Chapter 295 : Stingy Tiger
As soon as the system spoke, Jiang Mo immediately thought of Peak Master Qingyu. Setting aside their relationship, Peak Master Qingyu was at the Fusion mid or late stage in cultivation. If her combat power could be restored, the two of them would definitely be able to defeat the Elder standing before them.
With this in mind, Jiang Mo unhesitatingly told the system: "Fine, let's buy one. You help me give it to my Master."
However, after Jiang Mo finished speaking, the system didn't readily agree this time, but instead advised: "Host, if you're looking at cost-effectiveness, giving this Array-Breaking Pearl to your Master isn't worth it. The masked person beside her is the Sect Leader of Crimson Blood Sect, with Grand Achievement cultivation. For the same 1000 points, having a Grand Achievement cultivator fight would definitely be more worthwhile than a Fusion stage cultivator. Perhaps you and Senior Sister wouldn't even need to act—she alone could sweep the battlefield."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo's movements faltered mid-exchange, nearly getting hit by the Elder who was pressing the attack. Even so, the demonic energy from their techniques still swept across her chest, causing her to feel a tightness in her chest, almost making her lose her breath.
"What's going on? Crimson Blood Sect Leader? You mean Senior Sister's mother?!" Jiang Mo was so shocked her expression almost broke.
She had been watching Master and that "Elder Qi" interact these past days. Though they hadn't deliberately acted close, their every gesture revealed their deep connection. Even with the divide between the righteous and demonic paths between them, truthfully, for someone like Jiang Mo who had transmigrated, the distinction between righteous path and demonic path didn't leave a particularly deep impression. There was only one point she couldn't comprehend—Sect Leader Zhu was Senior Sister's birth mother...
For a moment, Jiang Mo was confused by these complex relationships. However, her imagination, no matter how wild, would never have guessed that Senior Sister had no father, only two mothers, and one of them had become a mother without even knowing.
"Host, wake up! Who are you going to give the Array-Breaking Pearl to? Or would you rather buy two?" Seeing her distracted, the system quickly reminded her.
Jiang Mo was simultaneously dealing with the Elder's attacks while unable to resist overthinking, until the system's reminder brought her back to reality. After a brief consideration, she said: "Give it to the Sect Leader. Her cultivation is higher, and there's no need to trouble Master."
The system acknowledged with a "good," completely unsurprised by Jiang Mo's "stinginess."
Previously, items purchased from the system mall would appear directly in Jiang Mo's hand, but this time was different—she was neither the one using the item, nor did she have time to pass it along. So following Jiang Mo's instructions, the freshly created Array-Breaking Pearl transformed into a streak of light, flying quickly toward Zhu Baiyi. To save explanation time, the system simply stuffed it directly into her mouth.
Zhu Baiyi was watching the deadlocked battle when she suddenly saw a streak of light coming toward her. She was naturally vigilant and tried to avoid it, but the light seemed to have eyes, not only relentlessly pursuing her but ultimately aiming for her mouth!
Caught off guard, Zhu Baiyi was even worried she would have two teeth knocked out, but her concerns proved unfounded.
The Array-Breaking Pearl was made of some unknown material—it looked and felt solid. But as soon as it touched her lips and tongue, it melted like ice meeting intense flames, quickly dissolving into liquid. Before she could react, she had already swallowed it...
The cultivation world had various treasures, as well as countless harmful techniques. Though Zhu Baiyi didn't know what this streak of light was, she had become extremely vigilant, her expression visibly worsening. Even Qingyu, who usually ignored her, couldn't help frowning with concern and asking: "Are you alright?"
Zhu Baiyi suppressed her unease, checking her body while replying: "I'm not..."
She abruptly stopped mid-sentence, her eyes suddenly brightening—the effect of the Array-Breaking Pearl was immediate. Three breaths after the liquid entered her mouth, her previously blocked meridians seemed to suddenly open up, and her body, which hadn't been in contact with spiritual energy for many days, once again felt its presence. Although the spiritual energy on this island was thin, who cared about that as long as spiritual power could be used?
The first thing Zhu Baiyi did after being unsealed was to absorb a trace of spiritual energy, then use it to open her storage ring.
With the accumulation of a Grand Achievement cultivator, she certainly didn't lack spirit stones or pills to restore spiritual energy. Zhu Baiyi could distinguish priorities, and immediately swallowed several Nurturing Essence Pills. Once her internal spiritual energy had slightly recovered, she immediately said to Qingyu: "I'll help."
As soon as she finished speaking, she flew through the air toward Jiang Mo. Passing by Yun Qingyue, she casually swept her sleeve, helping to defeat a group of Nine Abyss Sect disciples.
Qingyu wasn't blind and naturally saw everything clearly, guessing that the streak of light must have been something beneficial. The Elder opposite wasn't blind either—while fighting with Jiang Mo, he caught a glimpse of that streak of light. However, with his eyesight, he couldn't clearly see what was inside the light, and since it wasn't coming toward him, he quickly disregarded it.
Of course, the Elder could never have imagined that while Jiang Mo was fighting him, she was also secretly unsealing a Grand Achievement cultivator—in the cultivation world, the highest cultivation level was Tribulation Crossing, and below Tribulation Crossing was Grand Achievement, which could be counted among the formidable few throughout the entire cultivation world.
As luck would have it, Crimson Blood Sect's "Elder Qi" was one of those few.
At this moment, the Elder was gradually gaining the upper hand, when he suddenly looked up and saw "Elder Qi" flying, immediately feeling his situation deteriorate.
༻༺❀༻✧⋆｡°✩☽༓☾✩°｡⋆✧༺❀༻༺
The system's calculations rarely erred, and this time was no exception.
The Array-Breaking Pearl exchanged for 1000 points unsealed Sect Leader Zhu, and as soon as she acted, it was just as the system had predicted—she truly swept the battlefield. Initially, Jiang Mo still followed alongside to assist with attacks, but later realized it was completely unnecessary, so she went to help Senior Sister instead.
The Elder, who had been invincible when facing Jiang Mo, was now thoroughly defeated, thrown down like a dead dog after just a short while.
High-level cultivators fighting caused too much destruction, so at the beginning of the battle, both sides tacitly chose the high sky as their location. Now the Elder was defeated in one move and thrown down from the sky by Zhu Baiyi... Coincidentally, he fell straight onto the battlefield below where the fighting was concluding. The few remaining resisters, seeing that even the Elder couldn't match their opponent, finally gave up their last struggle.
All this sounds lengthy, but in fact, from the sudden appearance of the Nine Abyss Sect people to their complete capture, the whole process took less than a quarter hour. Everything else was fine, except the altar was reacting more and more intensely, making people fearful just looking at it.
Jiang Mo looked at these captured people, then at the altar, full of confusion: "Why did they suddenly appear at this time? Could it be that they knew the altar was changing, that we needed sacrifices, so they volunteered to come and solve our problems?!"
When she said this, the cultivators around who heard it couldn't help but laugh. However, regardless of what purpose the Nine Abyss Sect disciples had, from the current situation, they had indeed become the perfect sacrifices delivered to their doorstep. Thus, the tense atmosphere from earlier was alleviated, and as for whether these "sacrifices" would be enough for the offering, no one mentioned it.
Yun Qingyue swept her gaze over the captured Nine Abyss Sect disciples, then suddenly asked Jiang Mo: "She recovered her spiritual power because of your help?"
Jiang Mo was about to nod and take credit when she suddenly realized something was wrong—she only ever gave her good things to Senior Sister, which made it special. But if she casually gave good things to others, even though the Array-Breaking Pearl she gave to Sect Leader Zhu was one-time use, Senior Sister didn't know that! What if she misunderstood that she was simply a spendthrift tiger?!
Thinking of this, Jiang Mo immediately became solemn, and explained seriously: "The situation was critical earlier, and I thought with her high cultivation, if she could act, she could resolve the crisis. Is... there something wrong with that?"
Yun Qingyue looked at her for a moment, then shook her head: "No."
Jiang Mo sighed in relief, but still feeling uneasy, finally suggested with reluctant pain: "Why don't we... release the restrictions on the Peak Master as well?" Seeing Yun Qingyue's pensive gaze, she added: "Peak Master's cultivation is not low. After being unsealed, she could truly contend with the opponent."
Yun Qingyue immediately spotted Jiang Mo's deeply hidden pain, and suddenly froze—Jiang Mo had given her many good things, from the initial Azure Essence Spirit Marrow, to the later Ice Soul Condensation Pearl, and now today's Array-Breaking Pearl, all of which were extremely precious items. But she had never seen reluctance or pain in Jiang Mo's eyes, always thinking she was just too generous. So it wasn't the case?
Somehow, when Yun Qingyue realized this, she actually felt a bit happy. Even if it was just a trace, it was enough to prove that she was still an ordinary person, not unmoved by others' favoritism toward her.
Lowering her long eyelashes, Yun Qingyue said: "That won't be necessary. Let's observe the situation first."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo completely relaxed. It wasn't that she was stingy, but points were truly hard to come by. She wouldn't blink spending them on Senior Sister, but if they were used for others, just thinking about it made her heart ache.
After they exchanged a few brief words, on the other side, the captured Nine Abyss Sect disciples had all been tied up and brought to the altar—at this time, the altar was flashing with intimidating red light. Even without knowing the altar's secret, anyone who saw it would immediately feel boundless fear. Thus, the Nine Abyss Sect disciples who had been obediently captured began to struggle, unwilling to approach.
However, this wasn't a question of willingness. At this point, those Nine Abyss Sect disciples were no longer comrades, so there was no problem pushing them forward as sacrifices.
Seeing that no one was stopping it and the Nine Abyss Sect disciples were about to be pushed onto the altar, the Elder shouted angrily: "Stop! That altar requires blood sacrifices every hundred years. Do you think it's something good? How can you assist such evil!"
These righteous words would have been fine coming from someone else, but from an Elder of a demonic sect, they sounded somewhat ridiculous. Jiang Mo and the others were amused, but no one paid him any attention. The cultivators were already preparing to throw sacrifices onto the altar.
Just at that moment, someone else shouted: "Wait!"
This time, it was the merperson who spoke up. Everyone immediately put away their smiles, and pairs of dark eyes looked over—the merperson believed that if he said the Nine Abyss Sect disciples practicing ghost techniques would be useless, he would likely be the first thrown onto the altar as a sacrifice.
Thinking of this, the merperson instinctively shrank his neck, then summoned his courage and said: "Just pushing people up there won't work."
Hearing this, everyone was momentarily stunned, then remembered the merperson's earlier mention of presiding over the sacrifice. It seemed quite particular.