“What? No!” Ao Sheng glared.
While others might not know, Ao Sheng knew what these twenty flying ships contained. These twenty ships carried storage bracelets containing over ninety billion spirit stones and countless treasures—the Spirit Mountain Holy Land’s accumulations over the past eight hundred thousand years.
How can I just give them to you just because you demanded them?
As Ao Sheng showed an unwilling expression, Jiangchen looked at him coldly.
“Ao Sheng, shut up!” Gao Xianzhi shouted.
Ao Sheng looked at Gao Xianzhi in confusion.
Then Gao Xianzhi bowed to Jiangchen and said, “Mister Jiangchen, goodbye.”
Jiangchen only relaxed his expression at this. He showed a faint smile as he looked at Gao Xianzhi.
“Everyone, heed my command! Return to the capital with me!” Gao Xianzhi shouted.
“Yes!” the Divine Demon Army soldiers answered, appearing unwilling.
Unwilling? There was nothing to be unwilling about. Gao Xianzhi understood that preserving their strength was the most important thing. No one here was Jiangchen’s match. Stubborn resistance might even incur a powerful enemy for the Han Imperial Dynasty.
Treasure? So what if there are many treasures? We have to be alive to have them. We can always take back the treasures when we are powerful.
His Reverence once taught me that if we protect material items but lose people, we lose both. But if we protect the people and lose the material items, we gain both.
Whoosh!
Gao Xianzhi, Ao Sheng, and the two hundred thousand Divine Demon Army soldiers left in the blink of an eye.
As Long Aotian watched Gao Xianzhi and the others leave, he showed a faint sneer. “I used to think Gao Xianzhi was very incredible. Now, it looks like he is a coward.”
Looking at the distant group, Jiangchen shook his head. “Gao Xianzhi? He is truly a brilliant commander, unhesitatingly decisive. He immediately killed five million Spirit Mountain Holy Land disciples and saved Vairocana. He left today just to preserve Gu Hai’s forces? Pretty good!”
“Huh? Save Vairocana?” Long Aotian appeared confused.
However, Jiangchen did not explain.
Instead, he looked at the five million Spirit Mountain Holy Land disciples’ corpses and the rioting citizens in Spirit Mountain City.
Some of the rioting citizens were still trying to barge into the Spirit Mountain Holy Land.
“Return my spirit stones!”
“Lord Buddha, you liar! My spirit stones!”
“You might as well kill me! What am I going to do without spirit stones?!”
Loud cries rang out at the foot of the mountain. The citizens had lost confidence in the Spirit Mountain Holy Land.
“Veritable Lord, the terrain here is good, but it is a land of trouble,” Long Aotian commented worriedly.
However, Jiangchen smiled faintly and looked at Spirit Mountain City, then surveyed the surrounding land.
“All past citizens of the Spirit Mountain Holy Land, listen up!” Jiangchen said softly.
Strangely, Jiangchen’s voice spread to all two thousand cities of the Spirit Mountain Holy Land even without a golden blessings dragon to transmit it.
However, his voice did not sound directly in the citizens’ ears but rang out above the two thousand cities.
While he did not speak loudly, his voice sounded thunderous when it reached the various cities. The loud voice jolted the countless citizens to their senses, stopping all rioting.
“I—Jiangchen—am taking over the Spirit Mountain Holy Land. I will also take over the two thousand cities!” Jiangchen’s voice blasted over the many cities again.
The Spirit Mountain Holy Land has been destroyed? It is being taken over?
The two thousand cities’ citizenry felt slightly startled; then they showed confusion. However, their confusion quickly turned to rage.
“Jiang Gautama fled!”
“What about my spirit stones?!”
“What should I do now?”
The citizens cried out in a rage.
“I will make up for your lost spirit stones!” Jiangchen’s voice rang out over the two thousand cities again.
“Huh?” The countless citizens paused.
The rioting citizens seemed to freeze, showing shocked expressions.
Who is it? Who is so rich as to throw money around like that?
Just how many spirit stones is that?
One city would need one billion superior-grade spirit stones. Wouldn’t two thousand cities need two trillion spirit stones? Who is this Jiangchen? He is giving us the spirit stones?
While the citizens felt skeptical, they still felt anticipation.
“We will give you the spirit stones based on your contracts. Officials in the various places, immediately start consolidating the numbers. After that, come and get the spirit stones!” Jiangchen’s voice rang out again.
“What? The officials will consolidate the numbers?”
“Ah! That earlier official? We already beat him to death!”
“Had I known, I would not have killed him!”
“How are we going to get our spirit stones back?”
Countless citizens felt anxious. After all, they finally saw some hope. If they could get their spirit stones back, even an even more extensive riot would stop. However, they had already beaten those officials to death.
At the Hall of Great Strength’s entrance, Jiangchen extended his right index finger and gently squeezed it, forcing out a drop of blood.
When Jiangchen’s blood appeared, it gave off a bright, red light, illuminating the surroundings and turning the sky above the Spirit Mountain Holy Land crimson.
Jiangchen tossed that drop of blood into the sky. Water vapor immediately gathered from the surroundings, diluting that drop of blood. However, no matter how diluted it became, the cloud remained crimson. It was as though a crimson sea appeared in the sky.
Then Jiangchen swung his hand, cutting this sea into two thousand-odd portions.
Whoosh!
With a wave of Jiangchen’s right hand, the two thousand-odd crimson lakes instantly turned into beams of light shooting in all directions.
Rumble…!
In just a few breaths of time, the two thousand-odd crimson lakes turned into churning crimson clouds above the cities.
Countless citizens in Spirit Mountain City looked at the crimson clouds overhead in shock.
“Crimson clouds? What are those?”
“Are demons causing trouble?”
“What horrifying crimson clouds!”
The citizens cried out in fear.
Whoosh!
Heavy rain started falling in the two thousand cities. Blood rain scattered, and when the raindrops landed on the beaten corpses on the ground, some of the nearby citizens screamed.
“Ah! Look at that corpse!”
“That corpse is squirming! It’s transforming!”
“It is recovering? The corpse is recovering? Is it a monster?”
Amid the citizens’ cries, the corpses that had been beaten out of shape slowly regained their original appearance beneath the citizens’ horrified gazes. After a while, the eyes of these corpses suddenly opened.
When the corpses opened their eyes, the surrounding citizens fled and hid.
“The corpses were reanimated?” someone exclaimed.
Of course, most of the people in the two thousand cities were cultivators. Although the corpses were reanimated, this was not cause for the people to flee.
However, the people who had died earlier gave off a faint red light from their eyes, and two large fangs slowly grew out of their mouths.
“It is not corpse reanimation but zombification?”
“The crimson rain can turn a dead person into a zombie?”
“A zombie? All the dead city lords and city guards are turning into zombies?”
While the citizens were in shock, the zombies suddenly stood up, retracted their fangs, and knelt in the Spirit Mountain Holy Land’s direction.
“Salutations, Veritable Lord!”
After the blood rain ended, all the corpses had turned into zombies. The zombies in the two thousand cities all knelt in the Spirit Mountain Holy Land’s direction.
The five million Spirit Mountain Holy Land disciples Gao Xianzhi executed earlier at the Hall of Great Strength’s entrance also turned into zombies because of the blood rain. They now respectfully saluted Jiangchen.
“Salutations, Veritable Lord!” the five million Spirit Mountain Holy Land disciples greeted respectfully.
The citizens in the two thousand cities were horrified.
The blood rain brought all the dead people back to life? Just how powerful is this Jiangchen?
Long Aotian was even more shocked. With just one drop of blood, Jiangchen had revived five million Spirit Mountain Holy Land disciples and the countless officials in the two thousand cities. Jiangchen even turned them into zombies loyal to him.
After all, an ordinary person would lose plenty of blood in a battle, but Jiangchen only used one drop.
Having followed Jiangchen, Long Aotian already knew of Jiangchen’s strength. However, this was the first time he had an objective understanding of Jiangchen’s abilities.
“Since you are alive now, start consolidating the number of spirit stones. Count the exact numbers needed and immediately give them out.” Jiangchen’s voice spread throughout the two thousand cities.
“Yes!” the revived zombies in the two thousand cities answered.
The citizens feared these zombies somewhat. However, this involved their money, so they could only muster their courage and bring their documents over, politely standing in long queues.
At the Hall of Great Strength’s entrance:
“Veritable Lord, the two thousand cities probably will need many spirit stones. Can we…,” Long Aotian asked worriedly.
Just Spirit Mountain City required one billion superior-grade spirit stones. How many would two thousand cities need?
Then Jiangchen waved his hand at the flying ships at the side.
Whoosh!
The spirit stones in the storage bracelets on the flying ships poured out like floodwater, rushing into the sky. They immediately formed a sea of spirit stones above the Spirit Mountain Holy Land with over ninety billion superior-grade spirit stones.
“It is not enough.” Long Aotian smiled weakly.
Jiangchen smiled faintly as he looked around. Then he raised his right hand and waved gently at the sky.
Rumble…!
The ground of the Spirit Mountain Holy Land’s territory suddenly quaked. Then many mountain ranges burst.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
When the mountains burst, countless spirit stones flew into the sky, like a river rushing from the ground to the sky and flowing towards the Hall of Great Strength.
Long Aotian saw spirit stones cascading over from a distant spirit stone river coming out of the ground.
“Is that a spirit stone mine? Veritable Lord only has to wave a hand to extract all the spirit stones in a mine?” Long Aotian said in shock.
The revived Past Buddha looked into the distance with shock. Then he said respectfully, “Veritable Lord is mighty! That spirit stone vein had not been discovered, yet Veritable Lord could harvest it so easily.”
“Veritable Lord is mighty!”
“Veritable Lord is mighty!”
The Spirit Mountain Holy Land disciples cheered in worship and adoration.
The countless citizens of Spirit Mountain City appeared shocked, as they could see the sky above the Spirit Mountain Holy Land. That spirit stone sea was already massive previously. However, various streams of spirit stones poured in from all directions, filling and enlarging the sea. The number of spirit stones above the Spirit Mountain Holy Land reached a horrifying level.
“Veritable Lord is mighty!” the Spirit Mountain City citizens shouted excitedly.
