Cultivation: Being Immortal
Chapter 89

Yunzhong Mountain Range, middle section.

Fan Tong looked at Shao Xiong and his disciple in front of him, feeling scared. Have these two killing gods finally targeted him?

Where are the reinforcements? What happened to the promised alliance and support?

He had already used more than ten Sound Passing Talismans, why hasn't he received any replies? This is so frustrating and unfair.

"Dear Taoist friend Fan, have you made up your mind?"

Shao Xiong asked again, while his disciple Shao Jie threw down the corpse in his hand and stared at him with a fierce expression, ready to attack.

"Don't do anything, I'll give it."

Fan Tong roared in humiliation. This time, Shao Xiong came to collect money first and then use force. He demanded ten thousand spirit stones from Fan Tong to save his life, while Shao Jie carried a corpse to intimidate him. The corpse was renowned in the Yunzhong Mountain Range for its powerful combat abilities during the mid-stage of Building Foundation cultivation.

Fan Tong originally wanted to resist a bit, as they had agreed to support each other and form an alliance. But since no reinforcements arrived, he had no choice but to surrender. After all, his family's formation was not advanced, just a common second level formation. It would certainly not be able to withstand the fierce attacks of Shao Xiong and his disciple.

"That's right, when it comes to choosing between a life and ten thousand spirit stones, everyone knows what to choose."

"If you've got the ability, go replace someone in the Late Building Foundation Stage. How dare you bully me, someone in the Early Building Foundation Stage?"

"If you don't have enough money, then I'll go replace someone in the Late Building Foundation Stage. Now, let me ask you a question, who has the most money?"

Shao Xiong didn't pay much attention and decided to extort some money from someone in the Mid Building Foundation Stage first. He figured that would be enough. As for someone in the Late Building Foundation Stage, he would deal with it later.

"Lin Wu, he's the richest."

Fan Tong didn't hesitate and blurted out, "This guy took over Alchemy Sun Man's cave, with hundreds of acres of spiritual herbs. We're so envious, if it wasn't for Lin Wu killing Hu Buwei and scaring us off, someone would have taken action a long time ago."

"Interesting, let's go, little Jie."

Shao Xiong nodded and took the spirit stones before leaving. He prided himself on being a trustworthy person. If someone paid him, they were safe from harm.

Two hours later, Shao Xiong knocked on the gates of another cave in the Building Foundation Period and forced him to hand over ten thousand spirit stones for his life.

"I have a question for you, who is the richest?"

"It's Lin Wu, he is a Talisman Maker, and he took over the underground cave that the Alchemist had been running for years."

"Interesting, let's go, little Jie."

(Translated by Gravity Tales 😨)

Shao Xiong nodded, said no more, and went to the next house.

·······

"Friend Taoist Lin, how about we make a deal? I will buy a life for 10,000 spirit stones, what do you think?"

"It seems that Taoist Friend Shao's life is worth more than just 10,000 spirit stones, right?"

Lin Jiang pretended to be clueless while Shao Xiong already knew about his scheme of extorting independent cultivators in the Yunzhong Mountain Range. Lin Jiang knew that Shao Xiong would eventually come knocking on his door. He specifically targeted independent cultivators in the early to middle stages of building their foundation.

"Looks like Taoist Friend Lin is quite good at pretending to be clueless. Well then, the price goes up, 50,000 spirit stones."

"No money."

"Is that so, but out of the twenty-seven Taoist friends, eighteen of them said you are the richest."

"What's that?"

Now it was Lin Jiang's turn to be confused. Who is this grandson who says he is the richest? Does he really have money? How does he not know?

"Taoist Friend Lin, you won't pass today without paying money. Either lose your money or lose your life, you choose one."

Shao Xiong said coldly, the extortion didn't work as well as he had expected. Out of the twenty-seven Building Foundation stage cultivators he approached, only fifteen were willing to pay. The remaining twelve had all mastered the Third Order Array Formation and were not afraid of him at all.

The Third Order Array Formation theoretically can withstand attacks from the Golden Core stage cultivators. Although due to the spiritual veins, it couldn't exert a hundred percent of its effect, it would still be difficult for him to break through it for a while. Faced with those who would rather die than give money, he could only give up and quickly move on to the next one, because if he didn't, those people would run away.

Even so, he only managed to visit twenty-seven households. The rest had all fled to Yunzhong City. Ten thousand spirit stones were enough to pay rent for two years in Yunzhong City. They wouldn't give money for nothing.

"I don't have money, and I won't give my life either. You figure it out."

"Well, there's no other way. I'll have to target you, they say you're the richest. Your house is worth my effort to attack."

Shao Xiong said. Blackmailing is something that must be done. It will definitely be difficult to succeed next time. So he had to really attack a cave.

That's why he was asking everywhere about who was the richest person. Breaking through a well-defended cave takes a lot of effort, so naturally he had to choose the one with the best value for money.

"It's up to you, fight if you want to. I've exchanged all my spirit stones for True Spirit Pills, you see, the pill bottles are here. I have the third-level Eight Gate Golden Armor Formation, you won't be able to break it in a short time. I'll slowly consume my pills. Oh, by the way, I've deactivated the formation in my Spiritual Herb Garden. The spiritual energy is now concentrated in the Eight Gate Golden Armor Formation. Once you break it, I'll have finished all my medicines and the herbs will have withered away. You'll be working for nothing."

Lin Jiang displayed his pill bottles, there were hundreds of them, of course, ninety percent were empty. He just wanted to tell the other person that he had no money, he was a poor person, not worth robbing.

Shao Xiong's face immediately turned black, while Shao Jie jumped up and shouted, "Master, this guy is being unfair, kill him!"

"Take action."

"Okay."

Shao Xiong also felt the need to strike Lin Jiang, otherwise, everyone would imitate each other. How could he continue with blackmailing? Did he really have to kill them one by one? He's not that stupid.

"Boom, boom."

Shao Jie was the first to launch an attack. Lin Jiang's cave had a simple second-level formation at its periphery, which was easily broken in just a few moves. Lin Jiang also retreated back inside.

Inside was a third-level Eight Gate Golden Armor Formation. Shao Jie made several attempts to break the formation, but it remained unaffected. Shao Xiong also joined in on the attack.

Lin Jiang watched as they exchanged dozens of blows, but the formation remained unharmed. He felt relieved and thanked his buddy Sun Man. The formation was really impressive.

If it weren't for Sun Man leaving the cave, they would have never been able to defeat Liu Dong. It was a missed opportunity. Now, Lin Jiang was benefiting from it.

"Come on, come on, show me what you've got!"

Lin Jiang brought over a stool, took out some sunflower seeds, and watched them tirelessly attack. This infuriated Shao Xiong, who put even more effort into his strikes.

Shao Jie was shouting loudly, never having seen anything so frustrating. He attacked fiercely, giving it his all.

"Congratulations, you've finally depleted my one thousand spirit stones. Keep it up!"

It took almost a whole day for Lin Jiang's voice to be heard, and Shao Xiong almost vomited blood again.

"These southern turtles."

Shao Xiong angrily said. North of Yunzhong Mountain Range, besides their stronghold, they never set up defensive formations in the wilderness because it's useless. If they are being targeted by monsters or enemies, the right choice is to run and relocate, not to defend one spot. That's why they only set up warning formations.

This made Shao Xiong feel helpless. If they were fighting face-to-face, he could defeat this person within thirty rounds, but now he was hiding inside a turtle shell, and Shao Xiong couldn't break it.

"Stop fighting. It won't work to exhaust his spirit stone. It will take at least a month. We should guard him."

Shao Xiong told Shao Jie to put away his weapon. Since they couldn't break through, they would guard him. Shao Xiong didn't believe this person wouldn't show up.

"Hmph, playing a game of endurance, Shao Xiong, you've made a mistake."

"When I was young, I guarded the area next to the monster's den for three whole years for a medicinal herb. Lin, I wonder how long you can endure?"

Shao Xiong said coldly, Wilderness hunters have no other advantages, but patience is their strongest. He could guard a monster's den for three years for a medicinal herb, and then steal from it after the monster left. Now his patience will only be stronger.

"He's trying to challenge me. Okay, you can keep waiting."

When Lin Jiang heard this, he almost burst out laughing. He really bought a lot of True Yuan Pills and there was no shortage of food and drink in his cave. He even prepared tens of thousands of jin of jerky for Big Shadiao and Small Shadiao. He had at least thirty to fifty Inedia Pills. He could stay at home for twenty years without any problems.

Lin Jiang waved his hand and used his magic to create a thick mist from the formation, blocking the view inside the cave. He released Big Shadiao and Small Shadiao, instructing them not to make a sound but to keep a close eye on the two outside. If they made any moves, he wanted to be notified immediately.

Lin Jiang simply went about his business, completely ignoring their presence. After all, staying at home was nothing new to him. He was used to it.

The news of Shao Xiong and his disciples being blocked at the door quickly spread throughout the middle section of Yunzhong Mountain Range. Seeing Shao Xiong and his disciples being humiliated, many secretly rejoiced.

However, many others became jealous of Lin Jiang. Sun Man's cave was really amazing and now it was occupied by Lin Jiang. They felt extremely envious. If only they had fought against Hu Buwei earlier and driven him away, then the cave would have been theirs.

After a month and a half of stalemate, just when Shao Xiong was undecided whether to retreat, another Taoist came to Lin Jiang's cave. When Shao Xiong and his disciples saw this person, their faces changed.

PS1: Book 9 (Chapters 301-340) has been translated and published on Amazon (https://amzn.to/3QN5xKI).

PS2: If possible, please rate us on Amazon or Novel Updates to help us. Fanqie is very dissatisfied with "how efficiently we make money". We probably won't be able to obtain more novel translations licensed, or we will have to pay a very high price to purchase licenses from them.  (＞﹏＜)

PS3: Book 10 will be translated within 3 weeks.