Chapter 76: Golden Core Battles
The intense fluctuations of spiritual energy made everyone uneasy. The middle area of Yunzhong Mountain Range is mainly occupied by Qi Refining and Building Foundation independent cultivators. There might be golden core cultivators, but they are not included in everyone's circle, and no one knows about them.
"Should we go out and take a look?"
"Um..."
"I think so too. We should go out and see for ourselves, rather than just waiting here."
"No, no. If there's a fight between golden cores, what will we do if we get caught in the crossfire?"
"I also think it's safer to stay at Sun Taoist Friend's house."
The ten or so people had different thoughts. Some wanted to go and see, maybe it was an opportunity. Even if there was a fight between golden cores, it's possible that both sides would be injured. But more people were thinking of not causing any trouble and just staying quiet.
"Sun Taoist Friend, how is the defense formation at your house?"
"It's okay. The outer layer is a second-grade lower-tier Three Elements Fish Scale Formation. The core is a third-grade Eight Gate Golden Armor Formation, with an additional layer of a third-grade Five Elements Shock Killing Formation. But the spiritual energy here is spread too thin, so I need spirit stones to activate the third-grade formation."
Sun Man said, his formation was very advanced, but the spiritual energy was not enough because he had planted a large number of high-level spiritual herbs around the cave, and more than half of the spiritual energy flowed into the Spiritual Herb Garden.
"Sun's Taoist friend is wealthy, I admire him."
Lin Jiang didn't say these words, but he meant the same thing. He is an alchemist and very rich. He is truly the leader of the Four Arts of Cultivating Immortals.
The Three-tier Formation requires tens of thousands of spirit stones to start. It depends on specific needs. Sun Man's core area is also five or six hundred acres in size. According to Lin Jiang's knowledge of the Formation market, this set of Three-tier Eight Gate Golden Armor Formation costs no less than 80,000 spirit stones. Plus other Formations, just for safety, Sun Man has invested more than 130,000 spirit stones.
This amount of wealth is enough to make Lin Jiang and others envious. Lin Jiang's family doesn't even have a Three-tier Formation. Of course, the main reason is that the spiritual veins there are low, so even if they had a Three-tier Formation, it wouldn't be useful at all.
"Fellow Taoist friends, please don't mock us. Everyone knows that in the Yunzhong Mountain Range, there are always several Building Foundation cultivators dying every year. They know that alchemists like us are wealthy and always have their eyes on us. We can't bear to invest too much, but in the end, we might end up helping someone else."
Sun Man laughed bitterly and shook his head. He felt heartbroken because he had invested so much money. But there was no other choice. Among independent cultivators, alchemists are the richest. Everyone knows that they are like fat sheep, attracting countless thieves. If they don't enhance their security measures, they will become prey to others.
"While others hoard food, I hoard spears. Others are my granary. It seems that I also need to be more cautious from now on. In the eyes of others, Talisman Makers are also wealthy people."
Lin Jiang nodded silently. There are many impoverished and ruthless individuals in the cultivation world. They don't have any means to make a living, but they are always ready to kill and seize treasures. In their eyes, even Talisman Makers are considered wealthy.
"Sun's Taoist friend, since your family has a Three-tier Formation, why don't we activate it and take to the sky to see what's going on? If there is any danger, we should prepare in advance."
"This, activating the third-level formation requires a lot of spirit stones. We might need the support of our Taoist friends."
Sun Man looked troubled. The third-level formation was not something to be taken lightly. In theory, it could withstand attacks from the Golden Core Period, but it consumed a lot of energy. He didn't want to be the one to bear this burden alone. After all, they were all seeking refuge together. How could he be the only one to provide the spirit stones?
Lin Jiang and the others immediately had dark expressions. Sun Man was being a real jerk. They invited him to their house for a gathering, and he couldn't even contribute a little money.
But now was not the time to argue. After some discussion, everyone agreed to contribute five hundred spirit stones each, totaling seven thousand, to give to Sun Man. Once he received the spirit stones, he immediately activated the third-level formation.
With the protection of the third-level formation, everyone felt more at ease. Even if they faced a direct attack from someone in the Golden Core Period, they could withstand it for a while. So they ascended with peace of mind.
As they reached an altitude of a hundred meters, everyone cast their spells and looked around. Some had practiced eye techniques and could easily see tens of kilometers ahead. Lin Jiang hadn't practiced eye techniques, but with the enhancement of spiritual energy, he could still see three or four kilometers without any problem.
"There, do you see it?"
"It's the people from the Giant Wave Fish Gang."
"Do you know them, Taoist friend?"
"We've seen him several times, he is definitely the leader of the Giant Wave Fish Gang."
"It's definitely fuliu-jian, I've seen him a few times. Fighting alongside him is the Grand Elder Shen Bo of the Giant Wave Fish Gang. I just don't know who the person in the black robe is."
The people immediately started discussing. Sun Man and the others were experienced members of the Building foundation, over a hundred years old. They were familiar faces around Yunzhong City and recognized two of them as fuliu-jian, the leader of the Giant Wave Fish Gang, and Grand Elder Shen Bo.
And Lin Jiang recognized the person in the black robe. Isn't that the same person who massacred the members of the Giant Wave Fish Gang at Yuntuo River?
"Friend Sun, don't you think that person in the black robe's abilities are familiar?"
"Indeed, he practices the Overlord Scroll, a forbidden cultivation technique. I didn't expect someone would actually practice such a dark art."
"I heard that the descendants of the Trident Fish Gang have been attacking members of the Giant Wave Fish Gang everywhere. It must be this person. The Trident Fish Gang and the Giant Wave Fish Gang have a long-standing vendetta. Their descendants would stop at nothing for revenge."
"That makes sense. It must be him."
The people discussed again, and Lin Jiang remained calm. He was certain that the person in the black robe was undoubtedly Liu Dong. Otherwise, Lin Jiang couldn't imagine anyone else doing such a thing.
"Oh, this Evil Scroll, it should have been banned a long time ago."
"Why hasn't it been banned? The Zhonghang Sect and the Cloud Sword Sect have been destroying this technique, but it's always been popular in the cultivation world. Many people have secretly kept this technique."
"I know that too. Many independent cultivators hide this technique as a powerful weapon. They hope that if they are ever bullied, they can use it for revenge."
"It's not that simple. I also read about this technique in the past. It doesn't require the cultivator to have special spiritual abilities, but not everyone can succeed in practicing it. It requires great determination, and the cost is terrifying. Even though that person in the black robe currently has a golden core cultivation, there's no guarantee they'll live past a hundred years."
Sun Man said. Techniques are not magical cures. Just having this technique doesn't guarantee success in cultivation. Countless people have died halfway due to the side effects of techniques.
As Lin Jiang listened to the people discussing, he also watched the battle several miles away. The black-robed person, Liu Dong, fought against two opponents and was not at a disadvantage. In fact, he was even overpowering them. fuliu-jian and the other person were in a very difficult position.
"Kid from the Liu family, don't push us to the limit. The downfall of the Trident Fish Gang wasn't our intention. You should know that if we don't intervene, other fishing gangs will."
Fuliu-jian, feeling desperate, shouted at the black-robed person. The Overlord Scroll is a heavenly level cultivation method, far surpassing the techniques we practice. Both in terms of quantity and quality of spiritual energy, it's on a completely different level. They simply can't compete.
"So what? You killed our people. If we don't kill you, how can we justify it to the more than thirty members of the Liu family?"
Liu Dong coldly said, the conflict among the fishing gangs was rooted in the power struggle among the upper echelons. Trident Fish Gang lost their support, either being absorbed by Giant Wave Fish Gang or other fishing gangs.
The fact was true, but he didn't care. He only knew that more than thirty members of the Liu family had perished at the hands of Giant Wave Fish Gang. This was enough. He sought revenge and he didn't get the wrong person.
"Shen Bo, when will the reinforcements arrive?"
"I have already sent eighteen pleas for help using Sound Passing Talisman."
"Don't wait, your supporter is no longer in Yunzhong City. Prepare for death."
Liu Dong laughed. He had been discovered by fuliu-jian and chased to this point. But this was the result of his careful calculation. The supporter of Giant Wave Fish Gang was currently on a breakthrough retreat, unable to receive the Sound Passing Talisman messages.
"Join forces, devouring all the fish."
Fuliu-jian's face turned pale when he heard this, exchanging a glance with Shen Bo. They prepared to join forces and cast a spell.
"Haha, without water, what can the fish do?"
Liu Dong was not afraid at all. The secret technique of the Giant Wave Fish Gang, Fish Swallowing the World, was indeed very powerful, but it required water. In Yuntuo River, they were naturally advantaged. But what water was there here?
As expected, after the two of them used their secret technique, the surrounding streams were quickly drained by them. These waters turned into a water dragon and swept towards Liu Dong.
However, the nearby streams were not big enough to sustain the consumption of the water dragon. After a few rounds of confrontation with Liu Dong, the water dragon collapsed.
"If someone from the Giant Wave Fish Gang could use water magic at this time, maybe they could win."
Lin Jiang thought to himself, instead of using other spells, just a Rain Decision would be enough. But the condition was that they needed more people. A little bit wasn't enough.
Unfortunately, no one from the Giant Wave Fish Gang appeared. It was unknown whether they were too scared to come or if they were held up by other things.
"Break!"
When Liu Dong saw the water dragon collapse, he immediately increased his attack. He hadn't studied many secret techniques, but with a big sword, he was able to unleash waves of sword energy. The sword energy tore apart Shen Bo's magic shield in an instant. One strike landed on Shen Bo, who let out a cry of pain and flew away.
Upon seeing this, fuliu-jian quickly turned around and fled. The two of them were not even evenly matched, let alone just him alone. Liu Dong wouldn't let him get away and pursued him once again.
"Shen Bo seems to be in trouble."
"What should we do?"
"Save him or..."
Unable to continue this conversation, there are people in Sun Man's cave who are restless, their intentions unknown.
"I don't know anything, don't mind me."
Lin Jiang is the first to land, whether it's to save someone or to take advantage of the situation, he doesn't take action right away. Safety comes first, he'll think about it later.
"I don't know either."
"Same here."
Several more people, like Lin Jiang, quickly descend. It's out of our control. But still, more than half of the people, including Sun Man, haven't come down yet. They all know that the Golden Core Elder is wealthy, not to mention being the Grand Elder of the Fishing Gang. That's definitely a super fat lamb. Saving someone can result in a generous reward, as for killing... hehe.
