Chapter 121

Jiang Yu was the first to withdraw her hand; she knew the cultivation world's rules— for such public-area secret realm yields, whoever arrives first can take first.

But only a portion may be taken; the bulk is to be jointly divided among all sects that find this place— the so‑called 'those who see get a share.'

Otherwise, if you hog it this time, next time others who get this chance will cast you out; cultivation isn't just training—it also involves human relations and worldly affairs.

In a moment, Sui Lv Zhenjun and Xue Qi Zhenjun reached an agreement; the collapsed spirit stone mine will now be jointly mined by the Grand Void, Falling Moon, Profound Heaven, Spirit Ruins sects and the Great Enlightenment Temple that have appeared here.

The two of them set up a spell formation on the spot, left people to guard it, then after patrolling a hundred li and seeing nothing abnormal, each took their disciples and left.

The Great Enlightenment Temple— it's basically a free win.

And when Jiang Yu saw Xia Shijie and the others, they had already gathered the rescued children together, preparing to have the several sects divide them up for taking on disciples.

As for those adult Qi Refining cultivators, if they followed along and committed evil deeds killing children, their cultivation will be stripped outright and handed over to the several sects for joint disposal.

Jiang Yu called the few people to one place, slapped her storage bag, and intended to divide the spirit stones she had just netted among the four.

Xia Bing and the others naturally refused, saying, 'What you mined is yours.'

But Sui Lv Zhenjun spoke up: 'Take it and keep it; earlier I wasn't trying to conceal my movements, so you four don't need to hide far away.'

Xia Bing and the four exchanged glances, obeyed the order to accept these spirit stones, and assigned one person to guard the spirit mine while the others continued their original mission.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yu was taken away by Sui Lv Zhenjun; after walking not long, she scanned the villages they passed and found no sign of the blast affecting them.

Only some ordinary people, thinking it was an earthquake, fled to the wilderness and were discussing the thunder and ground movement along the Bichun River bank.

Thus she sent a voice transmission to her master, pausing briefly to check if her cousin's family was safe: 'Master, my cousin lives nearby.'

But now many cultivators have appeared, so it's inconvenient for me to look for him, and I cannot at the moment exhume my parents' ashes.

So I wanted to ask how long the spirit stone mine will be mined, and whether Master could tonight take my cousin to pay respects at the grave, then erase any memory of my appearance.

'Afraid of causing him trouble?' Sui Lv Zhenjun didn't just stop his escape light; he also made the two of them invisible and drew close to the village below.

'Mm, the person who seized my elder brother's body has, over the past few years, helped his master organize loose cultivators to hunt for spirit children, in order to extract the heart‑blood of young cultivators to heal his master's wounds.'

'That Nan Su Zhenren is a demonic cultivator; once he learns that I exposed his evil deeds, he may not be able to kill me right away, but he could harm my relatives.' The reason for abducting spirit‑root children is what Jiang Yu learned from a jade slip of a Qian‑surname cultivator.

Sui Lv Zhenjun gave a slight nod, and together they went to Shen Dafu's in‑laws' home; waiting until late night when all was quiet, he went to bring the person out.

Shen Dafu blinked open his eyes in a daze, and the first thing he saw was his female cousin smiling at him; he jolted awake, then being carried aloft turned into fright.

Fortunately Jiang Yu was beside him soothing him, but when it came time to exhume the ashes he couldn't help asking, 'Are you taking them back to our hometown? When will your elder brother be able to return?'

'When the chance comes, I'll take a look, cousin—I'll send you home.' As she spoke, Jiang Yu lightly tapped his forehead, and he promptly fainted.

The invisible Sui Lv Zhenjun revealed himself; he didn't just erase memories, but also searched Shen Dafu's in‑laws' household to see if anyone else knew Jiang Yu.

The search result was that Shen Dafu and his wife kept their mouths shut—no one had told anyone, and their two‑year‑old child could be disregarded.

But Sui Lv Zhenjun didn't erase the memory; he altered Shen Dafu's memory so that he thought his nephew and niece lived in a neighboring country and had once come to visit relatives.

This gave Jiang Yu a sum of silver left for her cousin, laying the foundation.

'In the future, when their children are ten or older, you may come again to visit relatives; if the child has spirit roots, bring them back to the sect.' After seeing the person off, Sui Lv Zhenjun noticed his little disciple still gazing at the distant village and offered a few words of comfort.

Sigh, when he used to teach his eldest and second disciples, he had rarely been this gentle.

Jiang Yu slowly withdrew her gaze, 'Master, the flood caused by cultivators treasure‑hunting killed many people.'

'Fortunately, the explosion at the riverside secret realm this time did not affect ordinary people.'

Sui Lv Zhenjun raised his brows: 'Hmm? Do you have any ideas?'

'The spirit mine has already burst open; extraction will proceed very quickly, and moreover, those ordered to come mine here later will have supervisors who forbid harming ordinary people.'

Jiang Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief—having such a rule is excellent— 'Master, I thought of posting a mission on the black market: five million spirit stones to buy Nan Su's life; can that be done?'

She knew that even if the Daoist sect discovered Nan Su's misdeeds, they would only denounce him; no one actually goes to the Hehuan Sect to seize him and execute justice.

The other party is a demonic cultivator who deceives people into cultivating to take their heart‑blood; in their eyes it's not considered wrong at all.

'Enough. Don't you plan to, after forming your golden core, personally go and take revenge on him?' Sui Lv Zhenjun had taken her on as a nominal disciple initially just to uphold the sect's reputation.

But now, the disciple brings the sect enormous benefits, and he values her more and more.

'As long as he dies, it doesn't matter whose hand does it.' Jiang Yu had no obsession with personally avenging him; she only wanted him dead soon, body and spirit annihilated.

'The disciple wishes to, before the cave heaven opens, close herself off for a few more years.'

'As quickly as possible advance to mid‑Foundation Establishment.' Then return to early Foundation Establishment to complete the first dispersal of cultivation.

All along the way, Sui Lv Zhenjun carefully observed her; this child did not show too much sorrow in front of him.

But when her parents' ashes were again reduced to ash with spiritual fire, Jiang Yu's tears slipped down silently.

At this point, Sui Lv Zhenjun, instead of knowing how to console, simply stared at his little disciple, buried the ashes in a remote mountain of Jiang State, clasped the incense burner that nurtured his elder brother's soul, and knelt motionless at the grave for three days before finally speaking.

'Jiang Yu, Master will take you to participate in the black‑market auction of the Taiyi Sect; there's soul‑nurturing wood we'll snap up right away.'

'Aren't you going to send the fish plaques anymore? If Elder Hu happens to discover them, that wouldn't be good.' Jiang Yu thought this was currently the most important.

Sui Lv Zhenjun patted her head, 'The auction won't start until a specific date; as your teacher I can send you to temporarily reside at the Taiyi Sect.'

'I'm sure your Senior Sister Wan will be very happy to see you.'

'Mm, I'll follow Master's instructions.' Jiang Yu handed over her identity jade tablet to Master, asking him to help exchange her merit points for spirit stones.

Sui Lv Zhenjun refused, 'Exchanging merit points for spirit stones isn't worthwhile; Master has spirit stones.'

'Rest assured, I'll lend it to you without interest.'

If he didn't say it was a loan, Jiang Yu would certainly refuse; this child is quite stubborn in certain aspects.

Since it was a loan, Jiang Yu didn't say anything more; a few days later, upon entering the territory of the Taiyi Sect, she passed several market towns and heard most often about the taiji fish plaques.

Moreover, the fact that Qin Zhenjun's junior disciple Qin Zhuo from the Profound Heaven Sect also received a fish plaque was likewise transmitted back to the cultivation world.

Furthermore, the sudden appearance of the spirit stone mine also sparked a round of discussion.

By comparison, regarding spirit‑root children among ordinary people who were deceived by demonic cultivators into cultivating and then having their blood drained to death, not even a ripple was made.

Jiang Yu couldn't help but sigh inwardly, 'Master, let's first post the mission, then go to the Taiyi Sect.'

No one will give her justice; she will go and take it herself.