Chapter 560: A Not-So-Small Harvest

Demonic cultivators above the Golden Core stage basically leave behind some back-up plans for themselves outside, preparing a few low-tier cultivator bodies that have been planted with restrictions. As long as their Nascent Soul is not destroyed and they can escape, they will have a chance to seize a body and recultivate.

Wanting to completely destroy a demonic cultivator above the Golden Core level at once, even if an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator takes action, they still need to cooperate with some means to deal with the Nascent Soul of demonic cultivators; otherwise, there is still a high probability of letting these demonic cultivators' Nascent Souls escape.

Hearing the trace of worry in Zhao Zhao Menglian's tone, Yun Yun Xinxue on the side immediately responded with a smile, "Hehe! This demon's physical body has been destroyed, and his Nascent Soul has fallen into this Heaven-Reaching Tower. It is inevitably difficult to get out. Even if he can seize a body and recultivate, it will still be difficult to recover his cultivation base without a hundred years. In fact, he is no longer a cause for concern. Fellow Daoist Zhao, don't worry too much!"

"Fellow Daoist Yun's words are not bad. This Heaven-Reaching Tower only opens once every three hundred years. If this demon's Nascent Soul cannot escape, he will definitely be trapped to death inside!" Jin Wu Ziyuan also echoed after hearing this.

"I hope so!" Zhao Zhao Menglian smiled lightly. After nodding slightly, she stepped forward to take down the storage magic treasure from the demonic cultivator's waist and the two magic treasures that had fallen to the ground, and then cast a spell to release the inner core fire to directly incinerate the demonic cultivator's corpse.

By the time Zhao Zhao Menglian and the others rushed down from the top of the canyon to support them, True Person Qingluo and Zhang Zhang Tieyang had also just finished off their opponents and cut off the head of another second-layer Golden Core demonic cultivator.

"Fellow Daoist Song, I have no way to repay the life-saving grace just now. Please accept a bow from me first!" Zhang Zhang Tieyang, who had just ended the battle, immediately stepped forward and said with gratitude as soon as he saw Song Song Qingming's figure.

Seeing that Zhang Zhang Tieyang was about to bow to him in front of everyone, Song Song Qingming hurriedly stepped forward to support him and waved his hand, saying, "Fellow Daoist Zhang is too polite. Now that we are in this dangerous place, we should naturally help each other. Fellow Daoist doesn't need to take it too much to heart."

Seeing this scene, Zhao Zhao Fenglian immediately smiled and said, "Junior Brother Song is right. We just came in and encountered such powerful demonic cultivators, which shows that it is even more dangerous inside than we imagined. If everyone is not of one mind when encountering such things, I'm afraid it will be very difficult for us to get out smoothly.

Besides, eliminating demons and defending the Dao is the duty of us cultivators. Regardless of who it is, as long as they stand on the side of eliminating demonic cultivators, we should all support them with all our might."

After staying in the cave for half an hour, waiting for everyone to recover their magic power, Zhao Zhao Menglian then took out the storage magic treasures she had just obtained from the two demonic cultivators.

"This... isn't this Fellow Daoist Qingyuan's natal magic treasure, the Nine Palaces Flowing Cloud Drum? Why is it on this demon? Could it be that Fellow Daoist Qingyuan has already..."

Since they saw this natal magic treasure of the other party here, everyone could guess without thinking that his good friend must have already died and fallen into the hands of this group of demonic cultivators.

After Jin Wu Ziyuan and the other two echoed with a smile, the excited Zhang Zhang Tieyang then nodded with a smile and thanked Song Song Qingming a few more times.

When he saw a small golden drum magic treasure among these things, Zhang Zhang Tieyang on the side suddenly shouted in shock. The joy on his face also disappeared immediately, replaced by an expression of disbelief. Clearly, he recognized the original owner of this magic treasure!

According to what Zhang Zhang Tieyang said before, he also made an appointment with a companion to enter the "Heaven-Reaching Tower" this time. Looking at his excited appearance, it seemed that it must be the owner of this magic treasure.

The group took turns to spend half a day of effort and finally forcibly opened these two storage magic treasures, pouring out everything inside.

Seeing the various precious spiritual items filling their eyes and the spirit stones worth about tens of thousands, Song Song Qingming and the others also revealed looks of joy one after another, as well as various sounds of surprise.

"Hehe! These two guys are so wealthy. This is truly surprising. It seems we have also had a not-so-small harvest this time!"

Apart from Jin Wu Ziyuan's slightly heavier injuries in this battle, everyone else had only minor injuries, which would not have much impact on their own strength. After taking healing pills and recuperating for a few days, they would basically be able to recover as before.

After dealing with the corpse of this demonic cultivator, in order to prevent the demonic cultivator side from having reinforcements coming, the group, under the leadership of Zhao Zhao Menglian, quickly left this place and found a relatively hidden cave to rest for a while.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, we have just killed this demon, which can be considered as avenging your good friend. Don't be too sad, please mourn!" Seeing this scene, the group was also somewhat surprised. Zhao Zhao Menglian, as the leader of the small team, hurriedly stepped forward to comfort the other party.

The things on these two demonic cultivators, apart from the few magic treasures they had used themselves, also included many other precious spiritual items, as well as some magic treasures and magic tools that had not been refined. These were clearly looted from other cultivators after they killed them.

Magic treasures used by demonic cultivators are generally already tainted by demonic energy. Before the demonic energy in the magic treasures is completely driven out, ordinary cultivators cannot use them at will; otherwise, once they are backlashed by the demonic energy, it might cause people to slowly fall into the demonic path and become a demonic cultivator.

In order to prevent these magic treasures from flowing out and causing any accidents, Zhao Zhao Menglian took the lead to seal them all with spiritual talismans, waiting to bring them back to the sect to drive out the demonic energy before dealing with them. The other few demonic cultivator cultivation arts were directly destroyed in public!

As for the remaining magic tools, spirit stones, and other spiritual items that were not tainted by demonic energy, after Zhao Zhao Menglian discussed with everyone, they were directly distributed to them on the spot according to their contributions.

In this battle, because Song Song Qingming broke the other party's great formation and reversed the situation, his contribution was indeed not small, and he was recognized by everyone. He not only received more than six thousand spirit stones but also obtained a top-quality low-grade flying sword magic treasure, as well as several second-tier spiritual items of lower value.

Although Song Song Qingming had also consumed a precious third-tier low-quality defensive spiritual talisman to rescue Zhang Zhang Tieyang in the previous battle, now that he had obtained so many things, it had long since compensated for Song Song Qingming's consumption in the previous battle. He was also very satisfied with this in his heart.

"Fellow Daoist Song, you also consumed a high-tier spiritual talisman to save me before. Please accept these spirit stones as a token of my appreciation. If you think highly of me, please don't decline. From now on, the two of us can be considered life-and-death friends!"

"Then I will thank Fellow Daoist Zhang!" Seeing Zhang Zhang Tieyang handing over a few dozen mid-grade spirit stones again, Song Song Qingming thought for a moment and did not decline politely with him, still generously accepting them.

When Zhang Zhang Tieyang joined the team before, everyone's attitude and thoughts toward him were very clear in his own heart. Zhang Zhang Tieyang fought desperately against the enemy in front of everyone several times, also to win the trust of everyone and close the distance with Song Song Qingming and the others.

However, after all, he had only joined the team for less than half a day. Wanting to gain everyone's trust so quickly was certainly somewhat impossible.

Facing the fierce attack of that Golden Core demonic cultivator's magic treasure just now, if he had been hit head-on, Zhang Zhang Tieyang would inevitably have been seriously injured even if he did not die. At that time, Zhang Zhang Tieyang indeed felt a few points of despair in his heart.

He also did not expect that Song Song Qingming, in order to rescue him, a companion he had just met and had an ordinary relationship with, would be willing to decisively use a precious third-tier defensive spiritual talisman on his body.

If this were Jin Wu Ziyuan and the others, I'm afraid that even if the other party saw Zhang Zhang Tieyang die, they would not use such a life-saving trump card on him. This point was also what Zhang Zhang Tieyang was particularly moved by regarding Song Song Qingming afterward.

Regardless of what Zhang Zhang Tieyang thought in his heart, Song Song Qingming's choice to save him at that time was indeed more from the perspective of the overall situation. After all, when everyone was fighting against the demonic cultivators together, in a dangerous situation with a common enemy, Song Song Qingming naturally would not treat Zhang Zhang Tieyang as an outsider.

Although a third-tier low-quality defensive spiritual talisman is indeed a precious spiritual item, Song Song Qingming had also accumulated quite a few spiritual items above the third tier over these years. Using one was not a big deal for him now.

Therefore, this third-tier spiritual talisman was not as important to Song Song Qingming as Zhang Zhang Tieyang thought in his heart. When he saw Zhang Zhang Tieyang in danger at that time, in order to take care of the overall situation and end the battle earlier, Song Song Qingming actually did not think too much and decisively took action to help him resolve the danger.

Overall, his side did not suffer much loss and also left behind two demonic cultivators of the other party, and everyone received quite a few good things. From the result, Song Song Qingming's decision at that time was still good.

As for Zhang Zhang Tieyang's gratitude afterward and the spirit stones he took out, they were an unexpected surprise within reason for Song Song Qingming.

"Now there are still quite a few experts active outside, and Junior Brother Jin also needs some time to recuperate. I think it's better to rest here for a day and set off tomorrow to find spiritual items in other places!"

After experiencing the life-and-death battle with the demonic cultivators just now, everyone had a new understanding of the dangerous situation in the "Heaven-Reaching Tower." Hearing Zhao Zhao Menglian's steady suggestion, they all nodded in agreement. Even Jin Wu Ziyuan, who was always somewhat impatient, had no other opinions this time.

——

Half a day later, in a dense forest near a teleportation array on the third level of the "Heaven-Reaching Tower," a mysterious person wrapped in a black robe came here cautiously. After observing the surroundings carefully, he saw the three figures standing in front and immediately walked over with joy.

"Master!"

After bowing respectfully to the young man with his hands behind his back in the middle of the three, the black-robed man immediately retreated to the side respectfully.

The young man turned his head, revealing a face full of frost, and asked, "How come you are the only one who came? Didn't they already rendezvous with you?"

Hearing the young man's question, a trace of subtle panic flashed in the black-robed man's eyes. Subsequently, he immediately replied, "Reporting to Master, we encountered a group of people below and ended up failing, and later we got separated from the few junior brothers!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 561 =====