Chapter 271: Chapter 202: An Incredible Background

Lihua.

More than a hundred years ago, when the Jiang Clan was destroyed, Li An, on his departure, had Lihua and Sun Jinxue leave the Jiang Clan, and also gave Lihua a small bottle of pills he had refined, which could reshape Lihua’s dantian.

The reason for doing this was nothing more than a moment of goodwill. After all, he had used Lihua to enter the Jiang Clan. Later, when Lihua encountered great trouble, she still had unwavering faith in him, which was a debt of cause and effect.

He hadn’t expected to meet Lihua again today.

Did she go to the Taiyi Sect after leaving the Jiang Clan?

In more than a hundred years, she has achieved perfection in Foundation Establishment. It seems that while she was not considered a core disciple in the Taiyi Sect, she was still quite valued.

“Master, all remnants of Zhao Changkong have been exterminated, and the spies from Taiyi Sect have been captured alive－－”

Gu Xuanting reported respectfully.

“Good!”

Li An first checked the two True Core cultivators from the Taiyi Sect.

These two True Core cultivators were relatively well-off, with the spirit stones and materials on them combined converting to around three thousand upper grade spirit stones.

However, the Rank Four materials Li An wanted were not among them. It was clear that these two were only here to negotiate with Zhao Changkong, not the final transaction.

After putting away the spirit stones, Li An stared at one of them, “Speak, what is your purpose for coming to the Celestial Killer Mountain Range?”

But these two were extremely indifferent, unmoved.

Li An said no more, turned to Lihua and the others, and said coldly, “You few, get out of the Celestial Killer Mountain Range, and tell those outside that from now on, no one is allowed to enter the Celestial Killer Mountain Range, or they will be killed, understand?!”

Lihua and the others, still in shock, were very relieved to find out they could leave alive, and quickly trembled away.

Li An had his men put away the spoils and take the two cultivators from Taiyi Sect along to see General Jia Man immediately.

…

Lihua and the others fled quickly, but hadn’t gone far when a True Core cultivator appeared ahead－－

This cultivator was shrouded entirely in a cloak, making it difficult to see his appearance clearly.

“Who are you?”

Lihua and the others were immediately on alert.

“No need to know who I am, just take this thing back to the people behind you.”

He directly tossed a jade talisman, which landed in Lihua’s hand.

“Scram, the main road of the Celestial Killer Mountain Range is blocked, take the small path, the southeastern corner is still open.”

With that, the person left directly.

Lihua and the others looked at each other, but soon after, they ran away swiftly.

…

Before others returned, Li An reported the whole story to Jia Man, using the Reflecting Crystal to leave a full record, so Jia Man only glanced and nodded: “I trust Mountain Master Lin.”

－－Indeed, all this was planned by Li An!

Half a month ago, when he first emerged from seclusion, he learned about the current situation and devised this strategy, secretly informing General Jia Man.

General Jia Man was also troubled, and was very satisfied with Li An’s plan, which led to this drama.

The plan was to eliminate all infiltrators that Great Li sent, and at the same time destroy Zhao Changkong and Taiyi Sect.

The reason he suggested Jia Man do this was more for self-protection.

After all, Great Li’s continuous infiltration of the Celestial Killer Mountain Range was not friendly to him. If any mountain master truly collaborated with Great Li and captured them all, wouldn’t Li An be doomed?

Helping the Demon Race now was helping himself, he did not want the Celestial Killer Mountain Range, this pure land, to be tainted by Great Li.

Secondly, he was very poor now.

Therefore, these spies and scouts sent by Great Li were the best targets for robbery.

By mobilizing everyone in the Celestial Killer Mountain Range to act, his robbery would be much safer!

“General Jia Man, this is the spoils obtained from the people of Taiyi Sect and Zhao Changkong－－”

Li An presented a pile of storage rings.

But Jia Man smiled, “Lord Lin, having made such a great contribution, take these things yourself.”

“Additionally, I will further reward Lord Lin－－”

Li An, excited, said, “Thank you, General Jia Man, for the reward… but as for rewards, what merit does Lin An have? All this was due to General Jia Man’s merit, Lin An only followed your orders…”

Jia Man laughed heartily, “Alright! As you wish, as you wish!”

“By the way, those two spies from Taiyi Sect, do you want to interrogate them again, I left them alive… though they are very tight-lipped.”

“Just kill them, they are of no use!”

Li An nodded and immediately departed.

After he left.

“This Lin An is truly a talent…”

Jia Man whispered.

“General, why not promote him as your deputy, in this way, with his help and advice, tasks might be much better handled in the future.”

A True Core cultivator beside him spoke.

But Jia Man just glanced coldly at him, and the True Core cultivator immediately fell silent, not daring to say more.

“Do you think Lin An is someone I can use?”

After a long time, Jia Man slowly said, “If he really wants a promotion… let alone a deputy, even my position as General, is nothing to him.”

The True Core cultivator’s face changed drastically, could it be Lin An has such abilities? Or does he have some remarkable background?

General Jia Man said no more, just waved his hand, and the cultivator immediately withdrew.

“The world only knows that I am in the Celestial Killer Mountain Range to guard the border, but they don’t know the orders I received are… the Celestial Killer Mountain Range can be lost, Lin An must not have any mistakes!”

After he departed, General Jia Man whispered to himself, “What General… I’m just a bodyguard, and I can’t even mention it, can’t leave any traces, can only protect secretly.”

“Having a background is really good.”

He couldn’t help but sigh!

…

The battle was over, and the news that Zhao Changkong colluded with the Taiyi Sect and was designed by General Jia Man to be executed spread throughout the Celestial Killer Mountain Range.

All the mountain masters were startled.

They all understood what this meant.

Kill the chicken to scare the monkey!

From now on, anyone else wanting to collude with the Human Race forces outside would have to weigh the consequences first.

…

Returning to his own territory.

A figure shrouded in a cloak had already returned.

Li An directly used his Demon Skill to investigate the actions of this cloaked person from start to finish!

This cloaked person was the only flesh and blood puppet Li An had refined in the past forty years!

At the early stage of True Core and not very powerful, Li An had erased most of its Divine Sense, making it slightly “smarter” than a corpse puppet.

This time, Li An’s objective was not only to eliminate Zhao Changkong and others but, more importantly, to replace Zhao Changkong and conduct business with the Taiyi Sect!

However, doing business with the Taiyi Sect also posed significant risks. If Li An could kill Zhao Changkong, others might be able to kill him too.

Therefore, he took a detour, released Lihua and others, and then let the puppet contact the other side.

In this way, his identity remained confidential, and during subsequent transactions, the Taiyi Sect would not know who he was. Even if discovered by General Jia Man, Li An could easily conceal himself, ensuring his safety.

“Go and wait.”

Li An commanded the puppet to proceed to a place at the entrance of the Celestial Killer Mountain Range to wait for the Taiyi Sect’s people.

…

Li An took stock of the situation.

After taking down Zhao Changkong and more than a dozen of his followers, Li An and his men reaped considerable rewards.

It was a time when personnel were needed, so Li An was fairly generous with the distribution of spoils, keeping little for himself.

Two Third Grade Spirit Medicines containing lunar energy, and one auxiliary herb for a Fourth Grade Nascent Soul Pill, all of which were rare finds indeed.

Other resources, including runes and materials, along with various Spirit Stones, amounted to the equivalent of over 6,000 Upper Grade Spirit Stones.

His current holding of Spirit Stones suddenly rose to nearly 10,000!

However, this amount of Spirit Stones…for someone like him, was still not much.

He and the Cyan Flame Divine Sparrow, both at Late-Stage Golden Core, along with three True Core Spirit Birds, consumed about 150 Upper Grade Spirit Stones monthly for basic cultivation.

That’s 1,800 per year.

8,000 Upper Grade Spirit Stones would only suffice for about five or six years of basic cultivation.

Wanting to purchase other materials was simply out of the question.

Then, he entered the secret chamber.

Two cultivators from the Taiyi Sect were imprisoned here.

“No matter what you want to ask, I won’t say anything…”

One of the cultivators stubbornly declared.

Li An merely smiled, “You misunderstand, I won’t ask.”

He walked over and grasped the cultivator by the throat, “What I want to know, I will find out myself—”

He used his Demon Skill to extract the memories of both cultivators, turning them into puppets!

“Evil Crystal or Corpse…”

The information extracted from the two cultivators’ memories was similar to what he had gathered from Zhao Changkong.

The Taiyi Sect sought to trade with Zhao Changkong for Corpse or Evil Crystal!

As long as these items were provided, the Taiyi Sect was even willing to give Zhao Changkong Nascent Soul Pill formula ingredients or Fourth Grade Talismans, artifact refining materials, array materials, etc.

They also promised that Zhao Changkong could become an Honored Guest Elder after leaving the Celestial Killer Mountain Range.

The terms were quite favorable.

The Taiyi Sect was a Righteous Dao Sect, not aligned with the Demon Cultivators or Evil Cultivators. Such items like the Evil Crystal were not very useful to them, but their interest seemed related to an organization called “Immortal Talent Hall.”

The Immortal Talent Hall, a favored entity of the Great Li Empire, was said to be personally established by the White Tiger Empress, and only the world’s top talents could enter.

Several elites from the Taiyi Sect had entered the Immortal Talent Hall, and they sought Evil Crystals and Celestial Demon Corpses for these members.

Li An pondered that the White Tiger Empress was merely acting as a proxy for Shangguan Shengxian!

Clearly, the Immortal Talent Hall was likely the handiwork of Shangguan Shengxian, and its cultivation likely involved Demon Skills.

This was quite reasonable, as Shangguan Shengxian also harbored ambitions to revive the Demon Sect, expanding her power while nurturing successors for the Demon Sect made sense.

Thus, the talents in the Immortal Talent Hall required Evil Crystals and Celestial Demon Corpses, which greatly benefited Demon Skill cultivation!

Li An still had some Evil Crystals!

He hadn’t used them all.

But trading them with the Taiyi Sect? That was obviously impossible.

Such items were too sensitive to be revealed.

However, the Corpse…might be used to deceive Taiyi Sect.

The Celestial Demon Corpse was already refined, but by using another corpse and infecting it with Evil Crystal aura, ordinary people wouldn’t notice the difference.

Pretending in front of the Taiyi Sect should suffice, right?

Of course, he needed to wait for the Taiyi Sect to initiate contact with him!

“Sir,”

At this moment, Gu Xuanting’s voice came from outside.

Li An stepped out and asked, “What is it?”

“Someone in Celestial Evil City is looking for you, claiming to be an old acquaintance of yours.”

Li An was puzzled, “Old acquaintance?”

“Yes…Xiang Yuntian.”

Gu Xuanting’s expression was slightly complicated, as most of Mountain Master Bai’s disciples had some impression of this name.

“I feared he might be discovered by other Mountain Masters, so I’ve hidden him for now… Sir, how should we handle him?”

Li An felt a headache coming on; that fool Xiang Yuntian hadn’t died in Central Celestial Continent…

When parting, didn’t he say he was going for revenge and might die in the process?

Why was he seeking me now? Has he gone mad…

Li An had just advised against letting any outsiders enter the Celestial Killer Mountain Range, and this guy managed to sneak in?

Truly…

“Where is he… I’ll go see him.”

Li An said, not in the best of moods.

…

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