One breath, two breaths, three breaths.
In the silence, time seemed to pass exceptionally slow.
Jiang Li gently tapped the Alliance Leader’s token.
In the outside world, three auras at the Soul Formation realm suddenly erupted and disappeared.
The spreading might passed through the thick mountain, and a tiny bit of dust was shaken off from above.
Others could not sense it, but this Granny Zi, who was also at the Soul Formation realm, could definitely notice.
Her gaze changed, but in the end, it turned into helplessness. Old people would always have more worries than young people and would easily compromise.
In the end, the old woman sighed and bowed even more.
“Alliance Leader Jiang is a guest of our Ink Sect. No one is allowed to be unreasonable!”
“This matter is my Ink Sect’s fault. Please forgive us!”
Jiang Li grabbed the coffin that had fallen back into his hand and did not speak anymore. He just looked at the other party, his meaning obvious. He did not accept this kind of verbal apology.
He was not a rogue cultivator without any background. One sentence from her could not make him swallow his anger. If Ink Sect could not give him a satisfactory answer, he would show them ‘fairness’.
“My Ink Sect is willing to compensate Alliance Leader Jiang with three Nascent Soul guardian puppets as an apology.”
When she noticed that Jiang Li was not easy to fool, Granny Zi could only give a little compensation to ease the situation.
But now, there was another objection.
“No, Grandma Zi, those are puppets made using our sect’s elders! How can we hand them to outsiders! That’s blasphemy to our ancestors!”
The old woman pressed down on her walking stick, causing Pang Xun to kneel on the ground. He was unable to speak for a while.
“The new Ink Child has not been selected. I have the final say.”
“However, Alliance Leader Jiang, please understand. Our Ink Sect is currently in a life and death situation. As long as the war ends, we will naturally pay you according to the agreement.”
Hearing this, Jiang Li could not help but laugh. It was hard to say if the Ink Sect would still exist after this.
They wanted to gain protection without risking anything. If Jiang Li wanted to obtain the reward, he would have to expend a lot of effort to protect the Ink Sect and wait for the other party to fulfill this promise.
Mere puppets made from the corpses of three Nascent Soul cultivators could exchange for so much? Were they worthy?
“Since it’s the corpses of your esteemed sect’s ancestors, I’m not someone who will force you to hand them over.”
“I can help you tide through this crisis without asking for an apology or reward for awakening your puppets. I can even send a large number of cultivators to help you.”
“How about this? If your Ink Sect joins my Great Mountain Alliance, I guarantee that I won’t restrict you too much. As long as you contribute the 600,000 battle merits, not only will you no longer have to face casualties, I can guarantee that you will still be free in the future. No one will restrict you.”
Jiang Li raised this condition again. Compared to the other sects, the condition he gave was actually quite generous.
To the current them, those 600,000 merit points were no longer of any value. This was because based on the situation of the Ink Sect, it was impossible for them to get the remaining merit points needed.
As long as it did not reach a million, this was only a useless number. Not only would it not bring any benefits, it would also attract a large amount of trouble and even a calamity.
The other Ink Sect disciples looked at each other, clearly moved.
However, Jiang Li was still rejected.
“I’m very sorry. Those contribution points were obtained using our members’ lives.”
“Now that the Sect Master has unfortunately died, without the Ink Child’s orders, no one has the right to make this decision.”
This old woman was really inflexible.
There were less than a thousand of them left, and there were only a few higher-ups. Couldn’t they choose another Sect Master?
However, no matter what he said, this old woman would not relent.
“The conditions given by our Great Mountain Alliance should be the best among all the other factions.”
“Your Ink Sect is unwilling to pay anything or join anyone. I don’t see any sincerity in cooperating. In that case, I think there’s no need to continue our deal.”
“I wish you good luck! If you can survive the attack of the Iron Wolf Sect, the Great Mountain Alliance will be happy to trade with you again.”
Jiang Li originally thought that the reason why the discussion was not appropriate was that the price was not suitable, or that the subordinates could not make the decision.
As a result, he personally came to Thousand Sieve City to discuss with the higher-ups of Ink Sect.
He did not expect that what stopped their plan was still the ignorance and stubbornness of the older generation.
With a wave of his hand, he released the Wood Dragon Rayquaza and was about to leave through the passageway.
“Wait a moment. If Alliance Leader Jiang is willing to help us enlighten the puppets, I can make the decision to let you attempt the Ink Child’s trial.”
“If you can pass the test, you will be able to obtain my Ink Sect’s Ink Child Decree. With the Ink Child Decree in hand, my Ink Sect disciples will naturally obey you.”
Before she left, this Granny Zi still stopped Jiang Li and proposed such a plan.
The rules of the Ink Sect were very ancient and rigid.
The method to choose each generation of Ink Sect’s Sect Masters was not to elect someone, but to rely on a special trial.
As long as someone passed, he would be nurtured as the next generation’s Ink Child. If no one passed, then even if he died, this position would remain empty until someone passed.
Before this, Ink Sect had indeed prepared a backup Ink Child. Unfortunately, in the final battle, both the Ink Child and the backup had died. Up until now, there had been no one in charge.
“This is impossible. He’s an outsider! How can he participate in our most sacred trial! This is against the rules!”
That Pang Xun did not give up and jumped out to object.
He did not even consider why things had come to this point.
“No, this is actually in line with the rules. In history, the second and seventh generation’s Ink Child were not disciples of our sect.”
“They were all fated to be with our Ink Sect. After passing the trial, they became the Ink Child.”
Granny Zi was indeed an old woman. She knew the history of her ancestors clearly.
“Alliance Leader Jiang, what do you think?”
Even at this time, Ink Sect had yet to choose a Sect Master. It could be seen that the Ink Child’s trial was not false.
However, no one in their entire sect could pass. Under normal circumstances, the possibility of him succeeding should not be high.
He now had reason to suspect that Ink Sect did not want to give him the reward so they suggested such a trial with a low success rate.
“I want to know, what is the content of the trial?” Jiang Li asked cautiously.
“The… Ink Child’s trial is to head to the heart of the city and obtain the approval of this mechanism, Thousand Sieve City. However, we can’t be sure what test the Thousand Sieve City will give. However, Alliance Leader Jiang, don’t worry. There have never been any casualties in the trial…”
The other party basically did not say anything. However, obtaining the approval of Thousand Sieve City meant a special recognition ceremony?
Jiang Li was silent as he considered the pros and cons.
If the test failed, it would be equivalent to working for nothing.
To him, awakening the Wood Demon was essentially consuming a large amount of spiritual qi. He could get the other party to pay spirit stones to replenish the expenditure. The loss could not be considered too much.
However, if he succeeded, he would be able to obtain 600,000 merit points. Perhaps he could even obtain a long-standing mechanical city.
After much consideration, he finally agreed.
“Yes, but before that, he attacked and wanted to kill me. He must apologize and kowtow!”
Jiang Li pointed at Pang Xun, who was pressed to the ground by the walking stick.
He made a reasonable request.
Ink Sect, which was low on numbers, could not kill one of the few remaining Nascent Soul cultivators because of him.
It was only right to apologize.
If anger could turn into flames, Pang Xun’s anger would definitely burn the fire-resistant Jiang Li to ashes.
Unfortunately, he did not master such a profound technique.
“Pang Xun, you shouldn’t have used the Divine Crossbows. For the sect, endure it.”
The old woman was silent for a moment. In the end, she grabbed the snake-headed walking stick and exerted strength again, pushing the Nascent Soul Pang Xun to the ground.
This person wanted to push himself up, his face turning red, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not move at all.
“Are you satisfied, Alliance Leader Jiang?”
Jiang Li nodded and was very gratified.
They were enemies to begin with, so he never minded adding more humiliation to his enemy.
“That’s for the best. Tomorrow at noon, we will prepare everything and wait for Alliance Leader Jiang’s trial.”
“Alliance Leader Jiang is tired too. Little Yao, bring Alliance Leader Jiang to the guest room.”
Jiang Li followed Zi Yao towards a lift. When he passed by Pang Xun, he paused for a moment.
“Not only should you apologize to me, but you should also pray that I can obtain your Ink Child Decree. Only then can the Ink Sect join the Great Mountain Alliance and obtain our protection.”
With that, he left under the murderous gaze of the other party.
Thousand Sieve City was an underground city structure.
The bottom level was the underground transfer center that connected all the passageways.
External materials were all transported here.
Above them were residential areas and functional areas one after another. It had to be said that this Thousand Sieve City was really not small. It could accommodate more than a hundred thousand people for a long time without any problem.
However, at this moment, many places in this city appeared cold and empty.
There were only a few hundred disciples left in the entire Ink Sect. If the Iron Wolf Sect found this place, if nothing unexpected happened, they might not even be able to withstand their first wave of attacks.
The Ink Sect’s Thousand Sieve City was good at defense, it was said that it could block enemies ten times stronger than itself.
However, they had too few people now. They did not even have enough people to control the mechanisms. This was also an important reason why they urgently needed to awaken the puppets. They needed the puppets to control the defensive mechanisms.
Jiang Li was brought into a luxurious guest room. Almost everything inside was made of mechanisms, and even the chairs were folded. This sect could be said to be extremely persistent in the art of mechanisms.
“Alliance Leader Jiang Li, I’m really sorry about what happened before. We really didn’t expect you to be in danger. I apologize to you here and earnestly ask for your forgiveness.”
Jiang Li could tell that Zi Yao was very worried about Ink Sect’s situation. Moreover, this worry had already caused her to be a little blind.
If he used helping the Ink Sect as a condition and let the other party enter the room, there was a high chance that a familiar plot would occur.
However, Jiang Li only smiled and closed the door.
He was only 14 years old. What could possibly happen? Women would only affect his combat speed.
In addition, forgiveness? Could they forgive him for killing Pang Xun’s son? Would the other party let him off?
Repaying evil with kindness was nonsense to begin with. Those who had offended him, like the Hundred Tempering Mountain, would usually not have a good ending.
After observing the layout of the room, Jiang Li issued a command in his heart, and a layer of white frost stretched out from beneath his feet and climbed up to cover everything in the room.
It was not frost, but countless thin and strong tree roots.
Ink Sect’s mechanisms were impossible to guard against. To be safe, he used these tree roots to pierce into the wall and wrap around anything that could move, forcefully “turning off” all the mechanisms in the room.
Then, he used the same method again. He covered the entire room with the moss coat, isolating everything inside from the outside.
Every time he stayed in another sect, this was the first thing Jiang Li had to do.
He first took out the Great Mountain Alliance Leader’s token and communicated with the nine elders.
Under Jiang Li’s guidance, they had already successfully found a place and hid near Thousand Sieve City.
Earlier, it was also thanks to them that Ink Sect’s Granny Zi was so easy-going.
If the situation had been urgent and Jiang Li had given the order, they would have immediately attacked. Although there were only nine of them, in terms of high-end combat strength, they could completely suppress Ink Sect.
This was also the reason why Jiang Li did not swallow his anger and took revenge on the spot.
He was the Alliance Leader of the Great Mountain Alliance, he did not have to be polite.
He let them continue to wait outside and pay attention to the news of the Iron Wolf Sect. He was temporarily in charge of Ink Sect.
After hanging up, he rubbed his head. His headache had already eased a lot.
His exhausted mind had finally recovered a little after some time.
Without any time to sleep, Jiang Li opened the coffin and entered again.
It was still a dark red sea of flowers, but there was a strange Thousand Hands Divine Statue in the sea of flowers.
This statue was at least 90% similar to Jiang Li. Half of it was golden, the other half was flesh and blood. There was also a wooden Nine Nether Demon Statue inside that served as the core.
After repeated refinement, these three finally fused into one. Moreover, because of the Nine Nether Demon Statue, the originally inanimate statue had a trace of vitality after being refined.
As long as time passed, the will force and chaotic will inside the statue would collide with each other, producing a new life.
Jiang Li had made some modifications to the Thousand Hands Divine Statue according to the blood sacrifice method of the Asura World, finally producing such a finished product.
It was different from the mainstream statues, but it was most suitable for him.
Now, Jiang Li was going to use it to connect to the clone of the Asura World.
He raised his hand and pressed it on the Thousand Hands Divine Statue. Jiang Li’s fourth parallel mind had already entered through his arm.
The palm-sized parallel mind darted into the wooden statue in the center of the statue.
The chaotic wills that were colliding seemed to have been attracted by a black hole as they surged towards the fourth parallel mind.
This Buddhist statue was originally the Thousand-Armed Bodhisattva Guanyin from ancient times. The incense and faith contained in it was completely nutritious to the parallel mind born from the Bodhisattva Heart Sutra. There was no obstruction when absorbing it.
Jiang Li’s main body was afraid that this chaotic will force would affect his mind, but his clone did not have to worry about this.
He absorbed the power of incense and the chaotic will in the Asura’s flesh and blood.
This parallel mind grew rapidly at a speed ten times faster than the other parallel minds.
It only took two hours before the statue opened its eyes. It looked at everything in front of it with an indifferent gaze.
The first step of connecting the two worlds had been completed.
