Chapter 172: What a Bountiful Reward!
While emotions ran high in the group, all of the Gengjin Tiger Demons chose to retreat. The Gengjin Tiger King was dead, and if they did not leave, they would be asking for trouble.
Lin Feng did not care about the fleeing tiger demons. Instead, he took the chance to the console the disciples of the Hundred Herbs Sect.
To turn his potential popularity into actual popularity, he would require the help of these people to spread it.
During his recounts, Lin Feng turned himself into the best friend of the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster, who rushed to his assistance upon hearing about the crisis that the Hundred Herbs Sect was facing.
Despite having slain the Gengjin Tiger King, the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster too lost his life.
"Who would have thought that that marked the end of a friendship of a thousand years?" Lin Feng sighed as he shook his head slightly.
The many disciples of the Hundred Herbs Sect, upon thinking about of the loss of their elder and the difficult days ahead, felt a sense of immense grief from within their hearts.
Lin Feng encouraged them for a while, before extricating himself from the crowd. Looking at the crowd, he noticed that the playboy Hong Ye and his harem had disappeared. It was likely that they escaped in the chaos on the Azure Thunder Chariot.
Lin Feng suddenly remembered the leader of the harem mentioning something about the Green Bronze Ding of Emptiness. He furrowed his brows but decided against pursuing it.
Lin Feng went to the bottom to the Changchun Peak, where Kang Nanhua and Yue Hongyan were waiting for him.
"My fellow Taoists, I hope to find you well," Lin Feng said smiling.
Kang Nanhua sighed, his expression was crestfallen and he did not say a word.
Lin Feng was curious. He looked at Yue Hongyan who was next to him. The normally headstrong girl had eyes that were slightly bloodshot.
"The Covenant of Liefeng has ended!"
Lin Feng turned to Yue Hongyan, stunned. Despite himself, he was taken aback.
What kind of eyes was those? They were cold and icy, like the sky before a great storm, and yet at the center, they burned with the intensity of a blazing inferno.
Extreme hatred and vengeance were compressed into the space of those two eyes, turning both of them red, akin to storm clouds that had been set ablaze.
Lin Feng then looked at Kang Nanhua and felt his discomfort and disheartenment. He did not know what say in that moment.
Kang Nanhua came to his senses, shook his head, and turned to Lin Feng. "Let's not mention that anymore. As for these kids, do you have any plans for them?"
Lin Feng waved his hand and he took away the Swelling Earth from the bottom of the giant pot, and said, "I came here to take these Swelling Earth initially. However, upon witnessing how the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster cultivated his pills with such inhumane methods, I then decided to kill him."
"As for these kids, if they remember their way home, I believe that it's for the best to send them back to their families."
Kang Nanhua nodded his head in agreement, "I plan on doing that too. However, looking at the situation now, I don't think it's possible."
"Oh, why?" Lin Feng asked.
Yue Hongyan began to explain, "Senior, these kids were taken by the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster from many different places. When they were taken, they were young and not fully mature. After placing them inside the giant pot to stew, many of them are confused and unable to recall where they came from and whether they have family members."
Lin Feng sighed silently, and thought, "The Hundred Herbs Grandmaster is truly a troublemaker."
Despite not knowing what had happened to the Covenant of Liefeng, but looking at how Kang Nanhua and Yue Hongyan were both homeless and normally preferred to go alone, it would be a great burden to ask them to take care of so many kids.
Lin Feng thought about it for a while, before saying, "Never mind, my sect still needs some medicine boys and elixir boys, I would take them back to the mountain and wait for them to regain their senses. If they know where they lived and wanted to go home, I will send them home."
Here, Lin Feng had some regrets. If these kids could survive the pill-making process, which had a high failure rate, it meant that their wills were strong. Too bad they had poor innate abilities.
Within them, they were only imbued with fake dings and fake elixirs. Even if they were given a lot of resources, they could only turn the fake elixirs inside them into ordinary, Class Yellow golden elixirs.
If they possessed superhuman intellect, the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster would not have used them to cultivate medicines. Rather, he would have taken them as disciples to turn them into the future pillars of his sect.
"However, if they could really turn out real elixirs in the future, then a bunch of Aurous Core stage kids, tsk tsk, that's not bad too," Lin Feng thought in his heart. "However, once that is done with, I will need them to cultivate their Tao from the very beginning. God knows how long will that take."
Turning his head to look at Kang Nanhua, Lin Feng asked, "What plans do you have?"
"First, I will find a place to meditate in solitude. I could my powers reaching a bottleneck. Once I break through the bottleneck, I can successfully begin on my Soul Formation and enter the Nascent Soul stage."
As Kang Nanhua said that, he paused for a while, and his eyes showed more determination, "I must enter the Nascent Soul stage! I must!"
Lin Feng looked at him again, and smiled, "If I am not wrong, I believe that your bottleneck is caused by an imbalance between Water and Earth."
Kang Nanhua's Ancient Mantra of the Flowing Sand of Ganges was a combination of the Water-type and Earth-type auras, derived through practising both together. Looking how he had battled with the Gengjin Tiger King earlier on, he was able to reach the pinnacle of his Earth-type powers with his Infinite Sand Shields of the Ganges in his Aurous Core stage. He almost took the Gengjin Tiger King head-on.
However, his Water-type powers did not improve much since they last met in the Great Swamp of the Ancient Regions.
Kang Nanhua's eyes, upon hearing this, flashed, and he lowered his head while sighing, "Your are right indeed, and you got to the point succinctly and accurately. My Ancient Mantra of the Flowing Sand of Ganges could achieve two great breakthroughs, one of them is the Sands of Ganges and the other is one of the Six Great Primordial Waters, the Great Chaos Primordial Water.
"This time, I will endeavour to cultivate the Great Chaos Primordial Water. If I succeed in combining the two, I will be able to reach the Nascent Soul stage."
Lin Feng said, "If that's the case, why don't you follow me back to Mount Yujing? I believe that it will help you with overcoming your bottleneck."
Kang Nanhua was slightly hesitant, and he looked towards Yue Hongyan.
Yue Hongyan smiled, "If Mr Kang is worried about, I promise you that I can look after myself."
Lin Feng said, "If you wish, you can come along."
When they were in the Great Swamp of the Ancient Regions, Yue Hongyan was no more than 15 to 16 years old. However, she was already in her pre-Foundation Establishment stage. Talent truly astounded people.
Lin Feng initially wanted to use his Talent Analysis Device to test her, but it turned out that she already had a master.
However, he now used his Talent Analysis Device on her, and her stats were revealed.
"The Talent Analysis Device had finished its analysis. The target's stats are as such."
"Innate Ability -> 8; Intelligence -> 8; Determination -> 7; Fortune -> 7."
"In conclusion, the target's talent is extremely high. Strongly recommend that you take her as a disciple and mentor her patiently into a future pillar of your sect."
Lin Feng eyes narrowed. With a talent value of 30, despite not being in the same league as Xiao Yan and the rest, she too was a prodigy.
Despite being a refugee of the former Arctic State, but ever since Lin Feng accepted Zhu Yi as a disciple he had placed himself against the Great Zhou Empire and the Marquis of Xuanji.
With more lice, one would not itch as much. With more debts, one would not worry as much. Lin Feng did not object to taking another disciple who would be willing to challenge the Great Zhou Empire.
However, he wondered why did she leave her former master or sect?
Yue Hongyan's eyes brightened. Since Lin Feng invited Kang Nanhua to his recluse to attain Soul Formation, one could imagine that the place would be extremely well-suited for cultivation.
She desperately wanted to increase her mastery so that she could avenge her companion.
Yue Hongyan said shyly, "Can...can I come along?"
Lin Feng laughed, "Of course, I haven't had guests for a long time."
Hearing this, Yue Hongyan nodded her head vigorously.
Kang Nanhua raised his head to look at Lin Feng, and said seriously, "When we were in the Great Swamp of the Ancient Regions, I was saved by your assistance. Now, you offer me assistance once again. I owe you way too much. What I can do now is to follow you till the end of my days and await your orders. Should I die because of your order, I will have no regret."
As Lin Feng was about to say something, the system sounded.
"Congratulations on activating the sect-guardian quest."
"Will you accept Kang Nanhua as the guardian of your sect?"
Lin Feng was shocked, "This works too?"
After thinking about it for a while, he said, "In the Great Swamp, I have already said that you should never mention anything about being my follower. When I intervened, I did not plan on taking advantage of your situation."
"Today, my invitation to you to come to my home to achieve Soul Formation too is altruistic."
Kang Nanhua shook his head, and said seriously, "I do not mean that." Without saying anything else, he bowed deeply to Lin Feng.
Lin Feng sighed and helped him up. Then he said, smiling, "My words don't change. Never mention anything about being a follower. However, I will not abandon my friend. Are you willing to be my sect's guardian?"
"I have some unskilled disciples, and I may need your help in disciplining them."
Kang Nanhua smiled slightly and changed his term of address, "A great master will produce great disciples. To advise my lord's disciples is truly stressful."
"Kang Nanhua is now your sect's guardian. You have completed the sect-guardian quest, and have obtained a chance at a lucky draw!"
Lin Feng smiled. This was like a buy-one-get-one-free.
His quest was not in vain, as he found the Swelling Earth and the many valuable treasures of the Hundred Herbs Sect. He also obtained his loot from killing the Gengjin Tiger King, which were his soul essence and his corpse. Also, he got some kids with potential.
Finally, he also obtained a nearly Nascent Soul stage cultivator as his sect's guardian, and a chance at a lucky draw.
"What a bountiful loot! What a bountiful loot, indeed!" Lin Feng could not resist but to throw his head back and laugh into the skies. "Oh right, as long as I'm successful in my cultivation, I would obtain three decent magic items. This voyage is truly worth it!"
The Black Cloud Flag unfurled itself to allow Yue Hongyan and a bunch of kids to sit on it, before following Lin Feng and Kang Nanhua back to the Kunlun Mountains.
Under Lin Feng's instructions, everyone reached Mount Yujing. As they stared at Mount Yujing, it was akin to being in paradise. Yue Hongyan and a bunch of kids could not help themselves but be stunned.
Even Kang Nanhua revealed shock on his face, "My lord, this blessed spot is something I had never seen before in my life. Thinking about it, does this exceeds even the locations of both the Great Void Sect and the Mount Shu Sword Sect?"
He gulped, and as the bountiful aura of Mount Yujing invigorated him, he said, "Cultivating here I am 99% sure of overcoming my bottleneck and achieving Soul Formation."
Yue Hongyan looked at the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree and said with much emotion, "I wish I could cultivate here forever. My mastery would definitely improve beyond measure."
Lin Feng was pleased with himself, as he reminded himself to maintain a calm demeanor. He said, with a neutral expression, "As long as you are happy, then all is good. Come on, let me introduce you to my unskilled disciples."
Saying that he tried to contact Xiao Yan and the rest telepathically.
Who knew that in that instant, his heart began to pump furiously. "These little monkeys? While I was gone, what trouble did they create now?"