Huh? Isn't this an adventure kingdom building game?!-Chapter 809 - 762: After Losing Spiritual Energy (Part 2)
Aside from the known information, one line in the analysis caught his attention: "His Daoxin was disrupted by Gao Yi’s claim of the Demon Realm Alliance’s collective ascension."
Is it true or not?
The Demon Realm Alliance is playing such a big game in secret, planning to take so many demon cultivators for a collective ascension?
This side quest, which the system had hinted would be triggered upon upgrading to a Level Eight courtyard, might be related to this?
"The human world descending into the Wilderness at night—doesn’t that just mean the sudden disappearance of spiritual energy? Cultivators without enough spirit stone reserves will just die despairingly, which is truly pathetic to think about."
A complex expression appeared on Qu Luming’s overly pale face as he lowered his voice: "Really, it doesn’t matter what your status is or when it is; as long as you have enough money in your hands, you can feel assured!"
Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement and glanced at his account balance. With only over a million spirit stones left, he felt very insecure.
Why not visit Xiuzhu Tower tonight and see how Corpse Demon Zhao Wuji’s business is going lately and how the recruitment of evil cultivators is proceeding?
It would definitely be best to eat and take everything!
"Do you have anything else you want to say?" Gao Yi swiped his right hand to lift the silence ban, speaking coldly: "Your time is running out. If you want to leave a last word, you need to do it quickly.
It’s best to advise those who have betrayed the alliance like you to turn themselves in before getting caught. Although they can’t escape living punishment, the death penalty can be avoided, and with a good attitude of admitting guilt, they wouldn’t have to die in such pain and despair as you do."
Previously, he had worried that mentioning Daoxin might upset Ding Shun’an, causing him to babble.
Now, seeing him become old and frail, struggling even to breathe and lacking the strength to cause a stir, Gao Yi finally allowed him to speak.
Of course, Gao Yi’s ultimate goal was still to make an example.
If this public execution can deter the unapprehended traitors into turning themselves in, he could achieve another merit.
"Save, save me!" With a face full of wrinkles and a hunched back, Ding Shun’an had his hearing affected and could only see the other party’s mouth moving, unable to hear what was being said clearly.
Instinctively, he cried for help. The vital energy in his body was rapidly fading, with his mind becoming dull. Only one thought remained—spiritual energy, I need spiritual energy!
Even just a piece of spirit stone would be fine; I’m so empty and in pain, I want spirit stones! Spiritual energy!
After his spiritual power dried up, even his bone marrow seemed to be drained. The extreme craving for spirit stones made him tremble all over, scratching himself continuously, showcasing the pain and despair vividly.
Jiang Yuan couldn’t help but grimace, thinking how this looked like withdrawal symptoms. Absorbing spiritual energy must be addictive.
"Please, give me a spirit stone, I beg you." Ding Shun’an pleaded weakly, his severely aged legs moving with difficulty, shakily stepping forward and mumbling incoherently.
Suddenly, "plop"—something fell.
His old eyes were blurry, failing to see clearly, as he reached out and felt something small and hard.
"Plop!"
"Plop!"
Consecutive falls made Ding Shun’an gradually realize—his once proud set of teeth were now not even a single one was left.
Breathing became difficult. He pursed his toothless, shriveled lips and muttered: "Kill me, give me a swift end." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
However, the nearly whispered, aged, and hoarse voice wasn’t listened to or contemplated by anyone, not even Gao Yi, who was the closest, heard clearly what he was mumbling.
"This public execution should be spread widely across the Wilderness World to show those plotting individuals what happens to traitors!"
"It’s enough that we know, not all cultivators have sharp minds. If it stirs up panic, that would be troublesome."
"Indeed, there’s already a group fixated on blaming mere mortals in the human world for the Wilderness descending. If they knew how badly one could die after losing spiritual energy, they’d hate those mortals even more."
"Why? I’ve never heard of it, why hate mortals?"
"Brother, you always go into seclusion at the slightest bit, your news is so cut off. Don’t you know? Now many demon cultivators claim that the Wilderness descending was caused by the mortals in the human world, accusing them of sharing our spiritual energy and taking advantage cheaply."
"Ha? Aren’t they those ascidian-cultivating demon cultivators? Cultivating while eating their brains?"
"Indeed, those mortals are weaker than a worm; if they had such prowess, they’d have taken back the Wilderness World by now. How stupid must someone be to believe they could sink the whole world?"
"Even if they had such abilities, it should be to trigger a Spiritual Energy Revival, rather than letting the Wilderness fall to the surface. Who invites others to ruin themselves?"
"Hush! I heard some individuals are deliberately spreading rumors to put the blame on mortals, to control the growth and rise of human cultivators...."
...
There was a bustling crowd surrounded, and some demon cultivators even took the opportunity to socialize and meet new Daoist friends, while no one paid attention to Ding Shun’an, who was in extreme pain and couldn’t even end his own suffering.
For him, time passed too slowly, every breath felt like ages.
Slow enough to feel his body deteriorating bit by bit, even his internal organs aging and withering.
Unable to plead any longer, he sat slumped on the ground, gasping big breaths of air to avoid suffocating with his aged lungs unable to absorb enough air.
His desire to survive was like a caged mad beast, this aged body could no longer bear the burden of seeking help, not even capable of holding on a moment longer.
Glimpses of past memories started flashing in Ding Shun’an’s mind, reflecting that had he realized the peculiar aspects of the Demon King’s actions sooner, he wouldn’t have been lured by Immortal Jade.
If he hadn’t walked down this path, at this moment, Chief Ding would’ve been spiritedly living a very pleasant life with the salary provided by the Demon Realm Alliance...
In his fantasies, the bright and splendid future of Chief Ding grew fainter as he breathed his last breath, extinguishing all remaining vitality.
By now, Ding Shun’an’s body had dried up like kindling, shrunken flesh sticking to his bones, appearing somewhat terrifying.
"Whoosh~"
The dry wind blowing across the desert basin began to turn the corpse to sand.
Fragments of sand fell, carried away by the wind, scattering between heaven and earth.
"This execution is officially concluded. Please wait a moment, so the Law Enforcement Hall members can set up the teleportation array to return to headquarters." Gao Yi only then let out a sigh of relief.
The entire public execution occurred flawlessly, once again, a perfectly completed mission!
Feeling his mind relaxed, he took the opportunity to observe which Daoists had sent representatives to watch the execution, as this related to future relationships and social focus within the alliance and could not be taken lightly.
Then, Gao Yi’s eyes fell on Jiang Yuan occupying the central position.
"Strange, I’ve seen this human cultivator for the first time, yet why do I feel like I’ve seen him before?" He glanced at him and found his identification tag was identical to that of Daoist Qu, who occasionally represented the Vice Alliance Hierarch.
This means that the two responsible for overseeing the execution this time were both confidants of Vice Alliance Hierarch, Du Li.
At this juncture, the vice leader displaying a human cultivator openly during an internal alliance execution scene—what does that signify?
Though Gao Yi wouldn’t be foolish enough to blame the human cultivators for the Wilderness descending, he still feared the resurgence of human cultivators, fearing they’d fight to seize or divide the more abundant Wilderness world.
Moreover, since his entry into the Demon Realm Alliance, he had never seen any human cultivators allowed in.
Now, not only had this person transparently entered the alliance headquarters, but also represented the vice alliance leader in overseeing an open execution. The Alliance Leader seemed to be in seclusion again; is the Vice Alliance Hierarch sending some sort of signal?
While pondering, Gao Yi watched his subordinates pack away the execution tools, mentally searching for clues.
"Hiss... Sand Hill City!" Soon, the cold-faced cultivator’s facial skin trembled slightly.
Gao Yi recalled it—during a mission a few days ago, upon teleporting alone to Sand Hill City and discovering an alliance-produced array, he saw this very being in a retrospective vision!
Though the light was too dazzling to discern specific features, the same magical robe style, stance, and aura confirmed it absolutely was the same individual!
Were those wings a magical treasure? Or a divine artifact?
Recollecting the opponent’s power, Gao Yi couldn’t help but inhale sharply, thinking that his guess was indeed correct.
It seemed the vice alliance leader had set a meticulous plan for the benefits of fire stones in Sand Hill City, flawlessly and covertly executing multiple goals simultaneously.
This human cultivator, if he could act as a white glove to remove obstacles and openly represent him supervising executions, was he planning to induct him into the alliance?
At this thought, he couldn’t resist taking another glance, contemplating whether to seize the opportunity to establish a rapport with the individual.
