Chapter 366: Chapter 259: Sect Convention (First Update)
Ghost Ridge Palace!
Su Jie and Ning Xinyue successfully returned to the Sect.
“If there’s ever another good opportunity like this, be sure to find me again.”
Ning Xinyue hopped off the Thousand-Handed Centipede, turned her head back to Su Jie, said these words, and, humming a cheerful tune, ran off into the distance.
Su Jie, holding the new fortune he had acquired, returned to his residence’s secluded meditation room.
“Xiao Qian, let’s see what your limit is.”
...
Su Jie lifted the shrunken Thousand-Handed Centipede high into the air and piled a mountain-like heap of Spirit Stones on the ground, looking incredibly bold.
The Thousand-Handed Centipede, knowing Su Jie was about to enhance it, twisted its body excitedly.
“Go ahead and eat.”
Upon hearing this, the Thousand-Handed Centipede let out a whinny and happily began feasting.
It swallowed the Spirit Stones one by one, and soon its belly swelled up.
Su Jie then placed his hand on the head of the Thousand-Handed Centipede, beginning to use the enhancement ability for poisonous insects he had acquired after reaching the Secret Realm to modify his Lifebound poisonous insect.
The Thousand-Handed Centipede was a Mid Grade Five Refinement poisonous insect, and enhancing it was much more difficult compared to other poisonous insects.
Even with the First Level Cultivation from the Secret Realm, Su Jie did not have a smooth journey.
Fortunately, the Thousand-Handed Centipede was a Life Poisonous Insect, and it was in perfect sync with Su Jie’s intentions, very much cooperating with him, and would actively regulate its qi and blood circulation to fuse with Su Jie’s enhancement.
And those swallowed Spirit Stones transformed into a surging flow of energy, continuously baptizing the Thousand-Handed Centipede’s body, allowing the enhancement to proceed non-stop.
This enhancement process continued for three whole days and nights.
…
Three days later, Su Jie finally completed this round of enhancement.
“Xiao Qian, show me what you can do now.”
Su Jie took the Thousand-Handed Centipede to the training ground of his residence and took out a three-meter-diameter, twenty-meter-long solid cast alloy iron column from his Storage Bag.
This thing was used by the Puppet Hall as a tool for a certain kind of pressing machine effect, but it got damaged and was scrapped. Usually, Su Jie took it to tease the Thousand-Handed Centipede for fun, similar to a cat toy.
But because it was too heavy, Su Jie could hardly move it himself; aside from barely fitting it into his Storage Bag, he could only roll it down from the high mountain using a massive number of Pale Corpse Hands, and the Thousand-Handed Centipede liked to chase after it for play, rolling along while standing on top of it.
Sizzle!
At Su Jie’s command, the body of the Thousand-Handed Centipede swelled as it caught the wind and returned to its eighty-meter original form before it opened its massive mouth.
Compared to before, the mouth of the Thousand-Handed Centipede had completely changed.
Its mouth now featured a pair of razor-like mandibles, much like those of many beetles.
In the past, although the Thousand-Handed Centipede was large, due to its structural limitations, its mandibles lacked sufficient biting power, making it weaker than other beetle-type poisonous insects of the same level.
This time, Su Jie focused on transforming the Thousand-Handed Centipede’s mouthparts, endowing it with a much greater threat in close combat.
The massive mandibles of the Thousand-Handed Centipede opened wide, and it took a bite.
In the next moment, the seemingly indestructible body seemed to contain infinite potential, as the power and biting force exploded forth like a landslide.
Crack!
With one bite, the alloy steel column sparked and distorted, and the Thousand-Handed Centipede bit it in half at the waist.
The broken edge wasn’t smooth, showing many uneven traces, which further demonstrated the power of the Thousand-Handed Centipede’s razor-like mandibles.
With such a terrifying biting force, any cultivator who got close and bitten by the Thousand-Handed Centipede in the future would present an incredibly gruesome scene.
The Thousand-Handed Centipede, seemingly aware of the ferocity of its mandibles, proceeded to bite the remaining steel column, breaking it into segments, the massive noise echoing all around.
Su Jie tried to take out the White Bone Sky Slaying Sword and activated the sword technique.
“Xiao Qian.”
With a loud shout from Su Jie, the Thousand-Handed Centipede stood tall and proud as the White Bone Sky Slaying Sword, cutting through clouds and piercing the sky, slashed towards its mandibles.
A fierce collision and frictional noise rang out, and a mere faint dent appeared on the Thousand-Handed Centipede’s pair of mandibles, which were almost unscathed under the attack of the Top Grade Magical Artifact, the White Bone Sky Slaying Sword.
Crack!
Then the Thousand-Handed Centipede bit down sharply, with its razor mandibles clamping down on the White Bone Sky Slaying Sword. An eruption of terrifying biting strength made the sword violently tremble, and a fierce struggle began between the two.
One side exhaling a sword aura sharp enough to easily pierce steel, the White Bone Sky Slaying Sword attempted to penetrate the mandibles.
The other side, relying on the monstrous strength of the beast and mandibles even tougher than steel, sought to snap the White Bone Sky Slaying Sword.
After about ten minutes of intense struggle, the trembling of the White Bone Sky Slaying Sword grew weaker, and a faint sound of fracturing could be heard from within it. Continuing this would surely result in the Top Grade Magical Artifact being bitten into pieces by the Thousand-Handed Centipede.
In this battle of might, the Thousand-Handed Centipede proved to be the superior one.
At this point, the Thousand-Handed Centipede’s mandibles could even crush a Top Grade Magical Artifact, which highlighted the significant boost in strength it gained from this enhancement.
Against a normal Mid Grade Magical Artifact, it would certainly not withstand a single bite from the Thousand-Handed Centipede and would be destroyed on the spot.
“Xiao Qian, that’s enough.”
Su Jie clapped his hands, and the Thousand-Handed Centipede finally released its mandibles, not wishing to truly damage its master’s weapon. It then ran over to Su Jie, happily rubbing its head against him, its eyes full of joyful expression, and then it turned to look at its other body parts.
The implication was clear; it wished for Su Jie to also enhance its other parts.
“No more money.”
Stroking the cold mandibles of the Thousand-Handed Centipede, Su Jie had already poured over a hundred thousand Spirit Stones into it, just to grant the creature unparalleled mandibles.
The Thousand-Handed Centipede shrank its body, ran back into Su Jie’s arms, and began to roll back and forth as if acting like a spoiled child.
“Acting spoiled is useless; your master is truly poor now.”
Flipping the Thousand-Handed Centipede’s forehead, Su Jie thought about how just strengthening its mouthparts had used such an enormous amount of resources. To enhance its larger body and the hundreds of Corpse Hands would cost an unknown number of Spirit Stones, a cost Su Jie simply could not afford at present.
For the Thousand-Handed Centipede, this kind of enhancement wasn’t akin to an overall evolution of a poisonous insect, but more like assembling a racing car; it was about swapping in better basic components for the insect.
Su Jie, of course, also wanted to upgrade the Thousand-Handed Centipede to top configuration, but alas, his pocket was embarrassingly empty, and he genuinely couldn’t afford it.
“Master, someone requests an audience.”
While Su Jie was interacting with the Thousand-Handed Centipede, suddenly there were footsteps from outside.
Turning around, Su Jie saw the steward leading in a Disciple from the Law Enforcement Team.
Upon seeing Su Jie, the Disciple immediately handed over a document and a transmission token, respectfully saying,
“Master Su, the Sect Master has convened a Sect meeting; please proceed to the Sect Grand Hall immediately.”
Unfolding the document, Su Jie glanced through it and his brow relaxed.
“Lead the way.”
“Yes, sir!”
The Disciple from the Law Enforcement Team immediately took the lead. Although they were a team directly under the Sect Master, Su Jie was an Elder of the Secret Realm, truly a pillar of the Sect, and his status was far above theirs.
Unconsciously, Su Jie was no longer the insignificant character who had to bow and yield in the face of the Law Enforcement Team.
Walking along the path, Su Jie arrived at the Sect Grand Hall by the mountain gate.
He saw that the place was towering into the clouds, imposing and magnificent, with two Xuanxiao Parasol Trees standing like guardians at the entrance, their branches lush and leaves abundant.
The surroundings were paved with blue stones, the walls stood tall, and the rooftop of the hall was carved with dragons and phoenixes made of Tiangang Stones as spiritual materials, lifelike and radiating a splendid glow.
Sunlight poured through the many windows outside the hall, making the entire interior dazzlingly bright.
The Sect Grand Hall was where the Elders discussed important matters, and it wasn’t open on normal days. If it was open, it meant something big was happening.
Since joining Ghost Ridge Palace, Su Jie had only experienced two Sect Grand Hall meetings.
One was about the rampant Alien Ghosts, and the other was about the Sect Wars—both events having a far-reaching impact on Su Jie.
Originally, Su Jie could only stay inside the gates, waiting for orders based on the outcomes of the Sect Grand Hall meetings.
Now, he was one of the members inside the hall, with every word and action potentially affecting countless Outer Disciples and Inner Disciples of Ghost Ridge Palace.
“Master Su!”
The Disciples from the Law Enforcement Team standing guard saw Su Jie, and they promptly greeted and opened the heavy glazed crystal door for him, providing a passageway to the interior.
With a step, Su Jie entered, and the grand hall seemed to grow even more solemn. Directly ahead, a large image of the ancestor was hung on the wall, with Sect Master Zhang Junwei sitting beneath it. Along two sides, a row of high chairs were placed, already occupied by about twenty Elders. All but those with guarding duties were present.
Looking around, Taoist Qiu, Tang Peiqing, Xiao Fengyuan, and a few other familiar faces were there.
Su Jie took a seat next to Taoist Qiu, and the Elders in the hall thought to themselves that with Su Jie, this Immortal Seed among them, Taoist Qiu’s lineage was likely to grow stronger.
“I heard you’ve been out on a trip?”
Taoist Qiu looked at Su Jie, who, having used his Elder privileges to pass through the Mountain Protection Array and leave the Sect, was naturally known to have left.
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“Hmm, went out to have a bit of fun,” Su Jie nodded, keeping the actual circumstances to himself.
“Master, when does it begin?” In defense against Taoist Qiu’s further inquiry, Su Jie changed the subject.
Attending a Sect Grand Hall meeting for the first time, Su Jie was quite curious.
“Just two more to come, soon,” answered Taoist Qiu, closing his eyes to rest. As he had said, before long, the last two Elders arrived.
With the hall doors closed and the formation activated, the meeting officially began.
“The reason I’ve summoned everyone is to discuss the matter of forming an alliance with Heavenly Soul Sect,” announced Zhang Junwei, unleashing the topic. Ghost Ridge Palace wanted to break the siege of the Righteous sects and needed external assistance. Heavenly Soul Sect was the chosen ally.
“The specific terms of cooperation with Heavenly Soul Sect have been preliminarily settled. They require payment of eight million Spirit Stones after defeating Righteous Cultivators and our assistance in establishing their Mountain Gate in the Nanyang City region.
In return, we demand that Heavenly Soul Sect must fully mobilize, deploying at least twenty Elders from the Secret Realm, one at the Taoist Platform Realm, and five thousand Disciples to join in battle, striking the Righteous Sects from both front and back in unison with us,” said Zhang Junwei, stating the demands of the cooperation, which to Ghost Ridge Palace, were actually not excessive.
Eight million Spirit Stones were indeed a large sum. Many of the less advanced Elders barely had a few tens of thousands of Spirit Stones, with those newly promoted perhaps not even possessing ten thousand.
Seasoned Elders could boast assets of two or three hundred thousand, while individuals like Tang Peiqing—who had lived for hundreds of years—or combat-powerhouses like Taoist Qiu in the Secret Realm, might have wealth exceeding a million.
It was thus evident how vast a fortune eight million Spirit Stones represented, but considering Ghost Ridge Palace’s current beleaguered state, if the siege could be lifted, the cost was entirely acceptable.