Chapter 183

Inside the Great Zizaimo Sect's secret realm.

Lin Yangtian, leading his remnants, fled back in disarray; his robes had been shredded by heavenly lightning, revealing patches of black and white skin.

Looking back at the others, he felt even more stifled.

Around forty disciples had set out together, but fewer than ten had returned to the secret realm, all wounded.

Most of the dead had been under his command.

Though the lives of Holy Sect disciples were cheap, these disciples under him had been trained by him over many years—not necessarily powerful, but at least aligned with his tastes.

Losing so many underlings in such a short time inevitably pained him.

Beside him, the Jin Dan peer who had been so confident earlier looked no better; a streak of blood stained his lip—not his own, but that of a Holy Sect Foundation Establishment disciple, who had dared block his escape at the secret realm's gate and had been split cleanly in two by him.

Even Lin Yangtian had to admit it was precisely this senior brother's decisive strike that forced the arrogant Foundation Establishment disciples to clear a path, allowing the two of them to escape the torrent of thunder.

"What do we do now?"

The two exchanged glances, both weary and troubled.

The Jiushan Sect's audacity in blocking the gate had caught them off guard.

More importantly, they truly couldn't get out!

"These Jiushan Sect people… are too treacherous!" muttered the peer beside him.

If it were only the Lei Chi, though our strength would be suppressed, the Holy Sect's numbers would still overwhelm those Jiushan disciples.

But the secret realm's gate, designed to keep out enemies, restricts both entry and exit.

This gave the numerically inferior Jiushan disciples the advantage of overwhelming the few.

Without the Lei Chi, a single secret realm gate couldn't hold them back.

They wouldn't even need a Nascent Soul from the sect—just the two of us, Jin Dan, could wipe out that rabble of mostly Foundation Establishment foes…

Yet together, these two factors left them utterly helpless.

The two stared at each other, unsure what to do next.

"What's going on?"

As the group was at a loss, a somewhat aged voice came from above.

They looked up to see an old man with half-white, half-black hair and a withered face hovering above them, his expression dark with displeasure: "The sect ordered you to attack Jiushan Sect—why have you not moved?"

"Senior Shi!"

Lin Yangtian and the other bowed hastily; clearly, this man's cultivation surpassed theirs—he was a True Person.

They explained their current predicament with grim faces.

"Jiushan Sect…" The senior Shi's eyes flickered with a mysterious symbol as he gazed toward the gate: "Bold! A group of Foundation Establishment cultivators dares to bully my Holy Sect!"

The others nodded in agreement.

If it were the Xuanweiwu Sect, blocking the gate would be acceptable.

But what the hell is Jiushan Sect!

"Send more people out! Let me see what they're relying on!"

The senior Shi suddenly said.

Lin Yangtian and the other glanced at each other, then at their nearby subordinates—all of whom wore expressions of terror.

"What? Unwilling? Shall you two go instead?"

Lin Yangtian's heart tightened; he selected two disciples and gestured for them to leave.

The two's faces were ashen, yet they dared not defy orders; trembling, they stepped out through the secret realm gate.

The moment the two reached the threshold outside.

The next instant, countless Lei Fu rained down like a storm.

These two died cleanly—almost with a sense of humanitarian elegance.

"Soul-Piercing Fu, Soul-Shaking Fu, Soul-Annihilating Fu…" the senior Shi murmured, frowning: "Each of them was struck by at least thirty or forty mystic-grade Fu—these are all mystic-grade! Is Jiushan Sect this wealthy?"

Lin Yangtian and the other exchanged glances.

They too were puzzled.

They understood market prices—this volley of Fu alone must have cost dozens of Spirit Stones.

Purely burning money.

…

Zheng Fa watched the two corpses lying at the secret realm's gate; seeing no one else emerge, he signaled two senior brothers to drag the bodies to the rear "Weapon Production Factory."

"Senior Zheng, I never thought the Fu-Yin technique would be so effective here!"

Sun Daoyu exclaimed.

"We make mystic-grade Fu ourselves—only three or five a day, and it drains our spiritual power and soul," nodded another senior brother. "Buying them isn't cheap either."

"Yes, one Spirit Stone gets you three or five," sighed Sun Daoyu, then mentally calculated the cost of Fu-Yin: "But making mystic-grade Fu with Fu-Yin is faster and cheaper—only the cost of paper and spirit ink! When you add it up, it's even cheaper than yellow-grade Fu!"

Zheng Fa shook his head slightly.

It's not quite that simple—

At least the lives of the Great Zizaimo Sect disciples are a cost too.

But it truly worked wonders here.

Thirty or fifty mystic-grade Fu launched could secure a Great Zizaimo disciple who died heroically for the Fu-Yin cause.

Rounded off, you could say it's free.

Moreover, this process doesn't drain the spiritual power or soul of these senior brothers—it's extremely practical on the battlefield.

It's practically the Great Zizaimo Sect's nemesis.

…

"They actually used my Holy Sect's disciples to make talismans?" Inside the gate, Senior Uncle Chi's eyes seemed to see Zheng Fa and the others' actions, making him so furious his hair stood on end.

Lin Yangtian suddenly understood and said, "So that's why the Lei Chi market was buying the fresh blood of my Holy Sect's disciples?"

"..."

Everyone exchanged glances, their faces showing some difficulty.

"This Jiushan Sect... their methods are a bit similar to ours, aren't they?"

Hearing a subordinate mutter this, Lin Yangtian couldn't help but agree a little.

Playing with corpses, playing with blood-refined treasures, they are experts!

Now they were blocked inside the gate by this group of imitators from the Jiushan Sect.

"Senior Uncle, if we send people out now, not only will we fail to kill these thieves, but we will also give them more talismans in their hands."

That Senior Uncle Chi fell silent too.

After a long while, he suddenly exploded in rage: "Damn it, why is this Jiushan Sect so disgusting!"

"..."

"Now I understand why my Holy Sect is hunted by everyone!"

Lin Yangtian was stunned, and actually couldn't help but want to nod.

Think about it, in the past when he did such disgusting things to those Righteous Path people, they didn't feel much.

Now that the roles have changed...

Even they felt their past actions were a bit excessive.

Zheng Fa looked at the secret realm gate of the Great Zizaimo Demon Sect; they also seemed to have discovered the matter of the talisman seals, and no one dared to show their heads anymore.

It seemed they had truly blocked the Great Zizaimo Demon Sect inside the secret realm.

"Zheng Shidi, we have really offended the Great Zizaimo Demon Sect this time."

Sun Daoyu seemed to have seen this too and couldn't help but speak with worry.

"Senior Brother, whether we offend them or not, we... have no choice."

Zheng Fa naturally knew that once the matter of the talisman seals was exposed, the Jiushan Sect and the Great Zizaimo Demon Sect would be in a life-and-death struggle.

But the problem is—they have already sharpened their knives.

The current talisman seals are only targeting the Great Zizaimo Demon Sect; although the methods are a bit strange, others won't care too much—at most they will just want to open a source for them.

As for tricking the Great Zizaimo Demon Sect to death.

It's still that same saying: unless the Jiushan Sect can give up the Lei Chi, give up the Jiushan Sect's spiritual veins, and also give up Senior Sister Zhang's life.

Otherwise, there is no path to reconciliation between them and the Great Zizaimo Demon Sect.

Seeing Sun Daoyu still frowning, Zheng Fa shook his head and said:

"Senior Brother Sun, the art of talisman seals is originally a good thing; if not for this thing, we couldn't have blocked those Demon Gate disciples."

"Right! What are you worrying about?"

An excited voice came.

Zheng Fa turned his head to look, and it was exactly Yan Wushuang and the other two.

"Senior Brother Yan?"

Yan Wushuang bowed to Zheng Fa, but his gaze stared fixedly at Li Nuo and the others as he said, "Is this the reason your market buys Demon blood?"

"Yes."

Since they had been seen, Zheng Fa had no reason to avoid it.

"No wonder... no wonder..." Yan Wushuang sighed twice and said, "Your Jiushan Sect has great wealth!"

"Senior Brother Li Nuo indeed has extraordinary ingenuity."

"No, no, no, I am talking about the wealth of money!"

Yan Wushuang's eyes were bright, and his tone was extremely excited: "Senior Zheng Shidi, can I join a share of this business?"

Zheng Fa suddenly remembered, this person seemed to have said he was very poor...

"This..."

The matter of the talisman seals is, first of all, a secret of the Jiushan Sect.

Secondly, this thing is something Yan Wushuang cannot help with anyway.

Although Zheng Fa's impression of the other person was not bad, he also felt there was no need.

Seeming to see his hesitation, Yan Wushuang added:

"I won't just take from you for nothing; first, I can provide the talisman paper and spiritual ink for you."

Hearing this, Zheng Fa swallowed the words of refusal in his throat.

Talisman paper and spiritual ink are currently the biggest cost of the talisman seals—although their value is not high, with the production capacity of the talisman seals, shortages are about to appear in this aspect.

But to be honest, these are all minor details.

After Zheng Fa remained silent for a long time, he finally spoke: "Senior Brother Yan, it is not that I am unwilling to cooperate with you, but—just based on this, it is not enough."

This person Yan Wushuang has an extraordinary background, and is even somewhat mysterious.

But after all, he is just a true disciple of the Tianhe Sect.

It seems he is just a Jin Dan cultivator.

Cooperating with him really shows no future.

Yan Wushuang also seemed to see Zheng Fa's refusal; he looked at Zheng Fa and said, "You want to block the people of the Great Zizaimo Demon Sect from leaving, to guarantee Zhang Wuyi's Nascent Soul formation?"

"... Yes."

"Then you are already too late."

Zheng Fa paused, then suddenly turned his gaze toward the Five Dragon Celestial Palace.

"You guessed right—several Nascent Soul cultivators from the Zizaimo Sect left Lei Chi a few days ago, preparing to strike at your uncle."

"..."

Zheng Fa frowned tightly, yet showed no surprise.

Zhang Shijie's Nascent Soul formation lasted for days—the Zizaimo Sect wouldn't do nothing—

They were just a little too late to block the door.

The Five Dragon Celestial Palace was already dangerous; Zheng Fa could only lead out these low-level disciples to lighten the burden on Uncle Pang.

But he had no way to ensure Uncle Pang's safety.

After all, Nascent Soul cultivators inside Lei Chi would be even more dangerous, and at that level of combat, he couldn't intervene at all.

"Brother Yan, you mean…"

"I save your uncle's life—this deal… count me in."

Zheng Fa turned his head and saw Sun Daoyu opening his mouth, as if wanting to say something.

Half of these disciples were Uncle Pang's people; they all looked at Zheng Fa, waiting for his decision.

"Brother Yan, if my uncle is unharmed, I accept your terms."