Chapter 464: Spoils of War
Although this guy had already been severely injured by the backlash from the formation earlier, he was still alive.
But now, he died rather abruptly.
Su Jingzhen was momentarily stunned as he looked at Zhou Li’s corpse, his eyes narrowing slightly.
At this moment, Shen Yifeng had also arrived at Su Jingzhen’s side.
He scanned Zhou Li with his divine consciousness, then glanced toward Zou Zeyu and his group outside the barrier.
“It seems the Zhou family’s involvement wasn’t just as simple as being instructed.
That kid is even more ruthless than I initially thought,” Shen Yifeng said, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, though he didn’t seem overly concerned.
By now, Su Jingzhen had also come to his senses.
It was likely that the Zhou family had long been subdued by Zou Zeyu and his group.
Zhou Li had clearly been bound by an extremely strict contract, similar to how Su Jingzhen could end Zhao Tianming’s life with just a thought.Obviously, either Zou Zeyu or the Second Elder at his side didn’t want Zhou Li to reveal any information about them.
Everyone knew this was likely the truth, but there was nothing they could do about it.
“It doesn’t matter. If soldiers come, we’ll block them with generals; if water comes, we’ll dam it with earth.
No matter who’s behind all this, or who wants to target our Linjiang Branch, let them come.
Whether they use underhanded means or attack openly, our Linjiang Branch will face them all head-on,”
Su Jingzhen declared, his tone carrying a hint of boldness.
After this battle, he was clearly filled with confidence.
Right now, he was only at the second stage of Flesh Body Nascent Embryo.
Once he broke through to the stage of the True Fetus, reaching a level equivalent to the Soul Formation stage, perhaps then, within the Qingzhou region, Su Jingzhen could dare to call himself invincible.
Moreover, given his current foundation, achieving that level wouldn’t be too difficult.
Not to mention, he still had Bai Suzhen, a trump card he hadn’t even used yet.
So in his view, while Zou Zeyu and Tuoba Junlin might want him dead, they no longer had the power to kill him.
They could only watch as he, Su Jingzhen, rose step by step, leading them into panic.
Of course, in his opinion, the best outcome would be to use this journey to the Dantai Ruins to completely eliminate these hidden dangers.
Shen Yifeng nodded in agreement with Su Jingzhen’s words.
Just then, a sudden flash of excitement appeared in Su Jingzhen’s eyes.
He bent down and removed the storage ring from Zhou Li’s hand.
Now that Zhou Li was dead, the storage ring had naturally become ownerless.
Su Jingzhen easily used his divine consciousness to enter it and inspect its contents.
As the head of the Zhou family, Zhou Li’s storage ring instantly made Su Jingzhen excited again.
The Zhou family was one of the top forces in Qingzhou, and the head of the family would naturally have far more wealth than others.
The storage ring itself was of extremely high quality.
The spirit stones, for instance, were piled up in heaps, and Su Jingzhen estimated their total value to be in the hundreds of thousands of lower-grade spirit stones.
However, spirit stones were not something Su Jingzhen lacked at his current status; in fact, he rarely even had a chance to use them.
The ring also contained several high-quality magical artifacts, which pleased Su Jingzhen.
In another corner were various bottles and jars, each containing pills of different grades.
However, Su Jingzhen wasn’t particularly interested in these, as he was an alchemist himself.
With the resources of the Dan Hall at his disposal, he had more pills than Zhou Li could ever have.
As Su Jingzhen continued to search through the storage ring with his divine consciousness, he finally found a jade slip hidden among a pile of miscellaneous items whose uses he didn’t yet know.
This jade slip recorded the battle formation they had just formed.
Such joint attack techniques were rare in the cultivation world, and each one was incredibly valuable.
Even though this battle formation wasn’t especially advanced, as it restricted the movement of others when formed, it allowed two mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators to help a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator break through to the Soul Formation stage.
This technique was nothing short of miraculous for ordinary cultivators.
The value of this jade slip alone far exceeded everything else in Zhou Li’s storage ring.
Even if Su Jingzhen had no use for it himself, it could greatly benefit the development of the Linjiang Branch, potentially creating high-level combat power at crucial moments.
After Su Jingzhen checked Zhou Li’s storage ring, Shen Yifeng waved his hand gently, and suddenly a storage ring flew into his hand from a corner of the ruins.
That storage ring was none other than Zhou Tong, the Zhou family’s ancestor.
Without even glancing at it, Shen Yifeng casually tossed the ring to Su Jingzhen.
“This time, I’m just your bodyguard. All the spoils are yours,” Shen Yifeng said with a relaxed smile.
Given his strength, he had little interest in the belongings of a Soul Formation stage cultivator.
He then waved his hand again, and the Purple Void Sword, which had been knocked away earlier, flew into his grasp.
“Master, you should keep this sword.
It seems to be of decent quality, and since you’re a sword cultivator, having an extra sword on hand can’t hurt,”
Su Jingzhen quickly suggested when he saw that Shen Yifeng was about to hand the Purple Void Sword to him as well.
Hearing this, Shen Yifeng lightly flicked the blade of the Purple Void Sword, causing it to emit a crisp sword hum.
He nodded in approval and, without any further ceremony, kept the sword.
Su Jingzhen then eagerly examined Zhou Tong’s storage ring. The treasures within it far exceeded those in Zhou Li’s ring.
However, there were no items related to body refinement or soul cultivation, which made most of it rather useless to Su Jingzhen.
Nonetheless, these items could be handed over to Luo Yuebai to expand the Linjiang Branch’s treasury.
After all, the possessions of these two powerful Zhou family figures could still be of great use to qi cultivators.
Next, Su Jingzhen eagerly collected the storage rings from the Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators he had killed earlier.
These individuals were all considered top members of the Zhou family, and each ring contained at least some valuable items.
At the very least, each had a significant amount of spirit stones.
These were all part of the spoils of war for him and his master—free for the taking.
While Su Jingzhen was busy collecting the spoils, the people outside the barrier began to regain their composure.
One by one, they looked at the scene within the barrier, still with a trace of disbelief.
Of course, most of their shock was directed at Shen Yifeng.
“The Blood-Handed Asura hasn’t taken action in so long that people have forgotten how terrifying he is.
But now, with the power of this single sword, perhaps all doubts about him will be dispelled.”
“Zhou Tong’s final strike reached the late stage of the Soul Formation realm, yet it was still effortlessly dealt with by Shen Yifeng in a single sword stroke.
Such power is truly unimaginable.”
“The Zhou family is finished this time. They are destined to be wiped from the Qingzhou region, but their downfall is not without meaning. At least, it has highlighted the power of the Evil Moon Sect’s Linjiang Branch.”
“The Blood-Handed Asura and the Smiling Asura—these two Asuras may very well become the golden standard for the Linjiang Branch from now on.
It seems the competition between the two branches of the Evil Moon Sect will be upended this time.
Shen Yifeng alone is already extraordinary, but where on earth did he find such an equally wicked disciple?”
“……”
The murmurs among the crowd began to rise again.
The factions not involved in this matter had already made up their minds: from now on, they would never provoke the Linjiang Branch of the Evil Moon Sect.
It was common knowledge that none of the so-called righteous top forces could match the Evil Moon Sect.
But no one had anticipated that just the third-ranked elder of the Evil Moon Sect could annihilate a top-tier force.
The disparity in power was so vast that it felt almost absurd, leaving everyone deeply shaken.
Zou Zeyu and Tuoba Junlin continued to observe the situation within the barrier.
However, their expressions had now settled into calmness.
The situation had reached a point of no return, and no amount of anger could change the outcome.
Only Cang Yun from the Dongxuan Academy still wore a dark expression, his eyes betraying a strong sense of unwillingness.
Han Ning, standing beside him, noticed this and gently shook his head without saying a word.
Meanwhile, Su Jingzhen and Shen Yifeng paid no attention to the thoughts of those outside.
The master and disciple duo had made their way to the very center of the barrier, to the location resembling a Eight Trigram formation plate.
“This is a real treasure.
At a crucial moment, if we release this barrier, it would be the perfect tool for trapping enemies like dogs in a closed space.”