Big Data Cultivation-Chapter 1278: Taking Before Giving

For some reason, in Feng Jun’s eyes, there was a strong sense of déjà vu of a "coal boss."

Do coal bosses have any decent backing? Not really. They rely on local resources to earn money that others can’t, and outsiders really can’t easily replace them.

Of course, one "nationalization in, privatization out" policy, and coal bosses are crippled. After all, the arm cannot twist the thigh.

However, without such a policy, effective management would be very difficult.

Two days later, two male disciples of Taiqing arrived at the Fang Market, both in the high tier of Qi Refinement. One of them was already over a hundred and seven years old, considered an elder in a minor local clan.

Among Taiqing disciples, this situation is not uncommon. When there’s no hope for progress and staying in the sect doesn’t offer better prospects, these miscellaneous disciples have various choices. They can be assigned to regions as a Taiqing contact point.

Of course, if Taiqing has major affairs, they must rush back to fight desperately.

Generally speaking, after entering the sect, disciples are supposed to cut ties with their clan. However, rules are dead, but people are alive. Those who are already retired, secretly contact their clan, as long as they don’t do anything outrageous, most fellow students will turn a blind eye.

This elder Qi Refining disciple was idle and heard that someone from the sect wanted to travel to Songhai Forest, so he came to assist.

His semi-public return to his clan is quite taboo. Even if other Taiqing disciples don’t speak of it, it’s difficult to take more sect tasks. However, at the time, his family encountered some issues and he couldn’t stand by without helping.

As a result, ten years ago, a child with excellent aptitude appeared in his family, and he wanted to send him to Taiqing, but there was basically no room to maneuver—such an outdated disciple, even if he stayed in the sect to retire, it’s not easy to handle similar matters.

Anyway, he came enthusiastically, carefully introducing the surrounding situation—if Kong Ziyi had contacted him from the start, there would have been no need to ask Fang Wenping.

The elder Qi Refining disciple is familiar with the surroundings, but somewhat lacking in details. After all, he spent the best years of his life near Taiqing.

The other Qi Refining disciple was even more unfamiliar with this place, but certainly stronger than Feng Jun and Kong Ziyi.

The elder Qi Refining disciple suggested that among his clansmen, there are those more familiar with this place and asked if they wanted a guide.

Kong Ziyi completely failed to understand what meaning traveling here could have, so she let Feng Jun decide.

After asking a few questions, Feng Jun felt that the clansmen of the elder Qi Refining disciple weren’t very familiar with the area—after all, their home was over a hundred thousand miles from here, so he decided: Let’s hire locals instead.

The elder Qi Refining disciple immediately introduced two secular families, whose clans are not large, less than ten thousand people, but in these two clans, there are more than one secular cultivators. He wasn’t very familiar with these families, but they knew of his identity as a Taiqing disciple and had interacted before.

He made such a suggestion because he wasn’t looking to hire secular cultivators as guides—as long as familiarity with the roads was sufficient, intermediate or high tier of Qi Refinement would do. The key was these two families had clan burdens, and most likely wouldn’t dare to play tricks on Taiqing superiors.

Indeed, the people here are quite lawless, and even Taiqing superiors are not beyond being deceived.

Speaking of nothing else, just the visit from Fang Wenping to Kong Ziyi, the elder Qi Refining disciple stated he had never heard of such a superior—maybe Fang Wenping wasn’t intentionally deceiving Kong Ziyi, but in such a disputed area, people often use fake names.

Upon hearing that Taiqing superiors were seeking a guide, one of the family superiors was tempted and came forward to Kong Ziyi, saying, "I’ll guide you, I don’t want any reward, just ask you to help slay a wild beast for me."

The wild beast was a golden-striped flying bear, able to fly but not high, mostly gliding, incredibly strong with adequate fighting ability, mainly capable of spraying venom.

The elder Qi Refining disciple immediately realized, "That wild beast is guarding some natural treasures, isn’t it?"

"It is guarding a few stalks of Blue Leaf Pearl Grass," this superior did not conceal, "If you want it, you can have it. I just want to kill that golden-striped flying bear. I need the bear’s gallbladder."

The elder Qi Refining disciple’s brow furrowed in surprise, "Your Yuan Family has three superiors, still needing external help to deal with a single golden-striped flying bear and share the profits?"

"Three superiors are not used that way," Yuan Superior glanced at him, "Your family has no superiors, so you think three superiors are many. When your family has three, you’ll understand that not one can be spared!"

He explained to Kong Ziyi, "I haven’t been there for a long time, and I’m not certain if the golden-striped flying bear may have a mate. Although my Yuan Family wouldn’t fear a pair of bears, if someone else with ulterior motives targets us, it would be a big problem."

"Kong Superior, you are a High Disciple of Taiqing, I trust you completely. And with the two of you accompanying me, naturally, I have no fear of others having designs. When the real fight starts, you two just sit back and watch... I just hope that with excellent assistance, others won’t dare to act rashly."

Kong Ziyi listened and smiled, "Then, can we also get some Blue Leaf Pearl Grass?"

"That’s right," Master Yuan nodded straightforwardly, "I would like the two of you to make a trip, at the very least we’ll cover the travel expenses."

The old Qi Refining Disciple couldn’t help but smile wryly and interject, "Uncle Master Kong, people here fight all day and speak roughly, please don’t mind."

"It’s no problem," Kong Ziyi smiled and turned her head to Feng Jun, "What does Mountain Master Feng think?"

Feng Jun really had no interest in escorting others, but it was obvious that Daoist friend Ziyi had some interest, and since the two of them claimed to be traveling, they had to appear like travelers, so he smiled, "Forget about the Blue Leaf Pearl Grass, let’s not pay for a guide."

Yuan Shangren heard this and couldn’t help but glance at the old Qi Refining Disciple—could this guy really decide for a Taiqing Superior?

This person could only shrug helplessly: I’m also very curious.

Once a cultivator makes a decision, they act swiftly, ten minutes later, Feng Jun packed up and everyone headed straight for the Bewildering Soul Forest a hundred miles away.

This area was called Songhai Forest, dominated by pine trees, most of which were towering giants over a hundred feet tall. Although it was a coniferous forest, the trees were too tall and numerous, it was just getting dark outside, but in the pine forest it was already pitch black.

As it was their first day entering the forest, nobody ventured too deep. They found a somewhat open area, lit a campfire, and each set up their own Defense Array Disk.

There were four defensive formations, one each for Kong Ziyi, Feng Jun, and Master Yuan. The old Qi Refining Disciple also had one, pulling in the Taiqing Qi Refining Disciple travelling with him.

The Bewildering Soul Forest at night was full of various small animals and insects, without a defensive formation, it would be really tough to get through here.

Feng Jun stared dazedly at the thick pine trunks, encountering pines with one to two meters in diameter everywhere, and some even five to six meters thick, "Cutting these down to build houses would be really satisfying, right?"

"No way," Master Yuan quickly waved his hands, "The trees of the Bewildering Soul Forest cannot be cut down carelessly, this area is considered the outskirts. Three hundred miles further in, it’s truly bewildering, leaving the trees in the outer area is a form of protection for the Human Race."

"If we cut too recklessly and end up living next to wild beasts, who would dare to stay here?"

Feng Jun nodded upon hearing this, "I see there are such uses, then aren’t there fewer wild beasts within these three hundred miles?"

Master Yuan pondered for a moment before answering, "Not exactly few, the outermost fifty miles have fewer since many people come and go. The further you go, the more wild beasts, but if the forest was cut down completely, it would be directly adjacent to Bewildering Soul Forest, then only they come outside, and we can’t get in."

The old Qi Refining Disciple spoke in a deep voice, "However, besides the fear of wild beasts in the forest, people are also scary, otherwise we could fly close to the treetops, but that way we’re too easily discovered."

Talking about wild beasts at night, the next day everyone encountered a lone Cloud-Leopard. Thankfully, the three Superiors took turns exploring with Divine Sense and discovered it in time as it approached.

Since they were in a relatively sparse area of the forest, Feng Jun flicked his hand and cast a Falling Thunder Technique, causing the Cloud-Leopard to stiffen. Kong Ziyi pointed a finger and a beam of white light shot out, immediately a stream of blood burst from the Cloud-Leopard.

The old Qi Refining Disciple shouted "Leopard skin," but it was already too late.

Master Yuan was slightly more composed, he spoke with a smile, "The Cloud-Leopard’s eyes, skin, and sinew are worth some money. But with Feng’s one Falling Thunder Technique, the skin is no longer usable... However, not harming anyone is most important."

The Cloud-Leopard, for all its fearsome appearance as a wild beast, wasn’t that valuable, in total it was worth about two hundred Spirit Stones, with the skin worth eighty, the eyes, useful for medicine, worth fifty, and the other miscellaneous parts adding up to seventy or eighty Spirit Stones.

The beast they aimed to hunt, the Golden Pattern Flying Bear, just one live bear gallbladder was worth five hundred Spirit Stones.

The pricing of Spirit Beasts and Wild Beasts depended on the situation. As Feng Jun recalled, back when he guarded the city at Qiuchen Market, most Spirit Beasts he killed were worth twenty to thirty Spirit Stones, Wild Beasts could be worth a hundred or so.

Recalling those past duties, he explained, "Apologies, old habits from battling Spirit Beast Tides."

"It’s quite normal," Master Yuan nodded, but his expression didn’t quite match the "quite normal" sentiment, "Feng’s talking about war, we’re conducting extremely careful hunts, the original intent is different."

Kong Ziyi couldn’t help but interject, "But... a person’s life is always the most important, right?" fгeewebnovёl.com

Master Yuan looked at her helplessly, "You are from the Wutai of the Four Sects. To us, surviving is paramount, taking some risks and suffering minor injuries to achieve sufficient benefit is really nothing."

He wasn’t afraid his comments would anger the other party, Taiqing superior disciples were here for training, akin to "Worldly Trials," and he was simply providing them a genuine experience of training.

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