Chapter 111: Nobody Would Believe That!
Wilderness.
Several figures could be seen beside a certain small hill.
"Everyone, are we doing it this year as well?"
After a short silence, someone gloomily said, "The Divine Skywing Sect has been destroyed. Great Xia is a dangerous place. I heard that for this year, even a small city like Nanyuan has a Skysoar expert escorting their convoy. What do you think, everyone?"
"Our dao master intends to skip this year."
The person who had spoken was a woman. With a smile, she said, "Great Xia is like a cat with its tail stepped on. Even the Martial Dragon Guards have been recalled from the battlefield. We don't even know where their main force is hidden right now. It's not worth risking ourselves just to kill some hatchlings."
In the cult's hierarchy, a dao master was the equivalent of a prefect. Each dao master was in charge of the cult's operations in an entire prefecture.
The cult leader of each city was called hallmasters. Generally, these hallmasters were Skysoar experts. As for the dao masters, their strength differed. They varied between the Mountainsea and the Cloudbreach Realms.
The sect the woman belonged to had clearly given up on this year's hunt.
/p>
The first person who had spoken replied gloomily, "Your Divine Cloudrat Sect has always been so cowardly. Xia Longwu is in seclusion. That greedy Marquis Xia is the one in charge now. Do you think he will send the Martial Dragon Guards out to ambush us?
"In fact, this year is our perfect opportunity with Xia Longwu's absence. If we can kill the geniuses from the 28 cities, that’s the same as killing at least 10 future Skysoar experts that would otherwise emerge in the coming 20 years."
The woman did not mind the accusation. She smiled and said, "Only by being careful will you be able to live a long life. The Divine Skywing Sect was powerful and courageous. They have been spending many years developing in the other prefectures.
"But the moment they come to Great Xia, their heads fall like wheat and their entire sect is destroyed. Even their sect master was killed together with a large number of divines. Us of the Divine Cloudrat Sect aren't as strong as them. But we are also far less arrogant.
"We won't be participating in this year's hunt. If your Blood Fire Sect wants to make a move, go ahead. We're not stopping you."
The Blood Fire Sect was the same sect that had worked with the Divine Skywing Sect during the attack on Nanyuan not long ago. The woman knew that this sect was filled with lunatics.
Due to their inheritance from the blood fire devil race, they were all crazy. During the event that caused the Divine Skywing Sect's destruction, the Blood Fire Sect had suffered disastrous losses as well. But instead of being scared, they doubled down and sent even more people into Great Xia.
They wanted to get their revenge during Xia Longwu's seclusion. The woman was not interested in going crazy and seeking death with them.
Sure, Xia Longwu was in seclusion, but Great Xia as a whole was still as powerful as ever. They only needed to keep growing silently. Why did they need to provoke the prefecture? That would only harm themselves.
The person from the Blood Fire Sect was unhappy, but he couldn't be bothered to argue with the woman. The Divine Cloudrat Sect was not a powerful sect anyway so he didn't really care about their participation.
Someone else said, "It will be impossible for us to eliminate the geniuses of all 28 cities. But the cult forces have suffered a lot of losses in Great Xia over the years. All the other branches are questioning our ability and the number of new recruits in Great Xia has been dropping sharply.
"The destruction of the Divine Skywing Sect has embarrassed the Myriad Race Cult. If we can't get some revenge, the cult will start declining from this loss of reputation."
The gloomy man sighed, "Our Blood Fire Sect isn't doing all this just for revenge. I know that Great Xia is laying out a trap for us. They definitely thought that Nanyuan would be our target. After all, a genius has appeared there this year, a genius with high-tier war academy evaluation and high-high cultural research academy evaluation. He also has a completed Divine Character...
"News of that person has spread everywhere. There's nothing weird about the news, but a genius like that should have been secretly escorted to the capital. But that isn't happening..."
The man sneered, "That's a bait! A bait waiting for us to bite!"
Someone else asked, "In that case, why are you still preparing to conduct the hunt, Hallmaster Xue'e?"
"Why not?" The man said, "Since they have tossed out the bait, why shouldn't we bite?
"We of the Blood Fire Sect love nothing more than slaughter. A world without slaughter would be too boring. We will send some people to attack the Nanyuan convoy, but they won't be our main goal.
"Do they think that they're the only ones who know how to misdirect? Our true goal will be the second biggest city in Great Xia, Beifeng City!
The man smiled sinisterly, "A small group of cult members will attack the Nanyuan convoy, baiting the ambush waiting for us. Meanwhile, we will be attacking the Beifeng convoy. They won't expect that we would have the courage to attack Beifeng!
"After all, Beifeng is less than 500 kilometers away from the capital. Their convoy is escorted by at least five Skysoar experts. They even have one or two Cloudbreach experts following them in secret.
"In the past years, we had always avoided Beifeng. They look down on us. They disregard us. After so many years, they are starting to relax their security measures.
"In contrast, cities like Nanyuan and Tianshui are instead extremely alert since they are weaker and have been victims to our attacks in the past. They will be very hard to ambush.
"If we launch a surprise attack at Beifeng, we can definitely achieve a great result. They have a lot of geniuses. In fact, their number of geniuses is second only to the capital itself. They have around 10 high-tier students and more than 100 middle-tier students. Killing a high-tier student will grant us at least 30 contribution points. That is basically the same as killing a seventh-stage Infinite Strength cultivator."
"Killing a middle-tier student will also give us 5 contribution points. Killing two of them will be the same as killing an early-stage Infinite Strength cultivator.
"If we can defeat their convoy, we can earn no less than 1,000 contribution points. If we can kill some of their dao protectors as well, we can earn more than 2,000 contribution points.
"Don’t forget that Beifeng is rich. Those geniuses will carry their willpower texts, original texts, cultivation weapons, source qi liquid, and so on. If we succeed, we stand to earn more than 5,000 contribution points."
At that declaration, the breathing of the people around him quickened. The value of Myriad Race Cult's contribution points were similar to the merit points of the official human government.
In short, they stood to earn 5,000 merit points from this mission. They would need to kill 50 early-stage Skysoar experts to earn that much. Even killing a Cloudbreach expert would only grant them around 500 contribution points. They would need to kill a Mountainsea expert to earn 5,000 contribution points. But were Mountainsea experts easy to kill?
But now, they only needed to attack a single student convoy. No matter how strong their escorts were, they would be nowhere as strong as Mountainsea experts.
Someone said in excitement, "Beifeng is very strong. We need at least three Cloudbreach experts and five or six Skysoar experts if we want to defeat them quickly. But the gains would be too little for so many experts..."
"Foolish!" The man from the Blood Fire Sect sneered. "If we can kill the geniuses of Beifeng, will the higher ups skim on our rewards? The 5,000 contribution points will be our minimum earning. If we succeed, the rewards from the higher ups will be at least double that amount. We stand to get 10,000 contribution points!
"Our subordinates will be happy with about 1,000 contribution points. We can split the rest among ourselves. Each of us can gain no less than 1,000 points. How long will you need to work for that many points?"
The breathing around him became even quicker. For them, that was a lot of points. At times, a single mission would only earn them double digits or even single digit points. And to earn triple digits in points, they would need to risk their lives.
An early-stage Skysoar expert was only worth 100 points. For 1,000 points, they needed to risk their lives 10 times. But now, they only needed to risk their lives once.
The man asked again, "So are we doing it or not? If we succeed, even the divine skywing race might have some rewards for us. We have taken revenge for them. For the sake of rebuilding their sect, they won't be stingy in their rewards. If any of us is interested, we can even take the leading role in the rebuilding efforts and lead the newly built sect."
"Xue'e, is that your plan?"
Xue'e did not mind speaking his mind, "Who doesn't want to rise up the ranks? What's the difference between fighting for the blood fire devil race and the divine skywing race? Hehe, people like us will never become a part of human society. In that case, we will let money determine who we fight for.
"If we can lead the rebuilding efforts of the Divine Skywing Sect, I will definitely gain a lot of support. With the support, I can probably reach the Mountainsea Realm quickly."
Xue'e did not hide his ambitions. With anticipation in his eyes, he said, "Everyone, during the rebuilding, the divine skywing race will be raining down resources on us. Be aware that founders of a sect will gain a lot more than late joiners."
"Xue'e, are you not afraid that the Blood Fire Sect will punish you for that?"
Xue'e sneered, "What am I afraid of? I have nothing. If I succeed, I will be the leader of a sect. At that time, not even the Blood Fire Sect would dare to touch me. If I fail, I'm still a Cloudbreach expert. The Blood Fire Sect still needs people like me. Since I haven't really betrayed them, are they really going to put the effort into killing me?
"This isn't the Devil Realm of the blood fire devil race. This is the Human Realm. Is it worth the effort to kill me? They might as well keep me around to work for them. Isn't that right?"
With an impatient tone, Xue'e said, "Everyone, think for yourself. Regardless of whether you're joining the hunt or not, you will have to stay here for a few days. If you have any affairs, you can get my subordinates to handle them for you."
Nobody objected as that had always been the rule to prevent information leak.
"Xue'e, we can attack Beifeng, but the group attacking the Nanyuan convoy needs to be strong enough. Otherwise, it will be too obvious that those are abandoned chess pieces. That will also put us in danger. Will you be able to do that?"
"Of course." Xue'e flashed a sinister smile, "The hallmaster of Tianshui does not get along well with me. How about letting him, a sixth-stage Skysoar cultivator, lead the attack? There is only an early-stage Skysoar cultivator from the Martial Dragon Guards in the Nanyuan convoy. He will practically be getting those contribution points for free. Will he reject the offer?
"If you have anyone you don't like, feel free to send them to the various convoys as well. Attacking the Nanyuan convoy alone won't be enough. If we attack more convoys, we will eventually reveal their hidden force. That will only make things safer for us."
Nobody said anything. It was inevitable that all of them would have a rival somewhere. It was hard to do anything to these rivals normally, but it would be a good idea to use this opportunity to get rid of their rivals.
"Attacking the Beifeng convoy can earn each of us at least 1,000 points...and we can even become the founders of the new Divine Skywing Sect!"
They were getting excited. Xue'e was not lying. The divine skywing race urgently needed new underlings in the Human Realm. Their sect had been destroyed previously and they couldn't even build the foundation for a new sect now. If these people jumped ship to the divine skywings, they would receive a lot of support.
Beifeng had enjoyed many years of peace. This time, news about the genius from Nanyuan had been spreading everywhere. That might really be a bait. Attacking the Nanyuan convoy could very well be even more dangerous than attacking the Beifeng convoy.
Normally, they wouldn't dare to lay their hands on Beifeng. But nobody said that things were the same as normal this time. The gathered leaders of the various sects were getting very tempted.
Meanwhile, Xue'e was laughing sinisterly. He knew that these people would agree to join him. The benefits were large enough to tempt them. Their greed would be triggered. If they weren't greedy, they wouldn't have joined the Myriad Race Cult in the first place.
"Nanyuan...bait..."
Xue'e sneered as he looked southward. Eating a single genius was not as good as eating multiple geniuses. Great Xia was looking down on his appetite.
"High-high pleted Divine Character..."
He sneered. That was definitely a lie. How could a high-high student emerge from a shitty place like Nanyuan? That was definitely a lie. Who would believe that? A high-high student would grant 100 contribution points per kill. That was the same as killing a Skysoar expert.
A lower tier student would probably fail to attract experts like them. Perhaps that was why Great Xia had claimed that there was a high-tier student there?
"You people are looking down on me too much!"
Xue'e was feeling very proud of himself. If the rumors said that such a genius had appeared in Tianshui, he would have believed it. But they just had to use Nanyuan instead. Was Great Xia treating all cult members as fools?
Then again, it was quite a pity that there were indeed people in the cult that had believed the rumor.
Xue'e merely sneered contemptuously at those fools. He was feeling very smug about his superior intelligence. Who would even believe that a high-high student could come out of Nanyuan? It would seem like the cult still had a long way to go. To grow further, they would need to get rid of these fools from the cult.