BXBX NOVEL Chapter 83 - 83 Still i
Wang Ba followed the voice and was instantly taken aback.
The person who had come was rather plain-looking, but had a flowing beard, resembling an immortal.
It was the steward of the Chengxian Society, Yu Changchun!
No, to be precise, it should be the cultivator of Tianmen Cult, Yu Changchun.
“Brother Wang, I spent the whole night looking for you, and finally, I found you!”
“Hahaha, surprised? I too am a cultivator of the holy cult!”
Seeing Wang Ba staring at him in shock, Yu Changchun burst into a hearty laugh, greeting the black-faced cultivator:
“Junior Brother Ran, may I take this man away?”
“Alt, so it’s Senior Brother Yu of the Puppet Dao! You and the Blood Bone Dao have made great contributions this time! I’m truly envious!”
The black-faced cultivator was belligerent in front of the disciples of the East Saint Sect, but his attitude was very friendly toward Yu Changchun, a disciple of the Puppet Dao.
But when he heard Yu Changchun’s request, he couldn’t help but frown and state:
“Senior Brother Yu, it’s not that I don’t want to give you face, but we have orders from the Chief not to admit these East Saint Sect disciples into our Cult.”
“The Chief?”
Yu Changchun frowned slightly. Remembering the awesome power of the Chief the previous night, he dared not say more. He only looked at the others and asked:
“What about the others?”
Not daring to withhold information from Yu Changchun, the black-faced cultivator immediately responded, “Those with high talent will be taken to the Blood Bone Dao to have their bones removed and made into backup bone sources. Those of lesser talent may be taken to the Puppet Dao to be turned into human puppets…”
“What?!”
The disciples of the East Saint Sect, who were looking forward to a new life after joining the Cult, were frozen in shock!
They immediately shouted out in protest, struggling, but were kicked to the ground by the impatient cultivators of the Tianmen Cult.
“Behave yourselves! If we weren’t afraid of damaging your bones, we would have killed you all already!”
Wang Ba felt cold at heart. So the previous Spirit Root test was for this reason!
Yu Changchun’s brows furrowed deeper: “And what about this Brother Wang?”
“Him?”
The black-faced Junior Brother Ran still remembered Wang Ba’s qualification:
“Four Spiritual Roots, Stage I of Qi Refining… He could survive.”
“But he must be a ‘Heresy Cultivator’ and may not join the Tianmen Cult for Cultivation.”
Upon hearing the ‘four Spiritual Roots’, Yu Changchun looked surprised and glanced at Wang Ba, then stroked his beard saying:
“That’s enough. Since the Chief has given his orders, we should follow them.”
“Brother Wang, do you have any objections?”
“No, not at all!”
Although Yu Changchun asked politely, Wang Ba didn’t dare to take the politeness for granted and quickly nodded.
He also breathed a sigh of relief.
He didn’t understand much about being a ‘Heresy Cultivator’, but at least he had managed to save his life.
Those East Saint Sect cultivators who had earlier felt sympathy and pity for Wang Ba now looked at him with envy and resentment.
Unable to hold back, someone shouted:
” Why? Wiry is he allowed to leave!”
“Crack!”
A cultivator of the Tianmen Cult instantly appeared in front of the man, crushing his throat.
“Heh, you thought this was like the East Saint Sect, where you could run wild!”
The others instantly fell silent. Their mana was locked, making them barely stronger than regular mortals. There was nothing different about them otherwise.
Resistance was simply impossible.
“So Junior Brother Ran, may I take this man with me?”
Yu Changchun asked with a smile.
Black-faced Junior Brother Ran glanced at the small corner of the bag sticking out of Wang Ba’s sleeve, thinking that a mere Stage I Qi Refiner most likely wouldn’t have much worth, so he nodded.
“Please feel free, Senior Brother. I’m busy with official business and regretfully can’t accompany you.”
“That’s alright, carry on.”
Yu Changchun happily led Wang Ba towards the outskirts of the East Saint Sect’s former territory.
However, only a few steps in, Wang Ba saw a familiar corpse. The cold face still looked vivid, but now, it was forever frozen in time.
He paused for a moment, resisting the urge to reach out to touch the object the dead man had left on his ribs. He didn’t dare show excessive grief, and simply followed Yu Changchun out.
There were Tianmen Cult’s cultivators all around, each busily handling the matters left by the now defeated East Saint Sect.
Yu Changchun handed a Teleportation Talisman to Wang Ba himself and utilized the same to travel.
“I never expected that in such a short time, Brother Wang… no, Wang, would actually manage to form his Spiritual Roots.”
Yu Changchun said while walking.
Wang Ba activated the Teleportation Talisman. As soon as he heard those words, his mind raced, and stifling a laugh, he said:
“I’m not too sure either. Coincidentally, when I went to Ding 9 Villa, a man surnamed Tao told me that I actually had a Spiritual Root. I didn’t understand much about it. But later he taught me a cultivation method to practice…”
The person he was referring to was obviously Tao Yi.
But now that Tao Yi was dead, there was no way to confirm whether he had actually done those things.
Most importantly, Tao Yi’s identity was as a member of the Tianmen Cult. By implicating him, it was easier to gain trust from Yu Changchun.
Sure enough, upon hearing Wang Ba’s explanation, Yu Changchun did not doubt it, but expressed his regret instead:
“What a pity, that Tao Yi was adaptable and intelligent. I had high hopes for him.”
“Though we’ve won against the East Saint Sect, we’ve suffered tremendous losses among our cultivators.”
Wang Ba dared not comment, so Yu Changchun sighed on his own:
“Do you remember Li Zhi, the one who arranged for you to go to Ding 9 Villa earlier… the one you called Deacon Li? The man who had miraculously reached the Foundation Establishment stage, but was shot dead by the Fanming Array due to poor luck…”
“Deacon Li was actually a true Master of the Foundation Establishment?!”
At the sudden news of an acquaintance, Wang Ba was visibly shocked.
“Indeed, he was extremely talented, but as they say, when the body dies, the Dao is extinguished. No matter how advanced the realm, once dead… it’s all over. We’re here.”
While they were still talking, they had arrived at a place Wang Ba was familiar with.
This was the location of the old South Lake market.
However, the original market had been destroyed during the battle the night before, leaving no tiles or bricks behind.
Even the picturesque South Lake nearby was now full of pits and holes, no longer visually appealing.
Though, on the side further away, some of the original houses remained.
Some people dressed in East Saint Sect disciple’s robes were moving stones and wood, building houses, engaged in manual labor.
On the other hand, there are some Tianmen Cult cultivators supervising and inventorying.
At this point, Yu Changchun suddenly spoke:
” What we refer to as Heresy Cultivators, are those who don’t belong to our Tianmen Cult, but are driven by it.”
Wang Ba’s heart shuddered, knowing that the other party had started talking about serious matters, and he listened to the other party’s explanation attentively.
“Although our Tianmen Cult is very accommodating, after all, cultivation resources are limited, and we can’t support so many cultivators.”
“And it would be a pity to kill the cultivators who have been subjugated and captured directly.”
“Hence, we have this rule of Heresy Cultivators”
Yu Changchun said with a hearty smile:
“On normal days, you can come and go freely like a Rogue Cultivator, and we will not interfere with your gains. But you must adhere to two points: one, you must accept the tasks arranged by our Sect; and two, whenever you receive a summons from our Sect, you must follow it unconditionally.”
“If you violate it, even if you flee to other continents, there will be a Golden Core Master chasing you to kill!”
Wang Ba felt a slight tremor in his heart. He wasn’t particularly worried about the threat of being hunted by a Golden Core Master, but he paid more attention to the four words of ‘free to come and go’ said by Yu Changchun.
He quickly asked: “Manager Yu…”
“Nowyou are also a cultivator, you may call me friend.”
Yu Changchun didn’t hide his courting and appreciation of Wang Ba.
“Then… Brother Yu”
Wang Ba didn’t take it seriously, instead, he chose a title that he thought was more appropriate.
Sure enough, seeing Wang Ba’s respectful attitude, Yu Changchun was quite satisfied and he stroked his beard, smiling:
“Before you say anything, let me guess.”
“Are you going to ask if you can truly come and go freely?”
Wang Ba nodded repeatedly.
With his current status, speaking bluntly, he is a captive who has just been captured.
A captive, free to come and go, isn’t this a joke!
“Hehe, since we’ve said as such, of course, it is real.”
Yu Changchun smiled and said, “Of course, there will definitely be some restrictions.”
As he said, he took out a bamboo stick from his sleeve and handed it to Wang Ba.
“this is a ‘Spirit Sending Sign’, you just need to run your mana in it, and this sign can record your Soul Qi. Later, I will hand this sign over to the ‘Soul Dao.’
Then he took out a token and gave it to Wang Ba:
“This is a ‘Heavenly Gate Order’, whenever a taskis assigned, you can see it in this.”
“Remember, if you can’t complete the task given to you or if there’s a summons for you and you don’t respond, the first three times, there will only be slight punishment. But after three times, cultivators from the Soul Dao will immediately find your location using this sign and kill you with the Spirit Curse across the distance, unless your Soul can reach the Golden Core Realm.”
“Of course, if you really reached the Golden Core Realm, the Sect Hierarch might personally invite you to join the Cult, so don’t worry too much.”
“Of course, don’t think about seeking refuge in other sects.”
“Hehe, at least within the range of Sen, Chen, and Fu nations, for the Spirit Curse, there is no sect that can solve it.”
Yu Changchun confidently says.
Wang Ba’s heart felt a chill.
Speaking of freedom, but once bound with the sign, there is no freedom at all!
If there happens to be something far away and suddenly received the sect’s summons and you can’t rush back, that means immediate death.
In other words, even if one is free to come and go, he can only move within a certain range.
Of course, compared to the precarious life when he was previously in the East Saint Sect, receiving such treatment as a prisoner, is already very good.
At least in name, he is free.
Seeing Yu Changchun looking at him, and many Tianmen Cult cultivators moving around, Wang Ba knew that he has no choice at this moment.
He gently squeezed the Spirit Sending Sign, and his mana flooded into it.
A strange black pattern immediately appeared on the Spirit Sending Sign, like a word, like a picture.
Upon seeing this, Yu Changchun sincerely smiled.
“From now on, you are one of us!”
“Thanks to Brother Yu for your kindness.”
Wang Ba hurriedly bowed.
“No need to be so polite, since we are family, I won’t beat around the bush.”
Yu Changchun got down to business and said seriously:
“You should also guess why I went through all the trouble to find you.”
“Yes, I value the talent for breeding Spirit Chickens that you showed when you were in the East Saint Sect.”
“I will provide you with at least eight hundred Precious Chickens, and you can tell me whatever you need, and I will try my best to help you. But you need to guarantee that every month you will provide me with at least twenty lower grade Spirit Chickens!”
“At least ten years!”
“Of course, I can promise you that for the first two years, you only need to give me half of the Spirit Chickens, and the remaining can be made up later.”
“If you agree, I will try to help you with the tasks in the Sect. If there’s a summons, I will try to keep you away from places where death is certain!”
“In this way, as long as you’re within the Sect, you can concentrate on raising Spirit Chickens, and I will do my best to ensure that you are safe for at least ten years!”
“What do you think?”
When Wang Ba heard Yu Changchun’s words, he couldn’t help but stare at him.
Seeing this, Yu Changchun frowned slightly: “Do you think it’s too hard?”
“No.”
For the first time, Wang Ba showed a sincere smile:
“Although…it’s quite hard, but it’s just too good!”