On the mountaintop, the chaotic battlefield suddenly fell silent. Especially the soldiers of Mangyin Mountain, all of them stared blankly at the figure plummeting from the sky like a ripe fruit, his aura gone. Yang Gui had followed the ghosts. Their boss had been killed!
That was a Divine Soul Realm expert, how could he have died so quickly while the battle was still raging?
"Mangyin Mountain people, quickly lay down your weapons! If you dare to resist, don't blame my Jiulong Stockade for drenching this mountain peak in blood today!"
Lei Shan landed on a large tree branch, his tiger eyes sweeping across the terrified Mangyin Mountain people, shouting a threat, his killing intent thick and pervasive.
"Kill!"
Jiulong Stockade, on the other hand, saw its morale greatly boosted. They roared with momentum, breaking through Mangyin Mountain's battle lines, causing their army to disintegrate, no longer able to resist.
Mu Chen watched Mangyin Mountain's collapse and breathed a sigh of relief, circulating the Great Pagoda Art to absorb spiritual energy and restore his strength. Lei Shan's strike just now was truly decisive. Yang Gui had only just been momentarily distracted, trying to defend against the surprise attack and getting injured, when he suffered a merciless killing blow and died on the spot.
"Boom!"
In mid-air, where Zhou Ye and Liu Zong were fighting, violent spiritual energy exploded. Zhou Ye retreated more than ten steps. Liu Zong only took two steps back, but his expression was much uglier. Yang Gui was already a cold, stiff corpse.
"Useless trash!"
Liu Zong was shocked, gritting his teeth and cursing. Yang Gui's death meant burying the hard-won upper hand they had both achieved, completely reversing the situation.
"Haha, Liu Zong, it seems today isn't going your way!"
Zhou Ye also noticed the other's death and mocked Liu Zong. With Yang Gui dead, their side's morale soared. Lei Shan was now free and could join the battle at any time, teaming up to deal with Liu Zong. Facing two early-stage Divine Soul Realm experts, even Liu Zong, a mid-stage Divine Soul Realm expert, would have a hard time.
Liu Zong's mood was volatile. He watched the Mangyin Mountain soldiers rapidly disintegrate, gritting his teeth in hatred. He glared resentfully at Zhou Ye, then suddenly flashed next to Liu Ming, who was severely injured and charred black by Mu Chen's powerful lightning array. He grabbed Liu Ming's collar without hesitation and flew away like lightning, fleeing towards the outside of Mangyin Mountain.
"Retreat!"
The soldiers of Liu Territory saw their two masters fleeing, and their leader immediately shouted, trying to escape the battle and quickly flee.
With the loss of Liu Territory, Mangyin Mountain's military strength was greatly reduced, morale vanished, and the mountain stronghold was quickly occupied. The remaining people also began to lay down their weapons and surrender.
Mu Chen looked around at the scattered and fleeing Mangyin Mountain people. From today onwards, the dark forces of the Northern Spirit Realm no longer had an organization called Mangyin Mountain.
"Haha, Mu Chen is truly formidable. At such a young age, he can arrange such a powerful spiritual array."
Lei Shan laughed loudly as he landed next to Mu Chen, his large, sturdy hand powerfully slapping Mu Chen's back, making a "thud" that caused Mu Chen to wince in pain, feeling like his lungs were about to burst.
Lei Shan was clearly overjoyed. For so many years, he had been suppressed by Yang Gui in their confrontations. He never expected to kill him with one blow today. Although Mu Chen's spiritual array provided much assistance, killing his sworn enemy was truly exhilarating.
Zhou Ye also landed beside them, looking at Mu Chen with satisfaction. Bringing this kid along was indeed a wise decision.
"Chief Lei, I will not interfere with how you handle Mangyin Mountain."
Zhou Ye looked at the surrendering Mangyin Mountain soldiers and said to Lei Shan with a hearty laugh.
"Good."
Lei Shan nodded. The most crucial thing for a dark force to establish itself was manpower. Mu Yu did not want to take in these people, but he had no objections.
"Mount Mang Yin is the number one dark force in the Northern Spiritual Realm. I imagine their treasury holds a considerable amount of treasure. We have already taken their people, so we will yield the treasure to you all."
Lei Shan said with a smile. He didn't really want to share it like this, but Mount Mang Yin had been destroyed, a long-standing threat resolved, and he could now forge a connection with Mu Yu. A small investment was worth it.
Zhou Ye smiled, neither refusing nor being greedy. He simply said,
"Let's each take half. Nine Dragons Stronghold also suffered considerable losses today. We will have many more opportunities to cooperate in the future."
"Then many thanks, Brother Zhou."
Lei Shan didn't argue, cupping his hands and smiling. Having already offended Liu Yu, avoiding their revenge naturally depended on his relationship with Mu Yu.
With an agreement reached between the two sides, Lei Shan waved his hand, and his men dragged someone over. The man was quite thin, with shifty, dishonest eyes, but at this moment, he looked rather pathetic.
"He is Lin Hou, the second master of Mount Mang Yin, considered a top figure."
Lei Shan sneered, pointing at Lin Hou as he spoke to Zhou Ye, "Lead us to the treasury. If you prove useful, you can keep your life. If you're useless, we won't hesitate."
Lin Hou trembled, understanding that nine-tenths of the killing intent in Lei Shan's words was real. He quickly forced a ingratiating smile.
"Great Chieftain Lei, rest assured. I know Mount Mang Yin like the back of my hand. I know where all the treasury items are hidden."
"Then why aren't you leading the way?"
Lei Shan barked.
"Yes, yes, please follow me."
Lin Hou quickly nodded, stumbling ahead to lead the way.
"These kinds of opportunistic people shouldn't be kept in Nine Dragons Stronghold."
Zhou Ye looked at Lin Hou and chuckled faintly.
"Brother Zhou, rest assured, I know how to use people."
Lei Shan replied with a smile. As the great chieftain of a top dark force, he was no novice. Those who betrayed their masters after a defeat should naturally not be kept close.
Hearing this, Zhou Ye said nothing more, quickly following with Mu Chen.
The Mount Mang Yin stronghold was quite large, with many buildings. Lin Hou led everyone through numerous halls, finally arriving at the deepest part of the stronghold, where a massive manor stood.
Lin Hou stopped upon entering the study, fumbling and searching along the wall for a while. Suddenly, a grinding sound of earth and stone echoed from the wall nearby, and a cave entrance slowly opened. Lin Hou smiled ingratiatingly at Lei Shan.
"Everyone, this is the treasure vault that Yang Gui accumulated during his lifetime. I discovered it by chance..."
"You go in first."
Lei Shan said indifferently, clearly not trusting him completely.
Lin Hou smiled awkwardly, then turned and entered. Lei Shan, Zhou Ye, and Mu Chen only quickened their pace to follow after seeing that he was unharmed.
Behind the wall was a secret chamber, illuminated by several torches. The secret chamber wasn't too large, but the dazzling treasures were abundant. Spirit coins were piled up like mountains, a rough estimate putting them at over 1,000,000. Beside them was a more neatly arranged area, containing many jade slips of spirit techniques that Yang Gui had accumulated over the years.
Mu Chen looked on with interest, slowly approaching and picking up a few spirit technique slips to glance through. However, he quickly pouted in disappointment. These spirit techniques weren't particularly high-grade; even after sifting through the entire pile, he only found one spirit-level scroll.
Mu Chen casually glanced at the spirit techniques, which held little interest for him, and ventured deeper inside. There, he found several exquisite jade boxes. He gently picked one up and opened it. A palm-sized Blood Ginseng immediately caught his eye, its pure, rich spiritual energy and the scent of ginseng wafting directly into his nose.
"Nine-Cultivation Blood Ginseng?"
Mu Chen stared wide-eyed at the Blood Ginseng, his gaze as bright as a lamp. This was a rare heavenly treasure, even more precious than a Jade Spirit Fruit, and extremely beneficial for cultivation. However, the spiritual energy it contained was too vast and violent. If one couldn't completely refine it, the excess spiritual energy might injure the body, leading to considerable pain and consequences.
However, Mu Chen wasn't worried about that. He cultivated the Great Pagoda Art, a spirit technique that was supremely domineering. Refining the violent spiritual energy within this Blood Ginseng would pose little problem.
If he could fully absorb this entire mature Nine-Cultivation Blood Ginseng, he might even directly reach the late stage of the Spirit Wheel Realm in the near future.
"Uncle Zhou, can I have this?"
Mu Chen turned to Zhou Ye, holding up the jade box with a smiling, pleading expression.
"You've rendered great service this time. You're free to choose."
Zhou Ye smiled and agreed.
Hearing this, Mu Chen happily and unceremoniously put it into his Interspatial Bracelet. He wasn't overly greedy. While these heavenly treasures were of good quality, relying solely on them to increase strength might, in the long run, do more harm than good, and one might never know when disaster would strike.
His gaze swept over the other treasures, but he wasn't overly covetous, letting Zhou Ye and Lei Shan take them. He, meanwhile, wandered around the secret chamber, looking around and assessing his surroundings.
Since the secret chamber wasn't very large, Mu Chen completed a full circuit with just a few strides. Finding nothing particularly noteworthy, he let out a soft sigh. This Yang Gui's collection of items wasn't particularly astonishing; it was still a bit inferior to the Mu Territory's.
Mu Chen shook his head and lifted his foot, intending to leave the secret chamber.
*Clink.*
However, at that very moment, his foot kicked something, causing it to roll out. He lowered his head to look, and a pitch-black scroll lay not far away.
The scroll was covered in dust, clearly not well-preserved. He frowned, intending to ignore it, but for some reason, he felt something in his heart. He paused, hesitated for a moment, then picked up the scroll.
Mu Chen looked it over repeatedly, finding nothing particularly noteworthy. He slowly opened it.
Suddenly, darkness emerged, and irregular lines flickered with faint dark light, scattered across the scroll's cover.
Mu Chen frowned at the chaotic lines, his eyes filled with doubt and wonder. These lines seemed quite similar to a formation diagram, yet they were messy and irregular, fundamentally lacking any formation array trajectory.
"What is this?"
Mu Chen clicked his tongue. The patterns in the scroll looked like the scribbles of mischievous children; they were useless.
Mu Chen stared intently for a long time, vaguely sensing something amiss. After a long period of contemplation, he slowly closed his eyes, detached himself from external sounds, and quietly entered the Heart Formation state.
Suddenly, he noticed that the black scroll was emitting increasingly dense darkness. In the Heart Formation state, the originally chaotic black lines on the scroll were now connecting continuously, following a mysterious trajectory.
The dark streaks began to move, intertwining in a complex manner. When he focused his gaze, they had already transformed into an extremely intricate and incomprehensible formation diagram that appeared on the scroll. Vaguely, it seemed as if the formation diagram depicted a dark, black lotus, from which an indescribably fierce aura suddenly surged forth.
"Hiss!"
Mu Chen trembled violently, involuntarily letting out a startled gasp as he broke free from his Mind Formation state. A trickle of blood gurgled up his throat and stained the corner of his lips. However, he had no mind to wipe away the bloodstain, for his eyes were wide with terror, and his hands shook uncontrollably as he stared unblinkingly at the black scroll.
This thing, it was unexpectedly a high-level formation diagram!