After around 30 minutes, Chen Jingzhai re-grouped with the team.
Shortly before that, he moved about their territory while concealing his presence and was able to avoid running into a single Gold Demonic Ape.
The apes still had no idea that they had been robbed and still continued to pursue the party.
Chen Jignzhai managed to get out of the ape’s territory and found a safe spot.
After deploying his formations, he sent the Dark-face Humanoid Puppet to meet up with the party.
When the party saw the puppet, they immediately knew that Chen Jignzhai had succeeded.
Drowned with excitement, all the Golden Core Sages used their magic treasures to run away from the apes.
They were able to get out of the territory, leaving a group of apes and some that had taken human forms standing at the border and screaming at them.
It only took them a few minutes to reach where Chen Jingzhai was. Everyone was safe and sound.
“This is the Golden Jade Liquid?”
Everyone widened their eyes as Chen Jingzhai poured the white liquid out.
“This is a Grade 2 Golden Jade Liquid. There are a lot of it, enough for everyone. Come, let’s have a taste.” The young man then poured a bowl of wine for everyone.
The benefit of the wine took effect immediately. All the Foundation Establishment Plane disciples, including those from the Great Three Sword Branches, had strengthened their bodies to different degrees. The weaker ones had improved the most.
The biggest changes would be that their muscles had tightened and their skin had gotten even sturdier.
The figures of the female cultivators had gotten curvier as well and their skin smoother.
The effect wasn’t that profound for the Golden Core Sages. Overall, their bodies had only improved by a few percent.
They did sweat a little from the change, and they activated the cleaning spell embedded into their magic apparel to clean themselves up.
“This is amazing!” Qiao Haisheng exclaimed as he opened his eyes and gripped his fists tightly.
As he was a disciple of the Golden Jade Sword Branch, he would train his body as he trained his swordsmanship.
His body was already stronger than his peers, but he was shocked to learn that he would benefit from the Golden Jade Liquid as well.
“Great! Looks like everyone has become stronger from that. One serving should be enough. Drinking more will be a waste. Next is the Grade 3 Golden Jade Liquid. I don’t have too much of this. Let’s see what this will bring us,” Chen Jingzhai said and handed everyone a bowl of Grade 3 Golden Jade Liquid.
The liquid had a hint of green in its white color.
Even the disciples drank all of their servings too. According to Chen Jingzhai, since they had reached the Complete Foundation Plane, their bodies were strong enough to absorb the Grade 3 wine. There was no need to worry if they were going to waste it or if their bodies could handle it or not.
Chen Jingzhai had already drank a serving of each Grade 2 and Grade 3 before grouping up with them.
The Grade 2 wine didn’t do anything to him, but the Grade 3 wine had increased his physical ability by 5%.
Even if it was only a mere 5%, it was already incredible considering how powerful Chen Jingzhai was.
Chen Jingzhai had a solid foundation and his body was way stronger than his peers. Since his Foundation Establishment passage was based on training both in his energy and physical ability, it gave him the body of a Golden Core Sage when he was still in the Foundation Establishment Plane.
If he could benefit from something, then the rest would be able to gain even more.
The disciples were able to consume the wine without experiencing any side effects. Their bodies were now as strong as a top-grade spiritual item, meaning that they could now defend themselves against attacks from a spiritual item.
As for the Golden Core Sages, those who were still in the beginner and intermediate stages like Miao Yun and Celestial Maiden Zhao had become as sturdy as a magic treasure.
Although they could only defend against inferior-grade magic treasure, it was still a chance that they couldn’t come by easily.
For Celestial Maiden Miao Fa, Sage Lu Tao, Sage Xu, and the rest who were in the advanced stage, their bodies were strengthened to the point where they could stand the attacks from an intermediate-grade magic treasure.
The wines greatly increased everyone’s foundation and were beneficial for their future.
“Amazing! Who would have thought we would be so lucky?”
“I finally understand why senior sister wants this so badly. It really is a treasure worth the risk.”
“Just strengthening our body alone is a huge plus!”
“Is no one going to talk about how Master-Uncle is able to get all these without getting spotted?”
Everyone jumped in excitement after reaping the benefits of the wines. Just the advantages they had gained from strengthening their bodies were more than enough to prove that the Golden Jade Liquid was a rare treasure.
Chen Jingzhai grinned as he looked at everyone. He did not take the Grade 4 wine out. Even he would suffer from some side effects if he were to drink it, and it was just too precious for him to share.
To him, not telling anyone that he had the Grade 4 Golden Jade Liquid with him was the right call.
The excitement and happiness did not last long. Angry roars could suddenly be heard from the ape’s territory. It was clear that they had realized something was wrong.
It would be fine if only one or two caves were looted. They would’ve thought that one of the apes had done that. A fight would’ve occurred in the tribe to find out who the culprit was, to the point where some of the apes might even die.
However, Chen Jingzhai had stolen from more than 50 caves, and they had lost too many Golden Jade Liquids. Some of the Grade 4 Golden Jade Liquids were stolen as well, making the situation so serious that had angered the entire tribe. Although the apes might seem like brutes because of their large figures, they weren’t dumb like everyone thought.
The apes who had taken human forms were even smarter than normal humans. They could even control their rage and desire.
However, the apes thought that the wines were all stolen by other demonic beasts. Not a single one of them could link the incident to Chen Jingzhai.
The area around the ape’s territory quickly became a battlefield between the apes and other demonic beasts. They killed any beasts they came across, trying to find the one who had stolen from them.
Even the apes who had reached the Spirit Plane had used their divine mind to look for the thief.
However, the apes would never be able to find out who did that no matter how hard they tried.
The moment their roars were heard, Chen Jingzhai led everyone out of his formations set around the safe spot, and they quickly advanced towards the next tribe.
The next demonic beasts they would run into were the White Tail Divine Ferrets.
The ferret’s territory was only slightly smaller than the ape’s. The territory covered about three different hills, and there were a lot of ferrets living in it.
Before Chen Jingzhai and the rest even entered the territory, they had already spotted a lot of White Tail Divine Ferrets. Most of the Grade 1s and 2s were absorbed by him using the Reversed Formation.
The ferret’s tribe was a Grade 4 as well. Due to their heightened reproduction, they were considered an extremely strong tribe. Chen Jingzhai could sense a lot of Spirit Plane’s auras.
Just because of that, Chen Jingzhai was reluctant to act rashly inside the ferret’s territory. The weirdest part was that they weren’t attacked. The ferrets only watched them as they passed by.
At first, the party thought that the ferrets were plotting something. Yet, they were able to get out of the territory without getting attacked even once, and they were all confused by it.
In the end, having one less tribe to battle was a good thing, and they didn’t think much about it after that.
“Next is the Golden Chrysanthemum Sky Scorpion’s territory. They look like normal scorpions, but they have the pattern of a golden chrysanthemum on their belly and their back. They are extremely agile with their small bodies and can attack with powerful toxins,” Ni Honger said as she sat on Chen Jingzhai’s shoulder. “They are very hard to deal with.”
“It’s okay,” Chen Jingzhai replied. “We aren’t declaring an all-out war with them. We’ll be retreating as we fight them.”
“I have some Antidote Elixir with me,” Celestial Maiden Han said. “Keep one in your mouth and consume it the moment you are poisoned.”
She took out a lot of Advanced Grade 2 elixirs. Technically, these elixirs could only cure the poisons from Grade 2 beasts, but her junior sister, Celestial Maiden Zhao, possessed a magic treasure-grade Poison Pearl that could absorb any poison.
They would absorb as much poison as they could before consuming the Antidote Elixir. There was also the fact that the Golden Core Sages would do everything in their power to prevent the disciples from getting poisoned.
Everyone thanked the celestial maiden and kept the elixirs in their mouth. They continued to move forward and entered the scorpion’s territory.
The moment they entered, a powerful demon attacked them. Its target was a disciple of the Elixir Twilight Clan. The attack was so fast that Chen Jingzhai couldn’t react fast enough to use the Reversed Formation.
Fortunately, Celestial Maiden Han was prepared. Just as the disciples were about to get hit, her cauldron turned into a fireball and hit the powerful demonic beast directly.
