Chapter 3920: Meng Yudie's Difficulties

Half a year passed in Haoyang City.

In a secluded manor, Wang Qingshan, Wang Yingjie, Ye Haitang, Wang Qingling, Wang Qingxiao, and Bai Linger sat in a green stone pavilion, sipping tea and chatting.

The Chaos Beast horde had retreated. The Wang family only lost two True Immortal-stage puppet beasts, a minor loss. The Qi family, however, had lost over a dozen True Immortal cultivators, and the Nine Immortals Sect suffered even greater casualties.

The Wang family had concentrated all their strength on defending a single city, which kept their pressure lower. The Nine Immortals Sect and the Qi family, conversely, had to defend multiple cities, leading to greater pressure, especially since each city was allocated only a small number of low-grade Immortal Extermination Cannons.

The Qi family had over thirty Immortal Armored Soldiers, who performed well against the Chaos Beasts. The Nine Immortals Sect also had a considerable number of Immortal Armored Soldiers, but with too many cities to defend, their forces were primarily concentrated in Nine Immortals City and Jiuyang City.

Jiuyang City had been breached by Chaos Beasts in the previous attack, suffering heavy losses. Gao Shuhao was captured by the Chaos Beasts and perished.

This time, Wang Qingshan and the others had reaped significant rewards, including the cores of late-stage True Immortal five-colored Chaos Beasts, and many cores from late-stage True Immortal four-colored Chaos Beasts.

With twenty low-grade Immortal Extermination Cannons and thirty Immortal Armored Soldiers, small-scale Chaos Beast tides presented an opportunity for the Wang family to prosper. Chen Yueying, Ni Tianlong, Li Qinghuan, Lan Fukong, and others would all benefit.

Wang Qingfeng and Dong Xueli led a group of experts to transport the high-grade cores back to the Sky Morning Sea Domain.

When Wang Qingling came to Chaos Continent, she brought a batch of pure cores. Wang Qingshan only exchanged some pure single-colored cores. He did not exchange the higher-grade colored cores, not because he didn't want to, but because he didn't dare.

The cores of Chaos Beasts were hard currency on Chaos Continent, and pure cores were highly sought after.

Selling some pure single-colored cores wasn't particularly noticeable, but pure three-colored cores would certainly attract attention. A trade caravan from the Ice Yuan tribe was attacked, reportedly because they had acquired pure five-colored cores and were targeted by evil cultivators.

The Ice Yuan tribe had fewer Golden Immortal cultivators than the Qi family. Trade caravans, escorted by True Immortal cultivators, faced dangers on the restless Chaos Continent. While relatively safe within city walls, outside the city, one had to guard against Chaos Beasts and evil cultivators. When transporting materials, Wang family cultivators generally traveled with the Nine Cauldron Merchant Alliance or the Qi family for greater safety.

From time to time, the Wang family sold True Immortal-stage puppet beasts to the Nine Cauldron Merchant Alliance, and also sold them some single-colored cores. The Nine Cauldron Merchant Alliance was happy to give the Wang family cultivators a ride, as it was usually on their way.

Wang Qingshan said, "Based on past experience, a Chaos Beast tide won't erupt in the short term, so the defensive pressure isn't as great. However, we still need to be careful and heighten our vigilance. As long as a Chaos Beast appears near Haoyang City, deal with it. Don't pursue it too far."

Chaos Beasts are very cunning. Before attacking a city, they send small groups to harass it. If they are merely driven away or ignored, the Chaos Beasts will perceive weakness and deploy more forces to attack the city.

Any Chaos Beast that dares to appear near the city must be annihilated. However, we must also be mindful of the range. Sometimes, Chaos Beasts feign weakness to lure Immortals to a certain spot, then large numbers will swarm them, annihilating the Immortals.

Wang Qingling nodded and said, "Ninth Brother, you can focus on your seclusion. I will manage Haoyang City well."

Wang Qingshan planned to enter seclusion for cultivation. Entrusting Haoyang City to Wang Qingling's administration was also a form of training for her. With the assistance of Chen Yueying, Lan Fukong, Ni Tianlong, and others, there shouldn't be any major issues.

Bai Linger took out a shimmering white spell disk, cast a spell, and frowned. She said, "Husband, Fairy Meng from the Nine Immortals Sect is here. She said she's acting on Senior Jin's orders, and she's currently in the council hall."

Wang Qingshan frowned. "Just as expected!" he thought. Wang Changsheng had specifically sent someone to warn Wang Qingshan to be wary of the Meng family. They had always acted cautiously, fearing that they might give the Meng family any pretext for trouble.

Wang Qingshan said, "Linger and I will go to the reception hall to meet her. You all wait for us here." He and Bai Linger then went to the reception hall, where they met Meng Yudie.

Meng Yudie got straight to the point: "Fellow Daoist Wang, given the repeated incursions of Chaos Beasts, our Nine Immortals Sect intends to dispatch a group of True Immortal cultivators to investigate the Chaos Beasts' situation. We will be conscripting eight True Immortal cultivators from your Wang family for this mission. My master personally instructed this."

"Conscript eight True Immortals?" Wang Qingshan frowned. Since Jin Yulan herself had given the order, he dared not refuse. He nodded and asked, "No problem. When do we depart?"

Meng Yudie stated, "Three days from now. The True Immortal cultivators going on this investigation cannot be too weak. You, Wang Qingfeng, Ye Haitang, Wang Qingling, Wang Yingjie, Wang Yidao, Wang Mengbin, and Wang Qingxiao have good strength, so you should all go together! Don't send anyone else; True Immortal cultivators who are too weak would simply be seeking death in the Chaos Beasts' territory."

"Specific individuals?" Wang Qingshan frowned. This was clearly targeting them. If something were to happen to these specific individuals, Haoyang City would be difficult to defend.

Meng Yudie's tone turned cold. "What, do you intend to defy orders?"

Wang Qingshan replied, "Qingfeng has left Chaos Continent; I don't know when he'll be back." Wang Qingshan knew Meng Yudie was clearly trying to make things difficult for them. With Jin Yulan backing her, Wang Qingshan could not afford to offend her.

Meng Yudie said, "Then send Liu Hongxue. I heard she is skilled in fire-element dao arts and possesses a first-tier Immortal Flame, so her strength should not be weak." She had long since investigated the situation of the Wang family's high-ranking members; Liu Hongxue was one of the Wang family's more formidable Immortal Alchemists and possessed a first-tier Immortal Flame.

"Alright then! We will head to Nine Immortals City to rendezvous at that time."

Meng Yudie said meaningfully, "Yuhua and Jiang Xue will also go with you. They will act as team leaders, and you must obey their commands. I do not wish for any infighting to occur."

Meng Yuhua and Bai Jiangxue were to serve as overseers. Otherwise, if the Wang family cultivators simply found a place to hide and fabricated a report, Meng Yudie's objective would not be achieved. She also worried that the Wang family's True Immortals might strike with lethal intent, so she issued a warning. If anything happened to Meng Yuhua and Bai Jiangxue, she would absolutely investigate. If the Wang family was involved, she would certainly escalate the matter, ensuring Jin Yulan inflicted severe punishment. If Wang Qingshan and the others perished, it would be exactly what Meng Yudie desired. Of course, Meng Yuhua and Bai Jiangxue wouldn't dare openly send the Wang family's True Immortals to their deaths, otherwise, they too would not escape culpability.

Wang Qingshan frowned but agreed. There was no room for negotiation on this matter.

Meng Yudie then said, "So it's settled. We'll rendezvous in Nine Immortals City three days from now," and with that, she stood up and left.

Wang Qingshan and Bai Linger returned to their residence and briefly explained what had transpired.

Wang Yingjie frowned and said, "The Meng family cultivators are clearly targeting us, and they've even specified who should go."

Wang Qingshan said, "For now, we can only take it one step at a time. We'll go investigate the Chaos Beasts' situation, and Yuqi will be in charge of Haoyang City's defenses."

Ye Haitang said with a murderous expression, "It has to be this way for now. We'll remember this debt and settle accounts with them eventually."

Three days later, Wang Qingshan and the seven others departed Haoyang City and hurried to Nine Immortals City. After meeting with Meng Yuhua and Bai Jiangxue, the ten of them left Nine Immortals City.