Chapter 78: Harvest

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The official cultivators entered in an orderly manner, dividing themselves into two teams. One team was responsible for treating the injured, and the other for inspecting the scene, finishing off any remaining threats, and eliminating potential hazards.

A female member of the Hundred Flowers Society crouched down to examine two poisoned Fire Masters, her tone slightly changing, "Captain Bai, their life signs are weak. They need to immediately take diluted Life Essence Fluid; otherwise, their lives are in danger."

In the Lawful Camp, Bards and Wood Sprites both possessed life domain skills, but at the Transcendent level, neither profession had the ability to revive the dead.

Such powerful skills could only be mastered by high-level cultivators.

Thus, the Bard profession's "Life Essence Fluid" had always been an important strategic resource for the official cultivators. It could have an immediate effect on critically injured patients.

The Five Elements Alliance purchased large quantities of Life Essence Fluid from the "Three Bard Families" every year, making it extremely valuable.

Fu Qingyang spoke in a deep voice, "Treat them immediately."

The Wood Sprite female member untied her tactical backpack and took out two syringes, administering intravenous injections to the two poisoned Fire Masters.

Da Ji Ba, who was severely injured and unconscious, also received the same treatment. Li Dongze, however, didn't require such attention; a Wood Sprite from the Hundred Flowers Society provided him with simple hemostasis, detoxification, and bandaging.

Qing Teng and the others were also treated.

Fu Qingyang walked over to Guan Ya, took off his coat, and draped it over her. He frowned, "Are you alright?"

Guan Ya adjusted her suit's collar and shook her head.

At this moment, the captain-level cultivator in charge of cleaning the battlefield returned with his team and reported, "Captain Bai, all enemies have been killed, no survivors."

This captain couldn't help but exclaim, "The bodies of the four Gu creatures have all reached the level of third-grade Fire Masters. You managed to resolve them without any casualties; it's truly incredible. But there's something I don't understand—two of the Gu creatures have no wounds, and their bodies are stiff and cold. They should have been dead for several hours. How did you manage that?"

Upon hearing this, Ling Jun raised an eyebrow and immediately stepped towards the corpse of "Hengxing Wuji," crouching down to observe.

Fu Qingyang had a thought and looked at Guan Ya, asking, "What's going on?"

"Those two were killed by Yuan Shi," Guan Ya replied succinctly.

"No, not two." Bai Long, who had received treatment, leaned on his sword and added, "Three of them."

"Yuan Shi? The newcomer who cleared the S-rank Golden Water Amusement Park? Where is he? I haven't seen what he looks like yet." A young girl who was bandaging Da Ji Ba's wounds looked excitedly.

Her immediate supervisor shot her a stern look, dampening her enthusiasm.

Three of them... Fu Qingyang looked at Qing Teng and Tang Guoqiang. Seeing that they didn't refute and that the injured Level 2 cultivators seemed to recall something, their expressions showed both admiration and fear.

"It's indeed the Night Tour God's technique..." Ling Jun clicked his tongue twice. "Just a Level 2 Night Tour God, and he has such formidable combat power? How long has this kid been an official cultivator in the spiritual realm?"

He then regretfully added, "Handing him over to the Five Elements Alliance was truly a wrong decision."

Fu Qingyang glanced at him and then turned to Guan Ya, asking, "Where is Yuan Shi?"

"He's upstairs," Guan Ya raised her head. "Dealing with something."

.......

Compared to the chaos in the hall, the rooms on the second floor were relatively intact. Zhang Yuanqing found the prop in the third room facing outward.

It was an incense burner made of bronze with a three-legged base. The body of the burner was carved in the shape of a toad made of blackwood, sitting with its mouth wide open.

The toad incense burner was placed quietly on the table. Zhang Yuanqing endured the itchy throat and staggered to the bed. He pulled open the curtain, opened the window, and took several deep breaths of fresh air.

The slight dizziness subsided a bit, and he returned to the table, picking up the toad incense burner. An information prompt appeared in his vision:

【Name: Celestial Toad Incense Burner】

【Type: Tool】

【Function: Poison】

【Introduction: During ancient times, a genius from a witch doctor clan in the Nanling region decided to create a colorless and tasteless poison that could kill without being detected. After years of relentless research, he successfully created this incense burner. However, he found that the poison in the incense burner was colorless and tasteless but not highly toxic and had a slow effect. So, he discarded it. Half a month later, the entire tribe was wiped out.】

【Note: Did you stack poison resistance on yourself?】 Zhang Yuanqing immediately stored the prop in his inventory, thinking it was quite a tricky item.

From the introduction and note, he understood the prop's characteristics. Firstly, the poison didn't differentiate between friend and foe, even the owner of the prop could be poisoned. Hengxing Wuji could withstand it due to his high poison resistance as a witch doctor.

Secondly, the Celestial Toad Incense Burner was the type of item that became more toxic the longer it was kept. Its poison would continuously evaporate, and if not stored properly, it could endanger a large area, even killing the members of a witch doctor clan.

"Hmm?"

Zhang Yuanqing reopened his inventory to check the information about the Celestial Toad Incense Burner.

"Ancient times... Nanling... witch doctor clan?"

From the information, he gleaned that this item was created by a high-level spiritual realm cultivator from some ancient era. It had somehow ended up in the spiritual realm and was obtained by "Hengxing Wuji," or it had been passed down through generations in the real world. However, these details were not important; what was crucial was the phrase "ancient times."

What did "ancient times" refer to? How many years ago was it from now?

In that era, were there already spiritual realm cultivators? But this concept of the attributes panel seemed to be a modern concept.

Alright, it couldn't be determined whether it was a modern concept, but if ancient people also had an attributes panel concept, it would be quite inconsistent...

If ancient people didn't have the concept of an attributes panel, then the information on the panel that they were familiar with would be very mysterious.

Even the concept of spiritual realm itself had many secrets. Zhang Yuanqing thought, "I've always felt that the existence of moral values is unreasonable. It carries too much artificial traces and doesn't seem like something that occurs naturally..."

At this moment, Zhang Yuanqing sensed his colleagues downstairs evacuating on a large scale.

Without hesitation, he left the room and descended the stairs.

In the living room, the official cultivators had already been dismissed. In the center of the living room, a young man in a white suit sat on a high-backed chair, surrounded by broken furniture, bloodstains, overturned sofas, and cracked walls.

His suit was immaculate like snow, his features handsome, his expression cold and stern, forming a stark contrast with his surroundings.

Zhang Yuanqing scrutinized the young man in the white suit, and the young man in the white suit also studied him.

When Zhang Yuanqing reached the last step, the young man in the white suit nodded slightly, "Fu Qingyang."

There's someone in the world even more handsome than me... Zhang Yuanqing bowed in greeting, "Hello, Captain Bai."

He had long admired this Bai Captain and had heard about him from Li Dongze many times. Born in a prestigious family, a genius, calm and wise, decisive and upright, rich and foolish... well, the last one was mentioned by Guan Ya.

Now he finally met this "legendary" figure in person. His first impression was of pride, nobility, and sharpness—a type of person he would need to think twice before making jokes about.

Strange enough, Zhang Yuanqing didn't feel repulsed because Fu Qingyang's nobility and pride seemed pure, matching his appearance.

Fu Qingyang sat upright in the high-backed chair and spoke calmly, "No need to be so formal with me. I've been paying attention to you for a long time and wanted to meet you a long time ago. But Guan Ya said you were a shameless lecher, so I decided to observe you a little longer."

"Do you have a prejudice against lechers? No, I'm not a lecher..." Zhang Yuanqing explained, "It's her misunderstanding. I think Captain Bai should have your own judgment."

Fu Qingyang said, "She strongly recommended me to promote you to be a captain, saying that you are one of the most outstanding talents among the new generation of the Five Elements Alliance."

"You are very perceptive," Zhang Yuanqing said, nodding.

"So, I gave you the opportunity to observe a little longer." Fu Qingyang glanced at Hengxing Wuji's corpse.

Zhang Yuanqing understood his meaning and stepped to the ugly and fierce corpse. Black and viscous substance surged in the eyes of the corpse, forming a semi-transparent phantom above the body, fiercely grinning at Zhang Yuanqing, extremely ferocious.

"After devouring the spirits of evil professions, I might become a bit crazy..." He took out the Demon Subduing Staff and handed it to Fu Qingyang. "This item can purify spiritual pollution."

He had given the Demon Subduing Staff to Li Dongze based on trust in his character, and he gave it to Fu Qingyang now because he believed that this person was generous and wouldn't covet his props.

Fu Qingyang took the item and nodded lightly.

Zhang Yuanqing fell silent and took a deep breath, swallowing the spirit into his mouth.

......

The center of the eyebrows suddenly swelled, and something that didn't belong to him forcefully poured into his sea of consciousness.

Countless fragmented scenes surged forth like a revolving lantern, all deeply impressed memories from his reckless life.

Hailing from a poor family, Heng Xingwu studied hard to change his fate. However, after entering society, he realized that his pride in education didn't hold much value. Working diligently for a few years, he found himself burdened with even more tasks, becoming a corporate slave.

He couldn't compete with those who had powerful connections or those who flattered but lacked skills. Even after ten years of work, he still couldn't afford a house, and owning one was a prerequisite for marriage. Unfortunately, his father, an honest farmer, lacked savings.

Feeling hopeless in living an honest and ordinary life, he noticed that taking some shady shortcuts earned him abundant wealth.

He couldn't see where his future was headed, feeling lost, until one day, taking advantage of his position, he earned a huge fortune and fell into the world of debauchery, developing a fondness for risky endeavors.

Finally, the scenery changed, and Zhang Yuanqing saw a dimly lit bedroom with a dark spirit floating by the bed.

"Where is Hei Wuchang? Trust is the foundation of cooperation, and it seems we don't trust each other enough."

"You have two options: either wait for the fallen ones on the list to lose control one by one…"

"To show my sincerity, I will reveal the official pilgrim's deployment and actions to you."

...

In another dark bedroom, Heng Xingwu cut his wrist and let the blood flow into an ink-black wooden bowl, which twisted into the shape of a face.

"Boss, the people from the Dark Night Rose have come looking for you, they want to meet you."

"It's too early to meet now. Planning with a tiger's skin requires caution... Has their leader come?"

"I don't know. Boss, it's crucial to gain control of the Fallen Holy Grail as soon as possible."

"Are you trying to teach me how to do things?"

"No, I dare not... He also said he would provide me with the official team's action plan and let me set an ambush to help alleviate the pressure on you."

"We can give it a try..."

Dark Night Rose? Black Wuchang lurking in Songhai, waiting for the leader of the Dark Night Rose? What kind of organization is this? They seem to be brewing some major conspiracy; the information obtained this time is significant...

A golden light emerged, the scene dispersed, and consciousness returned. Zhang Yuanqing opened his eyes and found himself shackled to a high-backed chair.

Huh, no pain, no signs of being beaten... Zhang Yuanqing felt a moment of joy, but then he realized that Fu Bai had completely crushed him, so he didn't feel happy.

Seeing him wake up, Fu Qingyang immediately asked, "What did you gain?"

...