Chapter 1512: Chapter 1512: Stronghold
Feng Jun pondered for a long time, unable to come to a conclusion, and then asked, “Chao Sheng, doesn’t the Crimson Phoenix know about this information?”
He knew that Jie Chaosheng had surely accessed secretive channels within the Celestial Star Marketplace to obtain such news, but he didn’t believe that Crimson Phoenix couldn’t acquire this information.
Putting aside all speculations, he personally helped Crimson Phoenix catch a hidden spy from the Yinsha Sect lurking within the sect, as mentioned earlier.
The flow of information in this realm is much slower than the Earth Realm, but that doesn’t mean they are so foolish as to not understand counter-espionage.
Maybe we should look at the history of the Earth Realm, perhaps tracing back to… Xi Shi?
Xi Shi certainly wasn’t the earliest. According to The Investiture of the Gods, we might trace it back to Daji or even… Mei Xi?
Let’s not digress too far. Simply put, Feng Jun doesn’t think that Crimson Phoenix doesn’t grasp this information—no matter how secretive the outside rumors, Crimson Phoenix is a rival of equal footing to Yinsha. Could they possibly be unaware of these?
The Jie Family from Sword Forging Peak is indeed a well-known clan in the Cultivation World. Even when they didn’t have a Golden Core, everyone still regarded them as a Golden Core Family—and not just a lame one.
But do they truly understand Yinsha better than Crimson Phoenix? Feng Jun really doesn’t believe so.
Jie Chaosheng straightforwardly admitted, “I believe Crimson Phoenix knows this information too, but they’re unable to take action…”
Why can’t they take action? Feng Jun paused but quickly understood that if Crimson Phoenix dared to strike at Yinsha’s recruitment office, the Yinsha Sect could naturally target Crimson Phoenix’s recruitment office.
He really wasn’t very familiar with the way cultivation sects open their gates to recruit disciples, “Do the Four Great Sects recruit disciples at the same time?”
“Definitely,” Jie Chaosheng was certain about this, and he understood the implications, “The Four Great Sects are separated by thousands of miles, and newcomers can only choose one of them. Otherwise, if both are part of the Four Great Sects, and my family picks your family leftovers… it’s disgraceful.”
“I think that’s probably the case,” Feng Jun nodded, “Then if I attack the location where Yinsha recruits… their disciples, I won’t get support from other Golden Core levels, correct?”
He dismissed other Golden Core levels and came alone for revenge, but he had also heard that other Golden Core levels had followed behind, so he wasn’t opposed to coordinating with other Golden Core levels—everyone taking down their targets, making Yinsha struggle to deal with problems front and back would suffice.
Jie Chaosheng solemnly replied, “If the communication goes smoothly, coordination is possible. Recruiting disciples doesn’t require many Golden Core levels. The key is that real cultivators from the Four Great Sects and Wutai would never attack the locations where disciples are recruited.”
Feng Jun inquired further and found out that recruitment should take place in three months, so he nodded, “That’s just enough time for me to prepare. Are there any Ascendant Masters from Yinsha in Celestial Star?”
“There are indeed,” Jie Chaosheng answered with a bitter smile, “But that’s a Yinsha station, not only inside the marketplace but also has a Golden Core level defensive formation. If you launch a Golden Core level attack within the marketplace, the consequences will be severe.”
The cultivation world on the Kunhao Plane has a population concentration mode somewhat similar to the Mai Nation instead of Huaxia, where marketplaces are places where the poor reside, and families with some wealth are mostly located in townships.
Launching a Golden Core level attack within a marketplace, regardless of whether the reason stands firm or not, the mere possibility of causing casualties to ordinary people is enough for the marketplace to strictly prohibit it.
If Feng Jun indiscriminately launched an attack, regardless of the outcome, he would have a ninety percent chance of being blacklisted by the marketplace afterward.
Feng Jun agreed that the reasons were indeed reasonable. He pondered for a moment and spoke, “What if I notify the surrounding neighbors in advance?”
“That’s possible,” Jie Chaosheng laughed and nodded, thinking to himself that attacking the residence of the Four Great Sects after informing them in advance is indeed unheard of. He even felt a bit hopeful: will you really dare to strike at the time?
Feng Jun changed his appearance and entered the marketplace, his cultivation level being in the intermediate level of Ascendant, but at the fourth level, only lowering it by one level.
He had no acquaintances in Celestial Star Marketplace, and also lacked Jie Chaosheng’s secretive channels, so he just casually strolled around to sense whether there were any Yinsha disciples in the vicinity.
Yinsha disciples were indeed rare, and when a couple appeared occasionally, they weren’t Qi Refinement, but in the Mortal Transformation Realm. Such cultivation levels didn’t even count as disciples.
Feng Jun leisurely strolled to the Yinsha station, which was an estate not far from the core area, with about a hundred acres of land, and hardly anyone lived nearby—without Yinsha asking to chase people away, regular cultivators would naturally have a sense of it.
He walked around the estate, then rented a carriage, instructed the driver to take a round, while he sat inside the carriage swiping his mobile phone, and used his Divine Sense to isolate external perceptions.
Mere strolling around couldn’t precisely sense how many people were inside, but Feng Jun gained a general idea—at least three Ascendant Masters, more than forty Qi Refinement disciples, and over twenty in the Mortal Transformation Realm.
Feng Jun’s previous actions had already drawn attention from the Yinsha Sect, and now sitting in a carriage for another round, Yinsha’s masters wanted to know what he was doing, but their Divine Sense couldn’t penetrate the carriage.
An initial stage Ascendant was displeased, and loudly spoke up, “Hey, driver, such sneaky behavior, are you seeking death?”
The driver was a bit helpless, “Esteemed Master, this is the passenger’s requirement, not my instigation.”
Anyone doing carriage business in the Fang Market is not ordinary. The driver may be insignificant, but the CheMa Trading Company he works for is not, and behind the company, lies the figure of the market manager.
In the driver’s view, the guest’s request to circle around the Yinsha courtyard was clearly suspicious, but the request did not violate any rules—this area was not a forbidden zone in the Fang Market.
That Intermediate Level cultivator wouldn’t deliberately make trouble for a driver. In the past, he might have lightly punished him, but now the entire Yinsha is in turmoil. The pressure is immense, and he has no interest in stirring up more trouble.
His target is Feng Jun inside the carriage, “Friend in the carriage, what thoughts do you have? You can come inside to discuss. Rather than watching from outside, why not come into the yard to see? What do you say?”
Feng Jun had just finished gathering data, and with a faint smile, he responded, “Invite me in? Very well, I’ll wait for you at the gate!”
Entering someone else’s courtyard is not something to be done lightly, but after searching for a while, he found no danger.
His prompt agreement left the other party stunned: Did this guy really dare to enter Yinsha’s territory?
Recently, some ill-intentioned people have frequently appeared near the Yinsha retreat, causing great annoyance for Yinsha. As soon as one steps out, these people run off; chasing them might be a trap…
Everyone heard about the events at Ten Directions Platform, including the chaos at the market there, which Yinsha internally studied. Because of this, Yinsha disciples pulled back from the Celestial Star Marketplace, only sending those in the Qi Transformation stage for errands.
The main reason is that Celestial Star Marketplace is very close to Yinsha Sect, involving the survival space of the sect, making it strategically necessary to maintain this retreat. Otherwise, Yinsha could temporarily give up this area.
As for disciples in the Qi Transformation stage, Yinsha had to let them out—someone has to handle affairs.
If Feng Jun stoops to killing even Qi Transformation stage disciples, Yinsha will just have to accept it; if he’s that shameless, let him continue.
Originally, Qi Refining Disciples would occasionally go out, but after news from Jumu Market Town said Feng Jun killed all Yinsha Qi Refining Disciples, leaving only one female disciple to report, also crippling her cultivation, Qi Refining Disciples now avoid venturing out.
Other incidents at Jumu Market Town, such as the deaths of Ling Bing and Yue Wu, are controlled in their spread within Yinsha, with only Intermediate Level cultivators knowing, while most lower-level cultivators are unaware.
However, the uninformed disciples are advised: If you discover Feng Jun, do not engage in battle, spread the word quickly, and protect yourself as best as you can.
This Intermediate Level cultivator, puzzled by endless harassment, seeing someone take a risk by coming to Yinsha’s retreat, coldly snorted inwardly, “Time to catch a typical case and vent some frustration.”
But after discussing with other seniors, one strongly objected, “Can’t do this, what if it’s Feng Jun? The retreat’s defensive restriction might not hold him.”
This one was Intermediate Level, qualified to know certain things—two out of three Golden Core levels gathered were killed!
The Intermediate Level cultivator felt miserable, “But we can’t let him keep wandering around nearby, where is Yinsha’s dignity?”
Several seniors discussed and decided, forget it, don’t care who he is. As long as he dares stand at the gate, hit him with our lethal weapon—after all, he’s shown plenty of hostility before, not really a mistake to kill him.
When Yinsha disciples act unreasonably, they rarely consider outsiders’ opinion.
Feng Jun stood at the gate of the Yinsha retreat, pointing for them to open it, waiting with raised brows, “Is this… the power of the defensive formation strengthening? Are they planning to use the formation to attack me?”
Defensive formations similar to mountain gate arrays usually have some counterattack capability; relying solely on defense won’t last long.
“No,” the Big Boss confidently replied, “Their formation, if not heavily modified, doesn’t have strong counterattack abilities… Don’t forget, this is in the Fang Market.”
But immediately, it expressed, “I have a bad feeling, something unpleasant seems about to happen.”
Just then, two seniors appeared on the retreat’s wall, with one lower-level sneeringly saying, “Feng Jun, you really dare to come.”
Feng Jun, sensing faint killing intent as they appeared, didn’t wait for them to finish speaking, immediately executed a Blink.
His Blink was truly timely. Just as he left, a strong binding force enveloped the area where he was.
This is one of the defensive formation’s attack methods; the Big Boss was correct. In Fang Market, Yinsha wouldn’t build overly strong killing formations, but this formation could temporarily confine Golden Core level cultivators, which is quite formidable.
Another Intermediate Level cultivator, holding a box of stone-like gold, was about to open it when he saw Feng Jun suddenly vanish, and couldn’t help but open his mouth in shock, “Is it really that guy?”
(Updated to summon monthly votes.)