Chapter 394: Digesting the Results of the Battle
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
The Emperor of the Great Zhou Empire sat on the dragon throne as he looked at the three people before him, Zhu Hongwu (the Marquis of Xuanji), Yan Mingyue and Mei Wulang.
"Wulang, settle this for me."
Hearing the order, Mei Wulang bowed and said, "Yes, my lord."
Liang Pan looked at the Marquis of Xuanji, Zhu Hongwu, and said slowly, "The Great Qin Empire will soon be in turmoil and we cannot stand idly by. Many people will wish that we do not intervene. Take care of them for me, Hongwu."
Zhu Hongwu bowed and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will not let those with ill intentions affect our plans."
Yan Mingyue suddenly said from the side, "The Fourth Prince is now on his way to Mount Shu. Is it possible that the Great Zhou Empire may face some constraints?"
Liang Pan smiled slightly, "You do not need to worry about that. I have my own plans."
Yan Mingyue's eyes flashed as she nodded silently. However, in her heart, doubts rose. "If the Fourth Prince Liang Kun met with some accident at Mount Shu, then the Great Zhou Empire will definitely be at odds with Mount Shu. It's unlikely that Zhu Hongwu and Liang Pan did not consider this."
Her gaze flitted between Liang Pan and Zhu Hongwu, sovereign and subject, and noticed that both of them appeared uncaring. She tried to erase the thought from her mind.
Zhu Hongwu turned his gaze to Yan Mingyue and asked, "Is the Great Void Sect intent on changing their game plan?"
Yan Mingyue ran her fingers through the hair by her ear and smiled, "The Great Zhou Empire has grown too much in strength recently. Coupled with the rise of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, which was unexpected, our sect has now been given an additional choice."
Zhu Hongwu nodded his head and said calmly, "Their efforts would be for nothing. My lord will pacify all under heavens and obtain the Mandate of Heaven. Our rise is unstoppable."
Yan Mingyue smiled but did not respond.
She looked into the void, slightly lost and thought, "Could this be machinations of my Big Senior? What ambition! However, whether or not we could achieve our goals will depend on our individual abilities. I can more or less figure out what is going on with the Great Zhou Empire."
"However, as for the Celestial Sect of Wonders, perhaps they will bring about unexpected surprises? Big Senior, I hope you won't make the same mistake as Junior Pang."
...
Just as Wu Qingrou had predicted, Lin Feng did not call for a conference after the Battle of the Kunlun Mountains to assert his newfound dominance over the region.
The Aeolus Sect had been completely obliterated. The areas formerly controlled by the Holy Wind Mountain had been reduced to a wasteland. That was enough to show off the Celestial Sect's dominance of the region.
As always, the Celestial Sect of Wonders was unpredictable and mysterious. Mount Yujing remained concealed in the void, formless and shadowless.
Waves after waves of middle to small powers headed towards Shazhou City to meet with the Celestial Sect of Wonders. Many wished to see Lin Feng personally. This could be because many sects resided in the area.
As for Kang Nanhua and Miao Shihao, who often made trips between Shazhou City and Mount Yujing, they had become celebrities in their own rights as people sought to suck up to them.
However, there were certain forces in the Kunlun Mountains that sought to contact other, more powerful forces too. These sects were mainly found in the borderland regions of the Kunlun Mountains.
Lin Feng did not care about them and he made no attempt to stop them.
The Kunlun Mountains themselves were not ideal for cultivation. If not, a major sect would have at least opened shop here.
At this point, the intrusion of external forces did not mean that there would be increased competition for land and resources. It was more of a defensive measure against the Celestial Sect of Wonders.
However, 90% of the sects in the Kunlun Mountains submitted to the Celestial Sect of Wonders' dominance.
Lin Feng was not only the most influential person in the region, but he managed to massively boost his personal and the sect's prestige there too. Respectively, they increased to 85 points and 80 points.
After the battle, the most eye-catching characteristic was the fact that Lin Feng's personal prestige value in the whole world, together with the prestige of the Celestial Sect, increased massively. While there was still some distance from an overall score of 80, this change was most welcome.
Previously, regardless of whether it was the sect-opening ceremony at Shazhou City or accompanying Xiao Yan to Xingyun Peak to fulfil his promise or bringing his entire squad to the Spiritual Conference of Huanghai, the increase in his prestige was geographically confined.
While his worldwide prestige did increase, it did so very slowly.
After that big battle, Lin Feng and his sect's prestige massively increased in the entire Grand Celestial World, particularly the Divine Lands and all of its subregions.
"Other than destroying the Aeolus Sect, subduing the Golden Crow Grand Sage must have played a role too."
Lin Feng understood this in his heart. His mood was buoyant as he thought, "If things continue this way, I have a strong chance of completing the system's main quest."
Of course, the difficulty was great too. With the rise of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, there would be many more sects that would become unhappy or even wary of the Celestial Sect. Some may even treat the Celestial Sect as their enemy, like how the Aeolus Sect viewed the Celestial Sect.
The cake is only this big. When a new and much stronger person decides to come in and snatch for cake, more and more cake would be taken away. Others would definitely be unhappy.
The prestige of Lin Feng and his sect rose day after day, non-stop.
But Lin Feng believed that prestige could not rise indefinitely. Once his sect met with some difficulties or challenges, then it was very likely that their prestige would drop. That would be painful.
Hence, after his victory, Lin Feng did not try to bask in the joy of victory too much. He continued to work on improving his own potential.
Digesting the results of the big battle was the best way to increase his own actual powers.
Shi Tianhao (also known as Xiao Budian) was still recuperating. Lin Feng gave the capture Feilian King to the Kui Cow King to manage. He intended to send them, in the near future, to Xiao Budian's Wasteland Valley, where their Wind and Thunder Parturition Talisman Formation's power would be maximised.
Afterwards, he intended to send Shi Tianhao in there. He would need to rest for a long while there.
After Lin Feng had left, Yang Qing devoted all his energy to caring for his Little Junior.
Other than Yu Shiling, who was killed by Shi Tianhao on the spot, the other Aeolus Sect cultivators and Yu Family cultivators had all been captured. All of their Nascent Soul stage magic items that were not destroyed had been given to Kang Nanhua, Miao Shihao, Kui Cow King, Jieyu and Tun Tun as rewards.
Regardless of whether it was a magic item from the Aeolus Sect or the Yu Family, they were all very valuable. In certain ways, they could be said to be more valuable than any random Nascent Soul stage items.
The former group of items were infused with the powers from the Aeolus Formless Mantra and refined through the Nine Heavens Formless Squall. The latter incorporated the powers of the Xuanming Mantra and the Xuanming Primordial Water.
Kang Nanhua, Miao Shihao and the rest could not only use these items to fight their enemies but also test their own powers.
While they were unable to manipulate the Nine Heavens Formless Squall or the Xuanming Primordial Water, they would still be able to use them to increase their mastery and their battling abilities.
For Zhu Yi, Wang Lin, Yue Hongyan and Yang Qing, their greatest takeaway would be for them to familiarize with the different battling styles of their opponents.
As for magic items below the Nascent Soul stage, Lin Feng stowed them all away. He hoped to use them to incentivize his disciples in the future.
However, while Lin Feng did overthrow the Heavenly Wind Holy Man, he massively damaged the Aeolus Sect's most important treasure, the Immortal Soul stage magic treasure, the Heavenly Wind Treasure Fan.
The magic treasure was tightly bound to the Heavenly Wind Holy Man's own Immortal Soul avatar. When the Heavenly Wind Holy Man was crushed by Mount Yujing, the Heavenly Wind Treasure Fan too was wrecked.
The Heavenly Wind Holy Fan was directly crushed by Mount Yujing and hence, Lin Feng could only collect its shattered remains. Piecing them together again would not be a problem, but the original soul of the magic treasure met the same fate as the Heavenly Wind Holy Man.
Even if the shattered Treasure Fan could be reformed, its spirit would have been damaged. It was impossible for it to form a consciousness again. All Lin Feng could do right now would be for him to ascend into the Immortal Soul stage and then fuse it with other treasure and recultivate it. Only then could this magic treasure's powers be realized.
On the bright side, the spell formation for the Nine Heavens Squall Formation was almost intact. While it was slightly damaged, it could be repaired and put to use pretty soon.
However, Lin Feng had more pressing matters to attend to.
Sitting cross-legged on top of the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree, six balls of purple gas floated before Lin Feng. Six Celestial Small Worlds were before him.
Every single Celestial Small World contained the silhouette of a prisoner. Looking at them carefully, three of them were men of giant stature.
One of them had only one eye and one arm. His eyes gave off an ice-blue glare. The other two of them had the heads of birds and the body of a man. Both of them had wings and as their wings fluttered, a breeze was swept up.
This was the cosmic form of the Yu Yiluan and the two late Nascent Soul stage cultivators of the Aeolus Sect.
In the other three Celestial Small Worlds, the chained forms of three 12-13 years old people could be seen. They were the nascent souls of Yu Yiluan and the other two.
Earlier on, having been trapped in the Two Elements of Creation Formation, the three late-Nascent Soul stage elders struggled fiercely. After Lin Feng trapped the Xuanming Holy Man in there too, he needed to concentrate all of the formation's power on him. Hence, he had to take care of the three of them first.
Under the bombardment of the Formation, the three of them had their physical body completely destroyed. Only their cosmic form and their nascent souls were left.
Afterwards, faced with the continued attacks of the Formation, the three of them had their consciousness gradually removed. Only a primal innocence remained. They were akin to newborn babies.
Here, they were unable to create trouble for Lin Feng anymore. Hence, he trapped their cosmic forms and their nascent souls separately.
Lin Feng stared at the six of them trapped in the Celestial Small Worlds as he made his calculations. Soon, he devised a plan.
Extending his finger, he laid it on Yu Yiluan's nascent soul, which then turned into a ray of white light. It dashed into another Celestial Small World, where Yu Yiluan's one-eyed and one-armed giant cosmic form resided.
After the nascent soul had merged with the cosmic form, it appeared to have found a body to reside in. Yu Yiluan's cosmic form began to vibrate violently.