After carrying Ba Jiang back to the wooden house he had rented, Chen Mobai prepared to bid farewell and leave.

“Brother Chen, I can’t thank you enough for your kindness. Once I recover from my injuries, I will prepare a generous gift for you.”

Ba Jiang, lying weakly on the wooden bed, spoke with a wry smile.

“After all, we’ve met. If I had left you to die, I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself.”

Chen Mobai simply shook his head, then asked about the situation with the beasts. However, Ba Jiang didn’t know much.

After he and his sister had hunted down the Black Armored Turtle, they took a detour to hunt another beast. But before they could succeed, they ran into a massive flock of Black Plague Birds.

The second-tier Bird King hadn’t even made a move, and nearly a thousand Black Plague Birds were spitting out gales, forming a dense rain of arrows that covered all possible escape routes.

Ba Jiang had a second-tier defensive talisman that could save his life, but his sister wasn’t so lucky. She was riddled with holes and lost her life in the water.

“Do the beasts of Dream Swamp often attack the island?”

Chen Mobai, being a complete outsider, only knew about the situation here from his recent experiences.

Although Ba Jiang had just arrived, he was from a local cultivation family in the Eastern Wilderness. He had grown up listening to the legends of Dream Swamp and knew a bit about the situation.

“It is said that there is a fourth-tier beast in the deepest part of Dream Swamp. But a hundred years ago, it was suppressed by the Ancestor of the Five Elements Sect and several other Taoist masters.”

“Fifty years ago, after the Ancestor of the Five Elements Sect passed away, the seal became increasingly unstable. Powerful beasts often broke out from the seal, leading their respective tribes to cause chaos. If it weren’t for the Taoist master of the Five Elements Sect’s water vein, who has been guarding the seal year-round, Dream Swamp would have long become a playground for beasts.”

“Even so, the seven major sects of the Eastern Wilderness still organize disciples to hunt beasts in Dream Swamp on a large scale from time to time. Otherwise, if the beasts inside and outside the seal attacked together, the legendary fourth-tier beast might really break out.”

“In the past thirty years, the beast army has become smarter. They would attack the major market islands in Dream Swamp before the major sects of the Eastern Wilderness jointly launched the Beast Hunting Conference. Usually, at this time, the most fierce battle would take place.”

After hearing this, Chen Mobai fell silent, then asked a question.

“Can Qingguang Island withstand the attack?”

“The Shenmu Sect is one of the seven major sects in the Eastern Wilderness, with extraordinary heritage. It is highly likely that they can withstand the attack, but many people may die.”

Ba Jiang gave an answer that made Chen Mobai sigh.

Highly likely, that means there is also a possibility that they can’t withstand it.

“At this time, we, as independent cultivators, can only hope for the Shenmu Sect. They will also issue a call to arms, asking us independent cultivators to help defend the island.”

“Oh, is this call to arms mandatory?”

“That depends on the face of the Shenmu Sect. But even if it’s not mandatory, we independent cultivators have to help defend the island. Because once the island is broken, the disciples of the Shenmu Sect might be able to leave through the teleportation array, but we independent cultivators will definitely be abandoned as cannon fodder.”

Ba Jiang bitterly revealed the key point, and Chen Mobai’s face changed.

Yes, with the teleportation array, the Shenmu Sect can clearly preserve their vitality and retreat to their main base.

But he also reacted immediately.

As one of the best markets operated by the Shenmu Sect in Dream Swamp, the monthly rent of the caves and wooden houses on the island, plus the various shops and business commissions, would at least bring in tens of thousands of spirit stones.

If they retreated at this time and let the beasts run wild and destroy everything, even a Golden Core Taoist master would be heartbroken.

So the Shenmu Sect, even if they wanted to retreat through the teleportation array, would definitely do so only when they were out of ammunition and food and could no longer defend.

In this case, independent cultivators would definitely hope that the Shenmu Sect would not retreat and would help them defend the island.

Chen Mobai was thinking about whether to leave immediately.

He had the Turtle Treasure and could retreat at any time.

But the beast attack was a rare experience. Since he already had a safe retreat and the Shenmu Sect would definitely prioritize defending the island, he might be able to observe the situation and use this opportunity to hone his combat skills.

“Brother Ba, you should rest and recover. I’m going to find Brother Qi Hou to see if he’s on the island.”

After saying this, Chen Mobai got up and left.

He had gone on a few beast hunting missions with Qi Hou and knew where this disciple of the Shenmu Sect lived. It was in the highest cave in the center of the island, where the spiritual veins were the best, even better than the Water Mansion. It was a second-tier top-grade place.

“Oh, it’s you.”

Qi Hou was lucky. Today, that Junior Brother Xi had something to do temporarily, so he didn’t leave the island and narrowly escaped disaster.

But Chen Mobai was even luckier. He had left the island and even met Ba Jiang and his sister, but he chose the right direction and safely returned.

After hearing about the situation of Ba Jiang and his sister from Chen Mobai, Qi Hou couldn’t help but sigh. Then he took out a “Revival Talisman” and asked Chen Mobai to give it to Ba Jiang.

“Brother Qi, what should we independent cultivators do if the beasts attack the island?”

After receiving the talisman, Chen Mobai asked about these matters.

If the Shenmu Sect was harsh on independent cultivators, he planned to run away.

“Well, I just came from Uncle Zheng. The call to arms will be issued soon. I’ll tell you in advance.”

“Our Shenmu Sect will hire all the independent cultivators on the island with spirit stones. Those in the late stage of Qi Refining will get 5 spirit stones a day, those in the middle stage will get 2 spirit stones a day, and those in the early stage will get 1 spirit stone a day. As long as everyone is willing to fight to the death, these spirit stones will be distributed on the same day.””Even if one performs exceptionally in the Island Defense Battle, our Shenmu Sect can make an exception to recruit them after the battle, becoming a disciple of our sect.”

After Qi Hou finished speaking, Chen Mobai couldn’t help but admire the courage of this Zheng-surnamed Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Even without spirit stones, under the principle of mutual dependence for survival, the loose cultivators on the island would help Shenmu Sect defend the island for their own lives. But now, with this generous recruitment order, almost ninety-nine percent of the loose cultivators would fight to the death.

Even Chen Mobai himself was very tempted.

“Junior Brother Chen, you are young and already at the seventh level of Qi Refining. I look forward to you joining our Shenmu Sect, and us becoming real brothers.”

After Qi Hou encouraged him a few times, he said he was going to the eastern side of Qingguang Island to set up defenses. After forming a small team with three fellow disciples, he hurried off.

Chen Mobai, holding his resurrection talisman, returned to Ba Jiang’s wooden house. After giving him the talisman, he mentioned the Shenmu Sect’s recruitment order.

“If spirit stones are distributed on the same day, even the most suspicious loose cultivators will dispel their doubts. This Uncle Master Zheng Deming is indeed one of the most likely cultivators in Shenmu Sect to reach the Golden Core stage. He is very courageous, and as a former loose cultivator, he understands our mindset.”

After hearing this, Ba Jiang sighed in admiration.

Sure enough, some loose cultivators who were originally preparing to pack up and leave stayed. After all, the target of the beast army was definitely Qingguang Island. As long as they scattered and hid in various parts of Dream Swamp, as long as they didn’t face the beast army head-on, their chances of survival were not small.

But once this recruitment order was issued, almost all loose cultivators chose to stay.