Chapter 1434: Scooping the Moon from the Water

The black-robed cultivator in the sky stared at the scene below. From within his slightly raised sleeve, a long, slender finger, like a section of bamboo, slowly extended…

When all the villagers below saw this, they were instantly scared out of their wits.

Under the extreme coldness emanating from him, they were forced to open their mouths, and amidst chattering teeth, they began to cry out and beg for mercy.

Amidst the pleas, Wu Lei also shouted anxiously, “Sir… Sir, spare our lives, spare our lives… This humble one truly does not know when the talisman was activated! We are willing to offer this year’s harvest of ‘Soul Crystal Sprouts’ to you, Sir. We… we really did not issue the ‘Bounty Talisman,’ truly not!”

In his panic, his speech became slightly more fluent.

The black-robed man in the sky remained unmoved by the pleas from the crowd below. Just as his finger was about to point down, he heard Wu Lei’s words, and his movement immediately paused.

“Sir, Sir, all the ‘Soul Crystal Sprouts’ here are for you, all for you! We truly had no intention of issuing the ‘Bounty Talisman,’ no intention at all! Falsely reporting such a thing would only bring the crime of execution upon us, with no benefit at all. Please, Sir, see clearly, see clearly…”

Seeing the black-robed man hesitate, Wu Lei hurriedly kowtowed again, weeping and begging.

The black-robed man’s face remained as grim as water, but his voice sounded once more.

“Oh? Is it the ‘Soul Crystal Sprouts’ that are about to mature for twenty years?”

“Yes, Immortal Master. They were actually ready for harvest four days ago, but we originally wanted to let them grow a little longer. This will be our apology.”

The black-robed man was already a Mid-stage Golden Core cultivator. For him, “Soul Crystal Sprouts” of this age were not considered great treasures.

However, “Soul Crystal Sprouts” that had reached the minimum maturity age were still useful for his disciples and descendants. The daily consumption of his faction was also very large.

In daily cultivation, everything needed to be bought, and everywhere required expenses.

And the upper sect, in order to make the mortals work for them, also offered them great protection. There were also various strict laws for cultivators who bought the “Soul Crystal Sprouts” grown by mortals.

If anyone dared to force a sale, then no matter what your cultivation was, you would be severely punished without any mercy.

Under such strict measures, these mortals were willing to take great risks and go to some remote places to find special “Crystal Smoke Lands.”

Then, after planting “Soul Crystal Sprouts,” they would exchange them for the longevity pills they needed.

Even if these mortals took any number of pills, because they could not absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth on their own, they would eventually die around the age of four hundred. But who wouldn’t want to live a little longer?

However, the pills that could usually be sold to mortals were not the kind that could extend one’s lifespan by a sixty-year cycle or a hundred years at a time, but pills that could only increase it by about five or ten years at a time.

This way, they would have to work until they were at least two or three hundred years old before they could retire in peace.

This practice, on the one hand, was to make the mortals work more. On the other hand, it was because the higher the grade of the pill, the more domineering the medicinal power it contained.

If a mortal wanted to increase his lifespan by fifty or a hundred years at once, he might just “burst” and die after eating it!

The black-robed man had already guessed before that the group of young and strong mortals here were probably planting “Soul Crystal Sprouts” here.

It was just that he was concerned about the outsider cultivator, who was his main target.

Moreover, he did not know if the “Soul Crystal Sprouts” here were ripe, so he did not dare to force a purchase by lowering the price.

Even when he had just had the intention to kill, he had not thought of killing them and taking the “Soul Crystal Sprouts” here.

If the people who planted the “Soul Crystal Sprouts” were killed, someone would definitely investigate the reason. At that time, if something went wrong, he would have lost more than he had gained.

Now, hearing that the other party was giving it to him for free, the black-robed man was of course willing. This way, he could save another sum of Spirit Stones.

“Take me to see it!”

The black-robed man did not say much. He wanted to see how many “Soul Crystal Sprouts” the other party had planted here.

“Then Immortal Master, please follow me!”

When Wu Lei and the others heard his words, it was as if they had heard the sound of nature. Everyone let out a long sigh of relief.

But after surviving the calamity, their hearts began to contract, and they even felt their brains filling with blood.

All intelligent beings were like this. When death was approaching, they were willing to exchange anything they had for it. But as soon as the crisis was over, they would think of the price they had paid and feel heartbroken.

Wu Lei took a deep breath and could only stand up and walk towards a direction in the village behind him. The other villagers only dared to stay where they were and wait.

The black-robed man also followed, like a floating ghost of the night, silently following behind Wu Lei.

But what he didn’t discover was that there was a figure that he couldn’t detect at all, which had been standing here all along. Just after he had finished talking with Wu Lei, he had already left one step ahead.

Wu Lei led the way in front, with a look of gratitude on his face all along.

In the village, there were several rows of uneven houses. These houses were basically built of huge green stones, but at this time, the entire village was empty.

After the two had walked for a distance in the village, Wu Lei finally stopped in front of an inconspicuous house.

This house, from the outside, was only two or three zhang in size. It had only one door and one window. The window was next to the door, but both were tightly closed.

The door was large enough for two people to pass through side by side. The door was made of a kind of black oiled wood, giving a very solid feeling.

“Sir, this is it! Please be careful, it’s a bit uneven inside!”

When Wu Lei looked up, a fawning smile appeared on his face. He knew that these immortals would not care about the light and dark, but he still said it in a fawning manner.

In his heart, he was actually bleeding continuously. He had said before that he would offer all the “Soul Crystal Sprouts” to the other party, but after he had a chance to live, he had already changed his mind later.

In Wu Lei’s heart, he felt that this black-robed man was truly insatiably greedy. He actually wanted to come to the field to take a look. This was because he did not trust him. This was to take the whole pot.

This Immortal Master had not even let him bring other people over. If according to the normal harvesting speed, to finish harvesting this piece of land, if all the people here worked together, it would probably take three or four days.

Now it was obvious that the other party wanted to harvest it himself. This was not leaving anything for him at all.

However, fortunately, there were a total of three “Crystal Smoke Lands” in this village. This one was the largest one. There were also two smaller ones, but he would not take the other party there.

For his own benefit, Wu Lei was also risking it at this moment. However, he also had a backup plan.

Of these three “Crystal Smoke Lands,” apart from the “Soul Crystal Sprouts” here being already ripe, the other two lands were discovered one after another. The planting years of the “Soul Crystal Sprouts” were seventeen and nineteen years respectively.

He had said just now that he would give them all to the other party. As long as the other party knew the real situation here, then in the next few years, these things would definitely have to be all sent out.

Now he would just play dumb. It was best if the other party didn’t know. If he did, he would just say that he had definitely given the ripe ones first.

After Wu Lei had given a word of caution, he immediately pushed open the door and walked in first.

This room was completely empty inside, with nothing at all. But in the middle, there was a passage leading underground. After the two entered the house, they went directly down the passage.

The passage was a sloping ramp, with a flight of stairs extending all the way down.

There were no candles or lamps below, but from the ground below, some soft white light was shining upwards, so it did not seem too dark here.

After the two had walked down for about ten zhang, the stairs came to an end here.

Looking around here, the underground space was actually five mu in size. It was plowed into ridges, very neat, like a field.

It was just that what was planted here was not any kind of crop. Instead, on the pitch-black ground, a long, pale white, glowing object stood in the soil every foot or so.

It was these pale white glowing objects that kept this place and the stairs above from being dark.

The long, pale white object was about seven or eight inches long and as thick as two fingers. It was shaped like a section of a crystal-clear ice cone, with a luminous pearl placed inside, emitting a soft light.

Below these long, pale white objects, black roots grew into the soil. Around them were fine, dark green leaves, surrounding each pale white object.

And on the surface of this five-mu plot of land, a scattered layer of crystal-like fragments lay on the soil.

They did not emit light themselves, but in the light from those long, pale white objects, they reflected a faint light.

At the same time, on these crystal-like fragments, there were streaks of fine mist circulating, which made a thin layer of mist appear on the entire ground.

“Sir, what do you think of these ‘Soul Crystal Sprouts’?”

After Wu Lei had stopped, he quickly turned to the side, his body slightly bowed, and said to the black-robed man who was looking at the flashing, large expanse of “Soul Crystal Sprouts.”

“Yes, not bad! They have all grown to seven or eight inches in size, and can be considered mature!”

The black-robed man nodded slightly.

“Soul Crystal Sprouts” mature at six inches. It is best when they grow to thirteen inches, but after ten inches, their growth speed will drop sharply.

At that time, even if Wu Lei had encountered today’s situation, he probably would not have been willing to take them all out and give them away for free.

Moreover, the time it takes to grow after ten inches is calculated in hundreds of years. The lifespan of a generation of mortals is not that long either.

So when mortals plant “Soul Crystal Sprouts,” they will basically use sixty percent of the “Soul Crystal Sprouts” as a crop to be harvested every twenty years.

The remaining forty percent is for continuous cultivation. After waiting for the “Soul Crystal Sprouts” to grow to ten inches before selling them, that would be a fortune that would make people go crazy.

Similarly, they would also keep some of the “Soul Crystal Sprouts” and let their descendants harvest them.

In this way, as long as it was not a newly opened “Crystal Smoke Land,” there would mostly be some “Soul Crystal Sprouts” that were more than a sixty-year cycle old.

Seven or eight-inch “Soul Crystal Sprouts,” used for alchemy and medicine, were also not bad.

The black-robed man did not want to waste time here. Since these were all mature “Soul Crystal Sprouts,” then what was there for him to be polite about?

He immediately raised both hands and waved them forward at the same time. The “Soul Crystal Sprouts” on the ground shook for a moment, and then all of them fell off their stems.

In the next moment, like meteors chasing the moon, they all gathered towards the black-robed man.

These “Soul Crystal Sprouts,” which were flashing with a pale white light, disappeared as soon as they came into contact with the black-robed man’s large sleeve.

Seeing all this before him, Wu Lei only felt that his entire state was not good.

Although he had been mentally prepared, watching the ground below get darker and darker, and one by one, the “Soul Crystal Sprouts” entering the black-robed man’s “pocket,” Wu Lei felt his entire person continuously collapsing, and his heart was like it was bleeding.

These were all cultivated by them over countless days and nights, bit by bit. In just an instant, they had become someone else’s.

But fortunately, this process did not last long. The five mu of land that they needed several days to harvest, in the hands of the black-robed man, in a few breaths of time, all the “Soul Crystal Sprouts” on the land had disappeared.

Only then did Wu Lei’s dizziness lessen a little, reducing the long-term psychological torture.

After collecting the “Soul Crystal Sprouts,” the black-robed man immediately turned and left, not even paying any attention to Wu Lei.

It was just that when he had just taken a few steps up the stairs, he suddenly felt his head get a little dizzy. His heart was immediately alarmed.

Although he did not know what had happened, he still immediately circulated the Magical Power in his body. But he was horrified to find that his Magical Power had become extremely slow.

All his strength, in this short period of time, seemed to have been drained away. He even found it extremely difficult to use his soul power.

He managed to hold onto the wall. In his dizziness, he only felt his eyelids getting heavier and heavier. His strength was rapidly draining away, and the scene before his eyes had already become somewhat blurry.

‘I’ve been poisoned!’

This was a thought that arose in his heart. Then he turned his head with great effort, his eyes filled with killing intent as he looked at Wu Lei.

“You despicable scum, how dare you plot against your Immortal Master…”

He let out a low roar, but then he stopped talking.

In the somewhat dim light, he saw that the mortal village chief had fallen to the ground, and it was unknown whether he was alive or dead.

And beside him, another blurry figure had appeared.

The black-robed man was also an experienced person. The moment he saw the blurry figure, without any hesitation, his eyes suddenly focused, and an invisible attack had already been sent directly at the other party.

And after he had sent out this attack, it was as if he had exhausted all his strength. Leaning against the wall, he slowly fell down.

The black shadow below was also looking at the black-robed man above.

Suddenly, he seemed to have a premonition and flashed to the side. An invisible attack brushed past his body and flew into the rear, then disappeared into the void.

“Hmm? A divine soul attack? This… this is a soul… soul cultivator!”

The person sensed a turmoil in his divine soul. Although he had not been attacked, he was still affected.

At the same time, his Hun and Po souls naturally produced a certain sense of danger. He couldn’t help but say to himself in a low voice of surprise.

Listening to this voice, it was precisely Li Yan!

He had controlled Wu Lei and these people just to let the other party relax their guard, and then set up an ambush.

Li Yan was just surprised, and then he immediately walked towards the black-robed man who had fallen on the stairs. It was a pale face, and his eyes were somewhat unfocused as he looked at Li Yan.

“Evil… Evil Spirit Cultivator, indeed… indeed treacherous, even… even to mortals you would resort to… to such means…”

Li Yan looked at the other party’s face. He no longer hesitated. With a surge of Magical Power in his hand, this time he didn’t care about consuming his Divine Sense.

He had set up this trap just to lure a cultivator over, to see if he could capture him alive, and then soul-search him. Only in this way could he get more information.

And just as the Magical Power was surging in Li Yan’s hand, his face suddenly changed dramatically. His hand seal changed with the momentum, and a gust of finger wind hit the black-robed man’s body.

But in the next moment, Li Yan’s face became extremely unsightly.

His seal was a step too late. A stream of black blood had already flowed from the corner of the black-robed cultivator’s mouth, and his head drooped heavily to one side.

Although Li Yan’s potent poison had made the other party unable to use his Magical Power again, he had not expected that the other party could still use his soul power in such a weak state.

And Li Yan’s speed was actually fast enough. It had only been a matter of flashing to the other party’s side, but this person had chosen to commit suicide.

This could not be blamed on Li Yan. He really did not know that his own Fragmented Body poison had injured the black-robed man to this extent, yet he could still use other powers.

This was the first time he had truly faced a soul cultivator. His past experience in facing enemies had a flaw at this moment.

Li Yan pressed his palm directly on the other party’s head, and a wave of Magical Power instantly entered his body…

A moment later, Li Yan withdrew his hand with an expressionless face.

The other party’s divine soul was already destroyed, and even his Golden Core had shattered in his body, turning into a gray bead. Li Yan did not know if this soul, after disappearing, could still enter the reincarnation of the heavenly Dao. This person was also ruthless to himself.

Li Yan immediately began to check the other party’s body. He had seen in the dark before that the black-robed man seemed to be able to easily communicate with his storage magical treasure.

At such a long distance, he had collected all the “Soul Crystal Sprouts” into his large sleeve.

After some inspection, Li Yan found a black jade bracelet on the black-robed man’s wrist. At a glance, it was an immortal item.

Li Yan did not find anything else on the black-robed man’s body, so this black jade bracelet seemed special. After taking it off, he immediately used his Divine Sense.

But even if Li Yan used all his Divine Sense power, he could not communicate with it at all.

‘This requires the use of the power of the Hun and Po souls?’

Li Yan had guessed the reason after just one try.

However, he also felt relieved because of this. If he could really open it with his Divine Sense, or sense the abnormality of this bracelet, then Li Yan would be a little afraid of this place.

He couldn’t use his Divine Sense, but others here could use it freely. Then his death would only be a matter of time.

“From the residual Magical Power in this person’s body, the other party is only a Golden Core realm cultivator. Calculating the time of his arrival, and the approximate flight speed, his sect should be at least seven thousand li away from here. This person’s death will soon arouse the suspicion of his sect. I must leave now.”

With this thought in mind, he casually flicked out two fireballs. The two people on the ground instantly caught fire. In just a flash, they had completely disappeared from this world.

Then, Li Yan immediately left this place and quietly appeared in the open space in front of the village.

He flicked out a few more fireballs, and the remaining living villagers in the village were waiting for the appearance of Wu Lei and the black-robed man in a low voice.

Pitifully, they did not even have time to scream before they disappeared from the world.

Even the remaining three beautiful women, when Li Yan killed them, did not even frown.

These people, when he had questioned them before, the illusion art that had been cast on them had long been removed after he had finished asking, so as not to be seen through by later cultivators.

Then, Li Yan had planted a slave seal in their bodies. This kind of slave seal, as long as the person who came could not use his Divine Sense, it would be very difficult to find the problem.

So the words of everyone in the village after seeing the black-robed man were all involuntary.

They would not have the slightest aversion or resistance to Li Yan’s orders. Everything was based on Li Yan as a god.

Now that the black-robed man was dead, Li Yan could only kill everyone in the village. He did not want to waste any more time. In that case, he would have to take these people into the “Earthen Patch” and then modify their memories.

This method of eliminating traces was the most thorough!

After Li Yan had identified the direction for a moment, he decided to continue flying in the direction he had originally planned. Since he wanted to find out the news here, it was definitely best to find a place where living beings gathered.

But just from the information he had gotten from these mortals, he already knew that outsiders were hated here.

Moreover, although there would be other cultivators coming here later, the other party would be coming with a vigilant heart.

So, Li Yan immediately used his concealment divine ability, and his figure quickly merged into the void…

Not long after Li Yan had left the village, two cultivators in black robes suddenly arrived here. Both of them were Nascent Soul realm cultivators.

After they had stayed in the village for half an incense stick of time, the two of them separated and flew away with a whistle!