"Alright, alright, look, I'm fine, don't cry." Although she didn't know what had happened, Du Xiner still comforted Pure Heart in a soft voice.
However, Du Xiner's words felt like a knife in Pure Heart's heart, causing her intense pain. She forced herself to pull herself together and introduced, "This is the current Emperor, Jiang Li."
Du Xiner covered her mouth lightly, "So this is the one Senior Sister often mentions..."
She remembered something, and with a sly expression, she winked at Pure Heart, who feigned a smile, looking quite forced.
"Emperor, Emperor, I heard that you have unparalleled martial prowess, ranking first in the Nine Provinces, omnipotent and comparable to immortals, is that true?" Du Xiner curiously asked.
"I also used to think that I was omnipotent, but now I find that I can't ascend as an immortal, nor can I reverse life and death. I am merely an ordinary person."
The atmosphere became somewhat awkward. Jiang Li helped Pure Heart up and said, "The Red Dust Sanctuary is planning to station their members in rotation, allowing each Golden Core cultivator to come down to the small town for a few years. I wanted to hear your suggestions and thoughts on this."
Du Xiner's eyes brightened, knowing that this meant she could return to the sect. However, thinking about her lack of progress, she felt it was a waste of resources to return to the sect. "I... I'm fine here."
"Well, diligently adhere to your duties and continue to cultivate with dedication, even after coming down the mountain. I will tell Sister Pure Heart about this truthfully."
"Hey, why would you say that?" Du Xiner got anxious, glaring at Jiang Li with inflated cheeks. "And why would the Emperor be in charge of our sect's affairs?"
If the sect leader knew about her attitude, he would definitely commend her and have the talented senior sisters replace her, which would be a waste of the sisters' time.
"Your sect's management level is not good, and I'm giving advice for Sister Qingyudao," Jiang Li casually asked, changing the topic when he saw Du Xiner had more to say. "Setting that aside, we didn't find Yuan Ling in Shanghetown. Where did she go?"
"Uh, I don't know. Recently, Sister Yuan Ling often leaves Shanghetown for several months at a time, but she will be back during the autumn harvest, that is, in the next few days."
Since they couldn't find Yuan Ling, the two of them decided to stay in Xiahetown and keep Du Xiner company.
...
Jiang Li took out a communication token and called Zhang Konghuo, "Konghuo, go to the southern border to search for members of the Gu clan, and investigate what kind of cultivation is required to produce a Corpsegu, enabling the deceased to move freely and not realize they are already dead."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Konghuo hastily made his way to the southern border, disregarding the persuasions from Emperor Jiang and the two other emperors to finish his meal first.
...
Within a few days, Du Xiner felt very happy. She felt fortunate to have Pure Heart and Emperor Jiang by her side, teaching her cultivation and explaining the knowledge of cultivation, as well as sharing rumors and stories from the Nine Provinces.
She confided in the Emperor about her lack of progress in cultivation, and he simply reassured her, telling her that it was normal and that cultivation takes time, and it would improve gradually. However, Du Xiner did not see the despair in Jiang Li's eyes.
How is it possible for a corpse to improve its cultivation?
"Sister Xiner, we need to go check the situation in other towns and leave now," said Saint Jingxin.
Saint Jingxin used her divine consciousness to sense that Yuan Ling finally came back. Her eyes flashed with rare hostility, but it passed quickly, unnoticed by Du Xiner.
Jingxin and Jiang Li flew to Shanghe Town in perfect harmony and pressed the drunken Yuan Ling to the ground.
"Who are you! How dare you act in our Pure Land of Red Dust… It's Sister Jingxin," Yuan Ling initially acted fiercely due to her drunkenness, but as soon as she realized it was Saint Jingxin, she became obedient.
Saint Jingxin remained silent, roughly dragging Yuan Ling to an empty room and throwing her into a corner. The entire process was extremely rough, completely disregarding her previous dignified and graceful image as a saint.
As a disciple of the Pure Land of Red Dust, Yuan Ling herself had an outstanding appearance. Being a member of the Gu Clan, she still liked to adorn herself with silver ear and head ornaments even after leaving her clan. Her attire was quite revealing, easily attracting the interest of men.
She was in great pain from Saint Jingxin's handling, her silver jewelry was also disheveled, and her revealing clothes were torn, but she didn't dare to make a sound.
Yuan Ling had never seen Saint Jingxin so angry.
Jiang Li quietly followed her, letting Saint Jingxin vent. This incident made Jiang Li angry, but Saint Jingxin was even angrier than Jiang Li.
The entire two small towns of Red Dust Pure Land had turned into dead zones, and she considered it her dereliction of duty!
A serious dereliction of duty!
"Speak! What were you doing, and why didn't you come back for several months!"
"There's nothing here. There are only mundane people who know how to farm. I spent some time in the Dream Jiang Empire," Yuan Ling honestly replied. Then she hurriedly explained, "But every autumn harvest, I always come back. You can see that I submit spirit grains on time every year, never delaying once."
Saint Jingxin felt as if a fireball was in her chest, but she couldn't let it out.
Yes, because there had never been a problem with the spirit grains, no one came to inspect.
It would have been better if there had been a problem with the spirit grains because it would have revealed the issues in these two small towns!
"Why are there no living people in the entire Shanghe Town and Xiahe Town!" Saint Jingxin asked through gritted teeth, more like a scolding than a question.
Upon hearing this question, Yuan Ling was stunned, immediately breaking into a sweat on her forehead. At first, she thought Sister Jingxin's anger was only due to her absence from her post, and she thought that the use of corpse manipulation was over.
"S-Sister, w-what are you talking about…"
"Answer me!" Saint Jingxin's questioning voice made Yuan Ling's heart skip a beat.
She explained with a stutter, "I… I didn't want to either. When I went to play in the Dream Jiang Empire, I needed spirit stones. I just took some spirit stones that were used to purchase spirit grains. Just a little… Those people complained that the spirit stones I gave were too few, and I got angry and killed the ringleaders of the troublemakers…"
"Then someone clamored about going to report to the sect. I panicked and… I killed everyone to prevent the sect from finding out. I controlled their Dantian with corpse bugs so that they could still grow spirit grains. Sister, look, letting them grow spirit grains means we don't have to give spirit stones in the future, how great."
Unspoken by Yuan Ling was that after she used the corpses to feed the corpse bugs, the sect still sent spirit stones for her to purchase spirit grains. Naturally, she wouldn't give the spirit grains to a group of dead people but spent them all on enjoyment in the Dream Jiang Empire.
"What about Xiahe Town! Du Xiner is your junior sister, how could you harm her!"
Yuan Ling, with a teary tone, said, "I had no other choice. Xiahe Town is too close to here. I was afraid that my junior sister Du Xiner would see through it, so I killed her too, and conveniently killed everyone in Xiahe Town."
Yuan Ling cried, "Sister, please forgive me, I didn't mean to do it!"
Jingxin indifferently said, "Do you know that you're already dead."
In the eyes of Jingxin and Jiang Li, Yuan Ling was also a corpse controlled by the corpse bugs, but she was completely unaware!