After leaving Shi Weiming, Meng Zhang felt very unhappy. He, who had always been cautious, was unexpectedly deceived by this familiar old friend, Shi Weiming.
Over the years, they had maintained a trading relationship, and Shi Weiming had helped Meng Zhang several times, causing him to lower his guard. However, Meng Zhang became vigilant, reminding himself that the Cultivation World was full of deception, and he must be more careful and alert in the future.
Back at Taiyi Sect, a joyful event occurred. Two little creatures that had been in deep slumber finally awakened. Since the last time they received benefits from Meng Zhang, they had been in a deep sleep. Fortunately, during their slumber, they absorbed spiritual energy from the outside world, replenishing their bodies' consumption and avoiding starving to death.
After sleeping for so long, the two little creatures finally woke up. Feeling Meng Zhang's aura, they affectionately rushed towards him. The little bird flew to the top of Meng Zhang's head, circling around ceaselessly, while the small cat pounced at Meng Zhang's feet, tugging on his pants.
These two lively and cute little creatures improved Meng Zhang's initially gloomy mood considerably. When he used his Deception Breaking Eye to observe them, he found that he could no longer fully see through their potential. They had grown significantly and had promising futures. Moreover, the two little creatures displayed remarkable intelligence, much smarter than ordinary human children.
For low-level demon beasts, intelligence was a crucial trait, even more important than combat strength. After the warm reunion, the two little creatures started playing and fooling around.
It seemed that the bird still held a grudge against the cat for stealing its glow ball. Whenever it had the chance, it would run away from the cat, and the cat, in turn, chased after it.
Meng Zhang thought for a moment and gave each of them a name. The bird, being male and extremely fast, was named Zhui Dian (Chasing Lightning). The green-colored female cat, with shiny fur and particularly charming emerald eyes, resembled a piece of Colored Glaze, so she was named Liu Li (Colored Glaze).
Having understood the names Meng Zhang gave them, the two little creatures rolled around happily on the ground. At that moment, Meng Zhang made a final decision to make them his spirit pets.
Meng Zhang felt that he was already powerful enough and didn't need any more impressive spirit pets. Only those who were not powerful enough would need extraordinary spirit pets. As long as the master was formidable, even if the pets were only cute, it wouldn't matter much.
After forming a spiritual bond with them, the two little creatures officially became Meng Zhang's spirit pets. From then on, they were no longer just demon beasts but spirit beasts with a master. As Meng Zhang gained influence, they could also benefit from it. If Meng Zhang became an immortal and obtained Dao, they could ascend to immortality as well and become immortal beasts.
After taking care of the two little creatures, Meng Zhang resumed his cultivation. Already at the ninth level of Refining Qi, he began refining true qi and adjusting his physical body, aiming to complete the Refining Qi stage as soon as possible.
While Meng Zhang was in seclusion, major changes occurred outside. Several significant events took place.
When Meng Zhang had previously ambushed the cultivators from Green Bamboo Mountain outside the Mirage Secret Realm, he hadn't entered the realm himself and was unaware of what happened inside.
Cultivators from Twin Success Valley who entered the Mirage Secret Realm faced attacks from various forces. Flying Swan Sect organized cultivators from different factions to target and surround the Twin Success Valley cultivators, conducting multiple ambushes.
As Flying Swan Sect held a high status in the Endless Sea of Sand, no other force dared openly oppose it. Flying Swan Sect's cultivators had strong appeal and could easily gather cultivators from various factions.
Although Twin Success Valley's cultivators fought back fiercely in the Mirage Secret Realm, they were outnumbered and overpowered. After a series of battles, nearly all of them were wiped out, with only a few escaping.
Green Bamboo Mountain cultivators reaped substantial gains from the Twin Success Valley cultivators they encountered, thus benefiting greatly from the situation.
Fortunately, Twin Success Valley wasn't as desperate for the resources inside the Mirage Secret Realm as Green Bamboo Mountain, thanks to their ability to refine Lesser Foundation Building Pills. Even if they couldn't exchange for Foundation Building Pills from Flying Swan Sect, the cultivation sect's Foundation Building stage cultivators wouldn't suffer a bottleneck.
Upon learning of Twin Success Valley's situation inside the Mirage Secret Realm, Meng Zhang sighed but had no way to help.
Subsequently, Flying Swan Sect's actions against Twin Success Valley escalated. They first blocked all the trading routes used by Twin Success Valley's caravans. Initially, Twin Success Valley's caravans were not allowed to enter Flying Swan Sect's territories directly. Later, under Flying Swan Sect's orders, other nearby cultivation forces such as Liu Family, Green Bamboo Mountain, and even Forest Spring Watch were prohibited from allowing Twin Success Valley's caravans to pass through their territories.
In addition, all forces that had traded with Twin Success Valley ceased all transactions. Even the usually aloof Earthfire Sect was no exception.
As a result, Twin Success Valley lost all its external trading channels. Matters worsened when Flying Swan Sect's cultivators, along with cultivators from Green Bamboo Mountain, Liu Family, and Forest Spring Watch, approached Singing Sand City and blocked all approaches to it. Not only were Twin Success Valley's caravans forbidden from approaching the city, even other cultivators traveling to Singing Sand City were forcibly driven away.
This sudden change turned the once bustling Singing Sand City into a desolate place. Twin Success Valley lost its important financial resource, losing vast amounts of spiritual stones and cutting off almost all of its logistics routes.
As Flying Swan Sect kept pressing Twin Success Valley, the noose around their necks tightened. Currently, Flying Swan Sect was somewhat considerate of their prestigious reputation among the orthodox sects and refrained from taking direct action. However, once their patience wore thin and the masks came off, it would spell a calamity for Twin Success Valley.
The reason behind Flying Swan Sect's relentless pressure on Twin Success Valley, a vassal power, had already spread throughout the Cultivation World. Twin Success Valley harbored ambitions of challenging Flying Swan Sect and cultivating their own Gold Core Daoist Master to gain independence and break free from the rule of Flying Swan Sect.
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