Master Xiaong seems sowhat shrewd, but she possesses a rare trait among cultivators – an inability to say no.
For many ordinary people in the Mortal Realm, refusing others can be quite difficult, and there are more cultivators who understand this – how can one pursue cultivation if they don’t know how to sever emotional ties?
However, clearly, Master Xiaong is an exception; she can’t even bring herself to sever the karma with Qu Jianlei.
So she agreed to find out more about the Heavenly Fragrance Fruit – although she already knew the details, agreeing now shows that she truly intends to seize the opportunity to assist her Sister Zhi Zhang.
After all, she is also a true cultivator of the Crimson Phoenix Sect; the rise and fall of the sect is her responsibility.
However, she is not soone who can be easily manipulated, so she says, Sister, you must clarify, what is this Heavenly Fragrance Fruit used for?
Zhi Zhang thought for a mont and decided to reveal the truth. This was a request from the Qinggang Sect’s leader – because she only learned the fruit’s na after asking them.
As for what Qinggang plans to do with the Heavenly Fragrance Fruit, she wanted to ask, but it seed inappropriate. Such a secret, even if she knew, she couldn’t possibly tell Xiaong – just like Xiaong couldn’t reveal all of Qu Jianlei’s secrets.
Of course, Master Xiaong wouldn’t be foolish enough to insist on knowing the specifics; knowing the request cos from the Qinggang leader is sufficient. "I will negotiate with Qu Jianlei properly and persuade him to consider the bigger picture."
Zhi Zhang nodded, temporarily stopping this discussion, and brought up another topic. "Xiaong, do you think we have underestimated Feng Jun’s potential? He actually deduced it and made Qu Jianlei believe... that he could succeed in achieving the Golden Core again?"
To be honest, this recent incident has quite challenged her worldview. Firstly, soone like Qu Jianlei dared to attempt reaching the Golden Core again, and not just attempting – the world is never short of the overconfident – but he actually succeeded!
Secondly, not only did Feng Jun predict this, but he also produced surprisingly accurate results.
"I didn’t know about this either; it was all handled by Chi Luan," this ti, Master Xiaong spoke truthfully. "Her wings have grown strong, and I can’t influence her anymore. She knows more about Feng Jun’s abilities than I do... Sister, what are you trying to say?"
Excitent appeared in Zhi Zhang’s eyes, "I rember... our Crimson Phoenix Sect still has a few cultivators at the peak of the Out of Body realm, right?"
She was intending to increase the number of true cultivator positions.
In fact, these cultivators of Crimson Phoenix at the Out of Body peak have virtually no possibility of progressing further; otherwise, they would currently be in seclusion striving to reach the Golden Core.
But if even an eternal underachiever like Qu Jianlei could turn things around, why shouldn’t everyone try a bit harder?
Master Xiaong intended not to hinder her Sister Zhi Zhang’s imagination, and indeed, she couldn’t stop her, but she intended to make an effort to rescue the situation, "However, the condition he set for helping with Qu Jianlei’s prediction was to save one person and kill another."
The Crimson Phoenix Zhi Zhang evidently was not aware of the recent developnts – she reputedly was in seclusion and had given many responsibilities to Chi Luan, focusing primarily on crucial matters, but evidently... this matter wasn’t critical enough!
Upon understanding what "save one person, kill another" truly ant, she couldn’t help but pause in surprise before speaking with a sigh, "This explanation is indeed a bit enigmatic... Hmm, so it ans if you want to save one Golden Core, you must also kill a Golden Core?"
"Naturally," Master Xiaong nodded, "One can’t expect to kill a Qi Refinent cultivator and hope he’ll save a Golden Core, right? I think it would be reasonable if he killed sothing above a Golden Core."
Zhi Zhang pondered for a long while, though it was unclear what she was thinking, then suddenly recalled sothing, "Wouldn’t Qu Jianlei also have to kill a Golden Core due to his guidance which led to successfully reaching the Golden Core?"
Master Xiaong was startled upon hearing this. She had, in fact, considered this point, but Qu Jianlei had always emphasized – "I just need to kill an Out of Body Supre," so she deliberately disregarded this possibility.
Now hearing her own Zhi Zhang express the sa thought, she couldn’t help but feel slightly panicked, "Then I’ll go and discuss this with Qu Jianlei."
"No need to be so flustered," Zhi Zhang, seeing her so concerned upon hearing Qu Jianlei’s matters, felt sowhat helpless. "Qu Jianlei has not yet stabilized his realm; these matters aren’t urgent."
How could it not be urgent? Master Xiaong was keenly aware that Feng Jun had a few adversaries during the Out of Body period – largely just unpleasantness; the more confird one was You Longzi from the Yinsha Sect, and Qu Jianlei was even contemplating targeting his senior, ChengFeng Zi.
However, even though Crimson Phoenix and Yinsha are natural enemies, both she and Qu Jianlei are already at the Golden Core stage, and it’s not suitable for them to rashly target minor Out of Body cultivators, so they were planning to consult Feng Jun to confirm whether taking down You Longzi would be sufficient.
But now with Zhi Zhang’s reminder, she realized she couldn’t hesitate anymore and had to act quickly; between You Longzi and ChengFeng Zi, she had to eliminate one first. So that when she saw Feng Jun, if he required them to kill a Golden Core, they could use this as leverage.
It’s not that the two of them couldn’t kill a Golden Core or lacked the ability to do so, but the karma of killing a Golden Core is too heavy, and neither of them knew whom Feng Jun intended to kill – what if it turned out to be an acquaintance?
In sum, the feeling of debt is distressing. Originally, she wanted to respect Feng Jun’s wishes and clarify the target, but now it seems that eliminating a Yinsha Supre first would make their side more proactive.
Despite her inner urgency, her expression remained calm, "Matters regarding debts are best settled early. May I ask if there are any other instructions, Zhi Zhang?"
The Zhi Zhang pondered for a mont before answering, "Ask Qu Patron again. Once his cultivation level is stable, see if he’s willing to secretly protect Feng Jun... If he’s not willing to co secretly, he can co openly."
"Alright," Master Xiaong nodded and left, "I will talk to him, and I estimate there’s a high probability he’ll agree."
After she left, the Zhi Zhang shook her head, sighed softly, and murmured under her breath, "Do they really think I don’t know that the Heavenly Fragrance Fruit might have co from Feng Jun? After all, he is from a hidden sect."
An alliance leader isn’t so easy to fool. She’s good at speculating various possibilities and won’t blindly accept anything.
There weren’t many argunts supporting her guess, but one was enough—the Heavenly Fragrance Fruit couldn’t grow in this dinsion, and many people believed Feng Jun ca from a hidden sect or another dinsion.
Of course, she couldn’t be certain that Feng Jun was the true owner of the Heavenly Fragrance Fruit, but she wouldn’t naively think that the young Mountain Master Feng could be overlooked because of that couple’s argunts.
As she was pondering over this, a paper crane flew in. She glanced at it, and a strange light flashed across her face, "Xiaong, co back; sothing’s happened over there at Mingsha Fang Market..."
Feng Jun had been quite relaxed recently at White Pebble Beach, practicing talismans and formations every day, occasionally going out to test earth vein deductions, sotis helping others with their analyses, and watching others build manors.
Sister Hong, Zhang Caixin, and Feng Jing’s cultivation levels were steadily improving, and over at Mount Zhige, he’d already transported a large batch of goods through the Tiantong Comrcial Alliance, enough to support them for half a year.
Shipping goods from the Cultivation World to the Mortal Realm was essentially exchanging Spirit Stones for Gold. From both the perspective of the Earth Realm and the mobile phone dinsion, this was a loss.
It’s only because of him that the price of Spirit Stones on Earth was extrely high. Supported by this distorted exchange rate, Feng Jun managed to wildly increase his gold reserves over there, so it’s not entirely a loss.
In any case, he was playing sentintality. Can sentintality be asured by profit and loss?
So Feng Jun was very comfortable, actually feeling a bit reluctant to leave at tis.
That afternoon, as he just woke up from a nap, Chen Junsheng ca over, presenting a Cultivation Technique Manual, the "Six Harmonies Qi Cultivation Technique," saying it was a gift from Master Yu Pao of the Taiqing Sect, and asked if he could cultivate it.
Why are you asking about sothing gifted to you? Feng Jun was first surprised, then he understood. Who is Yu Pao? The license-bearer and traveler of Master Xiaodong from Wuwei Peak. With such high standards, why would he look favorably upon an Innate Expert and generously gift a cultivation technique?
So he asked, half laughing, "Did you promise him you could stay here permanently?"
"No," Chen Junsheng shook his head. How could he dare to make random promises to a great master? "He just said that looking at my physique, wanting to cultivate, this technique is quite suitable."
Feng Jun nodded, "Indeed. This cultivation technique is similar to ’Five Elents Transcendence’ that your brother cultivates, both are ordinary Great Dao Cultivation Techniques. This technique has a slightly lower requirent for physique."
’Six Harmonies Qi Cultivation Technique’ doesn’t really differentiate physique much, but it requires cultivation resources. Precisely due to this, the ’Five Elents Transcendence’ is more mainstream—it preserves Spirit Stones and has a natural selection effect.
Chen Junsheng looked expectantly at him, "Mountain Master, can I cultivate it?"
"Whether or not to cultivate is up to you," Feng Jun formally stated, his expression a bit indifferent, "The gift was given to you, handle it yourself."
He knew Chen Junsheng should have one or two hundred Spirit Stones in hand, which would ordinarily be enough to cultivate to around the third or fourth layer of Qi Refinent.
Chen Junsheng hesitated for a mont before speaking, "I still want to follow the Mountain Master, and Yu Pao said it was given to , naturally out of regard for you."
He felt that this matter must be agreed upon by Feng Jun—Yu Pao gifting him sothing was just a small kindness and a dispensable favor. Such situations are not uncommon in the secular world.
For example, even as an Innate Expert, when he went to the Prefectural Governor’s office, he had to casually give the doorman a tip—does the doorman truly deserve his attention?
So now cos the problem: if he gave a hefty gift to the gatekeeper, and the gatekeeper later refused to work, what would he think?
Chen Junsheng didn’t dare gamble on Yu Pao’s temperant. As the licensed Golden Core of the Taiqing Sect, if he wanted to kill him, he wouldn’t need to lift a finger, just a word would suffice.
Even if Yu Pao was magnanimous, how many Qi Refining Disciples were there in Taiqing? Knowing that killing him would please Yu Pao a little, would anyone spare him?
Therefore, he hoped to get a promise from Feng Jun—if I cultivate, will you not drive away?
He assured Feng Jun: his cultivation would absolutely not interfere with his normal work.
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