Big Data Cultivation

Chapter 155: Visible But Out Of Reach (Vote for us with your monthly ticket, third update)

The intermediate-level martial master thought that what the Second Young Master had said was sensible, but having wandered the Jianghu for a long time, he had seen too many people who were obsessed with saving face.

He felt it necessary to offer a warning, so he spoke in a low voice, “Your words are not wrong, but if the other party feels that we did not give him face, wouldn’t that be offending a strong player for no good reason?”

The Second Young Master sneered disdainfully and said leisurely, “If such a small matter must be escalated to the level of face, does such a mentality even qualify to be called a strong player? If it’s really like that…then let’s just offend.”

Sure enough, upon hearing that the other party was charging a boat fee, Feng Jun didn’t utter a second word before throwing out a silver coin and then leaping onto the boat.

Elder Deng might have been just a high-rank martial warrior, but he refused to be outdone, bellowed loudly, and jumped towards the deck three zhang away.

For him, such a distance was already somewhat of a stretch, and to make matters worse, it was raining, making the riverside stones muddy and slippery. His foot slid ever so slightly, preventing him from using his full strength.

As a result, he jumped less than two zhang before his body started plummeting towards the water’s surface, evidently about to fall into the river.

Seeing how the jump began, Feng Jun knew there was going to be a problem, so he flicked his wrist and sent out a dozen copper coins, aiming right under the other’s feet.

Though Elder Deng’s words were often slow and clumsy, his fundamental skills were certainly solid. Seeing a stream of copper coins coming at him, he drew a deep breath, lightly tapped them, and had already leaped onto the deck.

Seeing this, the intermediate-level martial master couldn’t help but curl his lips slightly, “This man’s hidden weapon technique… is quite ordinary.”

A real expert would only need to use two, or even one, copper coin, but you’re throwing out more than a dozen at once. To those in the know, they’d say you’re playing it safe; to the ignorant, they’d think you’ve got money to burn.

But the Second Young Master just snorted coldly, “Technique… is a mundane matter. Yet you fail to see that he had already perceived Deng Tianxiang’s unstable force the moment he took the leap, predicting and acting accordingly. You’re both intermediate-level martial masters; do you have such perceptive ability?”

The intermediate-level martial master’s face was filled with embarrassment, but he could not answer that question.

The Second Young Master didn’t bother to quibble with him, simply waving his hand, “Go on and send over a card. I want to pay a visit to the Divine Doctor.”

The intermediate-level martial master’s mouth fell open in shock as he asked, “You’re going to take the initiative to pay a visit?”

In the eyes of others, the Second Young Master’s actions were sometimes eccentric, but he was very clear in his mind that the Second Young Master’s status was incomparable to these people—allowing them to pay a visit was already giving them a lot of face.

The Second Young Master glanced at him indifferently, “Well, aren’t you going?”

The intermediate-level martial master dared not say another word and turned away to leave.

Before long, he returned, his face full of indignation, “Second Young Master, that Divine Doctor… is truly rude! He actually said that having already paid the boat fee, he does not wish for the disturbance of unrelated people.”

He was so angry that he could explode. The Second Young Master taking the initiative to visit was a considerable honor, and yet they dared to refuse?

What made it even more infuriating was that they dared to refer to them as “unrelated people”?

“Hmm?” Upon hearing this, the Second Young Master’s eyebrows slightly raised, but then he laughed again, “This person… is becoming more and more interesting. What else did he say?”

The intermediate-level martial master gave him a surprised look, thinking to himself, you could hear that too? “He hopes that the boat will anchor in the middle of the river.”

“Then let’s stop,” the Second Young Master said nonchalantly, “Ask him if he wants to buy a fishing rod. I just happen to want to go fishing.”

Feng Jun stopped in the middle of the river, not to fish, but to align himself with the Spirit Stone Ore.

The display in the Weixin space had a scale that was still a bit large, and he could only ascertain that the Spirit Stone was within a ten-meter radius of himself. He could not determine anything more detailed than that.

Regrettably, the positioning on the display was two-dimensional, so he could not confirm whether the Spirit Stone was directly under his feet or above his head… well, the likelihood of it being above his head was virtually zero, but how many meters deep beneath his feet could it be?

Looking at the turbulent river water, Feng Jun couldn’t help but think back to the first piece of Jade he had picked up—could this Spirit Stone also have been sunk to the bottom of the river?

Actually, he felt this possibility was not high; he tended to believe that the Spirit Stone was deeply buried beneath the riverbed, perhaps tens or even hundreds of meters deep!

Because standing on the deck, continually rubbing the mark on his left wrist, he felt not the slightest hint of warmth.

At this moment, he was vastly different from when he had picked up the first Spirit Stone; not only was his body much more robust, but his perceptive abilities had also greatly improved—he wasn’t a martial artist then, but now he was an intermediate-level martial master.

If previously his perceptive range in the air was twenty meters, now it would at least be… around two hundred meters or so.

After sensing for a long time without any results, he turned to glance at Elder Deng, “Are there any Exotic Beasts in this river?”

Elder Deng was busy tearing off the hem of his clothes to bandage his shoe soles—standing on the copper coins to board the ship might have looked stylish enough, but the high-speed friction between the flying coins and his shoe soles had obvious consequences.

Just imagine the result of being dragged by a speeding car, and you’ll get the picture.

This was fortunate for him that he was wearing the standard footwear of the martial cultivator—sturdy, grip-friendly cowhide shoes which could not only firmly grasp the ground but also effectively protect the soles of the feet from damage. If he had been wearing straw sandals like the average folk, his feet would probably be peeling by now.

Hearing Feng Jun’s question, he instinctively replied, “There may not be Exotic Beasts, but there are certainly poisonous insects… Does the Divine Doctor wish to capture something?”

Poisonous insects… Feng Jun’s mouth twitched slightly, he was indeed a bit fed up with these things, “Can’t go into the water?”

After pondering for a moment, Deng Tianxiang still answered cautiously, “With your cultivation level, if you use your energy to protect your body, going into the water is not impossible, but… the water conditions are unclear.”

Just from his reluctant tone, one could guess the risks involved in entering the water; this was even though Feng Jun possessed the cultivation level of an Intermediate Level Martial Master.

A martial master from the Yu Family, who was not far away, heard this and a cold smile spread across his lips. The Yu Family ran the CheMa Trading Company; in fact, they also had boat business, and they had a say in the hydrological conditions of various places.

As for the Turbid Han River right in front of them, there was no significant danger. With some protective gear, going into the water was actually not difficult.

However, resentful of the other party’s disrespect toward their young master, he didn’t voice a reminder.

Feng Jun thought it over and eventually shook his head, taking out a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it.

Elder Deng considerately held an umbrella over him.

After finishing the cigarette, Feng Jun tossed the butt into the torrential river and softly instructed, “All right, let’s anchor near the shore. Let’s disembark.”

His actions were really quite baffling, going to the riverside to sit on a boat in the rainy weather; not to mention that, but having the boat anchor in the middle of the river to wait for less than twenty minutes before deciding to go ashore again.

The Intermediate Level Martial Master was so annoyed he was itching to retaliate. If it had been someone else who dared do this, he would have lost his temper: Damn, are you toying with me?

But, since it was this person who had spoken, he didn’t want to interact too much with him and directly ordered the boatman to raise the anchor and head to shore—having a better rid of such an inexplicable person is indeed for the best.

As soon as the boat moved, the second son was startled. After inquiring about the situation, he turned his eyes thoughtfully toward the river water and muttered softly, “What’s the meaning of this?”

What’s the meaning of this? No other reason. Feng Jun decided to temporarily give up on pursuing this Spirit Stone.

This was the second Spirit Stone he had encountered in his life; by rights, he should not give up on it no matter what.

However, Feng Jun was a man of strong self-control who decisively suppressed the unwillingness in his heart—his experiences from the past two years had taught him that some things truly should not be forced. Being too deliberate and obsessed could lead to more loss than gain.

Now that he knew how to find a Spirit Stone Mine, the bright path lay ahead of him. Not to mention the second Spirit Stone, even the twentieth, the two hundredth, the two thousandth, the twenty thousandth… they were not unimaginable.

After going ashore, he returned to the courtyard and seized the time to recharge himself—the energy points he had spent today were simply too many.

Although the Spirit Stone Mine was now in sight, at this moment, the more energy points he charged, the more confident he would feel.

About two hours later, Lang Zhen’s voice rang out from outside the door, “Does the Divine Doctor have any spare time?”

Feng Jun opened the door and saw Lone Wolf and Tian Yangni standing shoulder to shoulder under the eaves of the opposite house.

They had come to deliver a name list to Feng Jun, which contained the names of people who had appeared in the vicinity recently.

The list contained just over nine hundred names, severely lacking in number. The people who had appeared on the river beach in recent days totaled at least four thousand if not five or six thousand.

Among them, local residents made up the largest portion. However, this group was somewhat difficult to count: some had come only once and never again, while others visited only occasionally, not on a daily basis.

Thus, Tian Yangni and Lang Zhen discussed and decided to first compile a list of residents around the courtyard.

For most people, this Jade-built courtyard was actually far less attractive than the market, especially since the Tian Family members had set up a guard to prevent outsiders from getting too close.

Of course, the Tian Family didn’t dare do too much, not because they feared stirring public outrage, but because they were worried about angering the Divine Doctor—this carried the suspicion of house arrest.

The reason the Divine Doctor had not gone to Dongmu Province was precisely because he disliked the lack of freedom there, wasn’t it?

So the nine hundred plus names they had counted now were largely made up of Tian Family members, along with various construction workers, visitors, and vendors selling rice, flour, and cooking oil.

In this regard, the Tian Family had done a decent job, retaining most of the records.

Tian Yangni’s idea was that to investigate everyone was a grand project. We’ve brought the name list we could compile for now, and as for the rest… we’ll slowly complete it.

This attitude was quite correct. From the time Feng Jun gave the order until now, not even four full hours had passed, and they had already compiled the names of more than nine hundred people. One should know that just writing down these nine hundred names took a while, not to mention organizing them.

Feng Jun flipped through the name list, returned it to Lang Zhen, and spoke indifferently, “These people, one hundred at a time, take turns entering the courtyard.”

He didn’t know why, when scanning for mineral deposits, the detection radius could reach three hundred meters, while scanning for living people was limited to only thirty meters—perhaps scanning living things consumed more energy?

However, this was not important to him. If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, Muhammad must go to the mountain.

Limited scanning range, is it? Then I’ll just invite the people over.

(Third update, calling for monthly tickets)