The Insect External Incarnation piled up the unconscious Tianxing Sect Supervisor and the miners without taking their lives.

The mining island was involved with the Xuanming Stone Mine, and it was significantly important—who knew if the Tianxing Sect had some secret technique?

The Five Elements Sect placed Soul Lamps for their Inner Sect Disciples, so as soon as a cultivator died, they would immediately obtain intelligence.

The Tianxing Sect must have had similar methods.

If a Supervisor guarding the mining island were to die under mysterious circumstances, the Golden Core Cultivators stationed at the Group of Stars Island would arrive at the first opportunity.

By then, before gaining much benefit, one would have invited endless trouble.

It was better to mine discreetly and quietly amass a fortune.

He only needed to regularly use Bizarre Sound Talismans on the Supervisors and miners to ensure they remained unconscious.

"Raise troops for a thousand days to use them in one moment."

The Spirit Insects on Qingzhu Island had been nurtured for a long time using Worm Saint Pills. Except for a very few, such as the Sonic-Thief Mosquito King, the Golden Armor King Worm, and the Yellow Spring Dark Bug, the vast majority were merely freeloaders without a chance to show their might.

Now was the time for them to shine!

Thousands of Divine Strength Ants set off. All those with any mining ability were dispatched.

The vein became a sea of Spirit Insects.

Although their professional mining efficiency couldn't compare to that of the Golden Armor King Worm, their sheer numbers made up for it. With the arrival of new Spirit Insects, the mining efficiency improved.

The Xuanming Stone Mines are increasing?

The deeper they mined, the fewer Cloud Ink Ores appeared, while the number of Xuanming Stone Mines increased, which was good news.

The Insect External Incarnation was always on guard outside, with Bizarre Sound Fu Wans at the ready to fend off any sudden visits from Tianxing Trade Association Golden Core Cultivators.

Twelve days of mining had been completed, the workload surpassing that of ordinary miners over six years.

The vein was not rich, and its size was limited. After the final piece of Xuanming Stone ore was extracted, they dug for another ten zhang, but there was no further yield.

With this, the ore was completely depleted.

Luckily, the Nascent Soul Cultivator from the Tianxing Sect did not appear, and all remained calm.

"Pack up!"

Jia Ren flipped his hand and collected the last piece of Xuanming Stone ore, only to find that the internal color of the Xuanming Stone was different—deeper and more profound.

He thought of something and took a careful look at the Xuanming Stone ore.

This is... Profound Underworld Essence Stone?!

"It really is Profound Underworld Essence Stone!"

There was an exceedingly small chance for Xuanming Stone Mines to contain Profound Underworld Essence Stones, which were precious high-grade evil-repelling materials. Even for the same size, their value exceeded that of Xuanming Stone by a hundredfold.

This was because… it was a material for making Evil-Repelling Magical Treasures!

It was still possible to trade or purchase Xuanming Stone.

Profound Underworld Essence Stone?

Most Golden Core Cultivators might never see it in their lifetimes.

Countless Golden Core Cultivators would be willing to spend all their fortune to obtain a piece of Profound Underworld Essence Stone, just to craft an Evil-Repelling Magical Treasure.

The quantity is a bit small!

This wasn't pure Profound Underworld Essence Stone; the bit of Profound Underworld Essence Stone was only the size of a fingertip.

There should be more than one piece...

Jia Ren took out other Xuanming Stone ores and carefully sifted through them, eventually finding seven pieces of ore containing Profound Underworld Essence Stone, varying in size.

The largest was the size of an egg, while the smallest was about the size of a fingernail.

"Keep looking, don't miss a single one."

The Golden Armor King Worm carefully searched the vicinity but unfortunately found no more ore; the vein was completely emptied.

"Destroy the insect paths, erase all traces."

Mining by Spirit Insects differed from cultivator mining, and a discerning person could tell the difference.

To prevent any trouble, Jia Ren didn't mind spending extra time removing the traces.

Moreover, he didn't have to do the work himself. He let the Spirit Insects handle everything while he simply fed them on schedule.

It was easier to destroy than to mine. Within a day, the insect path traces were destroyed. Jia Ren then threw out several Fire Bullet Talismans and completely destroyed the mine tunnels.

"It's time to end this!"

After hesitating for a moment, Jia Ren still didn't take their lives.

No matter how you look at it, this was the best evidence of a Bizarre Alliance Cultivator's actions.

「Half a month later」

It was time for the monthly ore delivery.

Within the Tianxing Trade Association, a Golden Core Cultivator with the surname Wan waited for a long time, yet the ore delivery was nowhere to be seen.

They have a lot of nerve to stand me up like this!

The message he sent out received no response, as if it had sunk into the ocean.

Could there have been an accident?

He couldn't help but feel a surge of fear.

A few days ago, he had used a secret technique to confirm there was no problem with the formation.

The Wan-surnamed Golden Core Cultivator realized something was seriously wrong and hurriedly went to the location of the vein.

Where is everyone? Did they all die?

The formation was still there, but there was no response from within.

The Wan-surnamed Golden Core Cultivator entered the mining island and found the miners and Supervisors lying all over the place, so thin they were skin and bones, their life or death unknown.

Further in, the mine tunnels had collapsed.

What on earth happened?! Who can give me an answer!

He grabbed one of the Supervisors and slapped him several times, causing the Supervisor's face to swell, but he still didn't wake from his unconscious state.

Several Talismans later, the man still couldn't be awakened, as if he were a living dead person.

Since he couldn't get answers by asking, he had to verify things himself.

With his sword Magical Treasure, he cleared a path. Taking a closer look, he nearly spat blood in anger.

All the Xuanming Stone ore was gone!

Who exactly was it?

Very few knew about the Xuanming Stone vein. If the Tianxing Sect hadn't been worried about the vein's existence leaking, they wouldn't have sent him to guard it.

Still... things had gotten messed up.

What a bunch of trash! They couldn't even give a warning! Draining a mine isn't something that can be done in a short amount of time. Such an incident occurred right under my watch, and yet I knew nothing about it...

The Wan-surnamed Golden Core Cultivator really wanted to kill all the supervisors to vent his anger, but they still had their uses.

He sensed a faint, bizarre aura coming from the unconscious cultivators.

Did a Bizarre Alliance Cultivator come here? This cannot be settled easily!

A flying boat ascended into the sky, taking all the miners and supervisors, packed away, before disappearing over the horizon.

After that, the Wan-surnamed Golden Core Cultivator never returned.

The Tianxing Sect was furious. A Nascent Soul Ancestor and five Golden Core Cultivators entered the Barren Extreme Land together.

"Time really flies! Another year has passed..."

Jia Ren took a Red Spirit Pill every day. His cultivation level progressed at an acceptable rate. By continuously taking elixirs of such quality, he could reach Foundation Establishment Completion in seventeen years.

There's no alchemy recipe to advance to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

If he could obtain an alchemy recipe for the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, he could cut the cultivation time by half and reach Foundation Establishment Completion sooner.

After a year, his greatest progress had been with the Bizarre Sound Talisman. Its proficiency level had been upgraded to Grandmaster Level.

The Bizarre Sound Talisman was now on a completely different level. Once the bizarre sound was released, its power surpassed that of the Parasitic Trickster Blossom by threefold. A Golden Core Cultivator without any defensive Magical Treasures could not withstand it.

When a great number of Bizarre Sound Talismans were released at once, the power was truly terrifying.

The Bizarre Sound Talisman was now greatly perfected. Jia Ren then moved on to researching the Parasitic Ghost Whip.

Unlike the Bizarre Sound Talisman, whose material came from the Parasitic Trickster Blossom, the material for the Parasitic Ghost Whip was its roots and stems.

For over two months in a row, his attempts to refine the Parasitic Ghost Whip all ended in failure.

Parasitic Mysterious Instruments were inherently untrustworthy. Continuing the trait of Bizarre Objects and seemingly endowed with life, they turned on their master at the first chance.

They would harm their user before harming anyone else.

If it weren't for his preparedness, Jia Ren might have been injured.

There were solutions. The first was to make it believe he was of the same kind, to prevent it from attacking him.

The second was to solve the problem of the Mysterious Instrument developing self-consciousness by annihilating the innate instincts of the Bizarre Object, thus gaining perfect control.

Both solutions were hard to achieve.

The materials are used up again!

The spiritual medicines from the Five Spirits Medicine Garden would last a few more years, but all other Talisman Crafting and Artifact Refining materials were depleted.

The shops on Wanling Island, mostly run by Loose Cultivators without the backing of huge forces, offered limited supplies, making it hard to purchase the desired materials.

He didn't waste any time and headed straight for the Tianxing Trade Association.

"Daoist Zhen has arrived! Second floor!"

After the Wan-surnamed Golden Core Cultivator left, he never returned. The Tianxing Trade Association sent a new Zhu-surnamed Foundation Establishment Cultivator to take charge.

Compared to the original Foundation Establishment Steward, this person had a better temperament.

Jia Ren, hoping to acquire information through him, made an effort to befriend him, and they got along well.

"There's no news about a Foundation Establishment Late Stage alchemy recipe. But for a Foundation Establishment Late Stage elixir, I can help you exchange one using sect contributions. Don't forget to give me a few Solidifying Yuan Pills."

"Ten Solidifying Yuan Pills for one Foundation Establishment Late Stage elixir."

The Zhu-surnamed Foundation Establishment Cultivator was very satisfied with this result. A smile appeared on his face, and he promptly said, "I will make sure to deliver the elixir to you quickly."

Unable to procure an alchemy recipe for the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, and with the effects of the Red Spirit Pill being somewhat slow, Jia Ren was focused on finding a solution.

Out of necessity, he could only revert to his old method: buying Foundation Establishment Late Stage elixirs to deduce the alchemy recipe.

Spiritual medicines weren't lacking. With his own alchemy skills, deducing the alchemy recipe wouldn't be difficult.

"Thank you for your assistance, Daoist friend."

"How did it go for Tianxing Sect in the Barren Extreme Land?"

Tianxing Sect heading to the Barren Extreme Land was not a secret; many knew about it, so Jia Ren's question wasn't abrupt.

"Daoist Zhen and I hit it off straight away, so I won't hide it from you: Tianxing Sect has been having a hard time..."

"The Bizarre-Suppressing Guard and Tianxing Sect mobilized a total of fifteen Golden Core Cultivators and one Nascent Soul Cultivator. They all went to deal with the Bizarre Alliance and the Heart-devouring Illusion Bizarre in the Barren Extreme Land."

"The result... all fifteen Golden Core Cultivators were lost in the Barren Extreme Land. Only the Nascent Soul Ancestor managed to escape."

"My master inadvertently let slip that the Ancestor was seriously injured and has been unconscious ever since."

Fifteen Golden Core Cultivators died? The Nascent Soul Cultivator narrowly escaped death... Has the Heart-devouring Illusion Bizarre become this fearsome?

"How did the Bizarre Alliance respond?"

With only one Nascent Soul Cultivator in Tianxing Sect, they are likely powerless to act. Knowing the threat of the Heart-devouring Illusion Bizarre, the Bizarre Alliance won't remain idle. If the Heart-devouring Illusion Bizarre continues to grow, it will become unstoppable, and it will be even more difficult to deal with if this drags on.

"The Bizarre Alliance is still dealing with a troublesome Bizarre Demon called the Split Bizarre."

"This Bizarre Demon can split into identical Bizarre Bodies, continuously multiplying. It is said that it has divided into hundreds of Bizarre Bodies, none of which can be killed. Furthermore, there's a severe shortage of Bizarre-Suppressing Magic Artifacts."

"Its threat is far greater than that of the Heart-devouring Illusion Bizarre! The Town Demon Alliance in the Western Wasteland Domain is at a loss on how to handle it."

A continuously dividing Bizarre Demon? If Bizarre Demons can divide infinitely, where is there room for cultivators to live?! The threat of the Heart-devouring Illusion Bizarre is not minor; its advantage lies in its silence and ability to hide. After the establishment of the Heart Devil Realm, it became even trickier. It's impossible to find the true body of the Heart-devouring Illusion Bizarre, let alone solve the problem. The Split Bizarre poses a greater threat. However, the Barren Extreme Land is tens of thousands of miles away, and it won't affect the Western Wasteland Domain anytime soon. The Bizarre Alliance will surely focus on the immediate threat rather than seeking distant solutions.

With Bizarre Demons rampant, where should cultivators go? Heart-devouring Illusion Bizarre, Dream Bizarre, Black Blood Bizarre, and now the Split Bizarre... Who knows how many other terrifying Bizarre Demons remain unknown? The Bizarre Demon scourge seems to be escalating. If I cannot enhance my strength quickly, how can I survive in a world overrun by them?

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