities.

The abundant results of their cooperation were already evident, and they had no complaints. There would certainly be more to come, even though the acquisition speed had gradually slowed down.

Let it be slow then. At this point, the core members of this group no longer had ambitious pursuits. Steady progress was enough; slowly increasing their gains was sufficient. There was no need for any other risky ventures.

It's important to note that Situ Gu, an elder of the Heaven Forging Sect and currently the world's foremost artifact forging grandmaster, had only absorbed six divine fires when he entered the Divine Fire Domain years ago. Gu Lianni had already absorbed five, and with nearly half the time remaining, surpassing Situ Gu was practically a certainty.

Furthermore, the number of divine fires Tong Mingshan had absorbed had reached an astonishing ten.

During another personnel rest period, Tong Mingshan, who had been in seclusion, pushed aside the stone blocking the cave entrance and emerged.

The commotion drew Gu Lianni and two others from the Summer Dao Mountain contingent to gather around. While they claimed to be watching the excitement, there was actually a hint of welcome in their demeanor.

Their gaze towards Tong Mingshan was now different. This was a formidable being who had absorbed ten divine fires. His future achievements in the artifact forging world were truly unimaginable; barring any unforeseen circumstances, it was a foregone conclusion that they would look up to him in the future.

"Sect Master of Ming Mountain Sect"—this phrase often circulated in their minds. As Yuan Yao put it, "We used to laugh at him, saying he wasn't worthy of establishing a sect, but looking back, who in the world would dare to laugh now?"

Shi Chun, however, was concerned about something else. He asked Tong Mingshan, "How is it? Do you feel a breakthrough in the Fire Element Realm?"

Asked again about this, Tong Mingshan shook his head with a bitter smile.

Gu Lianni nudged Shi Chun's lower back with her elbow. "How many times have you asked that?" she said. "We've told you that once we break through to the Human Immortal Realm, we can't measure it ourselves. We have no experience with that level, so we don't know how to distinguish it. I felt my fire source enter the Human Immortal Realm after one divine fire. Sect Master Tong, how many for you?"

Tong Mingshan replied, "Two. Chief, Miss Gu is right; after two, I don't know how to measure it anymore." Shi Chun stroked his chin, pondering that it would be great if he could cultivate an Earth Immortal Realm expert.

Yuan Yao reminded him, "Sect Master Tong, be careful when exerting your magical power. Our current magical power has been more or less elevated beyond our realm by the divine fires. We need to control it when we use it, otherwise, our current physical bodies won't be able to withstand it."

Gu Lianni also hummed in agreement, "That's right. We have to wait until we've forged our immortal bodies after leaving, then we can fully wield it."

Chu Jingxiang and the others listening in were extremely envious. They not only envied Tong Mingshan but also Zhu Xiangxin and An Wuzhi. This was because the fundamental cultivation of these three had all broken through to the Human Immortal Realm. This meant that their "pools" were almost built, just waiting to be filled with water.

In other words, when these three returned to the outside world, as long as they had sufficient cultivation resources, their cultivation would rapidly break through to the Human Immortal Realm.

Everyone had originally been at the High Martial-Upper stage of cultivation. Now, not only were these three directly brought to the High Martial-Grand Accomplishment by the divine fires, but their fundamental realm had also directly entered the Human Immortal stage. How could one not be envious?

Yan Ketao, one of the Summer Dao Mountain disciples, was quite handsome. On the side where the Summer Dao Mountain personnel were resting, he sat in a spot where he could just see Tong Mingshan emerging from his seclusion cave while also concealing himself.

He took out a stone from his person. It had several scratches on it. Using a spell with his fingernail, he carved another mark onto it. Afterwards, he stood up and strolled around. After evading everyone's notice, he quickly disappeared, using the terrain for cover.

Once Lao Changtai, who had hurried back from the exit area, brought new divine fire clues, Shen Moming immediately took Lao Changtai's place, rotating him back towards the exit area.

As messages began to be transmitted frequently and the distance increased, this rotation system was implemented. It was truly too arduous for one person to run back and forth constantly, so with surplus personnel, they decided to share the burden.

Of course, the three individuals, including Tong Mingshan, who cultivated fire-attribute techniques were exceptions. They were the key targets of support for the Ming Mountain Sect.

Wu Jinliang was also not rotated. He had been stationed at the exit the entire time.

As soon as the new clues arrived, Shi Chun immediately notified Gu Lianni's group to depart.

Just as everyone was ascending into the sky on their wind scales, Summer Dao Mountain suddenly called a halt, causing those who had already flown up to descend again.

Shi Chun walked over and asked, "What's going on?"

Yuan Yao said, "We're missing someone. Yan Ketao is gone."

Shi Chun was suspicious. "Missing someone? How could someone just disappear when everything was fine? Were they missing before we arrived here, or did they disappear just now?"

Yuan Yao replied, "Every time we set out, we move in groups. No one was missing when we arrived."

Shi Chun instantly grew alert. He motioned for Gu Lianni and the two others to speak privately. "Don't tell me he just wandered off," he said. "There was no sound of struggle. Could he have run off?"

Gu Lianni asked, "What do you mean?"

Seeing that the three were still somewhat confused, Shi Chun simply stated his suspicion directly. "There's nothing wrong with this missing person, is there?" he asked. "He's not a mole for some other sect, is he?"

Gu Lianni laughed lightly. "You're thinking too much," she said. "If he were a mole, would he need to wait until now to disappear? Given our situation, he would have reported us long ago."

Hearing this, Shi Chun thought it made sense and said nothing more. Seeing that the Summer Dao Mountain personnel had scattered to search everywhere, he even called on Chu Jingxiang and others to help with the search.

However, a group of people rode their wind scales and searched the entire surrounding area. They still couldn't find Yan Ketao and didn't even find any unusual traces. His disappearance was highly suspicious.

After much searching with no results, Shi Chun's brows gradually furrowed. He occasionally glanced at the sky.

They couldn't delay the search for divine fires because of one person. The group eventually reassembled. Shi Chun approached the Summer Dao Mountain side again and asked, "Any news?"

Gu Lianni mused, "It's strange, I don't know what happened. Never mind. We can't delay important matters. Let's depart first. If he doesn't return, then something has happened to him. If he does return, we don't have to worry about losing contact. He doesn't know our destination, so he should head back to the exit area."

Shi Chun's brows lifted slightly. As he went back to signal his own group to depart, he quietly instructed Chu Jingxiang: "Go to the exit area and tell Wu Jinliang about Yan Ketao's disappearance. Tell him to be careful there."

Chu Jingxiang was surprised and asked in a low voice, "Do you suspect Yan Ketao has a problem?"

Shi Chun replied, "His disappearance is a bit suspicious. It's always good to be careful. Tell Wu Jinliang; he'll know what to do."

"Understood," Chu Jingxiang replied.

After everyone had departed, he emerged from his hiding spot and quickly left.

In front of an underground sea of molten fire concealed by the earth's crust, a group of people dressed in neatly ordered date-red robes were flying around, searching throughout the complex underground environment. These were the participants from the Heaven Forging Sect, the foremost sect in the artifact forging world.

The team leader, Zuo Zisheng, stood alone on a cliff overlooking the underground sea of fire, with his hands clasped behind his back. He had sword-like brows and starry eyes. His dark complexion only made his figure appear more imposing and tall. The heat waves made his robes flutter.

A figure flew through the complex terrain with a few leaps and bounds, landing beside him. He reported, "Senior Brother Zuo, there's someone outside looking for you. I asked who he was, but he wouldn't say. He asked me to tell you that he followed the marks left behind to find us, and that if I told you this, you would naturally know who he is."

As if to confirm the statement, Zuo Zisheng, whose face held a certain gravitas, instantly showed a surprised expression upon hearing this. He quickly turned and said, "Invite him in quickly."