Shi Xuan remained silent with a cold expression. Instead, he casually mentioned a seemingly shrewd adult male, locked him in a separate space, pried open his mouth, and forcibly fed him a Truth Pill.
Time was limited, and Shi Xuan didn't want to waste time engaging in pointless maneuvering with them.
Shi Xuan asked, "How many people are in this village?"
The man's gaze was somewhat unfocused, and he said in a flat tone, "Sixty-six people."
Shi Xuan: "What is the highest cultivation level? How many people are there?"
"Golden Core, one person."
"Who lives in this village? What is their relationship with the [Newcomer] organization?"
"The people living here are all descendants of the gods. The organization... the organization comes every year to take away children with good aptitude so they can go out to cultivate and obtain more resources. They may even become the successors of the gods."
"Descendants of God? Which God are you referring to?"
"Yes, God of salvation."
Shi Xuan understood. The thirty people here were probably less than half of the total population, with only one Golden Core cultivator in charge. Whether it was true that he was a descendant of a god was unknown, but judging from the treatment he received by having a spirit-gathering array specially made for the village, it was probably true. Every year, the [Newcomer] organization would come here to take a look, and if there were any children with good aptitude, they would take them away. As for what kind of people they would be trained into, that was unpredictable.
Those who remain here are all of poor aptitude; no wonder their cultivation levels still can't improve even with the blessing of such a spirit-gathering array.
Shi Xuan then asked, "What secrets are hidden in this village?"
"A secret...a secret..." He seemed a little confused, and after a moment of processing, he said, "The secret is, there's treasure!"
After Shi Xuan finished questioning him, he took out the identification tag from him, which allowed him to freely enter and exit the village's protective barrier, and threw him back into the group of thirty people.
This place is populated by the elderly, the weak, women, and children, and they are not direct participants in the "new life." Shi Xuan does not want to kill them yet, which inevitably requires more effort.
So Shi Xuan took his identity token and entered the village.
If you didn't know the inside story, this place would be no different from any other ordinary village outside. The houses are arranged in a neat and orderly manner, and at dinner time, wisps of smoke rise from the chimneys, creating a peaceful atmosphere.
But this peaceful and tranquil facade will eventually be shattered by the times.
The village was unusually quiet at this time because of the large number of missing people. Everyone who could go out to search had gone out, and the rest were all hiding in their houses, afraid to go out. It was so dangerous outside; who knew who would be the next to disappear?
This provided a perfect opportunity for the propaganda campaign.
She chose a row of houses that were relatively close to the middle and set them on fire. Once the fire was burning, she used her wind spirit root to gather spiritual power and create a gust of wind.
The fire, fueled by the wind, spread rapidly.
Shi Xuan shouted in a high-pitched voice, "Fire!"
At this point, no one would stay in the house and wait to die. Women and children from nearby houses rushed out, only to find the house on fire. They were anxious but helpless.
Most of the men disappeared while they were out, and the few who tried to fetch water to put out the fire were all in vain, their efforts were futile.
They could only run to safety, watching their houses gradually burn down, and weeping in despair.
Shi Xuan appeared at this moment, like a ghost at the back of the crowd, binding people one by one and stuffing them into Silver Frost so they could reunite with their families.
Their attention was now entirely focused on the fire, and since most of them were not highly skilled, they were easy to tie up.
By the time the people at the front noticed, most of them had already been kidnapped.
The remaining people panicked even more, huddling together and screaming, their eyes filled with terror.
Shi Xuan then revealed himself and forcibly abducted them using violence.
The Golden Core cultivator stationed in the village was searching for the missing villagers outside when he turned around and saw the raging fire burning in the village. He thought to himself: "Damn it, we've fallen for their feint!"
He quickly retreated and ran back to the village, just in time to see Shi Xuan tie the last two people together and make them disappear.
"stop!"
He shouted, and an ice blade flew towards Shi Xuan. This was a magic cultivator.
Shi Xuan was prepared; as he raised his hand, she leaped to the side. The moment she fell, the puppet sword seamlessly connected, stopping steadily beneath her feet and lifting Shi Xuan into the air.
After she collected the last two, she had gathered sixty-five people in Silver Frost, plus the Golden Core cultivator in front of her, making a total of sixty-six, not one missing.
At that very moment, Shi Xuan took out a Bursting Pill that he had previously refined at the Luoyin Sect and threw it down without hesitation.
These events happened in an instant. The Exploding Pill was launched almost simultaneously with the Golden Core cultivator's ice blade, which missed its target. The Exploding Pill, however, exploded with a deafening roar the moment it hit the ground, right at the Golden Core cultivator's feet.
Although this explosive pill is extremely powerful, it cannot cause fatal injuries to cultivators in the Golden Core stage, but it is also impossible for them to emerge unscathed.
The Golden Core cultivator was covered in blood, but he didn't care. He staggered a couple of steps in the dust and smoke, then took off and fired a cluster of ice arrows at Shi Xuan. There were dozens of ice arrows, blocking all the way in front, behind, left, and right of Shi Xuan. Judging from his posture, he was aiming to kill him with one blow!
However, whether the ice arrow hit its target was unknown, but the cultivator suddenly felt a chill, followed by a powerful and intense pressure coming towards him.
He realized to himself that he had been careless.
But it was too late; the sword energy unleashed by Shi Xuan's master struck the cultivator directly in the face. When the dust settled, the cultivator was no longer there.
Even as he died, he was still thinking: I was careless. I thought the opponent was just a weak Foundation Establishment cultivator. I didn't even have any precautions in the dust and smoke. One slip and I'll regret it forever!
With the death of the Golden Core cultivator, the village was completely deserted.
Shi Xuan released his divine sense to probe, then flew up on his sword again and threw down another powerful explosive pill.
After the huge cloud of dust rose into the sky, the original buildings of the village had long since disappeared, and the soil was blown far away, leaving the entire village as a huge crater.
Within this large pit, there are three distinctly higher ridges than the others, which were not completely destroyed because they were buried underground using more robust materials.
Shi Xuan picked a spot and walked over, saying to Lu Shenzhi as they went, "Let's go and see if there are any spoils of war."
The villager she interrogated said there was treasure in their village, but when asked what kind of treasure it was and where it was, he couldn't answer.
However, there is only one village here, so where else could it be hidden besides underground?
Sure enough, there was something in the underground structure that was higher than the others.
Shi Xuan broke through the top of the first place and jumped in. Inside, there was a whole room full of storage bags, all of which were printed with the eye symbol of the [Newborn] organization.
He used his divine sense to erase several of the original marks and opened them to take a look. He found that each storage bag was filled with spirit stones!
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