Netherworld Sect Conscription

Wang Daoyuan browsed the old market for a while, but he didn't find anything he wanted to buy. When he returned to the Pill Talisman Pavilion, Wang Shouye had already come back.

The two arrived at the dock behind the Jade Spring Grocery Store, where the Spirit Ship was already waiting for them.

The Spirit Ship was still the same type of cargo Spirit Ship used when they left the mountain. The difference was that this time, they were traveling upstream, which required Spirit Stones or the spiritual power of cultivators to drive it.

The Spirit Ship wasn't loaded with bulk cargo and was almost empty. With several family disciples taking turns to pilot it, its speed was actually faster than when they left the mountain. In less than a day, Jade Spring Peak was already visible in the distance.

Standing on the ship and looking afar, Wang Daoyuan saw Jade Spring Peak shrouded in clouds and mist. The Jade Dragon Stream meandered through the mountains, truly like a jade dragon appearing and disappearing in the clouds. Above the peak, pavilions and towers seemed to materialize and vanish, giving it the appearance of a blessed immortal mountain.

The Spirit Ship cut through the waves on the river, moving as fast as lightning. Before long, they reached the foot of Jade Spring Peak.

The clan leader had strictly ordered the two to return immediately without delay, indicating an urgent matter. Naturally, the two dared not delay. Without even returning to their respective cave dwellings, they headed straight for the Assembly Hall.

The core buildings of the clan were all located near the Jade Dragon Spring. The ancestral temple was on a large rock north of the Jade Dragon Spring, the Assembly Hall was to the east of the Jade Dragon Spring, the Executive Hall was to the southeast, and the Scripture Repository was to the west.

The Assembly Hall was where the clan leader and the clan elders held their meetings. All major and minor clan affairs were discussed there.

The southern bank of the Jade Dragon Spring had lower terrain, and the spring water flowed into the Jade Dragon Stream from here. The Jade Dragon Spring was a spiritual spring and also the spiritual eye of the Jade Spring Peak's spiritual脉. A spiritual eye was the place where the spiritual energy was most concentrated within a spiritual脉.

The spring water was rich in spiritual energy, making it extremely effective for irrigating Spirit Fields. The Spirit Fields on Jade Spring Peak were all distributed along both banks of the Jade Dragon Stream.

As Wang Daoyuan and Wang Shouye arrived outside the Assembly Hall, they heard the clan leader Wang Zhian say, "The Netherworld Sect has issued a conscription order, summoning disciples from affiliated families to go to Returning Goose Valley in Return Goose Mountain to clear out Demonic Beasts that threaten the trade route of Returning Goose Valley. Our Wang family needs to provide one Foundation Establishment cultivator and ten Qi Refining cultivators.

The Demonic Beasts threatening the trade route are only a few Stage Two Demonic Beasts; the rest are all Stage One.

The clearing mission is not very dangerous, so my intention is to send some disciples with good potential for experience.

I will lead the team myself. My twelfth brother, Zhiming, is skilled in Alchemy and healing, so he will accompany us to provide prompt treatment for any injured family disciples.

Furthermore, Shouye's cultivation has reached Qi Refining Peak. Further closed-door cultivation won't be of much use; instead, he should gain more experience through practical combat. He will go along.

Daoxing's cultivation has also reached the eighth level of Qi Refining, and it's time for him to experience real combat.

And Daoyuan. Regarding the Clear River Carp incident, it was thanks to his quick thinking that he managed to trick all those Foundation Establishment cultivators. Otherwise, our Wang family would have suffered significant losses. Bringing him along this time should yield considerable rewards.

Do the Elders have anything to add?"

Wang Daoxing was second in seniority among his peers, possessing a Two Spiritual Root aptitude, with his primary Spiritual Root being Metal. Among his peers, his aptitude was second only to his third brother, Wang Daochang, and he was also very likely to reach Foundation Establishment.

The Elders had no objections.

The clan leader then said, "Since that's the case, it's settled."

Wang Daoyuan and Wang Shouye entered the Assembly Hall. Wang Zhian saw them and said, "Since you've heard it, prepare yourselves and depart as soon as possible."

He glanced at Wang Daoyuan again and said, "At twenty years old, you're already at the seventh level of Qi Refining. Your second and third brothers are at a similar pace. However, cultivation requires a steady approach; haste makes waste. If you only focus on speed and your foundation is unstable, the trouble will be immense.

Seeing your strong aura, you should know the importance of this. I won't say more. Also, ordinary pills have pill toxins. Over-reliance on pills will cause pill toxins to accumulate in your body. Once they erupt, at best your foundation will be damaged, and at worst, your life will be in danger."

Wang Daoyuan repeatedly agreed, but inwardly, he was not convinced. He had ample resources of Spirit Honey. Although Stage One Spirit Honey could not remove existing pill toxins from the body, taking it with pills could greatly reduce the absorption of pill toxins and suppress the pill toxins within his body.

Therefore, although Wang Daoyuan frequently took pills, the accumulation of pill toxins in his body was not significant. Given his physical condition, if he continued to take pills and Spirit Honey together, even for decades, there would be no risk of pill toxin eruption.

A day later, Wang Shouye led Wang Daoyuan and ten other Qi Refining cultivators to depart from Jade Spring Peak and head towards Golden Goose City, located over five thousand miles to the west.

Golden Goose City was at the southern end of Returning Goose Valley and was a "immortal city." Most of the inhabitants were cultivators, and the few mortals were descendants of cultivators.

Golden Goose City was originally a fortress.

The Return Goose Mountain soared into the clouds, separating north and south. After thousands of years of conflict, humanity had completely occupied the area south of Return Goose Mountain.

Under the repeated sweeps by humans, the demonic beasts in the eastern part of Return Goose Mountain had become insignificant. Most of the Demonic Beasts had fled tens of thousands of miles to the western part of Return Goose Mountain. That area was sparsely populated and still belonged to the Demonic Beasts.

Therefore, Return Goose Mountain became the dividing line between humans and Demonic Beasts. South of the mountain was human territory, while north of the mountain was a mixed habitation of humans and Demonic Beasts.

Return Goose Mountain generally sloped from west to high and east to low. The main range disappeared over ten thousand miles west of Golden Goose City. In the vicinity of Golden Goose City, there were few continuous mountain ranges; instead, there were mostly relatively isolated peaks that connected to the scattered peaks on the outskirts of the Skyrend Mountain Range to the east. Even so, for humans, the rugged mountain paths in the eastern part of Return Goose Mountain remained an insurmountable natural barrier.

Of course, Return Goose Mountain was not without its flaws. There were several relatively gentle mountain paths throughout the entire mountain range that could connect north and south, and Returning Goose Valley was one of them.

To prevent Demonic Beasts from ambushing through these mountain paths, fortresses were built at the southern end of each mountain pass.

Among the many fortresses, Golden Goose City was somewhat special.

Returning Goose Valley was the widest, flattest, and shortest mountain pass in Return Goose Mountain.

Geese flew south from the north of the mountain, finding it difficult to cross Return Goose Mountain. Only through Returning Goose Valley could they travel between the north and south of the great mountains, hence the name Returning Goose Valley.

In the past few hundred years, the conflicts between humans and Demonic Beasts had decreased, and trade between the two races began. Returning Goose Valley, being the easiest to traverse, became the most important trade route.

Every year, a large number of goods traveled between north and south through Returning Goose Valley, bringing substantial revenue to the Netherworld Sect.

However, starting two years ago, there had been frequent occurrences of Demonic Beasts attacking merchant caravans. The Netherworld Sect cultivators escorting the caravans suffered heavy losses, and the loss of goods also caused the Netherworld Sect considerable pain.

More serious was the Returning Goose Market at the northern end of Returning Goose Valley, which was a major trading place for large quantities of goods between the two races. The repeated attacks on merchant caravans severely affected the trade between the two races.

If trade was interrupted and the two races could not obtain what they needed through trade, it was very likely that they would resort to war to obtain the necessary resources.

Therefore, the Netherworld Sect invested significant effort in investigating the attacks.

The investigation results indicated that the attacks might merely be spontaneous actions of some residual Demonic Beasts in Return Goose Mountain. Where there were spiritual veins and vegetation, there would naturally be Demonic Beasts. The narrowest part between the north and south of Return Goose Mountain was nearly two to three thousand li wide. Demonic Beasts hid within, and they could not be completely eradicated.

The occurrence of Demonic Beasts attacking merchant caravans was common on various trade routes of Return Goose Mountain and was not unusual.

It was learned that this group of Demonic Beasts was lurking in the mountain forests within a few hundred li of Returning Goose Valley, with a population of over ten thousand.

Fortunately, there were no Demonic Beasts with Stage Three or higher cultivation; otherwise, the trouble would have been immense. Even so, eradicating this group of Demonic Beasts would require considerable effort.

The most difficult part was not defeating this group of Demonic Beasts, but ensuring that there were no stragglers. If they merely routed this group of Demonic Beasts, they would scatter and return after some time, and the attacks on merchant caravans would be endless.

To completely resolve the problem, the Netherworld Sect summoned three thousand cultivators from affiliated forces, hired one thousand rogue cultivators, and dispatched one thousand of their own troops, totaling five thousand cultivators. In addition, three Violet Mansion Elders were assigned, aiming for a decisive victory.