Chapter 2986 Artifact: Palm of Blessed Land!
Among the six individuals handpicked by Lin Yuan, one served as the leader of the star pirate group, three held the position of vice leader, and two were core members responsible for intelligence.
The sole leader was the green-haired man who had initially surrendered to Lin Yuan.
Despite the willingness of the other five leaders to submit to Lin Yuan, he did not spare them.
These leaders were compelled to make this decision upon observing the willingness of many key members of their group to surrender.
Previously holding prominent positions within the star pirates, these individuals found their interests stripped away upon Lin Yuan's arrival. Even if they were now under his control, their sincere allegiance was doubtful.
While the three vice leaders and two intelligence officers held significant roles, they did not lead the star pirate groups.
Typically, the leaders enjoyed the most benefits within these groups. Joining Lin Yuan would liberate these individuals from suppression, making them more pliable. Moreover, Lin Yuan's status within the star pirate group provided him with enough control over its network.
The Sacred Sword Wielding Queen found nothing of value from the star pirate group led by the green-haired man. However, it took an interest in a fire-type holy spirit present in the group led by the purple-robed man.
This holy spirit possessed a simple yet versatile ability—it could both amplify and suppress flames, as well as evoke and extinguish unique fire elements.
Although this ability might seem mundane to an expert, it perfectly suited the needs of the Sacred Sword Wielding Queen, who intended to refine it into a holy maid.
By transforming it into a holy maid, the Sacred Sword Wielding Queen could utilize its enhancement and suppression abilities to contend with other experts possessing fire-type holy spirits.
Apart from that holy spirit, the Sacred Sword Wielding Queen considered two others as potential alternatives. However, Lin Yuan ultimately decided against allowing her to choose these alternatives.
Transforming the holy spirit into a holy maid and then nurturing the holy maid required numerous resources, making the holy maid not easily replaceable.
Now that he had three holy maids to nurture, there was no need for Lin Yuan to rush things.
Under Autumn's oversight, a team of seven star pirates, including Fu Mi, would have the capability to capture numerous star pirates in the future.
"Alright, the six of you have been chosen to survive. This is your honor and chance to bid farewell to the dirty group of star pirates. You can pledge your allegiance to me first. When you pledge your allegiance to me, you can say your names."
The man with long green hair was also the first to release the holy spirit to pledge loyalty to Lin Yuan.
"Lord, my name is Yun Qingyang. I'm from the Cloud Wave Horned Eagle species. From now on, I'm willing to use the abilities of our species and my abilities to serve you wholeheartedly. If you're interested, I can bring you to the blessed land at any time."
When the other star pirates who had pledged allegiance to Lin Yuan saw that Yun Qingyang had beaten them to it again, they looked down on him for being a lackey.
The star pirate group led by Yun Qingyang had just been destroyed, yet he had already adopted such behavior. On the other hand, they were secretly blaming themselves for not seizing the opportunity and falling behind.
Lin Yuan looked at the loyal Yun Qingyang kneeling on the ground and smiled. "I can see that you're very sensible and know how to seize opportunities. You're a very smart person. In that case, you'll be Fu Mi's deputy in charge of the other five from now on!"
Upon hearing that, Yun Qingyang revealed a pleasantly surprised expression. He had just joined Lin Yuan yet he had already become a manager. This was equivalent to being one step ahead of the others.
Having already stood out twice, if he stood out too aggressively again, Lin Yuan's impression of him might change. There was a limit to everything, and Yun Qingyang was very good at grasping this limit.
Yun Qingyang stood beside Fu Mi and nodded at Fu Mi, who was far weaker than him.
Fu Mi had only been by Lin Yuan's side for a short while, and Yun Qingyang was slightly stronger than her. Thus, Fu Mi did not put on airs and was very polite to Yun Qingyang.
Lin Yuan had arranged for Yun Qingyang to be his subordinate. Under the condition that Yun Qingyang had no issues, she needed to manage her relationship with Yun Qingyang well. Otherwise, it would indicate her incompetence and a lack of tolerance.
When she had just been chosen by Lin Yuan, there had only been her and Autumn in the entire organization, so Fu Mi had not felt any pressure. However, Fu Mi felt a lot of pressure now. She knew that if she didn't progress, her current position would eventually be taken over by Yun Qingyang.
As for the other five, they could not pressure Fu Mi whatsoever.
The five of them followed Yun Qingyang and expressed their loyalty to Lin Yuan. All their holy spirits were under Lin Yuan's control.
Lin Yuan said, "Fu Mi, you're the leader of this team. Come and tell the new members about the team's plans from now on!"
Fu Mi knew Lin Yuan was flattering her and establishing her prestige as the leader. She took a step forward and said somberly, "From now on, the seven of us will be partners who need to fight side by side. Our goal is to use our connections to contact and gather those star pirates and get rid of them. I gave our team a name, the Hunting Group. From now on, everyone has to hunt star pirates as their responsibility!"
Fu Mi's words stunned Yun Qingyang, who was extremely receptive.
Those who could become the backbone of a powerful star pirate group were all old star pirates. It was hard to accept such a change from being the backbone of a star pirate group to the hunter of a star pirate.
Yun Qingyang clearly remembered that Fu Mi had been hunting for experts with her star pirate group not long ago. Evidently, Fu Mi had just joined Lin Yuan, and they were the targets that Fu Mi had hunted with her connections.
Yun Qingyang did not have any sense of belonging to the star pirate industry that he had previously worked in. To him, it was merely a means to acquire resources more conveniently.
Yun Qingyang had already calculated the relationship he had with the star pirates over the years and pondered about which star pirates he could help Lin Yuan gather.
Fu Mi communicated with Yun Qingyang and the others for a long time and carefully detailed the team's plan.
Lin Yuan had originally planned to bring Huang An, Cen Ruyi, and Xi Mei back to Sky City. Now that he knew about the blessed land, Lin Yuan started to think about exploring it.
Every blessed land had a special fey and many rare spiritual ingredients that belonged to it. However, the resources produced by this blessed land belonged to the blessed land itself. If one could obtain them, it would bring great benefits to a faction.
In the Sky Beyond the Clouds, there was an artifact refined by a high-grade Creator called Palm of Blessed Land, and it could store blessed lands within it.
Lin Yuan possessed the Palm of Blessed Land, acquired from the Fortune Treasure Palace in a previous trade. However, his Palm of Blessed Land was of the lowest tier, crafted by a Grade 4 Creator, capable only of containing low-grade blessed lands.
Should they encounter a mid-grade blessed land, they could only fragment it and gather it using several low-grade Palm of Blessed Lands. Employing such a method, which destroyed a blessed land to collect it, would significantly diminish the value of a mid-grade blessed land.
Having brought in Yi He through the Lifespan Mouse, Lin Yuan received ample resources from him before his departure. Among these were a few higher-level Palm of Blessed Lands, suitable for containing mid-grade blessed lands. However, when faced with high-grade blessed lands, they proved ineffective.
Encountering a high-grade blessed land was not a simple feat. Furthermore, its appearance would trigger numerous phenomena, enough to draw the attention of nearby major factions.
It was likely that the blessed land Yun Qingyang discovered was of low-grade status. Nonetheless, even a low-grade blessed land was a treasure coveted by major factions, beyond their grasp despite their best efforts!
For instance, shortly after the previous Bloodian Queen of the Elisa clan passed away, they stumbled upon a low-grade blessed land. However, they refrained from competing with other factions for it.
Lin Yuan was in a hurry to explore this blessed land because he was afraid that other than Yun Qingyang, there might be others who knew about it and that they would explore it first.
Upon seeing that Fu Mi was almost done, Lin Yuan told Yun Qingyang, "You said that you have information about a blessed land. Why don't you bring us to the location now?"
Yun Qingyang's expression changed. Indeed, he was aware of that blessed land, but he had only mentioned half of the story. Now that Lin Yuan wanted to go to this blessed land, Yun Qingyang could not hide it from him.
"Lord, I do know the location of that blessed land, but the situation regarding it is a little special. I…"
Upon seeing Yun Qingyang's hesitant speech, Lin Yuan furrowed his brow. "As long as you're not lying to me and know its location, it's fine. As for the rest, just tell me."
Yun Qingyang didn't relax at all. "Lord, the blessed land is in the mountain ravine between the two peaks of Camelback Mountain, which is about two days away from here. I discovered it when I led the star pirates to follow a group of people.
"It's just that this blessed land has already been occupied by the Shadow Teeth Ferocious Tigers in the north of Camelback Mountain. These tigers have nearly wiped out all the species in Camelback Mountain in fear the news would spread.
"At that time, we were also discovered by an expert of the Shadow Teeth Ferocious Tiger. Due to our relatively superior strength, it was not easy for their expert to take us down. Thus, he invited us to enter the blessed land to take a look.
"I figured out that this expert planned to lure us in and kill us, so I pretended to accept and found the opportunity to injure the expert and escape with the star pirates. If you want to explore this blessed land, you have to face the Shadow Teeth Ferocious Tiger head-on.
"The Shadow Teeth Ferocious Tigers in the north of Camelback Mountain are not the main branch in the East Universe, just a side branch. Still, they must have an expert whose strength has surpassed the Holy Spirit level. Otherwise, they wouldn't be so domineering!"
Yun Qingyang nervously explained the situation to Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan couldn't help but sigh. The appearance of a blessed land should have benefited all lifeforms, but sometimes things didn't go as planned.
The lifeforms of Camelback Mountain hadn't even had the chance to benefit from the blessed land before dying because of it. Ultimately, in this world, resources belonged to the capable, and weakness was the original sin, especially in a place like the Sky Beyond the Clouds!
The cruelty of the Sky Beyond the Clouds far exceeded that of the main world. Even lower faeries like Emerald Lady, who had the protection of a powerful faction like the Faerie Institution, would become the target of others.
"It's fine. Just bring me there. I hope this blessed land hasn't been developed by the Shadow Teeth Ferocious Tigers."
After saying that, Lin Yuan gestured for Yun Qingyang to lead the way.
Yun Qingyang explained the strength of the Shadow Teeth Ferocious Tiger and emphasized that they had experts above the Holy Spirit level.
The three Grade 4 Creators standing behind Lin Yuan should know that the bloodline of the Shadow Teeth Ferocious Tiger was extremely powerful and almost every member could fight beyond their level.
Since Lin Yuan did not take the Shadow Teeth Ferocious Tigers seriously and Autumn's strength was so formidable that even Yun Qingyang couldn't imagine, it seemed like the Shadow Teeth Ferocious Tigers should not be able to threaten Lin Yuan.
Winter did not let Yun Qingyang lead the way at his own speed. Instead, he let Yun Qingyang point out the direction and quickly led Lin Yuan and the others in the designated direction.
Firstly, Winter was afraid that the Shadow Teeth Ferocious Tigers would extract many resources from the blessed land. Secondly, he did not want Lin Yuan to waste too much time on such a trivial matter.
…
In less than half a day, Lin Yuan saw the entire Camelback Mountain from afar. It was like the back of two camels and looked exceptionally majestic from afar. The aura of the vegetation near Camelback Mountain became denser, and Lin Yuan could hear faint cries.
In the Sky Beyond the Clouds, there were powerful species stationed in mountain ranges or wide rivers. Under normal circumstances, factions that passed by such places would try their best to stay as far away as possible.
"Lord, the blessed land is between these two mountain peaks. If we go any further, we should be able to see the Shadow Teeth Ferocious Tigers stationed there!"
Yun Qingyang was still afraid of the Shadow Teeth Ferocious Tigers, but when he reminded Lin Yuan, he did not show his fear.
Lin Yuan walked ahead excitedly. It was obvious he did not take the Shadow Teeth Ferocious Tigers seriously.
However, Lin Yuan had never been to a blessed land before and did not understand the situation.
Now, Lin Yuan finally had a chance to see the blessed land. He could also use the Palm of Blessed Land to store and bring it to North of the Lonely River.
As soon as Lin Yuan entered the mountain pass between the two mountain peaks, he saw a tall man with a tiger-shaped mark resembling a king character in Chinese standing on a big tree not far away.
When the tall man saw Lin Yuan, he revealed a playful expression.