315: Chapter 315 Casualties

Although Zi Daolin's words were still somewhat polite, his tone was filled with an aggressive edge.

Lin Bei was taken aback, never expecting that the family of his little maidservant, who had shown no concern for several years, would suddenly come today to demand her back.

If it had been a few months earlier, he might have considered handing her over...

But now... she's already been 'eaten', so how could he possibly hand her over?!

"Fellow Daoist Zi," he smiled slightly, "Zixia is doing very well here in my Heavenly Court. Back then, the Sect Master of the Purple Mansion Holy Land also agreed to her joining my Heavenly Court. You see..."

"Now, I am in charge of the Purple Mansion Holy Land!" Before Lin Bei could finish, Zi Daolin rudely interrupted.

"Rest assured, I will repay you several times over for all the resources your Heavenly Court has invested in cultivating her over these years!"

Lin Bei frowned. This was already bordering on tearing up all pretense of cordiality.

If he weren't currently pretending to be a cripple, he would have already taken the initiative and slapped the other party in the Face with a Brick.

"Fellow Daoist Zi, could you give Jiang a little Face?" Jiang Yunyi, having long resided in the Heavenly Court, naturally guessed that Lin Bei and Zixia had probably already developed some special relationship and wanted to act as a peacemaker.

"Fellow Daoist Jiang!" Zi Daolin flatly refused, "This is a private matter between my Purple Mansion Holy Land and the Heavenly Court. You seem to have no reason to interfere, do you?"

Jiang Yunyi opened his mouth but said nothing.

The other party had a point. Outsiders really shouldn't interfere in such matters.

"Well? Lord of the Heavenly Court? Any problems? Unwilling to hand her over?!" Zi Daolin's voice grew increasingly impolite.

In the distance, Dongfang Lin saw this scene, a glint flashing in his eyes. "Good, so it turns out they aren't all friends of Lin Bei either!"

He walked towards the group with a smile. "Esteemed guests of our Ancient Desolate Alliance, there's no need to converse here. There is a city ten thousand li to the east. How about we move there to rest?"

However, Zi Daolin did not respond, his gaze still fixed on Lin Bei, waiting for his answer.

"Sigh!" Lin Bei sighed lightly and casually tossed out a leaf.

Zi Daolin's eyes flashed as he caught it. "enlightenment tea? What do you mean?"

Lin Bei rolled his eyes. "Didn't you just say you'd repay me several times over for the resources spent cultivating Zixia?"

"That little lass Zixia loves to secretly steep my enlightenment tea whenever she gets the chance! Counting carefully, the enlightenment tea leaves she's wasted number no less than two hundred eighty, if not three hundred!"

"Out of respect for your Face, Fellow Daoist Zi, let's just call it two hundred fifty!"

"So, here's the deal. I won't ask for eight or ten times the amount, just four times. You bring me a thousand enlightenment tea leaves, and we'll exchange goods for the person!"

Zi Daolin's eye twitched. "A thousand pieces? Where am I supposed to find that many enlightenment tea leaves?!"

Besides the Heavenly Court, the entire Ancient Desolate Continent had only one enlightenment tea tree, and its leaves ripened only once every hundred years! Each harvest yielded only one hundred and eight leaves!

Even if he were to claim every single harvest for the next hundred years, it would take him a full millennium to gather enough!

"What does that have to do with me?" Lin Bei retorted, "You said it yourself!"

"However, I can give you a suggestion... My Heavenly Court actually has quite a lot of enlightenment tea. Members of the Heavenly Court have an annual quota of ten leaves each. How about it? Would Fellow Daoist Zi like to join my Heavenly Court too?"

"Pfft..." Beside them, Jiang Yunyi couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Goodness! What a piece of work! The other party came to demand a person back, and you're trying to trick him into joining the Heavenly Court instead?

Zi Daolin's expression turned extremely ugly. "The Lord of the Heavenly Court truly knows how to jest. These two words, 'Heavenly Court,' are more than Zi can bear!"

"I will find another way regarding the enlightenment tea leaves!"

Having said that, he turned to look at Dongfang Lin. "Immortal Dongfang, as someone from the Immortal Realm, do you have any unique insights regarding enlightenment tea?"

Dongfang Lin nodded with a smile. "This old man does indeed know of a method to accelerate the ripening of enlightenment tea. Fellow Daoist, how about we go to the city to discuss this in detail?"

"Good!" Zi Daolin's eyes lit up.

Dongfang Lin then looked at Long Yan and the others. "And what about these few Fellow Daoists?"

Long Yan, Long Bing, and Jiang Yunyi all looked at Lin Bei.

Lin Bei shook his head. "Immortal Dongfang, our Heavenly Court will find our own place to station ourselves. Rest assured, if the alien races attack again, we will naturally appear!"

At that moment, the Lord of Sacred Heart Mansion finally emerged from somewhere, looking travel-worn and weary.

"Oh dear! Old age is catching up! You don't realize until you fight, but this old body of mine really can't take the strain..."

He looked at Lin Bei pitifully. "Sect Master, could this old man take a leave of absence for the next battle?"

Before Lin Bei could speak, Dongfang Lin's expression changed. "Fellow Daoist! How can that be? You saw today's situation; we were at a disadvantage!"

"Moreover, their mysterious Emperor Lord hasn't even made a move yet. If you don't participate in the fight, the Ancient Desolate Continent is finished!"

"Alright, alright!" The Lord of Sacred Heart Mansion adopted a rogue-like demeanor. "Then have someone send plenty of rare birds and exotic beasts, along with Heaven And Earth Treasures, to us. This old man needs to replenish his energy!"

Dongfang Lin's mouth twitched. Knowing he was being duped again, he could only speak helplessly, "No problem. This old man will have them sent over shortly."

...

As the day ended, the battlefield was finally cleared, and the entire Ancient Desolate Alliance army stationed themselves in the new city.

Dongfang Lin stood in the main hall with his hands behind his back, listening to the Great Sage Er Ha below report the battle results.

"I... Immortal, according to the results of clearing the battlefield, in this battle, the alien army suffered nearly two hundred thousand casualties..."

"Our Ancient Desolate Alliance... the Ancient Desolate Alliance..." The Great Sage Er Ha's voice trembled slightly, "...suffered seven hundred eighty thousand Cultivator deaths. Twenty-two Saints perished, and as for Great Sages... none perished, but three were severely injured!"

Dongfang Lin frowned. "What about the casualty situation of those Cultivators from the Heavenly Court?"

"They..." Er Ha hesitated for a long moment before speaking tremulously, "All the Heavenly Court Cultivators are Saints or Great Sages; there are no ordinary Cultivators..."

"Among the twenty-two fallen Saints, none... none belonged to the Heavenly Court..."

"Even among the one hundred nineteen severely injured Saints, there were no members of the Heavenly Court..."

"It can be said that in this battle, the Heavenly Court had zero casualties!"

"Bang!" Dongfang Lin casually slapped, shattering the wooden table beside him into pieces. "Explain this to me! What is going on?!"

The Sage Er Ha trembled and hurriedly said, "Immortal, these Heavenly Court Cultivators were extremely slippery on the battlefield! They all likely possess profound movement techniques, allowing them to fight and retreat at will..."

"Furthermore... furthermore, many of the Saints in our Ancient Desolate Alliance are their clan elders, so it's inevitable they would protect them..."

"Sigh!" Dongfang Lin sighed lightly. This was human nature, and he couldn't say much about it.

What a pity. That bird inexplicably possessed an Immortal Artifact, ruining this old man's plans. Otherwise...

As he secretly lamented, the Great Sage Er Ha spoke again, somewhat fearfully.

"Immortal, the Lord of Sacred Heart Mansion has sent someone to urge us again, telling... telling us to deliver the rare birds and exotic beasts and... the Heaven And Earth Treasures as soon as possible. Wha... what should we do?"

A grinding sound of teeth came from Dongfang Lin's mouth. "Send them! Send them over!"