Shouts drew nearer, and forty or fifty disciples dressed in Azure Mystic blue came from two directions!
They were the other two groups led by outer disciples.
With fresh forces arriving, the situation immediately reversed.
The Azure Mystic disciples closed in from both sides, surrounding and attacking those who had charged out of the stronghold, greatly easing the pressure on Jiang Weichuan's men.
Seeing reinforcements arrive for Azure Mystic, many of the stronghold's defenders lost heart on the spot. Some fled back inside, some knelt and begged for mercy, and more were cut down in the chaos.
Most importantly, two outer disciples at the Embryonic Breath level rushed over to help!
Facing a righteous four-against-two beating, the one-eyed man and the twin-sword fighter were ultimately outmatched. Still, they refused to surrender, fighting to the bitter end before they were killed.
After those two Embryonic Breath cultivators fell, Jiang Che let out a long breath, then strode over without regard for his own injuries.
He remained cautious, approaching carefully and striking the corpses again. Besides ensuring they were dead, he wanted to verify what he had encountered earlier.
A wisp of light drifted out of both the one-eyed man's corpse and the twin-blade fighter's corpse, just as before, and entered his body.
No one else noticed a thing. They merely thought he was being cautious.
The two dead men had been comparable in strength to the red-tasseled spear wielder. With their contribution, Jiang Che had gained one full opportunity to cross worlds.
At the same time, he further verified how to obtain world-crossing energy: he could absorb it from cultivators at the Embryonic Breath level or above who had only recently died, regardless of whether he had killed them himself.
This ability had some clever uses.
He could already think of two:
First, it could confirm an enemy's death, making it harder to fool him by playing dead or faking death.
Second, he did not necessarily have to risk his own life every time. If someone else killed a cultivator, he could reap the benefit simply by getting close shortly after their death. He could cling to a powerful backer's coattails and tag along to scavenge corpses.
He was quite satisfied with this haul.
Once all three Embryonic Breath cultivators were dead, the battle at the stronghold gates quickly ended. Those who had charged out were either killed or captured. Others pursued the few who escaped; they would not get far in the deep mountains and dense forests.
Jiang Weichuan's men had lost nine dead and eight wounded, suffering heavy casualties. The other two groups had arrived late and taken far fewer losses.
Once they entered the stronghold, there was little activity left inside. There were certainly survivors, but none could fight anymore. During the search, cries and screams occasionally rang out, only to be abruptly silenced.
The Azure Mystic disciples searched room by room and dragged out everyone still alive. Most were the elderly, the weak, women, and children. There were few able-bodied adults; most had likely died at the gates.
These people were all driven into the clearing at the center of the stronghold and made to kneel while someone questioned them one by one.
The others rummaged through the stronghold.
Jiang Che and Jiang Weichuan took no part in this work.
Both were badly injured, and their contributions arguably ranked first. After such a fierce battle, they naturally had the right to rest for a while.
Only now did Jiang Weichuan have time to exchange a few words with Jiang Che.
"Little Che, you've only just reached Embryonic Breath. You should have had time to properly consolidate your cultivation, but instead you had to go straight into battle and risk your life. Ah..."
There was considerable self-reproach and guilt in his words.
Jiang Che comforted Jiang Weichuan instead. "Uncle Chuan, there was nothing we could do. Once the steward gave the order, even if we knew we had only one chance in ten of surviving, we still had to fight to the bitter end."
The worry on Jiang Weichuan's face did not fade. "I told you earlier not to let anyone know you'd entered the Dao so quickly. Now everyone knows."
That was indeed a problem.
Many people knew that Steward Du had only taught Jiang Che the cultivation method yesterday. Today, so many had witnessed him fight and defeat an Embryonic Breath cultivator. Neither fact could be concealed.
There was no way to suppress the news. From now on, Jiang Che's name would certainly spread, at least throughout Willow Source.
Would people with ill intentions, enemies of his Lineage, or jealous rivals set their sights on Jiang Che and repeatedly try to harm him, all to prevent the Jiang from producing a formidable cultivator in the future?
"Let's just hope I'm like the man of Qi who feared the sky would fall."
That was all Jiang Weichuan could say.
Jiang Che suddenly smiled. "It isn't entirely a bad thing. If villains come to harm me, there will naturally also be people willing to invest and place their bets on me. If I were still that unremarkable boy, who would care about me?"
"That still wouldn't be as good as quietly developing without anyone knowing."
"What's done is done. Let it be."
As the two rested, reports continued to come in.
The stronghold was actually far from poor. Aside from ordinary goods such as grain and clothing, there was plenty of money and weaponry. Most Azure Mystic disciples were still ordinary mortals who had yet to enter the Dao, so naturally they did not look down on such mundane goods.
Moreover, they had found some spiritual supplies that cultivators needed.
The spirit stone fragments totaled around two hundred pieces. There were several bottles of pills for cultivation or healing, and even a magic artifact, presumably something the enemy Qi Refining Cultivator had not had time to take when he fled.
Such a haul could certainly be called plentiful.
Yet the stolen wooden box they truly wanted to find was nowhere to be seen.
Was it on the Qi Refining Cultivator who had escaped?
Had it perhaps been moved away even earlier?
Many were thinking along these lines, their excitement at having just won a battle gradually giving way to unease.
Just then, the three Qi Refining Cultivators returned.
But seeing the displeased expressions on all three faces, no one dared approach and volunteer a report.
They did not need anyone to report to them. How could the three of them not know the situation?
They had never held out hope that the stolen wooden box would turn up in a search here. In fact, they had not even expected it to still be here.
In taking this stronghold that sheltered Heaven Pillar remnants, what they most hoped to obtain was a crucial lead, and that would have to be pried from someone's mouth.
Who was most likely to know something?
Naturally, it was that Qi Refining Cultivator among the Heaven Pillar remnants.
Unfortunately... they had not caught him.
Not only had they failed to take their target down during the surprise assault and allowed him to escape, but their subsequent pursuit had only managed to wound him. He had burrowed into the mountain, where there were many branching passages and a few tricks laid in advance to conceal his trail. Du Yongchang and the others had pursued him for dozens of li, only to lose him in the end.
Steward Ye said bitterly, "These rats really do know how to dig holes."
Steward Fang sighed. "We haven't recovered the item, and we haven't taken the man alive. When the people from the sect arrive, the three of us... will have a hard time explaining ourselves."
Listening to the two of them, Du Yongchang grew even more irritable.
He looked at the ordinary prisoners they had captured and snapped, "Interrogate them again! Pry their mouths open! Anyone who can't tell us anything will be refined into blood pills! Someone must know something."
"These people are, at most, peripheral lackeys..." Steward Fang shook their head and was about to offer a few words of persuasion, but Steward Ye tugged at them from the side.
Of course Du Yongchang also knew it would most likely be useless. He was clearly venting his anger on these ordinary people. What was the point of trying to dissuade him?
As they spoke, all three suddenly fell silent and looked outward.
A moment later, several people emerged from the mountain forest. Five wore the clothing of Azure Mystic Sect disciples, while another was being escorted along, half-dead. He was none other than the Heaven Pillar remnant whom Du Yongchang and the other two had failed to catch!
The man had been brought back, yet the expressions of Du Yongchang and his two companions turned ugly.
"How did they get here so quickly?"
Before you continue