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Chapter 38: After the war
The battle was over, but no one bothered to clean up the battlefield. There was nothing worth cleaning up anyway, except for the sand scattered all over the ground. This was one of the reasons why Cultivators despised sand monsters. They fought desperately against the sand monsters but gained no benefits. Sand monsters were composed entirely of various types of sand and stones. After their deaths, their bodies returned to being ordinary sand and had almost no value. Sand monsters didn't have magic tools, and their weapons were also made of sand and stone. When the sand monsters died, their weapons naturally turned back into sand and stone as well.
Killing a Cultivator allowed one to plunder their storage bag; killing a demonic beast could yield valuable fur and flesh, but killing sand monsters, one couldn't even get a single hair from them. It was purely a losing deal.
Although the caravan guards won against the sand monster group, when accounting for the loss of talismans and the consumption of various healing and recovery pills after the battle, the caravan suffered a significant loss.
However, there was nothing they could do about it; it was just bad luck that they encountered a sand monster group.
After comforting the guards, Lao Bulu walked over to Meng Zhang, expressing concern for him. The pivotal moments in the battle were the two times Meng Zhang took action. Both his timing and power were extraordinary, breaking the sand monster formation's nodes and laying the foundation for its complete collapse. Lao Bulu believed that this couldn't be achieved solely through luck; it demonstrated Meng Zhang's exceptional combat talent and his ability to seize the key to victory.
After this battle, Lao Bulu had a higher opinion of Meng Zhang in his heart.
Before they could exchange many words, a blue flying boat approached from the direction of Singing Sand City. The flying boat hovered over the battlefield, and two Cultivators flew out of it, landing in front of everyone. They exhibited the ability to fly without external help, a skill possessed only by Foundation Building stage Cultivators.
Meng Zhang had already recognized one of them; he was an elder from the Twin Success Valley's Foundation Building stage.
Of course, although Meng Zhang knew them, they might not know him, a lowly Cultivator. He naturally didn't approach them proactively to avoid being unwelcome.
It was said that Singing Sand City often had several Foundation Building stage Cultivators stationed there, with the Twin Success Valley Cultivators leading the group. They should be the reinforcements sent by Singing Sand City after receiving news about the sand monsters.
"It's just like watching a movie from my past life; the police always show up after the gunfight," Meng Zhang couldn't help but comment in his heart.
Lao Bulu saw the reinforcements arriving and, acting as the leader of the merchant group, went forward to negotiate with them. Despite being just a mid-Refining Qi stage Cultivator, Lao Bulu's status as an affiliate force of the Flying Swan Sect still carried some weight, and the Foundation Building stage Cultivators didn't adopt a condescending attitude towards him.
Although this sand monster group was eliminated, no one knew if there were still other sand monster groups nearby. Especially important was the possibility of sand monster nests in the vicinity. If they couldn't destroy the nests before the sand monsters grew in numbers, it would be a massive problem. If they were unlucky, Singing Sand City might face a catastrophe.
In the Endless Sea of Sand, matters concerning sand monsters were significant affairs.
After hearing Lao Bulu's account and carefully inspecting the battlefield, the two Foundation Building stage Cultivators sent several message talismans.
The flying boat ascended again and flew towards the direction from which the sand monster group had come. Out of consideration for the Flying Swan Sect's face, the two Foundation Building stage Cultivators didn't recruit the guards of the merchant group to join in searching for the sand monster nest. Instead, they gathered additional manpower from Singing Sand City.
Lao Bulu also didn't dare to linger here any longer. He was afraid of encountering sand monsters again or being involved in the war to eliminate sand monsters in Singing Sand City.
After joining up with the humped sand lizard beast from behind, they didn't even take a break and set off again.
After this battle, Lao Bulu's attitude towards Meng Zhang became better. Along the way, he deliberately befriended Meng Zhang and engaged in several conversations with him. It seemed that their bad luck had been exhausted in that battle.
During the rest of the journey, they experienced a peaceful trip without encountering any new accidents or troubles.
After ten days of traveling, the merchant group finally arrived near Sweetwater Oasis. Instead of entering Sweetwater Oasis directly, the merchant group stopped about ten miles away from it. Originally, according to the original route, the merchant group should have stopped at a location much farther from Sweetwater Oasis. However, because of the pleasant interactions with Meng Zhang along the way, Lao Bulu made a slight detour.
Having gone through the sand monster incident, Lao Bulu was eager to reach the white hidden earth mine and worried about encountering any other unexpected delays.
If they missed the deadline, it wouldn't only result in financial losses, but they would also face punishment from the Flying Swan Sect.
Therefore, Lao Bulu declined all of Meng Zhang's repeated invitations to visit Taiyi Sect.
Having received Meng Zhang's message talisman, Tian Zhen brought a group of people from Sweetwater Oasis, riding camels and waiting for them early on.
After unloading all the cargo, Lao Bulu urged the merchant group to set off without paying much attention to Meng Zhang's repeated warm invitations.
The Sweetwater Oasis team brought back the goods Meng Zhang purchased and the mortal servants to Sweetwater Oasis.
After arranging these matters, Meng Zhang finally finished his busy work. He then quickly gathered Tian Zhen and Daoist Clear Spirit to discuss the next arrangements for the sect.
Meng Zhang returned all the spirit stones he took from the sect's treasury, including compensating for the previous consumption in the Trial Ground with the gains from this adventure. From now on, he handed over the management of the sect's treasury to Tian Zhen. It was essential to distinguish between his personal wealth and the sect's public wealth. Including the Sect Master himself, no one in the sect could freely withdraw from the sect's treasury.
After discussing with the two, Meng Zhang set the supply standard for the sect's disciples and re-established the sect's merit system. Compared to before, the supplies for the disciples were increased once again.
Originally, Taiyi Sect had followed the common merit system prevalent in the Cultivation World. However, when Meng Zhang took over as the Sect Master, the number of sect disciples was too small, and he temporarily abandoned the original merit system.
But now, Meng Zhang felt that the sect should be on the right track.
Including Meng Zhang, everyone in the sect needed to gain merits to exchange for various items from the sect's treasury.
In Hidden Scripture Pavilion, various books, including cultivation techniques, were mostly free for sect disciples to read after Meng Zhang organized them. Only a small portion of the content was temporarily hidden by Meng Zhang.
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