Chapter 1331: Star Tears’ Suspicion
After hurrying back to the Misty Spring Ocean, Tang Xiu chose to retreat in seclusion directly. But instead of immersing himself in cultivation, he spent his time refining Five-colored Toadstools into poison pills.
The work occupied him for an entire month. When Tang Xiu took the 10 Myriad Poison Pills and came out of Repose Cliff, he saw Gu Xiaoxue sitting cross-legged on the edge of the cliff while playing with two Immortal Crystals. Her face, however, looked thin and pale.
“Xiaoxue!”
Tang Xiu walked and smilingly asked, “Looks like you have something weighing in your mind, yes?”
Gu Xiaoxue floated up and intimately grabbed Tang Xiu’s hand and forced a smile. “We’re broke. We have no money left, Grand Master. I think we’ll only be able to support military expenses for two more months at most.”
“Huh?” Tang Xiu froze for a moment and looked bewildered. “Didn’t I leave quite a lot of Immortal Crystals and Crystal Essences before? How can all of them be used up this fast?”
“Well, most of the Immortal Crystals and Crystal Essences were used to purchase cultivation resources. The consumption rate of those 400,000 soldiers doesn’t need to be mentioned, while we also must give each Perfected Golden Immortal 1 million Immortal Crystals. We only have 2.6 million Immortal Crystals and a few hundreds of Crystal Essences left as of now.”
Tang Xiu frowned slightly, remembering that before returning from Agaric Castle, he had paid that old man 500,000 Crystal Essences and then sent tens of millions to Agaric Castle to pay the remaining 7 million Crystal Essences he owed and back with some Seven-colored Toadstool.
It was still the same kind of problem time and again where their spending kept flowing enormously.
Furthermore, Tang Xiu clearly remembered another thing. When Apotheon Mu returned from Immortal Lyceum, he told him that Apotheosis Bella gave him all the Immortal Crystals and Crystal Essences the Immortal Lyceum had, so the Immortal Lyceum’s financial situation was also very tight now.
Tang Xiu didn’t plan to visit the Convict Arena again. He just recently returned to the Immortal World, yet he visited the Convict Arena many times already, either to buy their deathmatch fighters or to gamble. It was bound to attract the attention of the high-level people there. Back when in the Immortal Domain when he left the Convict Arena, the other party was investigating him, though he did quickly leave the place without a trace.
And now, if he were to visit the Convict Arena to gamble again, it was very likely that he’d easily be noticed by the other party.
“Seems like going back to the old business can’t be avoided.”
Tang Xiu’s eyes flickered. After sending a message with the Message Token, Apotheon Mu came shortly after. Without waiting for him to speak, Tang Xiu straightly asked, “Do the star regions near the Misty Spring Ocean have some rich and wicked people?”
Apotheon Mu thought for a while before replying, “I think there are some. I remember there’s a place about thousands of kilometers away from Misty Spring Ocean called Myriad Demons Grotto. The owner of this Myriad Demons Grotto is called Barefooted Demon, an old lunatic fiend. Ruthless and merciless as he is, he stops at nothing in doing all kinds of evil deeds. More importantly, many indigenous people in that star region are forced to flee because of their helplessness facing the persecution of this group of ruthless experts that plunge the region into chaos. Those that cannot escape can only be enslaved there.”
“And you haven’t dealt with him all this time?” asked Tang Xiu inquisitively.
“To be honest, I’m not even a match for Barefooted Demon, Master.” Apotheon Mu bitterly smiled. “He’s a very powerful Perfected Golden Immortal, and he still also has two other Perfected Golden Immortals and tens of Golden Immortals under him. I’ve been there and attempted to remove him before but returned back wounded.”
Tang Xiu squinted his eyes and sneered. “Hmph, he’s a devil, alright. Robbing him won’t leave any guilty feelings nor psychological burdens. Notify everyone except for Seaway Monarch and Zenith Venerable. You lead the rest to remove these fiends and bring back their wealth.”
“Do you really want to take our people to slaughter them, Master,” Apotheon Mu was surprised.
“We’re heavily short on money.” Tang Xiu nodded. “Since Myriad Demons Grotto is such an evil place, then we might as well ma.s.sacre these fiends and s.n.a.t.c.h their wealth. In this way, we still help those weak people so they can go on living indirectly.”
Apotheon Mu smiled at his statement. He had been following Tang Xiu for millenniums and naturally understood his nature well. Whenever they needed ma.s.sive funds, his Master, Tang Xiu, always used such a slogan of helping the weak by slaughtering some fiends so he could obtain wealth.
“Well, then I’m going, Master,” Apotheon Mu replied and left quickly.
Several days later, Apotheon Mu and the rest returned and brought back a lot of wealth. Just the number of Crystal Essences alone was around 20 million, and around 400 million Immortal Crystals.
Tang Xiu gave part of the Immortal Crystals and Crystal Essences to Apotheon Mu and the rest as their rewards and gave the remaining half to Gu Xiaoxue.
The whole boundless sky was clear and speckless.
Tang Xiu sat cross-legged on the Repose Cliff. His eyes seemed to be able to penetrate the endless void and saw the trembling scenes of countless stars from the distant universe. The planets inside his body simultaneously roared and, while lifeforce energy from the Heavenly Path Universe Tree kept drilling into the planets one after another, causing these celestial bodies to gradually appear alive.
BOOM…
Finally, the third layer of the Soul Smelting Stage of the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis had been broken through.
“This feeling of power…”
Tang Xiu floated up, allowing the inexhaustible Immortal spiritual force to be infused into his body from all directions, and then being absorbed and refined continuously before it was integrated into the s.p.a.ce in his Dantian.
Before this breakthrough, it was nearly impossible for Tang Xiu to kill a Golden Immortal Stage powerhouse, though he did have the ability to fight average Golden Immortals. With this breakthrough, however, his power grew tremendously and, even though he had yet to have the capability to kill a Perfected Golden Immortal directly, he could still slay a weak Perfected Golden Immortal by unleas.h.i.+ng some divine abilities.
But as for Golden Immortals, Tang Xiu now had all the confidence to crush any of them to pieces.
Tang Xiu stood high in the sky. His white attire fluttered by the wind as he sent messages through the Message Token. Two hours later, 12 figures appeared in front of him. 10 of them were Perfected Golden Immortals in the Great Tang Empire, together with Gu Yan’er and Battle Peng, and all stood with respectful faces and waited for Tang Xiu to speak.
“It’s about time.”
Tang Xiu took the Message Token from the interspatial ring and took a deep breath, stating, “Yan’er and Battle Peng, you both will stay in the Misty Spring Ocean to ensure the safety of the Great Tang Empire. During our leave, if any strong enemies were to appear here, immediately order the Great Tang Empire’s soldiers to evacuate and hold fast to defend the Repose Cliff.”
Gu Yan’er felt a bit unwilling inwardly, but her cultivation had not been fully restored and she was only at the Golden Immortal Stage now. Hence, she could only suppress her unwillingness and nod. “I understand.”
Tang Xiu nodded and continued, “This campaign will take half a year at the fastest, or 10 years at the slowest. But nonetheless, we’ll definitely come back to this place. The Great Tang Empire doesn’t need to continue expanding its territory for the time being and only needs to recruit more troops and train in secret for the war preparation. The army I need must at least consist of hundreds of millions of soldiers, so we still have a long way to go.”
“Please rest a.s.sured, Master,” replied Gu Yan’er in a deep voice.
Tang Xiu smiled lightly in response and immediately s.h.i.+fted to the 10 Perfected Golden Immortals and said in a deep voice, “We’ll have a slim chance of survival with this trip to the Heavenly Mountain. That’s why I want to ask you. Who among you dares not to go there? Tell me now and I’ll allow you to stay here to take care of the Great Tang Empire.”
The 10 people looked at each other, but none of them came forward.
“Very well, then,” Tang Xiu said with satisfaction. “You’re all worthy of becoming people this Great Tang Heavenly Emperor has selected. You’re going with me to Heavenly Mountain in order to rescue four disciples of the Vermillion Bird Holy Sect. If you’re still alive after rescuing them, each of you will be rewarded handsomely with precious treasures.”
Seaway Monarch’s expression s.h.i.+fted and he asked, “May I ask what kind of treasure you’re going to bestow us, Master?”
A long spear suddenly emerged out of nowhere in Tang Xiu’s hand as he said in a deep voice, “This is a Praecantator artifact. I can bestow you with this artifact comparable to an 8th grade Immortal artifact. You all should be very clear about the divine armament the Diabolos Praecantator Clan once possessed. Their artifacts are definitely a treasure for battles and conquests. Once you obtain it, your combat power will definitely skyrocket.”
Seaway Monarch looked happily surprised and asked aloud, “Since we’re about to fight against strong enemies, why don’t you give us this Praecantator artifact now, Master? Having a weapon comparable to an 8th grade immortal artifact will surely make us more powerful, so we can kill more enemies later.”
“You also know that it will take a long time to fully refine a high-grade Praecantator artifact,” said Tang Xiu lightly. “You won’t be able to unleash its full might when we get there if I were to bestow you the artifact now. It’s much better to continue using your current weapons now.”
“Understood!”
Seaway Monarch and the rest knew that Tang Xiu was telling the truth, so he didn’t say much.
Tang Xiu shook his right wrist and said lightly, “Star Tears, you are to follow me and everyone else in the Heavenly Abode artifact. This time is of great importance to us. We’re not only going to slay our enemies to rescue some people, but we must also keep our ident.i.ty confidential. Thus, we need to change our appearance to hide our ident.i.ty.”
Shortly after, the nine Perfected Golden Immortals entered the Heavenly Abode artifact, and Tang Xiu s.h.i.+fted to Star Tears and lightly said, “I’m sure you have some questions in mind. You can speak it out now.”
“Apotheon Mu is someone from my Vermilion Bird Holy Sect, yet he calls you Master,” said Star Tears slowly. “I just really want to know when did you accept him as your disciple since he has been accepted by my nephew? Further, why do you also go so far so as to take huge risks to rescue the juniors of my Vermillion Bird Holy Sect?”
“Apotheon Mu has become my disciple a long time ago,” replied Tang Xiu indifferently. “You should be very clear that there are too many occasions where one can have many Masters at the same in the Immortal World. As for why I decided to save the disciples of your Vermillion Brid Holy Sect, it’s because of the condition of the exchange between me and Apotheon Mu. He gave me the Misty Spring Ocean to be the Great Tang Empire’s stronghold, and I’ll save his martial brothers and sister in return.”
Star Tears shook her head. “No, there’s something amiss. Apotheon Mu’s respect towards you is much like what he gives to someone else.”
“I presume that someone else is Star Cultivation Great Emperor, yes?” asked Tang Xiu with a smile.
Star Tears took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, “Yes. It was Star Cultivation Great Emperor, my nephew.”
Tang Xiu thought for a while and then said, “If anything, if our trip goes well and we can rescue Apotheon Myriad Notes, Soaring Plumb, Nine Immortal Fingers, and Enchantress Yu, and you and I are both still alive, I’ll give you the explanation you want.”
“It’s a deal. I’ll hold you to your words.” Star Tears shot a deep look at Tang Xiu and replied in a deep voice.
“Well, aside from us, I’ve also invited some foreign aids to save the people in the Heavenly Mountains, though. By then, Apotheosis Bella Fern Regalia, who is now a Supreme, will also take her people to join forces with us,” said Tang Xiu with a smile.