Chapter 612

Chapter 612: The Hidden Demonic Tribulation

Hao Yue Lin placed a huge stack of account books in front of Li Hui and tapped on the table, saying, “Do you know how hard it is for me with your extravagant spending? Do you think the Jade Symbols and Celestial Talismans are cabbages? All those powerful artifacts, gathering Heavenly Treasures and Earthly Treasures, purchasing the Bi Lan corpse, and hoarding fragments of treasures—I won’t even count those. Just look at the expenses of the city lord’s residence over the past six months! No matter how big we are, we can’t withstand such a squeeze.”

“Out of money, huh?” Li Hui smacked his forehead, realizing he had indeed been excessive.

He had already gathered the Heavenly Treasures and Earthly Treasures needed to cultivate the Ideal Body. The Hao Family’s arrangements in Mufeng City had been completely altered, and the spirit treasures paid to redeem captives from the Xiahou and He Families were all being drawn in with Jade Symbols. Raising demons was also quite costly, and managing to maintain this level was already quite a feat.

Now, the market on the Nine-Mystic Continent no longer had Jade Symbols or Celestial Talismans. The lesser Divine Talismans and Demonic Talismans had also been swept clean, effectively emptying nearly a millennium’s worth of accumulated Tao of Talismans. The Hidden Talisman Sect and Wanfu Gate probably had stock, but combined, they likely didn’t possess as many talismans as Li Hui did.

People outside said the city lord was lavish and extravagant, but if you asked Hao Yue Lin, writing those four characters a thousand times wouldn’t be enough to describe this jerk’s excessive opulence.

Li Hui chuckled, “Sorry for putting everyone in a tough spot. From today onward, all income for the city lord’s residence will go toward repaying debts, and all expenditures will be simplified. The truly good items are controlled by the ten Great Families. After a hundred years of effort, we might hope to fish out a few, but within ten years, there’s basically no chance. Let’s slowly build our strength!”

“Hmph, at least you know now.” Hao Yue Lin suddenly realized something and snapped, “No chance in ten years? Are you coming back for another round after that?”

“Only someone who understands me would say that, Sister Yue Lin.”

“Get lost! Roll as far as you can!” Hao Yue Lin was furious! It would be a miracle just to clear the debts with the bank in ten years. Everyone in the courtyard had to tighten their belts, and recently, she had almost embarrassed herself in front of her friends. She hadn’t added any new clothes for herself this year.

Li Hui quietly instructed Tie Yixin for a moment before heading back to the Ancient Tomb to work on his demon talismans.

The Nine-Mystic Continent had long cultivated many demon kings and demon emperors, as well as a fair number of demon saints equivalent to the Traveling Realm. As for whether there were demon lords comparable to those in the Void Ascension Realm, that remained unknown. Thus, items related to demons were not rare, with insect demons and half-demons being plentiful.

The substantial expenditures mainly came from collecting demon entities.

Li Hui envisioned transforming the Bi Lan into a demon and preparing various levels of monster-conjuring talismans using demon entities as mediums. He finally completed the monster-conjuring talisman formation and expected to see results within six months.

Under the protection of Mufeng City, as long as he didn’t leave, he didn’t have to worry about being pursued from the Time line. However, he could only delay for a maximum of six months—the longer it dragged on, the worse it would get.

Hao Yue Lin sighed with relief; this guy had finally stopped wasting wealth. Speaking of which, there was nothing left to waste anyway; even the outer courtyard and palaces of the city lord’s residence had been separated and sold off to wealthy merchants in exchange for treasures. Otherwise, how could the Law Prison Gate have parted with the Bi Lan corpse?

Mufeng City was growing increasingly prosperous, yet the area of the city lord’s residence had shrunk significantly, now less than half its original size. Hao Yue Lin felt angry when recalling this, but what comforted her was that it wasn’t as desolate as before; it seemed to have gotten a lot livelier.

Tie Yixin, Hao Dalong, and Luo Shan lived in the outside courtyard, moving around with guards. The city lord’s residence indeed had more presence than before. Thanks to rapid development, the fortune of Mufeng City thrived, bringing benefits to the Hao Family and seemingly closing in on the seventh position among the ten Great Families.

At this rate, in another six months to a year, the Hao Family would surely replace the Xiahou Family. Would the Xiahou Family accept that? Thus, the two families began to clash, with conflicts erupting every few days.

The outside world’s turmoil had nothing to do with Li Hui; he entered genuine seclusion and delved into the secrets of several cultivation methods while also studying the talents of the Dragon Child Bi Lan, maximizing the potential of this form.

By the fourth month of his second seclusion, a massive calamity power began to surge within the Ancient Tomb.

“It’s here! The demon tribulation!” All the talisman formations within the Ancient Tomb slowly operated, transforming the calamity power into streams directed towards even more talisman formations. Eventually, they were guided to the artifacts to transform into spirit treasures, especially focusing on cultivating the central Tian Kui Lantern, equivalent to refining for two years every day, making rapid progress.

After only three days, loud rumbling sounds filled the Ancient Tomb as the gathering speed of the calamity power suddenly skyrocketed. Many spirit treasures exuded demonic energy, seemingly on the verge of a transcendent transformation; however, taking that step proved to be extremely difficult.

Seeing this, Li Hui couldn’t help but exclaim, “Planning lies within man, but success depends on the heavens. It’s already hard for artifacts to turn into demons, but turning spirit treasures into demons is even tougher! It has already reached the Dry Sky. This is beyond human control.”

Inside the Ancient Tomb, the noises continued without leaking a sound outside.

The calamity power washed away all traces left by the original owners of the spirit treasures, and Li Sifan’s essence blood dripped, accumulating momentum.

The Bi Lan was also gradually transforming into a demon, drawing in countless calamity powers daily but getting slowly quelled by Mufeng City’s grand formation. This was unknown to the outside world, as it quietly crossed through one hurdle after another.

This situation persisted for two months, during which the energy gathered at the base of thirty-six altars consumed twenty percent of the accumulated fragments of treasures, and before the calamity could erupt with terrifying tribulation, it was completely diminished.

During this period, Li Hui gained more and more understanding of the Dragon Child Bi Lan. He was deeply astonished and thought to himself, “Incredible! The talents of this Bi Lan touch upon the Causal Law, carrying the name of the charter as ‘sue.’ If allowed to grow, it could judge causality and adjudicate the heavens!”

Inside the Ancient Tomb, countless spirit treasures underwent layered screening dynamics, with only the Yin and Yang left capable of becoming demons. The Yin, the Nine Yin Dragon Hua Umbrella, and the Yang, the Qian Yang Ding Jun Pearl, transformed into a pair of golden boy and jade girl, joyfully calling out “Father.”

“This is interesting; is Yao’er the sister or the younger sister?”

Li Hui smiled and instructed, “You two demons have received immense fortune; I name you Li Ding Jun and Li Long Hua. Take care of the cave and my body at home! Remember, the outside world is extremely dangerous. You need to train diligently and become demon saints as soon as possible, so you have the strength to protect yourselves.”

“Yes, we will diligently follow Father’s teachings.” The two demons bowed; as spirit treasures turned into demons with excellent natures, being within Mufeng City’s grand formation gave them innate understanding of everything in the city. They recognized the deceit within cultivators, realizing that newborn demon tribes were exceedingly dangerous.

“Good, I will leave you with assignments; you both need to study hard.” Li Hui nodded in satisfaction. The transformation of spirit treasures into demons was remarkable, and they already possessed formidable powers. Once they gained consciousness, their potential became limitless. With the two demons guarding the critical areas of the Ancient Tomb, he felt assured to leave.

The next day, Li Hui didn’t notify anyone and shimmered away in a flash.

About half an hour later, a stranger appeared in Yunque City, located twenty thousand miles from Mufeng City.

This man had a tall and robust appearance, wearing only a pair of black leather pants, his bare torso adorned with strange patterns painted in red, blue, green, and orange. His forehead bore several rows of small symbols, making him look like one of those foreign barbarian slaves captured from the mainland.

This barbarian walked with the gait of a dragon and tiger towards the teleportation array of Yunque City, heading to Longpan City on the Ren Water Continent.