The Journey of Immortal Cultivation-Chapter 822 - 454: Capture the Leader First to Catch the Thieves
It’s really strange, why is it that Miluo’s blood-red eyes do not appear as evil as Qing Ji’s?
Changtian wishes he could gouge out his eyes.
"Come down and eat." Qing Ji turned back and sat in his original position, commanding them with a deep voice. He was the master of the twin sisters now and could rightfully order them to do anything.
Ning Xiaoxian helped Hulian Minmin down from the cart, moved to the edge of the camp to sit, and the cook brought the food. Hulian Minmin’s arm couldn’t move, so Ning Xiaoxian spooned food for her, feeding her slowly while transmitting, "Do not worry. With me here, you’ll be safe." Right now, she had implicated this girl.
Hulian Minmin dared not make a sound, only opened her mouth to eat the fed food, but her eyes revealed a grateful light.
After feeding her, Ning Xiaoxian picked up her own portion and started eating. Her taste was so sharp now; she could already tell the food was drugged again.
Twice they had been drugged within five days—what kind of luck is this? She felt it was so absurd that she could neither laugh nor cry. Naturally, the drug this time has a much stronger effect if her taste remains keen. This is likely "Energy-Boosting Powder"?
This drug’s name sounds quite like martial arts, but its actual effect is to suppress cultivators below the Returning to Void Stage, hindering their spiritual and demonic powers. Due to its rare ingredients, its price isn’t cheap. As the eldest young master of the Fengtian Prefecture, Qing Ji isn’t a fool and guarded her closely. If she were an ordinary cultivator, a few bites of this food would suppress her cultivation to that of a normal woman, leaving her at his mercy. By that time, it wouldn’t matter whether she was Ning Xiaoxian or not.
He watched Ning Xiaoxian calmly take a few bites of the drugged food, slightly curling his lips, evidently quite satisfied. Unfortunately for him, though his plan was good, he didn’t know this woman has something extraordinarily different—flowing through her veins isn’t demonic or spiritual power, but divine power from Changtian, naturally unaffected by Energy-Boosting Powder. Besides, she herself is a highly skilled Alchemy Pharmacist, even if truly poisoned, she along with God Demon Prison’s two top alchemy experts, plus the poison expert Jiu Mo; could they not find a remedy?
Zhongli Hao, wanting to curry favor with Qing Ji, inquired about the northern battle during the meal. After all, under the command of the Fengtian Prefecture’s two young masters are elite troops, the main force on the battlefield. Qing Ji did not lower his voice, so Ning Xiaoxian overheard and learned that war had erupted again in the North. This time, dubbed Northern Barbarians by the Central South states, pressed southward over 300 miles before finally being blocked.
This is not merely about distance—be aware the chaotic North-South war has a history of hundreds, even thousands of years, with fortifications against the Northern Barbarians at the front lines, solid as iron barrels. Moreover, both sides’ troops understand each other’s combat strength well; being pushed back several hundred miles only indicates a catastrophic defeat on the northern front, allowing the opposing force to advance seamlessly.
She always wondered why the Northern Immortal Sect insisted on waging war against the South, what kind of overwhelming hatred needed settling? Yet Changtian’s explanation was, the continent’s northern region suffers from ice and snow, with screaming winds year-round, making breathing and survival difficult for normal humans. If merely that, it would be tolerable, as North harbors many mineral veins, Sects guarding treasure mountain can still subsist. Unfortunately, Northwest, Northeast, and Northern regions offer ordinary spiritual energy far less abundant and rich than the South.
For both humans and demons, pervasive spiritual energy can continually boost cultivation, slowly enhancing a cultivator’s physical abilities. However, in the North, spiritual energy is quite weak, only relatively concentrated within a few large volcanoes, which have already been occupied by demon sects under the White Tiger God Mo’s control. For other sects to share any, the price is exceedingly steep.
Additionally, harsh northern climate sees mortals virtually nonexistent. Consequently, Northern Immortal sects can’t build cities and gather large numbers of mortals to support themselves like Southern cities. Although the individual mortal’s strength is weak, their reproductive capabilities far exceed demons, making them the world’s most populous species. The wealth they produce gets transferred to their controlling sects via tributes, functioning as a continuous regeneration process.
Southern lifestyle is decadent, filled with abundance conducive to cultivation, and numerous mortals available for enslavement. Furthermore, who on earth would choose to stay in the bitter cold, facing the wilderness every day? Any northerners returning from the South to tell friends and family within the sect mostly speak of the Southern Immortal Sects’ weakness, Southern cities’ wealth, Southern landscapes’ beauty and lack of defense... If one or two say such things, it might be insignificant; if many express such cravings, could it not stir Northern cultivators and demons into restlessness, preparing eagerly to invade southward?
