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Yu Feng noticed that carriages were driving towards the Blood-Red Hall, the residence of the Blood River Ancestor. The wheels sank deep into the ground and the horses struggled, indicating that the carriages were carrying heavy cargo.

The Blood River Ancestor was a spearhead in the construction of the Immortal Dynasty, responsible for recruiting cultivators and handling external affairs.

“We are here to pay our respects to the Blood River Ancestor, whose mana equals that of heaven, and endures eternally.”

The mortal emperors gathered here, all devoid of the self-commanding might seen in noble courts. They knelt and kowtowed to the Blood River Ancestor.

Now that the cultivation forces of the Ancient World are unified under the Immortal Dynasty, the powers that backed the various kingdoms have deserted them and come here.

If they want to survive on the mainland, they need to show their loyalty and cling to those with the most power.

They were here to present tributes.

Not by sending diplomats, but by the monarchs themselves coming forward to present tributes, pleading to become a vassal state of the Immortal Dynasty.

You could foresee that a situation where every star circles the moon would form in the Ancient World, with hundreds of human kingdoms paying respect to the Immortal Dynasty.

The mortal emperors carefully handed the list of tribute goods to the young disciples, who in turn handed them to the Blood River Ancestor.

The Blood River Ancestor didn’t need to see the list. With one sweep of his Divine Sense, he could see the gifts on the carriages.

Gold, pearls, agates, antiques, trinkets, calligraphy and paintings… none of which included a Spirit Stone.

Just some commonplace items that, while valuable to humans, held little merit to cultivators.

They couldn’t have such items — anything related to cultivation would be taken by the forces within their borders, leaving them with nothing.

The mortal emperors believed their intentions were clear, as they didn’t have any items that cultivators would value.

The Blood River Ancestor collected the list. Seeing this, the mortal emperors rejoiced, thinking that they had achieved their goals.

But then the Blood River Ancestor spoke: “I could accept these worthless items but each of you must also provide a certain number of mortals as tribute.”

“As an example, the Mysterious Kingdom, being a large one, should present a hundred thousand mortals each year. As for the other kingdoms, someone will inform you.”

The monarch of the Mysterious Kingdom was dumbfounded. A hundred thousand a year was a tremendous number; how would they choose who to sacrifice and find so many people on such short notice?

“However, there’s no hurry. Humans are currently not needed, and it would be troublesome to provide supplies for them if you brought them right now. So, simply know this for now and prepare early. You can bring the people on the eve of the founding ceremony.”

The mortal emperors relaxed slightly as there was time to prepare.

The Blood River Ancestor then glanced at the Mysterious Kingdom’s monarch and said: “The Mysterious Kingdom, as an example, should send over a hundred thousand people right away. Start preparing immediately and make no errors.”

The monarch of the Mysterious Kingdom didn’t understand why he was set apart. Yet, he did not dare to question, thanking the Blood River Ancestor for his mercy as he could only nod in agreement.

The Blood River Ancestor held no favorable opinion of the Mysterious Kingdom. It was in that kingdom where his unreliable descendant had died, leading him to war with the Venomous Elder in the cosmos.

With his status, he wouldn’t stoop to holding grudges against the Mysterious Kingdom. However, he also didn’t want to make things easy for them, therefore, hindering them slightly.

Furthermore, he was in the mood for some bloodshed, and hence decided to start with a hundred thousand.

Leaving the grand hall, the monarchs immediately asked the young disciple – seizing the chance when told about the required number of mortals – if they could lower the number of mortals offered.

The young disciple sneered and mocked the monarchs for their ignorance: “Do you know how much is needed to establish an Immortal Dynasty? National protection array, air-space prohibition array… all require a blood sacrifice of mortals to maintain the operation of the array. If you lessen the number of mortals given as tribute, should we use your heads to fill up the formation instead?”

The Mysterious Kingdom’s monarch bravely asked: “Couldn’t we use Spirit Stones and Spiritual Power instead?”

“Can you even compare the life of a mortal with a Spirit Stone? Additionally, the Heavenly Monarch is kind and benevolent, with a heart for all under heaven. He wishes for both the righteous and demonic cultivators to stand firm, and intends to provide practice materials for the latter.”

Naturally, ‘practice materials’ meant human lives.

Hearing that this was the Heavenly Monarch’s will, the mortal emperors didn’t dare to haggle or argue a bit more.

They worship cultivators as immortals, and cultivators worship the Heavenly Monarch as an immortal. The gap is too wide, they were not even qualified to meet the Heavenly Monarch.

“It’s unlikely that low-rank cultivators will be used as resources; hence, they have to settle for the second-best, use mortals as resources.”

The mortal emperors turned pale. This was outright murder.

“Moreover, doesn’t every kingdom have tens of thousands of people to offer? Don’t you mortals experience yearly famine leading to numerous deaths? You can just transport those people to the Immortal Dynasty before they starve to death.” The disciple suggested casually, thinking it was a good solution.

Jiang Li scanned the scene with his Divine Sense and frowned. In the Nine Provinces, famine did not exist. Famine mostly stemmed from severe droughts and floods. Cultivators could intervene, and use their mana to control waters and precipitation to ensure a good harvest. There’s no problem with food production.

The cultivators of the Ancient World were high and mighty and would not stoop to help mortals with their agricultural work.

This resulted in the Ancient World having a much lower population density compared to the Nine Provinces.

“Junior brother, are you saying that the Ancestor asked the Mysterious Kingdom to provide a hundred thousand people and to prepare immediately?” Having asked the disciple for the information, Ma Pingfan realised this was an opportunity to curry favour with the Ancestor.

The Ancestor wanted to trouble the Mysterious Kingdom and was in the mood for killing. He could make trouble for the Mysterious Kingdom, letting its monarch choose those who were young, lively, and rebellious as sacrifices, offering the Ancestor some stimulating kills.

Once he thought of this, he acted.

“Yu Feng, Sister Wu Lian, there’s good news.” Ma Pingfan found Yu Feng and Wu Lian, acting as if he was bestowing upon them a heavenly gift.

“In consideration of us all being disciples of the same master, I’m giving you an opportunity to get into the good books of the Blood River Ancestor.”

“What?” Sister Wu Lian felt that Ma Pingfan was incapable of producing anything good over his lips.

“Taking you to the Mysterious Kingdom to choose a hundred thousand human slaves to offer to the Blood River Ancestor.”

Yu Feng felt that while Ma Pingfan might be trying to give a chance to his sister, he definitely wouldn’t be giving him one.

His ample experience with life-and-death situations told him that Ma Pingfan wanted to kill him. His intuition in this area had always been accurate!

Yu Feng’s intuition was correct, Ma Pingfan truly wanted to kill him.

He had hit this boy before, and this boy might bear a grudge against him. Not to mention, the boy was a genius. These two reasons were enough for Ma Pingfan to decide to kill.

For those who could potentially threaten him, he always took action in advance, nipping the threat in the bud before it could form.

But the Heavenly Monarch valued both the quantity and quality of the cultivators. Publicly killing this boy might get the Heavenly Monarch’s attention, and that would be bad.

To be safe, Ma Pingfan wanted to take Yu Feng out of the Immortal Dynasty and kill him unnoticed in the outside world.

It would be best to create an accident.

Yu Feng felt aggrieved. He hadn’t done anything, yet he had caught the attention of a Divinity Transformation cultivator.

Also, how could he be considered a genius? He became a Dan Condensation First Class cultivator at eighteen, and that was all thanks to Jiang Li’s guidance, as well as the mentoring of various Body Integration Realm predecessors.

He was nothing more than a good disciple.

Sister Wu Lian wasn’t keen on this job either.

Human slaves, Blood River Ancestor – these two words together couldn’t possibly signify anything good.

However, Ma Pingfan didn’t care about their opinions. Without uttering another word, he took them with him and flew towards the Mysterious Kingdom.