Chapter 476

That night, after all the cultivators who had pursued the spirit beast army returned to Jin Shan Market, in order to celebrate the victory of this great battle, under the arrangements of Zhao Chuancheng, Cao Rongxue, and others, the Jin Shan Market cultivators specially brought out a considerable amount of spirit wine from the treasury to reward the many cultivators who had participated in the battle.

Except for those cultivators who were still clearing the battlefield outside the city and standing guard, all the cultivators who had participated in the battle relaxed thoroughly. Song Qingming, this Jin Dan True Person, also personally attended the grand event to encourage and commend the many cultivators who had performed great meritorious service in the battle.

A few days later, in Song Qingming's cave dwelling.

Song Yuanli led the law enforcement cultivators and finally cleared away all the corpses outside the city. He also compiled the statistics on the meritorious deeds and casualties of all the cultivators who had participated in the battle after the great fight at Jin Shan Market a few days prior.

"Seventh Great-Uncle, this time we killed a total of nine second-tier spirit beasts and over eight hundred first-tier spirit beasts. I have already had the law enforcement team move these spirit beast materials into the market treasury. After they are all classified in a few days, they can be used to reward those who performed meritorious service."

Hearing Song Yuanli finish his excited report on the battle results, Song Qingming, who was sitting in the seat of honor, nodded with satisfaction and then asked, "How heavy were our losses this time? Have the spirit stones needed for the pensions of those who died in battle been calculated?"

"In this battle, besides Senior Zhao, over one hundred and sixty Qi Refining cultivators died in action. According to your previous instructions, the pension for each Qi Refining cultivator is one hundred and fifty spirit stones, so the total pension fund will require approximately twenty-five thousand spirit stones.

However, besides the portion of spirit beast materials used as rewards, I estimate there will be over twenty thousand spirit stones' worth of materials remaining, which should be enough for the pensions later. As for the Zhao family, you may need to speak with the sect to see how much merit is appropriate to reward them."

Mentioning the losses from this great battle, the excitement on Song Yuanli's face slowly returned to calm. Although this battle was a great victory for the human cultivator side against the spirit beasts, it also came at the cost of over one hundred cultivators dying on the spot, and even one Foundation Establishment cultivator had fallen in the great battle.

Although the low-tier spirit beasts on the spirit beast side did not have much of an advantage, the number of second-tier spirit beasts was nearly double that of Jin Shan Market's side. If it weren't for experts like Song Qingyu, Cao Rongxue, and a few other late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators being able to hold back several second-tier spirit beasts each, the losses on the human cultivator side in this battle would likely have been even greater.

After hearing the specific casualty figures compiled by Song Yuanli, Song Qingming pondered for a moment, sighed, and said, "I will make a note of this matter. You can inform the Zhao family first that after the battle, I will find a way to have the sect grant them a Foundation Establishment Pill as a pension.

These law enforcement cultivators could only hide in the rear to supervise the battle, watching everyone else fight to the death with the spirit beasts on the battlefield; naturally, they felt somewhat uncomfortable in their hearts."

"Your law enforcement team's supervision is not only an important guarantee for the entire great battle but also the final line of defense in the market. Do not forget the heavy responsibility you bear just because of what others say. It is because of you that we can go into battle and kill the enemy with peace of mind.

Although I do not have a deep friendship with Zhao Mengzhen, we have met several times. When you see the Zhao family, you must comfort them well; do not let their hearts grow cold!"

Now, the law enforcement cultivators were all eager to try, hoping that they could go to the battlefield next time to perform meritorious service and prove the ability and courage of their law enforcement team.

"You have worked hard these past few days, busy day and night with these trivial matters. After finishing this, go back and rest; do not delay your cultivation!"

"Seventh Great-Uncle, rest assured, Yuanli will remember!"

"In this battle, our law enforcement team did not have the opportunity to participate. Compared to everyone fighting to the death with the spirit beasts on the battlefield, we only did some cleanup work. How could I dare to say I've worked hard? Seventh Great-Uncle, you are too kind!" Hearing Song Qingming's words, Song Yuanli replied with a look of shame on his face.

"Although your law enforcement team did not perform meritorious service on the battlefield in this fight, you also contributed greatly to the entire great battle. It is just that we are currently in the midst of a great battle with the spirit beasts, and I fear that rewarding your law enforcement team now would invite too much criticism. Rest assured, after the spirit beast turmoil ends, everyone will be rewarded according to their merits."

Song Qingming naturally knew a thing or two about the situation of their law enforcement team. After hearing Song Yuanli's thoughts, Song Qingming shook his head slightly and said solemnly:

Furthermore, after the battle, the law enforcement team punished quite a few cultivators who had been lazy or disobeyed orders on the battlefield, which naturally led to quite a bit of criticism in the market these past few days.

"Then I will thank Seventh Great-Uncle on behalf of all the brothers first!" Although he did not receive permission from Song Qingming to participate in the next battle, he had at least secured some credit for his subordinates, and the disappointed look on Song Yuanli's face improved slightly.

After Song Yuanli left, Huang Siyuan, who was on the side, stepped forward and said with a smile, "Yuanli, that child, is also a bit impatient. Should we give him a chance to temper himself on the battlefield next time?"

Song Qingming waved his hand with a smile and said, "It's not that I have selfish motives and won't let him go to the battlefield, it's just that I am still not at ease handing the law enforcement team over to others right now.

By the way, how is Qingyu? Her injuries aren't a big problem, are they?"

"I went to see her yesterday. Although Sister Qingyu's injuries have not fully recovered, there is nothing seriously wrong. I estimate that after taking healing pills and resting for about another half a month, she will be almost fully recovered!" Hearing Song Qingming ask about Song Qingyu, Huang Siyuan hurriedly explained.

In this battle, because Song Qingyu's performance on the battlefield was too prominent, she was suddenly besieged by three or four second-tier spirit beasts at once. Fortunately, Huang Siyuan arrived in time to help, preventing her from facing a major crisis.

However, after the great battle ended, Song Qingyu immediately went into seclusion to heal her wounds, not even attending the victory banquet that evening, which made Song Qingming worry about her injuries.

Seeing that Song Qingyu's injuries were not too serious, Song Qingming felt a faint sense of relief. Although only over one hundred cultivators from Jin Shan Market died in this battle, over three hundred others were injured like Song Qingyu and needed to rest temporarily, unable to continue fighting. At this moment, the overall strength within Jin Shan Market was actually much weaker than before the great battle with the spirit beasts.

Moreover, it was not just the loss of cultivator personnel; the spirit stones used to operate the formations, and the spirit talismans, pills, and magic treasures consumed by the many cultivators during the great battle were also significant losses, which also made Song Qingming worry now.

Although Song Qingming had already issued an order after the battle to all families in Pingyang County and Qinghe County to collect these important strategic materials, it would certainly take some time. If a spirit beast army were to attack at this time, Jin Shan Market would still be in great danger.

Fortunately, after the spirit beasts retreated to the north, although they remained in Huangling Valley, a few hundred miles away from Jin Shan Market, they did not move south to attack Jin Shan Market on a large scale. Only small groups of spirit beasts began to bypass Jin Shan Market to attack the spirit mountains on the north side of Pingyang County.

However, these spirit beasts were not strong in scale or power. Although they caused a certain threat to the cultivation families in the north of Pingyang County, under the organization of rescue efforts by cultivators from Jin Shan Market, they did not cause much destructive power.

After Song Qingming worried for a few days, good news finally came from Jin Shan Market: the cultivators from Liuyang County and Jiangling County had finally arrived at Jin Shan Market after more than half a month of long-distance travel.

The entry of ten Foundation Establishment cultivators and nearly one thousand Qi Refining cultivators as fresh forces into Jin Shan Market caused the trace of worry in Song Qingming's heart to gradually dissipate.

Just over ten days after the great battle between Jin Shan Market and the spirit beast army, news also arrived successively from several other battlefields in Wei where they were clashing with spirit beasts.

The siege of Guiyun Market was still being carried out by the many spirit beast kings under the command of Jin Yu Mountain. These spirit beast kings had dealt with the Xiaoyao Sect for many years. After moving south and surrounding Guiyun Market, a great battle with the Xiaoyao Sect ensued. Although both sides suffered losses, the more powerful spirit beast side still held quite an advantage.

The Xiaoyao Sect not only lost many cultivators, but even Jin Dan Elder Zhao Fenglian was accidentally severely injured by a spirit beast king in this great battle and returned to the sect to heal. Fortunately, Guiyun Market still had a very powerful top-grade protective formation. Although the spirit beast side held some advantages at the moment, it would be difficult to capture this place in a short time.

The situation at Mount Tuoyun was also somewhat tense. Although only one early-stage Jin Dan Cloud Crane Spirit King was attacking there, its strength was far superior to Feng Yangde, who had only formed a fake core. The two sides clashed once, and Feng Yangde quickly fell into defeat and hid within the protective formation, not daring to come out to fight again.

Fortunately, before Chen Jinliang passed away, he left behind quite a few useful assets for Mount Tuoyun. By utilizing several third-tier spirit items left behind by Ancestor Chen, Feng Yangde could still hold out for a period of time by relying on the third-tier protective formation on Mount Tuoyun.

Compared to the situation at Guiyun Market and Mount Tuoyun, the situation at Tiexian Fortress was even more unfavorable. Although Chen Jinliang had joined forces with Ma Hongshan and Chu Fengping decades ago to hunt down the Black Flame Tiger, which posed the greatest threat to them, for some reason, there were as many as four spirit beast kings heading toward Tiexian Fortress this time.

After the spirit beast army from the west surrounded Tiexian Fortress, the Xiaoyao Sect quickly lost contact with the Ma family. Now they did not know what the situation inside Tiexian Fortress was, but under these circumstances, it was certainly looking grim.

Although there was a third-tier protective formation inside Tiexian Fortress, facing the siege of so many spirit beast kings, even if the Ma family could hold out for a while, without powerful reinforcements, it would certainly be very difficult for them to hold out until the spirit beast turmoil ended.

Upon learning the news that the situation on the other battlefields was somewhat passive, a trace of surprise appeared on Song Qingming's face.

Although Song Qingming had a premonition from the beginning that this spirit beast turmoil might not be as easy for Wei to survive as it was a hundred years ago, he did not expect that the great battle had just begun and their side had already fallen into a comprehensive disadvantage so quickly.

(End of this chapter)