These cultivators were all rogue cultivators and members of small lineages who made their living near the waters of Earth Pass Island. Even ordinarily, they lived with the utmost caution.
The Blood River Old Devil's tyranny and terror had long since sunk deep into everyone's hearts;
it was said that he treated even his own sect's disciples as casually as chickens and ducks to be slaughtered, without a shred of humanity.
And the disciples of the Demon Lotus Sect under his command, his foremost hunting hawks and hounds, were naturally no gentle souls either. Every one of them was ruthless.
Besides, most of them practiced blood-path cultivation techniques and had savage, violent dispositions. Once provoked, they would mean serious trouble.
They could not give them that pretext.
At this moment, the dozens of gift-receiving tables bustled with activity, voices boiling over.
"Azure Wave Archipelago, Mysterious Mountain Island, Iron Blade Society-" someone called loudly from one of the gift-receiving tables.
Looking over, one could see a cultivator leading the group with a black iron eyepatch over his right eye. He was none other than the second-in-command of the Iron Blade Society on Mysterious Mountain Island.
Two burly men followed him, their powerful, hulking builds marking them at a glance as cultivators who pursued body tempering and slaughter. They carried a bronze chest half a person's height.
Seeing this, Hua Tieshou, a steward of the General Affairs Hall, reached out and lifted the lid.
In an instant, his brow rose slightly in the glow of fire.
A fist-sized Middle-Grade Spirit Stone lay quietly at the bottom of the chest. Resting atop it was a stalk of upper grade first tier Scarlet Flame Grass some two feet tall.
The Scarlet Flame Grass had leaves as red as fire. Wound around it was a