After turning it over in his mind, Jiang Zhu discovered that the Demon Clan of the Eastern Wasteland was actually his best option. They had not only a Great Emperor's scripture, but an Emperor Weapon as well.
The Emperor Weapon was in the hands of the Azure Emperor's Descendants, who would soon be hunted by a cultivator with a Divine Body at the Four Extremes Realm, seeking to seize the Azure Emperor's Weapon. That would be a perfect opportunity to deliver charcoal in the snow.
And once he had infiltrated the Demon Clan, gathering their bloodlines to unlock true spirit totems would become easier.
In that case, he would choose the Azure Emperor's Descendants!
It definitely had nothing to do with the rumors he had heard at the tavern about the Demon Emperor's Descendant's peerless grace and beauty.
The first step in his plan to infiltrate the Demon Clan, then, was to break through to the Four Extremes Realm. Ji Haoyue, the Ji Family's Divine Body, was at that realm. Without reaching it himself, Jiang Zhu would have trouble intervening.
But he currently lacked divine treasures such as fire-attribute exotic sources that could accelerate the cultivation of his heart divine treasury. He still needed to head to the Northern Region.
Whether he traded the spirit medicines he carried or sensed dragon veins and mined for himself, the Northern Region had the most source. Gathering it there would be easier than in the Central Region.
Jiang Zhu found a Domain Gate leading to the Northern Region right in the city. After paying some source, he passed through it without incident and arrived in the Northern Region of the Eastern Wilderness.
The Northern Region was red as far as the eye could see. It bore an uncanny resemblance to Mars after the Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountains had sucked it dry.
The land was desolate, as though draped in an enormous red canvas. Grit rose into the air, and russet sandstorms occasionally swept past in swirling gusts.
At dawn and dusk, sunlight filtered through the red dust, staining the sky an eerie orange-red, like spilled rusty water soaking through the clouds.
The boundless land was utterly empty, without the slightest sign of life. Only a few bare, rocky mountains dotted the horizon.
This was a barren wasteland, devoid of vitality. There was no sign of human habitation, only deathly stillness.
Rifts lay everywhere like enormous scars across the planet's surface. The exposed rock strata on their sheer walls resembled dried blood, dark red and unsettling.
The cultivators who had passed through the Domain Gate with Jiang Zhu took it all in stride.
Beneath the Northern Region's seemingly endless red earth lay source mines, renowned throughout the world.
Its population was sparse compared to its vast expanse. There were stretches of uninhabited land where one could travel a thousand miles without seeing a soul.
The Northern Region also had oases, scattered like stars across the land, but against its boundless territory, they seemed utterly insignificant.
Source had made this land, and source had ruined it. This mysterious substance condensed the essence of life, seemingly draining the entire Northern Region of its spiritual energy.
With source so plentiful, people did not have to worry about food or clothing. Yet it was also source that sparked frequent conflicts throughout the region and gave its people their fierce disposition.
To cultivators, source was what gold coins were to mortals. Bandits ran rampant here, and not only locals of the Northern Region, but powers from across the Eastern Wasteland mined source in this land.
To seize source mines, cultivators from the various powers frequently clashed and fought.
This barren wasteland was famed throughout the world for its source, and its chaos and bloodshed were just as notorious.
Jiang Zhu set out alone. As he walked across the land, he sensed the courses of the dragon veins underground. Yet although traces of dragon veins remained in most places across this desolate earth, their dragon qi was absent, as though forcibly drained dry.
"The Fighting Saint Emperor truly possessed vast divine powers and boundless might. A pity he took the wrong path!" Feeling the dried-up dragon veins beneath his feet, Jiang Zhu could not help but sigh.
In the ancient era, the Fighting Saint Emperor had attempted to become a Battle Immortal, only to fail. Ambushed by the Undying Heavenly Emperor, he had passed away before his time.
During his attempt to become a Battle Immortal, he had drawn upon the Northern Region's immense spiritual vitality, drastically transforming its heaven and earth. Its life force had dissipated, leaving a barren wasteland.
Jiang Zhu kept sensing the old courses of the dragon veins, hoping to use them to locate areas where the veins still flourished.
As for the well-known productive areas, the land surrounding the Primordial Ancient Mine stood foremost. But the territory within a hundred thousand miles of it had been divided equally among the great sacred lands.
Jiang Zhu was hardly in a position to demand a share of their spoils.
Several days later, he found a small, low mountain. Dragon qi flowed within it, and its life essence was abundant. There should have been a source vein inside.
But the vein was too small. Digging out even a few taels of source would have been a good result. Jiang Zhu could not be bothered to mine it; the return simply did not justify the effort.
"It seems professional work is best left to professionals." The Dragon-Calling Hand was indeed useful for finding and stirring the dragon veins within the terrain, but asking it to locate source mines was stretching its abilities too far.
After his plan to mine source himself failed, Jiang Zhu decided to head to the Sacred City and trade the fruits of his Treasure Medicine for fire-attribute exotic sources.
Before that, however, he needed to visit Purple Mountain. Originally, he had only intended to lure away the Divine Phoenix Immortal Medicine. Now that his search for source had failed, he would get back up where he had fallen. He wanted to see exactly what this Source Heaven Book contained, too.
After standing still to get his bearings, Jiang Zhu flew straight toward Purple Mountain. He had already bought a map showing its location back in the Central Region.
Time flew by. As Jiang Zhu sped through the sky, he spotted a band of riders crossing the desolate land below. Then the earth began to tremble, ceaselessly as a surging tide.
A blue-green torrent charged onward at tremendous speed, shaking the wasteland and whipping up a red storm.
There were more than thirty riders in the group, mounted on magnificent giant wolves covered in blue-green scales. They looked imposing and extraordinary.
A bloody, baleful aura shrouded these knights, and dark red bloodlight coiled around their blue-green armor.
At the same time, they spotted Jiang Zhu. They raised their spears in unison, the blood on the tips still wet. Cold light flashed along the weapons as they poured forth astonishing killing intent, and the riders hurled them at him.
Whoosh!
As though ten thousand arrows had been loosed at once, the spears split into countless smaller spears after leaving their hands, blotting out the sky and sun as they descended like dark clouds.
After throwing his spear, the lead knight drew a blood-colored scimitar from his sea of bitterness. Its blood groove was exaggeratedly deep, and inscriptions glittered upon it, continually emitting flashes of divine light. At the same time, two figures emerged from his torso and empowered him.
The Wolf Riders leaped into the air first. The other knights followed close behind, drawing their weapons as they charged into the sky.
Jiang Zhu remained unmoved as he watched the spears bear down on him. Within his liver divine treasury, the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass deity manifested. Sword intent flowed across its nine sword-shaped leaves, unleashing boundless sword qi that slashed toward the wolf riders.
Wherever the sword qi passed, even the red storm was severed. Amid ringing sword cries, the endless spears were first cut in two, then pulverized into dust.
The sword qi swept onward without slowing, flashing past. The thirty-odd wolf riders who had charged skyward, brandishing their weapons, seemed to freeze in place. Then they broke into tiny chunks of flesh that fell to the ground. Bloody blossoms bloomed across the sky, gruesome yet hauntingly beautiful.
The shattered flesh resembled finely minced meat chopped by a butcher: the cuts were sharp and precise, the pieces uniform, flesh separated from bone.
Even after passing through the thirty wolf riders, the sky full of sword qi retained enough force to carve countless ravines into the red earth.
"Hmm, I meant to leave one alive." Jiang Zhu could not help feeling some regret.
The lead wolf rider had been a cultivator at the second heaven of the Dao Palace Realm, yet he had been utterly powerless against the Grass Character Sword Art.
After killing came looting the bodies. Unfortunately, the wolf riders had been sliced too finely, and in the end, he recovered only part of their belongings.
Even that portion of the spoils contained dozens of jin of source.
Truly, murderers and arsonists wore belts of gold. How could mining ever be as fast as robbery?
The Northern Region's chaos had something to do with this, too. The great sacred lands either tolerated and sheltered such groups or backed their own factions. After all, robbery brought in wealth far too quickly!
The great sacred lands looked down from on high as the Northern Region's other powers fought. Whoever won or lost still had to pay tribute. The tribute alone could fatten plenty of purses, and since they did not even have to enter the fray themselves, none of them would ever complain about having too much source.
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