Chapter 184 Believers (2)
Ji Rong turned her body to the side and did not accept Baosheng Jun's bow.
She turned her head to look at Zhan Shi, and pointed at Bao Sheng Jun, who was still bowing, and said, "Senior Zhan Shi, we came here to send Him home. Now it seems that His home is gone. Could you remove the shackles on these junior cultivators? I will put them back in cages."
Zhan Shi said, "You must continue to ensure we have enough to eat."
Ji Rong nodded and said, "Senior, that's natural."
"Then let's call them over," Zhan Shi said readily.
Upon hearing this, Baoshengjun, sitting below, raised his four small hands high and awkwardly bowed again, saying, "Thank you both, sirs."
Ji Rongchao Baoshengjun flapped his wings and said, "Go quickly and tell them that after Senior Zhan Shi removes their shackles, you should bring them into my cage."
"Liangzhou is currently unstable. I've reconsidered, and I'll send you to a more stable place to settle down."
The little Baoshengjun shook his head and nodded vigorously before going out to talk to the group of cultivators. He made them line up, and one by one they craned their necks and obediently entered the cave. They let Zhan Shi break their shackles and then went into the cage.
Fortunately, there were only thirty-four low-level cultivators in this group, and they were short in stature, each only ten inches long, so they did not take up much space.
If there were hundreds of them, the cage that Ji Rong brought wouldn't be able to hold them all.
After the cultivators entered the cage, Ji Rong asked again, "Lord Baosheng, do you have any other believers? If so, I will take them with you before we leave."
Baoshengjun was surprised by the change in how Ji Rong addressed him, but he cared about his followers and had no intention of paying attention to such things. He nodded and said, "Chi Ti said that there are still some who have been imprisoned by the Jin clan."
When the Jin clan's retainers captured them, they killed the old and weak, stewing them into soup, leaving only the able-bodied young men as slaves.
Ji Rong looked at Baosheng Jun and said in a deep voice, "I understand. You go into the cage too and find out what's going on. I'll call you out later."
Baoshengjun followed instructions and entered the cage. Ji Rong sat down on the ground with one paw gripping the top of the cage. She thought to herself that things were getting more and more complicated, so she started to groom her fur with her beak in annoyance.
After combing her hair for a while, Ji Rong felt her mind clear up.
It doesn't matter if things are messy; just like combing her wet fur, she can comb it one strand at a time.
Ji Rong raised her head and said to Zhan Shi, "Senior, Jue Jun has already attained godhood and is now the God of Celestial Phenomena, residing in the Dragon and Phoenix Palace. If He were to ask Lord Di Rong for you, would that be feasible?"
Upon hearing this, Zhan Shi said enviously, "He is indeed very lucky."
He plopped down on the ground, patted his belly, and said in a deep voice, "I was born in the Lianyun Mountains within the Chijian Mountain Range, and was originally the private property of Lord Di Rong of the War God Temple."
Since I was chosen as the General Who Conquers the West, a War God's Seal has been implanted on my body. If I desert, the higher-ups can follow this mark, know whether I am alive or dead, and find me.
"In life I am a soldier of the Temple of War, and in death I will only be a bear of the Temple of War."
After a hearty meal, Zhan Shi looked at Ji Rong with growing affection and became more talkative: "If I hadn't been stamped, why would I, a dignified emperor, be eating sand here? I would have run away long ago."
Ji Rong asked curiously, "What kind of mark is that that can sense the location and life or death of living beings?"
Zhan Shi then exposed his belly, plucked some chest hair, and pointed to a blood-red mark, saying, "Look, this is it. If you were just a soldier, it would be an earthen-yellow military mark. That thing is easy to wash off."
But for someone like me, leading an army, this mark is ingrained in my very bones, and cannot be washed away.
Ji Rong looked at the divine inscription "War General" on Zhan Shi's body. This mark was somewhat similar to the method used by Canglan Jun to mark the creatures in the Canglan Mountains and water veins.
Unexpectedly, one was fighting for war, and the other was protecting.
As expected, cultivators have different fates. Zhan Shi, an emperor, is not as safe as a fish that has gained intelligence in the Cang River, simply because he was born in the Lianyun Mountains under the War God Palace.
A profound sense of absurdity rose once again in Ji Rong's heart.
Ji Rong continued in a deep voice to Zhan Shi, "Staying here isn't a solution. How do you plan to get back?"
Zhan Shi looked into the distance and said, "If I kill a few Jin clan experts or take the head of the Jin clan patriarch, I can go back."
"How strong is the Jin clan? What do they rely on?"
"The Jin clan was established by Jin Tui, the former chief attendant of the Golden Cauldron Goddess. Jin Tui was a giant python. After being sent down by the Golden Cauldron Goddess to govern Liangzhou, he led his clansmen and colluded with the Iron Claw Eagle Clan of Liangzhou to rebel."
Although Jin Tui died later, the Jin clan was able to establish themselves in Liangzhou because of him. They rapidly grew in strength by cultivating their bloodline and selling slaves.
In the past, they would secretly pay tribute to the Temple of War while weakening our forces; now, they are openly rebelling.
Ji Rong sighed and said, "Senior Zhan Shi, I still don't quite understand even after you explain it. Let me ask, and you can answer."
Zhan Shi nodded and said, "Okay, go ahead and ask."
Ji Rong asked, "Why did the Jin family rebel?"
Zhan Shi replied, "Although most of the Jin clan's disciples cultivate blood magic, if they want to make progress in their methods, they still need to rely on spiritual energy. Now, the spiritual veins of their Golden Light Cave Heaven are exhausted and not enough."
"Are the spiritual veins they possess really that small?" Ji Rongqi asked. "I've lived elsewhere before, and there are still many cave dwellings in the blessed lands of Ligu City in Danzhou that are rented out. Although the spiritual energy isn't obvious, I've lived there for many years and I've never heard of the spiritual veins there drying up."
Senior, how many blessed lands are there in Liangzhou? Are they all like this?
Zhan Shi continued, "Young friend, you may not know this,
We cultivators are born in the heavens. After gaining wisdom, we can absorb spiritual energy to increase our cultivation. When we die, we return to the earth, and our flesh and blood are all fed back into the sky and the earth.
Although Liangzhou has seventeen blessed lands, these families are all engaged in the business of exporting slaves. As local cultivators grow in batches, they harvest them in batches. Over time, the total amount of spiritual energy in Liangzhou has become increasingly scarce.
But the Heavenly Palace in Zhongzhou wouldn't grant them spiritual energy, so they openly rebelled.
Ji Rong then asked, "Can't they survive by absorbing spirit crystals?"
Zhan Shi remained silent and said, "Young friend, no race can survive on spirit crystals alone. If there are no spirit crystal mines, the Heavenly Palace will have them by the throat, and it will only be a matter of time before they are killed and served on the table."
Ji Rong thought about it and agreed, then asked, "I've never understood why the Temple of War is so ruthless towards its soldiers and generals?"
Zhan Shi sighed, "Young friend, you now appear to be at the King level, but think back to when you were still at the Venerable level, how much spiritual energy did you need?"
We say we're out here to fight, but we're really just being sent out of Zhongzhou as a pretext to wear them down."
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