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Chapter 423 Two Schemes
Chapter 423 Two Schemes
The Mirror Moon Sect employs numerous methods for transporting war supplies to the front lines.
First, the Nascent Soul True Lord uses teleportation and mystical communication to transport goods.
This mode of transportation is the most efficient, but it is extremely rare.
The reason is simple: a Nascent Soul True Monarch is a top-tier existence in the Earthly Evolution Realm, holding a prestigious position and capable of becoming a Supreme Elder of one of the five major sects in the Earthly Evolution Realm.
Unless it is an extremely urgent and valuable supply, few Nascent Soul True Monarchs are willing to waste their Heavenly Gang True Power to carry supplies in an instant. That would be too inefficient and a waste of their precious combat power and time.
Secondly, fixed medium-sized teleportation arrays were set up in the logistics markets and key front-line passes for the transportation of supplies.
This mode of transportation is the most common and relatively safe, but it has a significant drawback during wartime.
If we rely too much on medium-sized teleportation arrays for supplies, once the array's location is locked by the enemy sect, the entire world will be sealed off, and the frontline strongholds will easily lose their teleportation array supplies, becoming isolated cities.
Thirdly, there is the transport of large warships, a method primarily used during wartime.
By having multiple Golden Core cultivators lead the team, and equipped with sect soldiers and warships, the fleet's safety can be guaranteed even when facing attacks from Nascent Soul True Monarchs.
Fourth, small groups of monks transport supplies.
The advantage of this transportation method lies in its flexibility and secrecy. It can be divided into multiple small teams that can be perfectly integrated into the large number of cultivators, greatly reducing the risk of exposure and making it difficult for enemy sect cultivators to detect and sabotage it.
Of course, if the entire transport area has fallen, or the transport personnel's information has been exposed, this mode of transport is actually the riskiest.
The logistical transportation task that Mo Li took on was undoubtedly the fourth type.
Black Stone Gorge is near Broken Dragon Cliff, which was breached by the Blood Fortune Sect three years ago, and about two-thirds of the entire area fell. Only Black Stone Gorge survived thanks to its strategic location and the support of the Mirror Moon Sect.
Without a doubt, this was an extremely risky transportation mission.
She could very well become bait to muddy the waters and obscure the real transport team because she didn't offer a bribe.
With this thought in mind, Mo Li took a deep breath, gripped the black jade slip tightly, and headed towards the Logistics Department.
In the cultivation world of the Southern Wilderness, weakness is the original sin.
If she possessed the cultivation of the peak of Foundation Establishment, she could find an opportunity to ambush from the shadows, kill the greedy steward with a single sword strike to avenge herself, and then escape from Yunlong Market.
If she is fortunate enough to form her core, she can become a respected elder of the Mirror Moon Sect and issue a bounty to find clues about the Immortal Master.
But she is nothing now!
Mo Li was actually aware of this as well.
Perhaps in the eyes of the immortal master, she was always just an ordinary, unremarkable farm girl who gathered herbs, not worth mentioning at all.
Otherwise, back then, upon discovering that she had a metal-based earth elemental root, the Immortal Master would not have left so calmly without even considering taking her away!
En is En, and liking someone is liking someone.
Without the appearance of the immortal master, she would regretfully watch her father die of illness, powerless to do anything about it.
Without the appearance of a celestial master, she would not have been able to embark on the path to immortality, and perhaps she would have already married a peasant woman, spent her life busy, and turned to dust.
"Who are you?"
Seeing Mo Li walking slowly towards him, Wang Hao spoke cautiously.
The newcomer's cultivation level was only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment. He wore a veil and dressed simply, clearly indicating that he was either a Foundation Establishment cultivator from a sect's affiliated family or a Foundation Establishment rogue cultivator.
Mo Li presented the black jade slip in her hand to reveal her identity.
Wang Hao and Bai Zhi exchanged a glance, their expressions somewhat unpleasant.
That's too much! In order to make things difficult for them, Zhou Tianyu actually sent two early Foundation Establishment cultivators to sabotage them.
Despite his anger, after verifying that Mo Li's transfer order was correct, Wang Hao nodded slightly, gave a brief introduction, and then began to explain the mission.
"Remember, to avoid any unexpected events during the mission, you only need to monitor and record; I will be responsible for the specific route planning."
You must not deviate from the designated route at will, nor send out any communication talismans. All your actions must be under my divine perception.
"Otherwise, if anything goes wrong during transport, you will be held responsible. Do you understand?" Wang Hao said solemnly.
"clear."
Mo Li nodded, her heart sinking as she looked at a teammate with a missing arm, someone who was nearly blind, and a thin old man whose cultivation was at the same level as hers.
Without a doubt, the phrase "old, weak, sick, and disabled" perfectly describes the situation of this small team.
If anything goes wrong, the transport team will likely abandon her and the old man immediately, just to complete the transport mission.
"Alright, now that you understand, let's set off quickly," Bai Zhi said decisively.
The longer the mission drags on, the more dangerous it becomes.
"call out!"
"call out!"
"call out!"
Watching the four people disappear into the distance, Chen Beiwu looked at Xue Le and asked in his mind: How's the investigation going? Who is the force behind Zhou Tianyu?
"Hey."
Schiller nodded, indicating that Chen Beiwu's intuition was very accurate.
On the surface, Zhou Tianyu has the backing of Deputy Master Lin, who in turn has the backing of Golden Core True Man Yu Xuanhao, who is the great-grandson of Nine Yuan True Man.
By this logic, Zhou Tianyu is definitely a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the lineage of the Nine Yuan True Man, without any doubt.
But a problem arose when it tracked down the Blood Marrow True Monarch and discovered that although Deputy Master Lin was a Golden Core True Person, he had been poisoned by the Blood Marrow True Monarch with insidious methods and had become a lackey of demonic cultivators, unable to control his own life and death.
Therefore, it is evident that the forces targeting the Beast Taming lineage are not necessarily the Nine Yuan faction, but are very likely related to Yan Song, the head of the Investigation Department of the War Affairs Hall in Yunlong Market, and Vice Sect Master Lin behind him.
Hearing this, Tie Dan looked at Chen Beiwu and finally understood why his master didn't directly target Zhou Tianyu and perform a soul search.
If Zhou Tianyu gets into trouble, it will alert the enemy, and Deputy Master Lin might be forced to commit suicide and destroy all evidence.
Even the plans secretly carried out by Blood Marrow True Monarch and Yan Song may be temporarily shelved, or even have their objectives changed at the last minute.
"Do you think that the Blood Marrow True Monarch and Yan Song are being so cautious because they are targeting the entire Yunlong Market?" Chen Beiwu asked telepathically.
Golden Egg blinked but didn't say anything.
Although it has three heads and is exceptionally intelligent—three times more intelligent than any other demon king in the same realm—it doesn't like to use its brain and is too lazy to answer questions.
"Woof."
Tie Dan shook his head, indicating that it was impossible.
The head of Yunlong Market is Yu Shuiyao, a newly promoted Nascent Soul True Monarch of the sect, the Supreme Elder of the Array Hall, and the Nine Palaces True Monarch.
The Nine Palaces True Lord is cautious and proficient in formations. He never leaves the market. Even if the Blood Marrow True Lord wanted to attack Yunlong Market, with inside help such as Yan Song and the Deputy Market Master launching a rebellion, it would be suppressed by the market's formations.
In addition, Yunlong Market is not far from Jingkong City. If a battle between Nascent Soul level cultivators occurs and their whereabouts are exposed, Blood Marrow True Monarch will have a hard time escaping and his life will be in danger.
"That's right, if it's not Yunlong Market, then the target is Black Stone Gorge." Chen Beiwu smiled.
Just then, the Five Qi Puppet clone monitoring Yan Song sent over new intelligence.
This time, there are nine cultivator teams in charge of the Blackrock Gorge transportation mission. One team is responsible for transporting real supplies, while the other eight teams are used as bait to transport fake supplies to cover up the truth.
Surprisingly, this batch of supplies included three Golden Palace Pills and one Nascent Soul Pill.
It should be understood that while the Golden Palace Pill is indeed precious, its value is less than one ten-thousandth of that of the Infant Nourishing Pill, which can assist a Golden Core cultivator in forming their Nascent Soul.
Even if the Nascent Soul Pill has a drawback—it is either life or death after taking it, and its value is far less than that of the Nascent Soul Pill—it is still worth the Blood Fortune Sect's planning.
"It's obvious that Blood Marrow True Monarch's target is the Nascent Soul Pill!" Golden Egg's eyes lit up as he voiced his guess.
Hearing this, Chen Beiwu smiled, not wanting to dampen the golden egg's enthusiasm.
If only it were that simple.
All supplies transported by the Mirror Moon Sect are sealed and kept secret with special restrictions. Not to mention the deputy head of Yunlong Market and the head of the Inspection Department, even the heads of the market don't know which team is transporting the real supplies.
Furthermore, in principle, the existence of rare resources like the Nascent Soul Pill should be enough for the sect to use Nascent Soul True Monarchs for transportation.
As a result, the sect did not send out Nascent Soul True Monarchs, but instead used multiple small teams of cultivators for transportation. What does this indicate?
The answer is simple: either the fighting on the front lines is fierce and there is a shortage of combat power, and the sect is no longer able to send out Nascent Soul True Monarchs; or the sect has other plans and is deliberately using this batch of supplies as bait to lure out more people.
Chen Beiwu's mind raced.
If he were a Blood Marrow True Monarch, a high-ranking member of the Blood Fortune Sect, what choice would he make if he knew this information?
Thinking of this, Chen Beiwu had a flash of inspiration, exchanged a glance with the golden eggs and the others, and his figure slowly disappeared.
That night, in the Black Ruins Market.
The Black Ruins Branch Hall of the Star-Turning Palace.
As the light from the teleportation platform faded, a group of cultivators suddenly appeared.
Without hesitation, Wang Hao and his group left the market and headed west as required by their mission.
-
They need to pass through Yinxu, a place where many independent cultivators gather, cross the Rotten Forest Mountains where monsters roam, and cross the Weeping Blood River, which is plagued by calamity cultivators, before they can successfully reach the mission location, Black Stone Gorge.
"boom!"
"boom!"
"boom!"
Five hundred miles outside Yinxu, having successfully dealt with a Foundation Establishment cultivator who was oblivious to his fate, Mo Li looked at Captain Wang Hao.
At this moment, Wang Hao and the other two had already dealt with their opponents and were looking at her calmly.
"Let's keep going," Wang Hao said succinctly.
"Take the medicine and recover quickly, don't hold back."
Bai Zhi hesitated for a moment, then, seeing that Mo Li had suffered some minor injuries and her energy was unstable, she took out a bottle of pills and threw it to her before activating her escape light to follow Wang Hao.
Looking at the jade bottle in her hand, Mo Li did not take the medicine.
Although she had some knowledge of medicinal properties, she dared not take the pills given to her by the sect disciples indiscriminately.
Two days later, on the outskirts of the Fulin Mountains.
The transport team has been reduced to three people. The thin old man was unlucky and died in the mouth of the carrion bee.
Wang Hao, Bai Zhi, and Mo Li were all injured and in poor condition.
Especially Mo Li, whose cultivation level was the weakest, had her long sword magic weapon on her back broken and could no longer be used.
The reason is simple: they were unlucky and ran into a swarm of carrion wasps hunting.
Although the Corrupted Elephant Bee is a second-tier low-grade demon beast, if its number exceeds ten thousand, even a Golden Core cultivator would avoid it and not waste their true magic power to provoke it.
Fortunately, they encountered only forty-six carrion bees, which could barely be considered a small group. At the critical moment, they were able to divert the bees' attention by throwing out the spirit beast meat from their storage rings, thus escaping with their lives.
"Phew, time to rest for a bit."
Wang Hao exhaled a breath of stale air and swallowed a pill to regulate his breathing.
Next, they will have to cross the Blood-Weeping River, a dangerous place teeming with tribulation cultivators, demonic cultivators, and other troublesome beings.
If the state is not fully restored, problems can easily arise.
"If you don't take the pills to restore your magic power, you might die on the River of Weeping Blood." Bai Zhi tossed out another jade bottle.
Thank you.
This time, Mo Li pursed her lips and did not refuse.
After fighting side by side for several days, she also realized that not all cultivators of the Mirror Moon Sect were ruthless gluttons who devoured people without spitting out the bones.
If Bai Zhi hadn't thrown out the spirit beast meat at the crucial moment to attract the attention of the swarm of decaying elephant bees, she would have already turned into bones like her dead teammates.
"Eek."
At the same time, Zhiling glanced at Moli and yawned.
If she hadn't intervened and crushed a swarm of Corrupt Elephant Bees beforehand, Wang Hao and Bai Zhi, both at the peak of Foundation Establishment, might have escaped with their lives, but Mo Li, with only the early stage of Foundation Establishment, would have been certain to die.
But precisely because of this, she didn't understand why Beiwu would value such a weak female cultivator.
late at night.
As Wang Hao and his group passed through the Fulin Mountains, deep within the Weeping Blood River, nine black boats sailed with the waves.
On the foremost black ship, a handsome, square-faced middle-aged monk stood at the bow.
His hands were behind his back, and his gaze was fixed on the dark river surface.
This person was none other than the Blood Marrow True Monarch, a demonic cultivator from the Blood Fortune Sect who had broken through the Dragon-Slaying Cliff three years ago and enjoyed a formidable reputation in the Earthly Realm.
Two zhang behind the Blood Marrow True Monarch was a boy with an ordinary appearance.
This young man is Shan Junjie, ranked ninth among the ten true disciples of the Blood Fortune Sect in the present era, whose cultivation has reached the perfect Golden Core realm, and who calls himself the Blood Exchange True Man.
Behind Shan Junjie, nine Foundation Establishment Peak cultivators stood solemnly, not daring to be careless in the slightest.
The River of Weeping Blood is under the jurisdiction of the Mirror Moon Sect. Once discovered by the Mirror Moon Sect cultivators, they will use their powerful members to encircle and annihilate it. While the Blood Marrow True Monarch and the Blood Exchange True Person might be able to escape, these Foundation Establishment cultivators would have no chance of survival.
"Junjie, did Fellow Daoist Lin specifically say it would be today?" Blood Marrow True Monarch suddenly asked.
"Yes, Master," Shan Junjie replied hastily, unable to hide his excitement.
This mission, though dangerous, is also his best chance to obtain the Nascent Soul Core Pill.
"Very good. Be careful to control your energy, or you'll ruin our sect's grand plan."
After saying this, Blood Marrow True Monarch closed his eyes and disappeared into the waves of the Weeping Blood River along with the nine black ships, leaving no trace.
Meanwhile, Wang Hao and his group successfully arrived at the banks of the Weeping Blood River.
Looking at the turbulent river, Mo Li's gaze unconsciously fell on Wang Hao.
With their cultivation level, it wouldn't be a problem for them to use their escape light to cross the River of Weeping Blood.
The problem is that doing so would consume nearly two-thirds of their mana.
If, at that time, some bandits were to ambush them in the river by boat, waiting in ambush, wouldn't that be tantamount to sending them to their deaths?
"Don't worry, I've already activated the signal, the spirit boat will arrive soon."
Wang Hao feigned composure, but a sense of unease crept into his heart.
He had already sent out a signal in advance. Logically speaking, there should be a spirit boat dispatched by the sect waiting on the river at this moment. Could it be that something unexpected happened?
But there's nothing we can do now, we can only wait another 15 minutes!
If the boat does not arrive within 15 minutes, exceeding the agreed time, they must immediately evacuate and find another way to cross the river.
Bai Zhi also hesitated.
She had worked with Wang Hao for many years; how could she not notice his emotional changes?
Mo Li remained silent, her sense of foreboding growing stronger.
Her intuition told her that the River of Weeping Blood ahead was extremely dangerous, and it was best not to go any further, or she would be in danger of dying!
"How about we retreat now and find another way to cross the river?" Mo Li suggested.
On her spiritual path, relying on this intuition, she successfully avoided several life-or-death crises, so she dared not be careless in the slightest.
"Didn't I say? Just wait a quarter of an hour!" Wang Hao interrupted Mo Li, insisting.
"Splash!"
The next instant, a spirit boat broke through the blood mist and suddenly appeared.
Wang Hao and Bai Zhi immediately felt relieved.
As the sun rose, golden light intertwined with blood mist, and the spirit boat slowly sailed against the light, gradually revealing some figures on board.
Gazing at that figure she had longed for, Mo Li's heart clenched, her mind went blank, and the whole world seemed to freeze in place.
Immortal—Master Immortal?
Mo Li's vision blurred instantly, as if she were in a dream.