Chapter 96

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Chapter 96: Can’t Do This Again

Yunzhong Mountain Range, a certain peak

Five figures arrived almost simultaneously. If seen by an independent cultivator in the mountains, they would recognize their identities. They are Zheng Zhan and Zheng Qin, brothers from Black Water Pool, Chen Xuan from Medicine Immortal Valley, Ma Ping from Songmao Mountain, and Fu Tao from Baiyugang.

However, ordinary independent cultivators would never expect them to meet, because in the past thirty years, along with Yusong from Cangying Ridge, these five families have had constant friction. Although there has never been a full-scale battle, small-scale conflicts have never been few. On the surface, it appears that there is significant animosity between them.

"Yusong has fallen."

"I understand. The bodies have all been hanged up, along with a few of his close subordinates. Cangying Ridge has almost been completely wiped out."

"No one expected that, after all these years of searching, the Yunzhong Mountain Range would still have such a large alligator."

"Do you know anything about the person surnamed Lin?"

"I’ve never heard of him before. All I know is that he has been building foundations for over forty years and is a Talisman Maker. He once killed Zhou Yunyang and his gang and hung their bodies on tree poles. That’s why Yusong hasn’t touched him for many years."

Chen Xuan shook his head. They knew very little about Lin Jiang’s whereabouts because they were very reclusive and rarely interacted with others.

"Let’s discuss what to do."

"You can’t touch him. He has a third-tier beast pet."

"If our four families join forces, we might have a chance."

"Hehe."

Ma Ping’s words made the other four people laugh coldly. If the four families join forces and gather dozens of Building foundation experts, they might be able to defeat the third-tier beast pet, but there will be casualties. Who will end up dead then?

"The person with a three-level beast pet, who knows what kind of support they have. Since this person keeps to themselves, let’s just pretend we didn’t see them."

"He doesn’t provoke us, so let’s not provoke them either. The Centennial Celebration of Yunzhong City is just a few months away, let’s not mess up the big event."

Zheng Zhan said, he didn’t want any accidents to happen. Over the past thirty years, they have eliminated the wealthy independent cultivators under their respective commands through continuous friction.

When people die, their wealth gets transferred. Eventually, most of the wealth ends up in their hands. They have almost saved enough spirit stones, and he just wants to hold on until the grand celebration and buy advanced pill-making treasures.

"I agree too. To be honest, if he wants my Medicine Immortal Valley, I will give it to him. It’s a good opportunity to get rid of those useless people."

Chen Xuan said, over the years, they have done a lot to portray a positive image and recruited many subordinates. Now that their objective is about to be achieved, it’s time to get rid of these people.

"Let’s not provoke the Lin family, I also agree on that. But what about the territory of Cangying Ridge?"

"Let’s split it. There are still a few months left, and Yusong’s subordinates can still yield some benefits."

"That works, let’s do it this way."

Several people agreed one after another, no one would dislike having more spirit stones. They would split them among themselves, and come up with a plan to squeeze out all of Yusong’s subordinates. It would be a little extra supply for their cultivation journey.

·······

"Next time, don’t do this again. I’m a bit scared."

Lin Jiang looked at the piles of spirit stones in front of him, feeling a bit scared. After killing Yusong and his group, Lin Jiang found nearly 700,000 spirit stones from their storage bags, filling half of a room directly.

And this is not even the most valuable part. Yusong wanted to buy the Five Elements Golden Fruit Pill, which required precious treasures as well. There were five fourth-grade spiritual medicines, six third-grade Demon Cores that Lin Jiang didn’t recognize, a pile of precious minerals in a satin box, some unknown pills, and other items. Lin Jiang conservatively estimated the total value to be over 1.5 million spirit stones.

This fortune was enough to make an ordinary independent cultivator faint, even Lin Jiang felt a bit frightened.

Of course, Lin Jiang wasn’t afraid of having too much money, but rather that it was coming too easily. Lin Jiang always believed in a saying: a person cannot earn wealth beyond their understanding, and even if they do, they can easily lose it.

Now Lin Jiang feels that this money is more wealth than he ever imagined. It’s not the kind of money an ordinary builder like him should have. Lin Jiang is afraid that he will become obsessed with this quick way of making money.

Once he becomes obsessed, Lin Jiang won’t be able to control himself and will start attacking and looting, even resorting to violence to get everything he wants.

This is an impossible path, because you cannot guarantee that every person you attack is weaker than you, just like Yusong. In his eyes, Lin Jiang is just at the middle stage of building foundation, while he has already reached the complete stage of building foundation. With a few helpers at the later stage of building foundation, he shouldn’t lose. But now, they are hanging street lamps.

Lin Jiang also cannot guarantee whether the targets he chooses are truly weak or pretending to be strong.

"When it comes to plundering, you may succeed 99 times, but if you lose once, everything is gone. I have plenty of time to accumulate wealth. Remember, don’t be greedy and don’t do things just for quick money."

Lin Jiang repeatedly reminded himself that he is different from others. Others don’t have time to accumulate wealth, but he does. When the time comes, he will have everything he needs.

Quietly packing up all his belongings, Lin Jiang called for Big Shadiao and Small Shadiao. This time, they did a great job and deserve a reward. Yusong’s Demon Core will be left for them.

"Brother, brother…"

Big Shadiao swallowed a Demon Core and greeted Lin Jiang warmly. Lin Jiang touched his forehead and decided not to be angry with Shadiao. After all, brothers are brothers, like a father figure. It’s almost the same.

"Chirp, chirp…"

Small Shadiao swallowed a Demon Core, rolled its eyes at Lin Jiang, and walked away with an indifferent pace. Its gaze was deep, as if contemplating a philosophical question.

"Oh my, Small Shadiao, what do you mean? You eat and drink everything of mine and you don’t even want to call me ‘father’."

Lin Jiang was very angry when he saw this. Big Shadiao and Small Shadiao should know around thirty or forty words, but Small Shadiao refuses to speak, as if it has never spoken before.

"Big Shadiao, is your little brother mute?"

Lin Jiang said to Big Shadiao. He must be mute, or why else would he refuse to call me ‘father’?

"Brother…"

Big Shadiao seemed to be out of words, as if it couldn’t speak anything else. Lin Jiang waved his hand helplessly and told it to go away and play by itself.

········

"Friend from the Taoist sect, Cloud Sword Sect’s He Shaoyun is visiting, please come quickly."

Seven days after killing Yusong, a figure appeared in front of Lin Jiang’s cave. It spoke politely, but its divine sense forcefully invaded Lin Jiang’s cave.

"Independent cultivator Lin Wu, meet the senior of Cloud Sword Sect."

Lin Jiang went outside and greeted respectfully. He knew that what was meant to happen would happen.

"Lin Wu, do you know that my He family once wanted an independent cultivator who possessed an Aurora falcon?"

"I have heard about it. Do you think that person is me, senior?"

"Not sure, so I came to ask. How long have you been in Yunzhong Mountain Range?"

"Around forty years."

"How old are you this year?"

"Eighty-seven."

"Where did you practice before coming to Yunzhong Mountain Range?"

"Roamed far and wide, the area around Tai Shou Mountain, under the Five Elements Sect in Ruiyang Mountain, Anhua City, I’ve stayed there."

"I have also been to Ruiyang Mountain, so do you know…"

He Shao Yun immediately followed Lin Jiang’s words and asked about some things near Ruiyang Mountain.

"Senior is not correct, Ruiyang Mountain stopped accepting independent cultivators a long time ago. They have set many tasks, and to join, you need to complete these tasks to earn their Merit Points. I remember that during the Building Foundation Period, it was thirty thousand Merit Points. I haven’t been there in a long time, so I don’t know the current amount."

Lin Jiang knew that every word He Shao Yun said was a trap, fortunately, he was prepared beforehand and pointed out the errors in He Shao Yun’s words.

"Taoist Friend Lin is right, I haven’t been there in a long time, I remembered incorrectly. So, Taoist Friend, where did this beast pet come from?"

"They are inherited from my parents. They should be around one hundred and sixty-seven years old. They consider me as their brother, and we have been living together since we were little."

"Can I take a look?"

"Sure."

Lin Jiang nodded and took out the Aurora falcon from the storage bag.

"Brother, eat, eat…"

As soon as Big Shadiao came out, it immediately started barking at Lin Jiang. Its huge bird head kept rubbing against Lin Jiang, almost knocking him over. When they were younger, it could only rub against Lin Jiang’s pants.

He Shaoyun reached out to touch Big Shadiao, but Big Shadiao immediately bristled and made an attacking gesture towards him. It was close to Lin Jiang, but that didn’t mean anyone could pet its fur.

"Quiet."

Lin Jiang immediately calmed Big Shadiao down and hugged it, secretly telling it to stop resisting.

He Shaoyun reached out and placed his hand on Big Shadiao’s body, his spiritual consciousness invading its body. This almost made Big Shadiao explode in anger, but Lin Jiang tried his best to soothe it.

"Sorry, Taoist Friend Lin. This is a Benefit Spirit Pill, specifically made for refining beast pets. If beast pets eat this Benefit Spirit Pill regularly, they can quickly enhance their spirituality and awaken their wisdom. Consider this as a compensation from the He family today."

He Shaoyun withdrew his hand and took out two pills as compensation.

He has already checked and found that the lifespan of the Aurora falcon is indeed around 167 years, which proves that Lin Jiang didn’t lie. In addition, other details can also serve as evidence. He Yunwei died nearly a hundred years ago, and the timeline doesn’t match.

In fact, He Shaoyun has almost forgotten who He Yunwei is. If it weren’t for his elders occasionally mentioning it, he wouldn’t even bother about it. Now, he just needs to check it out as part of his routine.

"Thank you, senior, but I dare not take it."

"There’s nothing you can’t accept. The He family is not an unreasonable family. Just keep it."

"Thank you, senior."

"Raising third-level demonic beasts is very expensive. Even maintaining their cultivation level costs a significant amount each year. If one day you no longer wish to keep them, come to the Cloud Sword Sect and I will give you a satisfactory price to take them."

He Shaoyun said that third-level beast pets are already very valuable. If Lin Jiang is willing to sell, he would really offer a high price to buy them.

"These were given by my parents, and I haven’t thought about selling them temporarily. In my eyes, they are not just beast pets, but also family."

"Understood. I’ll leave now. Come find me if you change your mind."

He Shaoyun nodded and then flew away immediately, not wanting to be entangled with Lin Jiang.

Lin Jiang breathed a sigh of relief. After passing today’s ordeal, the He family’s matter was considered over.