Chapter 126 - 123: Cleaning Up Ten Thousand Serpent Lake

Chapter 126: Chapter 123: Cleaning Up Ten Thousand Serpent Lake

"This..."

"Steward... Steward Ye, he’s incredible!"

"So this is the Vein Condensation Realm."

"..."

After a few moments of stunned silence, the crowd erupted in excited chatter, sharing their shock and awe with their companions. Much of the tense atmosphere dissipated.

Meanwhile, the Spirit Farmers who had been watching the Snake Tide had already circulated their Spiritual Power, casting strength-enhancing spells on themselves or imbuing their weapons with sharpening enchantments.

「A moment later.」

The Wind Blades and raging flames vanished, leaving the lake’s surface covered in floating, charred snake corpses.

Steward Ye and Tan Hu were both pale from using such large-scale Magic. After each swallowed a pill, one once again conjured Wind Blades and the other formed Fireballs, slaying the snake beasts in the surging Snake Tide.

Although the two of them had slain hundreds of snake beasts, the Snake Tide still looked immense as it swarmed toward the shore.

In just a few moments, the first of the snake beasts crawled onto the shore.

"Attack!"

The thirty Cultivators of the Demon Hunting Corps roared, taking out and activating Fireball and Ice Arrow Talismans.

Thirty fireballs and ice arrows rained down, wiping out more than half of the hundreds of snake beasts that had reached the beach. However, more snakes immediately surged ashore to take their place. After coiling on the sand for a moment, they swarmed toward the people on the bank.

The Cultivators of the Demon Hunting Corps calmly drew their talismanic weapons. While engaging the snake beasts in close combat, they shouted warnings to the Spirit Farmers behind them.

"Kill!"

It was unclear who among the Spirit Farmers shouted first, but it was enough to make the tension in the others snap. They gripped their crude weapons and frantically smashed them down on the crawling snake beasts.

When it came to experience in slaying Spirit Beasts and demons, the Spirit Farmers were no match for the Demon Hunting Corps. However, years of pulling weeds and catching pests had given them all sharp eyes.

Although they were flustered in the heat of the moment, each Spirit Farmer’s weapon landed precisely on a snake beast’s head, splattering its brains and killing it.

"Huh?!"

"It’s dead?"

"It was that easy?"

Staring at the twitching snake corpses on the ground, they were bewildered for a moment before their eyes lit up with realization.

"Scared the hell out of me! Turns out they’re just a bunch of big worms..."

"Exactly. They’re not even as vicious as spirit pests."

"Kill!"

Once they realized that the seemingly endless Snake Tide was actually composed of ordinary creatures, their tension mostly vanished, and their weapons continued to fall.

And the reason for this was simple.

It was all because Tan Hu and Steward Ye had specifically targeted and eliminated the hidden spiritual snakes within the Snake Tide. The Cultivators of the Demon Hunting Corps then performed a further culling, so by the time the tide reached the Spirit Farmers in the back, it consisted almost entirely of ordinary beasts.

The occasional spiritual snake that slipped through the net was quickly ganged up on and smashed to death by several Spirit Farmers, who were not entirely without cultivation themselves.

For a while, the Snake Tide, though spectacular and surging, failed to injure a single person, let alone cause any casualties.

And whenever the Snake Tide showed signs of retreating into the lake, the two Stewards would take out Snake-enticing Pills and have them burst open, luring the snakes back again.

「Time passed, bit by bit.」

The thick stench of blood filled the air, and the shores of Ten Thousand Serpent Lake were piled high with snake corpses. Among them lay a few unlucky souls, their faces blackened, fallen on the ground.

「By noon.」

The remnants of the Snake Tide slowly retreated into the lake.

This time, Tan Hu and Steward Ye did not stop them.

In just a few moments, the entire Snake Tide had withdrawn into the lake.

Everyone on the shore breathed a collective sigh of relief. Ignoring the blood and filth, they plopped right down on the ground and began to gasp for breath.

Because of the Snake Tide.

Only twenty-three Cultivators from the Demon Hunting Corps were left standing; three were treating their wounds in the distance, and four had become corpses.

More than twenty of the three hundred Spirit Farmers were dead or injured. The rest were covered in dark red blood, unable to tell if it was their own or from the snake beasts.

Steward Ye’s face was deathly pale, his aura faint and depleted.

The fur of the giant Mountain Monarch that Tan Hu had transformed into was matted with dark red bloodstains. Shreds of flesh were embedded in its claws and fangs, and its pale golden pupils showed signs of exhaustion.

After resting for a moment, Tan Hu reverted to his human form. In accordance with their prior discussion, he shouted to the Spirit Farmers on the shore, "Remember to go register with Steward Ye in a moment."

"Huh?"

"What is it now?"

"Don’t tell me it’s not over yet?"

Hearing this, the expressions of the crowd changed. They began to murmur among themselves, their tones filled with complaint.

Tan Hu ignored their discussions and continued, "Each of you can cultivate one mu of a Spirit Field for free. This is limited to one year, and all the harvest will belong to you."

Upon hearing this, the crowd was stunned for a moment before erupting into a deafening uproar.

In no time, Steward Ye was completely surrounded by the Spirit Farmers. The noise made it impossible for him to peacefully recover from the damage to his meridians.

Steward Ye shot Tan Hu a glare, but he had no choice. With a flip of his hand, he produced a ledger and began to record their names one by one.

Tan Hu didn’t remain idle either, gathering up the spiritual snakes he had slain.

After resting for a short while, the Cultivators of the Demon Hunting Corps gathered around Tan Hu.

Without wasting any time, Tan Hu took out Spirit Stones and medicinal pills and distributed them.

As for the Cultivators who died in the Snake Tide, there would be compensation for them as well, but that would have to wait until all other matters were settled.

「By nightfall.」

Everyone had packed up their spoils and returned to their residences with satisfied smiles.

All that remained was a stretch of dark, damp sand and the lingering stench of blood.

「On the island’s mountain peak.」

WHOOSH...

Li Changsheng slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air and opened his eyes. He smiled. ’I finally cleared it.’ His gaze turned inward, focusing on himself.

[Target: Li Changsheng]

[Cultivation: Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer (19%)]

[Cultivation Technique: Golden Turtle Spirit Technique (7/9)] [Traits: Resilience, Spirit Recovery]

[Magic: Three-leaf Spirit Absorption Vein Map (Initial Success 3%), Spirit Contract (Incomplete) (Initial Success 3%), Five Poisons Spirit Refinement (...), Golden Turtle Shield (Initial Success 65%)...]

The Spirit Contract looked no different than before, and the Five Poisons Spirit Refinement was rendered completely useless because it was missing one spirit.

Li Changsheng dismissed the panel and closed his eyes to focus his mind.

In a trance-like instant, he opened his eyes again to find himself in a dark, empty void.

The darkness was filled with innumerable points of light, like a sea of stars.

Each star was a different size, and they all radiated a familiar aura.

Li Changsheng inspected them one by one.

After completely opening his Spirit Contract Veins, his connection with his insect swarm had become much closer. At the same time, the swarm had received a significant boost—both their physical bodies and their internal Spiritual Qi had surged by a whole thirty percent.

Furthermore, he could now enter and exit this state at will, allowing him to check on the swarm’s condition more conveniently.

After observing for a while, Li Changsheng willed his consciousness to return to his body. He took out a Refining Jade Pill, swallowed it, and began to cultivate.

The night passed without sleep.

「The next day.」

Smoke from the kitchen chimney curled up from the roof, and the crisp sound of chopping vegetables echoed through the small courtyard.

The bleating of snow sheep mixed with the grunts of Xiaohua and her family, filling the air with the sounds of daily life.

As he was busy, a shout came from outside.

"Chief Steward Li."

The sounds from the kitchen stopped, and a moment later, Li Changsheng walked out.

At the courtyard gate.

Dong Xing grinned. "Chief Steward Li, I’ve brought something for you."

’Brought something for me?’

A look of confusion crossed Li Changsheng’s face. He opened the courtyard gate and smiled, "What made you think to bring me something?"

Dong Xing didn’t enter the courtyard. He took a storage bag from within his robes, handed it over, and explained, "Steward Tan had Wu Yong deliver this. He said they’re Spiritual Snake Corpses."

"Spiritual Snake Corpses?"

Li Changsheng took it and sent his Spiritual Power inside to investigate, jumping in shock at what he found.

"Why are there so many?"

The storage bag was densely packed with more than a hundred Spiritual Snake Corpses.

Dong Xing said, "You didn’t know? Yesterday, Steward Ye and Steward Tan led a large number of Spirit Farmers to clear out Ten Thousand Serpent Lake." A look of horror crept onto his face as he spoke.

"The Snake Tide was a massive, dark swarm. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but snakes."

Hearing this, Li Changsheng recalled the Demon Hunting Corps and the Patrol Guards clearing Ten Thousand Serpent Lake, and his eyelid twitched.

"Do you know how many people died?"

Dong Xing replied with lingering fear, "I heard dozens were killed or injured..."

If it hadn’t been mandatory, he really wouldn’t have wanted his granddaughter and son-in-law to participate. Thankfully, they were unharmed.

’Dozens of people...’

Li Changsheng sighed, feeling a surge of relief. ’Good thing I became a Spirit Plant Master,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, I might have been among them.’

"I won’t keep you. Now that the Snake Tide has been mostly cleared out, I have to hurry and plant my Spirit Medicine."

Dong Xing cupped his hands in a farewell gesture, turned, and hurried away.

’That old man...’

Li Changsheng shook his head and returned to the kitchen. A moment later, the sound of rapid chopping resumed.

By the time he finished feeding his Spirit Beasts, the sun was just beginning to rise.

Li Changsheng mounted Xiaohua and headed straight for the Spirit Field.

No longer needing to worry about lurking snake beasts, he had to plant the other Spirit Medicines as quickly as possible. That way, he would have time to work on his own Spirit Field.