139: Bloody Border

"Sigh, I've been underestimated."

Li Haotian laughed heartily, then headed towards the mansion allocated to him. Zhang Jincai was inside the mansion, as it had been his residence before.

Ancestor Shangqing was led to the location where the Great Emperor Powerhouses resided; he was going to catch up with his old comrades.

Lin Tianxuan and the three Hundred Ghosts Sect Powerhouses came as attendants, and could only remain by Li Haotian's side in that capacity.

"I'm a little curious. Has your Cultivation really recovered, just as the letter stated?"

Zhang Jincai leaned closer and carefully examined Li Haotian.

"Naturally."

Li Haotian instantly released a powerful aura from his body—it was clearly the aura of a Saint Rank.

A barely perceptible flicker of surprise flashed in Zhang Jincai's eyes, and then he nodded.

"I remember when I left, you seemed to only have Foundation Establishment strength. It's truly terrifying that you reached the Saint Realm in just one year. In that case, I'll hand things over to you now."

Li Haotian didn't deny it and nodded. The latter finished packing all his belongings, cleaning the entire residence thoroughly, and prepared to leave.

The sky gradually darkened, and the fighting on the city wall had ended. After experiencing this battle, the Heavenly Profound Sect Disciples who had initially been somewhat expectant or curious now wore expressions of silence.

Here, there was constant danger to life, and the enemies they faced were different from the Human Race enemies they encountered before; their fighting styles and their level of shamelessness were completely unlike.

Ambush and disguise—all sorts of tactics were employed by these Foreign Races. They even used severely injured Disciples to lure other Cultivators into rescuing them.

After one battle, dozens of them had been killed and over a hundred injured.

Seeing their former Sect members die in front of them, everyone felt somewhat dazed. Not long ago, they had been laughing and joking, but now they had become cold, rigid corpses.

"Junior Brother, we're leaving. After this battle, you should have understood the methods of the Foreign Race. This place is entrusted to you now."

"Junior Sister, be careful. I wore this Magic Treasure constantly; it protected me for a year. Today, Senior Sister passes this Legacy on to you."

"Junior Brother, Junior Sister, see you at the Sect next year! Senior Brother will personally host a welcoming banquet for you!"

The previous batch of Heavenly Profound Sect Disciples left in a mighty stream. When they arrived, there were over ten thousand people, but now fewer than 8,000 remained.

Li Haotian watched as they rode the Spirit Boat—the same one he and his group had used—away, and a flood of emotions rose in his heart. Although this batch of Disciples suffered significant losses, those who survived had become exceptionally powerful Powerhouses.

Having gone through a full year of life-and-death struggle, their mental fortitude and combat experience far surpassed that of their peer Powerhouses.

Li Haotian gathered all the Disciples this morning. He now needed his subordinates to make a choice.

"Since everyone has come to this Fissure, you must have some understanding of crystal cores. As you can all see, this stable spatial fissure does not lead to the ethereal Void Realm, but rather to a physical land."

"In fact, this is also a Plane, except that one side of this Plane connects to the Foreign Race and the other connects to our Heaven Domain. This Plane contains massive resources waiting to be mined."

"All crystal cores originate from crystal core mines. If you wish to mine them, you must leave this city."

"There are now two paths before everyone. One is to join the City Defense Army within the city. Given everyone's Cultivation and strength, once you enter the army, you will receive corresponding posts. You can raise your post based on personal Cultivation advancement or military merit. Every post will distribute some resources, namely crystal cores."

"The amount distributed varies according to the seniority of the post. This is just one path; the number of crystal cores obtained is limited, but it is also relatively safe and not too dangerous."

Hearing this, the Disciples below began to discuss amongst themselves. They had already witnessed the danger on the city wall, and just one battle had severely shaken this group of Disciples who had no experience fighting the Foreign Race.

Yet, such terrifying combat was described by the Chief Disciple as relatively simple and safe. They couldn't imagine how dangerous the other path must be.

"Is there anything more dangerous than defending this place? I watched my Senior Brother die right in front of me, and his strength was much greater than mine!"

"I never thought this place would be so dangerous. I assumed the Human Race Powerhouses stationed here would be enough to crush the Foreign Race, but I didn't realize the Foreign Race had such massive numbers!"

"I came here specifically for these crystal cores and to earn some battle merits. If I can successfully earn a Ding-Rank merit, that will be enough."

Every Heavenly Profound Sect mission can be accepted by multiple people, and merits are divided based on contribution into four Ranks: Jia, Yi, Bing, and Ding.

A Jia-Rank merit allows one to directly request ten years' worth of resources from the Sect, or ask for a very rare Heaven And Earth Treasure. It can be said that as long as the request isn't excessive, the Sect will satisfy it.

"Next, I will tell you about the other path. This path allows you to obtain a large amount of resources and also earn merit. The opportunities are much greater than serving in the City Defense Army within the city."

Li Haotian's mood was slightly heavy. In truth, he didn't want to tell these Disciples about this option, because the mortality rate was simply too high.

It was nearly 60%, or even higher!

Most of the previous batch of Disciples died because of this path.

"Everyone can form teams independently and venture outside the city to explore. If you discover any crystal core mines, you can mine them yourselves. Everything extracted does not need to be handed over; it belongs entirely to you, and you can also obtain military merit."

"Everyone can now step forward to receive a Wristband. This is a Profound-Rank Magic Treasure. Its only notable feature is its relative hardness, and it can record the number of Foreign Race members you kill, as well as whether you earn merit."

"After converting the number of Foreign Race kills into merit points, you can use them to purchase resources in the city, whether it's trading for Medicinal Pills or Magic Treasures. The merit points, military merit, and resources obtained through this path are enormous, but the mortality rate is extremely high."

"You need to leave the city and venture outside on your own. We are unaware of the situation outside. We only have a map covering ten thousand miles around the town. The resources in this area have mostly been depleted. If you still wish to obtain resources, you must explore beyond ten thousand miles, a place known as the Bloody Border."

"The mortality rate is as high as 60%, even reaching 70%. If anyone is willing, come register with me. I need to record all your names."

After Li Haotian finished speaking, the field fell silent.