Longevity starts with choosing Hextech enhancement

Chapter 329 How could the sea creatures be so wicked!

Seeing that Xiao Chen was adamant in his refusal, Fan Qilang, after failing to get his way by begging for mercy, chose to honestly confess the information.

He answered all the questions directly, revealing the sea creatures' layout on the west side in great detail.

There are a total of three key pieces of intelligence.

First, Jinluan is very strong!

Unlike ordinary Nascent Soul demons, especially some sea fish that have recently broken through to the Nascent Soul stage by relying on the spiritual energy surge, their spiritual intelligence is not yet fully developed.

In many ways, Jin Luan is almost identical to a Nascent Soul True Monarch of the human race.

In Fan Qilang's words, he had spoken privately with several members of the Zhaokong faction.

They unanimously agreed that when the other party maintained human form, it was almost impossible to tell that they were a demon in human form.

At the same time, it is very difficult to fool people when handing over tasks, and it is hard to cheat or shirk responsibility.

Of course, intelligence is only one aspect; there is also a more intuitive other aspect.

That is, Jinluan possesses an extremely domineering innate spiritual fire, a natural divine power bestowed upon her by her Azure Phoenix bloodline.

It poses a significant threat even to Nascent Soul cultivators; Master Jingping suffered a great loss because of this.

If we want to deal with her, we must find a way to solve this problem.

"I had heard about it in my younger days."

Gangyuan Zhenjun added: "It is said that the innate divine power of the Qingluan clan is called Qingyu Fentianjin, which is both offensive and defensive, and is enough to rank among the top five of all fourth-order spiritual fires."

"In terms of lethality alone, it is more than enough to be among the top three."

"I just don't know how much of the Golden Phoenix's bloodline it possesses, or how much power it has inherited?"

When asked about this, Fan Qilang shrugged, indicating that he didn't know either.

Therefore, this clearly became bad news.

"Oops~, this is troublesome."

Gangyuan Zhenjun immediately reminded her, "If Jinluan possesses more than 50% of the power of Qingyu Burning Heaven Ash, then her strength must be at least five times greater."

"Because once the threshold of 50% is exceeded, the spiritual fire will undergo a qualitative change."

"Most magical artifacts and spells will not be able to withstand the damage and will be directly burned during the battle."

"Sixty thousand years ago, when a predecessor was exploring the Far East, he encountered a situation where some of the materials of his personal spirit shield were directly melted, causing the spirit shield to become unusable."

This situation is indeed a threat to many Nascent Soul True Monarchs.

Spiritual artifacts are already expensive, and custom-made spiritual artifacts are even more costly. Once they are burned, it will be a huge loss.

Fortunately, Xiao Chen doesn't need to worry about this for the time being.

Because he hasn't had time to customize his own new spirit shield yet.

As for the old one, it's definitely good for the Golden Core stage, but it's not enough for the Nascent Soul stage.

This also served as a reminder to Xiao Chen.

When customizing a spirit weapon, you should try your best to make it as good as possible to avoid the embarrassment of it breaking down in the middle of a battle.

The second piece of information is relatively simple.

At the beginning of last year, the sea creatures used spiritual objects and spirit stones to exchange for all the fourth-order wood-type spirit liquid held by the Wang and Fan families, as well as the Zhaokong Sect.

"Ok?"

Xiao Chen specifically confirmed again: "All the wood-type spirit liquids have been replaced?"

"Didn't you secretly keep a few bottles?"

Fan Qilang was somewhat puzzled, but still shook his head: "The exchange they offered was too good to be true."

"Two bottles of spirit liquid can be exchanged for three ordinary spirit items or four water-type spirit items."

"So everyone rushed to make the exchange."

hiss~!

Xiao Chen gasped, feeling as if he were being targeted.

What are the sea creatures planning to do by exchanging all the wood-type spirit liquids?

Objectively speaking, this happened last year, so there shouldn't have been any deliberate targeting.

The problem is that this has indeed affected him, and the difficulty of collecting wood-type spirit liquid will increase dramatically in the future.

How could the sea creatures be so wicked!

I, Xiao, will remember this grudge. Sooner or later, I'll turn you all into seafood.

The third piece of intelligence is finally good news.

Thunderbolt Spear, the chief disciple of the Mozhang Sect, successfully broke through to the Nascent Soul stage last year and was given the Dharma name Thunderbolt True Lord.

This is one of the two important reasons why they were able to hold out for so long under the siege of the sea creatures.

Another reason is naturally the sufficiently reliable mountain-protecting formation.

Although the newly promoted Nascent Soul cultivators have limited combat power, the sect's grand formation can undoubtedly help True Monarch Yunfeng alleviate a great deal of defensive pressure.

For example, helping with some formation maintenance can buy time for rest and recuperation.

"Is there such a thing?"

Gangyuan Zhenjun and Hanchuan Zhenjun exchanged a glance, a hint of relief flashing through their hearts.

A month ago, they were almost ready to make a major retreat.

If they had retreated then, the Mozhang Sect would have been isolated and ultimately fell.

That would mean that the human race would lose two True Lords.

Fortunately, Xiao Chen appeared in time, not only turning the tide but also now being willing to go and provide support.

It is estimated that the siege of the Mozhang Sect will be lifted in a few days, and the situation on the western front will be completely consolidated.

In this way, on the western front alone, the balance of power between the human race and the sea race can be said to have been completely reversed.

Whether it's launching a full-scale counter-offensive or counter-encircling the Zhaokong faction.

Sending manpower to reinforce Yuntaohai or Qiankonghai are both excellent options.

"That's all I know."

Fan Qilang emphasized, "We have an agreement: if you help me get through to the right side, you will help me send half of my people away."

As a Nascent Soul cultivator, he would definitely have to be brought under control before the overall situation became clear.

However, ordinary members of the Fan family do not require such strict supervision.

Because many of the formations between the Tiangang Sect and the Tiangang Sect are guarded by members of the Fan family.

Therefore, before the interrogation, True Lord Hanchuan promised that as long as he helped persuade them to surrender, he would allow half of the Fan family members to move to the Storm Sea first.

The Tiangang Sect assured them that they would not make things difficult for them and would also provide them with a qualified spirit ship.

"Don't worry, we're not like the old patriarch of the Wang family. We'll keep our word."

Whether to offer reassurance or sarcasm, True Lord Gangyuan turned to the side and asked, "Fellow Daoist Xiao, do you have any questions?"

Xiao Chen waved his hand: "I'm fine with it, then let's leave it at that."

He was only there to gather intelligence.

Now that I have obtained firsthand information, I'm too lazy to stay and listen to Fan Qilang's rambling.

So he got up and went back to the attic in the center of the ship to begin refining the storage ring he had acquired earlier.

Although it seems that there is no wood-type spirit liquid left inside now.

But there might be other wood-type spirits or other valuable items.

Therefore, Xiao Chen patiently broke through the restrictions on the item and prepared to check the spoils of war.

This storage ring is about the same size as the Vast Ocean Ring.

As soon as his divine sense probed in, he saw a large pile of spirit stones inside.

After careful counting, there were a total of more than 3.27 million low-grade spirit stones and 11,320 mid-grade spirit stones.

If nothing unexpected happens, most of the Wang family's spirit stone reserves should be here.

In fact, according to what Xiao Chen learned from the Tiangang Sect.

Most normal family or sect cultivators do not carry all the spirit stones they can control with them.

Because ordinary transactions don't require that many spirit stones.

Spirit stones are only collected in advance for special circumstances such as large-scale transactions or participation in auctions.

With such a full storehouse, it would be convenient for other clansmen or disciples to draw upon it.

The behavior of the Wang family patriarch was somewhat arrogant and disregarded the other cultivators in the family.

Of course, there are advantages to doing this, namely that if necessary, he can simply abandon the rest of his family members and flee.

He single-handedly sought to rebuild his family's fortunes, taking most of their resources with him.

Therefore, Xiao Chen immediately found several boxes of third-tier spirit ore and five sets of ordinary spirit artifacts in his storage ring.

Each set includes a flying sword, a robe, a spirit shield, and two Sunflower Water Thunder Pearls.

There are also many cultivation techniques and insights, including a set of third-tier talisman-making inheritance and a set of third-tier beast-taming inheritance.

"Why is this cultivation technique different?"

Xiao Chen unexpectedly discovered a significantly different ledger. Upon opening it, he found it to be a list.

The document lists the names of the spies sent by the Wang family to other families or sects, their corresponding contact methods and codes, and their important contributions.

Surprisingly, this included even Buddhist groups and many small families of some size.

Of course, the black market and the incident involving the family heirloom Shenyun painting are also mentioned.

"So that's how you found me. It's alright then."

Xiao Chen had been curious about how he had been exposed, since Sun Haoran had promised him he wouldn't reveal any information.

Now we've finally found the reason.

A quick glance at the list revealed that there was also an inner disciple of the Tiangang Sect on it.

However, Xiao Chen didn't pay attention to these things. Instead, he placed the ledger on the table, intending to give it to Gangyuan Zhenjun later.

Let them handle these trivial matters.

Then there was a lot of miscellaneous items, mainly unused talismans, pills to restore true energy, everyday clothes, letters, and some ornaments.

The Wang family patriarch also collected a specially made set of Go pieces.

From the chessboard to the chess box to each chess piece, top-grade third-tier spiritual materials were used. The material cost alone is conservatively estimated to be several hundred thousand spirit stones.

It's expensive and doesn't provide any real combat effectiveness, so it's not cost-effective at all and can be considered a luxury item.

However, Xiao Chen wasn't very interested in playing chess.

He actually felt a little regretful: "I'm afraid this thing won't fetch a good price."

Ordinary people can't afford it, and those who can afford it might not appreciate something that's been used before.

The rest are the more expensive items.

First, there is one metal-type spiritual item, one ice-type spiritual item, and three water-type spiritual items, all of which are fourth-tier spiritual items.

Then there are two portable array plates and some scattered array flags.

Thanks to the fact that I had previously learned a lot about the Ocean of Compassion at the Tiangang Sect's Sutra Repository.

Xiao Chen immediately recognized them as a Six Harmonies Manifestation Array, primarily for defense, and a Reverse Five Elements Qi Dividing Array, specifically designed to break large-scale restrictions.

It can be used to replace the original third-order formation.

However, he couldn't recognize those array flags mixed together, so he needed to find a professional array master.

Xiao Chen put these array flags together with the list of spies, intending to send them to True Monarch Gangyuan later.
In addition, there are a pair of spirit beast eggs and three spirit-gathering treasure boxes.

The pair of eggs were stored in a specially made iron box and were kept in relatively good condition, so it seemed that they were ready to be incubated and cultivated.

Based on the patterns, Xiao Chen initially judged that they should be a pair of Xunfeng Mingshe eggs.

The Xunfengming Serpent is a fourth-order mutated sea serpent that is proficient in wind and sound magic.

It was once a rare species of the Compassionate Sea, but it has almost become extinct in recent years.

"The individual weight is alright, it should be around 70 or 80 jin."

Xiao Chen weighed them in his hand: "There are only two, which is a little too few." There are several ways to handle these things; they're good for buying and selling or as gifts.

Therefore, he put the spirit egg back into the iron box for continued preservation.

Finally, it's time to open the box.

"Let me think about it, I think I'll start with the heaviest one."

Xiao Chen weighed the two pieces together, then opened the middle one.

Inside was a dark triangular piece of mineral, about the size of a walnut, with a smooth surface that gleamed with a deep luster.

"Huh? It's such a small piece?"

Xiao Chen held the triangular ore in his hand and could clearly feel that it had been compressed to several thousand kilograms.

Judging from its appearance, it should already be a processed and refined spiritual material, or even a refined one.

Unfortunately, he couldn't figure out where this thing came from.

But this is actually a good thing.

The Tiangang Sect's Scripture Pavilion contains a record of all common spiritual ores.

Since this piece of ore is an exception, it at least indicates that it is a rare variety.

As we all know, things are valued for their scarcity.

Therefore, the price of this triangular ore must be quite high; it's estimated to be at least a mid-grade fourth-level spiritual item.

"That's good. It might come in handy when we're crafting magical artifacts."

Xiao Chen was thinking about customizing a magical artifact, so he treated it as a way to gather materials.

He's currently lacking a lot of materials, so he's accepting anything that comes his way.

Then there's the lightest treasure box.

Xiao Chen opened the box and immediately saw two very familiar Dao-infused crystals.

Judging from the symbols, they are a wood element and an earth element respectively.

"Finally, I've encountered a wood-type crystal."

Xiao Chen was very satisfied with the result. Although he hoped that both of them would be wood-type, he could accept having only one.

Moreover, after starting to cultivate auxiliary spells.

He also discovered that the other types of Dao-nurturing crystals were not entirely useless.

If I ever need to learn some kind of earth magic in the future, it will come in very handy.

In short, the more of this kind of thing, the better.

Put away the Dao-Containing Crystal; there's no need to choose anymore.

Xiao Chen breathed lightly into his palm and opened the last Spirit-Nourishing Treasure Box.

Inside was an irregularly shaped fragment.

It is described as a fragment because its edges have obvious cracks and the whole thing is slightly twisted and deformed.

It appears to have been subjected to an extremely powerful impact, causing it to fall apart.

However, this fragment is relatively well preserved, with the longest part measuring seven inches and the shortest part measuring five inches.

For a fragment, this is already considered a relatively large piece.

Unfortunately, it is not a representative piece of information. Based solely on the fragment, we can only infer that it originally belonged to some kind of defensive magic weapon, but it is difficult to determine its specific type.

What does it mean that he collects the fragments?

Xiao Chen was a little confused, as the Compassionate Sea did not have the custom of using fragments to refine weapons.

Normally, a Nascent Soul True Monarch wouldn't care about picking up magic weapon fragments, and even a powerful Golden Core cultivator wouldn't particularly care.

Unless, this fragment contains some kind of secret.
.
However, Xiao Chen checked it over and, unsurprisingly, found nothing.

"What's going on?"

He went through the contents of his storage ring again, paying particular attention to the cultivation manuals and the contents of the letters.

Actually, we had already checked it once before and didn't find anything noteworthy.

However, when Xiao Chen consciously searched for clues, he discovered one of them: a letter written by the Wang family patriarch to the Mirror Image True Lord of the Zhaokong Sect.

He mentioned that he had recently read a story about the Star Sand Wave Shield.

So, on a whim, I wanted to learn about the story behind the Compassionate Ocean Ancient Dharma Treasure.

I hope to inquire with Master Jianying whether there are any relevant records within the Zhaokong Sect.

Xiao Chen followed this direction and found the reply.

The Master of Mirror Image said that the other party was welcome to visit at any time. He said that the sect had a lot of ancient books, many of which were unique copies that were not available outside the sect. The other party could see whatever they wanted.

At the time, I only thought the letter was just being polite.

However, it now appears to be an indirect acknowledgment that there are corresponding records within the Zhakong School.

Xiao Chen re-examined the remaining letters, but unfortunately found nothing new.

Clearly, the Wang family patriarch hadn't told many people about this.

"The Zhaokong School has a lot of ancient books, some of them are even unique copies?"

Xiao Chen put away the letter, his gaze sharpening: "How about I go take a look too?"

Of course, given the current relationship between the two sides, the other party is unlikely to welcome his visit.

However, there is more than one way to enter the library.

For example, if we first promote the Zhaokong faction, then things will naturally go smoothly.

You can even visit the sect's warehouse.

After all, when faced with a sect that betrays humanity, we should strike hard.

For the sake of the compassionate cause of the sea people and for the safety of countless cultivators, eradicating the Zhaokong Sect is an inescapable duty.

Xiao Chen felt his desire to uphold justice growing stronger.

Considering that the overall number of sea creatures has fallen behind, the human race has gained a local advantage.

If he unites with the Tiangang Sect and the Mozhang Sect, he has a good chance of resolving the western front issue in one fell swoop.

"Yes, this matter is very important. We can discuss it with True Monarch Yunfeng when we meet him."

Xiao Chen estimated that as long as he spoke up, they wouldn't object to the suggestion.

After all, doing so is in the interests of both the Tiangang Sect and the Mozhang Sect, making it a win-win-win situation.

"If everything goes smoothly, it should be done within ten days or so, right?"

Xiao Chen estimated in his mind that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, cleaning up the west side wouldn't take too long.

With the mechanical grappling hook, the effectiveness of the defensive array can be greatly reduced.

He also has a Nine Dragons Diagram, which he can use to deal with Jin Luan.

If the sea creatures fail to provide timely reinforcements, or only send one or two fourth-tier sea fish without giving it sufficient attention.

They can then join forces and sweep away the western side in one fell swoop.

After organizing the items in his storage ring, Xiao Chen gave the array flags and roster to True Monarch Gangyuan.

Then he began to study the remaining auxiliary spells in the attic.

He has now cultivated to the third level of the "Sea-Stabilizing Mantra".

This is a water-avoidance technique. After mastering it, cultivators can freely enter the water and are not afraid of ordinary water vapor erosion.

If you reach the highest level, you can also reduce the power of the enemy's fourth-tier water-based spells.

Water-repelling spells are considered relatively popular support spells in the Eastern Region.

After all, there are many cultivators practicing water-based techniques here, which are also quite useful for dealing with sea fish.

Therefore, this "Sea-Dividing and Sea-Stabilizing Mantra" also contains many insights and reflections left by the predecessors of the Tiangang Sect.

Or the comparisons and comments with other methods are written in considerable detail.

This is also an important function of the sect: to accumulate the experience of senior cultivators and help later generations to get started more quickly.

Xiao Chen also benefited from these annotations, making his cultivation much easier.

While he was focusing on his cultivation.

Gangyuan Zhenjun and others, along with Fan Qilang, began a campaign of persuasion and intensified their attack.

If they encounter an obedient monk, they will be accepted.

If they encounter disobedient individuals or a large formation guarded by Wang family cultivators, they will lead True Monarch Liekong directly to forcefully break through the formation.

Although Golden Core cultivators can also preside over formations, they are still one level below them in cultivation.

Firstly, even if the strength of the challenger can be suppressed by the formation, it is impossible to defeat the opponent by one's own strength.

Secondly, when Golden Core cultivators manipulate fourth-order formations, they rely more on formation flags, and their operation methods are relatively rigid.

However, the art of formations is particularly difficult.

There are almost no other Daoist arts that allow cultivators to directly advance to the fourth rank at the Golden Core stage.

However, on the other hand, there aren't many fourth-tier alchemists like Master Geng.

In fact, for most cultivators, their Dao skills are barely up to par with their cultivation level, or even one level lower.

His limited knowledge was only enough to help him distinguish between genuine and counterfeit goods.

When it's time to spend money on elixirs and magical artifacts, you still have to honestly pay up.

Therefore, facing the attack of two True Lords, especially since True Lord Gangyuan was also skilled in array formations.

Those cultivators who chose to put up a stubborn resistance generally did not last long before being defeated.

However, their resistance did delay the arrival of the Tiangang Sect's spirit ship at Mozhang Peak to some extent.

This also gave the Zhaokong faction and Jinluan time to react.

Urgent appeals arrived like snowflakes.

The Mirror Master was the first to realize the problem.

So, during a lull in the attack, he took the initiative to approach Jin Luan: "Your Excellency, time is running out."

"We need to retreat at least a day in advance to make more thorough preparations for defense."

They naturally received the news from the Wang family the moment Xiao Chen killed the Wang family patriarch.

However, instead of retreating immediately, they intensified their offensive against the Mozhang Sect.

This was Jinluan's idea.

It would normally take at least half a month to get from the Huiluo Islands to Mozhang Peak.

With so many defensive formations in the middle, we can buy at least a month's time.

If we can capture the Mozhang Sect and kill Yunfeng Zhenjun and Pili Zhenjun within this timeframe...

Then the sea creatures could rebalance the numbers on both sides on the western front.

If we take into account the reinforcements already on their way, we might even be able to regain the initiative.

However, Jinluan's idea was quite good.

The problem is that if the Mozhang Sect was so easy to conquer, it wouldn't have been able to hold out for two years.

"If we don't leave now, and we're left here, we'll be forced to fight against overwhelming odds."

The Mirror Master spoke again to remind him.

He only joined the sea tribe to earn spiritual items, so naturally he was unwilling to make any risky decisions.

Upon hearing this, Jinluan's gaze turned cold.

If it weren't for your timidity and hesitation, thinking only of protecting yourselves when charging into battle, and even unwilling to take the risk of getting injured, the Mo Zhang Sect would have been captured long ago.

But she still didn't say those words out loud.

Since things had come to this, she could only compromise for the time being: "I'll make one last attempt after the spiritual energy surge ends tomorrow morning."

"If we fail, we will retreat to the Three Leaf Islands."

(End of this chapter)