Chapter 280: Loot (110k Update, Requesting Monthly Votes)

In the instant two brilliant golden starlights appeared, Dong Zhao's expression changed, while Liu Qingzhu, Tang Hui, and Han Qing stared in utter astonishment, clearly unaware of what they were seeing.

In the next instant, Xu Jin's soul force, mixed with stellar power, reached out and seized the two brilliant golden starlights before they could escape, tossing them into the Numinous Space.

"Deal with this after the battle—it's a valuable treasure."

Fearing his teachers might misunderstand, Xu Jin shouted out.

In the next moment, Xu Jin and Headmaster Dong Zhao simultaneously lunged at the wounded sixth-rank eighth-layer Golden Snake Clan Elder who was trying to flee; Xu Jin's soul force slammed into him, while Dong Zhao's Star-Binding Ring struck—after a brief coordination, they instantly slew him.

At this point, within the entire Jinshan City, no sixth-rank experts remained; more than half of the fifth-rank experts had also been slain.

The remaining battles became simple.

With the death of the Golden Snake King, the Golden Snake Clan's warriors lost their courage; some fled outright.

Others charged forward in a frenzy.

But by now, it was meaningless.

Xu Jin, Dong Zhao, Liu Qingzhu, and the other two had developed combat synergy.

All fifth-rank late-stage opponents were handled by Xu Jin and Dong Zhao; the third- and mid-stage fifth-rank and fourth-rank enemies were dealt with by the other three.

The cleanup was astonishingly swift.

After fifteen minutes, all foreign experts within the inner city of Jinshan City had been slaughtered.

"Take turns recovering strength—the rest of you get to work immediately; this is valuable material," Dong Zhao said, pointing to the Golden Snake King's corpse.

Xu Jin was startled.

"The Golden Snake Clan has extraordinary defense, and their golden snake scales are an extremely precious material for crafting defensive star instruments."

Put simply, even if you just sewed together the scales and hide of this sixth-rank ninth-layer Golden Snake King, it would form a fifth-rank defensive star instrument; if entrusted to a master armorer, it could be forged into a top-tier sixth-rank defensive star instrument.

This thing is a treasure.

Once crafted and activated with stellar power, it can withstand a full-force strike from a sixth-rank ninth-layer peak expert without damage.

Even a seventh-rank expert's attack could be endured."

After a pause, Dong Zhao added, "Also strip the hides and scales of all other sixth-rank Golden Snake Clan members—bring them back, and they can be used to craft sixth-rank mid-tier defensive star instruments."

Judging by this, we'll get at least a dozen sets!"

"We've hit the jackpot!"

"And the scales and hides of the fifth-rank Golden Snake Clan members are treasures too," Liu Qingzhu said.

"Once crafted, they grant overwhelming advantage in fifth-rank versus fifth-rank combat—equivalent to gaining an extra life."

"Strip them! These can yield over a hundred sets of fifth-rank defensive star instruments—our Chen Guo's fifth-rank combat strength will double," Tang Hui declared.

As they spoke, Dong Zhao and the other three each swallowed an elixir to recover, then personally took up sharp blades to peel off the Golden Snake Clan's scales and hides.

There were too many to carry; the Numinous Space had limited capacity, so they had to strip them to bring them back.

"Headmaster, I'll interrogate the prisoners first."

Xu Jin found a quiet spot, stared at the blood-god emissary He Shen, who glared at him with hatred, slapped him hard enough to make his eyes spin, then activated the Dream of Warmth, pulling He Shen into the dream to begin questioning.

He extracted a wealth of information, which Xu Jin directly recorded into the Jade Tablet for everyone to view.

This interrogation lasted a long time—fully thirty minutes.

After thirty minutes, the Dream of Warmth interrogation ended.

As he always had before, Xu Jin simply slapped his palm down, shattering He Shen's skull—he was useless now.

Keeping him alive would only bring trouble.

But the instant He Shen's skull shattered, a speck of bloodlight suddenly coalesced from the bursting head.

Xu Jin was stunned, instinctively assuming this was the so-called Blood-Drop Divine Mark.

Could a sixth-rank blood-god emissary even possess a Blood-Drop Divine Mark?

Purple lightning gathered above Xu Jin's head, yet he still turned to Dong Zhao and asked, "Headmaster, can your thunder art destroy this Blood-Drop Divine Mark?"

"This isn't a Blood-Drop Divine Mark."

The moment Dong Zhao finished speaking, the coalesced bloodlight suddenly transformed into a blurred figure clad in blood-red robes.

"Daring of you—who are you, to dare kill my emissary?" A calm yet furious voice emerged from the bloodlight.

Xu Jin was taken aback.

But Headmaster Dong Zhao stepped forward. "Are you the Blood-God Son of this region?"

"Two of you? Good—I'll remember you!"

"You killed my emissary, ruined my grand plan—I swear I will not rest until you are dead!"

"I'm right here—come and get me if you dare!"

BOOM!

Purple lightning struck, instantly shattering the bloodlight into fragments.

Xu Jin didn't care, but Dong Zhao frowned slightly. "Xu Jin, after this, we'll go to Huoniu City—see if we can kill this Blood-God Son."

Hearing this, Xu Jin turned to Headmaster Dong Zhao.

"Blood-God Cultists aren't particularly terrifying."

"But the Blood-God Sons are extremely troublesome—only those who have condensed a Blood-Drop Divine Mark can become a Blood-God Son and wield divine authority within the cult."

These fellows are weak in power, yet they cannot be killed."

Once they fixate on you, they cling like a parasite."

So if you can kill them, kill them outright!"

"Remember—when you encounter a Blood-God Son, immediately seal off the area and burn every drop of his blood to eradicate him completely!" Dong Zhao said.

"I'll remember."

As they spoke, Xu Jin handed the Jade Tablet to Headmaster Dong Zhao for the others to review the intelligence just gathered, while he searched the corpses of the two blood-god emissaries.

Xu Jin had extracted a great deal of information from this emissary—he now understood the entire structure of the Blood-God Cult, and had a clear picture of it at once.

But the two most critical pieces of intelligence were these: first, the Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixir.

The Blood-God Cult's most important task within the Lingwu Star Region is refining the Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixir.

The Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixir is a spiritual pill forged from the blood of cultivators, enabling Blood-God Cultists to rapidly enhance their cultivation base.

The Blood-God Sons in the Lingwu Star Region used this method to advance from fifth-rank ninth-layer to sixth-rank ninth-layer within ten years.

But refining it is extremely complicated.

It requires a massive quantity of cultivators' corpses.

In the current world, the Blood-God Cult lacks the capacity to do this.

But within the Lingwu Star Region, they do it without restraint.

They constantly mobilize the forces of the Huoniu and Golden Snake Clans to wage relentless campaigns and raids against the other two clans, all to gather blood for refining the Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixir.

And they're aiming for a seventh-rank Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixir.

A seventh-rank Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixir can raise the breakthrough probability of a sixth-rank ninth-layer peak expert by over thirty percent.

But refining a seventh-rank Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixir demands extreme conditions: it requires the blood of a hundred sixth-rank cultivators, a thousand fifth-rank cultivators, and ten thousand fourth-rank cultivators all refined together to produce a single pill.

This demand is enormous.

Even killing every sixth-rank expert in the Lingwu Star Region wouldn't be enough.

It requires time.

The Blood-God Son's plan is to collect for thirty years, then finally refine one seventh-rank Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixir, leave the Lingwu Star Region, and break through to seventh-rank in one go.

So far, the plan has only progressed ten years. Just recently, Chen Guo's elite forces invaded the Lingwu Star Region, so the Blood-God Son ordered the Huoniu and Golden Snake Clans to strike from all sides, slaughtering fourth-, fifth-, and even sixth-rank cultivators of the other two clans to collect their blood, first refining lower-rank Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixirs, then combining them into the seventh-rank version.

During this process, even if Huoniu or Golden Snake Clan experts die in battle, their corpses are secretly refined into fourth-, fifth-, or even sixth-rank Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixirs by the blood-god emissaries and blood-robed vajras under the pretense of "returning to the Blood God."

Until now, every month, all refined Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixirs were delivered to the Blood-God Son for preliminary fusion—also for safety.

But in recent days, the battles have been fierce, yielding great harvests.

The Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixirs refined by these blood-robed vajras and blood-god emissaries are currently in the possession of these two emissaries and have not yet been delivered to the Blood-God Son.

Xu Jin guessed this was why the Blood-God Son was so furious.

Not counting the other two clans, dozens of sixth- and fifth-rank Huoniu and Golden Snake Clan experts have died in these recent battles.

There are seven fifth-rank Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixirs and one sixth-rank Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixir.

According to the interrogation, each fifth-rank Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixir requires at least ten fifth-rank cultivator corpses, sometimes twelve or thirteen.

If fifth-rank corpses are insufficient, fourth-rank ones can be substituted, but at least two fifth-rank corpses must serve as the core, with over a hundred fourth-rank corpses used to refine a single fifth-rank Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixir.

The same applies to sixth-rank Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixirs.

Either use ten sixth-rank cultivator corpses, or use one or two sixth-rank corpses as the core, with about a hundred fifth-rank corpses to refine it.

Moreover, the Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixirs can be upgraded.

Ten fifth-rank Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixirs plus one sixth-rank cultivator corpse can be refined into a sixth-rank Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixir.

Even without a sixth-rank corpse, more fifth-rank Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixirs can be combined to upgrade to sixth-rank.

The Blood-God Son's method for refining the seventh-rank Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixir follows this path.

The second critical piece of intelligence concerns the Present-World Emissaries.

The Blood-God Son ordered them to escort emissaries from the Present World, and provided approximate locations—five in total.

"Headmaster, these are the Ten-Thousand-Spirits Blood Elixirs on them: seven fifth-rank, one sixth-rank. We also found thirteen fourth-rank ones—they hadn't had time to refine them into fifth-rank."

"Plus over a hundred fifth-rank star jade tablets, and a few sixth-rank star jade tablets," Xu Jin placed all the looted items together.

During these thirty minutes, Dong Zhao and the others had also stripped the scales and hides from nearly a hundred Golden Snake Clan expert corpses and piled them up.

But Xu Jin spoke first, recounting the situation of the two golden-element celestial star wills.

When he finished, everyone—including Dong Zhao—stared with gleaming eyes.

This is a treasure.

Absolutely a treasure.

But the next instant, Dong Zhao looked at everyone and said, "In this battle, Xu Jin contributed the most and took the greatest risks; in a sense, Xu Jin was the main force."

"Therefore, these two Golden System Celestial Star Will fragments belong to Xu Jin. Do you have any objections?"

"I agree," Liu Qingzhu was the first to endorse.

Tang Hui and Han Qing followed with immediate agreement.

Xu Jin had originally thought that if they were eager, he could yield it—but someone had to obtain the Golden Snake Heart, for it granted two-tenths of the Celestial Authority, which would play a decisive role in the coming great war.

But since the Mountain Master and others had spoken, the spoils were now Xu Jin's.

"Although this Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Elixir is produced by the Blood God Sect, the elixirs they refine can still be used by us."

Especially since this Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Elixir excels at helping us break through bottlenecks.

"I won't refuse then—I'll take one of these sixth-rank Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Elixirs first; the rest, you choose."

Quickly, the pile of spoils was distributed.

Liu Qingzhu, Han Qing, and Tang Hui each took two fifth-rank Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Elixirs and two fourth-rank Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Elixirs; then Dong Zhao took one fifth-rank Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Elixir.

As for the remaining seven fourth-rank Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Elixirs, Dong Zhao pushed them all before Xu Jin: "You've just broken through to the fourth rank; these should help you rapidly increase your cultivation base. You can take them later when you have time."

Xu Jin made no protest and accepted them on the spot.

"Also, the Golden Snake scales and hides recovered, which produced sixth-rank defensive Star Instruments, must include one for Xu Jin; each of us should also receive one sixth-rank defensive Star Instrument."

"In addition, each person gets one fifth-rank defensive Star Instrument; the rest must be surrendered to the State Dao Academy. Any objections?" Dong Zhao distributed.

Such a distribution was perfect—naturally, no one objected.

Fifteen minutes later, Xu Jin's group opened the treasury of the Golden Snake King City.

Upon opening it, they were stunned.

The mountains of Star Jade Gui, of course, needed no mention.

But there was one complete, top-grade sixth-rank scale-and-skin molt.

Three each of mid-grade and low-grade sixth-rank molts as well.

It was the Golden Snake clan's habit: every time a strong one broke through a major rank, they molted.

They knew these were treasures—some they used, others they preserved.

This made Xu Jin's group rich beyond measure.

The Mountain Master Dong Zhao's Numinous Space was already full; in the end, only Xu Jin could take them—he filled more than half of his own Numinous Space.

Even the Star Jade Gui could only be taken in fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-rank quantities.

According to the spoils distribution rules, the combatants first took two-tenths—including Shen Wei's share—the rest had to be brought back and surrendered to the state.

Xu Jin received over two thousand fourth-rank Star Jade Gui, over a hundred fifth-rank Star Jade Gui, and two sixth-rank Star Jade Gui.

The fourth-rank Star Jade Gui were immediately converted into Starlight.

Unfortunately, the tens of thousands of third-rank Star Jade Gui could not be carried by others, and Xu Jin could not directly absorb them into the Can Dou Platform for conversion.

Seeing them, Xu Jin ached in his heart.

Other items could be exposed, since the major plan had already begun execution.

But the Can Dou Platform—Xu Jin absolutely could not expose it.

That was a bottom line.

Xu Jin had already decided: later, when he had a chance, he would secretly return and retrieve it.

"These third-rank Star Jade Gui, we can't take them—but we can't leave them for the enemy either. Destroy them!"

The next instant, as Dong Zhao launched a streak of Starlight, it detonated the tens of thousands of third-rank Star Jade Gui.

Instantly, a chain reaction of explosions erupted.

Nearly half the inner city of the Golden Snake Royal Clan was flattened.

Afterwards, one person remained on guard; the rest, under Xu Jin's Wen Meng's assistance, began rapid recovery, while Xu Jin directly began refining the two Golden Snake Hearts.

Refining Celestial Star Will was something Xu Jin was already an expert at—thoroughly familiar.

In less than two quarters of an hour, the refinement was complete.

The Central Star Palace gained two Golden Snake Hearts of the Golden System, and Xu Jin immediately gained control over two-tenths of the Celestial Authority in the Fifth-Rank Spirit Weapon Star Region.

Instantly, eleven highly hostile auras appeared in Xu Jin's perception.

Six of these auras were clustered together—their location must be the Blood God Sons and others from the Fire Ox King City.

The other five auras were scattered.

Xu Jin instantly understood: these must be the strong ones dispatched by the Present World's Sun Yang Star Temple to support Liu Meng.

With two-tenths of the Celestial Authority, his spatial awareness wasn't precise—but the directional pull was clear.

Xu Jin knew: the counter-hunt was beginning.

(End of Chapter)