Chapter 160: Immense Pressure (Seeking Monthly Votes)

The rogue cultivators eagerly flooded into the immortal village.

Ye Mo, accompanied by A Shui, walked leisurely behind them, carefully observing the details of the Lou Clan's Immortal Village.

The height and thickness of the spiritual timber walls, as well as the distance and range coverage of the arrow towers. From these details, one could gauge how rigorous a village lord was and perceive their true strength.

The spiritual timber walls and arrow towers of the immortal village were primarily built with first-tier spiritual timber, with only a few critical areas, such as the village gates, utilizing second-tier spiritual timber. In terms of spiritual timber, the Lou Clan's Immortal Village did not extravagantly employ high-tier varieties.

It seemed that Lou Jiejun was not overly concerned about beast tides attacking the village.

Ye Mo pondered to himself.

On second thought, an almighty entity like the Lou Clan's Immortal Village had no fear of ordinary beast tides either.

If the Lou Clan's Immortal Village were to fall, then the entire Ao Lai Archipelago would likely have already fallen. There was no need to obsess over building an immortal village with third-tier spiritual timber. When ascending to the status of an immortal town, fourth-tier stone would suffice.

The Lou Clan's Immortal Village was quite massive, spanning no less than ten miles, fitting for its identity as the premier immortal village of Ao Lai.

At the village gate, a small squad of five immortal guards stood watch. The ordinary immortal guards were all in the early stages of Qi Condensation. The squad leader emanated a steady aura, wore a set of second-tier spiritual armor, and possessed the cultivation of the mid-Qi Condensation stage.

The immortal guards stationed at the village entrance served as a symbol of an immortal village's strength. Placing a mid-Qi Condensation cultivator as a guard at the village gate was something only a truly formidable immortal village could afford to do.

Newcoming cultivators arriving at the Lou Clan's Immortal Village would whisper among themselves as they passed through the village gates.

The immortal guards merely swept a cold glance over them and paid them no further heed, long since accustomed to the pointing and discussing of the rogue cultivators.

"That immortal guard squad leader is actually a mid-Qi Condensation cultivator. The defensive force of this Lou Clan's Immortal Village is truly formidable!" exclaimed a rather thin, youthful cultivator in admiration.

"Such immortal guard squads are by no means rare in the Lou Clan's Immortal Village. The village's reputation is well-deserved; you will understand once you go inside and see for yourselves."

A passing cultivator in green robes smiled faintly and remarked.

"Really?"

"Could that be false? These are all publicly available matters. Once you enter the village, just observe and ask more questions, and you'll naturally find out." With that, the green-robed cultivator placed his hands behind his back and strolled unhurriedly into the immortal village.

After this person left, the thin cultivator suddenly realized and remarked in surprise, "That person just now didn't seem to be traveling with us."

"Of course not. Didn't you see the cyan token hanging at his waist? That is the residency token of the Lou Clan's Immortal Village," said a rogue cultivator in a low voice.

"Ah, that explains it."

The rogue cultivators could not help feeling envious. Becoming a resident of the Lou Clan's Immortal Village was not something an ordinary cultivator could achieve.

"Let's go, let's head to the martial arena. We might also have a chance to join the Lou Clan's Immortal Village!"

The burly man with the innate metal constitution, surnamed Wu, was the first to snap back to his senses, leading his companions into the village.

Ye Mo brought A Shui into the village at a leisurely pace, first booking a room for a day at an inn inside the village, and then wandering around at a relaxed pace.

The streets within the immortal village crisscrossed in a complex web, lined with towering pavilions and grand architecture. The shops on both sides of the street were already open for business, bustling with numerous rogue cultivators and creating a lively atmosphere.

In terms of commerce, the Lou village was prosperous by several fold compared to the Ye village.

Ye Mo merely glanced briefly; just by observing the number of rogue cultivators on the streets, he could roughly deduce that the resident rogue cultivators here outnumbered those in the Ye village by two to three times.

Though the Ye Clan's Immortal Village was also quite prosperous at present...

A portion of the shops bore the character "Lou" as a mark, indicating they were properties of the village lord's estate. After inspecting them, Ye Mo discovered that this place was already fully equipped to provide third-tier spiritual items for cultivators in the late stages of Qi Condensation.

Ye Mo and A Shui walked a circle around the streets, then inspected the shops one by one. By observing the variety and quantity of spiritual items, he estimated the cultivation levels of the cultivators in the Lou Clan's Immortal Village.

This was easily accomplished; one only needed to ask which tier of Vitality Pills sold best in the shops to understand the overall cultivation level of the Lou Clan's cultivators.

After three or four hours, Ye Mo's mood grew exceptionally heavy.

A Shui noticed that Ye Mo was in low spirits and remained silent.

"The immortal guards and residents of the Lou Clan's Immortal Village total over two hundred people, and the number of rogue cultivators residing here long-term is no less than five or six hundred, possibly even more.

They possess thirteen large wolf-class warships, with ten more under construction that will soon take to the water. The village boasts complete trade channels, with multiple factions from Qingyun Immortal City stationed here, capable of fully supplying third-tier spiritual items. This is already a major immortal village—or rather, a major immortal village of exceptionally formidable strength."

With Ye Mo's resolute and unyielding temperament, he still could not help feeling a sense of frustration and dejection in the face of the Lou Clan's formidable strength.

The strength of the Ye Clan's Immortal Village was estimated to be only about half of this, or even less.

In Qingyun Immortal Academy, he had never dared to slack off for a single day. Upon arriving at the Ao Lai Archipelago, he had also exerted his utmost to develop the immortal village, occupying a red-fire ore island worth no less than one hundred thousand spiritual stones, and even decisively defeating the Ten-Village Alliance to secure a ransom of one hundred thousand spiritual stones.

He had originally thought that the Ye Clan's Immortal Village could already be considered of top-tier standard in these Ao Lai waters, inferior to no other immortal village.

Yet compared to the Lou Clan's Immortal Village, falling short by half their strength left a bitter taste in Ye Mo's mouth.

"Master, remember when you drifted on the East China Sea on a raft and boarded the pirate ship? You were merely a martial artist then, locked up in a cell. At that time, Lou Jiejun was already a scion of the Lou family and had long been a cultivator. Now, he is a village lord, and you are also a village lord. You are no worse than him!"

A Shui had been following silently, and seeing Ye Mo's troubled expression, she could not help speaking up.

Ye Mo was momentarily stunned.

A Shui originated from the earth-slave guards and was sparing with words, but what she said was true.

Although he still had a gap between himself and Lou Jiejun, that gap was shrinking rather than widening.

He had survived crossing the sea by boat and being stranded on a desolate island under such arduous conditions. Now that he even had his own immortal village, what difficulty could possibly remain unresolved?

Forget it, I won't dwell on this anymore.

Ye Mo smiled bitterly to himself, then nodded gently, casting aside his worries.

"Master, I'd like to go see the martial arena."

A Shui glanced around with a smile, revealing a look of yearning. The earth-slave guards were all battle-oriented professions, and fighting venues like the martial arena held a natural attraction for her.

"A martial arena? Very well, let's go take a look."

Ye Mo nodded. This outing was meant to witness the conditions of other immortal villages firsthand, as well as to relax.

The martial arena of the Lou Clan's Immortal Village was built in a prominent location within the village.

Managed by the village lord's estate, the person in charge here was one of the three major commanders of the immortal guards.

The duels here followed an officially established champion-defense system. Any Qi Condensation cultivator could challenge the reigning champion, and upon successful challenge, they would receive corresponding rewards.

If an individual's combat prowess was outstanding, they would be recommended to the village lord's estate, catching the village lord's eye and potentially becoming an immortal guard directly.

The champion changed daily, and a ranking system for champions was maintained.

Early in the morning, the area outside the martial arena was already bustling with a sea of heads.

On the announcement board outside the martial arena, two giant notices were posted, detailing the public information of both duelists. As for whether someone was hiding any hidden tricks, that remained unknown.

One of the notices happened to feature the burly man Wu Liu, who had traveled on the same boat with them, prominently displayed.

His opponent was the champion of the current month, a sixth-layer Qi Condensation cultivator named Pang Strong. This person had been defending his title for half a day, and his strength had been basically laid bare; he excelled in the combat technique known as the Cloud-Ascending Steps.

The Cloud-Ascending Steps was a peculiar footwork technique that temporarily increased one's strength.

With every step executed, Pang Strong's aura and strength would elevate a notch. In several previous battles, Pang Strong had taken at most three steps, and his opponents were invariably crushed without exception.

Many people were speculating just how many steps Pang Strong could take.

The Cloud-Ascending Steps could not be executed casually. Doing so indeed increased one's aura, but it also placed an immense burden on the practitioner. If one's cultivation was insufficient and they forced the steps, it might trigger a backlash of vital energy and blood, resulting in more loss than gain.

A large crowd of cultivators was clustered around a table next to the arena, shouting loudly as they placed bets on who would win or lose.

After reading the information of both men, Ye Mo smiled faintly and said, "A Shui, go place a bet on Wu Liu to win. Not too much, just a hundred spiritual stones will do. Let's win back the spiritual stones we spent on shopping yesterday."

"Ah? How does Master know Wu Liu will definitely win? Wu Liu only has the cultivation of the fifth layer of Qi Condensation."

A Shui had also read the information, but she could not discern where Wu Liu's advantage lay.

Ye Mo transmitted his voice, explaining: "Wu Liu possesses an innate metal constitution and excels most in offense. His attacking style emphasizes winning in a single decisive strike. Pang Strong's footwork requires time to slowly build up its power. I'm afraid he will be defeated in one go by Wu Liu before he can fully unleash his peak strength.

Take this pouch of spiritual stones and go place the bets. I won't watch the duel; I'll stroll around the immortal village, as there's still half of it I haven't seen. You don't need to follow me; I'm not leaving the village, so there won't be any safety issues."

A Shui nodded, accepted the spiritual stones, and went to place the bet.

In the afternoon, A Shui returned to the inn in high spirits.

As soon as she saw Ye Mo, she happily declared, "Everything turned out just as Master predicted! Wu Liu engaged Pang Strong in a head-on clash. Before Pang Strong could even unleash the power of the Cloud-Ascending Steps, Wu Liu shattered his defense in one fell swoop with the golden spirit sword in his hand and won the victory! The odds for Wu Liu were one to two, so we earned a hundred spiritual stones!"

Ye Mo nodded slightly and said, "We'll rest in the Lou village for a day, and tomorrow we'll head to the neighboring immortal villages to see to what extent Lou Jiejun's allied villages have developed."

Lou Jiejun had four close allies who were also student village lords of Qingyun Immortal Academy. They had joined forces to aggressively occupy numerous surrounding resource islands.

Lou Jiejun occupied over twenty of them, while his four allies had carved up no less than twenty or thirty more.

These steadfast immortal village allies had more than doubled Lou Jiejun's strength.

In the central waters of the Ao Lai Archipelago, the Lou Clan Alliance was the most formidable coalition.

Since Ye Mo had come here, he naturally did not want to miss the opportunity and needed to carefully investigate the Lou Clan's allied villages.

The nearest immortal village was relatively close to the Lou Clan, some six or seven hundred miles away.

Early the next morning, Ye Mo and A Shui boarded a small fishing boat and arrived several hours later.

This immortal village was quite comparable in strength to his own Ye Clan's Immortal Village, closely matching it in all aspects. Over the next few days, Ye Mo traveled through the other three immortal villages, none of which were inferior to the Ye Clan's Spiritual Island.

Naturally, by banding together tightly as the Lou Clan Alliance and aggressively staking out territory, no one dared to provoke them, allowing them to reap massive benefits.

Ye Mo was astonished to discover that these Lou Clan allied villages formed a nearly circular layout, guarding the Lou Clan's Immortal Village in the center. If any other immortal villages wished to attack the Lou Clan, they would first have to get past these outer defenses.

Meanwhile, the formidable Lou Clan anchored at the center could provide reinforcements to any direction at a moment's notice.

With a heavy heart, Ye Mo left the Lou Clan Alliance and headed toward a few other powerful immortal villages—the Ren Clan's Immortal Village and the Bai Clan's Immortal Village.

Of the ten newly appointed village lords from Qingyun Immortal Academy, aside from him in the eastern district, the other nine seemed to share a tacit understanding, all concentrating within a radius of several thousand miles in the central region of the Ao Lai Archipelago.

The Qingyun village lords had arrived first, seizing the initiative and utilizing their geographical advantage to rally allies and aggressively expand, rapidly establishing a powerful immortal village faction in this central region that far outpaced the immortal academies of other main cities.