Chapter 381 - 229: The Marvelous Use of the Wood Seed, The Advent of the Demon Sect

Xie Jiang nodded repeatedly and responded quickly.

Li Chang’an then spoke.

"Where is Yuan Shan?"

"Yuan Shan is still within the Sect, monitoring Su Yuyan’s movements to prevent her from coming to help you."

"What are the Cyan Cloud Sect’s losses from this attack?"

"The losses are immense..."

Xie Jiang replied honestly.

The Cyan Cloud Sect’s losses this time were about the same as the rumors circulating outside.

They lost over seventy percent of their Pill Masters!

Among them was even a prodigy who had reached the Quasi-Tier Three level in the Alchemy Dao.

Furthermore,

A large number of Spirit Medicine Fields were destroyed, and countless meticulously cultivated Spirit Medicines were turned to ash.

More than half of the Elixir Pills, Spirit Medicines, and other items stored in the various Treasure Vaults were also destroyed.

The Cyan Cloud Sect suffered a devastating blow.

"The Sect has already sent people to the Dan Valley Xiao Family. They plan to negotiate with the Xiao Family to buy a batch of Elixir Pills and borrow some Pill Masters in order to survive this crisis, but the results of the negotiations aren’t in yet..."

Xie Jiang didn’t dare to hide anything, telling him everything he knew in full.

After hearing everything, Li Chang’an was lost in thought.

’If the Dan Valley Xiao Family is willing to help, the Cyan Cloud Sect should be able to survive this crisis.’

’The Cyan Cloud Sect has a thousand years of history, after all. As long as they offer up some rare treasures, moving the Xiao Family shouldn’t be a problem.’

’The Cyan Cloud Sect will probably pull through and then retaliate fiercely against the other two major sects,’ Li Chang’an mused.

’The war between the three sects will only become more brutal from now on.’

’I can raise the prices of my Elixir Pills and Talismans a bit.’

After finishing his questions,

With a thought, Li Chang’an reasserted his control, and Xie Jiang became a puppet once more.

He then shot out three Wood Seeds in succession, refining the other three Late Stage of Foundation Establishment Elders from the Cyan Cloud Sect into puppets as well.

From now on,

the lives and deaths of these four were entirely in his hands.

However,

Li Chang’an didn’t plan to kill them for the time being.

He controlled the four of them, having them return to the Cyan Cloud Sect and remain there to pass him internal information.

Besides, there were some treasures he needed in the Cyan Cloud Sect Treasure Vault.

These four could also exchange for them on his behalf, one by one.

’My Wood Seed Technique is actually stronger than the Blood Seed Technique when it comes to remote control.’

When creating this Wood Seed Technique, Li Chang’an had integrated the method of Divine Splitting and Thought Transformation.

Every Wood Seed contained a sliver of his Divine Sense, and every wisp of Divine Sense held a trace of his consciousness.

This way,

he could know the puppet’s condition at any time, from anywhere.

If he felt something was wrong, he could make the Wood Seed self-destruct to avoid detection.

The original Blood Seed Technique couldn’t do this.

Although the Bloodline also contained a wisp of Divine Sense, if the distance was too great, one couldn’t control its self-destruction, nor could one perceive the specific situation of the cultivator afflicted by the Bloodline.

「Back then.」

Li Chang’an had killed Huang Feng in the Secret Realm.

Although Liang Yu knew Huang Feng was dead, he didn’t know who killed him and could only vaguely sense the location where Huang Feng had fallen.

’In this regard, I’ve truly surpassed the master.’

Li Chang’an was very satisfied.

The four of them, Xie Jiang included, were practically four extensions of himself, serving as his eyes to observe everything in the Cyan Cloud Sect.

’If my Divine Sense were strong enough, I could even use the Wood Seed Technique to slowly control every single person in the Sect.’

’In the end,’

’the entire Sect would be controlled by a single consciousness.’

’Though they are many, they would have one mind.’

’The thought of such a situation is rather terrifying.’

But, unless absolutely necessary, Li Chang’an wouldn’t split off so much of his Divine Sense.

’After splitting off four wisps, my Divine Sense is still at the Foundation Establishment Peak. It hasn’t dropped too much.’

Alchemy, Talisman Painting, and Array Formation all had certain requirements for Divine Sense strength.

Besides,

Li Chang’an also had to guard against the Divine Sense Techniques of other Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Although such techniques were extremely rare, the world was not short of people with great opportunities; someone was bound to obtain one.

...

「In the days that followed.」

Acting as Li Chang’an’s eyes, Xie Jiang and the other three kept him informed of many situations within the Cyan Cloud Sect.

For example, the Cyan Cloud Sect’s Sect Protection Array was a Tier Three Top Grade Array. As long as a Golden Core Cultivator was presiding over it, not even an enemy at the Late Stage of Golden Core would dare to force their way in.

Every so often,

Xie Jiang and the others would exchange for a treasure Li Chang’an needed from the Cyan Cloud Sect Treasure Vault.

Among these were nurturing treasures required for his Evergreen Vine, as well as the Dragon-type Demon Beast Essence Blood he needed for his Tier Two Body Refining Ninth Layer.

The four of them held positions of considerable standing within the Cyan Cloud Sect.

Exchanging for a treasure occasionally didn’t attract too much attention.

Time flew by.

Before he knew it, two and a half years had passed.

「On this day.」

Xie Jiang once again delivered a treasure.

It was a portion of Tier Two Late Stage Earth Dragon Demon Beast Essence Blood.

At this point,

Li Chang’an had finally gathered all nine types of Tier Two Dragon-type Demon Beast Essence Blood required for his Tier Two Body Refining Ninth Layer.

He could now gather the Power of Nine Dragons to undergo the final stage of Body Refinement.

’It really is good to have a Sect at your back. Acquiring treasures is so easy, it saves me a lot of trouble.’

Li Chang’an smiled as he accepted the Essence Blood.

Over the past two and a half years,

he had truly felt the benefits of having a Sect behind him.

Whether it was obtaining information or acquiring treasures, it was far more convenient than being a Loose Cultivator.

Right now, although he wasn’t a Sect Disciple, by leveraging the identities of Xie Jiang and the other three, he enjoyed no shortage of the Sect’s benefits without having to bear any of its responsibilities.

’The Body Refining Treasures are all gathered, and I’ve also gotten plenty of nurturing treasures for the Evergreen Vine.’

’It’s just a shame that I still haven’t found the last treasure needed for the Venerable Soul Banner to advance to Tier Three.’

Li Chang’an still needed a Tier Three Treasure called the Ghost Soul Lotus.

This was what the Venerable Soul Banner’s Artifact Spirit had told him.

To restore it to Tier Three, this treasure was indispensable.

But it was a Demonic Treasure, the kind a Righteous Sect like the Cyan Cloud Sect would never have.