Big Data Cultivation

Chapter 538: Chapter 538: The Difficulty of Dividing Treasures

Feng Jun escorted the seven rescued individuals until they were outside Yunzhou City, and only then did they part ways.

By this time, there was nothing Wonderful Hand Pavilion could do to capture all these people at once.

It could be said, if even one or two of these seven managed to escape, it would be no different than if all seven had escaped.

Then, he followed the two eminent Wuyou Platform Disciples to the place where the Qian Family was guarding the hostages.

The father and son of the Qian Family each held a single-edged sword, watching their surroundings vigilantly. It was clear they didn’t want to give their three friends from the Hu Family the wrong impression.

Seeing them, Feng Jun knew that the last bit of cleanup in Qingdai had also been completed. He expressed himself straightforwardly, “Alright, it’s all over now; you all can go back… Hopefully, we’ll never meet again.”

...

Just as the three said they could leave, the Qian Family father and son knelt on the ground, “Esteemed immortals, we meant no disrespect before… But we truly did not know that the Hu Yuandao affair was related to you, nor did we have the rebellious intent of Wonderful Hand Pavilion. We beg for your mercy this time.”

Feng Jun glanced at them without speaking; it was Pan Renjie who was quite curious, “You knew about the Linqiu affair?”

This father and son duo appeared to be strictly guarding their post, within a desolate countryside, and yet they knew about the situation in Linqiu?

While kneeling, the Qian Family father and son kept kowtowing, “We have communicated with our clan, but dared not reveal a word of it.”

The two guarded six hostages, not daring to publicize anything, but out of their anxiety, one of them left to bring their own people over to exchange information, which was really the most normal thing to do—indeed, the knowledgeable within the Qian Family weren’t limited to just these two.

Thus, they knew that as of yesterday’s early morning, Wonderful Hand Pavilion’s Eastern Sub-rudder had been completely destroyed.

Feng Jun was not in the mood to mention such things, so he left a message, “The Hu Family matter will be explained by someone else.”

This venture to Qingdai resulted in Wonderful Hand Pavilion’s reputation being utterly ruined in the streets.

Wonderful Hand Pavilion had lost its treasure trove, a grievance they couldn’t share with outsiders, so they could only grit their teeth and swallow their blood. But the seven prisoners who were rescued spread their infamy far and wide—Wonderful Hand Pavilion was not only a thief but also a kidnapper!

The testimony of a disciple from the Zou Family of Weishui was particularly effective.

The Zou Family was an old and established clan within the Family Alliance. Though not populous, with main and side branches totaling just three to four thousand people—somewhat similar to the Yangshan Gu Family—their chances of giving birth to Innate individuals were even more stable than the Gu’s.

Some said it was because the Zou Family’s bloodline was exceptional, but others surmised the Zou Family possessed a unique cultivation technique.

Among the prisoners who were rescued, there was a direct descendent, the eldest grandson of the main family—that’s right, the eldest grandson.

This person went missing for three years, and everyone thought he was dead. At that time, the Zou Family had even issued a bounty, offering ten thousand taels of gold for his live return, and one thousand—as later raised to two thousand—for his body.

No one expected that three years later, the eldest grandson of the main family would return, explaining how Wonderful Hand Pavilion had tried to extract their family’s secret manuals.

There were also rumors that Wonderful Hand Pavilion wanted to use the essence of the Zou Family’s bloodline to cultivate Innates by tracing the path of their blood, which was why the captured individual had to play the groom night after night in his prison cell—refusal wasn’t an option.

Within three days of the eldest grandson’s return, the Zou Family executed dozens of servants, accusing them of “slandering the direct lineage.”

Several servants fled and claimed that the one who had been captured was not only involved with beautiful women but also with ugly ones, and even spent time with men—there were rumors that between men, a child could be born beneath the ribs.

After all, the Mobile Phone realm… isn’t the realm of technology, so it’s not unusual for some strange rumors to emerge.

These fleeing servants also met with untimely deaths one after another.

Regardless, within the entire Donghua Country, a fierce storm of public opinion arose, with all the criticism pointing directly at Wonderful Hand Pavilion.

And the one who instigated it all had already returned to Mount Zhige, meticulously tallying their gains with the two eminent Wuyou Platform Disciples.

What they were concerned with was not the minor gains from the three treasure troves—in fact, it was only the third treasure room that had anything noteworthy, as it was filled with Natural Treasures difficult to come by on the market.

Although most of these treasures were meant for martial artists, who doesn’t have a couple of poor relatives?

Even the emperor has lice on his body.

However, the third treasure trove wasn’t the primary focus for everyone—their interest lay in the small compartment next to it.

That small compartment really did contain too many good things, all of which were used by cultivators.

First were the Immortal Cultivation Techniques, over ten of them in total, with nine being fundamental cultivation techniques and five allowing one to reach the level of transcendence. For a moment, Feng Jun’s eyes nearly turned red: I definitely need these for Earth, they have been waiting for such things for a long time.

However, the originally disinterested Wuyou Platform Disciples discovered two techniques not found within their sect, one of which was even listed as a sect mission.

Shangguan Yunjin stated that with these two techniques in hand, both she and Pan Renjie would not only benefit, but they could also reduce many of their daily tasks, freeing up more time for cultivation.

Well, that wasn’t such a big deal, as techniques like these can be copied, which didn’t count for much.

The technique on the sect mission list was the Profound Ice Needle, not particularly high-end but unique. It was said that with this technique, Wuyou Platform could make targeted improvements to some of their techniques.

Therefore, Shangguan Yunjin hoped that she could keep the original version she had taken and leave a copied version for Feng Jun.

This still wasn’t a big deal, and could be settled after some discussion.

Next, the distribution of the Spirit Stones wasn’t much of an issue either. Outside the treasure vault, they had obtained four Spirit Stones; inside the small compartment, there were twelve, and after deducting the two that had been used, there were still fourteen intact ones. Dividing them equally, each side would get seven.

The number of Spirit Stones in the small compartment was smaller because these items were hard currency. Linqiu, being only a sub-rudder, only needed a few for emergencies. Although Feng Jun was short of Spirit Stones, he did not consider this small amount worth fussing over, so there was not much controversy.

Formations, pills, talismans, and raw materials, on the other hand, were more difficult to decide upon.

Feng Jun lacked many things, especially talismans. He had a few talismans obtained from “Jie Chaoqun,” all of which could only be used by cultivators in the Dust-Free Realm, whereas the talismans they found in the compartment could be used by those in the Qi Refinement Realm.

And all three members of the Wuyou Platform were… Qi Refining Disciples.

Then there were the raw materials. Feng Jun basically didn’t have any, such as the brush, ink, and paper used for drawing talismans, the standard formation bases for setting up formations, and the related materials for crafting artifacts.

—Aside from what could be bought in the Secular World, he was lacking everything, and even the materials that could be bought in the Secular World, he didn’t have much of.

But if he was lacking raw materials, those two were in need as well. Pan Renjie was at least a bit reserved, but Shangguan Yunjin was almost to the point of acting coquettishly towards Feng Jun, “Fellow Daoist Feng, Brother Feng… can you give me a little more?”

All these could still be negotiated, but the biggest disagreement was on the magic artifacts. Who would have thought that in this mere Eastern Sub-rudder, there would actually be two magic artifacts?

One was the Soul-Attracting Bell, and the other was the Cloud-Ascending Embroidered Shoes.

Feng Jun certainly wanted the Soul-Attracting Bell. This item could disrupt a person’s mind and heart, making it an excellent tool whether for combat or group attacks.

The Cloud-Ascending Embroidered Shoes allowed someone to fly quickly at low altitudes, and were also a good magic artifact. However, Feng Jun, having entered the path of cultivation through martial arts—even if it was a monkey version—had reached the Innate level in cultivation. Skimming through the air held little significance for him.

Of course, what was more crucial was that these were a pair of women’s shoes!

Unfortunately, Pan Renjie and Shangguan Yunjin expressed unanimously that they hoped to acquire the Soul-Attracting Bell because they suspected… it was created by a certain artifact-crafting master of the Wuyou Platform.

Who this master was, neither of them would say outright; only mentioning that this person later defected from the Wuyou Platform, joined the Sword Forging Peak, then became a loose cultivator, and was ultimately killed by the Yinsha Sect.

It goes without saying that Feng Jun was put in a tight spot—denying me a proper use for the Soul-Attracting Bell and instead making me choose a pair of women’s shoes?

Of course, he couldn’t use these shoes himself, but they could be given to his woman. Although the shoes were exquisite, the aesthetic was different from that of the Earth Realm; at least the large embroidered ball on the surface of the shoes seemed awkward no matter how one looked at it.

If Zhang Caixin were to wear them, it would seem more like a young girl playing COSPLAY.

If mature women like Sister Hong or Feng Jing were to wear them, it would just be bizarre.

The only one who could make use of them would probably be Mi Yunshan.

In the end, Feng Jun still agreed to the others’ request, and even smiled nonchalantly, “That’s fine by me, it suits my intentions.”

Shangguan Yunjin glanced at him and smiled enigmatically, “Planning to use them to win over your beloved?”

“Ahem,” Feng Jun coughed twice, speaking earnestly, “Fellow Daoist… your thoughts are a bit complicated.”

“Hehe,” Shangguan Yunjin laughed nonchalantly, “You plan to give them to Changqing, right?”

“Look at what you’re implying,” Feng Jun spread his hands, “could it be that you think I don’t have any junior brothers or sisters?”

Shangguan Yunjin suddenly nodded as if coming to a realization, “So that’s the case.”

She did not believe he was a loose cultivator, even though he had admitted it just a couple of days ago, so having a junior sister was normal.

However, what troubled Shangguan Yunjin was that she really liked the Cloud-Ascending Embroidered Shoes.

Magic artifacts are generally used to assist in combat or cultivation, and those of the clothing type were already rare, most being of the defensive type.

Shoes were even scarcer, and those imbued with “levitation” were an irresistible temptation to most female cultivators.

Shangguan Yunjin really coveted them, and had it not been for the significant meaning of the Soul-Attracting Bell, she would not have made such a choice—leaving Feng Jun a bit unhappy.

Feng Jun indeed felt a bit disappointed, but when he noticed that Shangguan Yunjin seemed to be even more upset than himself, he felt much better—it was their insistency to choose this way, they couldn’t blame him.

In fact, with a bit more effort, once he reached the Dust-Free Realm, he could use “Jie Chaoqun’s” Immortal Binding Rope.

After dividing the spoils, neither Pan Renjie nor Shangguan Yunjin were in a hurry to return to the Wuyou Platform—with four cultivators gathered here, everyone had a bit of wealth, and they weren’t afraid of attracting unwanted attention.

A few days later, Shangguan Yunjin sought out Feng Jun again. Speaking seriously, she said, “The atrocities of the Wonderful Hand Pavilion have spread. Shouldn’t we go to other sub-rudders to rescue people? As cultivators, we should be brave in upholding justice in the human world…”