Immortal Path Space

Chapter 328: The Fall of East Zhou

In the Hua Xue Valley Marketplace, various Spiritual Objects were sold to Treasure Hunters, while merchant caravans were dispatched to trade with various small and medium-sized factions.

The Spiritual Objects were sold at high prices to Treasure Hunters. However, the prices offered to the smaller factions were relatively low, enabling them to defend themselves effectively against Treasure Hunters' attacks.

This was essentially a way of indirectly forcing Treasure Hunters to pay higher prices, thus subsidizing the smaller factions.

Wang Hong had several reasons for doing this.

Firstly, he had no goodwill towards Treasure Hunters and was willing to take advantage of them. Treasure Hunters were one of the main culprits responsible for the current turmoil in the Cultivation World.

If Wang Hong had the power, he would have eliminated all those causing chaos in the Cultivation World. However, he was currently not strong enough and had to focus on acquiring resources from them first.

Leaving a vast amount of resources in the hands of Treasure Hunters was a waste, and it was better to have them in his own possession.

But Wang Hong didn't want Treasure Hunters to use the supplies he provided to attack the smaller factions and cause countless factions to be wiped out. That wasn't something he wanted to see.

So, selling resources to the smaller factions at slightly lower prices was a small sacrifice in terms of profit for Wang Hong. However, it helped him restrain a large number of Treasure Hunters, which was in his long-term interest.

With a vast collection of raw materials, the skills of Wang Hong's subordinates had improved significantly.

Now, the refinement of one-tier Spiritual Objects had been completely transferred to the Outer Valley, where it was handled by peripheral members. This no longer occupied the time of Inner Valley members, allowing them to dedicate more time to cultivation.

For the peripheral members, having additional refinement tasks meant increased income, which was undoubtedly a good thing.

While Wang Hong was accumulating various resources and nurturing his subordinates, the war in the Cultivation World continued.

Due to the temporary abandonment of the resistance against the Demon Clan in the eastern seas by the Human Clan, they switched to containment. This allowed the eastern Demon Clan to continuously conquer cities and territories, occupying a large area of the East Zhou Cultivation Realm.

The East Sea Demon Clan was not solely composed of aquatic Demonic Beasts; some inhabited the islands in the East Sea, while others were amphibious or avian Demonic Beasts.

Previously, these Demonic Beasts had been cautious and had not ventured too far from their aquatic counterparts. They would open waterways as they conquered territory, turning each region into a water-filled isolated island.

Now that these non-aquatic Demon Clan members had ventured into the Cultivation World, they were no longer as cautious as before. They were advancing directly towards the interior of East Zhou.

Along this path, these Demonic Beasts had annihilated countless sects and cities. Currently, they were closing in on the vicinity of Putuo Temple.

A large number of Demonic Beasts had gathered in the vicinity, seemingly ready to launch a full-scale attack on Putuo Temple.

The Buddhist cultivators stationed at Putuo Temple didn't seem to have fully grasped the concepts of life and death or the emptiness of worldly desires.

At this critical moment, they had no intention of displaying the spirit of "I would rather go to hell than you." Instead, they urgently dispatched messengers to Boundary Mountain Range to contact their Nascent Soul ancestors.

When the Nascent Soul ancestor of Putuo Temple heard about the dire situation, he was no longer calm. Previously, when Treasure Hunters were causing havoc, they couldn't threaten the six major sects, so the ancestors had remained composed.In the pursuit of victory in this war, sacrifices were inevitable. However, the Nascent Soul ancestors were unwilling to sacrifice their sects.

After a brief discussion with the other Nascent Soul ancestors, the Nascent Soul ancestor of Putuo Temple, along with the sect and its affiliated forces, left the Boundary Mountain Range overnight.

Putuo Temple took with them a dozen or so Flying Boats, erasing any advantage the Boundary Mountain Range once had.

After half a year, the wave of Demonic Beasts that had failed to attack Putuo Temple shifted their focus to the Hunyuan Sect.

During the transition to attacking the Hunyuan Sect, countless smaller factions that had been occupied were destroyed. However, the destruction of these smaller factions did not weigh heavily on anyone's minds.

The once-arrogant Treasure Hunters had already hidden or relocated to other areas when they saw the Demon Clan launching a massive invasion.

The cultivators from the Hunyuan Sect within the Boundary Mountain Range naturally chose to lead their fellow sect members back to aid in the defense.

With the return of the Hunyuan Sect cultivators, the battle in the Boundary Mountain Range lasted for another two months before it ultimately fell.

The withdrawing cultivators from the Boundary Mountain Range returned to their original factions.

At this point, the entire East Zhou Cultivation Realm had officially fallen. Demon Clans from both the east and west had entered the East Zhou Cultivation Realm without any resistance.

Many of the returning cultivators from the Boundary Mountain Range discovered that their original sects or families had already been destroyed by the Treasure Hunters.

These cultivators suddenly found themselves homeless—some joined other sects or forces, some even joined the ranks of the Treasure Hunters, while others with similar experiences gathered together.

Some chose to find a secluded place and go into seclusion.

Xue Wen, a Golden Core cultivator, had also stopped leading Flying Boats on sweeping missions. Instead, he returned to the ruins of his original sect and established a new one called the Wan Nie Sect. During this time, he absorbed a large number of homeless Foundation Building cultivators and acquired substantial resources through his recent missions.

The Wan Nie Sect now boasted hundreds of Foundation Building cultivators, making it a formidable force among medium-sized factions.

With the Boundary Mountain Range entirely lost and the Demon Clan already deep within the East Zhou region, the cultivators who had previously defended the east had no reason to remain there and returned to their respective factions.

No one was willing to confront the Demon Clan anymore; everyone was focused on their own survival.

Zhang Chunfeng also returned and made a special trip to the Mountain Valley base to meet Wang Hong.

"East Master, I'm back!"

After entering, Zhang Chunfeng performed a deep bow, prostrating himself before Wang Hong.

"Good! I'm glad you're back," Wang Hong said as he helped Zhang Chunfeng up and took a close look to ensure that Zhang Chunfeng was intact, limbs and all. Only then did he finally relax.

"Luckily, this time I had the Spirit Wine and Healing Pills you gave me, or I might not have made it back," Zhang Chunfeng said, recalling the countless dangers he had faced on the battlefield, narrowly escaping death multiple times, and losing many comrades.

The two then discussed the situation on the front lines, and Zhang Chunfeng naturally mentioned Wang Yi's circumstances over there.

Wang Hong had been hesitant to ask about Wang Yi's condition earlier, fearing the worst. Now that he knew Wang Yi was safe, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

[Read at /shanefreak, and heartfelt thankyou for your support!]