Yú Sānniáng had greatly underestimated Xu Yang's strength. Had she not knelt down earlier, she would have been just like the others, lying dead on the ground as cold corpses.
"Lord Xu, these people were following the orders of the County Lord of Tianwu to recruit you to work for Tianwu County," Yú Sānniáng whispered.
Xu Yang looked at the corpses on the ground, his expression becoming strange.
"Are you sure these people came to recruit me, not to kill me?" Xu Yang pointed at the bodies on the ground, asking in disbelief.
If they were really trying to recruit him, shouldn't their attitude have been a bit better? Although he would never agree to their recruitment, he wouldn't have killed them. Their lives could have been spared.
But now that they were dead, it was clear they had brought it upon themselves.
"Yes, Lord Xu," Yú Sānniáng answered honestly. After this incident, she was completely convinced of Xu Yang's strength and had decided to serve him faithfully, aiming to take shelter under his strong wings.
"Alright, I understand," Xu Yang replied indifferently.
"Lord Xu, now that you've killed them, you've offended Tianwu County. What should we do now?" Yú Sānniáng thought for a moment and then asked the question.
From her guess, Xu Yang's cultivation should be at the Nascent Soul stage, but Tianwu County also had several Nascent Soul cultivators hidden within it.
She was afraid that the powerful tree she was now taking shelter under might not be reliable.
If Xu Yang couldn't defeat Tianwu County, she might need to find another protector.
Xu Yang looked at Yú Sānniáng's face, seeing the worry and fear in her expression, and smiled.
"I not only offended Tianwu County, but I also offended the Lingbao Auction House and the Moyi Sect. Are you afraid?"
"What?" Yú Sānniáng froze, looking a bit dazed.
"And the Moyi Sect?" Yú Sānniáng's mind was a little confused. She couldn't understand how Xu Yang had also offended the Moyi Sect.
Xu Yang then explained to her everything that had happened in Qi State City.
After hearing this, Yú Sānniáng was left in a state of shock. Did she really just hear what she thought she heard?
Xu Yang, by himself, had killed four Nascent Soul cultivators, one of whom was even the disciple of an elder from the Moyi Sect.
What kind of strength did Xu Yang possess?
Yú Sānniáng didn't dare to imagine it. She could only lower her head, but her resolve to cling to Xu Yang, to stay under his protection, grew stronger.
Xu Yang was far more powerful than she had imagined. Compared to him, Tianwu County was nothing.
Even if all of Tianwu County's Nascent Soul elders mobilized, they wouldn't be able to defeat Xu Yang.
"Have you found any clues about the spiritual herbs I asked you to look for?" Xu Yang suddenly asked.
He had kept Yú Sānniáng around specifically to help him search for the spiritual herbs.
"Lord Xu, I recently obtained a clue. According to rumors, in a forest in Tianwu County, there is a peerless spiritual herb."
"But I don't know what exactly the herb is, and many cultivators have already gone to that forest," Yú Sānniáng said.
"Tianwu County, a peerless spiritual herb of unknown nature?" Xu Yang muttered to himself.
"Alright, I understand," Xu Yang nodded and said. He then took out a pill that could help with cultivation and handed it to Yú Sānniáng, saying, "This pill is your reward. If you take it, it will greatly help you advance one step in your cultivation."
Yú Sānniáng took the pill and smelled the fragrance. Immediately, she felt lightheaded, as if she were floating.
She looked at the pill in surprise, recognizing it as a valuable item.
Taking it would likely allow her to break through the cultivation bottleneck she had been facing and possibly even surpass her current level.
"Thank you, Lord Xu," Yú Sānniáng thanked him.
In the past, when she had been working for the County Lord of Tianwu County, she had done a lot of things but never received such a reward.
Now, doing something as simple as gathering information about where peerless spiritual herbs might appear had earned her such a generous reward.
After Yú Sānniáng left, Xu Yang walked over to Lìng Qīngshū's side, looked at her, sighed, and said, "Why did you come out when you clearly couldn't win?"
Lìng Qīngshū smiled and said, "I knew you would come back, Ancestor Xu."
Xu Yang coldly smiled and said, "What if I hadn't come back? Wouldn't you have been dead by then?"
Lìng Qīngshū lowered her head. Yes, if Xu Yang had been a second too late, she would have been turned to ashes.
"But if I hadn't come out, they would have broken the mountain protection formation. Wouldn't my junior brothers and sisters be in danger?" she said.
Xu Yang suddenly raised his hand, and a burst of spiritual energy smashed into the mountain protection formation.
The formation immediately trembled, emitting a deep humming sound for a while.
However, despite the formation seeming on the verge of collapse, it stood firm, and after a moment, everything seemed to return to normal.
Xu Yang's attack just now was ten times stronger than the combined attack of the several Golden Core cultivators earlier.
"Did you see that? You should trust your ancestor. Even if there were ten more Golden Core cultivators, they would never be able to break our mountain protection formation."
Lìng Qīngshū was somewhat stunned. She remembered that this formation had been casually set up by Xu Yang. Yet a casually set up formation could be so strong?
Lìng Qīngshū felt Xu Yang's presence grow even larger. As long as Xu Yang was there, their Tianlan Sect would surely rise.
She vaguely remembered reading in the sect's scriptures that thousands of years ago, Tianlan Sect had once been the most powerful sect in the world.
After returning to the sect, Xu Yang asked Lìng Qīngshū to bring all the selected people to the plaza.
On the plaza, more than a dozen Foundation Establishment disciples nervously looked at Lìng Qīngshū.
According to Lìng Qīngshū, their Ancestor Xu would help them break through to the Golden Core stage today.
When they arrived at the plaza, they were all bewildered.
Some of them had such poor talent that they could hardly be noticed in the sect. Their cultivation was so weak that they couldn't even stand out in a crowd.
If nothing unusual happened, they would remain stuck in the Foundation Establishment stage for the rest of their lives, never even seeing the Golden Core stage.
But now, an unexpected event had occurred. Lìng Qīngshū suddenly told them that today, they would condense their Golden Cores!
How could they not feel doubtful and excited?
Around the plaza, all the disciples of Tianlan Sect gathered in circles, craning their necks to watch the more than a dozen people in the center.
Among them were some exceptionally talented individuals, all with looks of disbelief.