What on earth had just happened?
The Golden Core cultivator from the Immortal Alliance stared in shock at the man before him—the so-called Xuanji Zhenren, a cultivator at the peak of the Golden Core stage. This man was one of the most renowned masters of heavenly secrets in the several large domains surrounding the Azure Sky Domain. Young as he was, he had already cultivated his divination arts to a near-perfect level. Aside from matters involving Nascent Soul venerables or higher, there was virtually nothing he claimed he couldn’t calculate.
But just moments ago, the moment Xuanji Zhenren began his deduction, half of his jet-black hair had instantly turned white, and his face had aged by what looked like a hundred years in the blink of an eye.
Now, coupled with the sheer terror and fury blazing in Xuanji Zhenren’s eyes, the Golden Core cultivator could faintly guess what had happened.
Still, he found it incredibly hard to believe that a mere Foundation Establishment bee cultivator could wield such terrifying power behind the scenes.
“Fellow Daoist Xuanji…? Did you manage to divine some kind of dreadful existence backing that bee cultivator?” he asked cautiously.
But his question only made things worse. The moment he spoke, Xuanji Zhenren exploded with even greater rage!
“What else do you want to investigate?! What else?! Are you people trying to get me killed?!”
“I haven’t divined a single thing, and I’ve already lost half my lifespan and two hundred years of longevity! And you still want me to keep digging!?”
Xuanji Zhenren was on the verge of a total breakdown. He hadn’t uncovered a shred of useful information, yet his lifespan and foundational essence had been drained tremendously.
He had taken this job hoping to make a killing off the Immortal Alliance—enough to gather the resources needed to break through to the Nascent Soul stage. But now, his very path of cultivation had been crippled by half!
The Golden Core cultivator from the Immortal Alliance felt his world collapse upon hearing that answer.
This was a disaster! Not only was the bee cultivator still a complete mystery, but now they would have to pay through the nose to appease Xuanji Zhenren—otherwise, this matter would never blow over quietly.
Xuanji Zhenren came from a formidable background, and antagonizing him would only make things even more difficult for the Immortal Alliance in the Azure Sky Domain. So they had no choice but to grit their teeth and swallow the loss. This was a massive, massive setback!
But who exactly was this bee cultivator? Or better yet, what kind of colossal figure stood behind him? The backlash against Xuanji Zhenren had been so vicious that it was absolutely impossible to fake—nor was the lingering terror in his eyes!
Compared to the utter despair of Xuanji Zhenren and that Golden Core cultivator from the Immortal Alliance, the atmosphere inside the Natural Sanctuary at the Cloud-Mist Mountain Range couldn’t have been more different.
“Awooo~ (Whoa! Boss, the protective power of Heaven and Earth on you is way stronger than before! That’s why you were able to strike back and heavily wound the enemy in an instant!)”
Little Immortal Tiger stared wide-eyed with her big tiger orbs. That ferocious counterforce from just now had left her utterly shaken! Not only had it successfully blocked a powerful heavenly divination technique, but it had even dealt a grievous blow to the enemy!
As a beast of fortune and blessing, Huhu knew exactly how impressive that counterforce truly was!
All she could say was: Boss is incredible!
No wonder the power of fortune had guided her to him—whether it was his luck or his actual skills and methods, everything about him was overwhelmingly powerful!
Now that Qi Ping carried such immense protection from Heaven and Earth, and with her—a Cloud Dream Immortal Tiger with Bai Ze bloodline—by his side, any ordinary fool trying to divine anything about this place was practically asking to die!
If she had been just a little stronger just now, she might have even channeled an even more terrifying counterattack and killed the bastard outright!
“Much stronger than before, you say?”
Qi Ping recalled that every time he wiped out a location and destroyed a batch of blood sacrifices, he could feel the amount of Heaven-Earth force he could command increasing, along with his affinity with the natural world.
But he wasn’t entirely sure—was this something anyone could achieve? Or was it because of his identity as a Druid and his enlightenment of a certain Dao-heart state that made it easier for him to earn Heaven’s recognition?
Qi Ping figured it was likely a combination of his own realized Dao-heart, his actions, and his identity. The forces of Heaven and Earth were endlessly profound, and in general, they would naturally bestow their favor upon the most suitable recipients. Druids—those who worshipped nature and the heavens—were naturally the most fitting.
Either way, this was a good thing for him and didn’t conflict with the path of immortality he intended to walk.
This effect was also perfect for him to settle down peacefully in the Cloud-Mist Mountain Range and focus on farming and development.
Plus, Qi Ping noticed that after this bout of slaughter, his innate talent [Heaven’s Favor] had indeed become significantly stronger.
“Awooo~ (And Boss, your fortune energy seems a lot stronger too! Anyway, as long as Huhu’s here, along with this protective force, nobody’s gonna be able to divine anything about you…)”
“Good girl!”
…
After wrapping up their conversation, Qi Ping gave Little Immortal Tiger’s fluffy head a pat and began tallying up the spoils from this operation…
First, he had comprehended the second state of the Dao-heart realm—[Hearth and Home Domain]—and after dealing with the Immortal Alliance’s affiliated forces, his [Heaven’s Favor] talent had skyrocketed.
Qi Ping could also clearly sense that after destroying large quantities of blood sacrifices and returning the power of creation to Heaven and Earth, the natural energy of the Azure Sky Domain had grown noticeably stronger.
Though the increase wasn’t huge, it at least halted the downward trend. As the Azure Sky Domain gradually developed and prospered, the energy of this region would eventually recover to full strength and vitality—and then Qi Ping would be able to command even greater Heaven-Earth forces and enjoy stronger blessings.
Heaven nurtures man, and man can also nurture Heaven!
In fact, any living being—whether spirit plants, spirit beasts, or humans—could contribute to nourishing the heavens!
Granted, this would take a long time, but the path of cultivation was a marathon, and Qi Ping had plenty of time to wait for this land to flourish.
This was precisely why the Demon Insect King was reviled by Heaven and Earth—wherever it rampaged, the natural order was bound to weaken drastically.
Aside from these gains and upgrades, Qi Ping’s most immediate reward was, of course, the spoils of war!
“On the original hit list, there were twenty-four Foundation Establishment factions and one hundred and thirty-six Qi Refining factions…”
“Because some forces were hidden or protected, we ultimately wiped out seventeen Foundation Establishment-level factions and seventy-eight Qi Refining-level factions. Some of the Qi Refining factions were taken out by another hidden power…”
“On top of that, we also ambushed and killed twenty-three mid and late Foundation Establishment cultivators… with more than half of them also being on the hit list…”
All these spoils had now been buried deep underground by the bee swarm to prevent other cultivators from finding them.
And with so many spoils, the total haul was absolutely jaw-dropping!
Just in spirit stones alone, Qi Ping estimated the total to be somewhere around four to five million!
Four to five million!
Even he was stunned by that massive number after a rough tally!
Converted into mid-grade spirit stones, that would be forty to fifty thousand!
To put things in perspective, the average Foundation Establishment cultivator’s total net worth was usually under a hundred thousand spirit stones, and having twenty or thirty thousand in liquid spirit stones was considered decent. Most couldn’t save up much at all.
And Qi Ping had just seized four to five million spirit stones!
And that wasn’t even counting the other non-spirit-stone loot!
Such wealth would drive even Golden Core cultivators crazy, let alone Foundation Establishment ones. This made Qi Ping even more puzzled: that silver-masked Golden Core cultivator had to have had a rough idea of the total value of his spoils—which was undoubtedly exorbitant—yet he had shown absolutely no intention of making a move against him…
But puzzlement aside, Qi Ping didn’t dwell on it too much. Once his strength was high enough, all mysteries would unravel on their own!
“With this many spirit stones, I can finally buy another, even stronger spirit beast. I can also line up some spirit herbs and the precious spiritual trees I need to form contracts with…”
Qi Ping was already not far from breaking through to the eighth level of Druid, and this windfall of spirit stones had come at just the right time…
