Chapter 1084 - 588: Discovery
He wasn’t nervous, long accustomed to the occurrences of such situations.
This is an inevitable phenomenon while cultivating devil techniques, which occurs periodically.
Yu Xiang Trading Company has a comprehensive solution to this, all the Nascent Soul cultivators at the headquarters are those whose devil techniques are about to become unstable.
Once they handle the trouble at the headquarters on the day of instability, they can continue their travels.
Chang Chi flew towards a wooden building, Li Shiming frowned slightly; he had checked the building with ’Divine Eyes’ but found nothing amiss.
Chang Chi cast a spell and entered the wooden building.
He did not notice an invisible small dragon following closely behind him as he entered the building, staying close to his back.
Li Shiming, through his contract with the Illusion Spirit Dragon, shared its vision, observing Chang Chi’s every move with clarity.
Chang Chi arrived at a chair made of spiritual jade in the hall of the first floor of the wooden building and cast a spell on the chair.
The chair split in the middle, revealing a downward passage.
He entered the passage, which extended downward, reaching depths of twenty meters underground.
Moreover, during his descent, he needed to cast a spell every five meters to open spiritual power barriers, highlighting the importance below.
However, he was unaware that the secrets here, along with the spells he used, fell into the eyes of the Illusion Spirit Dragon.
With IBMz15’s analytical records, the spells he used were acquired by Li Shiming.
When the Illusion Spirit Dragon followed closely behind Chang Chi to reach the space twenty meters below, Li Shiming, through the dragon’s eyes, witnessed a shocking scene.
Upon entering the underground space, a space of approximately two hundred square meters was revealed.
The space was filled with Golden Core cultivators nailed to racks, all of whom were Golden Core late-stage, with several reaching the Great Elder Realm.
Li Shiming counted, totaling forty-three Golden Core cultivators.
All the Golden Core cultivators were alive, but their existence was worse than death.
Their energy was being extracted through the racks behind them, each connected to the formation within the space, at the center of which was a blood-red Spirit Gourd.
Their vitality, spiritual power, and spirit were being slowly drawn into the Spirit Gourd.
Yet this slow extraction was insufficient to cause their death.
Their ability to recover what they lost became their nightmare; as they regenerate vitality, spiritual power, and spirit, they are extracted again.
They remained trapped in this state, living a fate worse than death, as fodder for the devil cultivators.
Li Shiming was shocked; this method of growing cultivators was taboo in the Cultivation World, at least not to be known by the righteous path forces.
Once it was discovered that a force dared to use cultivators like dairy cows, the righteous path forces would surely eradicate that force.
Of course, this method was still widely utilized in secret within the Cultivation World; due in part to the shortcuts offered by devil cultivation techniques, allowing cultivators to rapidly elevate their strength.
Chang Chi paid no attention to the forty-three Golden Core cultivators, nor did he bother with the blood-red Spirit Gourd.
The resources collected by the Spirit Gourd here would be used for Golden Core cultivators’ cultivation.
Yu Xiang Trading Company’s employment of this method allows them to nurture more powerful Golden Core Devil Cultivators.
Yu Xiang Trading Company also possesses unique secret techniques that can conceal the aura of devil cultivation.
Chang Chi arrived at another location connected to the space, distinct from the outside; here were nine formation nodes delineated, with another blood-red Spirit Gourd at their center.
Currently, six cultivators were set within the nine formation nodes.
These six were all Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivators, their bodies pierced by numerous needle-shaped devil treasures, completely immobilized, akin to the outside Golden Core cultivators, with their energy being extracted.
Li Shiming suppressed his inner rage, having seen Jian Wuwei.
Jian Wuwei was one of the six Nascent Soul cultivators; the Nascent Soul Sword Cultivator’s eyes were devoid of the lustrous glow from when he ascended to Nascent Soul.
Unfortunately, even the desire for death was unattainable here; as long as there was any value left, their energy would be continually extracted until rendered useless and discarded.
When Chang Chi arrived here, he no longer concealed his devil cultivation aura.
Black aura surged from his body as he glanced at the six Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivators, his eyes glinting with pride.
Only Yu Xiang Trading Company, a commercial force, could possess such convenience, capturing so many Nascent Soul cultivators without alerting any faction.
This was related to the targets Yu Xiang Trading Company chose; they never attacked cultivators with established backgrounds.
The cultivators they selected were always solitary travelers, without ties to major forces in the Dongqi Continent.
For every capture of cultivators, they exploited the reputation of Yu Xiang Trading Company and used methods to poison the cultivators, then suppressed them in one fell swoop with superior force.
Chang Chi cast a spell onto the Spirit Gourd at the center, releasing an energy from it.
Above his head, a Nascent Soul emerged, opening its mouth intending to absorb the energy.
Li Shiming, through sharing the eyes and perception of the Illusion Spirit Dragon, sensed the uniqueness of this energy; it seemed to be Nascent Soul Blood.
The Nascent Soul is a product of energy, theoretically devoid of blood.
The so-called Nascent Soul Blood is the unique energy that comprises the Nascent Soul, a fusion of the Nascent Soul Cultivator’s soul, spiritual power, vitality, and their understanding of their own cultivation technique.
Jian Wuwei’s awareness was still clear, which compounded his torment as he recognized the devilish aura on Chang Chi, a flicker of divine light appeared in his eyes.
He directed a vengeful gaze towards Chang Chi, unable to forgive these devil cultivators.
Yet his predicament left him powerless, incapable even of sending messages outside; otherwise, once contacting the Sword Intent Chongxiao Pavilion, he could be rescued.
Just as Jian Wuwei watched Chang Chi’s Nascent Soul about to absorb the Nascent Soul Blood extracted from his body, he saw the Nascent Soul suddenly halt its actions, and even the Nascent Soul Blood in mid-flight was drawn back into the Spirit Gourd.
Behind Chang Chi’s Nascent Soul, an elegant Five-clawed Dragon revealed its form.
Chang Chi’s Nascent Soul bore two fang holes, black poison spreading within them.
He attempted to send out information, but not only was this impossible, even controlling the Nascent Soul was futile.
Such was the Illusion Spirit Dragon’s venom, a threat insurmountable not only to a Nascent Soul Early Stage Practitioner of a medium force like him but even to a Nascent Soul Middle Stage Practitioner from a great sect if bitten, this terrifying poison would be unbearable.
Jian Wuwei saw the suddenly appearing Illusion Spirit Dragon, his eyes filled with hope. Since the Illusion Spirit Dragon attacked Chang Chi, it indicated an enemy of Chang Chi.
He didn’t mind dying; even if the Illusion Spirit Dragon killed him, it would be preferable to remaining as a furnace for the devil cultivator.
Yet the Illusion Spirit Dragon did not rampage with killing intent, instead, it glanced humanely at the six Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivators bound.
All six Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivators regained their spirits; though still immobilized, they realized this torment would soon end.
Li Shiming hesitated briefly, before donning a mask, concealing the aura of the Sky-Surging Sword Intent Technique and only revealing the aura of ’Yuqing Thunder Scripture.’
He had no intention of reconnecting with Jian Wuwei, given his past overwhelming display on the Beishu Continent as an Alchemy Master.
His current life was excellent; maintaining secrecy over some of his alchemical abilities allowed him to possess extraordinary talent without being overly conspicuous.
Surpassing other alchemy masters by a step signifies genius, but surpassing them by many steps spells trouble, significant trouble.
Fortunately, it was on the Beishu Continent, which minimized the trouble; had it been on the Dongqi Continent exhibiting such alchemical prowess, he might have been confined within his sect daily, solely immersed in alchemy.