Immortals of the End Times

Chapter 91: The Perilous Situation of the Cold Moon, the Depletion of Spiritual Energy (Long Chapter, Bonus Chapter for the Alliance Leader Immortal)

"Heh, Junior Nephew Zhao, with your skinny arms and legs and mere early-stage Qi Refining strength, you really want to help Hua Qingshuang?"

Yan Lan covered her mouth and chuckled, a red glint flashing in her eyes, and said calmly, "You do have some loyalty, but your current situation is not good."

Zhao Wuji was taken aback, his heart filled with vigilance, but he bowed respectfully and said, "What does Master Uncle want to say? This disciple is all ears."

Yan Lan, with one hand on her hip and her red dress trailing on the ground, slowly paced and said, "Junior Sister Hua, I'm afraid something unexpected is really going to happen this time."

The cave master has issued the order to divide the peaks.

Before Junior Sister Hua returned, the resources and disciples of Cold Moon Peak and Lonely Cloud Peak were jointly managed and controlled by me and Elder Liang.

In this situation, any intelligent person should know how to make a choice.

Yan Lan suddenly turned around, her phoenix eyes narrowing slightly:
Whether Hua Qingshuang can return alive and whether she can retain her position as peak master is still unknown.

"But if you pledge your allegiance to me now..."

"With my careful guidance and your exceptional talent in both alchemy and swordsmanship, becoming a candidate for peak master will be a piece of cake for you in the future."

"Junior Brother Zhao, don't agree to her! Our Peak Master will definitely be alright."

Just then, a figure in pure white appeared at the bend of the mountain road not far away. Dai Zhiyun appeared, her expression tense and worried.

"Disrespectful to elders." Yan Lan suddenly flicked her sleeve, the wide sleeves billowing like crimson waves.

Dai Zhiyun was immediately thrown three zhang away like a kite with a broken string, and fell to the ground.

"Uncle Yan!"

Zhao Wuji frowned, but bowed respectfully and said, "Thank you for your favor towards me, but since I was introduced to the immortal sect by Peak Master Hua, I will not join any other sect, lest my Dao heart be clouded!"

"Oh?"

Yan Lan suddenly flipped her red sleeves, her figure flashing like a crimson flame, and in an instant she was close to Zhao Wuji, their noses almost touching.

Her phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, a crimson light swirling within them, making Zhao Wuji's face appear even paler.

In an instant!
The overwhelming and terrifying spiritual power, like the scorching sunlight, assaulted Zhao Wuji's entire body, causing his skin to sting and burn.

Yan Lan's red lips curled slightly, her voice like poison laced with honey, "You dare disobey me, but what if I insist that you obey?"

Zhao Wuji felt as if he were in a furnace, his pores were stinging, and even his heart was being squeezed by the intense spiritual power. His breath turned into wisps of smoke in the air.

Especially when she saw Yan Lan's dangerous yet alluring face so close to her, and her slightly reddened eyes, which were full of threat and dominance.

Perhaps the only source of comfort was the restless Yang Pearl in his sea of ​​consciousness, which quietly absorbed a trace of the overflowing crimson flame true essence, making his mind slightly clearer.

"Your Dao heart is clouded?" Yan Lan chuckled, a dangerous glint appearing in her phoenix eyes. "I've always been used to competing with Junior Sister Hua. If you don't want it, I'll just leave a mark on your Dao heart today."

She gently raised her hand, extended her red fingernail, and touched Zhao Wuji's heart with her finger.

Zhao Wuji suddenly felt a burning pain in his chest, as if branded with a hot iron. He frowned tightly, and as he struggled with his inner turmoil, the Cold Soul Flying Sword at his waist hummed incessantly.

"...Maybe I should just give in for now. The 'dusty of the Dao heart' is just an excuse. This Master Yan seems to be serious. I'll give in for now. A true man can bend and stretch."

"Once Peak Master Hua returns, my dusty Dao heart will be cleansed again."

He wasn't a blockhead, and with a determined look in his eyes, he was about to speak when...

"Hmph, what a stubborn fool..." Yan Lan suddenly snorted coldly, withdrew her fingers from his body, flicked her wide sleeves, and retreated in a streak of flames.

She glanced sideways, her red lips slightly parted:

"Since you are unwilling to pledge allegiance to me, there's nothing more to say. I won't bother with juniors like you, but others might be different."

Zhao Wuji was covered in sweat, feeling as if he had been granted a pardon.

He had almost agreed to his senior's request, but upon hearing this, he was astonished. "Who are the other people you're referring to, senior?"

Yan Lan paused and glanced indifferently at the burn mark on Zhao Wuji's chest. "You are not one of my people, so why would I point the way for you?"
Be careful. If you can't hold on and want to back out, Crimson Flame Peak is a safe path.
"If it weren't for your exceptional alchemy skills, I wouldn't even bother to glance at you based on your mere sword-wielding combat abilities."

After saying that, her figure suddenly transformed into a ball of flame, flying out of the Flaming Sun Wheel and soaring into the sky.

Be careful of others.

Zhao Wuji frowned as he watched Yan Lan's departing figure, his mind involuntarily conjuring up the image of the Empress from his dream.

The dream had previously foreshadowed a connection between the Empress and Yan Lan.

But now it seems that Yan Lan is trying to recruit him by applying pressure, and does not intend to really harm him.

According to the other party, even if they don't do anything, someone might still take action against them later.

The Empress may have connections in the Linglang Cave, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have other connections.

"The peak master is in bad shape; all the pressure is on me. I need to improve my strength as soon as possible!"

Zhao Wuji looked down at the charred fingerprints on his robe.

Wisps of smoke were still rising from the edge of the fabric, only burning the skin on his chest.

This was both a warning and a way of leaving room for maneuver, as if telling him to think it over carefully.

Fortunately, this one finger brought at least two strands of yang energy.

"My hidden strength is at the fourth level of Qi Refining, so it will be very difficult for me to break through for the time being. However, I can pretend to rely on the Dragon Tiger Pill to break through to the third level of Qi Refining."

"A blue-robed disciple at the third level of Qi Refining is considered a backbone force in the cave heaven. He can be exempted from the deadly patrol missions on the border and can receive priority in the allocation of medicinal materials from the medicinal fields. As long as he doesn't leave the cave heaven for the time being, he shouldn't be in too much danger."

Zhao Wuji pondered for a moment, then went over and helped the injured Dai Zhiyun up.
In the following days, a series of terrible news reports came in frequently.

The states of Qian and Xuan clashed again, and blood-red clouds covered the sky for three days without dissipating.

The cultivators of Yunfeng Cave Heaven directly participated in the war between mortals, dispatching corpse drivers to plant "Yin Corpse Flags" all over the battlefield, driving the corpses of dead soldiers into the battle, causing the Xuan Kingdom's soldiers to retreat in defeat and fall into chaos.

Although Linlang Cave Heaven quickly dispatched many gray-robed disciples and a small number of green-robed disciples to participate in the battle, it could only delay the situation.

This was because there were powerful mid-to-high-level cultivators in Yunfeng Cave who had taken action.

On the other hand, although the cultivators sent out by the Linglang Cave Heaven immediately confronted them, they fought with restraint, as if they were worried about something.

In this situation, the environment inside the cave changes every day.

Because many gray-robed disciples were taken away, the mountain-protecting formation had no disciples to supply and maintain it, which created a gap in spiritual energy. As a result, the spiritual energy of many peaks, such as Cold Moon Peak, was drawn away, and the spiritual energy available for cultivation was also sharply reduced.

Zhao Wuji had originally planned to seize the time to properly cultivate his magic, improving his guiding, spirit communication, and ball manipulation techniques.

However, the once abundant spiritual energy is now extremely thin, almost comparable to the outer Lotus Peak where I first entered the sect, and it is even decreasing sharply.

In such an environment, even if he consumes four strands of spiritual energy a day, he simply cannot recover within a day, let alone consume the spiritual energy of the cave to cultivate spells.

On this day, even a deacon from the Spirit Monitoring Hall came to check the spiritual energy.

“Junior Brother Zhao, the spiritual energy consumption of your Cold Moon Peak over the past three months has been truly enormous. According to the monitoring array compass, apart from the Flower Peak Master’s cave, your cave has consumed a huge amount of spiritual energy, nearly 30% of the amount of the Flower Peak Master’s cave.”

The senior disciple who came to the door drew a line on a compass artifact with his fingertip, and it immediately appeared.

The powerful spiritual energy flow in Hua Qingshuang's cave, and the unusually active vortex in Zhao Wuji's residence.
His expression was serious. "Now that Peak Master Hua is not here, it is my duty to collect the excessive spiritual energy depletion fee for these three months, which totals four source crystals."

"Excessive consumption of spiritual energy is even punishable by a fine."

Looking at his senior brother's stern face, Zhao Wuji inwardly complained and was speechless.

When Master Hua was alive, no one came to him to pay the fine for excessive consumption of spiritual energy. Could it be that Master Hua had already paid them all?

However, he was now out of Source Crystals, so he could only greet him with a smile and bow, saying, "Please be lenient with me for a few days, Steward Wang. I currently have no Source Crystals in my residence, only some pills and spiritual materials. Once I have prepared the Source Crystals, I will immediately go to the Spirit Monitoring Hall to hand them over."

Upon hearing this, Steward Wang's lips twitched slightly. He looked Zhao Wuji up and down, never expecting that such a renowned master of both alchemy and swordsmanship would be so poor.

He glanced towards the alchemy room out of the corner of his eye, his Adam's apple bobbed slightly, and he pondered, "Very well, I'll grant you three days!"

"Ah! Thank you, Steward Wang!"

Zhao Wuji smiled and saw Steward Wang off before returning to his cave.

Seeing Xiaoyue looking over with the same expectant gaze, the two, master and servant, exchanged a glance and couldn't help but sigh with regret.

Even a hero can be brought down by a penny; without learning from the master's way of managing the household, one cannot know the cost of firewood, rice, oil, and salt.

Life is tough now, and he has to rely on himself. In the past few days, familiar fellow disciples such as Mao Zizhen and Yan Boyuan have come to visit him. They know about the situation of Peak Master Hua and told him to let them know if he has any difficulties. It is a rare kindness in the Cold Cave Heaven.

However, Zhao Wuji knew that the resource quotas of each peak were being reduced and that his fellow disciples were also struggling to survive. He simply kept this friendship in his heart and did not trouble the two of them.

"Although spiritual energy resources are currently scarce, at least the danger that Peak Master Yan warned of has not yet occurred."

As long as one stays in the cave to cultivate, there should be no problem.

Zhao Wuji immediately took stock of the supplies in the cave.

Thirty Bigu Pills, ten Golden Spear Fiery Pills, and six Dragon Tiger Pills.

There are also some low-grade spiritual materials and ancient books.

He took some pills and decided to go to the Hall of True Inheritance to upgrade his waist token, transforming his blue robe True Inheritance waist token into a three-stripe one.

"Junior Nephew Zhao, you've already reached the third level of Qi Refining so quickly? I remember you entered the Cave Heaven only about four months ago, right?"

Inside the True Inheritance Hall, a blue-robed steward was somewhat astonished to sense the triple spiritual power of Qi Induction emanating from Zhao Wuji's body.

"To my shame, before I entered the cave heaven, I received guidance from Peak Master Hua, and at that time I was already at the first level of Qi Induction."

Zhao Wuji smiled and bowed, "Things have been rather turbulent lately, and I wanted to improve my strength, so I took two more Dragon Tiger Pills. I didn't expect to break through so easily."

The blue-robed deacon was even more astonished, and then filled with envy and jealousy.

It's great to be able to refine pills; you can eat Dragon Tiger Pills like candy.

I actually ate two at once, and my body didn't get overly full; in fact, I even broke through a barrier.

He offered his congratulations on the surface, but his words carried a hint of jealousy as he sarcastically said, "Junior Brother Zhao, please be careful. Using pills to break through to the next level can easily cause instability in your foundation. Be careful not to lose all your potential later."

After saying that, he added a note to the notebook: Breakthrough with elixir!

"Yes, thank you for your guidance, Deacon Zhang." Zhao Wuji bowed and accepted the true inheritance token.

Three cloud patterns flowed and shone on the jade token.

After his token was upgraded to three bars, he was no longer considered a low-ranking member of the true lineage, and his status and identity improved.

No matter how much the reputation of being a master of both alchemy and swordsmanship spread in the past, it was only an improvement in fame. In reality, his status and position were still that of a two-stripe true disciple who had just entered the cave heaven.

Currently, the sect is only conscripting disciples in blue robes to go to the battlefield.

Once it comes to the true teachings of the Blue Robe, his name will definitely be on the first list.

At this moment, Deacon Zhang caught a glimpse of the burn mark on Zhao Wuji's chest out of the corner of his eye, and deliberately raised his voice: "Oh dear, Junior Brother Zhao's robe."

He rubbed his fingers together and said with a smile, "Two source crystals will be enough to get a new one, do you want it?"

"Two source crystals?"

Zhao Wuji waved his hand in polite refusal.

We're too poor right now.

Let's wear this robe that was burned by Senior Uncle Yan again first. This can be considered a record of loyalty to Peak Master Hua in the future.

He then brought the pills to the market inside the cave, intending to trade some source crystals to get through the difficult period of scarce spiritual energy.

Dongfu Market is located in Heyue Valley, between the inner and outer gates.

This place used to be quite deserted.

In the Dharma-ending Age, resources are scarce, and most disciples are poor.

Those who have some resources keep them to themselves and rarely flaunt them in transactions, adhering to the principle of keeping their wealth hidden.

However, the situation has become tense recently, with the air suggesting that war is about to break out even in the most remote places, which has made the market bustling with activity.

Most disciples worry about being sent out of the cave to carry out dangerous missions.

At this critical juncture, everyone naturally wants to purchase talismans, magical artifacts, or elixirs that can enhance their strength.

On the contrary, semi-finished spiritual materials were ignored and became cheap commodities.

After wandering around the market, Zhao Wuji had become familiar with the situation.

Along the way, several familiar faces recognized him, came over to greet him, and enthusiastically called him "Senior Brother Zhao".

"Given the current situation, if I were to sell Dragon Tiger Pills, I'm afraid quite a few people would be scrambling to buy them."

Zhao Wuji pondered for a moment, then came to an open area and laid out a piece of blue cloth he was carrying on the ground.

Then he placed a few bottles of pills on the table, ready to give a shout.

Several people had already gathered around the stall; they were none other than the fellow apprentices who had greeted him warmly earlier.

"Senior Brother Zhao, you really are here to sell pills?"

Do you have Dragon Tiger Pills?

"How much are you selling them for? If there are too many people later, we won't be able to get any."

Before these people could finish speaking, several more people immediately gathered around.

"Isn't that Senior Brother Zhao, the master of both alchemy and swordsmanship? Everyone come and see, Senior Brother Zhao has actually set up a stall in the market."

That shout immediately attracted a lot of attention.

Zhao Wuji felt his face burning slightly, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

He just wanted to set up a low-key stall, but this person was shouting his name so loudly, it sounded like he was trying to humiliate him.

However, in just a short while, many people were drawn to gather around, as many disciples had heard of the Dragon Tiger Pill.

If one could acquire one today and break through to a higher realm, it might be a lifesaver in the current turbulent and dangerous situation.

"Senior Brother Zhao, name your price for the Dragon-Tiger Pill!"

"I'll offer three Source Crystals!"

"Stand aside. I'll offer four pieces! Plus a level one magic weapon, the Flying Fish Shuttle."

"The name of this Golden Spear Fiery Pill over there sounds even more domineering than the Dragon Tiger Pill. What kind of elixir is it?"

At the same time, outside the Lingcai Hall, a golden palanquin soared through the air, its flowing silk curtains moving without wind, revealing a graceful figure seated within.

Upon seeing this, the waiting disciples hurriedly bowed and kowtowed, not daring to look directly at their former senior sister whom they had always revered.

The carriage curtain was slightly lifted, revealing a slender, white hand with nail polish as red as blood at the fingertips.

Then, Empress Yu Lanxi of Xuan Kingdom slowly descended, her phoenix eyes slightly lowered as she swept over the crowd.

She wore a black robe with gold phoenixes, the hem of which trailed three inches on the ground. With each step she took, a subtle fragrance seemed to waft through the air, yet she exuded an unyielding and authoritative aura.

"Elder Liang, it's been a long time. Your disciple has returned to pay his respects, but why do you refuse to see me?"

She parted her red lips slightly, her voice as clear as ice spring water striking jade.

A voice came from inside the hall, saying calmly, "Lanxi, now that you are the Empress, what important matter has brought you here in person? Is it because you heard that this elder has gained more power that you remembered to come and offer your congratulations?"

There seemed to be a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

"Elder Liang, I was ignorant in the past, and if I have offended you in any way."

The Empress shook her head, her fingertips gently stroking a jade bracelet on her wrist, and said softly, "I have heard that the Linglang Grotto Heaven has been frequently conscripting disciples recently. Coincidentally, there have been unusual movements on the border of the Xuan Kingdom. I would like to ask Elder Liang to... arrange a capable person to go and investigate."

A soft laugh echoed from inside the Spirit Materials Hall. "You just got turned away by Peak Master Yan, didn't you? If Peak Master Yan isn't willing to help, this old man wouldn't dare to interfere recklessly. You may go now."

"It is precisely because Peak Master Yan is unwilling to help that this disciple has no choice but to trouble you, Elder."

The Empress spoke gently, yet each word was like a knife: "This disciple will not be able to sit in this position of Empress for long."

If the elder can help this disciple this time, I will wait until I return to my grotto-heaven…

Inside the Spiritual Materials Hall, Elder Liang, sitting cross-legged, had a dark look in his eyes, but he finally showed some signs of relenting.
(End of this chapter)