Even though he had already heard that the giant centipede had been subdued by the family's immortal master and had become "one of their own," upon suddenly seeing such a terrifying demon beast and feeling the frightening presence of the giant centipede, Shi Miao instinctively took a step back, his eyes filled with fear.

Coming to his senses, perhaps fearing Shen Chongming's disdain, he gathered his courage and stepped forward.

The centipede leader had already sensed the aura emanating from Shen Chongming and immediately lowered its raised head, its compound eyes shifting in a fawning manner.

"Giant Centipede, I'd like to ask you for a favor," Shen Chongming said as he squatted down. "Over a hundred miles to the west from here, it seems there's a group of Western Wilderness barbarians mining an ore vein."

"There are cultivators guarding the perimeter, and my people can't get through. Can you have your offspring sneak in and take a look? It would be best if you could find out what kind of ore vein it is."

The Shen Family's spies had ventured into the other half of Hidden Dragon Mountain a while ago, discovering that the barbarians seemed to be mining an ore vein. However, with numerous cultivators patrolling the perimeter, they couldn't get in to investigate further.

Shen Yuan had once taught him that to defeat an enemy, one must know both themselves and their foe.

Thus, he came intending to ask this centipede leader for help, to first find out what the Western Wilderness barbarians were extracting, how many people were at the ore vein, and what their general strength was.

Only by fully understanding these aspects could a plan for a surprise attack be made.

The centipede leader, with its simple intelligence, pondered for a long while before finally understanding Shen Chongming's request.

It nodded its head, responding with its divine sense.

Shen Chongming vaguely understood that it was essentially saying, "Leave it to me."

"Thank you, Giant Centipede."

Shen Chongming stood up and took out a Spirit Crystal Fragment from his chest.

"This should be useful to you, right?"

The centipede leader looked at the Spirit Crystal Fragment, sensing the rich heaven and earth spiritual energy within, and its compound eyes brimmed with joy, nodding its large head repeatedly.

Seeing this, Shen Chongming immediately tossed over the Spirit Crystal Fragment.

The centipede leader opened its large mouth and gently inhaled, directly swallowing the Spirit Crystal Fragment into its abdomen.

Shen Chongming clapped his hands and said, "Next time I'll bring you some Spirit Rice, but first let your offspring get to work."

The centipede leader nodded its head and then let out a sharp howl.

A moment later, a dense swarm of centipedes surged out from the poisonous miasma, so many that it made one's scalp tingle just to look at them!

Among these centipedes, none were at the level of a demon beast, just some ordinary poisonous insects.

Even if the Western Wilderness barbarian cultivators discovered them, they wouldn't think much of it.

After all, it was not unusual to find some centipedes in this mountain forest.

Seeing the efficiency with which it worked, a slight smile appeared on Shen Chongming's face.

"You should know where our camp is. If there's any news, send one of your subordinates to find me."

"Let's go."

Watching the two figures depart, the centipede leader lifted its head, feeling the Spirit Crystal Fragment slowly being refined within its body, letting out a strange shriek.

"This little two-legged beast is quite nice..."

"Much better than that cold and distant one before."

When Shen Chongming and the other figure had completely disappeared, its form slowly receded back into the poisonous miasma.

...

More than ten days later, a small centipede crawled into Shen Chongming's wooden hut. Seeing him in the midst of cultivation, the little creature obediently stayed put without moving.

When Shen Chongming awoke from cultivation and saw the small centipede in front of him, he immediately understood that the giant centipede probably had news.

He promptly got up, picked up the small centipede, and placed it in a small cloth bag before heading toward the poisonous miasma forest.

When he arrived, the centipede leader seemed to have already sensed his presence, extending its head out of the poisonous miasma in anticipation.

After receiving the divine sense transmission, Shen Chongming held his breath and concentrated, then nodded slightly.

The Shen Family's spies had guessed correctly; the Western Wilderness barbarians were indeed mining a Spirit Ore.

The giant centipede didn't know exactly what kind of Spirit Ore it was but mentioned there were over thirty "Two-legged Beast Kings" in the Spirit Ore area.

After another lengthy exchange, Shen Chongming finally understood that what it referred to as "Two-legged Beast Kings" meant human cultivators.

Unfortunately, the giant centipede had only sent out those offspring and descendants who hadn't reached demon beast level and therefore couldn't ascertain the specific cultivation levels of those Western Wilderness cultivators.

"Chirp!"

Seeing Shen Chongming deep in thought, the centipede leader suddenly let out a strange cry, followed by another divine sense transmission.

"You want to send a demon beast-level offspring to attack that ore vein?"

Shen Chongming looked at it in surprise.

The giant centipede immediately nodded its head.

It seemed to understand as well that without doing so, there would be no way to ascertain the strength of those "Two-legged Beast Kings."

"No, no," Shen Chongming waved his hand, "there are dozens of cultivators there; your offspring might get killed."

"Chirp chirp!"

Hearing Shen Chongming's concern for its offspring, the centipede leader, with its limited intelligence, was extremely touched, wriggling its body and letting out a strange cry.

The poisonous miasma beside it surged, and soon a silver-threaded centipede, several meters long with a line of silver running from head to tail, emerged.

Shen Chongming looked at the silver-thread centipede and could vaguely sense that its realm was slightly stronger than his own, probably in the Qi Cultivation Fifth or Sixth Layer.

The centipede leader let out a series of strange cries, with its divine sense transmitting phrases like how powerful and clever its offspring was.

After pondering for a while, a light flashed in Shen Chongming's eyes as he said, "I do have a good idea..."

After a lengthy discussion between the human and beast, the silver-thread centipede hurriedly crawled toward the distant ore vein.

Shen Chongming pulled a cloth bag from his chest.

"This is nice too, and even better, it's more aromatic than Spirit Crystal Fragments."

The bag contained some Spirit Rice.

Compared to Spirit Crystal Fragments, Spirit Rice was more flavorful and easier to absorb and refine.

Happily, the centipede leader swallowed the Spirit Rice, then reluctantly watched Shen Chongming depart.

...

In a hidden valley on the west side of Hidden Dragon Mountain, thousands of Western Wilderness Barbarians are busily working numbly in the valley.

There is a Water Smoke Stone vein here, a spirit ore recently discovered by the disciples of Hundred Beasts Mountain using the Vein-Seeking Skill.

Upon discovering the spirit ore, they mobilized thousands of ordinary people and dozens of cultivators from the Western Wilderness Barbarians to come and mine.

The cultivators are responsible for guarding the safety of the ore vein, to prevent attacks by demon beasts, while the ordinary people act as laborers, digging Water Smoke Stone in the mountains.

Water Smoke Stone is a prime lower-grade refining material, even more valuable than Cyan Spirit Stone.

Hundred Beasts Mountain values this ore vein greatly, and specially dispatched two Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer disciples to guard the valley.

Besides the two Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer disciples, there are more than thirty Barbarian cultivators from Qi Cultivation Third Layer to Sixth Layer.

In the dense bushes, the Silver Thread Centipede quietly crawls near a Western Wilderness cultivator.

A crafty gleam flashes in its cold compound eyes, and then it begins to crawl bit by bit towards the Western Wilderness Barbarian cultivator who is meditating.

In a moment, a shrill scream pierces through the forest!

"There's a demon beast!"

"There's a demon beast!"

The Western Wilderness Barbarian cultivator runs screaming in limp!

Instantly, several figures hurriedly rush over from the surroundings.

"Where's the demon beast?"

"Where?"

When six Western Wilderness Barbarian cultivators arrive, the Silver Thread Centipede has already disappeared without a trace.

The poison inside the attacked Western Wilderness Barbarian cultivator starts to take effect, and the person turns entirely dark purple.

After a successful hit, the Silver Thread Centipede crawls swiftly elsewhere.

After several sneak attacks, it confirms the number and realms of the Barbarian cultivators guarding the periphery.

After consecutive cultivator attacks, the Barbarian cultivators on the periphery, helplessly, can only report the matter to the Hundred Beasts Mountain disciples guarding the valley.

Upon hearing that the attacking demon beast is so cunning, the two Hundred Beasts Mountain disciples, though suspicious, are instantly intrigued.

As a sect that deals with demon beasts regularly, they understand well that aside from their bloodline, demon beasts with higher intelligence have greater potential for the future.

Like the Moon-white Giant Wolf in the possession of Yang Xun, the chief disciple of Hundred Beasts Mountain; despite being merely in the late stage of Qi Cultivation, it can conduct simple divine sense communication with its master.

Besides, war beast partners of other Qi Cultivation Realm disciples mostly understand only some basic commands.

Now suddenly learning of such an intelligent demon beast, they both are impulsively moved to capture it.

In a certain part of the mountain, the Silver Thread Centipede is unsure how to confirm if other Two-legged Beast Kings are present in that ore vein, when suddenly it senses four strong spiritual power fluctuations flying out from the ore vein.

Two are demon beasts, and the other two are clearly human cultivators!

In the Silver Thread Centipede's mind arises the instructions given by its leader before coming here.

After slightly sensing the opponent's aura, it begins fleeing frantically from the area.

The two Hundred Beasts Mountain disciples, pursuing with their war beasts, realize the Silver Thread Centipede has already escaped. Initially intending to give chase, they are reminded of their duty to guard the ore vein to prevent accidents, and can only return reluctantly.

Shen Chongming, upon meeting the Centipede Leader once more, also obtains the strength and number of Western Wilderness cultivators in that ore vein from it.

Back at the camp, he found himself in a dilemma.

Originally, he planned not only to hunt down the Western Wilderness Barbarian cultivators but also to find a way to opportunistically plunder some spirit ores from the vein.

But now, knowing Hundred Beasts Mountain disciples are garrisoned within the spirit ore vein, he dares not act rashly for the moment.

After much contemplation, he starts writing a letter, intending to report the information to his father.

Upon receiving the letter, Shen Wenxing falls into deep ponderance.

Though the value of spirit ore is not as great as that of a Spirit Crystal Ore, it's nonetheless tremendously important to all Immortal Sects.

The Shen Family and Hundred Beasts Mountain are already at odds, knowing this, they cannot watch them mine peacefully.

However, with Luoxia Mountain already entangled intensively with the Suihuo Sect, the Shen Family alone cannot forcefully seize that spirit ore.

After some contemplation, Shen Wenxing gets an idea.

With a few instructions, he swiftly heads to Yunzhong County City.

…

"Therefore, Brother Shen's intention is to involve the Vajra Sect?" Wei Qiuling smiles gently.

Shen Wenxing nods and says, "Immortal Wei, how should the spirit ore be divided after seizing it?"

Wei Qiuling doesn't immediately answer.

In theory, Luoxia Mountain naturally doesn't want other Immortal Sects to share the spoils of a spirit ore.

But presently, Luoxia Mountain indeed must guard against the Suihuo Sect and cannot allocate too much force against Hundred Beasts Mountain. Bringing in Vajra Sect seems to be a decent option.

However, she struggles with how to distribute the profits momentarily.

Seeing her difficulty, Shen Wenxing laughs immediately and says, "Immortal Wei, for this ore vein, the Shen Family only asks for ten percent, the remaining ninety percent can be divided between Luoxia Mountain and Vajra Sect as desired."

He understands that the reason Wei Qiuling found it difficult is likely because she wants Vajra Sect to act, and the benefits must not be too little.

If Vajra Sect takes the lion's share, the Shen Family must still be granted something.

Giving too little may harm relations, while too much would result in Luoxia Mountain obtaining too little.

Now, hearing Shen Wenxing's proposal, Wei Qiuling is quite surprised and subsequently laughs, "Brother Shen is righteous, Qiuling sees through you."

"Since that is so, then let Vajra Sect have sixty percent; it should suffice."

"Brother Shen, wait a moment, Qiuling will have someone invite Fellow Daoist Jin Sheng for a discussion."

After Jin Sheng arrives, hearing from Luoxia Mountain and Shen Family inviting his Vajra Sect to steal Hundred Beasts Mountain's spirit ore, he doesn't think much and immediately slaps his thighs, agreeing.

If this matter was in the past, he might have hesitated a bit.

But now Hundred Beasts Mountain has already intertwined with Qiyun Valley and Shen Family, even if Vajra Sect intervenes, Hundred Beasts Mountain cannot allocate much power to target Vajra Sect.

Taking on a small portion of the risk while gaining significant benefits, this transaction is a sure profit.

The three confirm the distribution of benefits, and it's arranged for disciples from the three sides to first gather at Yunshui Town, and then act together.

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