Spring went and autumn came, and two years passed in the blink of an eye.
Although Zhang Ling often stayed in the earth fire room, he occasionally walked around Wufeng Valley's market.
This place is somewhat different from the markets in immortal cities. The most significant difference is that the magical artifacts are mostly made from the materials of sea monsters, and they are mostly inclined towards water attributes.
The Wufeng Valley market is also completely under the control of the Mingyang Sect. The entire market is built on a large mountain, surrounded by a continuous mountain range called the Yunhai Mountains. Although most of the cultivators gathered here are Qi Refining stage disciples, there are thousands of them every day.
Especially recently, the number of cultivators gathering in Wufeng Valley has been increasing. Apart from a portion of Mingyang Sect disciples, the rest are all rogue cultivators from Dongping Kingdom.
Their purpose in coming here is to be summoned by the Mingyang Sect to resist sea beasts. Speaking of which, Wufeng Valley's location is already very close to the Boundless Sea.
Just over a hundred miles away is the Boundless Black Sea.
Therefore, the weather here changes erratically, making it unpredictable. Fortunately, Wufeng Valley itself has a special geographical location and is protected by the Mingyang Sect's formations, so the cultivators staying here are not affected.
...
"Fellow Daoist Zhang, this is the task for us alchemists this month. You can take a look and see if there's anything you're interested in."
Inside a small house, Zhang Ling was talking to a young man dressed in green. This man was named Zheng Zimu, and he was also an alchemist who came here with them earlier. They had interacted before.
This person had also performed alchemy tasks in Nanli Mountain. Zheng Zimu handed a list to Zhang Ling.
The list contained seven or eight different materials, with the quantities marked behind them.
"Then fifty catties of Demon Expelling Powder, and thirty Blue Water Pills."
Zhang Ling only glanced at it before selecting the pills at the bottom of the list. After hesitating for a long time, he added another alchemy task.
This list recorded the number of pills that these alchemists had to refine each month.
In the beginning, the Mingyang Sect disciples assigned him alchemy tasks. However, this led to difficulties for almost all the alchemists.
Some simply failed to complete their tasks, which naturally greatly slowed down the progress of alchemy. Therefore, it gradually changed to distributing the required pills equally each month.
However, alchemists are not omnipotent and have their own strengths and weaknesses in refining different pills. In this case, these alchemists united and internally redistributed the alchemy tasks.
The Mingyang Sect cultivators were naturally aware of this, but as long as the alchemists submitted enough pills each month, they naturally had no objections.
Zhang Ling also joined this circle half a year after arriving here.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang is already able to refine Blue Water Pills so quickly. Your talent in alchemy is truly remarkable."
Blue Water Pills are second-grade water attribute spiritual pills, different from other pills.
After taking them, cultivators can breathe and survive in water for three days, and they can also form a water spirit shield for defense. With Blue Water Pills, cultivators can have more self-protection when facing sea beasts.
Zheng Zimu took out a fine brush, swished it a few times, and then praised with a smile.
"Fellow Daoist Zheng is too kind. Zhang is just starting to research Blue Water Pills, and the success rate is still very low. I'm afraid I'll have to waste a lot of materials this time."
Zhang Ling smiled slightly and spoke with Zheng Zimu very skillfully.
Both of them were alchemists, and their tasks were extremely busy. Zheng Zimu chatted with him for a few words before taking his leave.
"By the way, Zheng has one more thing to tell you. According to the Mingyang Sect, the number of sea beasts nearby has increased several times recently, and there may be a beast tide coming. I hope you will take precautions early."
Zheng Zimu put away the list and was about to leave when he seemed to suddenly remember something. He immediately stopped, turned around, and said in a deep voice.
"Beast tide."
Zhang Ling was stunned when he heard this, and without thinking about the next alchemy task, he said in surprise.
"I forgot that we alchemists basically can't leave this Wufeng Valley market. News is inevitably blocked. Well, I'll introduce it to you."
Zheng Zimu's face showed a look of realization. He walked back to Zhang Ling and nodded in agreement.
"Please, Zhang is completely ignorant of the sea beast tide."
Zhang Ling quickly invited him back to the chair to sit down.
Zheng Zimu stroked his beard, slightly organized his words, and then told about the beast tide.
It turned out that the Boundless Sea is not like the inland, where there are a large number of sea beasts.
Although the vast majority of sea beasts are located underwater, most of them are low-level monsters of the first and second order, but things are not absolute, and occasionally one or two third- or fourth-order monsters will appear. It is not surprising that fifth-order sea beasts appear.
Fifth-order sea beasts are already comparable to early-stage Golden Core cultivators.
Most sea beasts are fish, usually existing in groups. The appearance of third-order sea monsters will attract thousands or even tens of thousands of low-level sea beasts, moving around in the sea.
If it were in the easternmost part of the Beiyuan cultivation world, the probability of forming a sea beast tide would be very small.
However, most of the sea areas near the alien demon territory have been eroded by demonic energy. The sea beasts have also become irritable and abnormal.
Basically, a sea beast tide will form every hundred years. This time, the Mingyang Sect cultivators expect the beast tide to be more violent than before.
These sea beasts invaded by demonic energy are ferocious and belligerent. The formation of the beast tide is due to these sea beasts taking advantage of the once-in-a-century sea waves to attack and occupy the land.
Of course, some islands are also the targets of these sea beasts. Historically, it is not uncommon for some land to be submerged.
However, according to relevant cultivators, this sea tide will be more violent than in previous years. This is also an important reason why Dongping Kingdom is seeking help from the immortal city.
In addition to Dongping Kingdom, several nearby coastal countries are also within the range of sea beast attacks.
They are now also preparing for war nervously.
Generally speaking, sea beasts can only exert their full strength in the sea. When they reach land, even if they don't die immediately, their strength will be reduced by at least 60% to 70%.
However, the number of sea monsters in the sea is in the thousands or tens of thousands, which is not comparable to the number of cultivators.
Taking Wufeng Valley, where they are now, as an example, although thousands of cultivators have gathered, most of them are Qi Refining stage disciples.
If they are attacked by a sea beast tide, they will face at least tens of thousands of sea beasts.
This is not a joke, and sea beast tides are often accompanied by the appearance of high-level sea beasts. This is the most deadly thing.
High-level sea beasts can already survive out of the water. Most of them have the supernatural powers to swallow clouds and spit fog, and overturn rivers and seas.
Although Wufeng Valley has a large formation specially set up to resist beast tides, the previous sea beast tides did not reach here.
Once the beast tide really arrives, whether it can be resisted is also unknown.
Zheng Zimu's current news about the sea beasts is naturally not groundless. It seems that Wufeng Valley is very likely to be affected.
Zhang Ling had not seen the power of the beast tide, but thinking about the attack of thousands of sea beasts, even high-level cultivators would have to temporarily avoid it, let alone their Foundation Establishment disciples.
This little news gave Zhang Ling a feeling of unease.
