CHAPTER 128: CHAPTER 128: DRIVEN CRAZY (THIRD UPDATE)

"Immortals are cultivated from human beings, even demon cultivators becoming immortals are essentially humans reincarnated as animals who found their opportunity to embark on the path of cultivation; fundamentally, they’re the same. Therefore, the Immortal Banquet uses premium ingredients naturally contributed by cultivators, here we have a full jar of livers from cultivators who crossed tribulations and ascended..."

Jiang Yuan was deeply shocked. "What? After cultivators go through an arduous journey and finally ascend, they become food for immortals in the Upper Realm?"

"Living in this world, who isn’t food? Whose meal isn’t the weak?" The bald man laughed sinisterly, "Didn’t you, honored guest, climb up by stepping on the weak?

The reason you can stand here is because those demons and monsters were weaker than you; had you been slightly weaker, you would’ve been eaten by them long ago!

Do you know how a hunter treats its prey? Tying up the limbs, skinning them, stripping off the meat, extracting oil from the bones, squeezing clean without leaving a drop. All of us are both hunters and prey, life is just this sad and helpless."

Step by step, fighting monsters and completing tasks, when he finished the Three Realms task at the vinegar yard’s questline, it was already past four o’clock in the afternoon.

He exited the quest just feeling exhausted physically and mentally.

"Venerable Family!" Bai Yunqi sensed his presence first, getting up right from a meditation and cultivation state;

Wan Mingchuan reacted a moment later, got up and saw the figure of his master indeed coming out through layers of black ghostly aura. He waved excitedly, "Master! We harvested so many herbs, what did you find inside?"

Seeing his disciple’s bright smile and the contracted pet Xiao Bai’s obviously concerned yet stubbornly aloof face, Jiang Yuan took a deep breath, discarding much of the negative emotions he carried from the quest.

"I don’t even know where to begin..." He looked up at the sunset scene so similar to that in the quest but felt no energy to even start, wanting just peace.

Bai Yunqi noticed his unusual emotion and promptly said seriously, "Venerable Family, this ghostly aura is insidious and can infiltrate one’s body unknowingly, be cautious not to believe anything encountered in there. Ghostly illusions, I hardly think they would be full of hopeful brilliance."

Being reminded, Jiang Yuan suddenly felt alert.

Indeed, who said the NPC’s narrative in the quest is true? Why did I believe it without any suspicion?

"Thanks for the reminder, I was too careless." He thought carefully and nodded: "Ghosts excel at mesmerizing hearts; entering this ghostly aura immerse oneself in its clean bright city makes one relax, the rhythm of tension, relaxation and then tension again makes the seemingly bright environment go unnoticed, and one’s emotions are manipulated."

However, admittedly, some of the NPC’s remarks, though extreme, had some truth.

It’s precisely because there is some truth intertwined that one naturally believes and gets led by the nose.

"Let’s go home and rest, it’s almost dinner time." Bai Yunqi stretched and urged, "The sweet and sour pork you left at noon was delicious, is there any left?"

The nauseating stuff emerged in his mind, Jiang Yuan waved it off, "Let’s eat something light tonight, and don’t mention vinegar to me for the next few days, I’m feeling queasy."

Wan Mingchuan immediately shifted topics, "Dragon bro said we’re helping bald Eagle seize territory tonight, master, take me along, I feel I’m somewhat skilled in controlling Flames now, I won’t mess things up!"

Right, there are a ton of things to resolve tonight, besides going to Lushan, it’s crucial to find the Spirit Mist Stone and get the Alchemy Room built up to a level two home; then, the unknown area opposite would unlock for development!

Wilderness descended.

The weather tonight was bad, dense clouds blocked the moonlight, there wasn’t a breeze, the air was stifling.

Eagle Twenty-One, successful in Foundation Establishment and qualified to have a name, was too restless to think of a name, directing his subordinates to mine by sharp claws at all costs.

"Fools! Yun Mo is the dumbest fool in the world!" He shouted flapping his wings, "Spending Gold Coins to purchase worthless human tools, thinking they could mine the Spirit Stone Vein? They are Spirit Stones, a vein that drives every cultivator in the world crazy! Mining is far too delayed, hurry up!"

The Steel Tail Whip clenched in his wings lashed hard on Flame Rat’s body, "Use all your strength, work!"

Already tormented to the point of dying, the "miner" Flame Rat made no sound but collapsed like a log, totally lifeless.

"My lord..." A subordinate whose claws were sore and trembling carefully spoke, "Please stop hitting, since last night you’ve killed three stinking rats already, though they mine the ore slowly, gradually they’ll still contribute some effort. We, our claws really can’t bear it anymore..."

A group of ice-winged eagles, their claws severely worn, felt disgruntled but dared not show it.

No one knew what was happening with the new lords, they promised to exchange Spirit Stones at the Market yesterday for the brothers to use in cultivation, yet after hastily returning, not a single Spirit Stone was seen, and everyone was summoned into the mine to dig.

It was a Spirit Stone Vein!

Its hardness is incomparable to ordinary rocks, mortal mining pickaxes forged from steel are still hard to utilize, the demon cultivators’ sharp claws used to face enemies, even with Spiritual Power envelope, cannot withstand such wear.

"My lord, the Spirit Stone Vein is originally ours, just mine slowly, what’s the rush?"

"Yeah, yeah, my claws are bleeding, hurting badly, can’t scratch anymore."

"Besides... you said you exchanged Spirit Stones for everyone to cultivate, but now no Spirit Stones nor cultivation time; we dignified ice-winged eagles need to squeeze with stinking rats to mine..."

"This is different from what you promised!"

They felt the pain when the whip hit, last night already dragged to mine many subordinates were complaining, now with the wilderness just descending and mining ordered again, grievances naturally increased.

Most ice-winged eagles already began to reminisce about the days when Yun Mo led.

Back then, although indeed not getting Spirit Stones, everyone took turns guarding stinking rats to mine, and had plenty of free time. Gathering in front of the Spirit Stone Vein absorbing the abundant pure Spiritual Energy in the air to cultivate, life was a thousand times better than now!

"Stop talking nonsense, I’m your lord, your lives are in my hand so you must obediently listen!"

Eagle Twenty-One watched time pass, the mined ore still less than ten thousand Spirit Stones, scurrying around not pretending to be a wise leader anymore, throwing the Steel Whip wickedly: "You think I let you mine for myself? You’re saving your own lives! By midnight tonight, if you can’t mine fifteen thousand Spirit Stones, you..."

He pointed at each one with the whip and said through gritted teeth: "You’ll all lose your hearts, livers and lungs, completely lifeless!"

"What does losing hearts, livers, and lungs mean?"

"I don’t get it either, does it mean... if we don’t mine enough ore, the new lord will kill us?"

"What a despicable person, Yun Mo was foolish to raise such a traitorous wolf."

"What are fifteen thousand Spirit Stones needed for?"

The confused ice-winged eagles were unwilling to further damage their claws, let alone mine fifteen thousand Spirit Stones, even mining another ten thousand would ruin their claws so much they’d never use them as sharp weapons to fight again.

When it came to personal interests, they all pretended to be dead.

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and mine if you don’t want to die!" Eagle Twenty-One whipped again but still no eagle dared to move.