Two days later, in Jing Province, Ying City.
Inside the hall, a noble-looking man in a brocade robe sat in the head seat, while below him sat many generals in armor, and some others in Bagua Daoist robes, the symbol of the disciples of the Heavenly Puppet Sect.
The atmosphere in the hall was oppressive. The man in the brocade robe had a face so gloomy it looked like it was about to drip water. If Chen Mu were here, he would definitely recognize this man, because he was none other than the Sixth Prince Long Xiang.
After Long Bo seized the throne and took control of the royal family, Long Xiang knew he was powerless to turn the tide, so he could only withdraw his subordinates to Jing Province to recuperate.
Over the years, with the support of the Heavenly Puppet Sect, he has firmly controlled all the forces in Jing Province.
Long Bo, not wanting to fall out with the Heavenly Puppet Sect, tacitly accepted the position and even bestowed upon him the title of King Who Pacifies Jing.
Long Xiang is in his prime and still has ambitions, but his current strength is clearly insufficient to support them.
Not only was Jing Province's northern territory being repeatedly defeated by the Abyss Devil Race, but now, merely by bullying the unstable Chen Kingdom, three top experts had already been lost to Chen Mu. How could he not feel heartbroken?
"... Your Highness, what should we do now? Chen's army is pressing forward relentlessly. If we don't withdraw our troops from Yi Province soon, we fear we will be completely annihilated."
After a general finished reporting the news from the front lines, he asked Long Xiang for further instructions.
"Withdraw! Withdraw everyone within Yi Province."
Long Xiang took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed his anger. He knew that now was not the time to fight to the death with the Chen Kingdom.
"Your Highness, why..."
Some generals couldn't help but stand up, unable to understand why Long Xiang suddenly wanted to retreat.
They had a well-thought-out plan for this annexation of Yi Province, and they were naturally unhappy that the duck that was about to be eaten had flown away.
Most of the people present were unaware of Wei Wencheng and his two companions' ambush of Chen Mu, and naturally, they were also unaware of the outcome: two of Wei Wencheng's men were killed and one was captured.
"Shut up! I have my own plan. Just follow my orders."
Long Xiang was in a very bad mood at the moment and didn't bother to explain to these people.
He originally thought that Wei Wencheng, with two Heaven Ranking experts, was going to ambush the high-ranking officials of the Chen Kingdom. Even if they couldn't kill them, they should at least be able to protect themselves.
Unexpectedly, Wei Wencheng and his two companions perished at Chen Mu's hands. He was now racking his brains about how to explain this to his maternal grandfather, the Sect Heavenly Puppet Sect.
Although the Heavenly Puppet Sect has a profound foundation, there are only a handful of talisman masters of Wei Wencheng's caliber. Losing any one of them would be a serious blow to the Heavenly Puppet Sect, not to mention the death of two guest elders from the Heaven Ranking.
Seeing that Long Xiang was in a bad mood, the generals dared not say anything more, and after a short while, Long Xiang hastily ended the meeting.
After the meeting ended, Long Xiang immediately set off for the Heavenly Puppet Sect. Chen Mu had actually dared to kill an elder of the Heavenly Puppet Sect, and now this matter was beyond his control. He had to explain to the Heavenly Puppet Sect in person.
Three days later, the army of the King Who Pacifies Jing had basically withdrawn from Yi Province. During this time, Chen Mu even made a move, killing two loyal city lords of the Heavenly Puppet Sect, which finally calmed down those who were wavering.
"Xuezhen, Manting, I'm leaving the border area to you!"
If there are still any stubborn people, you can ask Landuo for help; he knows how to help you.
Before leaving the border, Chen Mu handed over military power to Chen Xuezhen and another person. Although they were young, they were quite steady in their work, and Chen Mu intended to cultivate them.
On the other hand, Chen Mu has already broken ties with the Heavenly Puppet Sect this time, so there's no need for him to hold back anymore. If the Heavenly Puppet Sect really dares to push their luck, the large number of Demon Spirit Missile stored in the military base are not just for show. It all comes down to who's more ruthless.
Having resolved the border issue, Chen Mu immediately returned to Suspended Sword Pass, where he met Wei Shuang and the others.
" Chen Mu, I have good news for you. I've invited three senior brothers to come down from the mountain to help you."
Let me introduce you now.
When Wei Shuang met Chen Mu, she proudly introduced her three senior brothers.
"These are my third senior brother Zhou Sen, eighth senior brother Wang Hanzhi, and tenth senior brother Tang Lixing."
"Junior Chen Mu greets the three seniors."
Chen Mu politely greeted the three disciples of the Sword-Questioning Sect.
Although these people were all Wei Shuang's senior brothers, the youngest of them was over a hundred years old. Moreover, it was difficult to judge a person's age by appearance alone, so Chen Mu simply called them all "seniors".
Haha, Chen Mu, you don't need to be so polite with me.
To tell you the truth, the reason I'm willing to help you is because Shuang'er Sister Shuang'er told me that your Chen Kingdom is very wealthy, and that I can get a generous reward if I help you.
Now I ask you, is what Junior Sister Shuang'er said true?
Zhou Sen was a straightforward person, and he got straight to the point as soon as they met, which made Wei Shuang's smile disappear.
However, Chen Mu admired Zhou Sen's straightforwardness. He had never intended to let others help him for free; that was something only capitalists would do.
"Of course it's true. As long as Senior Zhou Sen is willing to stay in my Chen Kingdom, I promise that each of you will receive at least one Rank Eighth-Grade Spirit Stone per month as compensation."
If you require my assistance, I will reward you according to the difficulty of each instance, but the value will be no less than one Eighth-Grade Spirit Stone. In any case, I will never let you suffer a loss.
Chen Mu's words were sincere, which greatly pleased Zhou Sen and the others.
Although the Sword-Questioning Sect advocates arduous cultivation, it doesn't mean they don't need cultivation resources; they simply have a lower demand for them.
Their cultivation methods emphasize breakthroughs in Sword Dao intent. If one cannot break through in Sword Dao intent, no amount of cultivation resources will be of any use. However, even if one has sufficient Sword Dao intent, resources are still needed to help them reach higher realms more quickly.
The three Zhou Sen who have now emerged from seclusion have honed their Sword Dao intent sufficiently, but lack the resources for advancement. That is why they were drawn to Wei Shuang and returned to the Pan Emperor Continent to help Chen Mu.
After Spiritual Power cultivators enter the Creation Realm, although World Power becomes their strongest force, they still use Spiritual Power the most in their daily lives.
From a certain perspective, World Power is the evolved form of Spiritual Power. Only when a cultivator's Spiritual Power is more abundant will the World Power within their body be stronger. Therefore, even a powerful cultivator at the Creation Realm can still use Spirit Stone to assist in cultivation.
However, for people at their level, low-grade Spirit Stone are no longer of any use. If they want to absorb them, they need at least seventh-grade Spirit Stone.
For this reason, the value of Spirit Stone skyrockets once they exceed the seventh grade, and there are almost no places in the Pan Emperor Continent where Spirit Stone of the seventh grade or above can be openly exchanged.
Such precious Spirit Stone can only be seen occasionally at auctions, but they are usually snapped up as soon as they appear, because they are considered a valuable strategic resource.