Rebuilding the Immortal Cultivator Clan

Chapter 55: Reaction

”Wow! I didnʼt expect to find such a fine thing.” The man held in his hands a crystal clear, blood-red gemstone, his eyes brimming with greed.

The spiritual object he held was called a Blood Essence Stone, it was formed from the concentrated blood essence of a dead devil beast, buried deep underground. For those cultivators like Body Cultivators and Sword Cultivators, who require a strong physique, it was an extremely precious treasure.

And this man happened to be a Body Cultivator.

However, this was a third-grade Blood Essence Stone, its rank was too high, he dared not to be too greedy.

”Alright, after we return, the sect will have its own rewards,” the leading elder urged immediately.

The four moved quickly. In less than half an hour, they had looted the storeroom clean. After the elder scanned with his divine sense to make sure nothing was missed, he casually threw down a fragrant pill that covered their auras, and led the three away with ease.

…

”The Market Grand Array is broken!” The moment the formation was breached, Li Shiren suddenly lifted his head to gaze into the distance, his eyes filled with disbelief.

With a look of panic, Li Shihua said, ”How is this possible! Isnʼt there a senior at the late stage of Foundation Establishment overseeing the marketplace? With just these Qi Cultivation loose cultivators, they couldnʼt possibly break the formation in his presence.”

”What if thereʼs more than just loose cultivators?” Li Shiren said darkly. While he was on his way, he happened to encounter a group of cultivators dressed in black, moving stealthily.

But at the time, considering he needed to rush to Cloudtop Pavilion so the family members wouldnʼt be in danger, he didnʼt cause any further trouble.

Now, thinking back, it wasnʼt hard to guess that the attack on the marketplace was premeditated by some force, and they had dispatched Foundation Establishment cultivators.

”The marketplace isnʼt safe now, should we take the chance to leave?” Li Shihua asked with some unease.

Li Shiren pondered for a moment then shook his head, refusing the idea, ”Letʼs wait a bit longer. Leaving now would be too conspicuous. Moreover, the Yuanming Sect should be reacting now. If they send people here and see our clan fleeing, there could be some kind of punishment.”

The marketplace was in shambles, the cultivators stationed there were likely fallen, and the Yuanming Sect must have received the news and sent people toward the marketplace.

Just then, four streaks of spirit light suddenly flew across the sky not far away. Li Shiren thought to himself that it was as expected—there were indeed Foundation Establishment cultivators involved, and not just one, but four!

”That senior must have fallen,” otherwise, how could those four Foundation Establishment cultivators leave so easily? And how could the Market Grand Array be breached so readily?

However, their departure was a good thing for the still-living Foundation Establishment cultivators in the marketplace; otherwise, theyʼd continue to be on edge and on guard.

Not long after their departure, Jiang Tianming, a Golden Core cultivator of Yuanming Sect, arrived at Yunqing Marketplace.

Looking down at the ruins and especially at some loose cultivators who, unaware of life and death, were still attacking shops and looting treasures, Jiang Tianming, already furious, felt his anger ignited once more. His Golden Core pressure was fully released, causing everyone to feel a wave of fear, turning rigid and unable to move.

Among the loose cultivators, there were both smart and foolish ones. Many of them calmed down and fled the marketplace the moment the array was broken, but some whose minds were clouded by greed still lingered, hoping to gather more spiritual objects before leaving.

And now, they would face the consequences of their insatiable greed!

Jiang Tianming lightly waved his hand and countless wind blades appeared out of thin air, striking towards those loose cultivators.

”Ah! Please spare me, I beg you, senior! I realize my mistake.” The wails of numerous cultivators echoed through the entire marketplace, but they did not cause Jiang Tianming to stop his onslaught; in fact, he hastened his efforts to eliminate the misbehaving loose cultivators.

Only when the world returned to silence and all the troublemaking loose cultivators lay dead under the wind blades did Jiang Tianming dissolve his spell.

”All Foundation Establishment cultivators, come to me at once!” Jiang Tianmingʼs icy voice spread throughout the entire marketplace.

Li Shihua looked at Li Shiren with a worried expression. He felt that the Golden Core was on a mission of retribution. As a vassal of the Li family to the Yuanming Sect, failing to lend a hand during the great chaos in the marketplace, they might very well be punished.

”Ren Uncle, bring that loose cultivator here,” Li Zhirui said weakly.

Jiang Tianmingʼs unabashed aura had awoken Li Zhirui long ago, but at that time, he was still busy assimilating the pill and had not woken up.

The reason Li Zhirui wanted Li Shiren to bring that cultivator was that he felt they could learn some inside information about the attack on the marketplace from him.

Originally, Li Zhirui intended to interrogate the man himself, but now, he thought it would be better to hand it over to Yuanming Sect, and in doing so, they could redeem their merits and prevent the family from being punished.

”Mhm, Iʼll be back soon,” said Li Shiren as he grabbed the cultivator and strode away.

…

”Da Rong Islandʼs Li Clan, Li Shiren, pays respects to you, Senior,” Li Shiren greeted with a bow.

The few Foundation Establishment cultivators beside him looked on in surprise, not understanding why he brought a Qi Cultivation cultivator here.

”Whatʼs the deal with the person behind you?” Jiang Tianming asked in a deep voice.

Li Shiren hastily explained, ”This person once led many loose cultivators to attack my Li Clanʼs shop. I thought he might know some details about the trouble in the marketplace, so I brought him here.”

Jiang Tianming nodded indifferently, reached out to grab the person, and demanded, ”Just tell us everything you know, and Iʼll grant you a quick death.”

”Unwilling to speak?” Seeing him clench his teeth and endure, Jiang Tianming gave a cold laugh and said, ”Then donʼt blame me for being ruthless.”

After that, he applied the Soul Searching Technique, and his immense Divine Sense stirred in the cultivatorʼs Sea of Consciousness to search for relevant news, completely disregarding the loose cultivatorʼs life.

”Bewitching Heart Bell?”

Moments later, Jiang Tianming threw the loose cultivator, who looked dazed and was like a dead dog, onto the ground.

He extended his hand and pulled over the storage bag at his waist. From it, he indeed found a black bell engraved with strange patterns, ”Was it a Demon Cultivatorʼs doing?”

The Bewitching Heart Bell, a very famous Demonic Tao artifact, functions as its name suggests; it can bewitch peopleʼs hearts and even control cultivators.

Before that, Li Zhirui felt that the loose cultivators fought to their death without retreating because they were controlled by the Bewitching Heart Bell.

But the closest Demon Cultivator influence to Yunping State was over a thousand miles away, and there hadnʼt appeared any extremely precious Spiritual Objects in the marketplace recently. Why would a Demon Cultivator cross an entire state to attack the Yunqing Marketplace?

”Do you have any other leads?” Jiang Tianming felt this was unlikely but didnʼt voice it out, wanting to see if anyone else knew something.

One of the Foundation Establishment spoke up quickly, ”I saw four Foundation Establishment cultivators flying westward.”

The others, eager to redeem themselves, hastily reported their findings, although they werenʼt of much value.

The more Jiang Tianming heard, the more he was sure the incident wasnʼt the work of Demon Cultivators. Despite the appearance of the Bewitching Heart Bell, a Demonic Tao artifact, not a single person had personally seen a Demon Cultivator.

Who could it be then? The first to come to Jiang Tianmingʼs mind was Yuanming Sectʼs archenemy, the Green Sword Sect.

But he couldnʼt think of a reason why the Green Sword Sect would take action, nor could he find any evidence pointing to them, so he could only set the matter aside for the Sect assigned personnel to handle.

”Considering your lack of intervention, which led to such serious damage to the marketplace, your families must clean up the marketplace within three days,” Jiang Tianming didnʼt want to be too harsh. A small discipline and a big warning would suffice.

Having said that, Jiang Tianming turned and went to the room where Sun Dahai usually lived, looking for new clues and waiting for people from the Sect to arrive.