Chapter 995: Not Here

There was silence—a long, heavy silence.

Inside the quiet chamber of the Boundless Palace, the air was so still that even the drop of a needle would have echoed clearly. The tree clan elders were all from the Southern Regions, so they were obviously well aware of Di Nufeng’s fearsome reputation.

And now, they had learned that this infamous monster would be the one hosting them. Who among them would dare ask any questions?

The Discipline Master sat off to the side, observing the situation. Di Nufeng sat upright at the head seat with her brows furrowed and eyes sharp, seemingly at a loss for words herself.

After a long while, it was ultimately the tree demon elder who stood up first.

Since he had taken the lead in bringing the tree demon clans of the Southern Regions under Mount Shu’s banner, he felt it was only right to set an example. Forcing himself to speak, he steadied his trembling voice and asked, "Grand Peak Master Feng, about this..."

"Hm?" Di Nufeng shot him a sharp, deadly look.

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Uhh..." The tree demon elder was so startled by her glare that he stumbled back into his seat, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

Now that Di Nufeng had attained the eighth realm, both her aura and killing intent had grown far more intense. To these demons who had yet to reach the seventh realm, she was utterly terrifying.

"What do you want to ask?" Di Nufeng snapped.

"N-not asking anymore," the tree demon elder stammered, frantically waving his hands in refusal. He turned his face away, looking as if he couldn’t wait to run home and hide.

Di Nufeng glared and shouted, "Ask!"

The tree demon elder immediately stood up straight like a kid. "Ah... I just wanted to ask on behalf of everyone. If we become vassals of your sect, what kind of resources and protection would we receive? And what would the Mount Shu Sect expect from us in return?"

"Erm... Hold on a second," Di Nufeng said as she nodded and looked back at the Discipline Master.

The Discipline Master spoke to her through voice transmission, "If they become vassals of our sect, the first condition is that they must follow our rules and refrain from any misconduct. They won’t be required to fight for us. They just have to provide support when our members carry out missions. If they possess spirit plants needed by the sect, they must give our sect priority in purchasing them. In return, our sect will offer protection and ensure their safety. The Foreign Affairs Hall will provide the full details later.”

After a brief pause, she added, "At this point in time, it is absolutely critical that our sect wins their hearts over. These demon clans may not bring us immediate benefits, but they’re important if we want to restore our former glory. They’re still on the fence, so we need to win them over. Show a good attitude, and don’t scare them off."

Hearing that, Di Nufeng frowned and muttered to herself, "Win them over? What’s so hard about that? You mean we need to beg them?"

With that, she sprang to her feet, strode to the front, and slammed her palm on the table.

"Listen up, all of you!" she shouted.

With a loud bang, the old men all flinched in shock.

Then Di Nufeng raised her voice and shouted, "From now on, you will ride with our sect! If we get into a fight, you don’t need to lift a finger... Honestly, most of you wouldn’t be much help anyway. Just step in when we need you, and if you’ve got something good, make sure to think of your big bro first.

"Of course, the Mount Shu Sect won’t be your big brother for nothing. Anyone who gives you trouble is giving me trouble. If someone dares to bully you, I, Di Nufeng, will be the first to stand up and shut them up. From now on, we’ll eat meat in big chunks, drink wine from big bowls, share our blessings, and face hardships together.

"I think we can settle this matter today."

She swept her sharp gaze across the room and asked, "Who’s in favor? Who’s against it?"

"..."

Moments later, the tree clan elders scrambled over one another to finalize their vassal agreement with the Mount Shu Sect.

The Discipline Master looked at Di Nufeng with a satisfied smile. "Not bad. Your methods were a bit rough, but you got the job done."

Di Nufeng gave a thumbs-up. "Heh. Told you so. If that old fart Wang Xuanling can handle it, there’s no way I can’t!"

"Wonderful. In that case, you should be able to complete the assorted affairs from the various peaks that Wang Xuanling can finish in a single morning within a day, right?"

With that, the Discipline Master led her to the grand peak master’s office. Inside, the desk was piled high with documents, each one waiting to be dealt with.

"Hurry up. You still have to memorize the roster tonight."

Di Nufeng stared at the mountain of paperwork and felt as if darkness had suddenly clouded her vision.

"Agh..." she groaned.

...

Meanwhile, light returned to Chu Liang’s eyes as he regained consciousness.

Because of what had happened inside the White Pagoda’s space, he had nearly believed he’d been completely drained. But when he opened his eyes, he realized he was still lying in his small cabin.

As his fingers moved, they accidentally brushed against something hard and column-shaped. The object felt solid and angular to the touch.

"What is this..." he murmured.

Chu Liang sat up and picked it up for a closer look. It was a small pagoda, pure white in color, about the length and thickness of an adult forearm. It felt heavy in his palm. Though it had no luster, he could clearly sense the extraordinary spiritual energy it contained.

"It worked?!"

He immediately realized that the fusion between Deity Pan’s Bone and the White Pagoda had most likely succeeded!

However, when he tried to do what he had always done, sending his divine sense into the space within the White Pagoda, he found nothing there. The realm that had once occupied part of his consciousness had completely disappeared.

The realm within the White Pagoda, which had been with him for several years, was now gone, and Chu Liang couldn’t help but feel a little wistful. Still, keeping the White Pagoda inside his mind forever might not have been a good thing. Besides, it wasn’t as if he had truly lost it.

He extended his divine sense into the small pagoda, and sure enough, in a flash, he was pulled into that familiar space.

The orderly iron cells, Tuntun’s white cocoon, and the rows of seated Large-Headed Dolls were all still there. Nothing had changed.

The only difference was that the Large-Headed Dolls were no longer cultivating. They were all slumped over on the ground, scattered in disarray and looking utterly miserable.

"What happened to you guys?" Chu Liang asked as he picked one up and infused it with his spirit sense to inspect it.

If even one of his Large-Headed Dolls had been damaged, it would have felt like someone had carved out a piece of his heart. Thankfully, after a careful check, he found they weren’t broken. They had simply run dry of spiritual energy and needed to be replenished.

The pills and spirit plants he had stored should have lasted a while longer, but the recent surge in consumption had been too intense. It was no surprise their reserves had been drained.

Since they had just pulled an overtime shift to help him secure such a valuable treasure, it was only fair to pay them a little bonus.

Chu Liang refueled them with new resources and watched as qi began to circulate within each doll once more. Only then did he feel a sense of relief. If that hadn’t worked, he would have had to seriously consider the painful idea of giving the dolls a day off to let them rest.

Good thing they are still functional

, he thought.

Once everything was taken care of, he withdrew his divine sense and started inspecting this tiny white pagoda again.

In addition to retaining the original pagoda spirit’s power to refine monsters, the White Pagoda now seemed to have gained the ability to suppress evil entities. In that sense, it was an upgraded version of the old Demon-Suppressing Pagoda.

The only uncertainty was whether this suppressive power could still achieve the effect Deity Pan's Bone once had, which was killing ninth-realm beings. Since the Deity Pan's Bone had sustained damage, the answer was likely a no.

Even so, there was no doubt it had reached the level of a legendary artifact.

Chu Liang decided to name it the Demon-Refining Pagoda.

Just as he was mulling over his new treasure, a gentle voice called from outside.

"Junior Brother Chu, are you there?"

The voice sounded like Yuan Zhuo from the Hall of Conservation.

Chu Liang instinctively opened his mouth to answer, but then remembered what Yuan Zhuo’s visit might mean. He stopped himself just in time and called out, "Not here!"