Because of that family's situation, Li Zhirui and his companions were delayed for so ti in Baishan County, by the ti they arrived at the Marketplace, it was already noon.
Li Zhirui had originally wanted to stroll around Baishan County to see if he could collect more zombie heads, but he didn't encounter any on the way there.
It was then that Li Zhirui understood that the several thousand heads in the county town weren't scorned by Jiang Tianming; rather, they were a reward for them, the low-ranking cultivators.
"Why have you co back at this ti? Are the zombies in Baishan County all cleared?" The stationed cultivator saw Li Zhirui and Li Shilian entering and his face darkened as he asked sternly.
A strange smile appeared on Li Zhirui's face as he said, "They are all cleared."
"How is that possible?! There are tens of thousands of zombies in Baishan County, how could you possibly solve so many zombies overnight?" A cold light flashed in the man's eyes, "If zombies are found afterwards, don't bla the Sect for punishing the Li family!"
Li Zhirui slightly bowed his head, took out several storage bags, and said, "Senior, please look, these storage bags contain more than four thousand eight hundred zombie heads."
"That's only four thousand..." Before he could finish his sentence, he realized sothing was amiss. This number couldn't be achieved by the twenty-so cultivators of Baishan County, and why hadn't he seen any Sect cultivators?
A look of excitent and gratitude flashed across Li Zhirui's face as he said, "Last night, Master Mingxuan visited Baishan County. Without the Master's intervention, we wouldn't have reaped such rich rewards."
Clang!
Upon hearing this, the man's left hand trembled, and a Spirit Jade-crafted teacup fell.
"So it was Master Mingxuan who made a move. It is indeed good fortune for the two Daoist friends to receive the Master's favor." Find more chapters on My Virtual Library Empire
After saying this with a forced smile, he hastily proceeded to see them off, "The place for exchanging Contribution Value and collecting rewards is in the outer hall. I have so trivial matters to deal with, so I can only ask you two Daoist friends to go by yourselves."
"Senior, you are busy." Li Zhirui perford a bow and then he and Li Shilian withdrew.
When it ca to exchanging for Contribution Value, there were no issues, and they quickly received twenty thousand five hundred and sixty-three Contribution Value.
After leaving the Yuanming Sect's station, the two went to the grocery store. When Li Shiren heard that the two had co, he imdiately rushed out, anxiously asking, "Uncle Shilian, Zhirui, why have only the two of you co? Is everyone else alright?"
He had heard that the Li family had been sent to Baishan County where the zombies were most abundant. If he had not been stationed at the Marketplace, he would have run to help long ago.
"It's alright, everyone is fine, those eight family mbers are just guarding a mortal family on the ship."
Li Shiren breathed a sigh of relief and then beca interested in those mortals, "Mortals?"
Li Zhirui carefully explained to Li Shiren the female cultivator's identity, as well as the reasons why he had taken that family with him.
"I see!" Li Shiren suddenly understood and said with a smile, "Who would have thought there would be such a chance occurrence on this outing."
Li Zhirui also smiled, "That's not all! We made a huge profit on this trip!"
Then Li Zhirui told him about the more than twenty thousand Contribution Value they had obtained and the Spirit Earthworms in the valley.
"That's three strokes of luck!" Li Shiren was overjoyed, unable to contain his excitent.
After chatting idly for a while, Li Zhirui got up to leave. He needed to take that family and the eight family mbers back to Da Rong Island and then to the valley to capture those Spirit Earthworms.
The journey back was uneventful, and upon their return to Da Rong Island, each of the eight family mbers went to their respective hos to rest well.
And that family was personally led by Li Zhirui to a town in the south, where he found the mayor to arrange for them an unoccupied small courtyard.
"Fellow Daoist, I presu you're aware of my identity by now. Your family can settle down on the island with peace of mind."
"Thank you for going to such lengths, fellow Daoist." The woman paused, then conveyed through divine sense, "There's one more thing I ask of you, please do not disclose my identity to Hulang and the others."
Li Zhirui nodded, then asked, "If your children possess a Spiritual Root, do you wish to lead them onto the path of cultivation?"
"They lack Spiritual Roots."
Li Zhirui glanced at the woman, said no more, nodded, and turned to leave, allowing the family to spend this scarce ti together.
Before departing, he also asked the mayor to take good care of this family.
As he still had to visit the valley with the Spirit Earthworms, Li Zhirui did not stay on Da Rong Island for long. After reporting his safety to Li Shiting, he piloted the Spirit Boat with Li Shilian and flew away from Da Rong Island.
The sky slowly grew dim as the crescent moon replaced the sun, and myriad stars adorned the black canvas, dazzling and captivating.
In the silent and still valley, Li Zhirui and Li Shilian, having concealed their presence, stood to one side, waiting for the Spirit Earthworms to appear.
"Don't hurry to make a move later; first, let's see how many Spirit Earthworms are here," Li Shilian transmitted via divine sense.
Li Zhirui nodded and asked curiously, "Why do these Spirit Earthworms stay here? Could there be a Spirit Vein underground?"
Though Spirit Earthworms were the easiest to raise and had the lowest environntal requirents, they still needed to be nurtured by Spiritual Energy to grow and multiply.
Even if they had the opportunity to devour a Spiritual Object and turn into a Devil Beast, they would migrate to places with abundant Spiritual Energy after their transformation. It seed unlikely for them to remain in this small valley and yet nourish the soil so richly.
"There probably is a Spirit Vein; however, not a trace of Spiritual Energy leaks above ground. That Spirit Vein must be deep underground," Li Shilian guessed.
A trace of disappointnt flickered in Li Zhirui's eyes — a Spirit Vein was right in front of him, yet there was no way to access it.
"Here they co!" Li Shilian suddenly transmitted, breaking Li Zhirui's trace of loss.
The ground trembled slightly, and soon, earthworms over a yard long erged from under the ground, lying as if breathing. anwhile, clumps of earth-colored spheres were excreted from the rear of their bodies.
"They should all be out now, let's take action!" The two waited for a while and, seeing no more Spirit Earthworms appear, promptly made their move to capture them.
Li Zhirui ford hand seals and scattered a handful of seeds that rapidly grew into vines like nimble snakes, entwining around the Spirit Earthworms and preventing their retreat underground.
Boom boom!
The Spirit Earthworms were too weak; even the strongest among them was rely at the mid-stage of Qi Cultivation. The spells they cast were rocks the size of fists, or streams of filthy mud—incapable of causing any harm. Li Shilian casually deflected all these attacks.
"There are a total of seven Spirit Earthworms. Though the number is small, given sufficient food, these creatures multiply at an astonishing rate. It won't take long before they beco a vast group," Li Shilian said with satisfaction.
Perhaps there indeed was a Spirit Vein underground, but it only sufficed for their survival and was hardly enough to expand their numbers due to the lack of Spiritual Objects for their consumption.
Moreover, Spirit Earthworms were gentle by nature; even without forming a contract, they could be directed by using Spiritual Objects as bait.
And these so-called Spiritual Objects could be leaves infused with Spiritual Energy, rotten Spirit Fruits, or even the droppings of Spirit Beasts...
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