Blackblood Mountains.

This mountain range is vast, not smaller than the Tangshan Mountains. Otherwise, Guan Hai wouldn't have been able to search the area thoroughly for half a year. The Blood Sword Sect's mountain gate was located within the mountain range.

After Chen Yuan killed the Devil Blade Guan Hai, the Liangshan and Blood Sword Sect disciples who had surrendered were still present. At this time, there was no need for Chen Yuan to take action personally.

These small fry were not worth his effort.

Mo Bai and his wife had pledged allegiance to him, so they needed to offer a genuine *tou ming zhuang* (pledge of allegiance).

As for the Yuan Crystal mine, that was his reward for taking action.

All the bandits from Liangshan were killed, and after a thorough investigation, those Blood Sword Sect disciples who actively surrendered were also killed by Mo Bai and his wife. As for those who were forced to surrender, they were spared.

Not because they were unwilling, but because Chen Yuan had given the order.

After they found the Yuan Crystal mine, they would still need people to mine it. These Blood Sword Sect disciples were all quite strong, stronger than ordinary laborers, so if they could be kept alive, they should be.

After resolving these matters, Mo Bai and his wife led Chen Yuan directly to a certain location within the Blackblood Mountains.

The destruction of the Blood Sword Sect was mainly due to this Yuan Crystal mine. Although it wasn't its fault, that was the reality. Such a huge fortune would mean death for the couple if they were associated with it.

In addition, Chen Yuan was avenging the Blood Sword Sect, which was also a pre-arranged reward, so they were naturally willing to offer it to him.

After flying for about a quarter of an hour, Mo Bai stopped at an inconspicuous valley. There were at least dozens of similar valleys in the Blackblood Mountains.

Therefore, it was not eye-catching at all. Zhao Rufeng and others would not have paid attention to a valley.

"Lord Marquis, the Yuan Crystal mine is inside the valley!"

Mo Bai said softly, looking at the valley below.

Chen Yuan nodded slightly, but after careful investigation, he did not find anything unusual. He looked at the couple with a questioning gaze.

Mo Bai then explained:

"Actually, the reason why the sect was able to discover this mine before was also due to chance. This place is different from ordinary places. The Yuan Crystals are located deep underground, and the Yuan Qi fluctuations are small, similar to the Yuan Qi density here, so it is not easily detected. Later, the Sect Master left a sealing formation here.

Making it even more unknown to others."

After saying that, Mo Bai did not hesitate. He extended his sword finger, and a sword Qi shot straight at a plain-looking bluestone in the valley, causing a rumble.

This was the location of one of the formation eyes of the sealing formation. As long as one was destroyed, there would be a flaw in the great formation.

Sure enough, in just a moment, Chen Yuan sensed a very faint Yuan Qi fluctuation from deep underground. Excluding treasures such as spiritual objects, it must be the Yuan Crystal mine.

Chen Yuan was very satisfied and looked at the couple with a smile:

"With the help of the Yuan Crystal mine, this Marquis can finally breathe a sigh of relief. I must thank you couple for your help. The previous promises are still valid. As long as you follow me wholeheartedly, I will definitely not let you regret it. Even rebuilding the Blood Sword Sect is not a problem."

What he needed most now was a large amount of resources. This Yuan Crystal mine could be said to be a timely help, and it could provide him with great assistance at the moment.

"Forget about rebuilding the Blood Sword Sect. Since it has already disappeared, let it return to dust. My wife and I don't have much ability. We are content to follow Lord Marquis and seek peace." Mo Bai smiled, his tone genuine.

"Yes, Lord Marquis."

His wife beside him echoed.

During the days of fleeing before, they had already had this idea, but Mo Bai was still unable to let go of his hatred after all.

Now that his great revenge was avenged, Mo Bai was even unwilling to change his name back.

Now... it's pretty good.

"That's up to you, I won't force it," Chen Yuan said.

"Lord Marquis, you just killed Guan Hai. With Liangshan's ability, they must have already learned about it. I'm afraid there are already strong people coming. The Yuan Crystal mine is here and won't run away. Should we discuss it further?"

Mo Bai said it euphemistically, but the meaning of his words was already very clear.

He hoped that Chen Yuan would avoid the limelight for the time being. He was really afraid that Chen Yuan would continue to be reckless.

It was already not easy to take down a Guan Hai. Could he also take on Liangshan, which had been shaking Xuzhou for decades? You must know that Liangshan now dares to compete with the Seven Killing Palace.

There was more than one Zhenjun (True Lord).

The Blood Sword Sect seemed to be a top force, but in front of Liangshan, it was just a slightly larger ant, which could be destroyed at will. Chen Yuan, no matter how strong, could not kill a Zhenjun.

The Yuan Crystal mine could be temporarily concealed, and the people from Liangshan would not be able to find it in a short period of time. They could completely use the power of the imperial court to force Liangshan back.

But what he didn't know was that the Yuan Crystal mine was the resource he had prepared for himself. It was the most important foundation for expanding his army by tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops. How could he let it go?

In fact, what he lacked most now was time, and he couldn't even afford to delay.

He had to mine the Yuan Crystals as soon as possible to keep up with the consumption.

"This matter is in this Marquis's mind. Since I dared to kill Guan Hai, I am not afraid of Liangshan Zhenjun's revenge. Moreover, you can escape for a while, but you can't escape forever."

Even if he left the Blackblood Mountains now and left Xuzhou, could he leave Tangshan? Liangshan, which had very close ties with Tangshan, would definitely guess that he was the mastermind behind the scenes. When the time came, they would directly attack Tangshan, and his situation would be even more passive.

With Moro present, Zhenjun was not impossible to kill!

Even if he couldn't kill them, he could force them back and completely draw a line. Only then could he obtain this batch of Yuan Crystals safely.

This place was close to the border prefectures of the imperial court, and the geographical location was beneficial to him. Retreating was very undesirable.

"This..."

Seeing Chen Yuan refuse outright, Mo Bai secretly said, "As expected," which was similar to what he had expected, but he couldn't help but worry.

Chen Yuan had helped him, and even though he had the Yuan Crystal mine as a reward, he didn't want him to die here.

"Alright, arrange this place. You couple should take those people from Tangshan and hide in the Blackblood Mountains. Wait until I repel the Liangshan bandits, and then we'll talk about mining."

Chen Yuan didn't want to waste any more words.

If he really wanted to leave, why would he have asked Han Yu to mobilize elites to come to Xuzhou?

All of this was just preparation for transporting the Yuan Crystal mine.

Seeing that he couldn't be persuaded, Mo Bai and his wife exchanged a glance and had no choice but to give up. They both cupped their hands and said:

"Yes, we obey Lord Marquis's orders!"

......

......

On a peak of the Blood Sword Sect that had not been affected by the aftermath of the previous battle.

Chen Yuan sat cross-legged, adjusting his breath, his expression always indifferent. Just as he had instructed, Mo Bai and his wife had already led dozens of people to hide in the Blackblood Mountains, and they would only come out when he personally appeared.

One was for their safety. The battle between Zhenjun-level powerhouses was difficult for them to withstand, even the aftermath, so it was better to hide far away in advance.

The second was to conceal their identities.

The Shura Demon Lord and the Dao God Palace could not be exposed in front of them, at least not yet. Even if Chen Yuan believed in their loyalty, he would not take risks.

Before starting a rebellion, if Jingtai knew about the Shura Demon Lord and the Dao God Palace, things would change in unpredictable directions, which was not in line with Chen Yuan's plans.

What he liked was to have everything under his control, step by step.

According to the pre-planned route, step by step.

They would hide in the Blackblood Mountains, while he would face the enemy head-on.

Regarding Liangshan's intelligence, the headquarters of the Sky Patrol Division had plenty. Before he became a Heavenly-Rank Envoy, he had specifically crammed on many things about the South.

Although not everything, it was almost enough.

Among them, he had specifically paid attention to this Liangshan.

This force had actually risen in a very short period of time. Relying on its famous reputation in the Jianghu (Martial World), it was able to stand in Xuzhou in just a hundred years, and now it was even vaguely competing with the Seven Killing Palace.

It had to be said that this was a small miracle.

After all, there were countless forces in the Jianghu that had been passed down for hundreds of years, but most of them were maintaining the status quo, and there were not many that could rise against the trend. Being able to maintain the foundations passed down by their ancestors was already not easy.

Therefore, although Chen Yuan couldn't be sure, he also guessed that this Liangshan was probably not as simple as it seemed on the surface, and there should be forces supporting it behind the scenes.

There were many Huayang (Transformation Sun) Zhenrens (True Persons) in Liangshan on the surface. Because various forces had defected to seek refuge in the past hundred years, there were seven or eight Huayang experts just on the surface.

Guan Hai was only in the middle-to-upper ranks among them. In addition, there were many other fierce people. This was only the upper level. In fact, the martial arts elites in the middle and lower levels were even more highly skilled.

According to the imperial court's information, Liangshan had nearly thirty Danjing (Elixir Realm) Grandmasters and over a hundred Tongxuan (Mystic Penetration) experts!

The reason why it had so many, even comparable to or surpassing the Immortal Sects, was mainly because, as mentioned before, this force did not cultivate its disciples steadily.

Instead, it directly recruited from the Jianghu....

Someone who had offended the imperial court or offended the local forces, as long as they couldn't survive, they might go to join Liangshan and strive to earn a righteous name among the One Hundred and Eight Generals.

Therefore, this force developed very quickly, but it was also mixed, with all kinds of people, including those who committed all kinds of evil, committed adultery, plundered, and lost their conscience.

What Liangshan valued was not morality, but whether they could be used for its purposes.

How could it not be fast after a hundred years of development?

If the Ten Great Immortal Sects recruited experts to serve as guest elders at all levels, the prestige they could create would be even greater, but the reason why the Immortal Sects were called Immortal Sects and could be passed down for thousands of years without collapsing was because they would rather have fewer than recruit indiscriminately.

Disciples must be cultivated from childhood, and it was as difficult as ascending to heaven for outsiders to enter, and they would not be trusted.

Among the many experts in Liangshan, the two most worthy of Chen Yuan's attention and also the most worthy of the imperial court's attention were the two real rulers of Liangshan. The first was the Great Chieftain of Liangshan, the White-Clothed Scholar Song Lun, ranked sixteenth on the Supreme Ranking. It was once said that he was a scholar who was unable to truss a chicken, well-read but repeatedly failed the imperial examinations.

Later, due to some changes, he abandoned writing and took up martial arts in anger.

As a result, he was not good at studying, but he had top-notch talent in martial arts. In just a hundred years, he reached the Yangshen (Yang Spirit) Realm, which was very extraordinary.

The second was the Second Chieftain of Liangshan, Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Lu Guangsheng, ranked nineteenth on the Supreme Ranking. According to legend, he was once the head of a reclusive small family with extraordinary talent, but he provoked a force that coveted his family's wealth.

Left with no choice, he joined forces with Song Lun and established Liangshan together.

Of course, this was just a rumor. In fact, even the Sky Patrol Division had not investigated the origins of the two of them, especially Lu Guangsheng, too clearly.

These two people were the real power figures of Liangshan, controlling all the power, and at the same time, they were close and intimate, like brothers. The imperial court had once considered dividing and wooing them, but it ended in failure.

Regarding their strength, if they were only ranked sixteenth and nineteenth on the Supreme Ranking, Chen Yuan would not be afraid at all.

The Zhenjun of the Sima imperial clan whom he had killed in the imperial city before could barely make it onto the ranking in terms of overall strength, and it was easy to kill him at the time, without much effort.

The sixteenth and nineteenth ranks were not taken seriously.

However, rankings do not fully represent strength. Dengxian Tower only sorts out their respective battle records and makes inferences to arrive at the ranking. The actual situation may not be accurate.

Just like now, the Seven Killing Palace is unable to do anything about Liangshan without Immortals taking action, which can prove this point.

You must know that the Palace Master of the Seven Killing Palace is a peerless Zhenjun ranked in the top ten of the Supreme Ranking. The second-in-command, King Chujiang, has also had a record of killing a Yangshen Zhenjun alone.

It was just because this news was just hearsay and Dengxian Tower did not know the details, so they did not include him in the Supreme Ranking.

Can they say that the two guys that even the Ten Great Immortal Sects have difficulty dealing with are just ordinary Zhenjun?

Therefore, Chen Yuan despises them strategically, but he values them tactically, and he will never have the idea of underestimating the Yangshen Zhenjun.

No matter what, Zhenjun is still Zhenjun.

And he only has Yuanshen (Nascent Soul) cultivation. Without Moro as his reliance, even the weakest Zhenjun can crush him.

Time passed by second by second. Chen Yuan did not cultivate, but recalled the information about Liangshan in the Sky Patrol Division, while thinking about the path he should take next.

In the blink of an eye, half a day passed.

Adding the time he had spent killing Guan Hai and searching for the Yuan Crystal mine before, it had been almost a day. The sun, which had been hanging high, had already set.

The faint afterglow of the setting sun sprinkled on the earth, outlining a beautiful picture.

If it were winter, it would already be dark by now.

Thousands of miles is a long distance. It would take at least several days for low-realm martial artists, but for Yangshen Zhenjun, one day is definitely enough to cross three thousand miles.

Chen Yuan closed his eyes and spread his divine sense far away, constantly paying attention to the movements nearby, not daring to relax.

Finally, after another quarter of an hour passed.

Chen Yuan also sensed a trace of the unusual. A very faint gaze fell on him. His eyelashes trembled slightly, and then he opened his eyes and turned his gaze to the left front, saying lightly:

"If the friends from Liangshan have arrived, then show yourselves. Hiding and not daring to show yourselves, you are losing the respected reputation in the Jianghu."

"Hehe...."

A faint chuckle came from all directions, light and cloudless, moving with the wind.

"When it comes to reputation, Martial Marquis Wuan, who shocked the world in the battle of Liangzhou City, is truly famous throughout the world. How can the little reputation of Liangshan in the Jianghu enter the eyes of Martial Marquis Wuan?"

This voice was very light, very indifferent, and did not seem like it had come to question him at all.

After the voice fell, in the void more than a hundred feet to the left of Chen Yuan, ripples rippled like a leaf falling on the surface of the water, and a white figure with a folding fan and a kerchief appeared.

The man had an aura as light as a clear breeze, with deep and bright eyes, a thin face, and the appearance of a scholar.

The White-Clothed Scholar, the Great Chieftain of Liangshan, Song Lun!

Chen Yuan instantly thought of this person.

After Song Lun, another person came out. It was a black man like an iron tower, nearly a Zhang (about 10 feet) tall, more than two meters tall, who should have taken the path of body refining, with boundless Qi and blood.

Even at a distance of a hundred feet, Chen Yuan could sense that his physical strength should be very strong, and it was estimated that he had broken through the Vajra Undestructible realm, but he probably had not gone far in the Divine Power realm.

Although the aura exuded from his body was strong, it did not make him feel any danger.

According to the information, it was estimated that it was undoubtedly Fan Ying, the Blood Ax of Liangshan.

"Humph, is it you, this weakling, who killed Brother Guan Hai?" Fan Ying's eyes, the size of cow eyes, glared, with a ferocious aura.

"Fan Ying, don't be rude."

Song Lun raised his hand to stop him from continuing.

His gaze towards Chen Yuan was somewhat scrutinizing.

Chen Yuan just glanced at Fan Ying and ignored this small character. Instead, he turned his gaze to Song Lun and smiled lightly:

"That's just the heroes of the world being kind. In reality, sacrificing oneself for the country is what every man in the Central Plains should do. How can it compare to Chieftain Song gathering in one place and disrupting the imperial government, which makes him so famous?"

Seeing that Chen Yuan ignored him, Fan Ying was a little angry, but considering the Chieftain's face, he just glared at him again, his face turning green and white, obviously quite angry.

Song Lun was not angry at Chen Yuan's ridicule, but said:

"Let's not beat around the bush. Martial Marquis Wuan should know why Song is here today. You killed my Fifth Chieftain of Liangshan, you should give an explanation."

"Guan Hai has done many evils, and has countless lives on his hands. There are even rumors that he eats people alive. At that time, why didn't Chieftain Song give an explanation?

If you want an explanation, I'll give it to you. Guan Hai deserved to die, and he deserved his punishment. As an imperial official and the Governor-General of the three southern states, this Marquis has the power and the name, shouldn't I kill him?"

Chen Yuan answered directly, with a trace of green light flashing in his eyes.

A faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Guan Hai did not have any luck on his body, but it fell on this white-clothed scholar. It was really... a bit tricky.

"Jianghu people should do Jianghu affairs. It is true that Guan Hai has killed many people. Then, when you, Martial Marquis Wuan, slaughtered entire families, were you standing on the side of imperial law?

Saying this is biased."

Chen Yuan laughed heartily and nodded slightly:

"You are right. I have exterminated many families and slaughtered many civilians, but just as you said, every person I have killed, except for accidental injuries in battle, is in accordance with imperial law.

I am an imperial official, a Heavenly-Rank Envoy of the Sky Patrol Division, and the law cannot control me."

"I may have harmed my private morals in private, but have I ever lacked righteousness? I still slaughter the northerly barbarians. The barbarian generals have also fallen under my blade, and the overseas barbarians have also been separated from their bodies in my hands.

What about you? Gathering in one place is nothing, but how many of the things you have done are beneficial to the people and have a clear conscience to the world? Song Lun, you useless, pretentious, pedantic scholar, are you worthy to accuse me!"

Ding Ding Little Stone reminds you: Remember to collect after reading.