Chapter 2267: Chapter 2269: Shanhu
The four people appointed by the Taixu Sect, Yi Jue actually knows three of them, and they are all her senior brothers and sisters whom she has surpassed along the way.
She values the camaraderie of the same sect, but only to the extent of greeting them—after all, they are no longer under the Taixu Sect’s wing.
This time, Feng Jun is taking a larger group inside, with four Elders: Yi Jue, Cang Jing, Qing Ji, and Duan Liang. As for Jing Quan, he wanted to join but was rejected by Feng Jun—you’ve been inside once already.
Additionally, with a male and a female Nascent Soul Cultivator from the Taixu Sect, there were six Nascent Soul cultivators in total.
As for Moli and two other Golden Core cultivators, they wouldn’t consume much energy points, so they were naturally overlooked.
Duan Liang also mobilized three female cultivators with Spatial Physique, all at the Exit Dust Stage. Clearly, he had heard something from Jing Quan and did not bring any Golden Core-stage female cultivators.
As for bringing an additional female cultivator with a Spatial Physique, he explained that it’s because there are too many people going, having one more person is a precaution.
Before entering the Void, Elder Duan Liang deliberately avoided a period of time.
During this period, the eight cultivators from the Taixu Sect showed Feng Jun their Storage Bags—although it was somewhat humiliating, they had already adjusted their mindset... Generally, cultivators entering and exiting the Transmission Array must be inspected, so how could one expect to come in and out of the Void without paying a price?
Their Storage Bags were not empty; to survive in the Void, they needed to bring considerable supplies, including Spirit Stones, True Treasures, Magical Treasures, Talismans, weapons, armors, Elixirs, Array Plates... some even brought minerals.
Because there have always been rumors of "Void Refinement" within the Taixu Sect, they wanted to test if the Void could possibly erode minerals and help refine the essence within them.
Of course, they brought mostly empty Storage Bags, as they didn’t want to miss out on any gains.
Feng Jun didn’t stand on ceremony and recorded the items—it was certain some of these would be consumed upon exiting the Void, but that wasn’t important. What was important was: items not on the list could be recognized as gains from the Void.
After the inspection, Moli handed a Storage Bag to Feng Jun, "Here are two thousand upper-grade Spirit Stones, but my four fellow sect members don’t earn easily, the ticket... shouldn’t be limited to just these three months, right?"
"Of course," Feng Jun replied without hesitation; he didn’t care to haggle over such matters, "They need regular breaks, but I can give a definite answer, the total duration is... thirty years in the Void."
After a while, Elder Duan Liang magically appeared, "Can we go now?"
Since there were too many True Immortals, Feng Jun had to take them inside in two batches. During the process, he also deliberately filled up on energy points, resulting in some time difference between the first and second batches.
The main group from Taixu entered in the second batch, with the first to enter being Yi Jue and the three female Elder cultivators.
Once Duan Liang, the True Immortal, and others entered, they were immediately captivated by the spectacular Broken Stone Zone, "Goodness, is this the Void?"
This time Feng Jun brought them to the Broken Stone Zone position; he didn’t plan to take them to another landmark, the Big Stone. Anyway, there were enough Taixu Sect people here; they should be able to protect Moli—after all, many had cultivated the Qi Suppression Technique!
Also, there’s plenty of Void Material here; they could play as much as they wanted. If he put them by the Big Stone, that desolate and lonely Void might make the Taixu Sect think they had been duped.
As for whether letting the Taixu Sect take away half the Void Material would be worthwhile, Feng Jun really hadn’t thought much about it. In his words—could the Void be exhausted of its treasures?
The thing is, having Sect cultivators help gather Void Material, isn’t that appealing?
Indeed, he could only take half of the materials, but is half the harvest still not significant? They not only paid the entrance fee but also expended considerable Spirit Stones, Talismans, Elixirs during treasure hunting; it’s not right to be too greedy.
After a moment of daze, Elder Duan Liang realized something, "Have Qing Ji and others begun treasure hunting?"
Yi Jue and the others had entered first, and while Feng Jun was replenishing energy points, they had already started looking for materials openly.
This made Elder Duan Liang feel particularly unbalanced; he didn’t dare confront Yi Jue, so he seized Elder Qing Ji.
Feng Jun originally didn’t want to answer, but finally said, "Elder Qing Ji can be considered my comrade; last time there was her in the group chasing Tiegu... let’s start testing the Qi Suppression Technique."
He wanted to swiftly get Elder Duan Liang to leave; this old man had too many issues.
But Elder Duan Liang was in no hurry, "Let’s first set up the camp and ensure our logistics before discussing anything else."
He wanted to delay a bit longer, but unfortunately, it seemed even heaven wasn’t giving him face, for even as he spoke, several streaks of black light flashed by.
Master Moli, having seen this before, suddenly changed expression, "Be careful everyone! These are Space-Cracking Devouring Bees!"
Space-Cracking Devouring Bees! Upon hearing those words, the people of Taixu were immediately startled: How could it be such a terrifying thing?
This creature is notorious throughout the Void, fearing nothing but the Void Herders.
However, these few Space-Cracking Devouring Bees seemed even more startled than them. As they flew halfway, they suddenly recognized someone and abruptly halted, then fled in all directions with even greater speed!
Feng Jun had been in the real world for nine months, which translates to seven and a half years in the Void. These Space-Cracking Devouring Bees had come to vaguely regard this place as their nest, somewhat forgetting the terror associated with it.
But after seeing Feng Jun, they finally realized: there was indeed a terrifying great demon king here!
However, it was too late to escape now. Feng Jun had long since recognized these creatures, opened his mouth, and spewed out a white light, "Ha!"
In the eyes of some Taixu sect members, after the flash of white light, the Space-Cracking Devouring Bees, rumored to be void overlords, abruptly stopped accelerating. Their bodies stiffened, and their wings were burnt away.
"Is that... it?" A Nascent Soul True Immortal spoke in disbelief. Even though the bodies of the Space-Cracking Devouring Bees continued to move rapidly away, anyone with eyes could tell that it was merely inertia; those hit by the white light had lost all signs of life.
Soon after, the people of Taixu discovered that converging spirit energy into a protective barrier was indeed very effective in the Void!
The Space-Cracking Devouring Bees had been scared away, but there were still so many Void Stones around. Everyone tried out their techniques one by one and found that this technique was indeed worthy of the name "Void Annihilation Technique," as the hard stones were all reduced to nothingness by the white light.
Moreover, it turned out that the older version of this technique couldn’t achieve this effect.
Elder Duan Liang’s challenge—well, it was more of a doubt—was thoroughly defeated!
After spending a day in the Void, Feng Jun returned with Elders Duan Liang, Yi Jue, Cang Jing, and Qing Ji.
Bringing four people, all at the Nascent Soul High Stage, out of the Void at once was another breakthrough for Feng Jun. After bringing them out, his energy points noticeably dropped below the warning line.
Fortunately, he had chosen Geng Zi Yuan this time. With a cupped hand in salute, he said, "Please wait a moment," and disappeared.
Elder Duan Liang didn’t even have time to react, "What does this mean... where did he go?"
"Replenishing his energy," Yi Jue wasn’t afraid to speak up. She eagerly wanted to talk about it, but she wouldn’t disclose the specifics. "Going in and out of the Void, of course, requires a price to be paid."
Elder Duan Liang was curious about the nature of Feng Jun’s energy expenses, yet before he could probe further, Elder Qing Ji straightforwardly told him, "Feng Jun wouldn’t tell us these things, so you might as well save your effort."
The four intended to wait for Feng Jun at Geng Zi Yuan for approximately a day—more than enough time.
Unfortunately, barely an hour had passed when there was a sudden flash of light coming from a distance and someone yelled loudly, "Shou Zhong, you bastard, do you think escaping back to your den and closing the teleportation will keep you safe?"
The light came extremely fast, and when this person noticed the four others, they were less than a thousand miles away. Stunned, she halted her flight and looked ahead in astonishment, "You are... Elder Yi Jue?"
Then, her shock deepened, "And... Elder Qing Ji?"
Yi Jue frowned, displeased as she looked at the newcomer. "Fellow Daoist Shanhu, please mind your manners. As an elder of the Artifact Crafting Path, how can you make such a ruckus in our Spiritual Plant Path?"
Elder Shanhu, at the Nascent Soul Eighth Layer, had an affinity for artifact crafting but limited talent. Due to her great beauty, she eventually took charge of her path’s external communications, becoming known as the social butterfly of the Artifact Crafting Path.
Her reputation was not particularly good, but nobody could pin down her actions. Nonetheless, the Artifact Crafting Path’s ability to bargain for raw materials and sell finished products improved significantly after she took charge of external communications.
Elder Shanhu cupped her hands to Yi Jue, smiling superficially, "Greetings, Fellow Daoist Yi Jue. It’s not my fault, as Fellow Daoist Shou Zhong of your path made a promise to me but failed to keep it, which is why I’m in such a rush."
The relationship between her and Yi Jue had never been good. Among beautiful women, animosity often arises naturally, and everyone envied Yi Jue’s talent. Plus, her aloof persona clashed with Elder Shanhu’s charming demeanor.
The two had met over ten times before, and Elder Shanhu would occasionally taunt Yi Jue, unbothered by the fact that Yi Jue’s cultivation was higher—after all, cultivation is one thing, combat strength is another; victory in an actual fight was uncertain.
But now she didn’t dare continue. Yi Jue’s reputation skyrocketed following a decisive battle in the Lingmu Sect, where even the immensely strong Elder Tiegu perished at her hands. Though reluctant, Elder Shanhu had to acknowledge Yi Jue’s formidable power.
Yi Jue couldn’t be bothered to engage with her. Despite Elder Shanhu’s questionable reputation, she had few unclear relationships, one of them being with True Immortal Shou Zhong. Coldly, she spoke, "Since this is personal business, and because there are numerous sect elders present, please step aside!"
(Three updates at the start of the month, during double points period, seeking your baseline monthly tickets.)
