"What did I forget? Ye Yudong?"
Thinking of Ye Yudong, Yang Hong immediately spread his spiritual sense and flew towards a fissure in the ground, quickly rescuing Ye Yudong, who had been knocked unconscious and hiding underground.
"Thank you, Sect Master, for saving my life."
Yang Hong interrupted his pleasantries, saying, "You're welcome. Think about whether there's anything else we haven't done."
"No, we were bait for a few days and entered the lair of the Scarlet Fire Locusts. All the missions are completed," Ye Yudong replied without a second thought.
"Think carefully, we must have missed something." Yang Hong's brows furrowed even deeper.
Ye Yudong pondered for a moment, then asked, "Did we forget to clear the insect eggs?" He remembered that Yang Hong had responded to the summons precisely because he was worried about the insect egg problem.
However, Yang Hong still shook his head. He had already considered the matter of the insect eggs; he planned to sell the Iron Thorn Grass seeds in the coming days, which was decided before they came.
"Were the Scarlet Fire Locusts not completely eliminated?"
"Well, that's not something we need to worry about. Those big shots will handle it."
"What about the flames in the sky?"
"Slap!" Yang Hong's palm flew out, hitting Ye Yudong. However, he held back enough force to ensure he wouldn't die. Red Lotus Karma Fire was not something cultivators could control. Didn't that Bodhisattva Duyuan run faster than a rabbit?
"Sect Master, we've done everything up there, and it's all taken care of," Ye Yudong said, getting up from the ground and touching his swollen face with a wronged expression.
"Alright, let's return to Five Lotus Mountain first, sell the Iron Thorn Wine and Iron Thorn Grass seeds, and see if there's anything else that needs to be done." Yang Hong had thought for a long time but couldn't recall anything he had forgotten. The feeling of unease that had previously prompted him had completely vanished, so he decided not to dwell on it.
Upon returning to Five Lotus Mountain, Yang Hong looked at the suddenly cold and desolate landscape and felt a strange sense of shared misfortune, like a rabbit mourning its fallen companion. Nearly half of the cultivators who had gathered at Five Lotus Mountain had died in the recent battle. These cultivators were at least at the Golden Core stage of the fourth tier, capable of living for 800 years. Yet, in the face of a far more powerful force, how much stronger were these so-called immortals and cultivators than ordinary mortals?
"We are all but ants; let us cherish every moment."
"Mm, Sect Master, you are right. So, Sect Master, can I have some of the fellow disciples and disciples from the Sheng Yu Sect join the Qing Feng Villa?" Hearing Yang Hong's lament, Ye Yudong seized the opportunity to ask cautiously. He had spent the past few days while he had no missions networking within the Sheng Yu Sect.
"Bring them over, and I'll take a look." Yang Hong neither agreed nor refused. He needed to examine the fortunes of multiple people before making a decision; he wouldn't want those with particularly poor fortune.
"Sect Master, rest assured, they are all of impeccable character." Hearing Ye Yudong's guarantee, Yang Hong couldn't help but laugh. You, who have betrayed the Sheng Yu Sect, dare to talk to me about character?
"This is the Iron Thorn Wine and Iron Thorn Grass seeds. You remember the prices, right? Sell them quickly while there are many people around, so we can return to Qing Feng Mountain. There are more insect eggs there, and we need to clear them as soon as possible."
"Understood! Your disciple will go immediately." Ye Yudong's efficiency was high. Perhaps it was because Yang Hong and his companions had performed so miraculously that all 111 people had survived the battle without a single death! This incredible survival rate made other cultivators recognize Yang Hong's mystique. When they heard that the Iron Thorn Wine was the reason for everything, Ye Yudong only needed a little promotion, and everything Yang Hong had instructed him to sell was gone by the afternoon. They exchanged it for nearly a hundred million spirit stones.
The Black Despair in the Zi Kun Mountain Range had just ended, and then the Scarlet Fire Locust swarm erupted, causing the spiritual energy concentration to drop to an extremely low level. To cultivate and grow crops, large amounts of spirit stones were needed to replenish spiritual energy. Therefore, even Yang Hong, who usually didn't need to worry about spirit stones, began to engage in trade.
After a simple count of the spirit stones, he sent Ye Yudong to inquire with the cultivators of the Chaoyang Sect if they had any missions or needed any help. Although the feeling of forgetting something had disappeared, Yang Hong still felt a lingering concern.
"Sect Master, the Scarlet Fire Locusts have basically been wiped out. The investigation work is being handled by True Lords of the seventh tier and above. Our current mission as small fry is to find and eliminate the insect eggs. Coincidentally, Sect Master, you produced the Iron Thorn Grass, so the current mission has become planting Iron Thorn Grass. We can actually return to our sect and focus on planting, and then send over the mature Iron Thorn Fruits."
"Then let's go back." Upon hearing Ye Yudong's report, Yang Hong rose and walked towards the teleportation array. Behind him, besides Ye Yudong, followed 62 cultivators from the Sheng Yu Sect, all of them Nascent Soul and Golden Core stage cultivators. The high-level cultivators had not been persuaded by Ye Yudong. Low-level cultivators were not qualified to participate in the encirclement and annihilation of the Scarlet Fire Locusts. All these cultivators had a deep green fortune; Yang Hong was not interested in those with a fortune below deep green.
The group passed through the teleportation array without any obstruction and arrived at the peak of Zi Kun Mountain, then flew their swords back to Qing Feng Mountain. After handing over Ye Yudong and the others to the eternal outer sect steward, Zhang Zhengyan, Yang Hong announced his own seclusion. With Zhu Yuyan and the other two acting as his guardians, he disappeared from the quiet room and burrowed continuously through the earth.
When he stopped, he had arrived at the place where he had previously discovered the crystal locusts. "Although I don't know what I forgot, the place where the crystal locusts slumber is definitely not simple." Looking at the small cave, which was only a little over three zhang wide, Yang Hong continuously cast illumination spells, hoping to find something unusual. He then smeared the entire cave with Iron Thorn Fruit juice, but still found nothing out of the ordinary. Seeing this, Yang Hong's expression became even more serious, and his anticipation grew.
"It's too normal, and that's the biggest abnormality!" He patiently searched the ground inch by inch and indeed found a surprise. After descending more than a hundred zhang, Yang Hong discovered a red crystal about the size of a fist, perfectly round like a ball.
"Divine Refining Treasure Art, refine it for me!" Seeing this, Yang Hong knew without guessing that this was the egg of a crystal locust. Therefore, he directly unleashed his divine sense fire and used the Divine Refining Treasure Art to refine this egg. He had no intention of keeping such a fierce object as a pet; refining it into a magical artifact was a much better option.
As the purple-gold divine sense fire continuously burned, a vigorous vitality suddenly erupted from the red crystal, attempting to stop Yang Hong from burning and refining it. However, Yang Hong directly used his powerful divine sense to guide this vitality and turn it to refine the insect egg.
"Hehe, such dense vitality, this egg refined, wouldn't it be a ninth-grade magical artifact?" As the crystal-like egg completely melted, a vitality comparable to a true immortal emanated, causing Yang Hong's face to flush with excitement. He didn't know that this was one of the only two special insect eggs born from the concentration of vitality by the Scarlet Fire Locust clan over tens of thousands of years. Deep underground, he also failed to notice that the Red Lotus Karma Fire that had been hanging in the sky above suddenly disappeared. When the blood-red light illuminated the cave, it was too late for Yang Hong to escape.