Ch117 - Counting Up

Hearing Liu Mufeng’s inquiry, Tao Yu smiled. “Oh, it’s like this. Three months ago, two cultivators from the Spiritual King Realm had an appointment to duel on the Phoenix Mountain. As a result, they knocked down a mountain, and the ruins of an old Palace of a Spiritual Emperor Realm cultivator were revealed. Therefore, many fellow seniors in the Spiritual Master and Spiritual King Realm are now rushing towards Phoenix Mountain, wanting to try their luck and find opportunities.”

“Oh, so that’s what happened.” Nodding, Liu Mufeng expressed understanding.

“That Luo Yuanjing and I live in the same city. The family relationship between the two of us is not very good. Therefore, he finds me very unpleasant, and the two Fellow Daoists were also scolded. I’m really sorry.” Looking at Liu Mufeng and Jiang Xu, Tao Yu apologized again.

“Fellow Daoist Tao, you don’t have to mind so much. We won’t take it to heart.” Liu Mufeng smiled and assured him that they were not bothered.

“Fellow Daoist Tao, are there really many treasures in the Palace in Phoenix Mountain?” Jiang Xu was also very interested in this matter.

“This, I don’t know. Although the ruins were discovered three months ago, I heard that no one has been able to enter. It is said that there is an array outside, and ordinary people can’t get in. Only an Array Mage can get in. Looking at the two, Tao Yu didn’t hide the information and told them everything he knew.

“Array Mage?” Hearing this, Jiang Xu frowned. He thought, ‘He and Mufeng were not Array Mages, but they had a lot of Earth Spirit Insects. He was unsure if they could let the Earth Insects nibble on the formation and enter the Palace.’

“I’m a fourth-level Array Mage. If the two Fellow Daoists want to find opportunities, we can team up to go to that Palace together.” Looking at the two, Tao Yu invited the two.

Hearing this, Jiang Xu looked at his partner, asking for his partner’s opinion.

Glancing at his lover, Liu Mufeng turned to Tao Yu. “In that case, thank you, Daoist Friend Tao, but won’t we be taking advantage of you too much? Or, when we find the opportunities, will there be more people to share it with Daoist Friend Tao?”

“No, it doesn’t matter to me. The more people in a group, the more power the group has. There will be quite a few cultivators visiting the ruins this time. There are only four people on my side, and I am alone. If I can join forces with two Fellow Daoists, we will have more people, so we don’t have to be afraid of other forces.” Looking at the two, Tao Yu smiled and rejected Liu Mufeng’s good intentions.

“If that’s the case, I’ll first thank Daoist friend Tao. Thank you, Daoist friend Tao”, With a smile, Liu Mufeng repeatedly thanked him.

“Fellow Daoist Liu, you are too polite.”

Sitting by the fire, Liu Mufeng, Jiang Xu and Tao Yu chatted for a long time. Most of the conversations were about the Shengtian Continent. Tao Yu knew many things about this continent in detail and answered many of Liu Mufeng’s doubts. The three of them hit it off and talked very happily. After chatting for more than two hours, Liu Mufeng and Jiang Xu returned to their room to rest.

Looking at the two people leaving, Tao Yu’s mouth corners raised in a sneer as he inwardly thought, ‘Two bumpkins who have never seen the world deserve to be my stepping stones. Don’t blame me, blame yourself for your rotten life, you’re sostupid!’

*****

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“Then, don’t we know that there are tigers in the mountains, and still we want to walk in the mountains?” Looking at his lover, Jiang Xu asked helplessly.

Hearing this, Liu Mufeng smiled. “It doesn’t have to be a Tiger Mountain. Maybe it’s a Spiritual Mountain?”

“But…” Frowning, Jiang Xu was still a little worried.

“Don’t worry, Tao Yu and Luo Yuanjing do not have the Spiritual King Realm cultivator among their groups. So we won’t need too much effort when taking care of them. Moreover, when we arrive at Phoenix Mountain, we will encounter other forces, and they may not care for us.” Liu Mufeng felt that instead of refusing at this moment and tearing his face with Tao Yu and his group, it would be better to follow them to Phoenix Mountain. Then, they would act according to the circumstances and get rid of these people.

“En, that’s true.” Nodding, Jiang Xu also felt that those nine people were not his and Mufeng’s opponents. Although Tao Yu and Luo Yuanjing were also in the nine-star Spiritual Master Realm, Jiang Xu was confident their side would never lose to the other party. Besides, if they couldn’t beat them, they could just run. They bought a lot of teleportation talismans in town. In addition to the teleportation talismans, they also had many second and third-level magic tools piled up that almost couldn’t be used up. If all these tools were used as explosives, let alone killing a Spiritual Master Realm, even a cultivator in the Spiritual King Realm would also die.

“Let’s cultivate. Don’t overthink. We have everything in place.” After speaking, Liu Mufeng handed over the small gourd.

“En.” Nodding, Jiang Xu sat cross-legged on the bed, drinking water from the gourd with Liu Mufeng, and cultivated together.

*****

The next day, Liu Mufeng and Jiang Xu left Li Family Village with Tao Yu’s team. When they left the Village, Liu Mufeng was surprised to find that Tao Yu’s team was not just six of them but fifteen people. There were nine other cultivators from Li Family Village. All of them were high-spirited and very excited about this chance. Liu Mufeng found out that they were also invited by Tao Yu to find opportunities together.

Luo Yuanjing’s team was not five people but sixteen people. Obviously, they also recruited a group of cultivators in the village. The two teams laughed at each other as soon as they met.

Tao Yu and Luo Yuanjing were at each other’s throats, making everyone feel the hatred between the two. They all took it for granted that each had invited their allies to deal with the other. That’s why they did so.

A group of thirty-one people walked on the road. Liu Mufeng’s eyes swept across the crowd one by one. He found that the villagers recruited by Tao Yu were all in the Spiritual Master Realm, but their strengths were not high. They were all one-star or two-star realms. The eleven cultivators recruited by Luo Yuanjing were even less powerful. All of them were in the Spiritual Mortal Realm. However, the only thing in common with them was their age. The cultivators recruited by the two were all young cultivators who were less than a hundred years old.

Liu Mufeng thought, ‘Why did the two recruit so many young cultivators? What kind of conspiracy were they brewing? And this Phoenix Mountain Spiritual Emperor Realm cultivator’s ruins, was it something they fabricated out of nothing? Or was it real?’

*****

Five days later, the group came to a deserted and uninhabited village. Everyone found a suitable room to rest in and stayed in the small village.

Jiang Xu immediately set up a barrier and looked at his lover. “Mufeng, I’m increasingly suspicious that the ruins are fake. You say, are they deliberately using the ruins as a guise to deceive people?”

“I don’t know if it’s true or not. But I guess they should begin their plan tonight.” Speaking of this, Liu Mufeng raised the corner of his mouth coldly.

“Tonight?” Jiang Xu was slightly surprised when he heard this.

“Yes, tonight is the best time to start. We will arrive at Phoenix Mountain in three days. It will be harder for them to implement their plan at that time.” Liu Mufeng felt that tonight was a good time for those people to start whatever scheme they were planning to do with them.

“Then, what will they do? Will they kill us?” Jiang Xu expressed his confusion about this.

“No, they won’t. If they wanted to kill people, they would have already done it. I think they need them alive.” Liu Mufeng felt that if the other party wanted to kill them, they could have done it quite early in the journey. So why bother taking them all the way? Therefore, Liu Mufeng guessed that the other party needed living people.

“Alive? For what would they need cultivators who are alive?” Jiang Xu couldn’t understand this.

“I once read in a book that a madman killed a thousand people to get a copy of a peerless manual of high-level skills. He opened an altar with the lives of the thousand people as sacrifices and got the peerless manual as he wished.” Looking at his lover, Liu Mufeng said lightly.

“So, you suspect that they want to sacrifice us?” Jiang Xu was shocked by this possibility.

“There is such a possibility.” Liu Mufeng felt that this was the most likely. Otherwise, that group of people would not attract so many people to follow them in finding opportunities.

“But……”

Before Jiang Xu’s words were finished, Liu Mufeng raised his hand to interrupt him and turned off the oil lamp in the room. “Someone is coming.”

Hearing the voice transmission of his lover, Jiang Xu immediately revealed his sword.

Smelling a strange scent in the room, Liu Mufeng immediately took out two pills, and both of them ate one each.

“Mufeng, what poisonous smoke did they spray outside the window to get in?” Looking at his lover, Jiang Xu asked curiously.

“A poison that can make people remain stunned for a long time. We can pretend to be unconscious for a while.” Liu Mufeng replied.

“Oh, I see.” Jiang Xu expressed his understanding.

As soon as the two of them finished communicating through the voice transmission, they heard the sound of the barrier being attacked from outside the door. Jiang Xu and Liu Mufeng immediately lay back on the bed and pretended to be unconscious.

Not long after, the restriction barrier at the door was broken, and Tao Yu walked into the room with a few men in black. Seeing Liu Mufeng and Jiang Xu lying unconscious on the bed, Tao Yu’s mouth raised in satisfaction. “Take both of them into the yard too.”

“Yes.” In response, the men in black clothes immediately stepped forward and carried the two “comatose” people out of the room.