Chapter 282 How to Block Sugar-Coated Bombs?

Just as Du Cheng felt frustrated and about to explode from being pushed too hard, suddenly a subtle wave of spiritual consciousness entered his sea of consciousness.
```htmlDu Cheng was slightly stunned in his heart, because this was exactly the sneaky little action this old guy in front of him was doing.
While reprimanding himself in front of so many people, trampling on his own and even the face of the entire Spirit Control Army, he was secretly passing messages to himself.```
```htmlWhat's this all about?
Do you expect to quell the flames of your own anger with such petty tricks?!
Joking aside, these petty tricks are too childish even to deceive a ten-year-old.```
```htmlJust as Du Cheng was flashing through various thoughts in his mind, a wave of divine consciousness entered his sea of consciousness, transforming into a piece of information.
Du Cheng was immediately stunned.
In this piece of information, many things were said.```
但杜成心中只有一段，只这一段信息，就将他的脑子塞满，再也容纳不下更多。
【职业者协会现任会长岐黄子，于今年初施展超绝药师手段，让已陷入濒死之境、多方求治无门的合欢宗含玉老祖转危为安。
The Ancestor of Youyi personally promised that, in return for Qihuangzi's assistance to the Hehuan Sect, they would unconditionally exert their full strength for him once!
This piece of information alone kept Du Cheng "frozen" in place, unable to move.
```htmlSince this Qihuangzi has such ability, it indicates that his level is also at the same height as Laozu.
Even if his combat ability is slightly inferior to Mingnan Laozu, he is by no means someone that other Jiedan in the Spirit Manipulation Army can easily handle.```
```htmlMoreover, for strong individuals at this level, any indirect judgment is unreliable until they have truly encountered it, or even engaged in a real life-and-death struggle.```
```htmlMoreover, even if the skill of this Qihuang disciple is slightly inferior to that of Patriarch Mingnan, he holds the favor owed by the members of the Hehuan Sect.
Such favors, the Hehuan Sect would rather have repaid as soon as possible.```
If at this time the Spirit Control Army clashes head-on with the Professional Association, and ultimately causes the several Hehuan Elders to repay this favor onto them, then the one who provoked this conflict would become a criminal in the Spirit Control Army's eyes.
```htmlAnyway, a Spirit Tamer Army with only one old ancestor holding the fort is no match for the combination of the Professional Association with Qihuangzi and several Huanhuan Ancestors backing it up.```
```htmlAs for whether this news is true or false, it's really easy to confirm.
Given the identity of the other party, it's also impossible to fabricate a lie that can be easily debunked.
So, he still believes in the information itself.```
So, should I ignite this fire myself?
This is a question!
As Du Cheng's mind forced itself to calm down, looking at the "Shishu" in front of him, seeing through the superficial Qihuangzi, and after standing up, the Hehuan Sect, he also discerned a deeper third layer!
So, what is the attitude of the Qingxuan Sect?
In his view, the right and wrong of this matter are clear at a glance.
This is entirely a dispute stirred up by the professional association for no reason.
```htmlThe Qingxuan Sect, which should have stood in a fair and impartial position to handle this matter, should have found it quite simple to deal with.
But the result is so obviously biased!
If things were to escalate further, which side would the Qingxuan Sect stand on?```
There was no need to pursue the answer to this question anymore, Du Cheng thought.
- That will only make the entire Spirit Cavalry feel embarrassed.
Why is that?
As soon as this doubt arose, Du Cheng had a realization in his own heart.
"From the heritage of the ancestors to the profoundness, from the temperament to the overall strength, it's obvious that my Spirit Taming Army has a comprehensive advantage... But precisely because of this, it seems to be a thorn in the side of the Qingxuan Sect, doesn't it?!"
Thinking of this, Du Cheng felt even more depressed.
Ultimately, it was still a matter of bearing the burden of dependency.
What differed from before was that the last time Du Cheng realized this, he wanted to explode from within outward. He truly wanted to act recklessly and make a spectacular scene.
```htmlBut this time, he felt like a mountain was pressing down on him.
He wanted to explode, but the pressure from within prevented him from making any movement or noise except to injure himself internally.```
```htmlWhen the "master uncle" who came to mediate saw that some of the true words he had secretly conveyed had calmed the raging anger in Du Cheng's eyes, he also secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.```
见对方陷入沉思，显然内心还在最最后的顽抗挣扎。
这个时候，最需要的做的就是给他第一个梯子。
他的神色瞬间柔和了许多，从一个执法者变成了一个真正的“师叔”，上前揽着杜成，径直向大厅外面走去。
"It's been a long time since we've seen each other. There are still many things I want to ask you."
"...I have some unique and effective herbal liquor. I'd like to share it with you."
Just as he was about to leave the hall, Du Cheng suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Wait."
"Shishu" changed his expression.
Originally, seeing the two of them leave, the tense mood in the hall also couldn't help but relax quietly.
Seeing the situation at this moment, they tensed up again.
Duchen looked at "Shishu", his mouth curved, showing a seemingly mocking smile.
```html“Master uncle, don't worry, I'm not causing trouble this time, it's really for a legitimate reason,”
As he spoke, he had already broken free from the seemingly affectionate but actually uncomfortable embrace of "master uncle" and strode purposefully to the counter.```
```htmlAt this moment, in front of the counter, empty with no one around, everyone has gathered around the Foundation Establishment cultivator who was made to vomit blood by him.
"Someone come talk to me." Du Chengdao said.```
```htmlThe foundation-building cultivator who was injured and coughing up blood has improved significantly after taking a healing pill and drinking several sips of spirit wine.
It's unclear whether it's the effectiveness of the medicine or the inherent nature of the spirit wine, but his face is now flushed red.```
```htmlAt this moment, he suddenly sprang up like an agile rabbit, swiftly crossing over to stand opposite Du Cheng. The blood at the corner of his mouth, which had not been wiped away, had already partially coagulated, emitting a strong scent of blood with each breath.```
He was selling his misery so blatantly that Du Cheng couldn't help but twitch his eyelids and corners of his mouth.
"Senior, what would you like to exchange?"
This is a military merit exchange point, and the only thing to be done here is exchanging military merits, so his question was perfectly appropriate.
```html"..." Du Cheng felt a bit choked by this small foundation.
However, he didn't bother to argue with it. After a moment of silence, he said, "I heard that two corpses of demonic beasts can be exchanged for one of the same rank of spirit puppet?"```
"Yes."
```htmlDu Cheng nodded and with a crisp sound, he slapped a brocade bag on the counter, saying:
"Give me the exchange."
The late Foundation Establishment stage cultivator with blood at the corner of his mouth took the brocade bag, probed with his divine sense into it, carefully counting and inspecting.```
```htmlSoon, he looked up at Du Cheng:
"Senior, you have three third-grade inferior demon corpses here.
However, only one of them is intact.
The other two are too damaged. According to our regulations, even if they are combined, they still fall short of the intact one.```
```html"So sorry, I can't exchange it for you."
"..." Du Cheng stared fiercely at the other party. If it weren't for the presence of the "Senior Brother" from the Qingxuan Sect watching nearby, he would have couldn't help but act and make him perform another blood-spurting show.```
```htmlEffortlessly suppressing the anger in his heart, he slapped another brocade bag onto the counter.
He said nothing, just stared at the other party.
After the late Foundation Establishment cultivator carefully inspected it, he said to Du Chengdao:```
```html"Senior, you have two second-tier superior demon beasts and two second-tier top-tier demon beasts. According to the difference, I only need one second-tier superior and one second-tier top-tier, and I will return the rest to you."```
"..." Du Cheng remained silent.
"Senior, I wonder what you think?"
"...Let's change."
"Alright."
Soon, the late Foundation Establishment cultivator with blood at the corners of his mouth placed the two sachets back in front of Du Cheng.
"Here is a third-grade lower-grade spirit puppet. We are returning it to you. There are two second-grade upper-grade demon beasts, and one second-grade top-grade demon beast. Please check."
"Oh, if you want to test the quality of this puppet, we provide a special venue for it. The space here is limited, and it is not convenient to display some abilities. Please understand."
“……”
```htmlWith Du Cheng's attainments, there is naturally no need for site verification.
He just took a brief look and gained a clear understanding of this spirit puppet.
A truly third-grade lower-tier spirit puppet.```
The quality is much better than he thought, in the third-order inferior spirit puppet, this is already an excellent masterpiece.
By analogy with the formation of dan, the first to third layers of dan formation are all in the early stage of dan formation, which corresponds exactly to the third-order inferior.
而他手中这具灵傀，在杜成的判断中，品质已经超过了结丹二层，已经迈入了结丹三层的门槛。
杜成彻底无话可说。
What made him feel a little ashamed was that, for a moment, he actually felt a twinge of excitement, as if he had gained something valuable.
With these materials, and my abilities, I really can't produce a spirit puppet of such high quality.
```htmlHowever, Du Cheng, whose position was slightly shifted, "woke up" quickly.
"... Is Qihuangzi really not afraid of losing money?!"
"Or is it that what we can't do, he can?"```
His attainment in the art of spirit manipulation is higher than that of my Spirit Manipulation Sect?!"
With this in mind, Du Cheng shuddered fiercely.
In the next instant, everyone only felt Du Cheng's figure gradually transitioning from solid to ethereal, slowly fading away.
Finally, amidst the astonished gazes, it dissipated into a faint light and shadow.
As for his true form, it had long departed, the exact moment unknown.
……
Three Rivers Plateau.
In the blink of an eye, another two months had passed.
These days, the busiest ones are the twenty-five "subordinates."
Yaya decomposes the vast "mountain of garbage" into pure materials, while they are responsible for turning these materials into spirit medicine wine and spirit puppets day and night.
```htmlThe newly brewed elixir wine has all been stored by Meng Zhou in the Linghulu space.
While a large number of spirits are stored in the Linghulu space, Ling Gui also continuously exchanges them outward according to the needs of various places.```
```htmlInterestingly, although the spiritual puppets in his hands have never stopped flowing outwards, except for a significant initial drop due to a large amount of goods being sent everywhere, as time passed, the number of spiritual puppets stored in the spiritual gourd space did not continue to decrease, but instead increased little by little.```
```htmlThe reason, when boiled down, is quite simple. The number of cultivators choosing to exchange military merits for spirit puppets is decreasing, while the number of cultivators exchanging with demonic beasts is rapidly increasing.
Under the operation of these twenty-five efficient "subordinates", these demonic beasts quickly turn into spirit puppets one by one.```
```htmlAlthough they cannot achieve the level of refining a complete spirit puppet from a intact demonic beast carcass without any loss, they, inheriting his proficiency in soul manipulation, spiritual control, and alchemy and talisman formations, have minimized such loss to almost negligible levels.```
```htmlWith ten intact demon beast corpses, eight or nine of the same grade puppet spirits can be easily refined.
To other cultivators, this seems like a charitable act, but in his hands, there is a profit margin of seventy to eighty percent.```
There are many spiritual puppets given, and there are even more spiritual puppets made from the bones of monsters that can be turned back.
The inventory, which should have been decreasing continuously, has instead begun to slowly recover.
In fact, his behavior, for the goal of "accumulating more military merits, obtaining more chips, and putting more pressure on the Qingxuan Sect," not only has no positive effect, but also backfires.
```htmlWith this method, although he didn't suffer losses, what he earned was neither spirit stones nor military merits, but rather more demonic beast spirit puppets.
The distribution of military merits in the Qingxuan Sect is mainly divided into two major parts.```
One of them is the "Mission Merit", which specifies a task target, such as blocking the beast tide at a certain mountain pass for more than two days, or facing the impact of the beast tide to support or supply resources to a certain team, and so on.
Qingxuan Sect will decompose the beast tide that spreads across the entire Qingxuan Domain Outer Ring area into one task after another, mobilizing the strength of all cultivators through specific tasks, and awarding military merits based on the completion of tasks by different teams.
```htmlThis is also the main source of earning military merits.
Another part is "resource military merits," without specific tasks, just need to deliver the resources to the steward's hall, and you can get a military merit settlement.```
This is actually a long-term "resource recovery task", which has been hanging on the task bar of the steward's hall since the first day it was introduced, and has not been revoked.
```htmlThese "resources" are varied, with the most important being various spiritual materials and materials from demonic beasts.
During the beast tide, everything else might be lacking, but the corpses of demonic beasts are definitely not lacking.```
So, this is also a source of military merit benefits.
However, the military merits that everyone harvests in this area are rapidly decreasing.
It's not that there are fewer demon beast tables brought back by everyone, but the value of demon beast corpses is depreciating rapidly.
```htmlBefore Mengzhou introduced this regulation, it was impossible to exchange the military exploits of five intact demon beast corpses for a spiritual puppet of the same grade.
His approach not only implicated twenty-five "subordinates", but also benefited everyone from the Qingxuan Sect to all the cultivators fighting on the front line of the beast tide.```
Even though Meng Zhou was certain that he had provoked the conflict first, he was confident that the Qingxuan Sect would stand by his side.
With his approach, as early as a month ago, the military exchange points scattered throughout the Qingxuan Domain had already become meaningless.
```htmlBut the Spirit-Control Army did not really perish.
The Spirit-Control Army was not driven to desperation by him either.
The reason is quite interesting, the current Spirit-Control Army is being nurtured by him.
The one exchanging for the most third-grade inferior Spirit Puppets is the Spirit-Control Army.```
```htmlIn the past two months, eighty percent of the third-order inferior spirit puppets sent out by the Professional Association have been exchanged by the Spirit-Taming Army, becoming their weapons for arming themselves.
Before the Spirit-Taming Army has abandoned itself, it has already merged with the Professional Association ahead of time.```