Chapter 305: Reopening of the Spiritual Conference
Even though he felt like Xiao Budian knew his limits and would not suggest anything too outrageous, Shi Zongyue left wiggle space in his words for himself.
"Anything that is suitable for you, it’s yours." The preamble was that the item he requested had to be suitable for Xiao Budian. The word "suitable" gave him a chance to dispute in case the request was too much to handle.
Xiao Budian’s requests were not too flagrant and were definitely things that he could use. Nobody would argue with that fact, but Shi Zongyue and the others were left pinned to the floor and speechless.
"I want a pair of Golden Deers, a male and a female."
"I also want Black Spirit Serpents, also a male and a female."
"I also want ten stalks of Butterfly Dragon Grass. If ten stalks is too much, eight stalks will do."
"I heard Xiling City is famous for its many exotic fruits such as the Holy Fruit of the Sky River Clock, the Purple Jade Melon, the Purefire Pear and the Original Golden Fruit. I would like some of them – one tree of each will do."
As soon as Xiao Budian’s mouth opened a string of names flowed out like a river. Shi Zongyue, the Vivant Joy Holy Man and Zhuge Guang were left utterly speechless.
On the other side, Xiao Budian seemed oblivious and was enjoying the fantasy. He swallowed and continued,
"I also want the Songzhen Spirit Snake, the Nine-hearted Sparrow, the Pearl Fish, the Chicken of Eight Treasures and the Purple Lightning Mink. I want five of each.
"As for plants, I would like the Green Light Vine, the Emerald Jade Celery and the Dragon Scale Bamboo Shoots."
Shi Zongyue and company were done. Their faces were as black as black could get and the three great immortal soul cultivators were crying out inside. "I take back my compliments for this little bastard. This is definitely one wild child!"
Even Lin Feng seemed to not be able to watch anymore and interrupted Xiao Budian with a dry cough.
Shi Zongyue was just about to heave a long sigh of relief that the leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders was finally stepping in to disciple his disciple.
However, Xiao Budian’s voice paused for a moment before continuing, "Oh yes, I forgot something else. I also want some minerals like the Gengjin Flowing Water Rock, the Heavenly Cinnabar. Each item should weight at least three taels."
"Besides that, I also want a Remains of the Thunder Dragon,the Talons of the Flying Lian King and the Blood of the Panlong..."
Xiao Budian was going to continue on but Shi Zongyue could take it no longer and interrupted him. "Enough!"
Prince Anliang of the Great Qin Empire glared at the little boy for a long while. Subsequently, he flicked his sleeve and walked away without a word.
He swore that if this continued, even if he had to fight Lin Feng for real, he would murder this evil Satan’s spawn.
Even so, Xiao Budian’s list was long but almost none of the items on it were extremely exotic or limited. Only the Remains of the Thunder Dragon and the Blood of the Panlong were relatively hard to obtain. The other items could be easily obtained by the Great Qin Empire.
What Shi Zongyue could not accept was that Xiao Budian’s mouth was so big and treated the three of them with condescension, as if they were his servants. How infuriating!
Before he left, Shi Zongyue paused momentarily and muttered, "Give him everything on that list!"
And then he was gone.
Lin Feng and the Vivant Joy Holy Man and the Gambling Holy Man glared at Xiao Budian until Lin Feng broke the silence with a dry laugh. "Child... Still a child."
The Vivant Joy Holy Man and Zhuge Guang laughed out loud at the same time and replied, "Yes, he’s still a child. It’s normal, it’s normal..."
What nonsense!
An evil child like this should not exist to wrack havoc upon the world!
The two immortal soul elders were scolding Xiao Budian on the inside, but they did not know that Lin Feng was doing the same and wanted to spank Xiao Budian as well.
"You little shit. You really know how to be opportunistic." The corner of Lin Feng’s mouth spasmed incessantly. He pretty much watched Xiao Budian grow up and Xiao Budian had been following him from the moment he was born. Master and disciple almost had a telepathic connection and they could understand each other without any verbal interaction.
As for Xiao Budian’s development after the nine-holed aurous core, master and disciple naturally talked about it and Xiao Budian knew that to progress to Advanced aurous core stage and complete the aurous core, he had to 想要弥补先天九窍 and required a great amount of time and energy.
Back then, Lin Feng casually remarked that magic items like the Black Butterfly Dragon Grass,the Gengjin Flowing Water Rock,the Heavenly Cinnabar,the Blood of the Panlong,the Purple Golden Gust and Thunder Crystals could help him complete the aurous core and break the bottleneck. Xiao Budian had always remembered that.
Even though Lin Feng also said that he would prepare the items for Xiao Budian, such a prime opportunity for extortion arose and he could not just let it go.
"It would save it a lot of trouble for master if somebody helped to obtain those items." Xiao Budian thought to himself joyfully.
The Remains of the Thunder Dragon and the Talons of the Flying Lian King were items that could help Xiao Budian train and meditate and he took the chance to request for them.
What rendered Lin Feng speechless was the fact that Xiao Budian absolutely maximised his opportunity and tried to obtain even more benefits for himself. He even temporarily left aside the actual important items and requested a bunch of unnecessary and random things from the Great Qin Empire.
The Golden Deer, the Black Spirit Serpent, the Songzhen Spirit Snake, the Chicken of Eight Treasures, the Nine-hearted Spirit Sparrow, the Pearl Fish and the Purple Lightning Mink were relatively rare creatures. Xiao Budian wanted these creatures not to open a zoo but for breeding – which was the reason why he requested for a male and a female of each. His idea was to solve his cravings for the long term.
The other items like the Holy Fruit of the Sky River Clock, the Original Golden Fruit, the Purple Jade Melon, the Purefire Pear and whatnot were also to satisfy his eating cravings.
The Green Light Vine, the Emerald Green Celery and the Dragon Scale Bamboo Shoots were all for eating as well.
This little boy was getting better and better at eating. He even had the fruits ready for after the meal, let alone the main courses themselves.
Lin Feng watched him speechlessly when he named the creatures and other food like when he was ordering from a restaurant. It was then that he coughed dryly to remind Xiao Budian to ask for what was actually important before anything else.
In the end, Shi Zongyue left in a fit of rage and left the Vivant Joy Holy Man and the Gambling Holy Man standing there with miserable looks on their faces to remember the names that Xiao Budian called out.
Lin Feng did not want them to be overly miserable, however. Even though he could not hand over Zhang Xin and the grey-robed elder, he still handed over two of the aurous core stage cultivators to the two Holy Men for interrogation by the Great Qin Empire.
Lin Feng was noncommittal about the conclusion to the incident and the Vivant Joy Holy Man and the Gambling Holy Man could not do anything about it either.
Even though they knew that the two aurous core stage cultivators would not yield any useful intelligence, the two of them had no choice but take them away for questioning and hope for a surprising discovery.
As everyone left the magic formation set by Shi Zongyuue, they immediately saw Shi Zongyue hovering in the air and chatting with the Leader of the Heaven Lake Sect, Cao Wei, in the distance.
AS they left the magic formation, Shi Zongyue’s emotions were back to normal and was conversing with Cao Wei with his look of usual composure. Cao Wei was no different.
Below them were a handful of cultivators from the Heaven Lake Sect. Dao Yuting took point along with Song Qingyuan and Mu Jihai.
Dao Yuting was staring into the distance – it did not seem like her eyes were focused on anything – as if she were daydreaming.
On the other hand, Mu Jihai seemed as if there were multiple things on his mind and his eyes were moving around except towards Dao Yuting and Song Qingyuan.
Out of the three of them, Song Qingyuan looked the most natural and even wore a warm smile on his face. However, there seemed to be something inexplicable about the expression in his eyes.
Lin Feng witnessed the scene and immediately realized that Shi Zongyue was negotiating with Cao Wei.
When Xiao Budian was under attack, Song Qingyuan and company were just at the side. Even though they did not understand the whole story, or even the people who were involved, they were still at the scene.
Shi Zongyue had no choice but to reach and agreement with Cao Wei and ensure that the incident was controlled within his own grasp and avoid the occurrence of unforeseen circumstances.
Song Qingyuan and the others were, in the end, just passers-by and had no clue about what happened. This was the reason why they were still reasonably carefree and autonomous in front of Cao Wei and Shi Zongyue.
Cao Wei had a plain look on his face and did not inquire too much about the event. It seemed like he was apathetic.
It was only when Lin Feng and Xiao Budian exited the magic formation did he glance over momentarily and made Lin Feng slightly wary.
This was because Lin Feng realized that Cao Wei’s gaze remained on Xiao Budian longer than it did on him.
Lin Feng simply smiled in response and did not point anything out.
Once both parties reached an agreement, the situation calmed down. The consensus for the public announcement was there was a small misunderstanding which led to a minor conflict, and now the conflict had been resolved. It did not affect the Spiritual Conference of Huanghai and the latter could continue.
The subsequent deals to be made at the Spiritual Conference were not only unaffected, they were hotter now that more people entered the Hidden Dragon Teapot.
The trading platform was nearing its end and a great many cultivators had looks of glee and joyfulness, as if they were quite satisfied with their gains today.
Under these circumstances, everybody was looking forward even more to the cultivator competition the following day.
Time flew inside the Hidden Dragon Teapot. In the blink of an eye, it was the second day already and the battle between aurous core stage cultivators was about to be reopened.
Everyone exited the Hidden Dragon Teapot and gathered around the Vivant Joy Holy Man. They watched the bronze bottle on the floor and waited for the aurous core stage cultivators to draw lots and pick their opponents.
The Vivant Joy Holy Man had the typical happy-go-lucky expression. Other people could not tell but Lin Feng noticed a hint of distress somewhere deep in his eyes.
"Master, where did the people you captured yesterday come from?" Xiao Budian arrived next to Lin Feng and asked aloud.
Lin Feng turned to look at him and Xiao Budian met his gaze.
Lin Feng flashed a warm smile and shook his head at Xiao Budian. Xiao Budian remained silent but Lin Feng could feel a hint of relief coming from his disciple.
Zhu Yi whispered to Lin Feng, "Master, what are we going to do about this?"
Lin Feng smiled again but his eyes turned cold. "Do not worry. I know how to handle troublemakers and I will make them pay for it."
Zhu Yi nodded and seemed to understand Lin Feng. He turned and saw a yellow silhouette drift downwards in front of him. It was the Royal Princess of the Great Qin Empire, Shi Xingyun.