Cheng Dongfeng was a little apprehensive. He tugged at his own sleeves with his fingers as if there was no other place to put them and appeared no different from a grade-schooler who made a mistake, stiffening as he said, “Why the sudden visit, Grand-master Jiang He?”
Then, he suddenly grinned broadly and said, “You should have called me ahead so that I could make preparations and treat you to dinner.”
Hah!
Jiang He sneered and said, “You’ve always valued money as much as your life, and could not bear to spend even a quarter of a penny. Your treat?”
“Who said so?”
Cheng Dongfeng vowed solemnly, “You’ve raised me well, grand-master. So what if I treat you to three or five dinners, let alone one?”
His eyes then swiveled and his tone changed while he chuckled bitterly, “I did not have the time to tell you about a certain matter, grand-master… a while ago, I was struck by a sudden inspiration but made my own call to write a book about you, mainly about your accomplishments such as courageously fighting against the Sky Demon Cult and slaying of the Feral Kings with fury. I hope you wouldn’t blame me…”
“Oh?”
Jiang He had not actually read about the contents of Cheng Dongfeng’s book, but he thought that it sounded nice just then. Grasping from the distance to grab the book Cheng Dongfeng had hidden behind his computer, he swiftly flipped through the pages while his divine mind scanned dozens of pages through a single glance, finishing the entire book in less than a minute.
Most of the book’s content was fabricated.
Still… it was really well-written!
For example, the introduction described Jiang He as a polite, obedient, and patriotic student who respected his elders and cherished his juniors, not to mention that he was a fine student with a good mindset, perfect grades, and a fine physique. There were also various short, interesting tales such as how he had returned a wallet to its owner, helped his grandfather harvest corn, or helped the village’s old lady draw water from the well.
After that was a detail of his growth, up until the Revival of Qi and the start of his cultivation.
In short, the first hundred thousand plus words of the book was clearly all fabricated by Cheng Dongfeng, though it was obvious that he had poured his heart out. Still, the contents and the book title… there was not one bit of connection, was there?
“Hehe!”
Cheng Dongfeng snickered when he saw that Jiang He was not angered, and said, “Grand-master Jiang He, the title and its contents actually do not have much connection, since the publisher had suggested an explosive title… By the way, the book was launched electronically and physically at the same time, so it raked in quite a lot of money. Should I make inventory after it’s all sold out and give half of it to you?”
“No need.”
Jiang He replied. “Money is a worldly possession. A martial artist should not value money too much.”
“…”
Cheng Dongfeng was speechless.
Money is a worldly possession?
As the saying goes, ‘the poor become scholars while the rich practice martial arts’—in other words, you can’t practice martial arts if you are poor.
For martial artists to cultivate, they would need weapons, combat armors, cultivation manuals, and medicinal pellets… and of those, which did not require money?
Only a super-rich person like Jiang He who drank Origin Fluid like mineral water even when he was rank-eight would not value money.
Nonetheless, Cheng Dongfeng could not help smiling at the memory… that was the best time of his life, since he had received the greatest number of bottles when he visited the Tantra Sect alongside Jiang He… there was even one half-full bottle too!
Cheng Dongfeng kept a few hundred drops of those Origin Fluid, had another few hundred drops stolen by his ancestral master… even so, he sold the rest for a total of 1.8 billion dollars!
Moreover, this book of his earned quite a lot, but it was insignificant compared to what he had earned with the Origin Fluid he sold… he would not frown even if he had to give it all up, let alone give half to Jiang He!
Even as he thought that, Jiang He waved his hand and took out a large mineral water bottle and a teapot from his void storage.
A fragrant aroma overflowed once he opened the bottle.
Cheng Dongfeng’s eyes abruptly widened, and he could not help exclaiming, “Grand-master Jaing He, that’s…”
“I’ve finished the Origin Fluid from before, so I visited Mount Helan again to help the rank-nine willow tree improve to Convergence-tier, and extracted a new batch of Origin Fluid.”
Jiang He said with a smile. “Others aside, brewing tea with the Origin Fluid of a Convergence-tier floral spirit is really not bad.”
Cheng Dongfeng was dumbstruck.
This brat!
Truly, those with full stomachs never understood the struggles of the famished.
Convergence-tier floral spirit?
There was none found on Earth yet, was there?
The Origin Fluid of Mount Helan’s willow tree could restore True Qi and improved cultivation, and those effects would definitely be better now that it was Convergence-tier. It might be useful even for Void-tier elites, and would it not sell for dozens of millions each drop?
Brewing tea with that…
It would be a total loss even if your tea leaves were made from gold.
Jiang He, however, ignored Cheng Dongfeng.
To him, the Convergence-tier floral spirit Origin Fluid was no different from mineral water, as it both quenches thirst and could be used for brewing tea. Since it was tastier and was even better when brewed as tea, he naturally would pick it.
Pouring the Origin Fluid in the mineral water bottle into the teapot, flames ignited over his palm that rapidly cooked the Origin Fluid, after of which he took a large thermal cup and a pile of tea leaves, which he poured the Origin Fluid into.
All at once, the tea aroma overflowed.
The thick aroma even formed white mist in the room.
Cheng Dongfeng’s eyes bulged as he stared at the white mist and inhaled it while it streamed towards him, and then froze as if thunderstruck—
“I had it wrong!”
“I had it all wrong!”
“My fist will should not be like this… divine-tier in martial arts, divine-conversion, divine-tempest, divine union…”
Kaboom!
His body’s aura abruptly shifted and a profound fist will erupted.
His cultivation improved by leaps and bounds, and he ascended rapidly from the first stage of divine-tier, divine-conversion, to divine-tempest. His True Qi was also changing rapidly and he was just about to speak when Jiang He barked, “Don’t be in such a hurry to ascend and sit. Convert your True Qi before ascending up to divine-union!”
Cheng Dongfeng promptly sat down on the floor, closing his eyes and crossing his legs.
At the same time, Jiang He smiled faintly and picked up his thermal cup, stared at the boiling tea and gently blowing it.
Whoosh!
The tea aroma and heat flowed towards Cheng Dongfeng.
At the same time, he nonchalantly grabbed a few hundred spirit stones, which he threw around Cheng Dongfeng.
With the spirit stones replenishing his energy, Cheng Dongfeng could now convert his True Qi more than time times quicker—the energies inside the spirit stones all began to dry up and erupted, and Cheng Dongfeng finally succeeded in converting his True Qi after draining over sixty spirit stones.
His aura changed as he ascended to the third-tier of divine-tier in martial arts: divine-union.
Around an hour later, Cheng Dongfeng slowly opened his eyes.
Jiang He was long gone, but there was half a cup of herbal tea left on Cheng Dongfeng’s desk.
Feeling out his strength to ascertain that it was no dream, he then walked with a wobble to the tea, picked up the cup and sniffed it as hard as he could… and suddenly felt ‘enlightenment’.
Nonetheless, he promptly closed the tea cup, sweating in panic and exclaimed, “No, I would reach Void-tier immediately if I receive another enlightenment… I have yet to familiarize myself with my own strength, and I don’t know if it’s good for me to reach Void-tier so easily.”
Right then, how could Cheng Dongfeng not know that the cup of tea was worth cities!
Heck, ‘worth cities’ was not a precise appraisal of the tea’s worth!
The tea aroma alone had allowed him to ascend so magnificently, so would he not reach the sky if he really drank it?
“Oh, yes!”
Cheng Dongfeng promptly fished out the tea leaves from inside the thermal cup, saying, “These tea leaves can be brewed again so that it would not be wasted. As for the tea itself… I have to preserve it well and drink it after I stabilize my cultivation and ascend up to Void-tier.”
Still, he was not aware if the tea would turn sour.
Since he had always been frugal, the food he used to buy could be sealed and stored with frost True Qi. He had been reluctant to buy a refrigerator, and it seemed that he would need to fork out some money this time and get one from the secondhand market.
He grinned broadly even as he planned ahead.
Today… was a huge profit!
Still, he must thank Jiang He for everything.
“Jiang He, you really are my grand-master!”
He exclaimed in awe, and decided call his ancestral master since it was news worth celebrating…
Soon, Dong Haichuan picked up his call, and Cheng Dongfeng asked with a smile, “What have you been doing lately, grand-master? How’s your health? I heard that you are now Void-tier advanced? Oh, I see… yes, I have something to tell you.”
“Hahahaha…”
“I am going to reach Void-tier myself soon, and probably reach Void-tier pinnacle in just three months, hahahaha…”
“Eh??”
“Ancestral Master, Ancestral Master… are you listening?”
Damn it!
Cheng Dongfeng complained. Why would you hang up on me for no reason?
***
Meanwhile, Jiang He had returned to his home.
He took out his farm, letting out his maids and pets.
The bleak house was immediately lively once more.
He gave the Seven Bottle Gourd Brothers each a pack of Living Soil of the Nine Heavens… while the nine Wise Rock Monkeys all scampered around, chasing each other and fought out in the yard.
Jiang He had no idea where the Golden-Winged Rocs had flown to, whereas Boa Hancock and the other maids went to cook.
Arriving at the farm, Jiang He nonchalantly took out several Heavenly Immortal corpses belonging to the Hundred Races Alliance and threw them to the Cloudscraper Vine. Having reached Mahayana-pinnacle, it had grown 356 tendrils, which were now fifty kilometers each. It was only thanks to the size of Jiang He’s farm and that the Cloudscraper Vine could shrink its size—otherwise, it would cover an area that spans hundreds of miles if its 356 tendrils were allowed to spread wide.
The Cloudscraper Vine began to flail its tendrils excitedly at the sight of the Heavenly Immortals’ corpses too.
Some of its tendrils wrapped around the corpses and started to absorb their qi and blood.
Several more tendrils reached out to Jiang He and stroked him intimately.
A spiritual surge that was jubilant and a little upset streamed into Jiang He’s mind.
Though taken aback, Jiang He soon chuckled, “You want to fight with me?”
“Alright, but you are too weak at the moment and you need to develop yourself… what?”
“You want to get inside me and protect me as a green armor?”
Jiang He scowled, and turned to leave!
You are this huge and you still want to get inside me?
Are you trying to kill me?
Ignoring the Cloudscraper Vine, Jiang He went to the willow tree.
Since the willow tree on Mount Helan had been groomed by Jiang He up to Convergence-tier, his own willow tree was naturally even stronger.
It was now Mahayana-tier and would usually live in the farm in a shrunken form, since its actual tree crown spanned dozens of miles… it would occupy half the farm if it spread open completely.
“Ah!”
Jiang He sighed.
It was time to level up his farm.
***
Meanwhile, in outer space, within a planetary system neighboring the Solar System—veins of radiance appeared in the portal on a massive living planet.
Led by the Eight Immortals such as Iron Crutch Li and Lü Dongbin, the many Golden Immortals all stepped out of their portals, followed by many True Immortals and Heavenly Immortals.
The instant they emerged, Lü Dongbin sought out the champion of the planet and asked about the Hundred Races Alliance.
The champion was merely a full-fledged Heavenly Immortal, and was shaking from the fright as he answered, “My lord, our planet is neutral and has always kept our distance from such matters… all I know is that the champions of various worlds had gone to the Black Demon Star in the Sky Demon System, and there was no more word heard from the planet thereafter.”
“I do not know whether the Hundred Races Alliance would attack the homeworld of humans.”
“My lord, everything I say is true…” The Heavenly Immortal was still shaking from fright.
“Get lost!”
Lü Dongbin waved him off impatiently, and nonchalantly threw out a few hundred immortal crystals.
Their procession had used plenty of their resources to travel, though the few hundred immortal crystals was still an incredible profit for the immortals who control the local portal.
Stepping into the portal, a look of delight flashed in Lü Dongbin’s eyes.
Luckily…
They could make it in time!
The Hundred Races Alliance might not have been fully prepared!
