Afterward, Second Elder Liu Qiushui led the Lineage's cultivators in cleaning up the devastated Spirit Fruit Garden. They picked the undamaged spirit fruit, cleared away broken branches and fallen leaves, and collected the pits left behind by the demonic beasts.
A tally showed that the demonic beasts had snatched away forty percent of the spirit peaches in this orchard, a loss of at least 1,300 peaches.
Once the remaining spirit peaches had been picked, Second Elder Liu Qiushui led the Lineage's cultivators to hurry off and reinforce the other harvesting teams.
By then, few demonic beasts remained on Peach Blossom Mountain.
With their worries behind them, the Lineage's cultivators grew red-eyed with bloodlust, chasing down every demonic beast they saw and attacking relentlessly.
Liu Changxu spotted a lone Black Mountain Bear and rushed after him, launching a fierce assault. This was one of the two Black Mountain Bears wounded in their earlier battle.
Since the Black Mountain Bear excelled at close combat, Liu Changxu repeatedly used the Sword-Controlling Art from a distance, directing the Dragon Spring Sword at the bear's wounds and vital points.
The Black Mountain Bear had a powerful body but lacked agility. Under the flying sword's fierce attacks, his injuries grew increasingly severe.
The Black Mountain Bear fought as he fled, but his worsening injuries slowed him down more and more, and Liu Changxu soon caught up.
Seeing that escape was impossible, the Black Mountain Bear erupted in ferocity and turned to unleash his demonic technique, Black Mountain Palm. As the enormous palm swept toward Liu Changxu like a small mountain, Liu Changxu, already prepared, used the Lightness Technique to dodge at tremendous speed.
After unleashing that final strike, the Black Mountain Bear rapidly weakened, no longer possessing the strength to fight back. Liu Changxu soon killed him with the Dragon Spring Sword.
After putting the dead Black Mountain Bear into his Storage Bag, Liu Changxu noticed that many other Lineage cultivators were also pursuing demonic beasts. The stronger members hunted alone, as he did, while the weaker ones teamed up.
By then, the fighting on Peach Blossom Mountain was gradually drawing to a close.
Once the battle ended, Liu Changxu bid farewell to Second Elder Liu Qiushui and Sixth Elder Liu Shisheng and returned home!
After the battle to defend the spirit peaches ended, Lineage Head Liu Baishan immediately summoned the elders to the Lineage's council hall to discuss the aftermath!
At the meeting, First Elder Liu Qiusheng reported the harvest and the various losses from this gathering operation.
They had harvested a total of 17,216 lower-grade first-tier spirit peaches, 3,210 middle-grade first-tier spirit peaches, and 536 upper-grade first-tier spirit peaches, and killed 136 lower-grade first-tier demonic beasts, 28 middle-grade first-tier demonic beasts, and two upper-grade first-tier demonic beasts.
Five Lineage cultivators had died in battle, and three spirit peach orchards had been overrun, resulting in the loss of roughly 9,560 spirit peaches. The losses were devastating.
Compensation had to be provided for the Lineage cultivators who had fallen in battle.
Of the harvested spirit peaches, 9,215 had no jade boxes available for storage and needed to be brewed into Peach Blossom Brew as soon as possible.
After setting aside spirit peaches for the Lineage's own use, they could still sell 300 boxes containing 5,400 lower-grade first-tier spirit peaches, 50 boxes containing 900 middle-grade first-tier spirit peaches, and five boxes containing 90 upper-grade first-tier spirit peaches. Some materials from the slain demonic beasts could also be sold.
The Lineage therefore needed to organize a caravan to Purple Forest Market, eighteen thousand li away. Purple Forest Market had been established by the Azure Cloud Sect, and only there could they fetch a good price for their spirit peaches.
Most importantly, the Lineage planned to purchase a Foundation Establishment Pill there, since Liu Changxu's father, Eighth Elder Liu Shihao, had already reached the great perfection of Qi Refinement. Once they obtained a Foundation Establishment Pill, he could achieve Foundation Establishment at the market.
As for why he would not return to the Lineage to achieve Foundation Establishment, the reason was obvious: the journey was too long and dangerous. Even setting aside the demonic beasts along the way, attacks by evil cultivators posed the greatest danger.
If even a whisper got out that they possessed a Foundation Establishment Pill, it would certainly draw attacks from hordes of evil cultivators, making it far too difficult to return home alive. Thus, after winning a Foundation Establishment Pill at auction, many cultivation lineages would have their cultivators achieve Foundation Establishment at the market.
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