Tumor Sword Immortal

Chapter 386 Empty Shell
Even out of a sense of public morality, disposing of corpses is a priority.

The stench is one thing, but the accumulation and rotting of rotten food makes it easy for diseases to spread.

Pei Xia was in charge of digging the pits, and Jiang Shu was in charge of carrying people. After working for most of the day, they finally cleared out the area with the most piles of debris near Wangjiang Tower.

However, the bloodstains are still very thick, and it will probably take a while to wash them clean.

After covering the ground with the last shovelful of soil, Pei Xia, leaning on her shovel, stood side by side with Jiang Shu on this flat land that had been reclaimed to bury people.

Pei Xia asked, "What came to mind?"

Jiang Shu looked at the soil beneath his feet and said, "Minister Li can save Qin Prefecture."

Pei Xia blinked, bewildered by her apprentice's leaps of thought: "How did you come to this conclusion?"

Jiang Shu pointed to the land beneath Pei Xia's feet: "Her soldiers don't eat people."

Military strategists consider a hundred kills as a level, but a quick calculation shows that to produce a hundred level-one military strategists, each must be a fierce general capable of taking on a hundred enemies, meaning the opposing side would have to sacrifice ten thousand heads first.

How many soldiers does Li Qing have?

Tens of thousands.

This force could not possibly consist entirely of military cultivators.

This applies not only to the various warlords in Qinzhou, but also to the Northern Barbarians of Daling. Ordinary soldiers without cultivation are always the main force in war.

Secondly, there are the warriors.

However, the number of martial artists is relatively large. To enter the profession, one must at least have heard of it, and this hurdle alone can eliminate many people.

In Qinzhou, however, there is another term for it, called "refining the head".

Aside from ordinary people, the Qin State General's largest and most elite soldiers were often a steel torrent composed of men of steel.

Pei Xia also took a moment to understand Jiang Shu's meaning.

Most of those who died on Jiangcheng Mountain yesterday were cultivators, and quite a few of them were at the Iron Bone Realm.

For a cultivator, the corpses of these fellow cultivators are always a source of pure nourishment. Take the Gluttonous Traveler, for example. In the eyes of those low-level cultivators, what difference is there between a high-grade Vajra Realm cultivator like him and Tang Sanzang's flesh?
But after a whole night, and looking at it today, those people are still lying in the same place where they were supposed to die.

Pei Xia, an outsider, didn't realize it at first.

But in Jiang Shu's view, this was simply unbelievable.

After sharing his thoughts, Jiang Shu looked at Pei Xia and asked, "What about you, Master? What came to your mind?"

"Uh, what I'm thinking... might be a little bit mundane."

Pei Xia poked the ground with a shovel: "If you clear this place out and plant anything, it will grow like crazy."

That's right, a whole bunch of pure, refined flesh and blood were buried underneath.

"Go back to the shipyard to buy... no, go directly to Li Qing and ask for some wheat seeds or something. It would be a shame not to plant such good land."

Pei Xia put down the shovel in her hand as she spoke: "Let's go check how much grain is left in the cellar."

Jiang Chengshan, as Li Xu's direct subordinate, had a large and powerful family, and even owned a private icehouse.

When Pei Xia followed the door, the door to the ice storage was still open, probably because it had been used at yesterday's banquet and hadn't been closed in time.

Even after a whole night, the air was still chilly.

There was no detailed inventory, but at a glance, it was layered and stacked, probably prepared by Su Yan in advance for the wedding.

However, after Pei Xia turned around, she kept shaking her head when she came out.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Shu asked.

"It's all meat and fruits and vegetables, so even with a freezer, it won't keep for very long."

Jiangcheng Mountain doesn't cultivate its own land; it mainly relies on Li Xu for supplies. Su Yan just asks for them. For the Eastern Marquis, a small Jiangcheng Mountain is hardly an expense.

But of course, that condition no longer exists.

Looking at it this way, it's clear that Pei Xia's claim about how easy it is to cultivate land is not just empty talk.

Jiang Shu's gaze passed over Pei Xia and looked inside: "And these..."

There were several of them, and they couldn't possibly finish the food. "Let's see how things go in a few days," Pei Xia shrugged, "and then we can exchange it with the ship's crew for some useful things."

After closing the ice storage, the master and apprentice went to check the other warehouses in Jiangcheng Mountain.

It's a mess.

As a relative of the Eastern Qin region, Jiangcheng Mountain indeed maintains an appearance that is no less impressive than that of top sects in other states.

However, this kind of glory, which is maintained by relying on Li Xu's support, is actually very fragile.

Jiangcheng Mountain does not possess the true foundation of a sect.

The armory is empty.

The alchemy room was empty.

The pavilion was empty.

The vault was empty.

As for weapons and magical artifacts, there was no unified command or control in Jiangcheng Mountain; they were all handled by the cultivators themselves.

As rare and highly nourishing items, elixirs were always appropriated by elders at all levels.

As for martial arts and cultivation methods, most of them were lost during the early stages of the great chaos twenty years ago, and the remaining few were transferred away by Li Xu long ago.

The sect's training leaders didn't really care about this.

As for the treasury, this was originally Jiang Chengshan's forte. Over the years, whether Su Yan plundered shipping companies and merchants, intercepted ships for extortion, or simply asked Li Xu for money, he had amassed quite a bit of real gold and silver.

The problem is, Li Qing also needs to use this stuff. Now that she's here, can she really expect to get completely untouched?

They've already emptied the place overnight!

The value of Li Qing's "Jiangcheng Mountain" continues to decline—it's just an empty shell; there's nothing on the mountain at all.

As night fell, Pei Xia squatted on the roof of Wangjiang Tower, propping her chin up with her hand, smacking her lips as she surveyed her "new territory."

Jiang Shu had already been sent back to Su Yan's palace. Firstly, he had been out all day and wanted to check on Feng Yao to prevent any accidents. Secondly, whether he wanted to practice or rest, he needed some time of his own.

Pei Xia was left alone, lost in thought.

He could roughly guess that, given Li Qing's current situation, investing too much effort in transforming Jiangcheng Mountain would be too much, especially since it was her primary base in Dongqin and there were too many uncertainties.

Even without the so-called "handing it over to Pei Xia," she would just leave this place deserted.

Thinking about it this way, letting Pei Xia manage Jiangcheng Mountain is a risk-free business.

Incidentally, he could also keep an eye on him—Pei Xia knew less about Qu Ying than Li Qing did, but Qu Ying's status as Pei Xi's son and Luo Xian's wanted criminal was confirmed. Li Qing had dealings with Beishi City, and there were times when he would need Qu Ying's help.

Upon closer reflection, he realized that he was a disciple of the sect leader when he was in Weishan, and an inner elder when he was in Changjing Sect. He never expected that he would become the sect leader after coming to Qinzhou.

Without informing their master, they set up their own sect. Does that count as betraying their sect?
Pei Xia looked at the undulating Jiangcheng Mountains under the darkness, her eyes gradually calming down.

Given the current situation, he has no choice.

Moreover, besides being controlled by Li Qing, Pei Xia also cared a lot about some other things.

Li Xu, Bai Gui, Long Ding, Zhou Tian... Pei Xia could pretend to be deaf and dumb to all of them, and act as if he didn't see them.

However, Qu Ying's extraordinary computing power made him think deeply about a possibility.

Could it be that I've been tricked by that thing again?

The shadow cast by the Liancheng Fire Vein on Pei Xia was far too profound.

When something involves a state's most important artifact, the secluded sect, illogical phenomena, the treacherous Master Su, and Pei Xia himself, it always feels like an invisible net has been woven around one's head.

Having already learned her lesson once, Pei Xia couldn't just sit idly by and wait for her fate.

"Li Qing, Zhou Tian..."

He murmured two names, the people he could currently contact who were most likely to know the inside story: "This Jiangcheng Mountain, we really need to stay here for a while."

(End of this chapter)