Chapter 58

(Updated for the fifth time, thank you to the generous support of the first Supreme Alliance member of the new book Tiantian Baidu Tieba! Thank you to Hongpao, Heshang, and all the brothers for your unwavering and enthusiastic support. This month, we will charge towards the top of the monthly ticket list!)

In addition to promptly calculating the merit points for the sect, Chen Hai also needed to promptly apply for the reconstruction of the Alchemist Garden in Snake Valley.

Within a two-hundred-mile radius of the Yellow Dragon Abyss, except for the Northern and Southern Heavenly Gate Forts, everything was under the jurisdiction of the Dao Academy.

The Demon Python Valley was less than sixty miles from the Yellow Dragon Abyss. To occupy and reconstruct the Alchemist Garden in that spiritual valley, formal permission from the Dao Academy was required.

At this time, Chen Hai and his group were the first to discover Snake Valley, so they had a certain priority.

When Chen Hai rode his horse through a small path back to the temporary Dao Academy in the western courtyard of the Yellow Dragon Abyss, he found that besides the more than a hundred Dao soldiers and disciples gathered in the square to watch the spectacle, even Li Xianghai and Zhang Huaiyu were alarmed and were watching the dead python with Zhao Ruhui.

Chen Hai and his group returned to the Dao Academy directly. Apart from six ordinary soldiers who were seriously injured and needed some time to recover, the others were fine.

Even so, when Zhao Ruhui and Li Xianghai saw them, they scolded them unhappily: "Encountering such a powerful demon beast in the mountains, you should have informed the Dao Academy. Are you afraid that you will lose your credit?"

The scolding from Zhao Ruhui and Li Xianghai was also out of fear that something might happen to them, which would be hard to explain. Chen Hai and Zhou Jun could only admit their mistake, thinking that there were still a few places where they suspected demon beasts were hiding, and they wouldn't be able to act alone anymore.

"Master Hai!" Qian Wenyi was among the crowd watching the spectacle. Seeing Chen Hai and his group approach, he squeezed through to greet them. He hadn't expected Chen Hai to have such a significant harvest this time.

He had previously been puzzled about why the head of the family had directly established Chen Hai as a legitimate son on par with Chen Zhang, but now he understood. Chen Zhang's cultivation was higher, but he was focused on cultivation and wouldn't lead his brothers into the mountains to make money.

"In recent years, such powerful demon beasts have rarely appeared in the western river. Besides the flesh and organs that can be refined into spiritual medicines, the long snake vertebrae are enough to forge a nine-section spiritual snake war spear, and the scales can be refined into eleven or twelve sets of spiritual snake war armor..." Li Xianghai stood before the python's corpse, stroking his chin in thought, estimating how to best utilize the python's remains.

"Senior Li's judgment is never wrong," Zhao Ruhui smiled and asked Zhang Huaiyu, "If we calculate this demon python as fifty thousand merit points for the Dao Academy, is that appropriate?"

Li Xianghai had previously been demoted to a Thousand Martial Commander, but after a few months, he was reappointed as the Dao Academy's Chief of Arms.

On one hand, the Yellow Dragon Abyss Dao Academy was newly established and lacked personnel. On the other hand, Li Xianghai led troops to guard the north and south of the Yellow Dragon Abyss, mainly responsible for the outer defense of the Dao Academy. By serving as the Chief of Arms, he could integrate the daily training of the Dao soldiers into the defense of the Yellow Dragon Abyss.

Such a large amount of merit points required Li Xianghai, Zhao Ruhui, and Zhang Huaiyu to discuss and decide together.

Now, both Li Xianghai and Zhao Ruhui were inclined towards Chen Hai and Zhou Jun, and Zhang Huaiyu couldn't oppose them alone. He nodded and looked at Chen Hai and his group, his eyes hiding a hint of softness, and said seriously, "Your bravery as disciples deserves a reward, but you must not act so recklessly again."

In other words, if Chen Hai and his group made any more discoveries in the Jade Dragon Mountain, they should inform the Dao Academy first, and the Dao Academy would assess the situation and dispatch enough disciples to surround and eliminate the demon beast, not allowing them to act on their own again.

Li Xianghai and Zhao Ruhui were genuinely concerned, while Zhang Huaiyu was afraid that they would stand out too much. However, Chen Hai and Zhou Jun could only nod in agreement, thinking that if they acted on their own again, the merit points they could earn would be greatly reduced.

The Dao Academy did not have the capability to process the demon python's remains. Initially, they would only collect the flesh, bones, and other parts, and ultimately send them to the Upper Seven Peaks for processing...

With the matter of the merit points settled, Zhao Ruhui instructed the head of the Medicine God Hall to handle the subsequent matters.

"Master Zhao, Snake Valley is over sixty miles away. After eliminating the demon python, the surrounding area is also picturesque and full of spiritual energy. I want to build a residence there and need the Dao Academy's permission." Chen Hai directly proposed to rebuild the Alchemist Garden in the Snake Valley.

"You have done a great service by slaying the demon. If you want to build a residence, you have the priority. Just submit a formal application..." As the supervisor, Zhao Ruhui followed the rules and did not need to follow the opinions of Zhang Huaiyu and Li Xianghai, directly agreeing.

The flat land along the Yellow Dragon Abyss, surrounded by four mountains, was scarce. Disciples or officials who wanted to build residences had to exchange merit points, and the value was quite high, with about a hundred merit points needed for one acre of land.

The Snake Valley was over sixty miles from the Yellow Dragon Abyss. Chen Hai wanted to rebuild the Alchemist Garden there, which could strengthen the outer defense of the Yellow Dragon Abyss. However, everyone was not foolish; with a demon python nesting there for hundreds of years, there must be hidden spiritual spring resources. Even if it was far from the core area of the Yellow Dragon Abyss, if the Chen clan wanted to take over this land, they would need ten merit points per acre.

This was the rule, and Zhao Ruhui and Li Xianghai could not be too biased towards Chen Hai. Otherwise, if Zhang Huaiyu reported to the Jade Dragon Camp, there would be endless trouble.

Chen Hai had previously estimated that the Snake Valley and the surrounding mountains covered an area of about three to four miles in diameter.

Three thousand acres of land would require them to exchange thirty thousand merit points, which was equivalent to half a demon python. Chen Hai felt a bit heartache, but thinking about Wu Meng's words on the way, that the Black Horn Python could cultivate its scales to the level of cold iron, making them almost invulnerable to spiritual swords, and that there might be iron and stone essence in the snake's lair that could be used for cultivation, he was tempted.

This also suggested that the snake's lair might contain valuable minerals. In that case, they would need to occupy the surrounding mountains to have the right to mine.

******

Chen Hai called Qian Wenyi to his temporary residence in the Dao Academy, wrote a letter about the slaying of the demon python and the Snake Valley, and handed it to Qian Wenyi, saying, "I have duties such as training and guarding the fort, so I cannot leave the Yellow Dragon Abyss easily. But many things need to be decided by my uncle, so I have to trouble you to make a trip."

Chen Hai also handed the black, iron-like python horn to Qian Wenyi, asking him to take it to Zhaoyang City.

Even if they were willing to use thirty thousand merit points to occupy the surrounding mountains of the Snake Valley, the subsequent management would require a huge investment and a large number of people. They also needed Chen Lie's permission to use the Chen clan's name to occupy such a large area of land.

Within such a close range to the core area of the Yellow Dragon Abyss, building a fort and training private troops, and discovering underground minerals, would require the recruitment of a large number of attached civilians. These were privileges of the noble families; ordinary people doing so would be considered plotting against the state.

After the Snake Valley's waterways were cleared, if there was indeed a spiritual spring, Chen Lie could use the Alchemist Garden as a secondary residence and come to cultivate at any time—after all, the Splash Cloud Cliff was still quite far from the Jade Dragon Mountain.

Chen Hai also wanted to directly incorporate the thirty-odd elite soldiers he had trained into his uncle Chen Lie's guard camp, truly treating them as his private troops. This time, they had slain the demon python, which could be considered擅自调动武卒, but Li Xianghai did not seriously追究.

"If Miss Chen Qing asks, I该怎么回答?" Qian Wenyi asked.

Qian Wenyi was willing to run errands for Chen Hai, but he was still serving Chen Qing. He would need to inform Chen Qing before leaving the Yellow Dragon Abyss.

"Tell her the truth. She has enjoyed the Chen clan's support for years and should contribute to the clan," Chen Hai said.

Qian Wenyi thought of the harsh words Chen Hai had said to Chen Qing in Mengyi City and held back a laugh. Seeing that Chen Hai was quite tired today, he bid farewell and went to ask Chen Qing for leave.

Seeing Chen Hai taking the Spirit Nourishing Pill to cultivate his essence and energy, Wu Meng also retreated to the outer room and sat cross-legged.

He had gained a lot from today's battle between Chen Hai and the demon python, never expecting that the martial techniques of the Transcendent Realm could reach such a breathtaking level. He felt that even if his cultivation realm could not be advanced for the time being, his strength still had the potential to improve.

Chen Hai did not care what Wu Meng was thinking in the outer room. Through the Snake Bracelet, his divine soul consciousness entered the Blood Cloud Wasteland, where the puppet clone stood on a cliff that had been eroded for thousands of years, overlooking the desolate land.

After hunting and killing over a hundred Raksha demons, Chen Hai's puppet clone finally grew a layer of blood-colored scales, becoming more majestic and fearsome. It held a broken bone as a war spear, with blood-red eyes, looking no different from other Raksha demons.

The Raksha Realm had undergone several cycles of the Rebirth Array, and countless skeletons and bones had been infused with the spirits of the dead, reviving the Blood Cloud Wasteland into a Raksha Ghost Domain.

The divine guard puppet clone had five ranks: soldier, guard, commander, general, and marquis. Chen Hai used these ranks to measure the revived Raksha demons in the Blood Cloud Wasteland, dividing them into soldier, guard, commander, general, and marquis levels.

Higher-level Raksha demons with golden bones could not directly enter the Blood Cloud Wasteland. The few dozen golden bones in the Blood Cloud Wasteland had not been successfully revived and were instead broken down and used as magical weapons by the massive marquis-level demons, which were over a hundred meters tall.

However, the old ghosts in the Raksha Realm who were constantly chanting and driving the Rebirth Array must have been Raksha demons with golden bones, possibly even stronger and more terrifying than imagined...

After hunting over a hundred soldier-level Raksha demons, Chen Hai's puppet clone grew a layer of dense blood scales, successfully advancing to the guard level. However, it was still far from being able to directly confront the seven to eight-meter-tall, tank-like commander-level demons.

Moreover, at this point, hunting lower-level soldier-level Raksha demons could no longer directly fuse their life essence; at most, it could replenish the consumed true essence.

The Raksha demons, after failing to dig out the location of the temple and engaging in bloody battles for several months, finally formed various-sized groups.

Each group was centered around a powerful general or marquis-level Raksha demon, occupying the mountains and cliffs of the Blood Cloud Wasteland, gradually stabilizing. However, different groups continued to engage in fierce battles, seemingly to determine who would be the ultimate ruler of this wasteland.

Raksha demons like Chen Hai, who were outside these groups, also existed, but under the pressure of the larger groups, they could only move to the periphery of the Blood Cloud Wasteland, not daring to easily enter the core area where the temple was located.

Chen Hai was also extremely frustrated. He had not been able to enter the core area of the temple for several months, not knowing if there was any danger of the temple being discovered. Left Ear had not contacted him again, and the puppet clone seemed to be trapped in this hopeless dead end forever.

Since he had already cultivated the Raksha Blood Refinement Secret Technique and transformed the Raksha blood corpse into a clone, his divine soul consciousness was integrated with the clone's mind. He could no longer easily abandon it.

Cultivating a clone was a divine ability of the Dao Fetus Realm, with many benefits, such as doubling one's strength and having an extra life. However, if the clone was destroyed, the backlash to the original would be severe.

Chen Hai, under extremely special circumstances, possessed this clone. If it were destroyed, the damage to his divine soul would be minor, but his lifespan would be reduced by at least half.

When the Raksha demons in the Blood Cloud Wasteland gradually formed groups, Chen Hai initially wanted to infiltrate one of them.

Chen Hai soon discovered that among the countless Raksha demons, there were a few upper-level commander-level and above demons with the ability to refine blood through slaughter. Given his low strength and the perfect Raksha blood corpse used to create the clone, he would be seen as a quick meal to enhance their strength.

Chen Hai could only remain outside these groups, making survival even more difficult...

Was he supposed to single-handedly eliminate the countless Raksha demons and the blood-refining upper-level demons, who were dozens or even hundreds of times stronger than him?

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