Stealthily cultivating in the chaotic world of demons and martial artists
Chapter 637 - 634: Transaction (Congratulations to the Alliance Leader, Ji Ji Zi!)_1

Chapter 637: Chapter 634: Transaction (Congratulations to the Alliance Leader, Ji Ji Zi!)_1

"Truly... none of them can spare me any worry."

Mount Sang Qing.

Fang Xi was holding the ’Taiyi Sutra,’ watching the live broadcast.

He saw the thunder light surge and ripple through the Eight Gates Azure Wave Array, which then burst open and transformed into a sky full of water flow.

When Fang Xi saw Zuo Xiaoxuan raising her right hand, holding a pitch-black awl with countless tiny chains entangling Meng Zhuzi’s Nascent Soul, he rubbed his forehead in exasperation.

He had also placed a miniature Puppet on this woman for positioning and surveillance purposes, naturally knowing that she had privately formed a small organization, pulling in a number of Cultivators to seek revenge.

Therefore, after receiving the news today, he did not try to stop her.

After all, he could probably smooth things over with the Wang family... Presumably, his true self would give him some face.

It was just a dog after all...

What made Fang Xi even more troubled, though, was the fluctuation of Transcendent God Spiritual Power that followed and the Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy anomaly that affected ten thousand miles.

Of course, he was unable to survey the entire Mysterious Dark Abyss, but with the technology of The Nine States Weather Bureau, monitoring the ’Spirit Qi Tidal’ was still barely achievable.

Previously, ’Tai Yi’ was alerting him, detecting a tide of Primordial Energy at the level of Transcendent God and even of Returning to Emptiness!

"Could a Returning to Emptiness Cultivator have taken action... Is it that old dragon?" Fang Xi muttered to himself, not intending to investigate immediately.

If the other party had not yet left, chasing after them might lead to a direct encounter, which would be no different from courting death.

It would be better to pretend to have seen nothing and go after some time.

After sitting quietly for a moment, he saw a radiance coming and going, returning and kneeling outside the Dongfu.

"Peak Master... Xiaoxuan acted rashly, killed Meng Zhuzi, and asks for the Peak Master’s punishment."

Zuo Xiaoxuan kowtowed deeply.

"Sigh..."

After a long while, the door to the Dongfu opened, and Fang Xi, looking at the female Cultivator beneath the mask, said with a sense of helplessness, "For private vengeance, you’ve damaged the interest of my market, and you must be punished... From today on, all your duties are removed. Additionally... go to the Punishment Hall yourself and receive the punishment of ninety-nine thunders."

"Yes, sir..."

Zuo Xiaoxuan’s delicate body trembled, aware that although the punishment of Thunder Light was simulated by an Array, a single bolt was enough to severely injure a Core Formation Cultivator. With her Nascent Soul, which had never undergone Body Refining, surviving ninety-nine lashes would cost her more than half of her life.

But at this moment, she had no other options and could only accept it.

Otherwise, there was only a dead end!

Fang Xi watched her leaving figure and nodded slightly; she was quite responsible.

If she had run away after killing Meng Zhuzi, then he would have no choice but to completely annihilate her...

...

A Nascent Soul level wooden Puppet skimmed low over the surface of the sea, causing ripples on the water.

It first halted where Zuo Xiaoxuan had ambushed Meng Zhuzi, then flew towards the land.

Near a stretch of coastline, the Puppet stopped its Escape Light and suddenly spread its arms.

Countless Golden Turtle-like beetles emerged from its body, fluttering densely and descending into the earth, rocks, forests, and even the Mysterious Dark Heavy Water...

Hours later, the beetles converged in midair, forming a strange pattern.

The wooden Puppet arrived at the marked spot on the ground, with its right fingers together, and slammed a punch downward.

Boom!

A large pit appeared, and a blood-red scale the size of a palm wrapped in Golden Light slowly floated out.

"A fifth-level dragon scale?!"

The Puppet let out a voice tinged with a hint of surprise and carefully collected the dragon scale, then moved to another spot indicated by the Golden Turtles.

Here, numerous remains of Monster Beasts were gathered, seemingly having fought to the death over some brown soil, with mutations erupting on them, growing scales and black horns.

"Land soaked in dragon blood..."

The Puppet no longer hesitated, its hands whirling like windmills as it began forming hand seals.

Countless seals gathered, forming a Secret Skill.

From the surrounding soil, lines of blood-red threads emerged, combining together and faintly forming the shape of a small dragon, roaring in anger.

Then... they suddenly collapsed.

The wooden Puppet rose wordlessly and plunged into the Mysterious Dark Abyss.

Several hundred miles away.

Fang Xi pursed his lips in silence, also heading back to Mount Sang Qing.

’A fifth-level Flood Dragon has fallen there... a Red Blood Flood Dragon at that!’

’I remember, within the Dragon Controlling Sect, Qin Longzi’s Life-bound Spiritual Beast was a fifth-level Red Blood Flood Dragon, right?’

’Looks like it wasn’t the old dragon of Returning to Emptiness who made the move but some mysterious Returning to Emptiness Cultivator who did away with Qin Longzi?’

Fang Xi had an exasperated expression, "Anywhere to act, why within the Mysterious Dark Abyss? Isn’t this troubling me unnecessarily?"

Both sides are of Returning to Emptiness combat strength, making him feel weak, pitiful, and helpless caught in the middle...

"Fortunately, the Nine States’ Mechanism City has been completed. Now it is undergoing final adjustments, which is somewhat consoling... No, I must speak to Ghost Axe, install a few more Star Destroyer Cannons..."

In the following days, Fang Xi kept a low profile, always waiting for the Dragon Controlling Sect to unleash its fury and dispatch elite experts to investigate, as well as possibly requesting his assistance.

Actually, he was ready to flee at the slightest sign of trouble.

Contrary to his expectations, the Dragon Controlling Sect held back, showing no outward sign of disturbance, as if the incident had never happened.

This reaction convinced Fang Xi... the worst was yet to come!

...

One day, Fang Xi received another letter from the Mo Sect.

His Divine Consciousness entered the jade slip; his face showed a trace of joy, but also a hint of helplessness.

A moment later, he made up his mind. Instantly transforming into a streak of Demon Light, he flickered in mid-air. The Escape Light condensed to its limit, discreetly heading towards the Mysterious Dark Abyss.

At the same time.

Outside the Kong Sang Market, a blurry figure appeared.

This figure was translucent, with tiny scales on both cheeks, and in its hands, it held a peculiar round pearl.

"With Red Blood dead, the old ancestor has long suspected there’s something amiss with the Mysterious Dark Abyss, bestowing upon me this ’Hidden Dragon Pearl’..."

The figure murmured, "My long stakeout has not been in vain... I must see where Qing Hezi wishes to go..."

The transparent pearl in his hand promptly emitted a halo of light, making his figure nearly invisible, difficult to detect even by high-ranking cultivators with Divine Consciousness and Spirit Eye.

...

Splash! Splash!

Countless waves of Mysterious Dark Heavy Water crashed against the steel island.

The steel barriers instantly corroded, forming innumerable black holes, which were rapidly patched by a dark ’flow’ of water. That was actually a dense swarm of tiny mechanical Puppets, swiftly repairing everything.

Using cheap materials to balance out the consumption of Mysterious Dark Heavy Water, maintaining a dynamic equilibrium—this was the design concept of the super-large offshore platform!

Fang Xi turned into a streak of Escape Light and descended onto the platform.

[Ding, initiating authorization check...]

[Highest level of access granted...]

The voice of Tai Yi machinery sounded.

Fang Xi was ignored by the many cannons as he landed at the core of the steel fortress and walked into an underground chamber.

After a long elevator ride, he arrived at a submerged dock.

What appeared before him was a massive underground room, surrounded by steel, yet in the middle was an enormous black water pool.

Splash! Splash!

At that moment, the water pool churned, and a pitch-black octopus crawled out with each of its tentacles fluidly combining the beauty of both organism and machine.

The giant octopus used its eight legs as support while its massive head opened up, revealing a hatch from which a person emerged—it was Mo Yinqiu!

He looked around, an interested expression on his face, "Qing Hezi sir... your puppet and mechanism skills are quite ingenious. But... why go through all this trouble?"

He had thought they would simply meet on the ocean surface and conduct the exchange on any reef.

"Recently, it’s been rather unstable outside...some unfamiliar cultivator at the Returning to Emptiness stage has been attacking the Transcendent God cultivators of the Dragon Controlling Sect."

Fang Xi spoke slowly, looking at Mo Yinqiu.

Mo Yinqiu seemed thoughtful, and a bit of joy crept onto his face.

"Seems like you have some guesses?" Fang Xi felt more at ease internally, but he pressed the question intentionally.

"It’s just speculation... Based on what the former sect master said, the Dragon Controlling Sect is probably already under control of that Returning to Emptiness stage old dragon, even turning high-level human race cultivators into pet humans... Otherwise, it’s hard to explain why they regularly harvest the Nascent Souls from their own cultivator sects. Such actions are even more Demon Path than the Demon Path itself..."

Mo Yinqiu didn’t hide anything, sharing the former sect master’s speculation, "Perhaps the Upper Sect has learned of this and is investigating... the downfall of the Dragon Controlling Sect isn’t far off!"

"If only a sect has been controlled by Monster Beasts, it wouldn’t warrant such a large-scale reaction... There might be other factors at play, like...the Monster Clan intervening?!"

Fang Xi’s eyes flickered with light, and he laughed, "Sir has summoned me here; I presume there’s something important?"

Once onto the main topic, Mo Yinqiu’s expression also turned solemn: "Thanks to your strong support, we have finally found a flaw in the ’Nine-clearance Divine Thunder Array’ which allowed us to enter the Secret Realm... Although the realm has the ability to weaken cultivation, the typical Five Elements prohibitions can eventually be worn down with more time... before long, my Mo Sect broke through the prohibition and truly entered the Secret Realm for exploration and acquired certain achievements..."

According to the previous ’Immortal Spiritual Document’ contract, this was content that must be reported.

"Oh? I wonder what you’ve found inside the Secret Realm?"

Fang Xi was interested.

"We haven’t explored the core yet, but just at the perimeter, we discovered that controlling Puppets, Spiritual Beasts, and the like doesn’t work... Those Puppets, Spiritual Beasts, and even Yin Souls would lose control upon entering the Secret Realm, rushing madly into its depths,"

Mo Yinqiu shook his head, "Therefore, cultivators must explore it themselves, yet there’s also the power-suppression ability... The complexity of its internal structure has convinced me that the ’Nine-clearance Divine Thunder Array’ on the periphery is merely a seal added by later generations."

Listening, Fang Xi also felt it was troublesome.

But he was even less willing to enter that Secret Realm; to be weakened to a Core Formation level and then meet with any minor danger and perish would be such an injustice.

"My Mo Sect suffered heavy casualties but still managed to bring out a few achievements. Please take a look, sir..."

Mo Yinqiu flicked his sleeve, and three items sparkled forth, floating in mid-air.

Fang Xi’s eyes were immediately drawn to an object resembling mutton fat jade.

This object was the size of a baby’s fist, seemingly containing a misty essence within, which gave him a chilling desire.

After a moment’s thought, he ventured a guess, "Could this be... Immortal Jade?!"