Chapter 248: Paying for Survival

The battle of the Mother River finally ended. In the end, both sides suffered heavy losses. After the huge Nine Nether Wood lost the second statue, it fled in a panic.

The injured top-notch cultivators were all meditating. At their level, they would not be easily injured. Once they were injured, it would not be a simple injury.

The injuries caused by the Spiritual Root of Heaven and Earth, the Nine Nether Wood, would probably take a month or even a year or two to recover.

However, without them, Jiang Li, the Alliance Leader, had the greatest status and strength among everyone present. Now, he was at the critical moment to gather the spoils of war.

Under such circumstances, it was really difficult for him not to put more things in his coffin.

Jiang Li dragged his “exhausted” body and used the large-scale Nine Nether Wood Realm again.

In this battle, the greatest loot was naturally the demonic statue that had been torn from the huge Nine Nether Wood.

Although the Ghost Lantern Cold Flame had already burned away the will and Nine Nether spiritual qi, the essence of this thing did not change.

Regardless of whether it was him or the Nine Nether clone, it was extremely useful.

The second greatest gain was the Ghost Lantern Cold Flame.

The souls and spiritual qi burned away from the Nine Nether Wood were of extremely high quality and there were countless of them.

This portion of energy did not disappear into thin air. Instead, it turned into the nourishment of the Ghost Lantern Cold Flame, causing it to grow more than ten times.

In the center of the black flame, there was even a faint trace of white. The Ghost Lantern Cold Flame was undergoing a transformation. Once the transformation was successful, its power would definitely increase drastically.

In this battlefield, there happened to be something that could accelerate the transformation of the cold flames.

Over a thousand Ghost Lantern Fish corpses were mixed in the rain of corpses and fell from the sky.

As long as he consumed their Ghost Lanterns, Jiang Li would be able to quickly increase his cold flame level through refinement.

Apart from that, there were countless corpses on the ground. Especially those corpses of the extinct races, they could be sold for quite a number of spirit stones just as specimens.

He used the Nine Nether Wood Realm to gather a large number of valuable corpses and take away all the roots that had fallen off the Nine Nether Wood.

After the cultivators of the Great Mountain Alliance set up multiple array formations at the huge hole, they finally completed the initial stage of clearing the battlefield.

Under Jiang Li’s lead, the group returned to the nearest Scripture Storage Valley and stopped.

The injured top-notch cultivators went to the quiet room to recuperate and receive professional medical treatment.

Jiang Li met the Valley Master, Daoist Wushe, and then brought a group of people to surround a dilapidated flying ship.

They still had to deal with a small problem: the cultivators of the Mu family who harbored ill intentions.

Near the Scripture Storage Valley, he found an empty plain and placed the flying ship that was still in a defensive state inside.

They retreated far away.

A Guardian of the Scripture Storage Valley stepped forward and stamped on the ground. The ground and rocks in a radius of five kilometers immediately turned to dust. Then, the dust sank and formed a smooth surface that was like obsidian.

This was a Guardian of the Scripture Storage Valley who cultivated the Earth Dust Scripture. With a raise of his hand, he could control the rocks and sand within his sight.

After this person attacked, Valley Master Daoist Wushe casually shook his hand, and a golden light flew out from his sleeve and was struck into the sky.

A moment later, a golden seal that was huge as a mountain descended from the sky. Below it was the peachwood flying ship.

The pressure of the approaching huge object was simply suffocating.

This was the combined attack of the Square Heaven Seal and the Earth Dust Scripture.

The peachwood flying ship was like a walnut under a hydraulic pressure machine. Although it was hard, it was definitely impossible to resist.

With a bang, the peach blossom pink membrane shattered after being squeezed to the limit.

The entire flying ship completely disintegrated under the exploding spiritual qi, and two figures fell out.

One was the only Soul Formation cultivator, and the other was the only Golden Core cultivator, Mu Chunyang.

The other five Nascent Soul elders had already disappeared without a trace. They were most likely dead.

“Where is this? Are you cultivators from the Great Mountain Region?”

“Excellent. Did you kill that demon tree? Give me the heart of the demon tree. My Mu family will reward you handsomely.”

The Mu family’s Soul Formation cultivator was clearly injured badly. Earlier, his defensive light membrane had been forcefully broken by the Square Heaven Seal and the Earth Dust Scripture, causing the spiritual qi in his body to go berserk. He was still kneeling on the ground and coughing blood.

On the other hand, Mu Chunyang, who had the lowest cultivation level, was protected very well. On the surface, he did not seem to have suffered many injuries.

“Hey! What are you doing? Don’t you have any medical cultivators in such a remote place?! Don’t use your lousy medicinal pills. Quickly call a few Nascent Soul medical cultivators over!”

After he stood up, he started shouting in a commanding tone.

He wanted medical cultivators to help treat him and also wanted the demon tree’s loot. That young master’s temper clearly did not change at all.

“Hey! Did you hear me! What’s that above my head! Quickly put it away!”

However, he quickly discovered something wrong. The group of cultivators in the distance ignored him and only looked at him from afar with a strange expression.

As for the huge golden seal above him, it did not stop after crushing the peachwood flying ship. It pressed lower and lower.

“Hey! Hey! Wait a minute! What are you trying to do! I’m the young master of the Mu family! How dare you attack me!”

As the Square Heaven Seal lowered, he finally panicked.

He scolded in disbelief.

Soon, the invincible Square Heaven Seal pressed down on him until he could not stand straight.

The Soul Formation cultivator of the Mu family knelt on the ground. He had just taken two breaths when he discovered this scene. He was shocked and furious on the spot, and he spat out another mouthful of blood!

However, the Square Heaven Seal was already above his head. He could only forcefully exert energy and raise his hands. He used his Soul Formation body to withstand the huge golden seal above.

They had gotten into another predicament now!

Jiang Li actually did not want to take his life immediately. After going through so much trouble, what he wanted was to first control a dangerous person like him.

The Yang-Wood spiritual qi turned into a peach tree on the body of the Mu family’s Soul Formation cultivator. It supported itself under the Square Heaven Seal and trembled.

After Daoist Wushe tested the other party’s limit, he stopped his hand seals at the right time and made the huge golden seal stop. However, he pressed down on the other party until he could not move and could not care about anything else.

A few clouds of dust also surged out of the Earth Dust platform below and climbed up the body of the Soul Formation cultivator. Then, they began to condense on his body, completely freezing the Mu family’s Soul Formation cultivator into a statue.

Mu Chunyang, who could only bend down, finally felt fear at this moment. This group of Great Mountain cultivators really wanted to attack them.

He was shocked. He immediately took out a communication spirit stone and desperately wanted to seek help from his family.

However, the spirit stone in his hand malfunctioned at this moment and did not react at all.

“Don’t bother. Under the influence of the Square Heaven Seal, these things are useless.”

Black chains flew over and wrapped around him. In the next moment, his Golden Core cultivation seemed to have disappeared from his body, and he was suppressed to the point of being extremely weak.

Jiang Li pulled the Dragon Imprisoning Lock and pulled Mu Chunyang out from the pincer attack of the Earth Dust Scripture and the Square Heaven Seal.

“Valley Master, Martial Ancestors, Elders, I’ll excuse myself first.”

Jiang Li violently snatched the transmission from the other party’s hand and handed it to an elder by the side before using various methods to seal it.

Then, he brought Mu Chunyang into a quiet room. As the Alliance Leader of the Great Mountain Alliance, he wanted to chat with this guy alone.

“Isn’t this the envoy of the Mu family? We’re really fated to meet again.”

Jiang Li smiled politely at him.

If not for the fact that he was holding the Dragon Imprisoning Lock with one hand and stepping on the other party, outsiders would definitely think that the two of them were good friends that had not met in years.

With a flip of his hand, he took out a spiritual root seed and stuffed it into the other party’s mouth.

However, the result disappointed him.

The cultivation method that the other party cultivated was indeed irreconcilable with the Nine Nether Wood.

Not only did the spiritual root seed, which had always been successful, not germinate, but it was also injured by the spiritual qi in the other party’s body. It helplessly crawled out of the other party’s mouth.

“What did you feed me!”

“Wait… it’s you! What do you want to do?”

“Let me go now… I won’t reveal your identity or tell my family about the actions of the Great Mountain Region… The Mu family… will also thank you for saving our lives.”

“I will help you plead for leniency. At that time, with our protection, the Myriad Slaughter Sect will no longer dare to attack you.”

Although this Mu Chunyang was detestable, he was still quite smart. He knew that his situation was dire, and he knew to temporarily give in and ask Jiang Li to let him go.

However, was that possible?

If others were the Alliance Leader of the Great Mountain Alliance, they might really agree because of the Mu family’s power.

However, it was completely impossible for Jiang Li.

It was because the Mu family thought that he was the puppet of the Nine Nether Wood.

Now, the branch in the underwater graveyard had run away again.

With the Mu family’s persistence and hostility towards the Nine Nether Wood, if these two guys brought the news back, he would be in trouble.

Earlier, after saving the Mu cultivators, there was a huge conflict within the Great Mountain Alliance regarding their treatment.

Some cultivators thought that they could use this opportunity to form a good relationship. With the help of the Mu Clan cultivators, they could better develop the Great Mountain Region.

Some cultivators thought that the Mu cultivators were too ambitious. Even if they were let back, it would not end well. They would only be letting the enemy return.

They might as well escort them to the outside of the Great Mountain Region and find a powerful demon beast’s cave to throw them into. It would be safer for them to die.

Although the argument was intense, under the circumstances that many higher-ups were heavily injured, the Great Mountain Alliance Leader, Jiang Li, had the final say. In the end, the outcome of the Mu Clan cultivators would naturally not be much better.

“Why is our Young Master Chunyang so polite now?”

We’re from the countryside. We’re short-sighted and can’t see the future.”

“In order to save you this time, our Great Mountain paid a huge price. Why don’t you make a payment for saving your lives first?”

Jiang Li started a blatant extortion.

“Payment for saving our lives? That’s true… That’s true…”

Mu Chunyang did not dare to say no in this situation.

He was like a mortal chained up. He moved his palm with great effort to touch his storage artifact.

However, he did not find any artifact.

Jiang Li had already conveniently taken away his storage bag. This was naturally not the payment he was talking about.

“It seems that our Young Master Mu doesn’t have anything good to pay for his life. It seems that our Great Mountain Region has made a loss.”

A sword blade reached out from Jiang Li’s forehead and directly pressed against the other party’s head.

“Wait! Wait! No! You can’t kill me!”

“My life token is in the family! If you kill me, your entire Great Mountain will perish!”

Up until now, there had been several major battles and countless lives had been taken by the Immortal Slaying Flying Sword. The killing intent wrapped around the blade was almost corporeal. Being pointed at by this sword tip was enough to scare people to death!

Mu Chunyang shouted hysterically. He was really frightened.

Jiang Li’s sword tip touched the other party’s forehead, leaving a line of blood, but he did not take another step.

“Is that so? But as far as I know, the function of the life token isn’t that powerful, right?”

“We can find a place to isolate you for ten years without killing you immediately. We can repair your flying ship and put puppets made of your flesh and blood inside to drive it to the Eastern Sea.”

“Then, I’ll cripple your cultivation and mess up your soul. After you become a mortal idiot, I’ll feed you to a sea beast without intelligence.”

“Do you think the Mu family can still find evidence pointing to us?”

The more Jiang Li spoke, the darker Mu Chunyang’s expression became.

The life token that he mentioned was something that some large forces in the cultivation world used to remotely monitor the life and death of important members.

The weaker life tokens could only detect the life and death of the user. Moreover, there was a possibility that the range would be exceeded. They would lose their connection in that case, so it was not very useful.

However, a good life token could observe the status of a cultivator in real time. It could record the sounds of the scene around the user when they died. Some of the dead could even send their last words back through the life token.

With this information, it would be convenient for these large factions to avenge their descendants.

This kind of revenge could not revive the dead, and in the eyes of some hypocritical ‘good people’, it was an irrational act of vengeance.

However, this kind of unyielding revenge method could serve as an example to others. It was very effective in reducing the risk of the children of the family being harmed when they went out.

In terms of practicality, it was very significant.

The life token was troublesome to deal with, but the measures that Jiang Li mentioned were effective, but vile and vicious.

By locking them up, the token would not react so the Mu family would not be alerted.

The concept of time for cultivators was different for mortals.

It was very normal for the Core Formation realm disciples of the Scripture Storage Valley to go out for eight to ten years and not return.

The Mu family’s team had come out to search for the evil tree aimlessly. This kind of thing would not end easily. Ten years was nothing.

During this period of time, they would use their flesh and blood puppets and their peachwood flying ship to leave the Great Mountain Region and wander around the other places in the Eastern Region. This way, the Mu family would be unable to lock onto their target through their movements.

Several years later, they would cripple their cultivation and mess up their souls. This way, they would not be able to send their last words to the family before they died.

In the end, the corpses would be eaten by a sea beast. In the vast sea, it would be extremely difficult for the Mu family to find that sea beast.

It would be even harder to use the sea beast as a clue to find them.

Of course, in the cultivation world, there was an even more mysterious astrology divination technique. However, Jiang Li had a way to interfere.

If he really did that, the Mu family might not be able to find the murderer behind this.

Mu Chunyang was really afraid now. He completely believed that Jiang Li would really dare to kill him.

Not only would he die, but he would also be tortured for ten years before dying.

“What… what do you want?”

When he thought of the future Jiang Li spoke of, he could only pray that the latter would still need him.

“I want to know how to join the Divine Judgment Hall.”