Chapter 460: Nine-star Hunter

The soldiers of the Dark Association pillaged all the valuable items they could find within the castle. Yang Ling naturally did not miss such a great opportunity. Other than instructing Ashnamov to get the soldiers to search for loot, he even took action personally, keeping all the valuable items one by one.

The Church had managed the Iron Edge Castle for thousands of years, investing a substantial amount of resources and manpower. Even though the situation has been tight for them over these few months and that they had not many premium crystal ores and Magical Beast Essence Crystals left in their reserves, that did not mean that there was nothing valuable left. On the contrary, treasure laid in every corner.

Magical Towers were defensive weapons used frequently by major cities in the continent. It had immense power but required a large number of premium crystal ores to set up. Unlike the common Magical Towers, the Magical Towers set up by the Church were nearly five times the size and required much more premium crystal ores. It could be said that they had spared no cost in building the towers. Even an average duchy would not have the resources to build a Magical Tower like this, much less a small territory. Only the rich Church that occupied many resources had the ability to build over a hundred of these Magical Towers.

Other than the Magical Towers, there was also an armory, a storehouse for rations, as well as several tactical resources an army required within the castle. There was a massive amount of these resources, and each of them could be sold at an exorbitant price. Some of the resources cannot even be bought in the open market, their value unable to be determined using crystal coins.

The Dark Association had a substantial number of men, all of them pillaging and keeping the valuable items within the castle for themselves, obtaining a large number of spoils of war. However, the amount of treasure they got was nothing compared to Yang Ling.

The soldiers of the Dark Association used all of their limbs, sparing no effort in digging up the premium crystal ores within the Magical Towers, while Yang Ling roamed around riding on his Unicorn, directly using the Object Assimilating Restriction to store any valuable items he came across into the Wizard Pagoda’s Space. The Dark Association sent over a thousand soldiers to move a large-scale Magical Tower, and it still took them an hour to empty the tower. Yang Ling could easily retrieve the Magical Tower in the blink of an eye, with the only price he had to pay to be a portion of his Wizard Power and Mental Energy. His speed left the Dark Association in the dust. Of the several hundred Magical Towers, Yang Ling obtained almost ninety of them!

Riding on his speedy Unicorn, Yang Ling quickly pillaged the valuable spoils of war. After making his way once around the area, he once again returned to the underground jail facility, leading his soldiers to enter the second level of the facility.

Compared to the first level of the underground jail facility, the second level of the facility was much larger, with over a hundred jail cells and imprisoning over a hundred criminals. Perhaps it was due to the limited time, or because he did not want to expend too much of his Magical Energy, Elder Klive only saved the three head honchos of the Dark Association, leaving the rest of the inmates trapped within their cells.

“Sir, save me!”

“Let me out, let me out!”

…

Seeing Yang Ling lead a bunch of fierce-looking soldiers into the facility, the inmates were overcome with emotion, all of them charging to the doors of their cells and shouting loudly. Hearing the waves of loud cheers and pathetic cries coming from outside, they had long understood what was going on, becoming incredibly excited. Unfortunately, no one entered the facility to save them even after they shouted for a period of time, causing them to pace around nervously within their cells. They naturally would not miss the chance to escape after seeing Yang Ling enter.

Yang Ling walked once around the underground jail facility, realizing that every cell housed one criminal. Other than a few whose abilities he could not determine, most of them had a majestic Battle Energy or ripples of Magical Energy within their bodies, all of them at least above sage level. A layer of green light enveloped every cell. Yang Ling quickly understood what was going on after he entered the Wizard Pagoda’s Space and tampering with two of the low-level two-winged angels.

As it turned out, these criminals were all cultists who have developed a deep animosity with the Church over thousands of years. There were Orcs with immense strength, powerful human fighters who were dissatisfied with the Church’s actions…There were also captured members of the Sea Tribe from the era of the Land-Sea War. Most of them had abilities at the peak of Sage-level, some even reaching the level of Domain Expert.

The green light within the cells was the main source of power imprisoning the inmates. The Church was using this light to seal off the abilities of the inmates. Without a magical key to open the doors to the cells, all they could do was use a great deal of Magical Energy and forcefully dispel the seal with the Staff of Darkness, just like Elder Klive had done. Coincidentally, while he was cleaning up the battlefield, Yang Ling picked up a large bunch of magical keys near the corpse of the Great Eight-winged Angel. According to the memories of the two two-winged angels, those were the keys needed to open the cells.

Do I release them all, or…

Looking at the anxious inmates, Yang Ling fell silent in deliberation, secretly thinking about how he could receive the greatest benefits.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. From this perspective, releasing these powerful inmates would definitely spell trouble for the Church. They could attract the attention of the Church and reduce the pressure felt by the Magical Beast Territory. However, there were over a hundred powerful experts here. It would be a waste to not properly make use of such a powerful force.

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However, Yang Ling did not know the intentions of these inmates. It was definitely unsuitable for him to directly induct these inmates into the Wizard Sect after rescuing them. He might accidentally invite a wolf into his lair. Before he understood the full situation, the other party should not be easily let into the Magical Beast Territory, much less the mysterious Wizard Sect. After all, the people that could make the Church want to imprison them within the Iron Edge Castle were all old monsters who have lived a long life. They were not people he could bring to his side with the promise of some small benefits or a few sweet words. Even if they were forced to join him, it would not be easy for him to make them want to serve him with all their hearts.

“Sir, as long as you let me out, I can give you a large sum of crystal coins, however much you want!”

“Let me out, and we’ll take on the Holy City together and cleave the old fogeys in the Church in two!”

…

Seeing that Yang Ling was hesitant to take action for the longest time, the inmates became more and more anxious. Some of them shouted loudly, while others forcefully shook the thick metal bars of the cell.

“Brave warriors, I am the leader of the Magical Beast Territory. I have toppled the Iron Edge Castle together with the Dark Association this time around and have fortunately managed to defeat the Angel Army guarding the underground jail facility!” Yang Ling gave a simple introduction of his identity, pausing before he continued, “After this, I will be making use of the might of the Hunter Association to launch a large-scale counter-attack on the Church. I wonder if any of you brothers would be willing to join the Hunter Association and do battle with me?”

As a show of sincerity, Yang Ling spoke as he handed the magical keys to the soldiers who had followed him into the facility, instructing them to release the criminals quickly. Of course, as a precaution, he summoned the Corpse Wizard King, Dark Dragon King, and the rest of the group who had been resting within the Wizard Pagoda’s Space.

Compared to the Wizard Sect, the Hunter Association was undoubtedly the best choice when it came to recruiting these inmates. At the critical moment, he could use the strength to fight back against the army of the Church, yet not have to worry about them revealing any confidential information. Furthermore, he could also rapidly boost the might of the Hunter Association, as well as spread the influence of the association.

Over these days, more and more people had joined the Hunter Association, but there was still a dearth of powerful people who could become high-level hunters. There were just a handful of seven and eight-star hunters, negatively affecting the expansion of the Hunter Association.

This was a golden opportunity!

There were many associations within the continent, from the Troop Association, Spellcaster Association, Knight Association, to the half-official Thief Association and Assassin Association…Basically, every association had thousands of years of history and could attract a large number of talented individuals. The Hunter Association had emerged out of nowhere, and despite its rapid growth, it was clearly extremely difficult for them to recruit a large number of truly powerful people and exert pressure on the other associations within a short amount of time. However, the situation would quickly turn for the better if a hundred inmates were to join the association.

Even though they did not have any experience when it came to hunting, but these inmates had abilities at least at the sage level. As long as they trained for a period of time, it would definitely be easy for them to advance to become high-level hunters after completing a few missions. In fact, they might even become powerful nine-star hunters at one go. If that is the case, the strength of the Hunter Association would improve at an unprecedented scale.

Recruiting a bunch of powerful hunters is incredibly beneficial to the Magical Beast Territory, but joining the Hunter Association was also a decent choice for the inmates. They could be affiliated under the Magical Beast Territory backing the Hunter Association and take their revenge against the powerful Church together with them. At the same time, they would not be imposed with any restraints, giving them a great deal of freedom.

After understanding what the Hunter Association was about with Yang Ling’s patient explanation, most of the inmates did not reject his invitation, willingly joining the Hunter Association. On the one hand, they wanted to thank Yang Ling for saving their lives, and on the other, just as Yang Ling had expected, they wanted to make use of the Magical Beast Territory’s strength to seek revenge on the Church. After all, the Church had a massive influence, and no one would be a match for the Church if they attacked them alone.

Even though a minority of the inmates were unwilling to join the Hunter Association, they also gave Yang Ling a gift to express their gratitude. A middle-aged man dressed in a white flowy robe gave him several precious Teleportation Scrolls, an old Spellcaster dressed in a dark robe took off the Space Ring on his finger before giving it to Yang Ling along with everything within the ring. A short and plump man could not find anything valuable on him, leaving behind a slip of paper after letting out an awkward smile, claiming that Yang Ling could go look for him at the address on the slip of paper if he had any difficulties in the future.

Yang Ling’s expression did not change after successfully recruiting over a hundred powerful fighters, but he was secretly extremely excited. Of the hundred people, there were about ten of them who were at the level of Domain Expert, while the others were at the peak of the sage level. With such a large group of fighters joining the association, the strength and influence of the Hunter Association would be boosted greatly, indirectly strengthening the abilities of his territory. If he counted the over twenty angels he had imprisoned within the Wizard Pagoda’s Space, as well as the large number of premium crystal ores, rations, and the weapons he pillaged, he had definitely made a killing on this journey.

“Sir, Elder Klive invites you over for a moment. He said that the Great Elder, Great Priest and Great Commander of the Dark Association wants to talk to you about something!” Just as Yang Ling was about to examine further the spoils of war he got from this journey, a scout walked quickly toward him.

The three head honchos of the Dark Association are looking for me?

Yang Ling was a little surprised. He deliberated for a moment before instructing Ashnamov to entertain the inmates he had just recruited, then left quickly with the Corpse Wizard King, Dark Dragon King, and the rest of the group.