Chapter 912: Chapter 912: On the Road to Riches
The situation on the Celestial Court Army’s side is going smoothly. After Ji Nanhong ascended to power, she employed some of the former generals, most of whom were those who once followed the Ji and Xiu families, maintaining the stability of the basic core.
At the same time, she also promoted some young backbone who had originally followed her, which surprised Chen Guan and Ji Nanhong.
Over these years, Qi Zhi’an had elevated Shi Zhimen to a very high position, and now he is also a corps leader within the Great Cave Heaven.
Nowadays, Ji Nanhong doesn’t need to adjust his position anymore, allowing him to continue leading the team within the Great Cave Heaven.
As for Zhu Hongzhi and Bai Yueguang, Ji Nanhong has given them opportunities to see if they can assume higher positions. Whether they can advance further depends on their capabilities.
Besides the old core, Ji Nanhong also promoted many individuals left behind by the Xiu family, including Leng Zhe, Xiu Haofeng, and others.
Originally, the Celestial Court Army’s difficulties weren’t considered issues by Ji Nanhong at all.
The Southern Heavenly Kingdom naturally wouldn’t make things difficult for the current Celestial Court Army. Ji Nanhong dispatched the Celestial Court Army to the Treasure Pillar Grotto Heaven to reclaim the previous Celestial Court Army station, thereby restoring the normal resource supply and getting the Celestial Court Army back on track, no longer running at a deficit.
However, the current territorial range of the Celestial Court Army within the Treasure Pillar Grotto Heaven is still incomparable to before; many top-tier resource areas have not been returned by the Southern Heavenly Kingdom.
The Celestial Court Army’s affairs are going smoothly, whereas the Feng Family and Qi Tianxin are overwhelmed.
Ji Fenglie repeatedly extorted from them, taking away many valuables, yet the people haven’t been returned.
Now they understand that Ji Fenglie never intended to let people go but to use Feng Wuci repeatedly for extortion.
By not complying, they keep receiving parts of Feng Wuci’s body; even when they comply, people don’t return, only to start again after some time, caught in a vicious cycle.
The Feng Family and Qi Tianxin tried countless methods to no avail, unable to locate these two people at all.
"One Ji Fenglie couldn’t possibly have such great capability, it certainly must be the Great Demon Qing Bai who saved him from the Ji family; only he would have such capability, he indeed isn’t dead," said the head of the Feng Family, Feng Tieshu, with a grave expression during the family meeting.
"That’s right. Back then, it was our Ten Great Families that teamed up to drive him out of the Ancestral Court, nearly costing him his life. He definitely wouldn’t let our family people go, especially since Wuci is old Qi’s wife, making it even impossible for him to let her return alive."
"Definitely, continuing to send things to Ji Fenglie is useless, as people simply won’t return."
"Now, this isn’t just a matter for our Feng Family; the Great Demon is a public enemy of the Divine Land—other families should pitch in; it can’t just be us handling the Great Demon alone."
"Definitely, we must spread the news to the other families. By joining forces, we can find and eliminate the Great Demon, then freeing Ji Fenglie and rescuing Wuci will be easy."
The people of the Feng Family discussed fervently, mostly advocating notifying other families to unite in dealing with Ji Fenglie and the emerging Great Demon.
"Knowing the nature of the Great Demon, if done this way, Wuci will probably not return alive; everyone please think it over," said Qi Tianxin.
"Old Qi, we understand your feelings, knowing you genuinely care for Wuci, but Wuci is not captured by ordinary people. You know how sinister, cunning, and ruthless that Great Demon is; it’s impossible for Wuci to return alive from his hands," the members of the Feng Family persuaded Qi Tianxin.
Previously, when Qi Tianxin was Chief Judge, they called him Chief Qi. Now, they refer to him simply as Old Qi.
Besides Qi Tianxin’s loss of power influence, this matter has indeed had practical effects on different factions within the Feng Family.
The resources used to redeem Feng Wuci mostly came from the Feng Family.
If it weren’t for Feng Celestial King and Qi Tianxin’s insistence, they wouldn’t have been willing to pay ransom long ago.
Qi Tianxin could only look to Feng Celestial King for help, who sighed and said, "Tianxin, I understand your sentiments, but Wuci being taken by the Great Demon means it’s fate. This is not a problem we can solve alone; we can only notify other families to jointly confront the Great Demon. Perhaps Wuci still has a sliver of chance."
"This is the only option then." Qi Tianxin smiled wryly.
The Feng Family’s news quickly reached other families.
Originally, all major families suspected that the Great Demon hadn’t died and that the one who rescued Ji Fenglie from the Ji family was him; otherwise, who else could possibly utilize the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique?
With the issue of Feng Wuci emerging now, the major families are even more suspicious that the Great Demon is indeed still alive.
Therefore, all major families dispatched people to the Feng Family to assist them and Qi Tianxin in unraveling whether Ji Fenglie indeed has connections to the Great Demon.
Yet, despite using all sorts of extraordinary methods, and even invoking the Secret Law that locks life with blood, they still couldn’t find them.
Due to their involvement, the Feng Family, which originally didn’t want to pay ransom again, had to prepare ransom once more.
The individuals sent by various families all sought to leverage the opportunities when Ji Fenglie came for the ransom to employ some tactics, hoping to discover their whereabouts.
The result was that the ransom sent repeatedly vanished without a trace. They couldn’t find the people or see them.
Of course, they couldn’t see them because those collecting the ransom were not even people.
Chen Guan sat on a jade-like lotus leaf surrounded by a lake full of blooming lotuses.
A hideous large toad, sitting cross-legged like a Buddha, was on the lotus leaf beside Chen Guan.
The Secret Spirits of Tai Lake, Tai Lotus, and Tai Saint are now loyal believers under Chen Guan’s command.
These were the ones taking the ransom, traversing underground with peerless Divine Power, stealthily snatching the things away.
With the help of Liquid Elemental Energy provided by Chen Guan, the three Secret Spirits had now reached the peak of Ninth Awakening.
Their own realm and cultivation had also achieved very high levels, motivated by the Spirit of the Cheerleaders.
Any one of them alone was already stronger than the Evil Luo King. Combined, even facing the Weeping Asura, they had the capability to fight.
Unless the Celestial King personally intervened, there were few under heaven capable of defeating them.
All major families were focused on chasing down the Great Demon and Ji Fenglie, not realizing that Ji Fenglie wasn’t involved at all in subsequent actions and that the ones operating were wild Secret Spirits.
"Master... the things have arrived..." Tai Saint grinned.
Chen Guan glanced across the lake, seeing lotuses blooming on the surface, each lotus containing a piece of Secret Treasure, the very items extorted from the Feng Family by Chen Guan.
"It seems the Ten Great Families contributed as well; otherwise, things wouldn’t be prepared so quickly and thoroughly." Chen Guan naturally received the news, knowing that the Ten Families and the Ancestral Court had intervened.
He certainly wasn’t afraid, but rather pleased, because without them stepping forward, the Feng Family might have ceased sending ransom long ago.
Chen Guan waved his hand, and the Secret Realm Pearl in his hand shone, collecting all those Secret Treasures.
Slaying Secret Spirits couldn’t compare to this fast resource acquisition—this is truly the pathway to fortune.
