Swish!
Jiang He returned to his farm in a flash.
Catch ferals?
Catch, my foot!
Survival was more important, and he certainly could not afford to get killed by the Sufferance-tier cultivators from the Penglai Sect and the Ten Thousand Swords Sect before he caught the Feral Kings. Those beasts would have to wait for later.
Jiang He did not believe that he had the power to hold his own against cultivators who suffered six or seven retributions. Even the Five Thunder Talisman would be insignificant to him.
With that, his farm turned into a tiny particle latching on a tuft of seaweed under the sea.
At the same time, Jiang He experimented.
“As I’ve thought… my divine mind is able to leave the farm and observe what’s outside.”
“This would make things much more convenient and I could look at the sights out there while I farmed… eh?”
That was when Jiang He’s divine mind caught two powerful auras bounding toward his direction.
One of them was a middle-aged man wearing black robes and a cruel expression while carrying three mystic swords over his shoulder and the other was an old man with white hair but youthful looks. However, neither of them could find Jiang He after searching fifty kilometers around them.
The Thousand Sword Daoist was the one carrying three mystic swords and he was releasing his aura, causing the very air to ripple and the seas around him to churn.
On the other hand, the Hermit of Forgotten Love appeared serene and unruffled, flinging his sleeve. Appearing rather holy and profound, he spoke slowly and unhurriedly, “There’s no need for haste, Thousand Swords. That despicable Jiang He’s aura had just shown up in this area and even if he has techniques that senses danger beforehand, how far could he run?”
“No!”
The Thousand Sword Daoist shook his head, frowning. “He would definitely not escape my senses if he was fleeing, but that weird brat seems to have vanished into thin air. Could he possibly possess a grotto-heaven mystic-treasure that could block tracking?”
Grotto-heaven mystic treasures were different from Void Storage.
After all, Void Storage only kept items and inanimate objects.
On the other hand, a grotto-heaven mystic-treasure would allow living people to dwell within and was not much different from Secret Realms, though it was of a higher class. Indeed, it was equal to Secret Realm being refined with profound mystic energies to a mystic treasure that could be carried around.
The Hermit of Forgotten Love became amused at that. “But how rare are grotto-heaven mystic-treasures? There aren’t many amongst secluded immortal clans and sects that possess grotto-heaven mystic-treasures, are there?”
As they conversed, the Thousand Sword Daoist pinched his fingers to quietly divine. His eyes flashing, he looked beneath the sea and said somberly, “The brat is undersea and within fifty kilometers. Find him!”
***
‘The Thousand Sword Daoist?’
‘The Hermit of Forgotten Love?’
‘It seems that my hunch is right. Both immortal sects have methods that could track me, and the would instantly notice me once I leave the farm,’ Jiang He thought.
The immortals had many mystic techniques. Novels had introduced stuff like qi tracking, bloodline tracking, or karmic observance untold times, and it would be weird if they did not have that.
Still, even as he carefully observed the two men above him, he could not hear the two men’s conversation because he was afraid to use his divine mind to spy on them. Nonetheless, after the Thousand Sword Daoist made a divination, Jiang He could see that his eyes penetrated beneath the depths of the sea.
“Oh, no!”
“They must now that I’m hiding undersea!”
And just as expected, after the two sufferance-tier cultivates searched around fruitlessly, they dived into the sea together.
Their divine minds were combing every inch of the bottom of the sea and the Thousand Sword Daoist could be heard shouting, “Forgotten Love, use your divine mind to check carefully and study any grotto-heaven mystic-treasure thoroughly if you find one. You would definitely find something out of place.”
In his farm, Jiang He’s gaze darkened.
With a thought, he promptly controlled the particle so it detached from the seaweed and flowed around the sea currents, slowly leaving that place.
He could even feel a divine mind sweeping past him.
It was only after the divine mind was gone that Jiang He moved the particle that was his farm, latching it onto a huge fish that was frightened because of the Thousand Sword Daoist and the Hermit of Forgotten Love’s auras, and left rapidly.
Jiang He’s sense of danger only faded after swimming over fifty miles away.
He breathed a long sigh of relief in his farm, and there was a somber look on his face.
He realized that he could not continue like this.
“Those two sects clearly have their tracking methods, which I can’t nullify it even if I know what it is. That is why I fear I would be detected immediately if I leave my farm.”
“But I can’t keep hiding here for the rest of my life, can I?”
Even as the thought came to mind…
Jiang He suddenly realized that staying a few more days in his farm was quite good too.
He could farm at his leisure, as well as play around with his pets and his eagles, not to mention that he had maids who could give him massages, warm his bed, and cook. What was there not to like?
“No, why would I think like that?”
“I, Jiang He, have now ventured into the martial path for three months, facing untold occasions of ambushes, encirclement. All my fingers and toes wouldn’t be enough to count the powerful foes I’ve encountered, but on which occasion have I not risen to the challenge and cultivated diligently before retaliating on my own pace?”
“Having me cower in my farm? No! Can! Do!”
He would retaliate!
He must retaliate!
Jiang He was getting more furious the more he thought about it…
Those two sects are too much!
I was farming in my own house, walking my dogs and maids while living my days in peace and quiet, but you had to send your people to recruit me. Most importantly, you could not bother sending someone normal, but instead threw some thugs at me who keep saying ‘I shall bestow you immortal cultivation and providence,’ absolutely belittling me.
After that, you people got upset after I showed them what’s what?
Even causing a major commotion to try to kill me?
“I need a perfect plan if I want to fight back. Otherwise, even if I kill both the Thousand Sword Daoist and the Hermit of Forgotten Love, they would send more Sufferance-tier cultivators, this time with eight or nine retributions.”
“I can’t keep fooling around with those fools from the immortal sect, can I?”
Jiang He pondered, but realized that there was no perfect plan against those two immortal sects that had thousands of years worth of history and possessed untold depth of power. In fact, he did not even know the number of elites they had.
Even as he thought so and cultivated from the spirit condensation pellets, the huge fish had finally stopped after untold time had passed.
Moving the farm away from the fish’s body, his divine mind extended as he slightly checked on the outside. That was when he became startled. “Why does that isle outside looks so familiar?”
“Wait…”
“Isn’t that the isle where we had a barbecue on the first day out at sea?”
Jiang He came to a realization then.
He had even run into the True Habitant of Nine Dragons and Cloudy Sky at the time, after which they had a little conflict, with Jiang He himself getting hunted since then.
After being left baffled for a while, Jiang He withdrew his divine mind and thought, “If I recall correctly, the mountain archway to the Penglai Sect should be east from here and not too far away… probably around five hundred to a thousand kilometers.”
“This is fate!”
Jiang He took out the array boards and array flags he ‘refined’ as well as every Doom Shroom he had left, muttering as if talking to himself, “According to the Taixu Sect, only Sufferance cultivators with three retributions can violently break the array I’ve simply put together over my house. If I use every array board and array flag I had and put up several hundred thousand spirit stones to set up several arrays outside their archway, would I be able to restrain the people from the immortal sect?”
That just might work!
He hence put away every Doom Shroom, array board, and array flag, and then turned towards the many spirit stone trees and different types of pellet trees, mystic treasure trees, and paper talisman trees…
And only then did his frown vanish from his face
A great harvest!
Whether he could attack the Penglai Sect would depend on the specific numbers of the harvest that night.
Taking out another handful of spirit condensation pellets to cultivate his Yuan Spirit, Jiang He walked up and harvested the trees grown from the superior-grade spirit stones.
[Ding!]
[+1,000 Farm Points.]
The crisp jingle of a System Notification in Jiang He’s head left his heard racing, and he exclaimed in delight, “As I’ve thought, each spirit stone earns me a thousand Farm Points, and since a hundred spirit stones grow from each tree, I get a hundred thousand Farm Points!”
Jiang He had a total of 380 superior-grade spirit stones after all.
“In addition, I have 4,100 mediocre-grade spirit stones. If each tree earns me ten thousand Farm Points, it would mean I earn 41 million Farm Points. Add that to the soul items, sage items, medicinal pellets, and paper talismans, and I’ll earn over dozens of millions.”
“I’ve even earned over ten million…”
“Gasp!”
Jiang He could not help inhaling sharply…
Did that not mean his Farm Points would exceed a hundred million soon?
Jiang He became quite bothered at that thought.
A hundred million Farm Points…
After he ascended as a full-fledged Yuan Spirit, he would spend ten million to instantly improve to full-fledged Convergence-tier, and fifty million more to full-fledged Sufferance. That would leave him with forty million more Farm Points…
“How should I spend those forty million?”
“I could just improve my physique.”
“40 million Farm Points might not be enough to improve my physique to Sufferance-tier, though full-fledged Convergence-tier would not be a problem. When that happens, my physique would be enough to guard against mediocre-grade sage items, and a single punch would be enough blow the doggone brains out of anyone at Zhong Wanshan’s level!”
***
Meanwhile…
Both the Thousand Sword Daoist and the Hermit of Forgotten Love were still searching that part of the seas then.
Their divine minds were combing every inch of the area, not sparing even the corals and seaweeds.
However, the particle that was Jiang He’s farm would definitely not escape their search if they did that immediately after they had gone underwater.
Now, however… if would be weird if they found anything!
Their efforts were fruitless even after searching for several hours.
The Thousand Sword Daoist began divining again.
Shock registered on his face after that and he exclaimed, “Impossible… The divination before showed that Jiang He was probably in this area, and with both you and I searching, no blade of grass could have escaped us… so why is he somewhere else now?”
“Eh?”
The Hermit of Forgotten Love turned to him and could not help asking, “Where is he now?”
Inwardly, he was less trusting of the Thousand Sword Daoist’s divination now.
Why would a sect of sword cultivator like you train in divination instead of training in the way of the sword?
Divine this, divine that, and then ending up with nothing.
They spent hours around these waters without finding a single thing.
The Thousand Sword Daoist pointed eastward then. “Around 2,000 kilometers to the east from here.”
Heh.
The Hermit of Forgotten Love chuckled and said, “Thousand Swords, you do know that the mountain archway of my Penglai Sect is 250 kilometers east from here, and our domain stretches over a thousand kilometers around it?”
Was Jiang He a fool?
They could loan him a hundred guts, but would he dare to venture inside the domain of the Penglai Sect?
“Well…”
The Thousand Sword Daoist hesitated then. Indeed, he was doubting himself after searching over a hundred kilometers worth of ocean, only to find nothing.
Could there have been a problem with his divination?
“No!”
“My divination could not have been wrong. And if that is the case… Jiang He would be the factor. He might possess some special move to avoid my divination, even causing an error.”
Gritting his teeth, he growled, “Forgotten Love, I’ll divine with my full power later. Stand guard over me and prevent the water vermin from disturbing me.”
He sat cross-legged in the ocean, the air around him shaking as his qi strengthened. There were even faint rumblings of thunder in the horizon, leaving the Hermit of Forgotten Love stunned—they could invoke heavenly retribution if it continued!
Fortunately, the Thousand Sword Daoist completed his divination just then.
With a wave of his hand, bronze coins spread out in a single horizontal line before him, which he breathed his mystic energies upon. The coins immediately trembled and released green radiance, whilst the Thousand Sword Daoist opened his eyes and stared closely at the bronze coins, a flash of surprise appearing in his eyes then.
Somehow…
The divination turned out the same as before?
Has Jiang He gone mad? He really did run off to the domain of the Penglai Sect!
