Big Data Cultivation-Chapter 2020 - 2022: To Wear or Not to Wear a Hat

Gao Qiang still valued his communication with Yun Buyao, because he himself felt that under Elder Feng’s leadership, there were two completely different circles between the people from the Earth Realm and the Kunhao Natives, and they rarely even greeted each other.

The reason for this phenomenon lies with Feng Jun, primarily because whenever something happened, he would first gather the people from Earth. This behavior naturally made the Kunhao people feel—those are Mountain Master Feng’s peers, and we are not!

Feng Jun also didn’t want to do this, but he had no choice. Apart from being more concerned about his fellow countrymen, the key issue was that if someone from the Earth Plane went missing, the consequences would be quite serious.

The Kunhao Natives are relatively tough-minded, and one might also say human life is relatively cheap, but in Huaxia, which is a society governed by law, if someone goes missing—especially someone related to Feng Jun going missing, the relevant parties would never give up on the investigation.

It’s even possible to say that they might be waiting for such an opportunity to openly investigate Luohua.

Therefore, Feng Jun had no choice but to treat them differently, and besides, he couldn’t bring the subordinates from Kunhao to the Earth Realm, right?

Anyway, Gao Qiang realized the problem and believed that the boss also didn’t want to see such division. So after carefully analyzing Yun Buyao’s needs, he decided to seriously help her out.

First, he told a story about "wearing a hat and not wearing a hat."

Yun Buyao was dumbfounded as she listened, "Isn’t this deliberately looking for trouble? Whether you wear a hat or not is wrong... such people deserve to die!"

"Isn’t it just looking for trouble?" Gao Qiang replied with a smile, "The boss means for you to trouble the Earth Spirit..."

Gao Qiang chatted with Yun Buyao for an entire afternoon, and later on, whenever Yun Buyao saw people from the Earth Realm, her gaze turned peculiar, and she would usually quickly brush past them, becoming increasingly reluctant to greet them.

Mi Yunsan discovered this secret and quietly asked Yun Buyao, what did Gao Qiang do to you?

Yun Buyao hurriedly waved her hand, "Don’t mention those people, I’m scared... They can easily come up with some shameless ideas, as if they are used to it. The more I interact with such people, the more I’m afraid it’ll corrupt my Dao heart."

Corrupt your Dao heart? Sister Lin was startled upon hearing this, and couldn’t help but ask for more details. After pondering for a bit, she smiled and shook her head, "You’re overthinking it a bit. The Mountain Master’s peers excel in their own ways, and what they taught you... is also a kind of communication technique."

"I know it’s a technique," Yun Buyao nodded in distress, then looked at her, "The problem is, do you want to learn this kind of communication technique?"

Mi Yunsan was momentarily speechless. She naturally didn’t like learning this kind of method either. Although she came from a major clan and had seen some scheming, making her more mature than Yun Buyao, she said, "I also don’t want to learn it much. Focusing on cultivation is much better!"

"Yeah," Yun Buyao became more distressed, "Gao Qiang even said that when Sister Hong returns, she’ll teach me... and he said Sister Hong knows even more than him. How am I supposed to live my life?"

Mi Yunsan couldn’t help but secretly mourn for her for a moment, and then curiously asked, "So... is it effective on the Earth Spirit?"

"I... I haven’t tried it yet," Yun Buyao’s scarred face scrunched up, "I always feel it’s a bit shameless, but luckily Gao Qiang hasn’t pushed me."

She felt she hadn’t tried it, but the Earth Spirit was already quite upset—You ask about my progress from time to time, is this how you play it? Don’t you know, we Five Elements Spirits don’t like to talk much!

Initially, it was wary because she was a License Holder, so it responded with a word here and there, but later on, it increasingly didn’t want to talk, only telling her that its progress was correct, and its methods were correct too!

Later, Yun Buyao asked it three times, and it might not answer even once. Further on, she could ask ten times, and it might still not respond once.

According to rules, a License Holder can punish it, but Yun Buyao’s cultivation level is too low, and she simply doesn’t have the ability to carry out punishment. If she wanted to take action against it, she would need Feng Jun to do it.

But the Earth Spirit was not afraid to communicate with Feng Jun. It believed Feng Jun should understand him—I’m guiding the earth vein, okay? Is it interesting for an outsider to keep chattering?

Seeing it like this, Yun Buyao went to complain when Feng Jun wasn’t too busy—It’s ignoring me!

Feng Jun also chose a time when the Earth Spirit wasn’t too busy and directly used Soul Punishment, causing the Earth Spirit to immediately roll in pain.

Fortunately, guiding the earth vein is a slow and meticulous task, otherwise, just letting go could cause unknown amounts of damage.

The punishment from Feng Jun this time wasn’t long, about three minutes. After punishing, he didn’t reason with it, just left a sentence, "The License Holder represents my will, you better keep that in mind."

"Boss, I’m wronged!" The Earth Spirit felt greatly aggrieved, "That little girl simply..."

"You think you have a point now?" Feng Jun interrupted its words directly, "Dare to say one more word, and see if I don’t give you a combo set?"

The Earth Spirit immediately fell silent; it realized it might have misunderstood. This new owner might not be more reasonable than the True Immortal of Red Wood.

In truth, Feng Jun wasn’t that unreasonable. His current behavior, apart from helping Yun Buyao seek benefits, had other thoughts in mind.

For the next ten days or so, Yun Buyao still frequently sought information. The Earth Spirit dared not turn a deaf ear, but its tone in responses was not very polite—no matter what, it was in the Golden Core Stage, how could it be polite to someone in the Qi Refinement Realm?

However, Feng Jun then began to prepare for the return of Zhang Caixin and the others. Mount Zhige needed backup plans, and there had to be a few more exchanges with the Earth Realm to balance things out before returning to White Pebble Beach.

This took about five days, then he led the four of them back to White Pebble Beach. After settling them down, he continued to ponder the issue of the tripartite contract. After twenty days of deduction, it was nearing completion.

Gao Qiang, seeing Sister Hong return, took the initiative to explain Yun Buyao’s situation, and also indicated that, since he was a Qianxiu, he felt embarrassed to caution Yun Buyao much, so he hoped Sister Hong could look into it.

Sister Hong felt this was a good thing. As someone from an Earth-based group, she didn’t want to be estranged from the Kunhao people. Such behavior was not only immature but could also create hidden threats—she wanted to cultivate in Kunhao for a long time.

So she took the initiative to find Yun Buyao. After understanding the situation, she offered some targeted advice: "For the next few days, ask it less, try not to disturb it, and then..."

Upon hearing this, Yun Buyao glanced at Sister Hong in surprise, thinking to herself that Gao Qiang was indeed right; she was more competent than him.

However, she was not opposed to Sister Hong’s suggestion as it suited her quite well.

Compared to her, the Earth Spirit seemed a bit confused. It had only enjoyed a few quiet days before Yun Buyao asked again, but this time it wasn’t about the Earth Vein, "Well, I didn’t bother you these days, wasn’t that considerate of me?"

The Earth Spirit wanted to answer coldly, but having enjoyed two rare quiet days, it truly savored the feeling, so it replied, "It’s right not to disturb; otherwise, the Earth Vein’s traction would be delayed."

"I’m not concerned about delays; careful work yields fine products," Yun Buyao answered, following Sister Hong’s teaching, "I’m asking, since I didn’t bother you, aren’t you going to express any gratitude?"

"Gratitude?" The Earth Spirit was a bit dumbfounded, "What do you mean by gratitude? I don’t quite understand. Isn’t the completion of the Earth Vein early beneficial for everyone? Why should I thank you?"

Yun Buyao remained silent for a moment before responding, "It seems I should trouble you more often after all. I wanted to show you some courtesy, but you don’t appreciate it!"

"Why would I need you to be good to me?" the Earth Spirit replied disdainfully, but then recalled Feng Jun’s soul punishment. This little girl could indeed summon Feng Jun to act, and he wouldn’t listen to explanations at all.

So it quashed its anger, "Alright, what gratitude do you want? Let’s hear it... I don’t have any Spirit Stones!"

Yun Buyao finally could make a bold demand, "Haven’t you considered why Mountain Master Feng would give me the Spirit Control Plaque?"

Does it change anything who gets it? the Earth Spirit thought scornfully. Without Feng Jun, a Qi Refinement ant like you, I could wipe out a bunch with a yawn. Nonetheless, it finally replied, "I’m not really sure about that."

Yun Buyao answered meaningfully, "Because I am Innate Pure Gold, get it?"

"Got it," the Earth Spirit felt somewhat between tears and laughter, "So does this mean I’ve been... extorted by a Qi Refinement ant?"

"I never intended to extort you," Yun Buyao answered bluntly, her tone quite righteous—because that was indeed her initial thought, "I just wanted to care about the Earth Vein Traction’s progress, yet you repeatedly looked down on me..."

"Later, when my master punished you, I thought, maybe being given the plaque by my master was a bestowed opportunity for me. If you’re not willing to believe it, I’ll just report back to my master."

"No, I believe!" The Earth Spirit knelt without hesitation. It truly didn’t want to deal with that unreasonable person anymore, and for it, helping a few Gold attribute cultivators was an inherent ability of Earth nurturing Gold—it wasn’t resistant to lending a hand; it resisted excessive exploitation.

It’s like when a normal person who hasn’t bathed for a long time takes a bath, they’ll certainly shed some dirt, but if they were being bathed every moment, constantly scrubbed, the experience is certainly undesirable.

In short, a bit of Gold energy was no problem for the Earth Spirit. It would naturally produce some byproducts in its cultivation process and might even casually discard them. Deliberately generating more wasn’t an issue either.

However, while it could discard them, it didn’t mean it didn’t know they were valuable. Typically, getting Gold energy refinement from the Earth Spirit would cost a hefty price.

Hence, Feng Jun wanted Yun Buyao to extort it—in consideration of his miserly nature, getting it for free was virtually impossible.

It was for this reason that the Earth Spirit readily agreed to Yun Buyao, but even though it agreed swiftly, it bore a grudge in its heart.

A mere Qi Refinement ant actually dares to extort me, this Golden Core Stage entity; we’ll see about that!