"Husband~ we, we continue?"
After seeing off Xi Miaohua, Song Yuzhi trotted over, hugged Yang Hong's arm, and shook it vigorously.
"No time. You guys wait here."
With that, Yang Hong instantly teleported two hundred li away.
Upon appearing, Yang Hong pointed his sword finger again, sending over ten bald heads soaring into the sky.
"Lin Daiyu thanks Your Highness for saving her life."
"You're Lin Daiyu? You've gotten sturdier."
Looking at Lin Daiyu, who bowed and paid respects before him, Yang Hong almost didn't recognize her.
This beauty, with ambitions as vast as Zhu Yuyan's, was actually Lin Daiyu.
"Yes, Daiyu has been cultivating diligently and has indeed become much sturdier."
Lin Daiyu was quite confident in her centuries of cultivation.
"Alright, you all continue walking back. I'll go pick up a few more people."
Yang Hong said this and continued to teleport forward.
On this day, he rescued over 300 members of the Shadow Phoenix.
His identification method was simple: he looked at their cultivation techniques. All members of the Shadow Phoenix cultivated the "Lion's Roar Technique" and the "Minor Five Elements True Art."
He would only save those who practiced these two techniques; he wouldn't bother with others.
Unless they were led by a member of the Shadow Phoenix, he would only save them incidentally.
When he returned to Qingfeng Villa, Lin Daiyu and several girls who were originally from the [Deaf Ear Pavilion] were waiting for him.
"Husband, the outside world is truly in chaos."
Zhu Yuyan handed Yang Hong a bowl of tea before speaking in a deep voice.
Yang Hong nodded, not surprised at all.
"Yes, I can see it's very chaotic. Over a thousand cultivators have entered my divine sense range today.
If it weren't in great chaos, cultivators wouldn't be willing to enter the Five Regions, especially the area of the Five Dynasties."
"Husband, look at these notices."
Zhu Yuyan handed Yang Hong several scrolls with a wry smile. Yang Hong took them and unrolled them one by one.
"Heh~ This Undying Temple actually understands sustainable development!"
"Hmph~ They're just finding excuses to capture and enslave cultivators."
Zhu Yuyan snorted coldly, revealing the other meaning of the notices.
One of the regulations in the notices stated that all cultivators were forbidden to enter mortal territories or harm mortals. Any offenders would be directly arrested.
As for what would happen after being arrested, and whether they would be released, the notices didn't say!
But anyone with a brain could guess that it wouldn't be pleasant.
Since they were so benevolent to mortals, the Undying Temple naturally had demands.
It stipulated that all mortals in the Taiyuan Continent could only believe in Buddhism.
This was a move to completely harvest the faith of mortals.
However, the notices also included a policy to encourage mortals to have more children, and if a child with spiritual roots was born, the dynasty must reward them.
Furthermore, to promote livelihoods, the Undying Temple also provided large quantities of high-yield seeds, giving them away for free to the dynasties and mortals.
This was not just about controlling faith but also about controlling newly born cultivators.
In addition, there were several notices recruiting female cultivators with various flowery conditions.
As long as they were female cultivators, regardless of their cultivation level, they were wanted.
This was an attempt to uproot all cultivators except for those of the Undying Temple!
Ruthless! Extremely ruthless!
Cruel and inhumanly ruthless!
The content of the other notices was irrelevant.
However, it wasn't over yet.
"Your Highness, the Undying Temple isn't just targeting our human race; they've also moved against the demon race."
Lin Daiyu finished speaking and handed over a jade slip.
"Hiss~ Hiss~ Terrifying!"
After reading the contents of the jade slip, Yang Hong gasped in cold air!
While recruiting human female cultivators, the Undying Temple was also recruiting female demons.
Most outrageously, they had captured large numbers of female demonic beasts and were recruiting human cultivators skilled in beast taming.
"Madness! Truly madness!
The Undying Temple's actions are practically the deeds of demons and monsters."
Even Yang Hong, who had seen much, was shocked by the Undying Temple's frenzy.
The demon race had transformed into human form, but demonic beasts?
"Ugh~ Ugh~"
Yang Hong felt sick to his stomach.
Zhu Yuyan and the others also looked pale, their faces shifting between green and white. As women, they felt even more disgusted.
"Husband, what do we do next?"
"First, make some signs to tell cultivators entering the Five Regions not to damage the spiritual plants we've planted.
Have all our people gather back here.
As for the rest...
I'll figure something out."
Yang Hong handed the task of making signs to Zhu Yuyan and the others and went outside the villa himself.
"Ding~ Your ninth-grade Golden Thunder Bamboo has been infused with 2,700 days of cultivation, and you have received a hundredfold return, gaining 270,000 days of cultivation."
"Ding~ The Golden Thunder Bamboo has accumulated enough energy and is about to evolve..."
After Yang Hong fused with the negative souls, the system gained an ability: he could influence the evolutionary direction of spiritual plants when they evolved.
He could roughly determine whether a spiritual plant would continue to advance in quality or directly transform into an animal form.
However, the prerequisite for a spiritual plant to transform into an animal form was that it had reached the stage of transformation.
He had been back for 133 years, and he had accumulated a large number of spiritual plants that could transform.
But he had previously suppressed their transformation, fearing that they would compete for the limited spiritual energy after transforming. Now, he needed many helpers, and these spiritual plants were the best helpers.
Rumble～～
As Yang Hong wished, the tribulation lightning for transformation descended as expected.
"My cultivation has just broken through. It's the perfect time to temper my mana with the tribulation lightning."
Yang Hong smiled and flew into the air, greeting the falling blue tribulation lightning.
Although the level of the tribulation lightning was relatively low, there was enough of it. A ninth-grade spiritual plant undergoing transformation would face 360 bolts of tribulation lightning, followed by 81 bolts for Nascent Soul, 81 for Soul Division, and finally 81 for Body Integration.
Upon transforming, the ninth-grade Golden Thunder Bamboo directly broke through to the seventh-stage Body Integration realm, advancing to the mid-seventh-stage.
This was because Yang Hong had only intercepted less than one-tenth of the tribulation lightning's power. The Golden Thunder Bamboo, possessing the lightning attribute, could effectively absorb the tribulation lightning's energy.
"Little Bamboo thanks Master for the great fortune."
As the tribulation lightning dissipated, a thin, middle-aged scholar knelt on the ground and thanked Yang Hong.
"Get up. I will impart some knowledge and cultivation techniques to you."
"Yes, Master."
The Golden Thunder Bamboo looked very steady, making it a good candidate for a steward.
"However, the intensity of this tribulation lightning is a bit too low. Let's make it bigger!"
Thinking this, Yang Hong took out all 14 ninth-grade spiritual plants and placed them beside him, initiating continuous infusions.
Innumerable bolts of tribulation lightning continuously merged, finally forming purple lightning.
However, it was a pity that this purple lightning was not the Violet Heaven Divine Thunder, but only a purple lightning one tier stronger than ordinary blue tribulation lightning.
"Now, this is powerful enough."
The effect of the purple lightning could finally temper his mana. While evolving spiritual plants, he could also cultivate, which was the true essence of farming.
In the following days, Qingfeng Mountain was filled with tribulation lightning every day.
This caused the refugees who had intended to cultivate nearby to flee far away.
At the same time, the external cultivators who had planned to dig up Yang Hong's spiritual plants no longer dared to make a move.
Several days of violent tribulation lightning, even if they weren't scared to death, a Mahayana cultivator would have been.
However, such a scene naturally attracted unwelcome attention.
"Husband, did you perhaps reduce the number of spiritual plants you're transforming?"
During this time, many Undying Monks had entered the Five Regions, including quite a few at the ninth-grade Mahayana stage.
On this day, after Yang Hong finished transforming 15 eighth-grade spiritual plants, Zhu Yuyan anxiously ran to report.
"Are there already ninth-grade Mahayana stage cultivators here?
Did Xi Miaohua's plan succeed?"
Hearing that many Mahayana stage cultivators had arrived, Yang Hong wasn't worried; instead, he smiled.
"We don't know about that. The flow of refugee cultivators has decreased recently.
They might have been blocked by the Undying Monks."
"Is that so? Then I'll go capture a few Undying Monks and ask them."
With that, Yang Hong instantly disappeared.