At this moment, three Oracles shrouded in dark smoke flew over. As they approached, they took out three hundred and sixty black needles, each measuring three feet and six inches long; as fine as cow hair and as soft as silk. Then, they ruthlessly inserted them into Reverend Yao Yue's body, straight into his three hundred and sixty vital acupoints. They were a set of vicious magical items crafted by the Directorate of Celestials called the 'Immortal Detaining Needles.' Once inside the body, they would form the 'Immortal Detaining Web', turning an Immortal, even if he were a top-tiered Gold Immortal, into a prisoner, and taking away his chances of fighting back.
Moving as fast as they could, the three Oracles finished their job in just a few breaths of time. After entering his body through different acupoints, the needles stretched along his meridians and blood vessels, and immediately fused together like mercury when they met. Glancing with his Chaotic Divine Eyes, Wu Qi could see a big black web formed inside Reverend Yao Yue's body.
With the vital acupoints breached, his immortal energy was leaking through the black web, and soon was fully depleted. The web had also isolated him from the natural energy, so even when he woke up, he could not absorb any energy from the surroundings to recover.
Although the needles were fine, they were hollow and filled with a secret medicinal powder. The black powder quickly spread out within him, numbing his muscles and tendons, and eventually turning his tough immortal body weak. At this point in time, Reverend Yao Yue was only as strong as a burly mortal man, and he could no longer pose any threat to the Oracles and soldiers.
The numbness and pain brought by the medicinal powder woke him from the unconsciousness. Reverend Yao Yue pushed open his eyes, and when he saw the needles that still had half-inches poking out of his vital acupoints, as well as the pale golden immortal energy that leaked out of them, he could not help but smile wanly and say, "Immortal Detaining Needles? Hehe… I've long heard of its name, but never thought I'd have the chance to personally experience it!"
He took a deep breath, then turned to look at Wu Qi and shouted fiercely, "Tan Lang… Do you know that I am from Myriad Immortal Alliance…"
His voice came to an abrupt halt as Wu Qi put one foot in his mouth and broke most of the teeth, forcing him to swallow the blood and broken teeth. As they went down his throat, the jagged edge of the teeth sliced across his flesh. The intense pain choked him and made him feel as if he was dying. Never once in his life had he suffered such torment. He was a mighty Heaven Immortal! How could Wu Qi do this to him? He was so miserable and vexed that he almost died.
"Myriad Immortal Alliance?" A fake smile emerged on Wu Qi's face. "Never heard of it. Should I be afraid of them?"
He gave Reverend Yao Yue a few more kicks in the body, pointing at the exposed pavilion as he said fiercely, "Somebody, capture all those people alive and tie them up! Huang Liang! Huang Liang?! Where are you? Quickly count and register how many treasures there are in the storehouse. I need the record as soon as possible, so I can share the loot with His Excellency Prefecture Overseer!"
The man scurried over from somewhere, with one hand clutched at his pants and the other tightening the belt, his face full of smiles. Wu Qi glanced towards where he had come from. The door of the pavilion was wide open, and through it, he saw a rather young girl lying on the floor, fully naked with a mess of blood between her legs.
Bowing unctuously, the obscene-looking man said, "I am here, Your Excellency! I'll count and register all the treasures in the storehouse now!"
Wu Qi nodded slowly. Pointing at the pavilion, he cried out in a low voice, "That girl is your private property now. Bring her back to Ningbo City!" He paused briefly before scolding, "If you ever do something like this again, I'll cut away that thing between your legs!"
Laughing dryly and covering his little brother with both hands, Huang Liang said, "I understand! I'll never do it again!" While mumbling words that asked for forgiveness, he bowed and took his leave.
Reverend Yao Yue turned his head with difficulty and gave the girl inside the pavilion a glance. As soon as he saw her face, he roared at the top of his voice, "She is my youngest great-granddaughter!"
With a kick in his head, Wu Qi forced Reverend Yao Yue's curses back into his stomach. "Don't tell me that you never did something like this before!" Wu Qi snapped, "When you were raping someone in the past, had you ever thought that the same thing could happen to you and your clan members?"
Reverend Yao Yue's eyes grew wide as he fixed his gaze at Wu Qi. "Boy, I'll kill you one day!" Words spewed out from his tightly clenched teeth.
Wu Qi shook his head while frowning, then called over a few Oracles and whispered them an order. The Oracles nodded understandingly, then pulled out a special talisman which was the size of a palm and tens of feet long, then wrapped it around Reverend Yao Yue's body. Bound by the talisman, Reverend Yao Yue had lost his strength to shatter his own head and escape with only his immortal soul. Fearing that he might have some other mystic arts, the Oracles even put specially made chains through his joints and tied him up like a rice dumpling.
Of all Reverend Yao Yue's offspring, only five were lower-tiered Heaven Immortals, while the strongest among the rest were just Nascent Divinity cultivators. They had lost their courage when facing these fierce Oracles and soldiers, allowing themselves to be seized without putting up a fight. In the end, everyone, including the five Heaven Immortals, was put in captivity by the Oracles using magical instruments.
Wu Qi shook his head at the sight of it. Reverend Yao Yue had been treating outsiders with extreme cruelty, and from the way he was hunting Princess Zhang Le, one could tell that he was not a kind-hearted man. Conversely, he was a pretty nice clan head. He had almost taken care of everything in Mount Moon Gazing, allowing his clan members to live a carefree life under his wings. And that had brought the biggest tragedy to them. The peaceful life had made them forget how to fight, and when their clan head, Reverend Yao Yue, was captured, they were routed the instant Wu Qi's men came to capture them.
Soon, the total number of captives was reported to Wu Qi - three thousand four hundred and ninety-seven. They were Reverend Yao Yue's wives, children, grandchildren, and his lineage descendants. There was also a great number of common people on Mount Moon Gazing, several tens of thousands of them, who worked as servants and maids. But, when the siege began, the clan members quickly abandoned the defensive formation at the outer ring of the mountain and retreated to the mountaintop, causing these common people to be killed, leaving less than two thousand survivors.
Wu Qi had ordered these servants and maids to be degraded to slavery and taken back to Ningbo City for sale! In fact, the Great Yu Dynasty had never been kind to these common people who served the 'outlaws'. Any civilian who once worked for itinerant cultivators would usually end up having his or her entire family executed. It was a mercy from Wu Qi to order these people to be sold into slavery.
In the best of spirits, Huang Liang commanded hundreds of soldiers and burly men selected from the thousands of servants, searching through pavilions, halls, storehouses, and secret chambers, and taking away everything of value. With the over three thousand clan members in custody, he had easily learned about all the secret places on the mountain after just a little torment.
Bags of energy stones and immortal stones, a great number of spirit herbs and minerals, various fine jades and crystals, and all sorts of natural treasures were removed from various places. Before long, a small hill of treasures was formed in front of the pavilion on the mountaintop.
As a high-tiered Heaven Immortal who had attained the Dao for hundreds of Periods, set his root in Mount Moon Gazing for a few Periods, and operated Yao Yue Immortal Market for hundreds of thousands of years, Reverend Yao Yue was extremely wealthy. And, that was the reason why he could afford the hefty price of renting a Gold Immortal item.
Even if he only mined one immortal stone every day, it would be an astronomical figure after hundreds of thousands of years, let alone the fact that he mined more than that, and was running other businesses at the same time!
The more Huang Liang counted the treasures, the more shocked he got, and towards the end, he was sweating all over. Reverend Yao Yue's total assets were about the same as two year's total income of Zhong Province, a first-grade province with a population of over one trillion!
It took him one full day and night to finish counting Reverend Yao Yue's total assets. Carefully, he came to Wu Qi and whispered the astronomical figure.
Wu Qi was taken aback. He did not expect Reverend Yao Yue to be so rich. The treasures and resources were enough to keep a thousand-disciple sect going smoothly. He considered for a moment, then turned to look at the Oracles and soldiers, waved his hand and said, "You have worked hard in this mission! Each of you will receive one immortal stone, one hundred upper-grade energy stones, and ten thousand gold pearls!"
The Oracles and soldiers were thrilled, and they quickly bowed in unison to express their gratitude. Ten thousand gold pearls were enough to let them live in luxury for ten years, and one hundred upper-grade energy stones worth more than that! But the most valuable of all was the one piece of immortal stone. Even though they were humans, they could still use the immortal energy stored in the stone. After all, it was the natural energy in its purest form, and it would bring great benefits to living beings who were strong enough!
And, so long as the structure of the immortal stone was not damaged, even if the immortal energy stored in it was depleted, the stone could actively absorb the natural energy and slowly recover. It could be passed down to their descendants as an heirloom. It was truly a generous reward!
Not only did Wu Qi make these Oracles and soldiers happy, he had also won their respect and friendship.
At Wu Qi command, all the treasures, resources, and captives were brought up into the two flying ships. Afterward, they flew back to Ningbo City at a speed a few times slower than at what they came. Halfway through the travel, he found an opportunity to meet Manager Yue, who had obediently waited for him in the wilderness, and took away all the treasures he brought from Yao Yue Pavilion.
In short, the trip had yielded him a tremendous reward. Not only did he now have the resources to develop his own territory, but even the resources for the disciples of the Underhand Sect. They were more than enough to cover tens of years of resources for thousands of disciples!
Completely relaxed and happy, Wu Qi stood at the prow while glancing at the beautiful scenery. All of a sudden, he received a message from one of his celestial fiend puppets!
Princess Zhang Le had secretly arrived in Hai Province with a large group of men!