'What the fuck?' Ba Shifang thought. He tried to inspect his surroundings but found nothing on his body or near his ear.
[Host, please do not search for the wealth system. I am bound to the host's soul. ]
"Fuck!" Ba Shifang let out.
What was most important to a cultivator?
Their soul.
For a foreign object or entity to bound themselves to a cultivator's soul meant serious consequences.
[Do not panic. The Wealth System only brings benefits to the host. So long as you offer monetary wealth, your wish for power and woman can all be attained.]
Ba Shifang ignored the system's cold, mechanical voice and sent his spiritual sense into his dantian. In his dantian, he saw his eight Trigram Cores, which were revolving naturally. But his four Cardinal Nascent Souls were another story.
Due to Peng Yun's two Soul Shattering Talisman, he had to diffuse the damage over all four souls. The first time Peng Yun used one, Ba Shifang spread the damage evenly among the South Vermillion, North Sable, and West White Nascent Souls.
Had it been any other cultivator, they would have likely died to the Soul Shattering Talisman and had their souls extinguished, unable to enter the cycle of samsara. Ba Shifang even suspected that transcending mortality saints and earth immortals wouldn’t be immune.
It caused his unstable Eight Trigram Martial Body to become even more destabilized, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. Then Peng Yun took out a second one.
This time, he even had to diffuse the damage to his East Azure Nascent Soul while the other Cardinal Nascent Souls had become critically injured. Although not to the extent of imbalance Tianyi suffered while in the Core Formation Realm, Ba Shifang needed all four Cardinal Nascent Souls to stabilize his eight Trigram Cores since he entered the Nascent Soul Realm.
Ba Shifang's eyes lighted when he discovered a foreign entity attached to his South Vermillion Soul. It was so imperceptible that he wouldn't have noticed had it not been for the interlinking feature of all four of his nascent souls.
"I don't mind working with you, but the condition is that you detach yourself from my soul," Ba Shifang said using his spiritual sense.
[Ding, the Wealth System has already bound itself to the host. It is impossible to separate, and we share life and death together. You die, the system also perishes.]
Ba Shifang narrowed his eyes. "So if the system dies, I also die, right?'
The system stayed silent.
"Ignoring the fact that you dying should only take one of my nascent souls, how did you come here?"
[The system seeks hosts with an immense amount of potential but not enough karmic luck. In order to aid the host, the system will provide resources no longer available for monetary trade, aiding the host in his rise.]
Ba Shifang gave a dark laugh. "So you are just a gold digger. Speaking of which, what is your origin?"
[The system does not know. The system just appeared one day and is dutifully fulfilling its mission.]
"So you will not tell me your origin and threatened my life. What else can you say that will make me trust you?"
[The system is only good for its host.]
Ba Shifang gave another dark laugh. "Let me guess, your previous host was that Peng Yun guy, right?"
[The system only arrived after sensing the host's presence.]
"Don't bother denying. If you really are amazing as you say you are, then raising a character like Peng Yun who could kill a venerable as a grandmaster is not impossible."
[Has the host also not killed a venerable as a grandmaster?]
"Can you even compare me to him? Him and my origins should be very different, right? Let me guess, that Peng Yun was originally a very ordinary guy, but he had a lot of wealth. His spiritual roots were average at best, but he had great potential, so you bound him while he was still weak, right?"
[Please do not slander the Wealth System.]
Ba Shifang shrugged. "Since you don't want to be honest, I can only seal you."
[Please be warned that sealing the Wealth System will only damage the host. It is not an advisable action.]
"You know what? I hate threats, especially if you are holding my own body hostage." Ba Shifang didn't say another word and took out a talisman. He activated the talisman and placed it on himself.
[Host, what are you doing?] The system said, finally a trace of panic in his voice.
"Nothing much. It's just a Soul Sealing Talisman. Don't worry. If you really are as good as you say, I can’t hurt you or anything. Maybe, just a little dismantling to see how you work. You don't mind, right?"
Ba Shifang's South Vermillion Soul began to shudder as if something was trying to escape, but it was too late. The Soul Sealing Talisman transformed into a chain inside his dantian and wrapped around the South Vermillion Soul.
"Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm just a clone. My main body's identity is quite unique, so don't think you can hide anything." Ba Shifang said, perhaps a bit too gleefully.
The South Vermillion Nascent Soul shuddered even more. Still, just before the Soul Sealing Talisman could fully complete its purpose, thirty percent of the South Vermillion Nascent Soul split off and escaped Ba Shifang's dantian.
Ba Shifang's face paled as a red light shot out of his body and into the distance. He spat another mouthful of blood, and cracks began to appear on his body.
He wanted to stop it, but he had to first save his disintegrating nascent soul. When the Wealth System left, it didn't take only thirty percent of his South Vermillion Soul but its core essence as well. Considering the fragility of his nascent soul's current state, Ba Shifang had to do his best to salvage it.
Ultimately, Ba Shifang decided to allow the Soul Sealing Talisman to finish its purpose. The talisman not only sealed the soul but preserved it in stasis. He could recuperate after the battle when it was safe.
Once he fixed the immediate problem, Ba Shifang focused on the second problem, his martial body. However, some didn't wish for him to recover.
Ba Shifang spat out another mouthful of blood as a world merging venerable appeared next to him and attacked him. He glared, and a talisman appeared in his hand. Before the attacking venerable could react, a sword-shaped energy burst and instantly killed him. The sword-shaped energy cleaved through the venerable's corpse and struck the ground, creating a canyon.
He glared at the other members of the Anti-Heaven Alliance that wanted to take advantage of his weakness and grab the immortal rank sword still in his hand. When he saw their hesitance, Ba Shifang popped another pill into his mouth. It only alleviated his injuries but did not solve the foundational issue at hand.
Moments later, the cracks on Ba Shifang's body began to recede, but phantoms of them still remained in the form of glowing lights swimming under his skin, reminding him that his martial body was still volatile.
While Ba Shifang was healing, one of the venerables suddenly screamed as he clutched his chest. He turned around to see the earth immortal impaling him with an awl.
The two continued to fight, but it was obvious that the earth immortal had the upper hand. Finally, the venerable died under the earth immortal's hand, leaving only the last two members of the Anti-Heaven Alliance left. The two remaining venerables shared a look before quickly fleeing into the distance.
"What are you watching for? Go eliminate the remaining defenders!" The earth immortal ordered.
As if awakened by the words, the people who had been shocked by Ba Shifang's and Peng Yun's battle resumed their mission. With the venerables fleeing, the remaining members of the alliance also chose to flee. Though, many didn't succeed under the pursuit.
Of note was Bai Weiwei. Ba Shifang didn't know when she had escaped since he was too busy dealing with Peng Yun and then the Wealth System. 'Next time I see her, I'll definitely kill her.'
Once the battle was over, the earth immortal said, "Alright, quickly gather as many as the Thousandroot Trees as possible. For those that we can't carry, just destroy them. We cannot afford to leave any for the Anti-Heaven Alliance."
"Why aren't you joining?" The earth immortal questioned as he looked at Ba Shifang staying in place
Ba Shifang rolled his eyes at the earth immortal. "I'm focused on recuperating right now."
"You're not the only one injured. Why do you think you deserve special treatment?" The earth immortal snorted but didn't comment anymore. "And you, why aren't you aiding them?"
Hu Landie stared impassively at the earth immortal with her sole eye, causing his heart to turn fretful as if she knew everything about him. "I'm a tamer. Most of my beasts were killed in the battle earlier, so I cannot be of much help."
"Useless," the earth immortal said.
Hu Landie said nothing. She had killed over ten grandmasters and even stalled a venerable during the battle, a record that only placed her below Ba Shifang. Logically speaking, her contributions should have warranted more praise.
She glanced at the grandmaster from the same sect as the earth immortal. He only killed one grandmaster, and he wasn't injured, but the earth immortal didn't question why he wasn't helping.
An hour later, the Thousandroot Forest had been wholly destroyed. Whatever trees they couldn't carry with their spatial pouch were drenched in a sea of flames.
"Alright, let's return," the earth immortal said after collecting all the spatial pouches.
Ba Shifang also turned around. He planned to return to the Buzhou Immortal Sect later to recuperate.
A few days later, Ba Shifang had managed to stabilize his martial body. Cracks of light still occasionally shimmered beneath his skin, but as long as he didn't push himself, it shouldn't be an issue for him.
His eyes perked when he saw five figures suddenly appearing in front of the group. All five wore the same uniform as the earth immortal leading the squadand exuded the same air as the earth immortal, with the exception of one that appeared to be a transcending mortality saint. 'Strange, this isn't the designated meeting location. Why are they here?'
However, before he could think about it anymore, he felt a sense of danger behind him. Reacting on instinct, he shifted out of the way. He had tried his best to dodge, but he had still been struck, causing cracks to appear all over his skin again.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Ba Shifang demanded, glaring at the earth immortal elder.
Most of the squad had not been as lucky as him. The remaining Bright Ascension Sect members died under the earth immortal's hand, and only a few survived.
The earth immortal sneered and didn't deign to say anything. Instead, he glanced toward his fellow sect members and said, "He's the one with the immortal artifact. Be careful, he might have immortal rank talismans as well!"
Ba Shifang's eyes almost bulged out. "Are you really betraying the Buzhou Immortal Sect for a mere immortal rank artifact? You're risking your sect's extermination."
"A mere immortal artifact?" The earth immortal said. "Do you know how precious those are? Even the grand elder of our White Wind Sect only has one, yet they appear to be as common as clouds for you people. A mere grandmaster holding an immortal artifact while our whole White Wind Sect only has one. How is that fair?"
Ba Shifang's mind quickly turned. "You already planned to betray us!"
The earth immortal sneered and unleashed a spell. The spell wasn't aimed at Ba Shifang but at He Yongli, who had tried to use this chance to escape. He released a dying scream and crashed to the ground.
Ba Shifang didn't have any spare thoughts for his companion. The White Wind Sect wouldn't allow any one of them to escape to spread the news. Of course, the primary target was still him.
He pulled out a spatial talisman and prepared to escape, but at that moment, one of the White Wind Sect's earth immortals took out a plate and threw it in the air. A formation appeared, and when Ba Shifang activated the talisman, it lost its effect.
"Did you really think we wouldn't prepare anti-teleportation measures?" The earth immortal asked.
Ba Shifang cursed again. 'I should have taken more treasures before I left!'
He only brought the immortal rank sword and three total immortal rank talismans. He had already wasted one, which meant that he could only kill two out of the five.
Without another thought, he took one out and activated it. The sword-shaped energy materialized and shot toward the former squad leader. The earth immortal squad leader would have never thought that the first thing Ba Shifang did when he couldn't escape was to unleash the immortal rank talisman.
It was a precious immortal rank artifact!
The earth immortal took out a shield and activated all his defenses, but how could the Sword Sovereign's talisman be so easily defended against? Like the venerable who died to the first talisman, he too died under it.
Ba Shifang wasn't done, and he glared at the five and charged toward them with another talisman in hand.
The five White Wind Sect members all spread out. They didn't know how many similar talismans Ba Shifang carried, so they had the preconceived notion that he had many more thanks to his earlier action.
Ba Shifang flew past them and continued to fly, causing one of their members to shout, "Stop him! He wants to escape the Space Sealing Formation!"
The White Wind Sect members weren't idiots and chased after Ba Shifang, but at this moment, he activated the second one and killed another earth immortal.
This act caused the remaining four to freeze until the transcending mortality saint spoke up, "What are you hesitating for? If he escapes, it won't just be us that dies, but the whole entire sect. Think of your disciples and masters!"
Ba Shifang cursed as they resumed their chase. The worst part was that the Space Sealing Formation was mobile, and it slowed him down. He even entertained the thought of using the nuclear self-detonation technique and taking them down with him.
Even if he was at his peak state, Ba Shifang doubted he could contend against four experts at the earth immortal level or above.
"He hasn't used any more talismans. He's most likely run out!" One of them said, causing the rest to redouble their efforts.
Ba Shifang gritted his teeth and took out several more talismans. 'Just because I ran out of immortal rank talisman doesn't mean I don't have any other treasures left!'
Still, he didn't use them yet. He wanted to wait for the most suitable time and kill as many as possible with the surprise attack. This way, his chance of surviving would increase.
But at that moment, a school of blue moths suddenly appeared and shrouded the four chasing experts.
"Who!?"
One of them unleashed a fire technique and incinerated all the moths but didn’t escape unharmed. All four had red spots all over their skin, like mosquito bites. They turned their attention towards a blue-robed figure.
"You didn't die earlier?!"
Hu Landie said nothing as a blood-red locust and a bone-white beetle flew out of her sleeves.
