Chapter 818: Bathing in the Sun Sea Master and Apprentice

Under the "Phoenix Facing the Sun" illustration, all toxins within Chen Mobai's essence, qi, and spirit were expelled from his body.

His skin, which had turned pale from poisoning, recovered its jade-like fairness and lustrous glow, restored by his Longevity Dao Body.

Around him, the green grass withered and turned yellow, losing all vitality upon contact with the dispersing miasma.

Even in the great river before Chen Mobai, demon fish floated belly-up, completely lifeless.

This clearly showed how terrifying the Golden-Eyed Azure Toad's miasma was.

Chen Mobai, with a wary expression, retracted his Insightful Spirit Eyes.

Across from him, the Golden-Eyed Azure Toad seemed to sense its miasma had not harmed its opponent. Its body, which had mostly risen and was preparing to leap into flight, froze.

Man and beast, separated by a great distance, eyed each other warily.

Eventually, Chen Mobai felt the power of the Five Elements Dao Soldiers beginning to dissipate within him, prompting him to depart and return.

On his way back, he heard another roar from a Tier 4 demon beast. It sounded like a sonic ability, much further away than the Golden-Eyed Azure Toad, yet its sound clearly reached him.

Chen Mobai stopped and used the Sound of Empty Valley technique to pinpoint the location. He then took out the desolate ruins map compiled by the Five Elements Sect and marked an X in the blank area west of the mirage mist.

This indicated the presence of a Tier 4 demon beast, suggesting the Five Elements Sect should ideally avoid this area if they planned to develop the desolate ruins in the future.

Chen Mobai planned that after conquering Xuanxiao Dao Palace, he would expand the Five Elements Sect's territory towards Dongyi. If the desolate ruins between the two regions could be opened and connected, it would effectively add more than half of the Eastern Barrens to their domain.

Of course, setting up a large-scale teleportation array would be even better.

However, given the Five Elements Sect's current standing, they clearly couldn't purchase such a thing from the Grand Void Ethereal Palace.

Thus, their only option was to first consider using the methods of their predecessors to open up the desolate ruins between the two regions.

Upon returning to the desolate ruins at the edge of the Eastern Barrens, Chen Mobai observed that most of the Five Elements Sect's ten-thousand-cultivator formation were already meditating, holding spirit stones.

These spirit stones were, of course, provided by the Five Elements Sect.

Gathering ten thousand cultivators for this Five Elements Dao Soldier drill alone consumed a staggering million spirit stones over the past six months.

This was merely for practice; if they were to engage in a full-scale battle, daily expenses would likely exceed ten thousand spirit stones.

Fortunately, under Chen Mobai's new policies over the years, the Five Elements Sect vigorously developed infrastructure, cultivated the Eastern Barrens, and revitalized various industries, accumulating immense wealth.

The cultivation families and smaller sects aligned with them also greatly benefited. Even rogue cultivators without specialized skills earned more spirit stones than they could have dreamed of in their entire lives, by contributing their labor to the Five Elements Sect's infrastructure projects.

Most of these spirit stones were then recaptured by the Five Elements Sect through sales of new cave mansions developed after the establishment of the medium-sized teleportation array in Beiyuan City.

After all, every cultivator in the Eastern Barrens now shared a dream: to settle in Beiyuan City, ideally with a Tier 2 spiritual qi cave mansion.

This way, they would essentially be set for life.

Unfortunately, the inner city cave mansions had sold out decades ago, so many could only settle for property in the newly developed suburbs, which featured medium-sized teleportation arrays.

Of course, purchasing a cave mansion outright was difficult for rogue cultivators.

But there was no need to worry; the Five Elements Sect thoughtfully provided loans to cultivators who had worked on their projects. They could move into the cave mansion immediately, and the property deed would be transferred once the spirit stones were fully repaid.

Through this system, the Five Elements Sect's current reserve of spirit stones had reached a colossal seventy million.

Before the great battle, Chen Mobai had asked Luo Xue'er to tally their assets and was quite surprised upon learning this figure.

He hadn't realized that their initial small goal was almost accomplished.

This was even after he had spent a significant amount of spirit stones collecting medicinal ingredients for the Reversion Elixir, Spirit Origin Elixir, and Golden Liquid Jade Restoration Elixir. Otherwise, he estimated their reserves would be close to one hundred million spirit stones by now.

With ample resources, one felt at ease.

With ample spirit stones, Nujiang commanded the ten thousand cultivators of the Five Elements Sect with effortless precision.

After a month of continuous drills, Chen Mobai had completely mastered the power of the Five Elements Dao Soldiers using the Square Inch Scroll. In that state, he had even activated his own Outer Body Incarnation.

He then discovered that, once freed from the constraints of his physical body, his Outer Body Incarnation, having absorbed the Five Elements Dao Soldiers, became even more powerful than his main body, reaching the equivalent of a Nascent Soul Tier 6.

It seemed that although Primordial Chaos True Qi could transform into any Five Elements spiritual power, it was somewhat mismatched with the Pure Yang Scroll, resulting in significant waste during the conversion process.

Upon this realization, Chen Mobai began to use his Outer Body Incarnation to lead the formation.

However, this Outer Body Incarnation had more restrictions. It could not venture too far from the Eastern Barrens; otherwise, even if the Five Elements Dao Soldiers' power didn't dissipate, Chen Mobai would struggle to control it.

After he had thoroughly practiced the Five Elements Dao Soldiers, Chen Mobai ceded the opportunity to lead the formation to Mo Douguang and others, allowing them to experience a higher realm as well.

Among them, Mo Douguang and Zhou Ye, with the help of the Five Elements Dao Soldiers, elevated their power to the initial Nascent Soul realm, immersing themselves in that vast and formidable strength.

Nujiang and Sheng Zhaoxi, however, had insufficient cultivation levels; at most, they could experience the perfected state of their current realm.

Time passed quickly.

Another half-year quickly passed.

By this time, the ten thousand cultivators of the Five Elements Dao Soldiers had thoroughly memorized the war formations. Several core disciples from the five Five Elements lineages, who were at Foundation Establishment Completion, had also experienced the power of the Core Formation stage multiple times, under Chen Mobai's instruction.

Today, Tan Rong, Sheng Zhaoxi's disciple from the Fire Lineage, was leading the formation, followed by Ning Leshan and Ban Zhaodan from the Metal Lineage.

Chen Mobai paid no mind to this; instead, he took the letter from Yu Lian and began to read.

The letter contained various intelligence gathered over the past year by Zhou Shengqing, who had led Zhou Wangshen and others in Dongyi.

Primarily, it detailed the whereabouts of the Nascent Soul cultivators from the three major factions.

There was one piece of less-than-favorable news: Patriarch Jinfeng and Patriarch Baiwu had returned from the Profound Sea.

However, upon their return, they reorganized their cultivator armies from Kongsang Valley and withdrew them to their respective immortal cities and sects.

Zhou Shengqing was rather puzzled by this.

Their return clearly indicated that Muqin and Kuzhu, master and disciple, had suffered defeat.

According to the prevailing customs of the Tianhe Realm, they should have pursued their victory and eradicated the defeated.

Why the sudden withdrawal?

It couldn't possibly be a sudden surge of benevolence!

Zhou Shengqing was completely baffled, so he recorded his observations and had Yu Lian deliver them to Chen Mobai.

"When you return, tell Senior Brother that he can send people to Kongsang Valley to check if True Person Mingwen and Yi Chenghan are there."

Chen Mobai pondered. It was difficult to send scouts deep into Xuanxiao Dao Palace and Bathing Sun Sea, but Kongsang Valley, as the other involved party, still had some connection.

If Muqin and Kuzhu, the two Nascent Soul cultivators, did not return, then these two late-stage Core Formation cultivators would clearly be the prominent figures of Kongsang Valley.

Asking them might yield some useful information.

Furthermore, without a Nascent Soul cultivator presiding over it, Kongsang Valley clearly couldn't maintain its standing in Dongyi. Yi Chenghan, knowing that Chen Mobai had already formed his Nascent Soul and that the Five Elements Sect had Zhou Shengqing, would surely first seek refuge at their branch established in the Eastern Barrens.

After all, the two sides had a cooperative relationship, and as long as Kongsang Valley came to pay their respects in advance, Chen Mobai would certainly be willing to accept them.

"Yes, Sect Master!"

Yu Lian nodded upon hearing this and, without a moment's delay, immediately set off again towards Dongyi.

"Junior Brother, any news from Dongyi?"

After Yu Lian departed, Nujiang and the others flew over. Chen Mobai did not keep them in suspense and handed over Zhou Shengqing's letter.

After reading it, their expressions turned to anticipation.

Since Patriarch Jinfeng had returned, it meant their opponents were still active, and the Five Elements Dao Soldiers, which they had long prepared, would likely soon find their use.

"Tell the disciples to continue their hard work for a while longer. I'll return to Beiyuan City and inquire at the Heavenly Meal Pavilion for any new intelligence."

Chen Mobai's words made Nujiang and the others nod in agreement.

Golden Crow Immortal City.

Patriarch Baiwu, who had just returned leading the Bathing Sun Sea cultivator army, observed Zhu Jun and the other Core Formation disciples before him, his expression somber and his brow slightly furrowed.

"Your master requires an explanation. Why did you suddenly seal the teleportation array after returning from the Star Heaven Dao Sect?"

Upon his return, Patriarch Baiwu discovered that his eldest disciple, Zhu Jun, had caused him considerable trouble.

Earlier, she had speculated that Chen Mobai was Chen Qingdi, the Dao Child of the One-Yuan Dao Palace. To seize the Three Light Divine Water from him, she had forcibly sealed Golden Crow Immortal City's teleportation array and even searched the major trade guilds within the immortal city, truly offending everyone.

Although Zhu Jun later personally visited each establishment to apologize, several trade guilds from sacred lands valued their reputation highly. As unyielding as Zhu Jun had been, they similarly refused to accept her apologies.

Upon Patriarch Baiwu's return, other disciples naturally reported the matter to him. Even for someone of his standing, hearing this, combined with the unfavorable outcome concerning Kongsang Valley, his anger flared.

Hearing his cold words, Zhu Jun knew her master was angry. Gritting her teeth, she privately transmitted to Patriarch Baiwu what had occurred at the Big Dipper Grand Assembly and her own speculations.

"Oh, so that was what happened!"

As expected, after listening, the coldness in Patriarch Baiwu's eyes dissipated. He then waved his hand, dismissing the two other Core Formation disciples in the hall.

"Please, Master, mete out your punishment."

Once only master and disciple remained, Zhu Jun knelt before Patriarch Baiwu and performed a deep bow.

"Come here!"

Patriarch Baiwu, however, uttered two words. Zhu Jun immediately rose obediently, unfastened the jade belt from her slender waist, and her light golden Bathing Sun Immortal Robe slipped down her delicate skin to the floor.

Soon, her fair and graceful form settled into her master's embrace...