I forge immortality with spiritual treasures.

Chapter 116 Right and Wrong
Upon hearing this, Ying Chan also turned his gaze in that direction.

Soon, the clouds in the sky had disappeared above Mount Ling, and then the light shifted, revealing several figures: a refined Taoist, a gaunt old man, and a woman in palace attire...

They varied in appearance, but all of them radiated a bright light of Dharma and possessed remarkable spiritual cultivation.

They arrived together and were quite surprised to see the two figures.

Someone whispered, "An unfamiliar face. Could it be a new recruit from that Sky Tower sorcerer?"

The gaunt-looking old man squinted at the two men and said, "I observe that these two men have dignified appearances and pure Daoist auras, and do not resemble unorthodox cultivators."

At this moment, the refined-looking Taoist priest at the head of the group twitched his eyebrows, then suddenly descended from the clouds, bowed, and asked, "Is it Taoist Flying Phoenix in person?"

"Flying Phoenix Taoist?"

Some of the group exchanged glances, while others realized what was happening and were secretly alarmed: "Flying Phoenix Daoist, could it be that Xuandu Qiao Honghu?"

Sure enough, Qiao Honghu calmly replied, "It is indeed me, Qiao."

"Sure enough!"

The refined Taoist priest said with delight, "I am Qi Yuanzhou, the esteemed sect leader of the Huaquan Sect."

After saying that, he hurriedly introduced, "These gentlemen are all pillars of our Huaquan Sect. We noticed the commotion here and rushed over to check the situation..."

"what!"

Qi Yuanzhou seemed to just realize what was happening and said, "I haven't yet asked why you're here, fellow Daoist?"

"To be honest, this place was originally the medicinal garden and spiritual mountain of my Huaquan Sect, but it was seized by that fiend from the Motian Sect..."

Qiao Honghu had no interest in listening to him further, and simply said, "The heretics here have all been executed. You may take back Mount Ling."

"what?"

Qi Yuanzhou was overjoyed upon hearing this and hurriedly said, "How can my Huaquan Sect ever repay such a kindness from you, fellow Daoist..."

The others also chimed in with flattery: "Fellow Daoist, you are truly virtuous!"

"Xuandu truly lives up to its reputation as the orthodox lineage of Taoism..."

Qiao Honghu simply waved his hand and said, "There is one more thing I wanted to tell you."

"Oh?" Qi Yuanzhou feigned a listening posture: "Please give your instructions, fellow Daoist."

Qiao Honghu said, "Do you know that there is a mineral vein beneath this sacred mountain that contains 'Spiritual Essence Gold'...?"

"Spiritual Pure Gold?"

Qi Yuanzhou's eyes flickered for a moment before he said, "So that's what it is. Of course I know."

"To be honest, I believe that the unorthodox sect of the Sky Tower is trying to seize the sacred mountain of my Huaquan Sect for this very reason."

"Fortunately, with the help of fellow Daoists today, we have finally eliminated the demon and reclaimed Mount Ling..."

As he said this, Qiao Honghu narrowed his eyes slightly.

However, Qi Yuanzhou was completely unaware. After a moment's thought, he said to the woman in palace attire beside him, "Fellow Daoist Qiao's kindness is something our Huaquan Sect has no way to repay. We can only offer this Spiritual Pure Gold to express our gratitude."

The woman in palace attire understood immediately upon hearing this and took out two embroidered pouches from her sleeve to present them to the emperor.

Ying Chan remained silent throughout, but the other party did not overlook this and presented a gift in return.

Ying Chan looked at him but showed no intention of accepting the offer.

Qiao Honghu remained silent for a moment before saying, "I see. Now that you know about this, things are much easier."

"What I really want to say is that this heretical sorcerer has abducted thousands of people from who-knows-where, using them for mining..."

"Therefore, I wish to entrust you with the task of settling these strangers. If you are unwilling, I will have no choice but to report to the sect and request that our sect take action to settle them..."

"what?"

Qi Yuanzhou was stunned for a moment, then burst into anger and said, "How could this happen? These heretical sorcerers..." "Fellow Daoist, rest assured, my Huaquan Sect will do its best."

Having said that, he instructed those around him, "Why aren't you going to investigate the situation? Also, summon all your disciples and followers, rescue the survivors from the mine, and settle them down..."

The others, as if waking from a dream, quickly flew into the mountains.

At this moment, Qi Yuanzhou turned around and said, "Fortunately, fellow Daoist reminded us, otherwise who knows how much effort would have been wasted and how many lives would have been lost?"

He took the two embroidered pouches and said, "Please accept these pure gold pieces, fellow Daoist. Also, once I have settled the stranger, I will hold a banquet at the sect to entertain him. I would be grateful if you would grace me with your presence."

"what……"

Qiao Honghu glanced at the embroidered pouch and said, "Fellow Daoist's kindness is too much for me to refuse. However, there's no need for a banquet."

He accepted an embroidered pouch and then said to Ying Chan, "Junior Brother Ying, please accept it."

Ying Chan remained silent for a moment before accepting the embroidered pouch from Qi Yuanzhou and giving a perfunctory bow.

Qi Yuanzhou was not angry and wanted to keep the two of them.

But Qiao Honghu simply waved his hand and said, "In that case, we two will take our leave now."

Having said that, he mounted his escape light and immediately flew into the sky with Ying Chan.

In a short while, the Huaquan Sect's medicinal garden and spiritual mountain were hidden behind the towering mountains.

At this moment, Ying Chancai suddenly said, "Senior brother, there might be something fishy about the Huaquan Sect."

Qiao Honghu showed no surprise upon hearing this, and simply replied, "Hmm."

He gazed at the vast sky and suddenly sighed: "I already had some doubts."

"The situation in that mine was clearly not the result of short-term mining. Many of the thousands of people there also appeared to have endured a long period of hardship..."

"So, the Huaquan Sect has always used living people to mine?"

Although Ying Chan already had a guess, he still couldn't help but shudder: "The terrible scene we saw was not entirely the work of unorthodox cultivators?"

Thinking of Qi Yuanzhou's hypocritical words, Ying Chan felt even more anger rising in his heart.

“The properties of Ling Su Zhen Jin are special. Before it is actually mined, it is almost no different from ordinary iron ore.”

Qiao Honghu said calmly, "If you want to obtain Spiritual Gold, you have to mine it in large quantities and continuously. Which cultivator would be willing to do such hard work?"

Of course, if you don't want to do this hard work, you don't have to do it this way; paying workers accordingly is the right thing to do.

However, Ying Chan also knew that people's hearts are complex, unpredictable, and difficult to fathom.

He sighed, "I never imagined that such a scoundrel would exist within our Daoist sect..."

"Ah."

Qiao Honghu sneered, "How can the rights and wrongs of this world be clearly distinguished by a few words like righteousness, evil, and demonism?"

Ying Chan remained silent for a moment before asking again, "Since Senior Brother already knows that Huaquan Sect is not a righteous sect, why did you still entrust those thousands of strangers to their care?"

“They promised me they would make proper arrangements, so they dared not disobey me.”

Qiao Honghu shook his head. "As for what happens next, let the sect handle it."

As they were talking, Qiao Honghu had already led Ying Chan to the mountains and said, "There is a Taixu Altar in this mountain. After you return to your immortal abode, junior brother, please report this matter to the sect."

Ying Chan's heart skipped a beat: "Senior Brother, are you setting off again?"

Qiao Honghu glanced at the sky and said with a faint smile, "Why delay something that has already been decided?"

Ying Chan didn't say anything more, but cupped his hands and said, "In that case, I wish you a safe journey, Senior Brother."

(End of this chapter)