Chapter 93: Spoils of War

"Clang!"

The clash of metal sounded like a rolling thunderclap, piercing enough to make one's ears tremble and eyes ache.

Chen Mo swung his Steel Spear, knocking away the twin hammers and thrusting straight at Feng Wu's heart.

After this exchange, he could conclude that this man's strength was still inferior to his own.

Looking at the opponent's current state, it was certain that he had used some kind of Secret Technique to boost his strength for a short time.

In this state, he could not last long.

Seeing that Chen Mo could take his blow head-on, a flash of panic was evident in Feng Wu's eyes, and he swung his twin hammers wildly to protect his body.

Chen Mo thrust his long spear several times, and the man was already struggling to defend, his internal Qi and Blood violently churning.

"Clang!" He raised his twin hammers again, wanting to strike with all his might.

But Chen Mo had already closed in, striking his chest with a palm, his Inner Qi erupting instantly and shattering the iron armor on his chest.

Although this blow did not kill him outright, it caused the Qi and Blood within his body to collapse.

This man had originally used a Secret Technique to forcibly raise his strength; under this blow, his Blood Qi collapsed, and his aura faded at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Chen Mo twisted his body and thrust his spear straight through his chest, piercing through the Daoist behind him as well.

"Who else!" Chen Mo shouted, his voice like a fierce tiger roaring and shaking the forest.

He lifted the corpse with his long spear and looked toward the chaotic troops in the rear.

While he was fighting this man, two more groups of chaotic troops had arrived, wanting to break through from here.

Most of the chaotic troops saw this situation, and their hearts were already in a panic; their already unformed ranks scattered even further.

They had originally fled here in a panic, and now seeing a powerhouse of their sect killed on the spot by Chen Mo, they already showed signs of defeat even before fighting.

"Kill!" Chen Mo took off the Short Blade he carried, cut off the heads of Feng Wu and the other Daoist, and charged out, leading by example.

There was no need for more words; the numerous chaotic troops fled in all directions, and Chen Mo went on another killing spree, beheading an unknown number.

In fact, a considerable portion of the chaotic troops were not killed by them, but trampled to death by each other.

However, as long as the heads were found, it would still count as their military merit.

There were others to handle the collection of heads and the disarming and sorting of surrendered soldiers.

Chen Mo walked to the corpse he had discarded earlier and began to carefully examine the old Daoist's body.

That this old Daoist could be specifically carried on the back by a powerhouse showed that his identity was definitely not ordinary.

After searching carefully for a while, there was indeed a package in the old Daoist's Huai, and other than that, there was nothing else on him, not even a single Talisman.

And on Feng Wu, Chen Mo also found a small personal package.

Carrying these two packages, he headed straight for the rear tent.

According to the laws of the Imperial Court, Chen Mo and his men could only keep fifty percent of the spoils of war captured in battle.

But this also depended on the situation; for this kind of close-quarters fighting, no matter how much was captured, it belonged to the soldiers who did the fighting, because the Imperial Court had no way to account for it in this matter.

Only when they attacked into Xingluo Mountain and took inventory of the assets of the Dutian Dao Sect would half of what Chen Mo and his men captured have to be handed over to the Imperial Court.

Returning to the tent, Chen Mo untied the packages.

There were quite a few Talismans in the old Daoist's package; he could not use these things himself, but he could sell them to other Qi Refiners.

After the trip to Xiaqi Valley, he finally had a suitable place to dispose of the things he could not use himself.

In addition, there were two Origin True Stones and one Blood Essence Stone, as well as three palm-sized Mirage Spirits with a peculiar appearance; they were pure white and soft all over, feeling cold and smooth to the touch, very similar to the Vinegar Treasure in the old vinegar jar.

The reason Chen Mo could be sure these were Mirage Spirits was that he tasted a tiny bit and confirmed there was no problem; they were indeed Mirage Spirits, containing quite a bit of Qi and Blood power inside.

The other package seemed much poorer: a stack of small-denomination banknotes, some loose gold and silver, and two Blood Essence Stones, with nothing else.

However, this harvest was also quite substantial; Chen Mo picked up a Mirage Spirit that looked like a Vinegar Treasure and swallowed a piece, head tilted back.

This Mirage Spirit had no taste and was swallowed directly into his belly, quickly turning into Qi and Blood power.

The Transformation Pearl operated, instantly absorbing all this power in a flash.

Chen Mo swallowed another piece of Mirage Spirit, then immediately picked up a Blood Essence Stone to refine it.

Sufficient Qi and Blood surged into his body, and the Transformation Pearl absorbed it rapidly, storing it inside to prepare for his next Mortal Transformation.

In just an instant, the Qi and Blood accumulated to fullness, allowing him to initiate the next Mortal Transformation.

However, the current situation was unstable, and he could not undergo the transformation immediately.

After organizing the things in the packages and using up the remaining Mirage Spirits and Blood Essence Stones, Chen Mo stood up and walked out of the tent.

The time was nearing noon, and the mountains had once again fallen silent, with only the bloody scent drifting with the Wind proving that there had been battles here.

"Order the brothers to set up pots and cook, and have everyone take turns eating and resting," Chen Mo ordered.

Personal Soldiers who received the order immediately went to pass on the message.

"Boom—!" A sound came from within the mountains, like waves roaring through the forest.

Chen Mo operated his Blood Qi Eye and looked carefully; boundless smoke and dust had already splashed up there.

"If you kill me, don't think you'll live either!" A voice that could be called terrifying and evil came over.

This voice was extremely strong and powerful; even though they were separated by an unknown distance, Chen Mo still heard it clearly.

As the voice fell, he suddenly felt the mountains shaking, and the entire mountain range seemed to be coming alive before his eyes.

"Whoosh!" From where the sound came, a person turned into a stream of light and flew outward at high speed.

That person was wearing an official robe; he was likely the Foundation Establishment powerhouse from the Surveillance Division.

The Dharma Artifact under his feet was quite special, a piece of yellow ox hide three feet square; he was extremely fast and was fleeing outward with all his might.

Smoke and dust filled the sky, refusing to dissipate for a long time.

Even the well-trained soldiers could not help but stare blankly when they saw this scene.

With their imagination, they really dared not think about what was happening in the mountains.

"What are you all staring at! Everyone get back to cooking, don't worry about things you shouldn't," Chen Mo commanded loudly, bringing everyone back to their senses.

Immediately, Mo Hu and Xu Dabao exchanged a glance and walked back into the rear tent.

"There must have been a major change within Xingluo Mountain. The situation is certainly unclear now, so I must go and take a look," Chen Mo said, looking at the two with a serious expression.

He didn't care about the others, but his foster father was still inside, so he had to go and take a look no matter what to ensure he was alright.

"Fine, you must be careful. With us two in the camp, if things really get bad, we will retreat first," Mo Hu nodded and agreed immediately; having fought to this point, they could be considered to have achieved remarkable military merit.

Even if they retreated from here on, they had enough credit to show for it.

Moreover, anyone with a discerning eye could see that this encirclement campaign was nearing its end, and it was unlikely for more rebel troops to emerge from the mountain forests.

After giving instructions to the two, Chen Mo hurried toward the mountains; the mountain paths were winding, narrow, and difficult to traverse.

However, this was not a problem for him; even wearing nearly two hundred catties of heavy armor and holding dozens of catties of weaponry, he still walked as if on flat ground, without the slightest change in his pace.

There were still some scattered Dutian Dao youths in the mountains, but upon seeing Chen Mo, every one of them fled in a panic, and no one dared to obstruct him.

Among the continuous mountain ranges, one peak was already torn apart, as if it had encountered an earthquake, and had completely collapsed.

Seeing this, Chen Mo quickened his pace and sped toward that location.

The mountain range collapsed, but it seemed to have triggered the earth veins, opening an underground river that caused countless clear water to gush upward, reaching as high as over ten zhang.

Chen Mo focused his vision and searched continuously; there were clear signs of a battle here earlier, and over a dozen corpses were still floating on the gushing underground river, but they were all members of the Dutian Sect.

Seeing a familiar figure appear, Chen Mo rushed over.

"Foster father, are you alright?"

Sun Shouren was sitting on a large rock at this moment, panting heavily; the journey of fighting had also been a significant drain on his strength.

Seeing Chen Mo arrive, his expression was slightly surprised, "It's so dangerous here, why did you come?"

"Worried that something might have happened to you, I hurried over to check. Everything is fine on our side; most of the Dutian Dao rebels should have been wiped out."

Chen Mo saw that his voice was still full of vigor, so he finally relaxed and reported the situation outside to him.

"I'm fine. Can you swim? Hurry up and take off your armor, and fish out all these corpses.

I'll tell you about the situation here later; you should fish out the corpses first."

Sun Shouren didn't care about the outside situation, but instead urged Chen Mo to take off his armor and fish out the corpses first.

"Ah!" Chen Mo was stunned, unable to understand.

The corpses in the water weren't Imperial Court officials, so why be in such a hurry to fish them out? It would be the same if they fished them out later.

"Don't just stand there, get moving. These people we just fought were all elders and protectors of the Dutian Dao, and they were always looking for a chance to escape, so they carried their gold, silver, valuables, pills, and Mirage Spirits on them.

You go fish them out first; the more you fish out, the more we'll get to split later," Sun Shouren urged hurriedly when he saw him dazed.

Right now, it was impossible to determine exactly who killed which of these corpses.

Following the old rules of the army, whoever finds them first gets forty percent, the commanding general gets forty percent, and the remaining twenty percent is split equally among the others.

Therefore, fishing out one more corpse now meant one more share of the harvest.

Chen Mo reacted quickly and hurriedly took off his armor.

With his strength, he didn't need to worry about the "armor-shedding wind," but the armor was not easy to take off, so he only removed his helmet and the heaviest chest and leg armor before hurriedly jumping into the gushing water.

He could swim, though not particularly well, but that was not a big problem; his strength was sufficient, and his physical constitution was tough enough.

As long as he treaded water fast enough, there wasn't much difference from walking on flat ground, he just needed to move his legs a few more times.

He didn't need to slowly transport the corpses he fished out back to the shore; he would just throw them with force, and Sun Shouren, standing on high ground, would catch the corpses first.

Chen Mo's speed was extremely fast; in just a short quarter of an hour or so, he had already fished out a full thirteen corpses.

Only then did Sun Shouren beckon him to come ashore.

"There are only thirty or forty corpses here; we've fished out enough, we can't take them all."

It was a matter of sharing the wealth; there were only so many corpses in total, so it was fine for him to fish out a few more.

But if he fished out too many, the others would inevitably feel unhappy, which wouldn't be right.

"That Dao Lord of the Dutian Dao earlier invoked the Heaven and Earth Power, wanting to perish together with us. But with the Imperial Court taking action, how could they give him that chance?

However, there was an Array he had set up nearby, and he still destroyed the feng shui of this place, causing the power of the Mirage Sea to descend briefly.

Because of that, those two Foundation Establishment great cultivators had to flee in a hurry; although they had secret treasures on them to avoid being dragged into the Mirage Sea, they couldn't withstand the power of the Mirage Sea that had descended.

Even we had to stay away for a while to avoid being dragged into the Mirage Sea."

Seeing Chen Mo walk ashore, Sun Shouren explained to him leisurely.

Cultivators with secret treasures could indeed walk outside of a Dongtian Fudi for a short time.

But there was a limit to how much the secret treasures could resist the power of the Mirage Sea; once that limit was exceeded, having the secret treasures was useless.

Therefore, the moment the power of the Mirage Sea descended, the two Foundation Establishment cultivators fled at the fastest speed, and they had to go very far to escape the influence.

And warriors like Sun Shouren didn't need to go that far; their perception of the Heaven and Earth Power was far inferior to that of Foundation Establishment cultivators.

As long as they escaped a little distance away, they could be exempted from the influence.

"However, after that Dutian Dao Lord caused such a stir, it's really hard to say how much of this Dongtian Fudi will remain unaffected by the Mirage Sea."

Sun Shouren looked at the distant mountains and sighed.

"Looking at it this way, we still have to arrange for people to walk around in these mountains tonight and beat the Copper Gong," Chen Mo added.

Most of the rebel troops in the mountains had been cleared out, but there were still many people hiding and lying in wait.

The mountains were high and the roads were dangerous; it wasn't easy to find everyone.

If they weren't found, these people would attract the Mirage Sea at night.

It wouldn't matter if they died, but the fear was that they would attract a continuous stretch of the Mirage Sea to descend here, which would be difficult to handle.

"The Imperial Court should have prepared for this, we don't need to worry too much," Sun Shouren laughed.

The Imperial Court always acted with a "better to have too many than too few" mentality; they should have prepared for this situation.

Even if they hadn't, at worst they could send a powerhouse to quickly find some Copper Gongs and water clocks; it wouldn't take much time to go back and forth.

"You come with me to search all these corpses first, and let's see how much of a harvest we can get this time."

As Sun Shouren spoke, he had already set to work, beginning to search the corpses carefully.

For the sake of fighting and fleeing, the bundles on these people were tied very tightly, and each person's bundle was on their body; now it was a matter of seeing what exactly could be gained from these bundles.

There was a clerical error in the previous chapter; the weapon used by Feng Wu is a two-hundred-catty hammer, not two thousand catties.

This was my clerical error, and I am very sorry for the inconvenience to everyone.

(End of chapter)