Chapter 338 – Taking
After Long Yuyin left, Nie Li immediately started cultivating.
Even Long Yuyin’s cultivation had already reached 5-fate. If he didn’t catch up soon, he’d be left behind in the dust.
Nie Li entered the Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains Painting.
Deity’s Lakes were floating all around inside the painting. Soon, they’d start producing an endless supply of spiritual stones.
Nie Li looked towards, Yu Yan who was cultivating in the distance. The golden flames on body were blazing more than ever, looking like a cloud of golden fire in the sky. Nie Li had no idea how far Yu Yan’s cultivation had reached. Since she was still in the middle of cultivating, he didn’t want to disrupt her.
As for Jindan, that little guy was already twice his original size. It kept up with its routine of eating and sleeping. This Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains Painting was like a utopia for it.
Nie Li settled down and began cultivating. But unlike before, he was absorbing pure spiritual stone essences, instead of spiritual stones.
The Heavenly Energy contained in spiritual stone essences was purer by several folds.
A single piece of spiritual stone essence was equivalent to a thousand spiritual stones. Ordinary cultivators couldn’t enjoy such goods; but for a moneybag like Nie Li, it wasn’t much.
After absorbing three spiritual stone essences, his cultivation returned to 3-fate. However, he continued to absorb even more spiritual stone essences.
For now, Nie Li’s fate soul was still unstable, so he didn’t think about heading to the outside world for the time being. Instead, he cultivated and continued to raise his strength in peace.
Time pass quickly. five days later, Nie Li had already used dozens of spiritual stone essences and his cultivation had finally stepped into 4-fate. He’d finished forming his fourth fate soul, and it was black in colour.
Red, blue, yellow and black. Then what would color of his fifth fate soul be?
Nie Li was a little bewildered.
However, he didn’t stop cultivating once he reached 4-fate. Instead, he continued on.
Meanwhile, in the outside world, Gu Bei and Lu Piao led the Demon League and finally took down a Deity’s Lake. This was their first Deity’s Lake since the league’s establishment. Although it was just an ordinary low grade Deity’s Lake, it was a pretty good start for them.
With that Deity’s Lake as a base, they’d be able to recruit more experts than ever, especially since they weren’t lacking in funds. After all, the terms that they provided were several times better than those of the other factions.
As they were cultivating by the Deity’s Lake, a subordinate hurried in.
“Master Bei, there’s a faction called the Ancient Jade League that’s come to join us!”
“Ancient Jade League? Where are they from?” Lu Piao frowned as he asked Gu Bei. Ever since they came to the outside world, Lu Piao had become even more cautious.
“They’re a small faction in the outside world with roughly sixty men who are all around the Heavenly Fate Realm.” Gu Bei continued, “However, they don’t have any associations with other factions!” After reaching the outside world, Gu Bei had conducted a few investigations on all the large and small forces out there. Gu Bei also had an amazing memory. As long as the faction had a name in the outside world, Gu Bei would know of them.
“Did you ask why they’d like to join us?” Gu Bei asked after pondering for a brief moment.
“They said that wandering the outside world is too tough for them. They said that, they’ve come in contact with some of the major factions, but those major factions didn’t give them any regard and weren’t willing to take them. After hearing that Master Bei was establishing your own force, they decided to quickly pay a visit and ask!” that underling reported.
Under normal circumstances, those major factions wouldn’t be willing to take them; their strengths were too ordinary. After all, it was quality rather than quantity that counted. Having more people would mean that they’d have to spend more spiritual stones to maintain the force. After those major factions weighed the factors, of course they weren’t willing to accept those who were weak.
“Are we going to take them?” asked Lu Piao as he looked at Gu Bei. This was the first time an entire faction had decided to join them!
“Of course! Nie Li is a moneybags anyways, so we can afford it!” Gu Bei smiled as he continued, “Other factions have to worry about having too many burdens, so they aren’t willing to take them. But that’s not a problem for us, since Nie Li already told us to recruit as many people as possible!”
A short while later, the group that called themselves the Ancient Jade League appeared before Gu Bei and Lu Piao.
“Master Bei, my name is Heng Yan!” The leader of the Ancient Jade League cupped his hands towards Gu Bei. He was a youth in his twenties and didn’t have any family background worth speaking of. However, he acted neither humble nor pushy as he stood before Gu Bei and Lu Piao.
“If you join our Demon League, you’ll have to follow our rules. Will you comply?” Gu Bei’s face turned serious as he looked at Heng Yan.
Heng Yan immediately bowed and said, “I understand.”
Joining the Demon League would require them to sign a contract. Once the contract was set, they wouldn’t dare to betray him, especially with Gu Bei’s family background. After all, Gu Bei was the first-in-line successor of the Gu Clan!
“Good! Then sign the contract!” Gu Bei lightly smiled.
Heng Yan looked at Gu Bei as he asked, “Master Bei, we control a low grade Deity’s Lake. Although it’s nearly dried up, there are still dozens of people guarding it right now. Do you want it?”
Gu Bei straightforwardly said, “Naturally! After joining our Demon League, we will send some men over to collect your Deity’s Lake. Since you’ve decided to join us, you’ll be treated the same as everyone else who’s in the Demon League.”
Hearing Gu Bei’s words, Heng Yan and his group had their eyes light up. According to the rumors, the Demon League’s monthly salary was equivalent to their former yearly income! How could they possibly be unwilling?
Very quickly, Heng Yan and his people disbanded the Ancient Jade League. Once everyone present signed the contract, they became a part of the Demon League.
To Heng Yan, exchanging a nearly dried up Deity’s Lake for the generous treatment of the Demon League, was a profited for them. As far as Nie Li was concerned, it was a profit for him as well. All he had to do in exchange for a nearly dried up Deity Root, was pay Heng Yan and his group a tiny allowance every month.
The news travelled quickly. The Ancient Jade League had disbanded and its members had joined the Demon League.
The other smaller factions were also deliberating. Guarding a Deity’s Lake was bitter work. And in return, they received only a dozen or so spiritual stones per year. But if they chose to follow the Demon League, then they could get dozens of spiritual stones every month!
Some of the bosses of the smaller factions weren’t willing to disperse their own factions. However, they saw their brothers’ hearts shaking and understood that their factions couldn’t hold out for much longer. They too, disbanded and joined the Demon League.
In just a single month, dozens of factions had disbanded and joined the Demon League. The league itself was swelling and growing at a ferocious pace. Aside from accepting large numbers of new members, the Demon League had also received and controlled dozens of Deity’s Lakes. However, Nie Li had quickly removed the Deity’s Roots from all those lakes.
After taking dozens of factions, the Demon League’s size swelled to over three thousand experts. However, not everyone had a high cultivation. There were only a few dozen Heavenly Star Realm experts. However, their expansion was already extremely shocking, given the league was only a few months old.
The major factions of the outside world were extremely puzzled. How could the Demon League possibly afford the massive quantity of spiritual stones required daily to support? If any other force spent so much just to maintain so many people, then they’d have crumbled a long time ago!
However, what they didn’t know was that not was Nie Li capable of supporting them all, the amount of spiritual stones in his possession was still madly increasing.