Chapter 174: Three Things
“Tell me, what happened?”
Jiang Li had been to the Southern Seal Kingdom before. During that mission, it was the first time he had revealed his talent, and he had also experienced the cruelty and danger of the cultivation world.
However, after returning, Elder Duan Shuang defected and triggered a series of events.
Even Golden Core cultivators fell for it. Jiang Li knew very well that the undercurrents were too dangerous, and he felt that he could not grasp it for the time being.
He had originally planned to go over and investigate after becoming stronger. However, he did not expect that it would be gone in the blink of an eye.
“I’m not too sure either. Hasn’t the Misty Mountain Range received any news?”
“The information I have here is mostly from the Immortal Ascension Pavilion and a few small sects. We still don’t know if it’s true or not.”
“However, many people in the Nightless City are spreading the news. Moreover, the small demons in the Southern Seal Kingdom suddenly brought back a large number of souls. I don’t think it’s fake.”
After the opening of Prosperous Jiang Hong, Yan Hong had been using his status as a registered disciple of the Foreign Affairs Hall to stay in Nightless City and deal with a large number of trivial matters.
In the Nightless City where fish and dragons mixed together, news was often the fastest to spread. Although it was not necessarily accurate, it was still very useful as a reference.
“I understand. I’ll confirm the news from the sect as soon as possible. You should continue to pay attention to them. It’s best if you can find out which sects are the most enthusiastic about spreading the news.”
With Yan Hong’s status as a Qi Refinement realm cultivator, it was naturally impossible for him to receive much respect in the Nightless City. However, no one dared to cause trouble in the two shops that were registered in the Scripture Storage Valley.
In short, the benefits were far greater than the small-scale fights in the trading area. All kinds of situations were still above expectations.
This signboard really saved them a lot of trouble. Compared to the useless scripture token, they had indeed profited greatly.
Under his “honest” management, the Prosperous Jiang Hong Inn had accumulated quite a bit of trust and influence in the circle of small demons in a short period of time.
Even the demons from the Southern Seal Kingdom would specially come from afar.
With the number of these low-level demons, if they could really form an intelligence network, the coverage of information would probably be even more shocking than imagined.
“Also, Yan Hong, there are three things that I need your help in arranging them as soon as possible.”
After thinking for a moment, Jiang Li had no choice but to implement some of the thoughts that he already had in his heart.
“Just tell me what it is. This shop is yours to begin with. You can’t just leave it to me. At the very least, you have to give us a direction to develop in.”
The store and inn were all obtained by exchanging benefits with the Foreign Affairs Hall’s Ma Donggui.
Although he did not care much about this, Yan Hong had always insisted that Jiang Li was the boss behind the scenes and that he was only managing it on his behalf.
In fact, because he was afraid of causing Jiang Li losses, Yan Hong’s management methods had always been very conservative and standard.
Compared to when he was in the outer sect trading area of the Scripture Storage Valley, he had changed quite a bit.
Jiang Li had also advised him that there was no need to do this. Yan Hong only smiled and said that he would accumulate experience first and talk about it in the future.
Now, Jiang Li, the boss behind the scenes, finally had a specific request. To Yan Hong, it could be said that he finally had a direction to follow and no longer had to restrain himself.
“If the matter of the Southern Seal Kingdom is confirmed to be true, the sect will definitely send flying ships over. I’ll let them pass through the Nightless City. At that time, bring a group of people and follow them to the Southern Seal Kingdom to purchase a large number of souls.”
Although the Southern Seal Kingdom was remote and weak, it was still a country under the protection of the Scripture Storage Valley. Otherwise, they would not have been able to accept the mission when the children fainted.
With such an incident happening, the sect had to take some action. Moreover, it was most likely the people and warships of the Demon Vanquishing Hall that would be mobilized. With Jiang Li’s status and status in the Demon Vanquishing Hall, it would only take a word for Yan Hong and the others to hitch a ride.
That was a country that had been massacred. Although it was only a small country, the population was definitely above that of Cloud Stream City.
Even if many ghosts had already been reduced to ashes by the lightning, there would definitely be many left. The Yin Burial Coffin was currently at the critical moment of its advancement. It was impossible for him to let go of these ghosts that he could easily obtain.
Yan Hong naturally had no objections. This matter was only a little troublesome and not difficult to handle.
“In addition, start recruiting some smart demons. Feed them the Human Language Pill that I gave you earlier. Use them as translators and build the basic intelligence network as soon as possible.”
The second thing that Jiang Li mentioned was to use a large number of small demons to gather information. This was a thought that he had long had, and the entire Prosperous Jiang Hong Inn was working hard to implement it.
However, the problem was that most of the small demons could not speak, it was very difficult to communicate. Transactions with price tags were barely acceptable, but complicated information gathering was too difficult.
In order to reach the level of being able to speak through normal cultivation, the demon had to first cultivate a Demon Core.
Those were powerful demons at the same level as Core Formation cultivators, so how could Jiang Li invite them to work for him?
Fortunately, Jiang Li had seen a rat that could only speak human language and knew from it that it had stolen the lamp oil from a dilapidated temple.
Jiang Li had specially gone there to look for it later on. Although he did not find any peerless immortal pills, divine artifacts, or secret manuals, the lamp oil of unknown origins allowed him to find a small pot.
After bringing them back to the sect, he handed them to Senior Sister Little Four and asked her to help refine 30 Human Language Pills.
After consuming this thing, it could soften their vocal cords, allowing these low-level demons to also have the ability to speak human language. Then, through them as translators, the work of gathering information could be carried out without any obstacles.
“Isn’t this too wasteful…? Forget it, you’re the boss.”
Yan Hong was obviously a little reluctant to waste the Human Language Pills. Using such a precious pill medicine on such low-level demons was undoubtedly using delicacies to feed pigs. It was a waste of natural resources.
However, he also knew the importance of information. This initial investment was nothing.
“One last thing. I want you to start issuing missions in the outer sect area to recruit short-term workers.”
Jiang Li suddenly made such a request out of nowhere.
Moreover, when he said this, his tone was a little different. It sounded like he attached great importance to this matter.
“Short-term workers? We only have two branches. We’ve also expanded our manpower once before. We don’t need employees now.”
Yan Hong was a little puzzled and did not understand what Jiang Li meant.
“Cut down trees, dig mines, forge iron, feed pigs. You can let them do whatever you want. I don’t care about this, but short-term workers must be recruited, and there must be more of them in the future.”
Jiang Li repeated his request, and Yan Hong finally understood his intention.
“You mean… I understand now. Do you have any specific requests?”
Jiang Li only recruited short-term workers for the sake of recruiting short-term workers. Or rather, he wanted to let certain specific people temporarily leave the sect and fall under his control.
“Let me think. These short-term workers will be swapped every three days. Don’t stop or repeat them. You can consider the price yourself. It’s fine as long as it’s higher than similar missions.”
“The mission reward is paid from the income of the store. If it’s not enough, feel free to ask me.”
“In addition, I’ll give you a list. The mission candidates will be chosen from among them first, but don’t make it too obvious.”
Once these requests were mentioned, there was no doubt that Jiang Li definitely had some ulterior motive for issuing this mission. It was impossible for him to hide it from the sect.
However…
“I understand.”
Yan Hong agreed without hesitation. Compared to the sect, Jiang Li was clearly more trustworthy.
After giving Yan Hong a few more instructions, Jiang Li hung up the communication spirit stone.
“Two Shu Mountain sword cultivators suddenly massacred a city. Looks like I’ve really underestimated that Nine Nether Branch.”
Jiang Li muttered to himself in the room. When he heard this news, he immediately recalled the experiences of the sword cultivator clone.
Some time ago, under Jiang Li’s instructions, the sword cultivator clone deliberated over his words and reported the information about the monsters beneath the Mother River to the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak.
His original intention was to cause a conflict between the Shu Mountain and the Spiritual Root Branch. It was good that he could benefit from it.
The higher-ups of Shu Mountain had also said that they would send people there to investigate. However, they did not expect that the two Golden Core cultivators would be killed so easily.
This ended up being a terrible move.
However, the problem was that he did not have the strength to face the underwater graveyard directly. He could only rely on external forces.
Moreover, those were Golden Core sword cultivators from Shu Mountain. How could they be defeated so easily?
Jiang Li was a little depressed. Now, he could only hope that Shu Mountain would not back down and send out stronger cultivators to destroy that tree.
He sighed and ran to Elder He. The three leaders were discussing matters together. Chu Yunxuan and a few other disciples were also there. Clearly, they had obtained some information and came here to seek confirmation.
Jiang Li did not need to ask at all. After listening for a while, he knew that this matter was not a rumor.
The news of the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak’s sword cultivators massacring the city was spreading at an astonishing speed.
There were already too many people who knew about it.
Moreover, most of the rogue cultivators did not have communication spirit stones, but they quickly learned of this news.
From the looks of it, there should be someone deliberately adding fuel to the fire.
It would not be long before the dark history of Shu Mountain would be known by everyone.
Massacring a city was not a small matter.
Especially when such a thing happened to the head of the righteous path, the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak, it attracted even more attention.
After connecting to the sword cultivator clone, the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak’s encampment fell into a state of depression.
The sword cultivators who were usually high-spirited were now like frosted eggplants, gloomy and depressed.
This was also why they, who had an overwhelming sense of justice and could not tolerate their own blemishes, would feel ashamed for the mistakes of their fellow disciples!
If it was the other three great sects, wouldn’t it just be a matter of massacring a city? They would apologize and then directly put up a wanted poster. Their lives would still be the same without any changes.
Back then, Elder Duan Shuang had also massacred the city, but the Scripture Storage Valley did not suffer much controversy. It even won a lot of positive reputation in the cultivation world.
This was partly because the Scripture Storage Valley had acted extremely quickly and killed the traitor Duan Shuang on the spot, making up for their mistakes.
On the other hand, it was because of the history of the Scripture Storage Valley’s rogue cultivator alliance. The sect they formed had a chaotic and neutral attitude at the beginning. It was a sect that was neither righteous nor evil.
It was already impressive that the Scripture Storage Valley could finally step into the restraints of the righteous path. The entire cultivation world did not have much expectations for them.
“We were rogue cultivators hundreds of years ago. We have a mix of good and bad people. Do you have a problem with us?”
Under such circumstances, wouldn’t it be extremely normal for one or two demonic cultivator traitors to appear in the sect? Moreover, they had even personally dealt with the traitor. This was already a very good outcome.
However, to the pure and unblemished Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak, such a stain was too glaring.
“How could Zuo Mo and Zuo Luo do such a thing! This is impossible! There must be something else going on!”
“The Hundred Tempering Mountain should have known about this long ago. That’s why they deliberately acted strangely during the competition. Damn it!”
Elder Wei was still holding the recently dimmed communication spirit stone. The expression on his face was extremely complicated. There was anger, disbelief, self-reproach, and disappointment.
He was the Peak Master of the Metal Mountain Peak, and Elder Zuo Mo and Elder Zuo Luo were both his subordinates. It could be said that he was responsible when such a thing happened.
“Elder Wei, let’s not worry about the Hundred Tempering Mountain for now. What should we do next?”
“Should we go and find the two elders first?”
The elders were also very upset. Shu Mountain had never experienced such a thing.
However, they did not issue an arrest warrant. They still had expectations for their companions.
Although Elder Zuo Mo and Elder Zuo Luo were usually a little antisocial, after so many years of interacting, they still found it hard to believe that those two people would do such a vicious thing.
Even if the comments were flying everywhere, even if the Shu Mountain authorities had confirmed it, they were still willing to believe that the two brothers were innocent.
After a round of discussion, Elder Wei decided to personally investigate the situation and find the two elders to let them tell the truth.
Jiang Li heard more details from them.
The two sword cultivators started to slaughter mortals without any warning. Their goal was very clear. They were just killing people.
When he heard that the entire Southern Seal Kingdom was completely destroyed by the thunderstorm, Jiang Li was slightly surprised.
Both times, it was the lightning tribulation that triggered the massacre of the city. Elder Duan Shuang and the two Golden Core sword cultivators were most likely having the same intentions.
Could it be that the two Golden Core cultivators were planning to refine their Golden Cores like him?
…
Rumors that were not beneficial to Shu Mountain were flying everywhere, but the Great Mountain Cultivator Competition was already at a critical stage. Naturally, they could not stop here.
Amidst the rumors, the competition continued as usual.
Jiang Li could focus on cultivating these few days.
As he approached the Foundation Establishment realm, he had to polish his cultivation as much as possible to prevent any flaws in his future Dao Foundation.
This wait lasted for five days.