But I can’t just let them die like this, he thought. They won’t last much longer.
It was then that he felt demonic energy pervading the mountain range, rushing toward a single point in the middle ranges of his mountain.
Great! he thought. The geomantic boa broke through!
It took no time at all for it to complete the absorption and erupt with sovereign-level power. The mountain ranged shuddered as the boa tunneled through the rocky ground. Then, the shuddering subsided. The humans didn’t notice the commotion, but the beasts did and fought with increased fervor.
Suddenly a mile of earthen spikes shot out of the mountain, impaling several dozen cultivators at once. The nearby beasts took advantage of the opening and began slaughtering the cultivators with impunity. One spike after another appeared, completely negating the humans’ advantageous combat formation.
“Come out, you silly snake,” a human with an authoritative voice shouted. He wore brown robes that flapped in the wind as he flew north of the latest spike with his flying sword and plunged down to the ground. As he dove, he withdrew a much larger sword. The earthen qi that poured into it was blinding.
“Not you again,” a feminine voice slithered. A giant wall of earth was summoned from the ground to intercept the man. His blade plunged through it, but his momentum was greatly weakened. Just as he was about to hit the ground, his eyes narrowed, and he retrieved his sword just in time to avoid a lashing tail.
The man snorted. “Don’t think you can act up with me around,” the man said.
“Oh?” the geomantic boa replied. “You think you can stop me?”
“Just try and do something,” the man said solemnly, holding his sword in front of him. He seemed like an unmovable fortress, a single soldier to guard the mountain pass.
“But I already have,” the snake said, flicking her tongue. She began attacking the confused man, but Huxian knew exactly what she was talking about.
The previous spear of cultivators had been completely cut off from their support due to the volley of spikes that had appeared earlier. A substantial portion of the human forces were decimated, and the humans were being forced to retreat. That and the landslide she had started devoured one human cultivator after another. Huxian chuckled. The cultivator who’d used the words “landslide victory” was probably puking blood by now in embarrassment.
The spear of human cultivators was now more like an arrow at the end of its flight, its momentum spent and unable to cause any further damage. The cultivators were mauled and bitten until they no longer moved.
“This isn’t over,” the man said coldly to the geomantic boa. “Retreat!”
The cultivators fled toward their camp at once. The beasts chased for a short while before also retreating. Huxian knew full well that this wasn’t the end. There were more and more new arrivals every day, one of which worried Huxian greatly.
Thinking of that man, he turned his eyes hatefully toward another camp in the mountains. It was a secluded camp with many cages. He watched on as the pale, black-cloaked man worked his vicious magic.
The man stared curiously at his next victim. This one was some kind of cross between a bear and a cat. Beasts were so amazing, and their ability to create new species as though it was nothing intrigued him.
He liked amazing things. They made the best of projects.
“Open the cage,” Guo Jia said. The burly man beside him went to work, lifting a heavy iron grate with the strength of his fleshly body. Guo Jia ducked under the small opening and entered the large cage containing the forty-foot beast. Its paws and neck were chained and anchored to the rocky ground below. “What a fantastic specimen,” he whispered, causing the other few people in his camp to shudder.
Guo Jia withdrew a black pen and began tracing a complicated sigil with black ink. Truth be told, the money he gained by taming beasts or humans wasn’t worth the time or effort. But it was an enjoyable hobby, so tame them he did. His brush painted with fluid motions, forming a complex black sigil. It was different than the slave sigil, as beasts were fundamentally different in nature. Human souls needed to be chained and restrained. With beasts, there was a much more effective method.
It didn’t take long for him to complete the sigil. He didn’t make any subsidiary master sigils. His own sigil was that of a monarch, while the recipient’s sigil was that of a subject. It burned into the beast’s forehead, and instead of penetrating its soul, it seeped into its blood. After a few breaths’ time, it shuddered in fear as it saw Guo Jia’s overwhelming pressure.
“Monarch,” the beast said, bowing. Guo Jia knew that it recognized his monarch sigil as the bloodline pressure of a true monarch. This was what beasts were weakest to. It was the foundation of their society but a fatal flaw in their organizational structure.
“Release him,” Guo Jia said. His attendants, who were used to these methods, unlatched the chains from their anchors and retrieved them. The bear-cat didn’t dare move in the presence of its monarch. Guo Jia addressed his new servant. “You will now respond to Bear-Cat One.”
“Yes, Master,” Bear-Cat One said. He left the cage shortly after and joined the other tamed beasts. They were a growing reserve force that would play an important role at a critical moment.
Guo Jia looked toward a large cloaked man standing beside him. “Xiao Heilong, how have you been?”
“Not bad,” the man replied. “Some small fry got a good movement technique and managed to give me the slip. Not a big deal.”
Guo Jia snickered. “I always find it strange how calm you are given your nature.”
“And I always find it strange that you don’t frequent brothels, given your nature,” Xiao Heilong said. “Instead you have these twisted, perverted pleasures.”
“These are my sweet dreams,” Guo Jia said. “Everyone has them. You dream of slaughter and hatred, despite your calm exterior.”
The man grunted. “Whatever. In any case, I brought you a present. Take it as a favor and help me out with that brat later.”
“A present?” Guo Jia said, excited. “For me?” He took a bag from the man. Inside was a slumbering, purple mouse. He used his incandescent force to probe it. To his surprise, it was a peak-purification demon beast.
“Deal,” he said. He took his black brush out once more and started painting.
Lei Jiang? Huxian thought, trembling.
He had been observing Guo Jia’s actions the entire time, but it was the first time he had acted on someone directly related to Huxian. Roaring, he leapt out of his cave and expanded to his forty-foot form. The pressure he emanated, the pressure of a peak-purification Godbeast, was dreadful. He had only used a small part of the herb to break through to this level, and the rest was directed toward his advancement to half-step core formation.
Huxian’s eyes were murderous as he charged forward. But to his surprise, a shadow dashed in front of him. “Stop,” Wang Jun said, materializing from the darkness.
“I won’t,” Huxian shouted. “He’s taking Lei Jiang.” He moved to bypass Wang Jun again but noticed that thick shadowy lines were currently entangling him.
“That’s the same man who enslaved Cha Ming,” Wang Jun noted.
“Then all the more reason to kill him,” Huxian snarled, struggling against the tendrils.
“You’ll die if you go there,” Wang Jun said calmly. “Another one of Cha Ming’s enemies is down there, Xiao Heilong. I also want them dead more than anything, but to do that, you need to break through. I’ll let Cha Ming know about the situation and get him to recruit some help for us. It will be expensive, but it will work out for the best. I can spare one hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones. What can you contribute?”
Huxian hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Very well. I can contribute six stalks of core-stabilization grass. They are the most expensive component for core-formation pills.”
“Good,” Wang Jun said. “Those six alone should net us the help of six half-step core-formation
cultivators. The other spirit stones should fetch us a few core-formation cultivators as a contingency and a small army of foundation-establishment experts.”
Huxian relaxed substantially. “Fine. I’ll be entering seclusion now. I assume that we still need to survive Zhou Li’s attack before we even consider eliminating that Guo Jia bastard.”
“That’s right,” Wang Jun said. “Right now, it’s a national matter. I can’t interfere. But once Zhou Li and the crown prince are gone, there will be nothing stopping us from crushing those from the Obsidian Syndicate and rescuing your pet mouse.”
“He’s not my pet,” Huxian snapped.
He’s my friend, he thought, sighing inwardly.
Ring, ring, ring.
Cha Ming had just finished recovering from his match against Lu Tianhao. He used his qi to activate Wang Jun’s symbol on the core-transmission jade. Wang Jun’s spectre and a giant Huxian appeared.
“You’ve grown quite a bit since we last spoke,” Cha Ming said, raising his eyebrow. The fox immediately shrank in size.
“You have to help me, Brother,” Huxian said.
Wang Jun raised his hand to cut him off.
“Brother Cha Ming, we’ll need your help soon,” Wang Jun said. “We’ll need you in one month. Huxian and I have amassed a small fortune, and we need you to post a mission in the Alabaster Group.”
Cha Ming hesitated. “What’s the background of the enemies they’ll be facing? I hate to be blunt, but the Alabaster Group is very selective in which missions they accept. Then they need to do background checks. Besides, it likely won’t sit well amongst many of them to fight alongside demon beasts. Beasts have a reputation of slaughtering innocent mortals.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Wang Jun replied. “We won’t be attacking anyone from the Song Kingdom directly. This is an operation that will take place after the main battle.”
“Can you elaborate?” Cha Ming asked.
“The Song Kingdom has been recruiting mercenaries from many organizations. One of these organizations is the Obsidian Syndicate,” Wang Jun said. “In fact, your old friends, Xiao Heilong and Guo Jia, are already here. Guo Jia is here taming beasts, and he tamed Huxian’s friend. That’s why he’s so incensed.”
“By taming, you mean enslaving?” Cha Ming asked, his fury mounting.
“Quite right,” Wang Jun said. “The mechanics are different, but the end result is the same.”
“There are also a bunch of weird figures down there. Xiao Heilong and that Guo Jia are only two of them,” Huxian cut in. Wang Jun was about to silence him, but Cha Ming thought of something.
“What did you see?” Cha Ming asked Huxian.
“Malevolent ochre auras, the sign of devils,” Huxian said. “And yellow auras surrounding many cultivators. These mercenaries have spilled much blood and committed many sins.”
“You also obtained the Eyes of Pure Jade?” Cha Ming asked, surprised.
“We share weal and woe, Brother,” Huxian said. “In the future, I will also share such good fortune with you.”
“Good, then it’s decided,” Cha Ming said. “Please deliver the funds to me as soon as possible and send me a list after our conversation. I know a senior partner who would be very interested in topping up the reward since devils and the Obsidian Syndicate are involved.”
The call ended, and Cha Ming swiftly made his way to Lu Tianhao’s office.
“Are you certain that devils are involved?” Lu Tianhao asked Cha Ming after reviewing the mission briefing.
“One hundred percent,” Cha Ming said. “Not only were Xiao Heilong and Guo Jia from the Obsidian Syndicate spotted, but I know for a fact that Xiao Heilong is a devil. I saw it myself, and I fought against him. So did both of your apprentices, I might add.”
“He is hardly enough of a reason for me to issue additional rewards,” Lu Tianhao replied calmly. Cha Ming knew that the man was in a high position and needed to consider the overall situation.
“The total reward offered by the Wang family is 100,000 high-grade spirit stones,” Cha Ming explained. “And the Silverwing Mountain Range offers six stalks of core-stabilizing grass. That aside, there is some information that I didn’t disclose to you previously.”
“Oh?” Lu Tianhao said, raising an eyebrow.
“When I was still in the qi-condensation realm, I had the good fortune of forming a contract of brotherhood with a talented many-tailed fox,” Cha Ming explained. “He is currently one of the sovereigns of the Silverwing Mountain Range. We share weal and woe together, if you understand my implications.”
Lu Tianhao paused for a moment before asking, “How many devils did he confirm are participating?”
“I’m glad you understand,” Cha Ming said, smiling. “He has confirmed that thirty-seven devils have already arrived at the mountain range, with more coming every day.”
Lu Tianhao tapped his fingers as he fiddled with his white hair. He was looking at the small doll on his desk. “Very well,” he said. “I will personally sponsor this mission. This is a great opportunity to kill a large number of devils. And we can take a chunk out of the Obsidian Syndicate while we’re at it. I’ll give you a final roster twenty-five days from now.”
Chapter 33: Fusion
Cha Ming opened the door to Mo Tianshen’s laboratory. He was a regular now and had a pretty good idea of when it was safe to enter. Today was a scheduled powder-pressing day, which happened concurrently with symbol experiments. Cha Ming could enter at his leisure.
“Good timing,” Mo Tianshen said from the back. As usual, he was pressing powders like a lowly apprentice alchemist. The goal wasn’t speed; it was a matter of replication and whether a dummy could perform the many of the sub-steps to save costs. “The next batch is over there, and I have a good feeling about this one. With any luck, we’ll have a ninth version that’s almost twice as good as the eighth, and at half the price to boot.
“That’s great news,” Cha Ming replied. “However, I’m afraid I’ll have to go abroad in one month’s time. I’m not sure when I’ll be back.” He noticed the older man’s expression droop. “How about I find you a bunch of low-leveled talisman artists and teach them the necessary talismans for producing this batch? I don’t believe that even senior alchemists know a good half of these symbols.”
The older man nodded. “Very well. But you need to come back and help me. By then, I’ll have a rather large stockpile for you to process.”
“Deal,” Cha Ming said. He got to work immediately, painting one pressed pellet after another. They had gotten to the point where the runes painted no longer cracked. Each pill was effective to lesser or greater extent, and the pill poisons were neutralized to a lesser or greater extent. For this batch, however, he needed to produce one thousand of each pill, as they would be used for human trials.
The day passed swiftly. While Cha Ming was busy producing the prototype pills, Mo Tianshen was busy in the back. The man was likely producing the next batch of pills required for his breakthrough.
He finished at sunset. Mo Tianshen walked out from the back at the same time with a look of exhaustion on his face. “You’ll kill me with these pills of yours,” the man grumbled, handing two large bottles and two small ones to Cha Ming.
“These are…?” Cha Ming asked.
“Can’t you read labels?” he said gruffly. “You said you’d be gone for a long time, so I made you both the lesser-grade and mid-grade pills.” Cha Ming’s heart warmed when he heard this. “You need to wait until your cultivation stabilizes before using the next batch. Take them the same way as before. And by the way, your pills are killing me. They’re bleeding me dry. I’ll need you to hunt for some materials for the next batch. I’ll need a Nine-Petaled Creation Lotus, a Crimson Annihilation Fruit….” The list grew, and Cha Ming took note of each ingredient.
The alchemist waved his hand, and dozens of jade boxes appeared. So did a jade sickle. “Use the jade sickle to pick them and store them inside these jade
boxes. Only pure jade can fight the world’s corruption and impurities after harvesting, allowing them to maintain their freshness and vigor.”
Cha Ming gave the alchemist a heartfelt bow. “I won’t let you down.”
“I don’t actually care if you find the ingredients,” the alchemist said nonchalantly. “You’ll have to help me with my experiments regardless, pills or no pills. I’ll beat you to death if you don’t.”
They smiled at each other with amusement.
After securing the pills, Cha Ming proceeded to the Talisman Artist Guild and went straight to Jun Xiezi’s office. The man received him warmly. “Have you made another talisman for me yet?” he asked jokingly.
“Almost,” Cha Ming replied. “I have some thoughts on the next one. It relates to ‘sharpness.’ I’ll let you know soon. I leave in one month.”
“For?” Jun Xiezi asked.
“I’m just going on a trip,” Cha Ming said. “I’ll be sure to return when it’s done.”
“Make sure you do,” Jun Xiezi said sternly. “You owe me, and don’t you forget it. Now then, what brings you to my office today?”
“Straight to the point, I see,” Cha Ming said. “Can we at least chat business over tea?”
“Ah, so it’s a business matter,” Jun Xiezi replied. “I always brew tea over business, and I happen to have a flower tea that just finished growing.” The man took out a green ball and threw it into a large pot of hot water. It unfurled into what looked like a rainbow peony. “It’s such a beautiful flower. Simple, but sweet tasting.”
They both merrily sipped tea in the branch leader’s office. “So. Business,” Jun Xiezi said.
“Yes,” Cha Ming said. “I need to recruit assistants for Mo Tianshen’s research and for pill production for the upcoming ninth iteration of the cultivation-instillation pill.”
Jun Xiezi raised his eyebrow. “That hardly seems like something I can help you with. Have you tried the Alchemists Association?”
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