Chapter 149: 149: Light Causes a Sensation (Three More for Monthly Passes)
Chapter 149: Light Causes a Sensation (Three More for Monthly Passes)
Feng Jun had an intuition: the Tai Chi Breathing Technique of Nine Forms Thirty-Six Diagrams that he was practicing, was a very rare version.
But people are always selfish, and he couldn’t possibly teach the Tai Chi Breathing Technique to Xu Leigang without thinking it through.
However, Fatty Xu’s body strengthening results were extremely good, and he was anxious to start cultivating, what to do?
Feng Jun could only look for a relatively good Cultivation Technique in this plane, to consider teaching to Xu Leigang.
Feng Jun did indeed intend to promote Martial Cultivation greatly in the Earth Realm, but there was a premise… others couldn’t cultivate faster than him!
Feng, the man, was no Holy Mother, never had been; when he encountered things, he first considered himself.
Of course, if he gave Xu Leigang a relatively inferior Cultivation Technique, and the other still advanced faster than him, he wouldn’t regret it.
He still had that pride—if others were in worse conditions and still succeeded more than I did, then it was my own problem.
But at the same time, he also had a guess in his heart: my physical quality has been enhanced by space, Xu Leigang’s foundation is very likely to be not as good as mine, giving him an inferior technique, would be somewhat… unbecoming of a friend.
Thus, he grew intensely curious about the Tian Family’s techniques: I don’t know how good that Nine Forms Nine Diagrams is, but I think your Tian Family’s Nine Forms Twenty-Seven Diagrams is quite impressive, could you give me a copy?
Tian Yangni said, “That’s really not a problem at all, I will even include a set of Cultivation insights from our ancestors.”
This is how exchanges among cultivators are: if there’s mistrust, or if the parties are extremely disparate, an exchange is impossible; but once there’s a suitable opportunity for exchange, everyone is eager—every cultivator has had their share of troubles, haven’t they?
Feng Jun just felt that he might have taken advantage, but the Tian Family thought they had definitely gotten the better end of the deal.
In any case, communication was very smooth; after the exchange was completed, Feng Jun couldn’t help but sigh, “What a pity, Luo Wendao actually didn’t bring any Cultivation Technique manuals… This guy wouldn’t have a Storage Bag on him, would he?”
As the online novels say: Murder for treasure all relies on the Storage Bag.
Storage Bag… Tian Yangni shivered in fright, we all agreed to keep a low profile, can you not mention the matters of Immortals?
So, he could only selectively pretend to be deaf and switch to another topic, “Divine Doctor, you… are very interested in Martial Cultivation Techniques?”
“Yes,” Feng Jun nodded without hesitation, “I don’t know much about the Cultivation Techniques of Martial Cultivators, I need to inquire in many places, the more knowledge, the better.”
This made Tian Yangni feel like spitting blood, you young man, if you don’t understand Martial Cultivation Techniques, how did you advance to martial master?
In the end, you don’t really regard Martial Artists highly, so unconsciously, some of your true identity leaks out.
This, however, was where he was mistaken, Feng Jun came from a society flooded with information and understood very well the principle of intermingling truth and falsehood.
Let the false be true and the true be false, making things ambiguous, is the best way to keep people speculating.
The guesses of others about his identity were only one aspect; although Feng would not mention Immortals, while maintaining utmost secrecy, he also needed to occasionally “leak” a bit of information to keep the other party curious—essentially to keep the conversation hot.
Of course, the most important thing was that he really had that need.
He dared to say, but Tian Yangni did not dare to ask along those lines; Immortals were already a taboo topic, what if he spoke out and attracted the covetousness of other forces?
Even without that hassle, if the Divine Doctor didn’t like his identity being exposed, and just decided to leave quietly leaving the current situation behind, Tian Yangni would be crying without tears.
So, he nodded in confusion as if unaware of what the other had said before, “Divine Doctor, your willingness to lay a solid foundation is more than excellent, the Tian Family is willing to provide knowledge on Cultivation to express our apologies.”
Feng Jun looked at him impassively, pondered for a moment, then finally spoke three words, “Is it suitable?”
Of course, it’s suitable, Tian Yangni was very certain of that; knowledge about Cultivation can be said to be precious, but also ordinary—if one is willing to spend a great amount of money, collecting some related books from everywhere, they could grasp the basics.
Even if the other party was not an Immortal, with his martial power and wealth, it wouldn’t be very difficult to obtain these.
So, he nodded with a smile, “That’s no problem… If Divine Doctor is willing to stay here longer, the Tian Family can also help collect some techniques from other families to enrich your experience.”
Truth be told, even he felt a bit embarrassed to say this; how precious are Cultivation Techniques and secret manuals to Martial Cultivators? He would use extreme measures, even violence to obtain them, and yet it was all just to… expand someone’s experiences!
Feng Jun didn’t feel there was anything amiss; he was actually quite interested in a word, “Stay long? I haven’t decided how long to stay, but I can say with certainty… I won’t be living here for too long.”
Tian Yangni didn’t dare to ask how long “not too long” was; he just nodded earnestly, “The Tian Family will increase our efforts to collect them, Divine Doctor, I’ll go arrange it right away…”
He had just relayed the message back to his clan, and then he discovered that the number of people arriving at the riverbank had suddenly increased.
There had already been quite a few people here before, but the more than three hundred present were all disciples of the Tian Family, or at the very least, individuals arranged by the Tian Family to work.
But now, the people who were joining were residents living in the surrounding areas.
It didn’t take long for members of the Tian Family to inquire and find out that the four bright lamps were to blame.
The lamps were incredibly bright, initially frightening the nearby residents, who were too scared to sleep at night, until they ascertained that the lamps were brought by those collecting stones, which allowed them to breathe a sigh of relief.
After relaxing, their curiosity towards the miraculous nature of the lamps grew.
The villagers already knew that the Zhao Family stronghold had antagonized these few individuals, resulting in several deaths within the stronghold, and had paid out a large amount of silver coins as compensation to these outsiders. Even the Tian Family from Dongmu Province were currently trying their best to please them.
The villagers had previously sold some stones to Feng Jun and his group, not finding them particularly terrifying; but the Tian Family… they were truly powerful. Even though they were from Dongmu, no one in Zhige dared to provoke them.
Not to mention, just look at the Zhao Family stronghold. The Zhao Family practically strutted around dominating the area, but they couldn’t muster the courage to stand against the Tian Family at all.
At first, the Tian Family members were vigilant against locals coming to snoop around, even contemplating using force to drive them away.
However, the people of Zhige had their own ways. They argued, “We plan to sell stones to these noble individuals. You Dongmu people come to our Zhige to collect stones, and we haven’t even come to you over this matter, yet you dare to block us?”
The Tian Family wasn’t afraid of them bringing the matter up with others; it was simply about mining for stones. Even if the Zhige County government intervened, a bit of money would be enough to smooth things over—in fact, they had already made contact with relevant officials.
But when it came to the Divine Doctor collecting stones, they didn’t dare to make decisions lightly. Everything the Tian Family was doing at the moment was to ingratiate themselves with the peculiar Divine Doctor; how could they possibly risk offending the real master?
So they told the people of Zhige, “We’ll buy the stones you collect; after all, we’re in great need of stones.”
However, as the saying goes, everything is difficult when taken too seriously. The nearby residents responded, “We only want to sell to that group because the stones you buy are not fit for display; they’re used for construction.”
That was true. Despite the abundance of jade in Zhige, the extremely high-quality jade was relatively scarce. The jades used in construction tended to have various flaws—after all, they were meant to be exposed to the sun and rain, and there was no need for excessive refinement.
At the end of the day, the purchase price offered by the Tian Family was too low, and there was little money to be made. Who would want to sell premium stones as if they were of ordinary quality?
If this were in Dongmu Province, and the Tian Family encountered such obstinate individuals, they would typically beat them half to death and then throw them out, as a warning to anyone who would come after—no one could trample on the dignity of the Tian Family so easily.
But now, with everyone under the watchful eye of the Divine Doctor, who would dare to start a fight rashly?
So, after another two days, there were close to five hundred people around Feng Jun and his group, about two hundred of whom were from the surrounding villages.
At first, these people came to watch the excitement, but after discovering the wonders of the xenon lamps, many of them came at night to bask in the light—yes, to literally soak up some light in the same way as one might catch glow-worms or reflect snow.
For those who studied, needless to say, borrowing someone else’s brightness could save their own lamp oil.
Then there were the village women, who worked hard during the day. At night, when they wanted to mend some clothes for their family or knit something like shoe soles, they also needed brightness—fumbling in the dark, they couldn’t even thread a needle.
Also, those idle men in the village had nothing to do at night if they weren’t “pop pop popping” with their wives, so coming here to play a couple of rounds of chess was not a bad idea.
What kind of chess were they playing? Stone chess! Definitely not something highbrow like Go.
Stone chess was simple, with each side having three to four chess pieces and playing on a makeshift board drawn on the ground. It was simple, easy to pick up, with not many variations, but it was a good way to pass the time. Many people would play for one or two hours straight.
Feng Jun initially hadn’t noticed this trend, but by the fifth night, he saw that the number of visitors was increasing and felt compelled to summon Tian Yangni over to ask what was going on.
Tian Yangni explained with a wry smile and finally asked cautiously, “Do you want us to drive them all away?”
The Tian Family members were merely inconvenienced by the locals, and as long as the Divine Doctor agreed, they would definitely be bold enough to fight.
Feng Jun thought about it, furrowed his brow, and shook his head, “No need to drive them away, but they need to keep their distance, and they must be restrained a bit… Don’t let them disturb our area.”
Upon hearing this, Tian Yangni knew exactly what to do, knowing the Divine Doctor also didn’t care for these people. He assured with a smile, “Don’t worry, once your house is built, there won’t be anyone trespassing within a mile of here.”
He was speaking with full confidence when, no sooner had he finished speaking, than a clan member of the Tian Family rushed over, “Brother Seven, Brother Bao from Sister-in-Law’s family has brought a few people over, insisting on playing with the colored glaze lamps.”
Right then, Tian Yangni’s face turned incredibly dark.
(Another late-night update, four consecutive days of updates, calling for monthly votes.)