Chapter 1048: People Don't Get Rich Without Windfall Wealth

A furious roar erupted, and a large expanse of blue spiritual light burst forth from within the golden flames. The golden flames, as if meeting their bane, rapidly extinguished, vanishing without a trace.

"How is this possible!" Li Jiong was dumbfounded. The Golden Crow Pouch released a golden spiritual fire more potent than even the Nascent Soul cultivators' intrinsic infant fire. Li Jiong had previously used this treasure to slay multiple Nascent Soul-stage demon beasts.

A flash of white light revealed Shi Po's figure. The large golden net was encased in a layer of blue ice, its spiritual radiance dim. The four golden arrows were also sealed by blue ice, completely immobilized.

Shi Po's aura was slightly weakened, and his body showed some scorched marks. He gripped the frozen golden net with both hands and, with a sharp *rip*, tore it into pieces. He then slapped his chest with both arms, causing dense white fur to erupt outwards. These quickly blurred, transforming into thousands of half-zhang long white ice blades that hurtled directly towards Wang Changsheng and his companions.

Simultaneously, a vast, white sound wave surged forth. Wherever the sound wave passed, the void rippled, appearing as though it might tear apart at any moment.

A flicker of annoyance crossed Li Jiong's eyes. He opened his mouth and exhaled a beam of golden light, which revealed itself to be a small mirror, its golden radiance subtly shifting. Its edges were adorned with a multitude of flame patterns, while its reverse bore the image of a three-headed Golden Crow. He infused the golden mirror with a magical incantation, causing the three-headed Golden Crow to seemingly come alive. It emitted several strange caws, and a vast expanse of golden flames surged forth, transforming into numerous golden fire crows that flapped their wings and swooped towards the incoming white ice blades.

Wang Changsheng repeatedly unleashed his fists, sending out numerous blue fist-shadows, several zhang in size, that hurtled towards the opponent. *Boom!* The dense blue fist-shadows obliterated roughly half of the white ice blades, while hundreds of golden fire crows pulverized the remaining ice blades, resulting in a deafening roar.

As the white sound wave swept past, all the golden fire crows shattered and vanished without a trace.

Shi Po's initial attack failed, and as he prepared to unleash other techniques, a clear ringing bell sound echoed. He felt his mind momentarily dazed, and his reactions significantly slowed.

The golden mirror in Li Jiong's hand flared with intense light, and a golden flame, approximately a zhang in diameter, shot forth. It transformed into a golden fire crow over ten zhang in size, radiating terrifying heat. "Caw-caw!" The golden fire crow emitted two strange cries, then fiercely flapped its wings, becoming a streak of golden light that instantly collided with Shi Po.

A golden blazing sun ascended into the mid-air, engulfing an area hundreds of zhang in radius with rolling heat waves. Seizing this opportunity, Wang Changsheng and his companions manipulated their spiritual treasures. Over a dozen glittering artifacts swarmed into the golden sun, from which a series of shrill screams emanated.

A deluge of snowflakes drifted down from high above. As they approached within ten zhang of Wang Changsheng and his group, they were dispersed by a burst of sound waves. A gap, several zhang wide, appeared on the surface of the snow-white light barrier, allowing a large quantity of snowflakes to drift into Ice Serpent Island before the gap swiftly sealed itself.

A flash of white light, and Shi Po's figure abruptly materialized on the ground. His eyes wide with terror, he thought himself fortunate to have been on the defensive; had he been the attacker, death would have been inevitable. He then transformed into a streak of white light and fled towards the northwest, no longer daring to remain on Ice Serpent Island.

"This is bad, he's trying to escape! Quickly stop him!" Li Jiong exclaimed, his brow furrowed. The golden mirror in his hand flared intensely, releasing countless golden runes. These blurred and transformed into thousands of palm-sized golden fire crows.

A fleeting look of surprise crossed Wang Changsheng's eyes. Li Jiong's personal treasure was immensely powerful; any other Nascent Soul cultivator would have perished long ago against it.

The thousands of golden fire crows repeatedly slammed into the snow-white light barrier. Large quantities of seawater instantly evaporated, and the accumulated snow on Ice Serpent Island began to show signs of melting.

Wang Changsheng then summoned his nine Sea-Stabilizing Pearls, which instantly grew in size and relentlessly slammed into Ice Serpent Island. *Boom!* Following an earth-shattering explosion, Ice Serpent Island's defensive formation shattered into pieces. Shi Po and his companions, however, had already used a teleportation array to escape. Without a Nascent Soul cultivator to maintain it, the formation naturally stood no chance against Wang Changsheng and his group.

"Damn it, he still got away! Fellow Daoist Wang, if you had employed your spiritual arts to attack, he might not have escaped," Li Jiong cursed, his brow furrowed.

"Fellow Daoist Li, you jest," Wang Ruyan said with a smile. "My husband and I do not specialize in offensive spiritual arts. Furthermore, the opponent is a mid-Nascent Soul stage demon beast; even a cornered rabbit will bite. Let him go, then. There's plenty of treasure on this island, so our trip wasn't in vain." She then released over a dozen second-tier puppet beasts, sending them flying into Ice Serpent Island to scout ahead.

Wang Mingren and the other five either released puppet beasts or spiritual beasts to scout, careful not to trigger any hidden restrictions.

Li Jiong frowned, but said nothing further. He released a white giant python, over thirty zhang in length, to search for valuables.

Wang Changsheng released his Dual-Pupil Rat, instructing it to search for spiritual herbs.

As they had anticipated, the island indeed contained several powerful restrictions, which destroyed dozens of puppet beasts and several second-tier spiritual beasts.

Unfortunately, spiritual herbs were scarce on the island. However, there were hundreds of thousands of Snowwood trees, with the oldest exceeding five thousand years in age and even the youngest being over five hundred years old.

Snowwood is a unique spiritual wood that thrives in icy, snowy environments. It is an excellent ice-attributed material, suitable for refining artifacts or establishing formations. Even spiritual treasures, when used to chop it, left only shallow, white marks.

Given the urgency of the war, and their mission to harass deep behind enemy lines, they dared not delay for too long.

Wang Changsheng directed his nine Sea-Stabilizing Pearls to strike the Snowwood trees, felling vast swaths of them at their bases. Although these trees could not be replanted, they could be used to refine spiritual treasures or puppet beasts.

In addition to the Snowwood, there were also numerous ice-attributed spiritual fruit trees and palaces constructed from stacked ice-attributed crystals.

They took as much as they could, leaving behind what they couldn't; it was prudent to leave something behind for future encounters.

From Ice Serpent Island alone, Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan plundered cultivation resources valued at tens of millions of spirit stones, primarily Snowwood and ice-attributed crystals, both useful for setting up formations and refining artifacts. As the saying goes, a horse doesn't grow fat without night feed, nor does a man get rich without unexpected wealth.

Wang Mingren and Ximen Feng effortlessly acquired a substantial amount of wealth, their faces beaming with smiles. Even submitting the obtained Snowwood to the sect would earn them a significant number of contribution points. What disappointed Wang Mingren was his inability to seize this opportunity to earn merit.

If he were to submit the collected Snowwood to the sect, it would be enough to exchange for a spiritual item capable of aiding in Nascent Soul formation.

He knew very well that without Wang Changsheng's intervention, even given half a day, he might not have been able to acquire a single piece of Snowwood. Wang Mingren's personal treasure, when striking a five-hundred-year-old Snowwood tree, left only two barely discernible chop marks, imperceptible without close inspection.

"Let's quickly make our way to Ice Ape Island!" Li Jiong urged. "That's where the real bounty lies." Ice Ape Island was the ancestral land of the Ice Ape clan, and it was sure to hold a significant amount of cultivation resources.

Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan did not object. Li Jiong summoned his Sun-Shuttle, carrying everyone high into the sky, and they soon vanished into the horizon.