The Vermillion Bird Clan, due to their inherent characteristics, rarely appeared in the Upper Realm, but their overall strength was no less than the three great clans.
Especially their clan monarch—each time they underwent nirvana, their strength would increase by a huge margin.
This emergence from the mineral vein with such grand fanfare was to announce to the world: the Vermillion Bird Clan has returned!
Unfortunately, Jun Changxiao, worried that someone might come to steal things, had arranged layer upon layer of isolation arrays around the perimeter in advance. So while fireworks bloomed magnificently inside, creating a beautiful spectacle, the Upper Realm saw nothing at all.
Returning home in glory without anyone knowing—like wearing brocade at night.
Even more tragic was this:
The nirvana-reborn Vermillion Bird monarch had barely made an appearance, letting out just a few cries, before completing even a proper offensive display. They were directly captured by the Extraordinary Sect Master Ball.
This kind of tool, as long as it hit the selected target, regardless of strength, would unconditionally force them to sign a master-servant contract with the user.
Therefore.
Dog Sheng was right.
From this moment on, the Vermillion Bird monarch was his pet.
Coming to this place to mine, only to complete a side quest that gave him a Sect Master Ball and successfully capture a clan boss—this was probably… destiny.
“Wu!”
“Wu!”
The Vermillion Bird flock wailed in grief.
Without their leader’s command, they were like lonely boats lost in the ocean.
“Swish!”
Jun Changxiao waved his hand and tossed out the Extraordinary Sect Master Ball. The patterns etched on it flashed with light, and then the giant Vermillion Bird appeared in the firmament. The flames were still as scorching as before, but clearly much more restrained.
“Greetings, Master.”
It lowered its noble head, its tone utterly respectful.
“…”
Liu Sinan, Gongsun Hou, and the others completely broke down.
The Sect Master suddenly flew out, smacked the Vermillion Bird with a ball, and then… completely subjugated it. This pace was simply too fast!
“Can you transform into human form?”
“Whoosh!”
The flames gathered around it quickly receded. The enormous Vermillion Bird gradually shrank into a young man in his early twenties with a full head of red hair, full of vigor.
Well then.
This fellow was quite handsome.
Completely outshining his master.
Jun Changxiao didn’t mind, because beast-kind transforming into human form could be done at will.
Simply put, it was like plastic surgery however they wanted—completely incomparable to his natural, original equipment.
“He~tui!”
…
The Vermillion Bird monarch became Jun Changxiao’s contract beast, so the Vermillion Bird flock naturally had to obey orders as well. Thus, when the Wangu’s lower hold opened, they flew inside in neat formation.
This warship had an internal function similar to a spatial ring—not only did it have enormous storage capacity, it could even contain living beings. That’s why when they invaded the Upper Realm earlier, they could instantly summon two hundred million war machines.
“Done.”
After collecting them all, Jun Changxiao turned his gaze to the ruptured area on the ground and said, “Judging from the overwhelming aura emanating from it, there must still be a mineral vein hidden underground.”
Sure enough.
When he led the high-ranking members flying down, they saw thumb-sized brilliant ores embedded in the soil layers!
“Sect Master!”
Gongsun Hou said excitedly, “They’re all Dao Stones!”
Dao Stones were smaller in volume than True Stones, but when Jun Changxiao pried one out and fused his spiritual sense into it, he immediately realized the energy inside was ten times stronger. His gaze burned with passion: “Our Wangu Sect has struck it rich again!”
“Rumble!”
The Ore Harvester landed before the mineral vein.
“Whoosh! Whoosh!”
Spider-like mining tool-people crawled out, waving their mechanical arms to frantically collect the Dao Stones embedded in the soil.
“This…”
Liu Sinan and Gongsun Hou were dumbfounded.
Those like Black and White Rakshasa who had witnessed the Ore Harvester working before were relatively calm.
“Master.”
The humanoid Vermillion Bird said, “This place not only has large quantities of Dao Stones, but deep within lies a Dao Stone Mother. That’s why our clan chose this place for slumbering nirvana.”
“Dao Stone Mother?”
Jun Changxiao was so excited he almost jumped up.
Previously he’d obtained a True Stone Mother, which was still being nurtured underground at the sect. If he could obtain an even higher-grade Dao Stone Mother, this trip would truly be a super-massive harvest!
…
Several hours later, the mineral vein was excavated clean. After careful calculation, they obtained a total of one billion Dao Stones.
In terms of quantity, it couldn’t compare to the previous ten billion True Stones they’d mined, but because the energy was ten times higher, it basically evened out.
“Awesome!”
Jun Changxiao shouted loudly.
The value of one billion Dao Stones far exceeded ten billion True Stones. Using them as energy to drive things, the effects would only be stronger!
“And there’s the Dao Stone Mother!”
Jun Changxiao said, “We must find her!”
Led by the Vermillion Bird, they only had to dig a few hundred zhang before the Dao Stone Mother, shaped like an apple, came into view.
This thing had major differences from the True Stone Mother—especially the flowing light swirling around it, which contained extremely vast heaven and earth attributes and profound meanings, making one unable to resist wanting to take a bite.
“From today onward.”
Jun Changxiao lifted up the Dao Stone Mother and said, “Your surname is Jun, your given name is Wangu.”
…
Outside.
Many martial artists, though afraid of Wangu Sect and forced to leave, hadn’t gone too far. Instead, they crouched in various areas quietly waiting.
There was definitely a Dao Stone mineral vein hidden underground. Such things emerged only rarely throughout history, so naturally everyone was unwilling to miss it.
“Strange.”
“Why is there still no movement?”
After waiting ten days until the flowing light dissipated, but the mineral vein still showed no signs of emerging, martial artists from all sides grew puzzled.
“Buzz!”
Another day passed, and the space in their field of vision shattered on a large scale, then quickly restored itself.
Martial artists with accomplishments in array dao instantly judged this was the situation that would appear when an array formation was withdrawn. They said in surprise, “When was an array formation set up? We had no awareness of it at all!”
“Should we go look?”
“Wait a bit longer. What if we anger Sect Master Jun? That would be troublesome.”
“Alright.”
Everyone forcefully suppressed their thoughts. Only after waiting several more days and confirming there were no more anomalies in the area did they finally gather their courage and fly over.
The ground was ruptured, extending for a great length.
“Such a huge pit!”
“Definitely a Dao Stone mineral vein!”
“Strange, where are the Wangu Sect people?”
“Let’s go in and look!”
Everyone flew into the ruptured ground depths and stopped before the mine cave. Seeing the surroundings completely empty, they looked at each other, dumbfounded.
“Where are the ores?”
“Did Wangu Sect mine them all away?”
“This is too fast!”
Although isolation arrays existed and everyone hadn’t seen the mineral vein’s emergence process, such a large mineral vein—even with sufficient manpower, it shouldn’t be possible to mine it all away, right?
Indeed.
Ordinary small and medium-sized Profound Stone mineral veins, excavated carefully, required at least several months. This type of large-scale Dao Stone mineral vein would require at least several years.
“Ah.”
Someone shook their head and said, “Let’s go, let’s go.”
They didn’t see the mineral vein emerge, didn’t see a single ore—coming from afar this time was completely a waste of time.
…
Lingtian Immortal Sect.
The ten great sect bosses sat in an inverted-V arrangement.
They differed in age, but their expressions at this moment were uniform—all filled with rage.
The Immortal Sect had held meetings before, but those participating were merely some high-ranking members. Now that all those who called the shots had arrived, clearly something major was to be discussed.
“Sect Master Lin!”
The Wushang Immortal Sect Master sitting on the left said angrily, “This Jun Changxiao grows more and more excessive. We ten great Immortal Sects must counterattack!”
“Correct!”
The Qianyin Immortal Sect Master agreed, “If we don’t give this boy some color to see, how will we continue to rule the Upper Realm in the future!”
Several other bosses nodded frequently, seeming to have reached consensus.
Bullying the Realm Hall—they could endure. Stealing a Dao Stone mineral vein—unendurable!
“Sigh.”
Lin Haoyan said helplessly, “This Jun Changxiao has the Stone Statue Clan and Dragon Clan backing him. If we target him, it’s equivalent to engaging in frontal warfare with both clans.”
“If we continue letting this boy develop, our voice in the Upper Realm will probably be seized!” the Qianyin Immortal Sect Master said.
“In this one’s view.”
The Wushang Immortal Sect said coldly, “Why not directly deploy absolute force and annihilate Wangu Sect!”
“You go?”
“…”
Lin Haoyan’s single sentence left him speechless.
“Jun Changxiao threatens our position in the Upper Realm. If we’re to annihilate him, everyone must participate. No one can stay out of it,” the Qianyin Immortal Sect Master said.
“Fine!”
Several bosses agreed.
Seeing them all burning with rage, filled with righteous indignation, Lin Haoyan thought for a moment, then said, “This matter is no small thing. We need to plan carefully.”
“That fellow relies on nothing but the Stone Statue Clan and Dragon Clan, right? We can emulate our predecessors and seal both clans’ ancestral lands. Then his Wangu Sect, isolated and without support, can certainly be easily annihilated,” the Qianyin Immortal Sect Master proposed.
“Good idea!”
…
Wangu Sect.
Jun Changxiao stood before the great hall, looking up at the firmament, and said, “The tree desires stillness, but the wind will not cease…”
—