It's not that Sect Master Zheng doesn't love the Nine Mountains Sect, it's just that Vast Sun Mountain has given them too much!
Zheng Fa roughly calculated that, based on cost, the profit from seizing some Law Artifact and pills from the Nine Mountains Sect and handing them over to Vast Sun Mountain would be nearly 300%.
Furthermore, Vast Sun Mountain controls many spiritual materials that are not available in the Hundred Immortals Alliance territory.
For the Nine Mountains Sect, it's no longer just a matter of profit...
Although Vast Sun Mountain is not human, he does human things!
"Isn't this reward a bit too high?"
Hearing Zheng Fa's question, the Ninth Elder smiled:
" Zheng Fa of the Nine Mountains Sect is incredibly powerful. If there weren't a hefty reward, who would be willing to risk their life for him?"
"Moreover, what we consider a lot, is probably nothing special for Vast Sun Mountain."
At this point, she sighed softly, "It's just that Vast Sun Mountain's determination to be enemies with the Nine Mountains Sect is so strong that I'm afraid my Profound Mystery Sect has no way out."
That makes sense...
Vast Sun Mountain is now using every means available except for Dao Fruit.
He knew the reason very well.
Firstly, they genuinely coveted the Fusang Wood.
Secondly, from their own perspective, the Five Sects do not want another competitor to emerge.
Therefore, even if Vast Sun Mountain openly opposes the Nine Mountains Sect, as long as it does not violate that extremely rough agreement, the other Four Sects would probably be happy to see it happen.
The axioms of the Xuanwei Realm... have always been based on cultivation level.
Zheng Fa pondered a solution in his heart, and then thought of the Immortal-Trapping Sword. He couldn't help but ask, "Master, what did the Venerable Shi say...?"
Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, the Ninth Elder suddenly looked intently at Zheng Fa, his gaze as cold as lightning, as if trying to see right through him.
Zheng Fa wasn't afraid, but he asked with a puzzled look:
"Master?"
" The Venerable Shi... did not agree."
This is not a good idea.
Trade routes are minor matters; the real problem is the Immortal-Trapping Sword.
Why?
" The Immortal Sword on the mountaintop is of utmost importance." The Ninth Elder was silent for a moment. "Last time, when you practiced the Flying Cloud Sword, you triggered an anomaly in the Immortal Sword, almost causing a major disaster."
"Although he didn't understand why, the Venerable Shi didn't want any more accidents to happen."
"Making an exception for you is absolutely out of the question."
Zheng Fa immediately felt it was troublesome.
He hadn't expected Shi Nandang to be so cautious... But thinking about it, it made sense. If something went wrong with the Immortal-Trapping Sword, even True Disciple Spirit Transformation cultivator like Shi Nandang probably wouldn't be able to withstand it.
On the other hand, using seven Spirit Transformation to control the Immortal-Trapping Sword, a supreme treasure...
Anyone in that situation would be extremely cautious.
Moreover, he was only a Golden Core.
Why take that risk?
The Ninth Elder looked at Zheng Fa, who was frowning, and suddenly smiled, saying:
"I cannot change the Master's decision. You should focus on your cultivation, and I will find an opportunity to speak on your behalf in the future."
Zheng Fa bowed and walked out of the Ninth Elder's cave abode.
The Ninth Elder watched his retreating figure, his gaze somewhat profound. This disciple...
She recalled what the Eighth Elder had said to her:
"There's definitely something strange about Li Hao's Flying Cloud Sword technique! This boy was just average in the sect before, but now he's made rapid progress. Isn't that suspicious? Master, you're probably starting to have doubts!"
" Bixia, you should really think about how to avoid being implicated by your good disciple!"
As she thought about it, her brows furrowed.
The disciple's Divine Soul power showed no abnormalities.
However, their temperaments are indeed somewhat different.
But this qualification...
This cheap master is starting to doubt himself.
Zheng Fa's Divine Sense was even slightly superior to that of the Ninth Elder, and he clearly saw the other's eyes when he left.
The reason she hasn't made a move yet is probably because she's uncertain about the situation, and also because her displayed genius has made her hesitant.
He wasn't afraid of the Profound Mystery Sect, but the Immortal-Trapping Sword was still at the summit of Divine Fire Mountain...
Thinking of a solution, Zheng Fa headed towards his cave abode.
Fourth Senior Brother!
A sweet cry came from his right. Zheng Fa turned his head and saw his "junior sister" standing three zhang away, smiling at him.
His expression was extremely friendly.
" Junior Sister Ye?"
"Fourth Senior Brother, have you seen the bounty on Vast Sun Mountain?"
Upon hearing this, Zheng Fa understood somewhat why his junior sister had come.
" Junior Sister Ye, are you interested?"
Junior Sister Ye glanced around and looked towards the entrance of Zheng Fa's cave abode.
"It was my rudeness, senior brother. Please come in and have a seat, junior sister."
Zheng Fa understood, and led the junior sister surnamed Ye to the cave abode before asking her what she thought.
"Fourth Senior Brother, as you can see, there's almost no place for us to stand on this mountain anymore," Junior Sister Ye said. "Those disciples of the Spirit Transformation elders are bullying us even more."
Zheng Fa nodded in agreement. These days, he was in charge of purchasing, which seemed to be quite lucrative, but he wasn't earning much...
Because the Golden Core disciples in that Affairs Cave had increasingly bigger appetites each time.
These days, I'm just earning a meager living through hard work.
This was nothing to him; what he valued was the freedom to make the purchases.
But for other disciples of the Profound Mystery Sect, life was much harder.
Seeing him nod, Junior Sister Ye seemed encouraged and gritted her teeth, saying:
"We are the true disciples of Profound Mystery, yet we can only watch helplessly as they act with such impunity."
"That's fine, but who knows what the future holds for my Profound Mystery Sect? If we don't improve our cultivation, we'll just face certain death."
Seeing the fear on her face, Zheng Fa knew that the Profound Mystery disciples were all aware of the danger of the situation—for them, if they didn't fight desperately today, they might lose their lives one day.
"So you want to raid the Nine Mountains Sect and take more resources?"
Junior Sister Ye nodded to him and said:
"It's not just us; some of the disciples of the Spirit Transformation elders are also tempted to leave the mountain."
"Even many Rogue Cultivator have come to the vicinity of our Profound Mystery Sect, including some Nascent Soul Cultivator!"
Hearing this, Zheng Fa frowned slightly. " Nascent Soul Cultivator also wants to get involved in this mess?"
"I heard that Vast Sun Mountain was too domineering; their sect is gone, and they can barely survive there."
"..."
He truly hadn't expected that Vast Sun Mountain would harbor such thoughts of shifting the blame elsewhere.
The information revealed by Junior Sister Ye made Zheng Fa even more vigilant.
He thought for a moment, looked at the other person, and asked, "Then, junior sister, you were looking for me...?"
"Fourth Senior Brother, if you are interested in this bounty, I... am willing to serve you."
Zheng Fa was taken aback when he saw Junior Sister Ye looking at him expectantly.
He immediately understood what this junior sister was thinking... These days, Zheng Fa was often summoned by the Ninth Elder.
He was afraid that his junior sister would see it.
Now you're trying to curry favor with someone powerful?
He hesitated for a moment, after all, he had another identity, and having a tagalong was inconvenient.
However, recalling the information his junior sister had just provided, he had some other thoughts:
"Junior sister is thoughtful. You're quite popular within the sect?"
"I know the Profound Mystery Sect inside and out." Junior Sister Ye's face showed a hint of pride, seemingly quite pleased with herself. She continued, "Fourth Senior Brother, I'll tell you a secret... Eighth Elder wants to become Third Elder's disciple..."
It took Zheng Fa a long time to understand what that meant...
This former Grand Elder of the Profound Mystery Sect is not only being demoted in rank, but is also about to undergo a major demotion.
"Moreover, if we, the original disciples of Profound Mystery, don't unite now, what future do we have?"
Upon hearing this, Zheng Fa changed his mind.
"In that case, I will definitely inform my junior sister when I go to plunder the Nine Mountains Sect."
Upon hearing this, Junior Sister Ye was overjoyed. She exchanged a few more words with Zheng Fa, built a good relationship, and then took her leave.
A few days later, Zheng Fa seized an opportunity to return to the Nine Mountains Realm.
"You mean... you, the Sect Leader the Nine Mountains Sect, are planning to rob the Nine Mountains Sect?"
Inside the Heavenly Palace Hall, listening to Zheng Fa's plan, Old Han and the others all looked somewhat confused.
What kind of mind would go to do something like that?
Senior Sister Zhang looked at the reward notice Zheng Fa had copied, did some mental calculations, and slowly nodded. "From a profit perspective, giving these things to Vast Sun Mountain will earn about twice the profit compared to selling them to the Hundred Immortals Alliance sects. This is feasible."
Zheng Fa smiled and said, "This way, I can also dispel the suspicions of those Nascent Soul Nascent Soul from the Profound Mystery Sect."
Old Han and the others were taken aback when they heard this, but then they immediately realized what was going on.
Zheng Fa is so devoted to Vast Sun Mountain, yet Shi Nandang still harbors doubts. Wouldn't that chill the hearts of everyone in the Profound Mystery Sect?
Seeing that they all understood his meaning, Zheng Fa changed the subject, saying, "However, we must be wary of other Profound Mystery Sect disciples and outside rogue Rogue Cultivator."
Seeing his serious expression, the others all nodded and composed themselves.
I have three ideas...
"First, through the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government), we will establish an early warning mechanism, issuing different levels of warnings to different adversaries. I, Senior Sister Zhang, Fairy Xie, along with Blood River Ancestor and Jiao Wuji take turns on duty to provide support."
Senior Sister Zhang and the other three stood up and bowed to Zheng Fa in response.
"Secondly, Han Qi and his team need an operation manual."
"There are two key points: First, no splitting up of forces is allowed; everyone must be ready to support each other at any time. Second, in times of crisis, sacrifice resources to save lives."
Han Qi's caravan now has more than thirty Divine Firmament Warship, and they can handle even threats at the Golden Core level.
Even if we can't win, we can hold out until Zheng Fa and his men come to our aid.
After explaining the two most direct solutions, Zheng Fa turned his gaze to Old Han and suddenly asked, " Old Han, I have something I'd like to ask you."
"I?"
" Old Han, I wish to consolidate the resources of the Peerless Alliance and train a group of disciples from the Nine Mountains Sect to gather intelligence. Or rather, I want to establish a department directly under my command— the Intelligence Division."
"..."
A look of realization flashed across Old Han's face.
Everyone understood that Zheng Fa valued Old Han's Spirit-Ear Method, but even more so his ability and experience in gathering intelligence.
Old Han glanced at Yan Wushuang, remained silent for a moment, and then spoke:
What can I do?
"Our current target is the Nascent Soul Rogue Cultivator coming from Vast Sun Mountain. They have no ties and are practically desperate, posing the greatest threat to our Nine Mountains Sect disciples."
No matter how powerful the Divine Firmament Warship is, Han Qi are still in danger when they encounter Nascent Soul Cultivator. The best approach is to keep an eye on them.
"The long-term goal is to establish an intelligence network within the Vast Sun Mountain area..."
Zheng Fa's expression was somewhat cold.
The Nine Mountains Sect has kept in mind all the trouble Vast Sun Mountain has caused.
"Internally, find some promising individuals; later, when they cultivate the < Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation >..."
After saying that...
Old Han's expression changed drastically, and his scalp tingled.
Just look at Zheng Fa to see how useful the " Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation " is for espionage.
The problem now is that the Nine Mountains Sect doesn't have enough Nascent Soul Cultivator capable of practicing the < Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation >.
According to the " First Fifty-Year Plan," the vision of five hundred Nascent Soul fifty years from now...
This is only fifty years; if all goes well, what about a hundred years?
Five hundred years?
In the future, Vast Sun Mountain will probably be called a branch of the Nine Mountains Sect.
After sharing his three ideas, Zheng Fa turned to Senior Sister Zhang and the others and asked:
"Is there anything else you'd like to add?"
Senior Sister Zhang thought for a moment and then said, "These are all just temporary solutions. What Madam Xuanhua mentioned before, combining the Immortal Array and the Divine Firmament Warship, I think has some merit."
Upon hearing this, Zheng Fa shook his head and said softly, "This thing is probably related to formations... After all, the Immortal Formation Method are somewhat different from traditional formations."
"Our accumulated knowledge of Formation Dao is probably insufficient to perfect this approach in a short time."
At this point, Zheng Fa couldn't help but glance at Xie Qingxue.
In his view, since they already possessed the Four Immortal-Slayer Swords, the Tianhe Sect should be quite skilled in formations in addition to Swordsmanship.
However, the Tianhe Sect doesn't seem to have any powerful array formations passed down, or rather... like the Nine-Turn Golden Core Method, it seems to be a taboo.
At least Xie Qingxue didn't know.
This matter left him quite regretful. After thinking for a while, he Old Han, "I can also gather some intelligence while I'm in the Profound Mystery Sect... at least I can keep an eye on those Nascent Spirit Transformation on the mountaintop..."
To be honest, Zheng Fa was somewhat looking forward to the Nascent Spirit Transformation descending from Divine Fire Mountain —if he could capture one, he could figure out exactly what the Immortal-Trapping Sword was all about.
The Nascent Spirit Transformation of the Profound Mystery Sect remained still, but many of their Spirit Transformation disciples descended the mountain.
"Fourth Senior Brother, many of our fellow disciples have already left..." Junior Sister Ye had been coming to Zheng Fa's cave abode every day recently, looking quite anxious. She added, "Once they've eaten the meat, we won't even have any soup left..."
Zheng Fa looked at his junior sister and said, "What, you can't wait?"
"Senior brother, what if the Nine Mountains Sect is on guard..."
Zheng Fa's face darkened, and he looked at her indifferently. "You said before that you would follow my lead, but today you're urging me on?"
As he spoke, a powerful aura emanated from him.
Junior Sister Ye's face paled, her expression filled with horror as she looked at Zheng Fa, stammering, "Senior... Senior Brother..."
"If you don't want to listen to me..."
"Listen! Listen!" The fear on Junior Sister Ye's face vanished, replaced by a fervent look in her eyes as she gazed at Zheng Fa. She quickly said, "I'll listen to whatever Senior Brother says!"
Zheng Fa nodded slowly and asked, "Tell me, which members of the sect went down the mountain? Where did they go?"
Junior Sister Ye looked puzzled but didn't dare to ask too many questions, only sharing what she knew.
After she left, Zheng Fa's Divine Sense sank into the Creation Jade Disc and sent a message to Senior Sister Zhang and the others:
"Senior sister, these people went down Divine Fire Mountain three days ago..."
In a Marketplace within the Hundred Immortals Alliance, five Golden Core disciples from the Profound Mystery Sect gazed into the Marketplace and secretly transmitted their thoughts:
"Senior brother, when will the people from the Nine Mountains Sect arrive?"
"It'll be tomorrow!"
What level of cultivation do they possess?
The leader, Golden Core cultivator, laughed:
"At most, it's only at the Foundation Establishment..."
Upon hearing this, the other four were relieved.
Someone calculated:
"Not counting those other goods, Vast Sun Mountain offered a bounty of nearly two hundred Spirit Stone for just one Nine Mountains Sect Foundation Establishment..."
The leading disciple scoffed:
"How could we not count those goods? You have no idea how rich the Nine Mountains Sect is! Every time they come to this Marketplace, they bring pills, magical Spirit Artifact, and talismans, and if they hand them over to Vast Sun Mountain, we'll be rich!"
"We can gather all the resources Nascent Soul after just two or three tries!"
Upon hearing this, the others' breathing became somewhat heavy.
The five people waited all day.
"They're here!"
Sure enough, a strange-looking flying boat slowly approached from the distant sky.
Upon arriving at the Marketplace entrance, two Foundation Establishment disciples disembarked, leading about ten Qi Refinement Realm disciples into the Marketplace. The group wore robes embroidered with the Nine Mountains Sect's logo, and each carried Storage Bag at their waist.
"Make your move!"
Unable to contain themselves, the five unleashed their Law Treasure at the group of the Nine Mountains Sect disciples.
The cultivators in the Marketplace were thrown into chaos.
In their minds, the highest cultivation level among the Nine Mountains Sect disciples was only two Foundation Establishment cultivators, so it would be easy for the five of them, all Golden Core cultivators, to capture them.
Unexpectedly, three figures suddenly appeared on that strange flying boat, their hands forming Method Formula.
A burst of blue-purple light shot out from the bow of the Divine Firmament Warship, scattering a stream of light in the air that enveloped the group of the Nine Mountains disciples and teleported them onto the ship.
" External Core!"
A gasp of surprise rang out from the Marketplace.
The five Golden Core cultivators from the Profound Mystery Sect also tensed up.
Previously, within the territory of the Hundred Immortals Alliance, no one dared to openly attack the Nine Mountains Sect caravan; the power of the Divine Firmament Warship had never been revealed.
Only then did everyone realize that this strange flying boat actually possessed the ability to produce External Core!
Looking at the three Foundation Establishment disciples at the bow of the ship, the cultivators in the Marketplace were somewhat bewildered—they're all Foundation Establishment, so why don't I have this treasure when I go out?
"One External Core! Nothing to fear!"
The leader of the Chongxuan Golden Core's Profound Mystery Sect cultivators not only refused to retreat, but also gritted his teeth and shouted.
The other four also looked quite serious, but there was little fear in their eyes.
External Core is inherently inferior to proper Golden Core.
They also had five Golden Core cultivators, giving them a numerical advantage.
"I've heard that the Nine Mountains Sect's External Core are valuable, Vast Sun Mountain also has bounties..." he whispered, "Looks like we're going to make a fortune today!"
Upon hearing this, the eyes of the other four Golden Core cultivators also lit up.
Then, their faces lit up.
Thirty Divine Firmament Warship slowly rose from the horizon, their purple-blue light illuminating their bewildered faces.
Half the sky was brightly lit.
The shadows of thirty giant ships loomed over the Marketplace.
The once bustling Marketplace is now eerily quiet.
For the first time, Zheng Fa's meticulously crafted Divine Firmament Warship revealed its ferocious nature to the Xuanwei cultivator.
External Core are precious to begin with; the thirty-odd Divine Firmament Warship alone contain thirty-odd External Core...
The cultivators in the Marketplace were unaware of the productivity of the Nine Mountains Realm, let alone that within the Nine Mountains Realm, Divine Firmament Warship were being built at an unprecedented rate.
Looking at these warships, they felt that the Nine Mountains Sect's reliance on them for transporting goods was far too extravagant.
A disciple of the Profound Mystery Sect swallowed hard and said dryly:
"Isn't this sum of money... a bit too much...?"
The leading Golden Core cultivator, staring at the light above his head, looked utterly devastated.
Who goes out carrying more than thirty of these things when they 'Foundation Establishment?
"Senior brother!"
Junior Sister Ye rushed into Zheng Fa's cave abode in a panic, shouting in terror, "Senior Brother, none of the other senior and junior brothers have returned!"
"More than a dozen Golden Core disciples, not a single one has returned!"
" The Nine Mountains Sect's merchant ships are all equipped with External Core Method!"
At this point, she couldn't help but look at Zheng Fa, admiringly saying, "Could it be that Senior Brother had already foreseen this?"
I did expect that.
But to be honest, it probably wouldn't have been so perfect without your intelligence cooperation!
"Now, none of our Alchemist dare to go down the mountain..."
Junior Sister Ye continued, looking at Zheng Fa with an extremely hesitant expression. "Then let's..."
"Come down the mountain with me."
(End of this chapter)