Chapter 156

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Chapter 156: Self-Punishment With Three Cups

Headquarters of the Five Elements Sect.

With the help of the formation at the headquarters, the pursuing demonic beings were repelled, leaving a trail of bodies behind. There were demonic beings, cultivators, disciples of the Five Elements Sect, and even independent cultivators who were affected.

Zhang Wanjing commanded the disciples of the Five Elements Sect to clean up the battlefield and treat the wounded. Everyone was busy, and some were trembling in fear from the cries of agony filling the headquarters.

After a busy day, Zhang Wanjing saw the four Nascent Soul Elders again.

"Wanjing, how many casualties?"

"267 people dead, 585 injured, 72 missing, independent cultivators not counted."

Zhang Wanjing gritted his teeth and said, then he stared coldly at Guo Yunfeng.

"Hundreds of casualties, Five Elements Sect hasn’t suffered such a big defeat in centuries."

Shen Qun sighed, Five Elements Sect hadn’t experienced such a defeat in many years, not even when Heavenly Wolf King counterattacked decades ago, so many people didn’t die.

"We need to ask our Martial Uncle Guo, if it weren’t for Martial Uncle Guo’s eagerness for battle and rushing to respond, how could we have suffered such a big defeat."

"Zhang Wanjing, what do you mean? Are you trying to blame the defeat on me?"

"Didn’t you insist on starting the war? The Purple Origin Taoist Fruit needs at least two more years to mature, why were you in such a hurry?"

"The army advances, weakening the power of the Heavenly Wolf King. What is the mistake in this?"

"Why not unite the Zhonghang Sect and the Cloud Sword Sect for the battle? Why let many fourth-level demons join forces? Why not mobilize the dependent forces? Just relying on this small number of people to forcefully attack?"

"Are the Zhonghang Sect and Cloud Sword Sect your fathers? If you say to unite, then unite. How much power do those dependents have? What’s the use of mobilizing them? They will only hinder our progress. They’re useless."

"Guo Yunfeng, you old thief, it is you who will cause the downfall of the Five Elements Sect."

"How dare you, Zhang Wanjing! I am an elder of the Five Elements Sect. How dare you insult me in public. You’re seeking death."

"Come on, if you dare, kill me."

Zhang Wanjing became furious and roared at Guo Yunfeng. If it weren’t for his incompetence, how could there be such a huge defeat? The casualties of seven to eight hundred people, isn’t it easy to train these disciples? How many of these disciples could have grown to a higher level, but he caused their deaths.

"Senior Brother Guo, please stay calm."

Shen Qun and Nie Wuyuan stopped Guo Yunfeng. We can’t fight. Everyone knows that Zhang Wanjing carries the Life Talisman of the Soul Changing Ancestor.

Guo Yunfeng naturally knew that if Zhang Wanjing didn’t have a Life Talisman, he would have been killed countless times by now. So, he immediately took advantage of the situation, saying, "I also take three parts of the blame for this defeat. I will confess to the Sect Master and accept a ten-year salary deduction."

"Ten years of salary deduction?! Guo, you old thief! So many people died, and you’re just deducting his salary for ten years?"

"Of course, isn’t that enough? Does Elder Ben have to pay with his life?"

Guo Yunfeng sneered and said. He has been fined for ten years. What else does he want? Does he want to sacrifice his life? He should ask for consent from others, shouldn’t he?

"Wanjing, Elder Guo is already willing to accept the punishment. Let’s drop this matter."

"Yes, Wanjing, now is not the time to investigate responsibility. We need to save people. The injured cannot die anymore. I have informed the sect and they will urgently send a batch of healing pills. You have to take charge of this."

"Wanjing, saving people is the priority."

Shen Qun and the others immediately advised. Nascent Soul is the pillar of the sect. If we sacrifice him like this, it will create chaos. Although it’s regrettable that the disciples died, we cannot let Nascent Soul Elder pay such a heavy price.

Zhang Wanjing certainly knew it was impossible to do anything to Guo Yunfeng, but hearing these words still made his anger rise. He felt powerless, as if he had the intention to kill the thief but was unable to make a difference.

But Zhang Wanjing now needs power more urgently. He needs to advance to Nascent Soul stage in order to fight these people to the end, instead of relying on just a Life Talisman.

·······

"Being penalized for ten years, haha, what’s the difference with punishing oneself with three cups of wine?"

Lin Jiang heard about Guo Yunfeng’ self-punishment and shook his head lightly. In the Five Elements Sect, even a small part of the Building Foundation stage, like him, didn’t rely on the sect’s salary to live. How much is the salary anyway?

So being penalized for ten years is a joke, not much different from punishing oneself with three cups of wine.

"Now thinking back on Junior Brother’s words, they become even more reasonable. Without strength, everything I do is wrong. Only cultivation is truly important."

Zhang Shuhua said, having witnessed how close Zhang Wanjing came to getting so angry that he almost vomited blood. As a fellow disciple, he felt extreme hatred in his heart, but his cultivation level was not enough. Even if he got angry, it would only be futile rage.

"It’s good that you understand. Work hard in your cultivation. Junior Brother will rely on Senior Brother to take care of him in the future."

"Junior Brother, don’t slack off either. Don’t sleep tonight, just focus on cultivation."

"Okay, what Senior Brother said is right."

Lin Jiang didn’t argue. For the past few years, they worked during the day and cultivated at night. They hardly needed sleep, but Lin Jiang would still lie down for a while every night out of habit.

Cultivation, cultivation. Lin Jiang didn’t want to become an emotionless immortal. He hoped to remain human, and sleep was a basic human need.

However, Lin Jiang had become much more diligent than before. He used to be lazy, but now he worked hard. Even the capitalists would shed tears if they saw him.

In the following days, wounded disciples continued to die. It wasn’t because the sect didn’t have high-level spiritual medicines, but they were reluctant to use them. High-level spiritual medicines were too scarce and precious. After weighing the pros and cons, the higher-ups simply didn’t distribute them.

It all depended on each person’s savings at this point. If you had money, you could ask someone to buy good pills for you. If not, you had to rely on luck. If you could endure, then you could endure. If you couldn’t, it was like Tang Sanzang’s journey to the West.

Some of the missing disciples began to return one after another, but it was very few. In this battle, the Five Elements Sect suffered heavy casualties, with more than three hundred people, including one golden core and over forty building foundation cultivators.

Half a month later, the sect mobilized a large number of people again, but this time they didn’t engage in large-scale battles. They dispersed their forces into small teams, like independent cultivators, and hunted demons everywhere.

The sect’s strategy remained unchanged. The higher-ups still adopted Guo Yunfeng’s suggestion to weaken the Heavenly Wolf King’s strength as much as possible before the Purple Origin Taoist Fruit fully matured.

Zhonghang Sect and Cloud Sword Sect are the same. They learned from the mistakes of the Five Elements Sect and won’t engage in large-scale battles. They form small teams to weaken the strength of the monster clan.

At the same time, the three sects didn’t forget about independent cultivators. The three sects have appropriately increased the prices of various resources to stimulate the enthusiasm of independent cultivators.

With various measures, the human clan launched a fierce attack on the monster clan. Every day, a large number of monsters were killed by cultivators, and a large number of cultivators also died at the hands of monsters.

Outside the Five Elements Sect’s base, Lin Jiang and Yue Qing restarted the wine-making workshop. When the monster beasts attacked, they had to give up the workshop. There were simply too many monster beasts, and they couldn’t resist them.

"Luckily, the workshop wasn’t destroyed."

"We should resume work as soon as possible. These two years will be a good opportunity to make money."

"Definitely. We should put in more effort. If we miss this chance, we might never come across one again."

Yue Qing nodded. Thousands of disciples came from the Five Elements Sect alone. Although the Five Elements Sect provided them with food, they didn’t include luxuries like spiritual wine. The consumption of spiritual wine in the base was extremely high these days. Their opportunity had arrived.

"I wonder how Martial Uncle Wei and the others are doing."

Lin Jiang thought of his friends Wei Yunshen, they had been busy for several years building a base on their own and had lost touch.

"They should be fine. Our cultivators are launching a major attack, and they are benefiting from it too. Even the powerful monsters can’t resist our attacks anymore."

"Maybe. But let’s not worry about that. Just like we discussed earlier, gather the Demon Cores for me."

Lin Jiang said that in the past two years, he had collected many Demon Cores, all of which he had given to Big Shadiao. It might be difficult for both of them to advance at the same time, so they would have to concentrate their resources. However, they still didn’t have any fourth-tier Demon Cores.

"Senior Brother Xiao, don’t worry. Your matters are my matters. My uncle has already contacted someone from a medium-sized family. Their family has had a Nascent Soul stage cultivator in the past, and there is a possibility that they have inherited a fourth-tier Demon Core."

"If the price is right, we’ll take it."

Lin Jiang said that the price of a fourth-tier Demon Core fluctuated greatly. They could be sold for a hundred thousand spirit stones or even a million spirit stones, depending on the type of monster they came from.

After wandering around the workshop for a while, Lin Jiang returned to the base. After the incident with Zhang Wanjing and Guo Yunfeng, Guo Yunfeng couldn’t target Zhang Wanjing and the others anymore. Guo Yunfeng was also afraid that Zhang Wanjing would go crazy and use the Life Talisman. If that happened, Guo Yunfeng would have no chance to escape.

With more people, the matters at the base became extremely busy. Various tasks piled up on Lin Jiang’s shoulders, putting his management skills to the test.

On the other hand, Zhang Shuhua became relaxed. A large number of people from the Five Elements Sect arrived at the base. The independent cultivators dared not cause trouble, and the surrounding monsters were either cleared or scared away. He had nothing to do all day and even practiced lazily, working very hard.

Zhang Wanjing became mysterious, and Lin Jiang didn’t know what he was planning. But Lin Jiang felt pessimistic about Zhang Wanjing trying to seize the Purple Origin Taoist Fruit. There were too many people eyeing the fruit, even more than ten Nascent Soul practitioners from the three sects. How could Zhang Wanjing have the confidence to snatch it?