Longevity Gu Dao: Start From Refining Infatuation Gu

Chapter 73: Immortal Mist Sect's Cultivators No Longer Dominant

Upon hearing these words, the cultivators present fell silent. They understood Immortal Mist Sect's plan very well.

If they didn't have money, they could only join the patrol team and fight desperately against the Shadow Demon Sect for Misty Cloud City.

The problem was that the demonic cultivators from the Shadow Demon Sect were terrifying and had strange methods.

Even with the protection of a second-tier formation, the patrol team in Misty Cloud City had still lost many cultivators over the past year.

It was said that the patrol team was currently troubled by a shortage of personnel.

Therefore, Immortal Mist Sect wanted to force those independent cultivators to join the patrol team and contribute to the protection of Misty Cloud City.

To put it bluntly, they wanted to find cannon fodder to deplete the strength of the Shadow Demon Sect cultivators.

Of course, if they pushed too hard, it might lead to resistance from the independent cultivators.

This could destabilize Misty Cloud City, allowing the Shadow Demon Sect to find weaknesses and break through the formation.

So they started with rent, further increasing it.

They even secretly raised the prices of food, causing the spiritual stones on the independent cultivators to be quickly depleted.

They were pushed to the brink of exhaustion.

As long as a cultivator didn't have any spiritual stones, they had no choice but to agree to their conditions.

Join the patrol team and become cannon fodder for Immortal Mist Sect.

This method of using both the stick and the carrot had been perfected by Immortal Mist Sect.

And the independent cultivators didn't want to fight to the death with Immortal Mist Sect unless they were forced into a desperate situation.

"Alright, I'll give you all one day to consider."

"Either pay up, join the army, or die."

Fan Ze, an official of Immortal Mist Sect, revealed a cold glint in his eyes and issued the final ultimatum.

He wasn't interested in wasting time with this group of ragtag individuals.

In fact, if Immortal Mist Sect wasn't in dire straits, besieged by the Shadow Demon Sect, these independent cultivators wouldn't have had the qualifications to join the patrol team.

Now, giving these independent cultivators the opportunity to join the patrol team was already their great fortune.

Yet they still dared to resist and make excuses, truly shameless.

"Fan Ze, you're right. The safety of Misty Cloud City is everyone's responsibility. I've decided to be the first to step forward and pay the rent, supporting Immortal Mist Sect's cause. Otherwise, if Misty Cloud City is breached, we won't have a good ending either."

At this moment, Xu Tianze stepped forward, wearing a righteous expression. He declared that he fully supported any decision made by Immortal Mist Sect and that it was normal to pay more spiritual stones.

"Not bad, it seems there are still reasonable people among us."

Seeing Xu Tianze's appearance, Fan Ze felt quite satisfied. With a cultivator who understood righteousness like him, it seemed that the matter of collecting high rent would go smoothly.

Seeing this scene, the other independent cultivators knew that the situation was hopeless.

"Fan Ze, we were indeed in the wrong."

"Misty Cloud City is in imminent danger now, so it's only natural to contribute money and effort."

"That's right, we can't contribute with our strength, but we can definitely contribute with money."

"We'll contribute four middle-grade spiritual stones."

Many independent cultivators spoke up.

Most of them were at the ninth level of Qi Refining, after all, they had a big family and abundant resources. Although four middle-grade spiritual stones were a lot, they could still afford it.

The ones who suffered the most were the low-level cultivators.

They didn't have many spiritual stones on them and were basically living hand to mouth. Even if they wanted to continue renting, they had no way to do so.

It could be said that their only choice was to join the patrol team and participate in the war against the Shadow Demon Sect.

Without money, they could only fight desperately.

Naturally, Zhou Sui was also hiding among them, obediently choosing to pay.

After all, he didn't want to fight desperately for the Immortal Mist Sect, to be cannon fodder for the Immortal Mist Sect.

...

Not long after, after collecting a large number of spirit stones, Fan Ze and other Immortal Mist Sect cultivators left.

After all, they still had to go to other places to continue collecting rent.

For the cultivators of the Immortal Mist Sect, this was an opportunity to plunder resources, and it was not to be missed.

Seeing this, the surrounding cultivators also returned to their own homes.

"The situation is not good."

Returning home, Zhou Sui frowned, feeling a faint sense of unease in his heart. He felt that something was not quite right about this situation, because the Immortal Mist Sect was usually very easy to deal with.

The previous Immortal Mist Sect cultivators were not like this.

When they could be domineering, they would never reason with others. The reason they were reasoning now was because they couldn't be domineering anymore.

When did these Immortal Mist Sect disciples become so polite to independent cultivators?

"What's wrong, husband? Is there something unusual?"

Ji Bingyu, Mu Ziyan, and Xia Jingyan all looked at Zhou Sui curiously.

"Of course, something is very wrong. If I'm not mistaken, the situation of the Immortal Mist Sect may be a bit bad, and there may not even be any rescue personnel coming from the Immortal Mist Sect."

"If there were really rescue personnel coming, then the Gold Core cultivators would have arrived long ago and wiped out the group of Shadow Demon Sect cultivators outside. How could they have held on for a year without any news?"

Zhou Sui narrowed his eyes.

"Husband, are you saying that the Shadow Demon Sect may have launched an attack on the Immortal Mist Sect headquarters, involving the two Gold Core cultivators of the Immortal Mist Sect, so the Immortal Mist Sect headquarters won't send anyone to rescue us?!"

"It's impossible. Wasn't the Immortal Mist Sect's junior sect master, Leng Yuxi, in our Misty Cloud City? She is the future Gold Core seed of the Immortal Mist Sect. Are you saying they would just give up?"

Ji Bingyu, Mu Ziyan, and Xia Jingyan were all a little surprised.

"It's not that they're giving up, maybe it's just that their strength is not enough, and they don't have enough energy."

"I'm afraid the Shadow Demon Sect has put a lot of pressure on the Immortal Mist Sect, making it impossible for their Gold Core cultivators to take action."

"If at this time, the people of Misty Cloud City become restless, and with the help of the Shadow Demon Sect's spies, it's possible that Misty Cloud City will be completely overrun."

Zhou Sui rubbed his chin and made his own speculation.

"If that's the case, what should we do?"

Mu Ziyan asked nervously.

"What's there to be afraid of."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Sui smiled: "We are not disciples of the Immortal Mist Sect. Even if the city is really breached, the first ones to be killed by the Shadow Demon Sect cultivators would be the Immortal Mist Sect cultivators, not us independent cultivators."

Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that those demonic cultivators want to kill and plunder, exterminating us independent cultivators. But wasn't the underground shelter I dug prepared for this moment?

Once there is turmoil, we will hide in the underground shelter, seal the entrance above, hide for a year or two, or even several years. I don't believe the turmoil won't end by then."

He was calm now.

Whether the Immortal Mist Sect and the Shadow Demon Sect win or lose in their war had little to do with him.

Now all he wanted was to survive in the midst of the turmoil.

Once they hid in the underground shelter hundreds of meters deep, even Foundation Building cultivators wouldn't be able to detect them.

After all, the range of Foundation Building divine sense extended only tens of zhang, it was just because there was no obstruction.

If they went deep underground, a few zhang would be the limit.

I believe there is no cultivator with such ability to dig hundreds of meters underground.

"For these days, don't leave home. If there really is a problem, we will immediately hide in the underground shelter."

Zhou Sui said in a deep voice.

"Okay."

Ji Bingyu, Mu Ziyan, and Xia Jingyan all nodded.

(End of this chapter)