Rewarding Merit

Under Zi He's escort, Yang Lingrui and the other two safely returned to Yanxia.

In the northern market, he found someone to craft a Spiritual Artifact capable of preserving flesh, using it to store the severed arm.

Upon learning that the Yang family had suffered casualties, Gu Zhengyuan hurriedly came to offer his condolences.

When he heard that it was Yang Linghu-the martial cultivator who had sat opposite him that day-who had fallen, a look of profound regret appeared on his face.

He had swept his Divine Sense over Yang Linghu back then. Although the man's Qi Channels possessed only average aptitude, his physical talent had been extraordinary.

Given time, he would have had great hope of reaching the Perfection realm.

Yet now, he had met with this sudden calamity, and his path in life was completely cut short.

"Sigh..."

Gu Zhengyuan let out a long sigh. "They say the world is unpredictable, but this matter is clearly a man-made disaster. That accursed Lone Moon Mountain is truly lawless!"

Yang Lingrui did not immediately speak. He silently handed over the Wangchao secret order bearing the golden seal, along with the two spiritual materials-the Black Snake Blood Scale and the Mayfly Essence.

"Senior Gu, the Songshan Yang Family has accomplished the matter arranged by the Wangchao."

Yang Lingrui continued, "With my elder brother deceased, I have no heart to linger here any longer. I only wish to return home as soon as possible."

He knew Gu Zhengyuan's stance. The man had seen the Yang family's sacrifice; there was no need to deliberately play up their tragedy.

Moreover, he truly had no mood left to put on an act with anyone.

"Good!"

Gu Zhengyuan readily agreed. "Rest assured, little friend Lingrui! I will arrange this matter properly and ensure your group returns home without worry!"

The next morning, an escort party of three Qi Gathering Perfection cultivators led the four members of the Yang family out of Yanxia Town.

This time, the Qiulu City Immortal Patrol Office had dispatched two tenth-layer Qi Gathering cultivators.

After learning of this, Zi He felt it was still not secure enough. He spent a considerable amount of merit from his own account to recruit a twelfth-layer Qi Gathering Perfection cultivator from the Demon-Slaying Bureau to escort Yang Lingrui's group.

"I know you don't like hearing it, but I still must say thank you."

Before departing, Yang Lingrui spoke to Zi He. "The Yang family and I will remember all these debts of gratitude. We are powerless to repay them now, so we can only settle them in the future."

Zi He shook his head, stepped forward, and patted Yang Lingrui on the shoulder.

"There aren't many people left in this world that I care about. Don't die too quickly, kid. Otherwise, I won't even have anyone to talk to in the future."

Hearing this, Yang Lingrui finally managed to force a faint smile. "Don't worry. Before I achieve Condensed Origin, I won't die."

As the morning sun rose, the group set out on their return journey.

Ten days after Yang Lingrui and the others left Yanxia, a powerful figure from Chongtian City arrived in Qiulu City.

The He Family, Feng Family, Myriad Transformations Sect, Zhaoyang Lake Daoyuan Mountain, and many other Wangchao-aligned forces were all present.

This meeting was personally presided over by Liao Jian, the City Lord of Qiulu City.

The matter under discussion was the distribution of benefits among the various forces of Qiulu and Wangyue following the recent events.

Moving from top to bottom, Liao Jian opened the documents on his desk and read them out in order.

"The He Family of Wanchong Forest receives one Sect-guarding sacred tree from Wugui Peak at the northern foothills."

"The Feng Family of Qiulu receives one copy of the Confucian Spirit Communion secret method from the Bamboo Gentleman Pavilion."

"The Myriad Transformations Sect of Wangyue may increase its quota by ten direct disciples for the next thirty years."

"Zhaoyang Lake Daoyuan Mountain, you have finally gotten your wish, receiving one intact physical body of a late-stage Condensed Origin cultivator."

...

Afterwards, several other major forces also received corresponding compensation.

These benefits all came from the three mountain peaks in the north.

No matter how much Lone Moon Mountain vented its fury this time, it had still retained some reason and held its bottom line.

The target of the Moonfall had only been those pawn forces; it had not harmed any true Wangchao Cultivators.

But the three Sects led by Wugui Peak had grown foolish, actually daring to extend their hands over Zhuhu's head.

They naively thought the situation was the same as it had been decades ago-merely a back-and-forth exchange of interests.

They had no idea that the Wangchao had long since made the firm decision to settle accounts.

The day after they acted, three streaks of light flew out from Chongtian City.

Each streak of light represented a Spirit Communion cultivator!

In merely three days, the mountain peaks of the three Sects were trampled flat by Zhuhu's iron cavalry. The surviving Elders and disciples within the Sects were all thrown into the penal underground chambers.

The high-level cultivators were also invited to Chongtian City for "tea."

The superior Sects of these three became frantic upon learning this, quickly sending people down to negotiate with Zhuhu.

Knowing their subordinate Sects had broken the rules first and were in the wrong, they could only swallow their broken teeth. They allowed Zhuhu to open its mouth wide like a lion, demanding a massive sum of compensation before they could bail out their high-level cultivators.

Their people were saved, but there was no longer any possibility of them ever re-establishing mountain strongholds on Zhuhu's territory.

With this battle, Zhuhu completed the cleansing and intimidation of the Wangchao's northern region.

Several other stationed Sects in the north had already secretly submitted documents through intermediaries, making up for all the rare treasures they had owed over the past decades.

"My Lord, this is the last one."

Liao Jian flipped to the final document. This concerned the lowest-level Wangchao pawns in this action.

"Mm."

A cultivator whose face could not be clearly seen sat upright in the seat of honor.

His face seemed covered by a layer of ethereal mist, appearing as nothing but a blurry mass from any angle.

Those below could only hear his voice but could not see his true appearance.

This last document was somewhat long; it took Liao Jian a quarter of an hour to read it through completely.

"Mm. Qiulu is acceptable, but Wangyue is somewhat surprising. Two families actually managed to complete the secret order."

After listening, the cultivator in the seat of honor said slowly, "Lone Moon Mountain has been deeply entrenched there for decades. We were prepared for total annihilation."

Having said this, he raised his eyes to look at the people below.

"Who discovered these two families?"

As his voice fell, two Condensed Origin cultivators stepped to the center, bowed respectfully to the figure above, and then spoke in turn.

One wore a yellow Five Elements Daoist robe; the other had green tree patterns embroidered on his cuffs and collar.

"Reporting to my Lord, North Crow Clearwind Cave was developed by my Myriad Transformations Sect."

"Reporting to my Lord, the Songshan Yang Family is under the management of my He Family."

This time, the Wangchao had issued a total of twenty-one secret orders within the Wangyue region.

Now, only the Songshan Yang Family and North Crow Clearwind Cave had completed their assignments. All the others had ended in failure.

Naturally, insufficient capability was a factor, but more often, it was because these people were unwilling to truly risk their lives for the Wangchao. They always wanted to preserve their own strength.

To complete their secret orders, both Clearwind Cave and the Yang family had made sacrifices and suffered deaths.

As for the remaining nineteen forces, they had merely gone to the secret treasure grounds to put on a show.

As soon as the exit time limit arrived, they fled from the secret treasure grounds back to nearby Wangchao towns to lie low and avoid the storm, trying to brush things off.

But how could the Wangchao be so easily fooled?

After this battle, these forces had lost their value to the Wangchao. They would have no chance to sit at the chessboard for the next round of the game.

These small families and minor Sects at the late-stage Qi Gathering or Perfection level still had not positioned themselves correctly in this grand shift of power.

They believed that by gaining the Wangchao's favor, they could fish in troubled waters.

Little did they know that even if they were entirely wiped out, for the Wangchao to foster a new batch would be as simple as scattering a handful of Pills.

"Good, well done. Two families are a bit few, but all things are difficult at the start. Looking at the map, it happens to be one in the south and one in the north, echoing each other from afar. Quite a coincidence."

The cultivator in the seat of honor paused and said, "Especially this Songshan Yang Family. They don't even have a single late-stage Qi Gathering cultivator in the family. Their strength is clearly the weakest, yet they still managed to complete the secret order. Truly rare."

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