Chapter 296 - 275: The Matter is Over... Déjà Vu?

Chapter 296: Chapter 275: The Matter is Over... Déjà Vu?

The setting sun, red as blood, cast its light upon the land.

The blood staining the ground seemed to gleam. Gazing down from above, it held a strange, morbid beauty.

Chu Mu slowly descended from the sky, and his four Cyan Wolf Puppets converged to guard his flanks.

The numerous Foundation Establishment Powerhouses who had accompanied him also returned, one after the other.

Seeing so many Foundation Establishment Powerhouses gathered, Xu Yuan was clearly still in a daze, as if just waking from a dream. He staggered over in silence, his expression a complex mixture of emotions.

Then, streaks of light shot toward the heavens. Their departure was as sudden as their arrival.

The flashes of light streaked across the sky, vanishing from sight within a few breaths.

Upon the barren, desolate mountain, all that remained was the ruined encampment.

Though a dead silence had fallen, it was soon broken by a rising clamor.

There were Cultivators from the vicinity who, having sensed the disturbance, rushed over. There were also those who had managed to flee the camp and now returned, seeing that the fighting had ceased...

To those in the Foundation Establishment Realm, these were worthless scraps, but they were treasures that many a Qi Cultivation Cultivator would fight tooth and nail for.

Amidst the ruins, a new commotion began.

News that dozens of Righteous Alliance Foundation Establishment experts had joined forces to destroy a Longevity Sect outpost and kill several of their Foundation Establishment members spread like wildfire, carried by the new stirrings in the bloody wasteland.

When the news reached Jingmen City, the rumors already swirling about the sudden gathering of dozens of Foundation Establishment Powerhouses exploded with even greater intensity.

Everyone was abuzz, trying to uncover the reason behind such a massive operation...

This was true on the front lines of the Righteous Alliance, and it was the same within the Longevity Sect.

Not long after Chu Mu’s group departed, several Longevity Sect Foundation Establishment experts, having heard the news, arrived at the ruined outpost.

’Dozens of Foundation Establishment experts teaming up for a surprise attack, just to wipe out one little outpost?’

’It didn’t make sense to anyone!’

But when they learned that eight of their sect’s own Foundation Establishment members had been stationed at this tiny outpost, and that all of them had perished...

...they were utterly dumbfounded.

"First, search the area. The camp had numerous surveillance recordings, both hidden and in plain sight."

"Li Ming, go request the layout diagram for this outpost’s surveillance array prohibitions."

The white-robed, middle-aged man in the lead gave his orders methodically.

The Longevity Sect disciples who had arrived as reinforcements moved to obey.

The commotion that had just stirred within the ruins quickly died down with the arrival of the Longevity Sect reinforcements.

Numerous Longevity Sect disciples moved through the wreckage, and one by one, both fragmented and complete surveillance recordings were collected and displayed.

"Worthless!"

"Good for nothing but causing trouble!"

As the recordings played and the cause of the disaster became clear, the middle-aged Foundation Establishment expert in the lead couldn’t stop himself from roaring in anger.

The other Longevity Sect Foundation Establishment members wore varying expressions.

’So the son gets himself killed, and the old man goes to great lengths to avenge him, spends his entire fortune, and thinks victory is in the bag.’

’Turns out, the other guy was even more vicious. A classic "trapping a turtle in a jar." Except the trapper became the turtle.’

’The one who got caught... was Zhao Hong himself. They even ripped his soul right out of him...’

’The guy’s an Artifact Refining Master; he can do all sorts of things with a soul. He’ll probably have his consciousness erased and his soul turned into a puppet...’

"Fellow Daoist Wu, thank goodness we didn’t accept Zhao Hong’s invitation."

Only after the middle-aged Foundation Establishment expert in the lead had departed did another speak, his voice tinged with relief.

"Sigh!"

"Zhao Hong’s fate was truly terrible!"

"Eight Foundation Establishment experts... no matter how you looked at it, it should have been a sure thing... Sigh!"

As they all sighed with emotion, they couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread...

...

「Jingmen City.」

Now that they had returned and the mission was complete, the cultivators exchanged sound transmission contacts with Chu Mu before going their separate ways.

"Brother Mu, about this..."

Xu Yuan’s face was pale with guilt. The cost of gathering so many Foundation Establishment Powerhouses was clearly a fortune beyond his imagining.

"Your injuries... they’ve reached your Divine Soul, haven’t they?"

Chu Mu paid no mind to Xu Yuan’s hesitant words, changing the subject directly.

Xu Yuan nodded hesitantly.

"If anything comes up in the future, just send me a sound transmission directly."

Chu Mu took out a brand-new Sound Transmission Order and handed it to him.

"As for the Divine Soul Injury, I’ll find a way to deal with it."

"Brother Mu, it’s alright. My aptitude is what it is, anyway..."

"Enough. Just listen to me this time."

He clapped Xu Yuan on the shoulder and smiled. "Once this is all over, I have another task for you. For now, just focus on healing."

Xu Yuan said no more. Clutching the Sound Transmission Order Chu Mu had given him, he staggered toward a nearby room.

Chu Mu didn’t linger either. Though the threat had been eliminated, wrapping up the loose ends would not be simple.

He took stock of the Spiritual Materials in his Storage Ring, and after a moment of contemplation, headed straight for the city’s Contribution Hall.

Compared to the Contribution Hall back in Water Heaven Workshop, the one in this frontline encampment was far, far more grand and imposing.

Judging by the grandeur of Jingmen City, it housed at least a hundred thousand Cultivators.

And these Cultivators, whether they were disciples of the Righteous Alliance or hired Loose Cultivators, were clearly not fighting for faith.

What drove these Cultivators was profit!

The profits brought by war!

And the profit offered by the Righteous Alliance took the form of this contribution system, which catered to both its own disciples and unaffiliated Loose Cultivators.

To meet the demands of so many Cultivators, this Contribution Hall had to be imposing, had to be magnificent.

For any Cultivator entering Jingmen City, the first thing they would see was almost invariably this Contribution Hall.

Hundreds of feet tall and over a thousand feet wide, the grand, ancient hall stood like a majestic mountain peak, soaring into the clouds—an imposing and awe-inspiring sight.