Most of the golden elixir's aura was locked in the qi sea, and some of it that leaked out was obscure and wavering.

Therefore, if he hadn't revealed it on purpose, ordinary cultivators would not be able to see through Jiang Li's cultivation level at all.

Mu Chunkong had a good eye and could sense a bit of Jiang Li's aura.

However, due to his unstable breathing and the fact that he had taken a precious earth-grade elixir "Xu Ti Jin Jiao Dan" some time ago, the strong medicinal aroma on his body had not yet dissipated.

This situation looks very much like that of a second-generation immortal cultivator who relies solely on elixirs and whose cultivation is mixed and superficial.

This is also the reason why he said Jiang Li was "nothing special". Mu Chunkong, who had received elite education since childhood, thought he was very good and usually looked down on such people.

Elder Mu and other Chongshan League cultivators also knew that Jiang Li had just broken through to the foundation-building stage not long ago, so they didn't think about it at all.

But the speed at which Jiang Li flew the sword just now was already something she had to look up to.

"Qiu Hua has already awakened that. If it's him... maybe he can really save Qiu Hua and let her live freely..."

Elder Mu came back to her senses. The most urgent task now was to find Qiu Hua. If Chongshan League couldn't find her, she would have no choice but to reveal her daughter's special physique to the family.

Although if she did that, Qiu Hua would inevitably return to the cage, the most important thing was to stay alive.

"Where is the mayor?"

"I am here, Master. I am here, what can I do for you, Masters?"

"Gather all the people in your town here! Everybody!"

The others have already taken Jiang Li's heart ghost and started to read the minds of the local residents one by one, trying to find any clues from these mortals.

Elder Mu also grabbed a heart ghost in his hand and caught up with the crazy woman.

The woman was still unable to communicate and kept repeating "it fell off".

"Mayor, what's wrong with this woman?"

The mayor, who was busy directing the residents, hurried over here again.

"Master Immortal, she is the widow Li who lives in a dilapidated temple outside the city."

Obviously, everyone stopped asking for the name and motioned for the other party to continue speaking and talk about the important things.

"This Widow Li is also a miserable person. She lost her parents when she was twelve or thirteen years old. Her family has no land and can only live in a dilapidated temple outside the town."

"Later, she married Mr. Li, a farmer, and lived a life of plenty for a few years. But who would have thought that just two years after she gave birth to a child, Mr. Li fell to his death while walking at night."

"She just raised the child, washed clothes for others and wove cloth for others. She managed to get by."

"A few years ago, her child was favored by the Immortal Master who came to the village. With the money, she should have been able to live a good life."

"But she went back to the dilapidated temple on the mountain to worship for a night. A few days later, she came back with hysteria and has been crazy ever since. This is her fate of not being able to enjoy happiness."

Several people looked at each other. If this woman hadn't encountered a ghost, then perhaps she had seen something she shouldn't have seen.

After asking several times and still failing to communicate, Elder Mu, who was eager to save his daughter, could only directly use Jiang Li's inner ghost.

"Please, tell me what you saw!"

Close your eyes, and let your spirit follow the inner ghost into the mortal's soul.

This woman's soul is incomplete. Perhaps she was frightened away and lost one of her soul and one of her spirits, which led to this state of unconsciousness.

In the past few years, she may have been trapped in the scene she saw at that time and unable to get out.

She is pitiful, but it makes it a lot easier for her to read minds and search souls.

As soon as the spirits were connected, unforgettable scenes were transmitted back and played out before her eyes.

Not long after, Elder Mu tremblingly removed his hand that was pressing on the other person's head and opened his eyes.

Her eyes were filled with tears.

"A ruined temple on the mountain! A ruined temple on the mountain! Quick!"

A group of people grabbed the mayor and led the way, and they rushed to the dilapidated temple on the desolate mountain as quickly as possible, leaving behind streaks of light.

As soon as they landed, a group of monks quickly discovered something was wrong. They smelled a very obvious smell of blood.

After looking around, he found a piece of new soil.

The land there had been dug up recently! They thought of something, and a few stone hermits dug up the loose soil, and then they all stood there in a daze.

The mayor even let out a howl and fell over on the spot.

If it weren't for the hermit Wanshi next to him who pasted a talisman on him to protect his soul, the mayor might have suffered from hysteria when he woke up tomorrow.

What appeared before everyone was a corpse! The pit was full of headless corpses!

The children who had been taken out of the town only a few days before had not been taken away at all; they were all buried here.

What did that woman see? What fell? It was the children's heads, which fell!

"Qiu Hua! Qiu Hua!"

Elder Mu was almost going crazy. He jumped directly into the pit of corpses and started searching with his bare hands. He didn't look like a Taoist at all.

With the physical strength of a Jindan cultivator, all the hundreds of corpses in the pit were turned out.

The smell of rancidity and blood was so strong that it could almost be ignited by an open flame.

Only a few stubborn hermits who have witnessed more dark things can still remain calm.

They neatly sorted the bodies and analyzed the wounds and any possible clues left behind.

Below these corpses, there was another layer of children's corpses that had already turned into bones, also without their heads.

The only thing to be thankful for was that there were no bodies of Shenshan Qiuhua and other cultivators from Chongshan League.

"Elder Mu, calm down first. The number of corpses here doesn't match up."

"The mayor said before that they took away 912 people this year. But there were only 911 bodies."

"Those people should have taken away the children who actually had spiritual roots. Only the ordinary children without spiritual roots were killed. Shenshan Qiuhua and the others should have been taken away as well."

. . . .

On the official road hundreds of miles away, a convoy of carriages pulled by smart horses was moving forward under the cover of night.

In a carriage at the front, six monks dressed as businessmen were chatting and laughing together.

"Hey, this time the harvest is not small, two Xuan-level flying swords, they are worth a lot of money."

"Hehe, big brother, I heard that your child has detected a water-attributed spiritual root. This flying sword is just right for it."

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They disguised themselves as a convoy of mortal wine merchants on the official road, so even if they were seen by others, no one would notice anything unusual.

They were sitting in the carriage, chatting and laughing, and dividing the spoils of the previous day.

"Small forces like this that meddle in other people's affairs are actually quite wealthy."

"There are still a few geniuses inside. After they are transported out, they can be sold for a lot of spirit stones. If we can meet such people every day, we will be rich."

Several of them were very happy, but the one who was called the eldest brother looked serious and steady.

"Be more restrained. For people in our line of work, the more low-key the better. Don't fight with others easily. If we are discovered, our only fate will be to lose our heads."

The water-attributed Xuan-level flying sword that the big brother handed over was a rare and precious item with excellent refining techniques.

Thinking of his child, he hung the flying sword around his waist.

"We have you here, big brother. Big brother, you are a Nascent Soul cultivator. Anyone who sees you should give you some respect."

Others still don't think that the high returns are enough for them to live with their heads hanging on their belts.

"Okay, I'll take you through this order. It's time for me to retire, leave the East Region and find a new city to live in. We brothers may never see each other again."

"When daybreak comes, the next town will be here, so everyone should get ready."

This group of people did not bring many children with them as Jiang Li had imagined.

Once outside of town, they buried any extra mortal children they had.

Therefore, the travel speed was several times faster, passing several towns and reaching another distant gathering place of mortals.

They were very cautious and committed crimes from place to place. Every time they took a child away, they would give financial compensation.

Deception, coupled with genuine money and real gold, will not arouse public outrage, and naturally there will be no suspicion or investigation.

As a result, they have not attracted much attention over the years, and many towns are even looking forward to their arrival.

The next day, their convoy drove into the new town. They performed some magic in it, and soon the mortals in the city were delighted.

Everybody in the town put down their work and lined up in front of the convoy with their children.

What they held in their hands was not the real Immortal Stone at all.

No matter who caught it, it would basically emit light. But whether it really had spiritual roots or not, only they themselves knew.

Hundreds and thousands of school-age children were loaded onto the carriages.

They can easily convince the local residents of such an exaggerated spiritual root birth rate with just one sentence: "This is a place where spiritual energy converges, and it is blessed with outstanding people and talented people."

There are also huge amounts of money, enough to make these families rich.

"Brother, there are quite a few talented cultivators here. We can make a little more money this time."

The nonsense they said casually seemed to have come true.

In this town, they detected more than twenty children with spiritual roots.

They have been doing this kind of thing for years and are very familiar with the probability of spiritual roots appearing.

For a town this big, generally speaking, it is considered extremely lucky to produce one or two talented cultivators every year.

This time it has increased more than ten times. Maybe there really was a family of monks in this town, and they left some bloodline inheritance here.

However, they only appear in ordinary towns with no one to protect them. No one will notice their presence because they have already been there.

After spending a day pretending to test his spiritual roots and rejecting the kind invitations of these mortals, he drove the carriage towards the distant hills.

These mortals sent off the immortal masters with loud gongs and drums.

But they had no idea what this group of monks, whom they called immortal masters and treated with respect and honor, would do to their children.

They only need to keep those children with spiritual roots alive, and for the others, they can just take away their heads and sell them for a good price.

As for the more cumbersome body, just find a random place to bury it in the mountain ahead.

Under the moonlight, the convoy slowly moved away.

Hundreds of miles away, Jiang Li, who had been sitting cross-legged on the ground, suddenly opened his eyes.

There is more

(End of this chapter)