Chapter 215: Poisonous Stiff Boy

"Disciples!"

"On this journey, the primary material for the Foundation Establishment Pill, Jin Yu Zhi, must be your top priority; ignore all other things. Remember this."

At the entrance to the Nine Heavens Ruins atop Lei Feng Peak,

the old man with a wine-lees nose, Li Li Mingda, his face flushed with red, repeatedly instructed the many disciples below.

This is the most core place of the Xiang Qiyu Sect, and also where the Ancestral Master first encountered his opportunity; the entire sect was founded upon this, and even the spiritual veins were relocated here later.

At this moment, many Qi Condensation disciples had arrived: the seven true heirs, Li Li Qingyun, the direct disciple of the Grand Elder, the children of various Foundation Establishment Shushus, Chen Xi, Gong Gong Caiyu, Han Lin, and so on.

More than half of the Qi Condensation disciples at the mountain gate had gone empty-handed!

The resentment of the entire Xiang Qiyu Sect, suppressed for eighteen years with no hope of Foundation Establishment, was suddenly released, instantly forming a surging force, wishing they could gather enough primary material for the sect's Foundation Establishment Pills for a hundred years in one go.

"Yes, Shushu Li!"

The many disciples answered in unison.

The wine-lees nose old man's words struck a chord in their hearts.

No matter how precious the heavenly treasures and earthly wonders, how could they compare to the importance of the Foundation Establishment Pill?

A huge crowd swarmed, yet no one urged anyone on; they frequently looked around, straining their eyes, and whenever someone passed by, they would stare for a long time.

The wine-lees nose old Daoist Li Li Mingda was the same.

"Disciples, listen to my command!"

Suddenly, he revealed a trace of horror, then quickly concealed it.

"Enter the Nine Heavens Ruins immediately!"

The surrounding Qi Condensation disciples fell silent for a moment.

"Impossible!"

Someone immediately spoke out, disregarding the sect's strict hierarchy.

"Little Shishizu hasn't arrived yet? How can we forget him, the elder?"

"Yes, yes! How can we juniors be so rude?"

"No, no, absolutely not!"

The surrounding disciples spoke in unison; the seven true heirs, as well as the children of many Foundation Establishment Shushus trapped at the peak of Qi Condensation for years, and the many young geniuses surrounding Li Li Qingyun, were all the same.

They all spoke with righteous indignation, refusing to move an inch no matter what.

"You rascals!"

"What the hell are you afraid of!"

Li Li Mingda cursed loudly, yet he could not vent his anger and punish them, as many inside were the children of his friends.

After a brief hesitation, he transmitted a few words to several people.

"What are we waiting for, Little Shishizu?! We juniors should naturally scout the path for our elders!"

The face of the true heir ranked first flashed with joy; with great enthusiasm, he stepped into the ruin entrance and vanished.

"Exactly! Exactly!"

Another child of a Foundation Establishment Shushu showed disdain: "You cowards, with no heart for the Dao, dare to plot Foundation Establishment?"

Having spoken, he rushed in ahead of others.

"I shall clear the path for Little Shishizu..."

Several more people voluntarily entered, all disciples of high status within the sect.

At this, many gradually came to their senses.

"Why does that fellow like to hide his form so much?!"

Wuma Kong reacted first, immediately feeling a toothache.

"Right!"

The surrounding disciples from the Dragon and Phoenix List of the same period in Yue Country suddenly realized the truth and rushed into the ruins one after another.

By the time the crowd had thinned out, in an empty space invisible even to Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Jiang Ding tested several times, confirmed he could still return to the Immortal Gate at any time, and then followed into the ruins.

There was no sensation of the heavens and earth spinning; it was like passing through a thin film.

When he opened his eyes, Jiang Ding arrived in a gray space; ten-plus meters above, the concealment spell failed and then reappeared, and a transparent, invisible figure slowly fell.

"... No sun, not a small world..."

"... Did not trigger the Immortal Gate's Da Zhou, not an Illusion Realm... arriving here had no chaotic teleportation, very easy, fitting the characteristics of a semi-space layer..."

Jiang Ding landed on a stone, and thoughts rose one by one in his mind.

Looking out,

the four directions were all vast jungles; the spiritual qi of heaven and earth was generally at the level of a first-grade spiritual vein; the edge of the sky had a bright arc; a simple calculation suggested the semi-space layer was roughly over a hundred kilometers in size.

Jiang Ding took out a wooden box.

【Runed Hundred Bestial Box】

【Special Supreme-grade Magical Artifact】

【Contains ten thousand runed bionic insects, spiritual beasts, and birds, crafted by ancient techniques of the Outer Sects; each one can connect to the artifact master's perspective; purely handmade, purely ancient method; the most valuable collection for the next millennium — Great Wealth Tower Antique Collection and Auction Company.】

"One hundred and thirty thousand low-grade spirit stones..."

"Damn ancient methods, damn collections, damn handmade work, damn swindlers!"

A trace of heartache appeared in Jiang Ding's eyes.

A mere supreme-grade magical artifact dared to sell to him for one hundred and thirty thousand low-grade spirit stones; that was enough to buy a third-grade spirit mine for refining a magical treasure.

If the previous Great Sun Sword Disciple might still be alive and possessed vast power, making it impossible to reveal even a trace of the Immortal Gate, a few thousand common currency worth of drones would have been enough.

Adding it up, he had lost a hundred and thirty thousand spirit stones out of thin air.

"Great Sun Sword Child, I've noted this debt!"

Jiang Ding gave a light snort and channeled magic power into the rune-wooden box.

Hum!

The wooden box trembled slightly, and a red-beaked bird the size of a palm crawled out of it. Its eyes were lively; after a brief glance around, it spread its wings and flew off into the distance.

His divine sense carefully scanned it.

"Not bad. Without using sword intent, there's no way to tell this is a fake bird at all — no different from the common birds in the mountains and forests… It even mimics pecking for food, hunting, fleeing on its own. It has every function."

Jiang Ding's expression eased a little.

Red-beaked birds, gnats, beetles, eagles… all manner of rune-mortal beasts flew out of the wooden box, scattering in every direction, silently covering an area fifty kilometers in radius.

Although it could only do optical surveillance, it would barely do.

Bang!

The spiritual light of a spell flashed on the eastern horizon, then another, seven or eight in a row, forming a pattern composed of the seven colors of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, and thunder — seven feathers shining upon one another.

To the east, the sect emblem of Xiang Qiyu Sect.

"The spirit herb garden is to the south…"

Jiang Ding barely restrained his urge to rush straight south, concealed his figure, and flew toward the direction of the Xiang Qiyu emblem.

"In the end, I owe my lord a great favor — otherwise I wouldn't have been able to enter here."

"Resolve this quickly!"

……

"Has Xiang Qiyu Sect gone mad?"

To the north, many cultivators in black robes bearing various palace emblems on their bodies were stunned, then overjoyed: "This time we won't have to chase these monkeys all over the place — we'll have at least six days to gather spirit herbs!"

"If there are enough spirit herbs, we may not be unable to…"

Many Xuetudian disciples' eyes burned with fervor, yet they did not dare act on their own. Instead, they all turned their gazes toward the center, revealing awe and fear, and bowed in unison.

"Greetings, Senior Brother Du Jiangzi!"

A child whose face was terribly swollen — like a ball soaked in water, with only a tiny slit left for his eyes — did not respond to their words.

In his hand he dragged behind him the headless and limbless corpse of a black-robed man, tearing off strips of flesh and feeding them to a simple, honest-looking green poison zombie before him.

"Big Brother."

"Eat slowly. If it's not enough, I'll go get more."

The child's voice was utterly adorable. He gently watched to see whether the green poison zombie chewed everything thoroughly, whether any was wasted, until a corpse still warm was completely fed away — even the bones crunched up.

Only then did he show a smile.

"Go."

"The ten disciples who killed the fewest enemies are to be left for my Big Brother to taste first."

The surrounding Xuetudian disciples trembled, utterly terrified.

"Yes!"

One more chapter later tonight. Tomorrow I can fully resume updating on time.

(End of this chapter)