Chapter 111 Southern Frontier Alliance

Winter gave way to spring, and the earth gradually warmed up.

Another month had passed since Zhu Lingyue returned from her patrol.

News also arrived about the Beast Hunting Sect wiping out Demonic Path Cultivators.

The Demonic Path Cultivators near the Beast Hunting Sect were mostly cleared out, leaving only scattered remnants that were no longer a threat. The Beast Hunting Sect announced the end of the extermination operation.

There was another piece of news: during this encirclement of Demonic Path Cultivators, the Beast Hunting Sect suffered slightly more Foundation Establishment Cultivator losses than expected. Jin Yue, as the leading Elder, claimed the Demonic Path Cultivators were too cunning, and he couldn't look after everyone.

And then there was nothing more.

Following this, the Golden Core Yang Family and the Luo Family stopped dispatching patrolling Foundation Establishment Cultivators. Subsequently, the Lu and Zhu Families within the commandery also announced the end of their patrols.

Thus, the encirclement operation against the Demonic Path Cultivator infiltration officially concluded.

... ...

Inside the Great Sun Seed Cultivation Cave Mansion on Black Magpie Mountain, the thunder bamboo had matured for over five hundred years. It could be seen releasing traces of cyan lightning, meaning it still needed further ripening.

Besides consolidating his cultivation base, Chen Li also went into seclusion to practice the 'Burial Fire'. He discovered quite a few Demon Stones from the Storage Pouches of Luo Sheng and the An Family Head.

Among the Storage Pouches, besides the 'Spirit Entrusting Soul Transfer Great Method' and two jade fingers, there were basically no Demonic Path Cultivation Techniques he cared about; they were all rather ordinary Demonic Path Cultivation Techniques. However, there were some remaining high-grade escape-type Demonic Path Talismans, as well as some Demonic Path Formations, which were acceptable.

Inside the Immortal Cave, he once again used his vital blood to refine the Blood Fire, then fused it, continuing to produce and condense a batch of 'Burial Fire', supplementing it with Demon Stones to enhance its power.

He had already decided that once he had something specifically to store these 'Burial Fires' in the future, they could serve as a trump card for the Family, which everyone could carry around!

After coming out of this seclusion, he planned to set off for the Qingyun Sect and the Taixuan Sect. After completing the cultivation of 'Burial Fire', he also needed to wait for a batch of spirit wood to ripen to replenish his Spirit Trapping Formations and Defensive Formation Arrays, and he needed to go to the market to buy more high-grade Yao Beast Formation Materials.

Chen Li currently possessed three complexion fixing pills, given to him by Zhu Lingyue. Chen Li had consumed two, and they were quite effective in maintaining appearance and improving facial features.

The earliest batch of thousand-year longevity-type Spiritual Plants in the Immortal Cave had also matured. He harvested a wave and then used the resulting seeds to plant another batch.

Time flew by, and another three months passed in a flash.

Inside the Immortal Cave, Chen Li's 'Burial Fire' could condense another batch. He began researching longevity-type Medicinal Pills.

In the Pill Refining Residence, Zhu Lingyue was also refining pills. Over these few months, she had successfully refined the breakthrough pill, and now the entire Family was developing rapidly.

Chen Songxiao continued with Artifact Refining, and Chen Songxuan occasionally visited the Formation shop in the commandery capital. The income from Spirit Stones over these few months could reach one or two thousand per month.

On Qingfeng Mountain, the number of Spirit Chickens had now exceeded five hundred, and the Spirit Pig breeding yielded five or six heads annually.

At this time, Li Chun, who was studying the Puppetry Technique, finally created a low-grade feeding Puppet. His Puppetry Technique had officially reached a recognized grade.

His few bottles of qi overflowing pill had been used up, and his cultivation had just reached Qi Refining Second Layer. However, his contribution points were very stable: one wave for breeding, one wave for processing Ore.

But he needed to acquire more contribution points to get more qi overflowing pills, which meant he needed to produce more Puppets.

Now, Chen Songyan was cultivating the young snake together with Luo Anyue, also as a source of contribution points. He could now master the two techniques of incubation and rearing in the Insect Rearing Technique.

Meng Chong had also graduated from the Immortal Learning Tower, remaining at Qi Refining First Layer, and was managing the breeding on Qingfeng Mountain. He visited his hometown and returned full of vigor!

The Chen Family gave these Non-Clan Cultivators who broke through to Qi Refining First Layer one bottle of qi overflowing pill, one grain dispelling pill, and they could also select five or six first-grade Cultivation Techniques. It could be said that the benefits the Chen Family provided them were maximized; too much would also be inappropriate.

Those who wanted more resources later would have to work, increase productivity, to obtain more contribution points.

... ...

Half a month later, Chen Li emerged from seclusion. He examined the refining of the San Hua Longevity Pill, tried it several times, and refined a few pills; the success rate was acceptable.

On this day, he set off for the Beast Hunting Sect market.

At the Perfection of Foundation Establishment Stage, it only took a few hours of flying to arrive. After another round of operations—selling Spiritual Plants and selling Medicinal Pills separately—he earned one hundred and fifty thousand Spirit Stones in the blink of an eye.

Each time, he carefully changed his identity, and bought three Fifth-level Yao Beasts and one Sixth-level Yao Beast to serve as Formation Materials.

His large-scale Spirit Stone transactions this time also attracted the attention of some Foundation Establishment powers. However, once outside the Beast Hunting Sect market, with his two Breath Concealing Arts combined, it was very difficult for others to find him.

In addition, he bought quite a few auxiliary Materials for Formations, and they were very numerous and miscellaneous. In an instant, the one hundred and fifty thousand Spirit Stones were depleted again.

After Chen Li bought everything back, he took out the ripened spirit wood and the bone and skin Materials from the Yao Beasts, preparing to refine Fourth and Fifth-grade Formations.

For inscribing Fourth and Fifth-grade Formation Patterns, at his current Perfection of Foundation Establishment Stage, refining these barely consumed any of his Origin Qi.

Ten days later, he produced seventeen sets of super-specification Fourth Grade Spirit Trapping Formation, twelve sets of Fourth-grade Defensive Formation Arrays, three sets of Fourth-grade Attack Formations, and one set of Fifth-grade Attack Formation.

His current productivity was terrifyingly high!

On this day, a piece of news spread from the Beast Hunting Sect.

Joining forces with Sects from the eastern part of the Southern Border, the major Sects in the Southern Border that possessed Nascent Soul level experts formally established an Alliance. In order to resist the invasion by the Demonic Path Cultivators from the East Sea Islands, the various Sects of the Southern Border united to jointly support the Sects on the eastern front line.

Furthermore, they officially launched their first mission: Counter-Infiltration!

This meant that just as those Demonic Path Cultivators could infiltrate to cause destruction, the Southern Border Cultivators could also infiltrate the East Sea Islands to cause destruction, and the rewards were extremely generous!

The reward was: For a Qi Refining Cultivator who signed up, killing five or more Mid-stage Qi Refining Demonic Path Cultivators would earn five bottles of qi overflowing pill, or one foundation establishment pill, or a Magical Artifact, issued by the Alliance.

For Foundation Establishment Cultivators, killing ten or more Late Stage Qi Refining Demonic Path Cultivators would earn the Alliance three mirror-breaking pills to advance cultivation, or the choice of a Fourth-grade Magical Artifact, Talisman, etc.

Of course, after signing up, every Nascent Soul level Sect served as a liaison point. Golden Core Elder from the Sect would uniformly lead the gathering, then they would depart for the front line together, reporting to the responsible person for the Alliance at the front line for unified infiltration.

To ensure the validity of the kills, the Nascent Soul Cultivators personally refined the 'Kill Aura Recording Magical Artifact', which could record the infiltration distance of the infiltrating Cultivator and the process of killing the Demonic Path Cultivator.

Everyone could receive one, and each person could only register one, avoiding the loophole of Southern Border Cultivators snatching others' recording Magical Artifacts.

After returning from infiltration, the Alliance Cultivators would check the gains recorded on the Magical Artifact and issue the rewards.

When this news was announced, it instantly caused a huge stir. Many Loose Cultivators or Family Cultivators were eager to try.

However, many people were also worried. Many Families had just experienced the ravages of Demonic Path Cultivators and were still shaken. Could they possibly be a match for Demonic Path Cultivators?

But one day later, another piece of news spread.

The Cultivators who signed up would receive unified training from the Alliance, which would explain the weaknesses of the Demonic Path Cultivators, taught personally by the Cultivators from the front-line Sects!

Moreover, Cultivators participating in the training could all receive some Talismans or some spiritual items from the Alliance specifically for killing Demonic Path Cultivators.

However, if they reached the front line and temporarily regretted it and refused to infiltrate, the Alliance would imprison them for the crime of shaking military morale and punish them separately!

After fermenting, within a month, across the territory governed by the Beast Hunting Sect, although many Cultivators were highly enthusiastic about signing up, quite a few Early and Mid-stage Qi Refining Cultivators were very conflicted!

Chen Li also learned of this news while wandering the market. His Chen Family did not need to take risks, but he also couldn't appear too idle on the surface, showing no desire to compete, so he was still thinking of a foolproof plan.