After wrestling back and forth for a long time, the situation turned into a stalemate. As soon as Yang Kai let go, the Ruler of the Dawn Great General would rush towards the fruit tree, as if he was going to peck at the fruits, which irritated Yang Kai to no end.
The chicken was also quite devious. Every time Yang Kai was grabbing him by the neck to negotiate, he would agree and comply, but would go back on his word in a blink of an eye. He had no credibility at all.
Then again, Yang Kai felt a little sad and pathetic for arguing about credibility with a chicken.
Anger swelled up in him, and Yang Kai thought that if not because of the many people witnessing this stupid chicken plummeting into his territory, he would have thrown Great General into the Small Sealed World and eliminated him once and for all.
Since he could not use force, he could only use another approach, so Yang Kai gritted his teeth and declared, “This King admits his punishment is deserved, so why don’t you come up with a solution to resolve this issue? But let me warn you, don’t cross the line, at most we will just die together! If this King must perish, he will make sure you never see another sunrise!”
The Ruler of the Dawn Great General’s eyes quivered, and it crowed twice, indicating that it clearly understood, but unfortunately, he could not speak, so there was no way to communicate with Yang Kai directly.
Yang Kai stared at him for a while, and then slowly released the big hand that was gripping Great General’s neck.
This time, the Ruler of the Dawn Great General did not fling himself to the fruit tree but stood there combing his feathers with its beak a little, spread its wings and shook its head, then glared at Yang Kai with one eye while it circled around him.
Yang Kai’s eyes followed it closely, remaining vigilant.
After circling Yang Kai several times, the Ruler of the Dawn Great General ruffled his wings again before he leapt lightly from the ground. Yang Kai almost thought he was going to go back on their agreement again, but he immediately felt his head sink a little, and his face went as black as the bottom of a pot.
This damn chicken had jumped on his head, turning it into a chicken coop!
How could this be tolerated? Yang Kai reached out to grab at him as he roared, “Get off!”
The Ruler of the Dawn Great General was caught, but his two claws were tightly clasped onto Yang Kai’s hair and would not let go. Yang Kai struggled with him for a while, but did not manage to separate them. Instead, his hair was dishevelled and his scalp hurt.
Yang Kai was speechless…
Ruler of the Dawn Great General squawked with glee as he swivelled his fat buttocks to find a comfortable position on top of Yang Kai’s head. Not only that, he even gently combed Yang Kai’s tousled hair with his beak.
“Fine! You win!” Yang Kai could not be angrier, but on second thought, apart from the fact that it was unsightly, he had nothing to lose, so he figured he might as well just let things be. As long as the matter today was resolved, this little effort was nothing.
Thinking this way, Yang Kai decided not to continue the argument. He felt quite pathetic thinking about how he and a stupid chicken were fighting with all their wits and courage for such a long time.
Yang Kai then walked over to put away the feathers that fell off from Ruler of the Dawn Great General. They were all criminal evidence, so if Zhou Zheng came over and saw it, he might use it as an excuse to pick on him.
“You may stay there, but don’t you touch any of my fruits, or I’ll beat you up!” Yang Kai warned anxiously, leaning back on a fruit tree.
The Ruler of the Dawn Great General ignored him.
The Human and chicken managed to quiet down for now.
But it did not take long before the Great General began to crow again softly a few times, while its claws clenched slightly.
“What?” Yang Kai asked impatiently, waking up from his meditation.
The Ruler of the Dawn Great General flapped his wings, his claws still clinging tightly to Yang Kai’s hair, pulling him in one direction.
Yang Kai frowned, guessing that Great General wanted him to go somewhere, so he stood up, followed the direction he directed, and stopped in front of a fruit tree before the Ruler of the Dawn Great General released his claws.
Immediately, it gently pecked at a hole in the tree trunk endlessly, like a woodpecker.
Yang Kai immediately laughed, “Are you hungry? You can’t eat it. Although there are Jade Fire Silkworms on that fruit tree, Old Fang said it cannot be taken away.”
Great General immediately became disgruntled and began to crow loudly. The intense workout he had with Yang Kai earlier probably made him hungry.
“I told you, you can’t eat it. It’s useless no matter how you crow,” Yang Kai remained unmoved. He was kind enough to let this chicken sit on his head, so it would be unreasonable to let him eat his worms too.
Great General was silent for a few breaths, then flapped its wings and dragged Yang Kai in another direction.
“Stop grabbing me, I can go by myself. Damn it, don’t you know that it hurts?” Yang Kai scolded and walked in the direction Great General was pulling, curious to see what he was going to do.
After a short walk, they came to the neighbouring plot. There were no strict boundaries in the orchard, but everyone knew which fruit trees belonged to them so no one got confused.
As soon as they arrived, Yang Kai was greeted by a young man with cupped fists, “Brother Yang!”
The corners of Yang Kai’s mouth twitched, and he cupped his fists in return, “Brother Hong…” After working here for a month, Yang Kai did not just make friends with Old Fang. His surrounding neighbours were not located too far away, and they all greeted each other at least once, it was just that Yang Kai was only close to Old Fang.
The person before him, Hong Yu, was one of his neighbours, and Yang Kai could not help feeling a little embarrassed that he was seen with a chicken using his head as a chicken coop.
“Why did Brother Yang come here?” Hong Yu asked, glancing at the Ruler of the Dawn Great General with a guilty conscience as he spoke. He was one of the witnesses who surrounded the Great General earlier.
Yang Kai did not know what to say, but before he could speak, Great General cock-a-doodle-dooed and led Yang Kai away again.
It was not until he reached a fruit tree that Great General lightly pecked Yang Kai’s head again with his beak.
Yang Kai looked at the hole in the fruit tree and immediately understood what he wanted, cursing lightly under his breath. This stupid chicken was ordering him around like a coolie.
But at this point, there was nothing he could do. Turning back to face Hong Yu, he started, “Brother Hong, Great General has worked hard and is a little hungry. You know the situation of my orchard and how there’s nothing to eat there, so we came to you to ask for something.”
Hearing this, Hong Yu’s face turned a little embarrassed, “To be honest, Brother Yang, I caught some worms here just last month, so it will take another ten days at the earliest to catch another. There are really no extra worms for Great General. Perhaps you should take Great General elsewhere.”
Yang Kai’s face sank when he heard the words, “Brother Hong, the reason why Great General is hungry is that he was hurt when he fell from the sky. We don’t know if any of his muscles or bones were injured, but a lot of his glorious feathers have fallen off. Look at how beautiful this feather is, it would be a pity if too many were lost. If Venerable finds out that Great General suffered injuries while inspecting the orchard, and did not get any food when he was hungry, we don’t know how Venerable will respond. This is not something you or I can take on.”
The blood drained from Hong Yu’s face and he did not dare to look at the golden feather in Yang Kai’s hand at all, mainly because he felt guilty. He then hesitated for a while before gritting his teeth, “Brother Yang is right. Great General must be tired from his inspection, and we should be considerate. Brother Yang may do as he pleases. Just take it as this Hong acting to compensate Great General.”
“Cock-a-doodle-doo…”
Yang Kai grinned, pointing at his head, “Great General is quite pleased with you.”
Hong Yu squeezed out a smile and reached out to signal Yang Kai to proceed.
There was no need for Yang Kai to be polite after that. He took out a Well-Refined Incense, lit it, and held it in front of the hole, moving it back and forth gently; the movements were smooth and familiar as it was not his first time to do this.
After a while, a fiery red worm wriggled out of the hole.
The Ruler of the Dawn Great General stretched out its neck and caught hold of the Jade Fire Silkworm, swallowing it whole. This time, there was no need for the Ruler of the Dawn Great General to urge him, Yang Kai had already moved toward another Fire Spirit Fruit Tree with a wormhole, and did the same, coaxing out a Jade Fire Silkworm.
Hong Yu watched anxiously from the side. Two Jade Fire Silkworms were not a big deal, though it may affect the growth of the fruit trees slightly, it should not be a big issue. What was a pity was that if he was the one who caught the worms and brought them back to Great General, he would have a chance to obtain an Open Heaven Pill.
Now, it was hopeless to expect any Open Heaven Pills, but Hong Yu was thankful that Great General did not hold a grudge against him.
After harvesting three Jade Fire Silkworms in Hong Yu’s orchard, and seeing the caretaker here turning blue in the face, Yang Kai finally grinned, “Good, we’re done here. Brother Hong, please continue your work, we’re leaving.”
As soon as Yang Kai finished speaking, a strange noise emitted from the top of his head, followed by a bundle of golden light falling in front of him.
The golden light looked familiar, and Yang Kai reached out to catch it. When the golden light dissipated, what appeared on his palm were three perfectly spherical Spirit Pills…
Yang Kai blinked, a little baffled!
Hong Yu’s eyes also widened, just as astonished!
But this pause only lasted a moment before Yang Kai quickly flipped his hand and put away the three Open Heaven Pills.
Hong Yu exclaimed hurriedly, “Brother Yang, those three Open Heaven Pills…”
Yang Kai looked at him with a sullen face, “What three Open Heaven Pills? How can there be any Open Heaven Pills here?”
Hong Yu did not know whether to laugh or cry, “Brother Yang, how can you sleep talk with your eyes wide open? Great General clearly rewarded three Open Heaven Pills just now. Brother Yang, Brother Yang, Great General’s reward was all thanks to my three worms. Shouldn’t you give me some? This Hong is not greedy, you can take two, I only want one!”
Yang Kai just snickered, “You want a share of the pills? Sure! I’ll report to Manager Zhou that you and a group of people harassed Great General, causing Great General to fall from the sky and lose many feathers and suffer such deep wounds to his body that he couldn’t even walk and could only sit on my head! Then we’ll see what Manager Zhou will reward you all with!”
Hong Yu exclaimed, “That’s so exaggerated! How can you make such irresponsible remarks!”
Yang Kai continued, “Manager Zhou would be able to tell if I made irresponsible remarks or not…”
Hong Yu gaped at him for a while before gritting his teeth and declaring, “This Hong has learned today of Brother Yang’s honourable character!”
He was also at fault for this matter. Regardless of what happened, he was partly responsible for Great General’s fall, and if Manager Zhou caught hold of this news, he would not have a good end.
Yang Kai asked, “Does Brother Hong still need a Spirit Pill?”
“Leave!” Hong Yu pointed aside.
Three easy Open Heaven Pills, Yang Kai felt like he was in a dream. He knew that the newcomers would only be rewarded when they honoured Great General for the first time, but the reward was only one Spirit Pill.
A few days ago, Yang Kai fed five Jade Fire Silkworms and only got one Open Heaven Pill.
But today, he obtained 3 pills with only 3 Jade Fire Silkworms! That was an entire year of a Worker’s salary. Perhaps, no one would believe it even if he told anyone about it.
Dié You mentioned that if Great General was in a good mood, he would reward Open Heaven Pills.
[In other words, the Great General in a good mood now?] Yang Kai looked up while thinking. He was unsure, but the resentment that he gained earlier had dissipated significantly.
If this silly chicken continued giving him Open Heaven Pills, not to mention letting it use his head as a chicken coop, Yang Kai would invite Great General to live with him permanently.
“Great General, do you want to eat more?” Yang Kai’s mood was lifted, and his tone was very cordial.
Great General did not respond, but did not say no.
Yang Kai took this as a sign and nodded happily, “In that case, let’s go and look for more, heh heh heh…” He grinned while walking towards another plot.
Previously, the Ruler of the Dawn Great General was chased and intercepted by a large group of people, all of whom ran away at once when he fell into Yang Kai’s territory. In a sense, all those people were responsible for this incident. If any misfortune happened to the Ruler of the Dawn Great General, Yang Kai would have been the innocent sacrificial lamb; therefore, Yang Kai would not let any of them escape trouble by hiding themselves. Even if the Ruler of the Dawn Great General chose to forgive them, Yang Kai would not.
Soon, Yang Kai came to another plot. Seeing Yang Kai approaching with the Great General from a distance, the Worker responsible for this plot immediately hid, afraid that Great General would bring him trouble.
[Hide, hide! Hide if you want!] Yang Kai did not even pay any attention to this Worker and instead took the Ruler of the Dawn Great General around to look for worms.
After extracting 3 worms, Yang Kai and Great General strode off. During the whole time, the Worker did not dare to show himself.
To Yang Kai’s great surprise, after eating the 3 Jade Fire Silkworms, Great General rewarded him with 3 Open Heaven Pills again! Yang Kai could not understand why the Ruler of the Dawn Great General was acting like this so suddenly.
When he fought with Yang Kai before, he seemed eager to kill him, but now, Great General was being incredibly generous to him.
Despite not understanding why, Yang Kai had no reason to reject this generosity.
One Human and one chicken moved from plot to plot in the orchard. Some owners were bitter like Hong Yu, but they could only grit their teeth and let Yang Kai take the worms from their trees while some Workers were like the one who dared not reveal himself. Either way, they could not escape from the fate of being ripped off 3 Jade Fire Silkworms while Yang Kai did not care if their fruit trees were negatively affected at all.
However, after visiting four plots, Great General seemed to be satiated. He gave a cock-a-doodle-doo, clenching its claws slightly to navigate Yang Kai in another direction.
Yang Kai was far from done, but since the Ruler of the Dawn Great General was already full, he could not force him. In any case, since Yang Kai had started this matter, he would naturally see it through to the end.
Taking Ruler of the Dawn Great General back to his plot, Yang Kai sat down under a fruit tree, took out the twelve Open Heaven Pills, and played with them carefully, all while cackling like a crazy man.
A few days ago, his one and only Open Heaven Pill was instantly snatched by Old Fang. Now that he suddenly obtained 12 pills at once, Yang Kai no longer considered the chicken that sat on top of his head an annoying enemy, but rather a God of Fortune!
The Ruler of the Dawn Great General was not so terrible after all. Yang Kai suddenly changed his impression of the Great General. He obtained 12 pills in a day, which meant that he would be getting 360 pills in a month, and more than 4,000 pills in a year…
However, when he thought more about it, he knew that was impossible. Yang Kai had no idea how many Open Heaven Pills Great General had, but there must be a limit as they were given to him by the Venerable.
In any case, in this way, Yang Kai’s situation suddenly became much better than that of other Workers. The salary of 3 Open Heaven Pills per year was simply a bonus to him now.
After earning enough Open Heaven Pills, Yang Kai could return what he owed Dié You, and even invite her to the shopping district to have a pot of good tea as a thank-you gift! Having made up his mind, Yang Kai began studying the medicinal properties of an Open Heaven Pill carefully while storing the rest away.
He was an Alchemist coveting for the Open Heaven Pill recipe of Seven Wonders Land, but although he had not seen the pill recipe yet, Yang Kai still could carry out his own research.
His research consumed the whole day, but he did not come up with anything useful. Yang Kai only knew that the refining of this Open Heaven Pill required seven main ingredients, including the Fire Spirit Fruit and the Spirit Fruits of other Elements. However, in addition to these seven main herbs, there must be other auxiliary ingredients. He was still new in the Outer Universe and was unfamiliar with the pharmacology here, so aturally he could not distinguish the other raw materials in the Open Heaven Pill.
Yang Kai noted down what he had learned silently so that if he ever encountered those herbs in the future, he would be able to recognize them.
Ruler of the Dawn Great General did not move for more than a day, seemingly sleeping after filling his stomach. It was not until a day later that he suddenly shook its wings, and blinded Yang Kai’s eyes with a familiar golden light.
Seeing him wake up, Yang Kai was excited at once and asked, “Is Great General hungry? Shall I take you to look for food?”
Ruler of the Dawn Great General crowed twice approvingly.
“Good, let’s go!” Yang Kai got up and strode forward. There had been thirty to forty people crowding Ruler of the Dawn Great General yesterday, and Yang Kai only visited four yesterday. There were still many plots he had not patronized yet. He had to finish visiting all of them no matter what!
The pair visited 5 plots that day, and by evening, Yang Kai had more than 10 additional Open Heaven Pills in his pockets.
Under the fruit tree, Yang Kai played with the Spirit Pills in his hand happily as he spoke, “Great General, I want to discuss something with you. If there is a reward again next time, can you give it to me when there is no one around? Did you see the eyes of those people before? They clearly couldn’t wait to rush over to snatch these from me. If we continue acting openly like this, I’m afraid I’ll become the public enemy of the entire Worker’s Room.”
Yang Kai couldn’t tell whether Great General had fallen asleep or not, but the latter gave no response.
Yang Kai sighed for a while, feeling pain and happiness at the same time.
“You… Where did you get so many Open Heaven Pills?” A cry of surprise called out from the side.
Yang Kai quickly put away his Open Heaven Pills and looked up to see Old Fang gaping at him.
“What do you mean, Open Heaven Pills? You must have seen it wrongly.” Yang Kai blinked, “Are you done with your work?”
“I’m done…” Old Fang answered casually, and then quickly responded, “Don’t try to change the subject, smelly brat. Tell me the truth, where did you get so many… Er, is the Great General still here?” Suddenly, his face changed drastically, and he retreated a few steps to keep a distance from Yang Kai, asking suspiciously, “Did you rob Great General?”
“How is that possible?” Yang Kai sneered, “Do I look like such a worthless man? No one would rob a chicken.”
“Then tell me, where did your Open Heaven Pills come from?” Old Fang obviously did not believe it.
“None of your damn business!”
Old Fang looked up and down at him, then turned around and left.
“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Yang Kai was unhappy, and with a flicker, blocked his path.
Old Fang explained with a dark face, “Boy, I’m afraid you’re going to face a tremendous disaster, yet you’re still relaxing here. Don’t tell anyone that you know me in the future. I don’t want to get into trouble because of you.”
“Old Fang!” Yang Kai patted him on the shoulder, “Are you thinking too much?”
“I hope so too. Anyway, you should take care of yourself.” Old Fang waved his hand to shoo him away.
“Look how afraid you are.” Yang Kai laughed, “By the way, do you have any extra Well-Refined Incense on hand? Share some with me.”
“Didn’t Sister Dié You just buy you two boxes?” Old Fang looked at him suspiciously.
“Yes or no?” Yang Kai stretched out his hand. Normally, two boxes of Well-Refined Incense were enough for one or two years. However, with the speed of his consumption, Yang Kai was afraid that it would not take long to run out, so he wanted some to spare from Old Fang.
Old Fang answered, “Good, this Old Master can give you a box, but under a condition.”
“Say it!”
“Don’t look for this Old Master again in the future. This Old Master never knew you.”
“You said it yourself, don’t regret it later!”
Without saying a word, Old Fang took out a box of Well-Refined Incense and slammed it into Yang Kai’s palm before quickly leaving, muttering under his breath, “A great disaster is coming… a great disaster indeed, young man…”
Yang Kai did not bother to pay him any attention. With a box of free Well-Refined Incense, Yang Kai estimated that it would be enough for this month, so he turned around and continued to rest.
In the following days, Yang Kai kept himself busy. After taking care of his fruit trees, Yang Kai would lead the Ruler of the Dawn Great General around in the orchard, catching several worms every time they reached a site.
The Workers were infuriated, but they all held their tongues. They had no choice, for the Ruler of the Dawn Great General sat proudly atop Yang Kai’s head. No one dared to refuse. They felt like their hearts had been ripped out as they watched Yang Kai bait the worms and feed them to the Ruler of the Dawn Great General.
These worms could be their Open Heaven Pills!
Fortunately, Yang Kai did not act ruthlessly and take all of their worms, so the Workers did not make a big fuss out of it.
Since Yang Kai’s request that day, Great General did not reward him with the Open Heaven Pills in public again. Every time, he would spit out the bundle of golden light after they returned to Yang Kai’s own plot which contained more or less ten Open Heaven Pills, the same number of worms he ate.
Yang Kai did not understand. As Dié You mentioned before, Ruler of the Dawn Great General would give Open Heaven Pills to the feeders only when he was in a good mood, and most of the time he did not. But when it came to Yang Kai, it was basically a ratio of one-to-one.
Yang Kai was flabbergasted. If others experienced the same thing as he did, the Workers would not need to worry about Open Heaven Pills at all. Yang Kai even began to wonder how many Jade Fire Silkworms they had fed the Ruler of the Dawn Great General over the years.
Moreover, no Worker had ever been treated like this by Ruler of the Dawn Great General. For a whole month, he took Yang Kai’s head as a chicken coop, not leaving even once.
A month later, the barrier of the orchard was activated, and all the Workers were moved outside.
In an instant, countless eyes focused on Yang Kai, but he could not blame them as the golden rooster on his head was simply too eye-catching. Many of them found it funny, wondering how Yang Kai had provoked the Ruler of the Dawn Great General to receive such treatment.
Yang Kai did not pay them any attention. The others may see it as a joke, but he knew that he was wearing the God of Fortune on top of his head.
He looked up and saw a few familiar figures. They were the newcomers who came in together with Yang Kai. They were about to greet him but were hurriedly led away by Fang Tai. Ah Sun was the only one who looked back as she walked away, a worried look on her face.
Yang Kai scratched his head, why were these people acting like he was a plague? He turned to look at Old Fang, who sighed heavily. Shaking his head slowly, he left looking distressed.
Yang Kai sneered, ignoring the strange gazes of others, and headed towards the Worker’s Room with a flicker.
Soon after, he landed in front of his own residence, and Ruler of the Dawn Great General, who had been perched on his head, spread his wings, plopped down on the ground, and slowly walked off with his head held high and chest puffed up like a true lord of his territory.
Yang Kai immediately felt a lot more relaxed. Although the Ruler of the Dawn Great General had given him a lot of Open Heaven Pills the past month, it was quite exhausting to carry a rooster on his head this whole time. Even his hair was completely dishevelled, but now the chicken was finally gone.
He turned around and entered the house to quickly straighten his hair, and just after he was done, he heard a knock at the door.
Yang Kai walked over to open the door, and a graceful figure flashed in, followed by a waft of fragrance.
“Xiao Dié?” Yang Kai looked at the guest, “You came just in time! I was about to look for you.”
“Were you looking for me?” Dié You asked, “Let’s leave that aside for now, what happened to you?”
“What do you mean what happened?” Yang Kai was stunned.
“There were rumours in the village that you offended the Great General and were punished. Many people saw Great General sitting on your head and using your head as a chicken coop. Is that true?”
Yang Kai burst out laughing, “There indeed is such a thing, but unlike the rumours were saying, I didn’t offend that stupid chicken.”
“Really?” Dié You looked at him suspiciously. They had not known each other for a long time, and the time they spent together was even shorter. She did not know what kind of nature Yang Kai had, but he did not seem like one to bow his head, so she was really worried that he might have fearlessly provoked Great General.
Yang Kai looked at her with a smile, “Xiao Dié, you seem to care about me very much.”
Dié You snorted, “I was once a newcomer too, and I know how difficult it could be. If someone helped me at the beginning, my situation would definitely be much better. Later, I swore to myself that if there was a chance in the future and if it was within my abilities, I would help the newcomers. Besides, if any of the newcomers get promoted, I will be able to gain some benefits.”
“So that’s how it is!” Yang Kai gently nodded.
Dié You suddenly punched Yang Kai on the shoulder, “Also, don’t be so arrogant you newcomer! Who gave you permission to call me Xiao Dié!”
“It doesn’t matter what I call you,” Yang Kai smiled, extended his hand, and flipped it over, “Look at this!”
Dié You looked down before her hand flew up to cover her mouth, “Where… Where did you get so many Open Heaven Pills?” It was the same sentence blurted from Old Fang’s mouth, but it sounded completely different.
“I’m paying you back!” Yang Kai pushed his hand forward.
Dié You looked at him suspiciously, “How did you get so many Open Heaven Pills?”
Yang Kai grinned, “Would you believe it if I said that I was rewarded by Great General? En, even I wouldn’t believe it, let alone you, but the fact is, these were indeed given to me by Great General.”
“What happened?” Dié You was shocked.
Yang Kai briefly reiterated the incident of how the Great General was surrounded by others and fell into his plot, and then how he brought him around to look for worms. Of course, Yang Kai omitted the part about his battle with Great General. It was simply too embarrassing to mention it. Dié You’s small little mouth grew into a beautiful circle at the news that Yang Kai received a one-to-one ratio of worms fed to Open Heaven Pills…
He decided to disclose this information not just because he needed to explain the source of these Open Heaven Pills clearly upon paying Dié You back, but also because she had helped him a lot. She answered a lot of questions he had without demanding any payment, then later took him to the shopping district and even loaned him money to buy a set of worm-catching tools. She even showed genuine concern when she heard something happened to him today. Since she was so sincere and kind-hearted, it was not right for Yang Kai to deceive her.
More importantly, it was impossible to keep this matter a secret for long. Quite a few people witnessed Great General bestowing Open Heaven Pills to Yang Kai when he took Great General around worm hunting, so Yang Kai had nothing to hide.
“And that’s the whole story,” Yang Kai shrugged.
“Really?” Dié You still found it hard to believe. She had never seen the Great General treat anyone so well in all the years she had been here.
“You don’t believe me? Then see for yourself… Do you have Jade Fire Silkworms?”
Dié You nodded absent-mindedly, “I caught two this month.”
“Pass them to me!” Yang Kai extended his hand.
Dié You handed Yang Kai her Cyan Wood Box, and Yang Kai immediately walked out the door, whistled loudly, and then returned to the house, “Wait a moment.”
Not too long after, a golden light shone through the door, and Ruler of the Dawn Great General, restored to his half-Human height, stood in front of the door, looking around curiously.
“Stupid chicken, come in, I’ll give you something delicious.” After one month of getting along with each other, Yang Kai and Great General had become close friends and there was no more need for formalities between them.
Dié You jumped, in fear that Great General might be infuriated, but instead, she watched the Ruler of the Dawn Great General walk in, taking absolutely no offence in how Yang Kai addressed him.
She was completely amazed.
Yang Kai opened the Cyan Wood Box and took out the two Jade Fire Silkworms. Great General did not refuse and gulped down both in an instant, then turned his head to eye Dié You who was standing at the side…
His stare left Dié You feeling anxious.
“Xiao Dié is alright, there’s no need to avoid her,” Yang Kai extended his hand.
Great General opened his beak and spat out a bundle of golden light. When the golden light dissipated, two Open Heaven Pills appeared in Yang Kai’s hand, which he waved triumphantly at Dié You.
Dié You was baffled by what she saw. Yang Kai actually got two Open Heaven Pills from Great General with just two Jade Fire Silkworms!
“No more. You can go play now,” Yang Kai waved his hand dismissively.
Great General turned, wiggling his fat butt, and strutted out the door.
“You… how did you do it?” After a long time, Dié You finally came back to her senses and looked at Yang Kai in disbelief.
“I don’t know.” Yang Kai answered truthfully as he only knew that it had become like this since their fight. He touched his chin and speculated, “Maybe that stupid chicken just likes me more…”
Even he did not quite believe what he just said.
“Anyway, I have the pills to pay you back now,” Yang Kai took out the 30 Spirit Pills again, together with the two he just received, and put them into Dié You’s hand.
Dié You took them in a daze, and was still unable to recover from the great shock for some time.
It was not until Yang Kai waved his hand right in front of her face that she came back to her senses.
“Do you want to go to the shopping district with me?”
“What are you going to do there?”
“I’m going to buy some Well-Refined Incense.”
“Didn’t I just buy two boxes last…” Dié You realized before she finished speaking, “Have you used up all of it?”
Yang Kai guffawed, “How do you think I got so many Open Heaven Pills? I took Great General around to all the nearby plots, so those two boxes of Well-Refined Incense are long gone.” In fact, if it was not for the extra box from Old Fang, he would not have been able to last until the end of the month.
Dié You immediately knew what he was up to, “Do you plan on taking Great General around again to look for worms like before?”
Yang Kai rolled up his sleeves, “It’s a great way to make money, there’s no reason not to use it.”
Dié You pondered for a while before asking, “But have you ever thought that you might offend a lot of people by doing that?”
Even without her warning, Yang Kai already knew that he had offended a bunch of people.
With a sneer, however, he replied defiantly, “Let them be offended. As long as I get Open Heaven Pills, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Dié You shook her head slowly, “No, no, no, if you really offend too many people, you won’t be able to survive in this Worker’s Room. Even though those people won’t dare deal with Great General, they can definitely come to trouble you.”
Yang Kai snorted arrogantly, “So what? I’m even afraid that they won’t come for me.”
Dié You glared at him, “If you trust me, why not listen to my suggestion?”
“Tell me.” Yang Kai turned to her. After all, she has been living here for a thousand years and was definitely more knowledgeable than him.
Dié You beckoned him to come closer.
Yang Kai leaned over, and was immediately immersed in the pleasant scent of orchids…
He listened closely, and his eyes slowly brightened.
After a while, Dié You leaned back and continued normally, “Of course, I’m just giving a suggestion, the decision is yours. But no matter where you go, not sharing your profit will attract a lot of jealousy.”
Yang Kai touched his chin and nodded, “This is a good idea, it will also save me a lot of trouble.”
“Then do you agree?”
“Of course, I agree, why wouldn’t I?” Yang Kai nodded sternly, “I get to eat the meat, so it doesn’t matter if they have the soup.”
“Also, they will happily drink what they get as it will be even more than what they would get if they fed Great General themselves, which may make many people grateful to you.”
Yang Kai chuckled, “Their gratitude doesn’t matter to me. En, let’s just do it your way. In this case, we still need to go to the shopping district, but there won’t be a need to buy so much incense now. By the way, Xiao Dié, if there are Jade Fire Silkworms here in Fire Spirit Land, what about the other Spirit Lands?”
Dié You answered, “You’re quite the quick one. I was about to tell you this. The fruit trees in the other Spirit Lands will also produce different Exotic Insects, but I don’t know if Great General will like them. We can go to the shopping district and buy some to test it out first.”
“This will be quite a big investment…” Yang Kai looked at Dié You with sparkly eyes, “Xiao Dié, you must help me.”
Dié You covered her mouth and giggled, “Since I’m the one who came up with the proposal, of course I will help you, but…” She leaned closer to Yang Kai, and rubbed her shoulders against him, “Little Brother, you can’t forget to support Elder Sister when you succeed in the future!”
Yang Kai guffawed and put his arm around her shoulder, “After making the money, we will share the profits equally.”
Dié You turned her head and stared at his arm, “Move your dirty claws away!”
After plotting carefully in the house and distributing their work, Yang Kai borrowed a thousand Open Heaven Pills from Dié You, soared into the sky, and went straight to the shopping district.
Not long after Yang Kai’s departure, a particular piece of news spread like wildfire in the Worker’s Room. Dié You was exchanging an Open Heaven Pill for every two Jade Fire Silkworms! The whole Worker’s Room went into an uproar, and countless people rushed to Dié You’s residence.
Normally, they would have to exchange at least 3 or 4 worms for a Spirit Pill from Great General, and this situation was considered quite lucky. If they were unfortunate, even if they fed more, Great General would just ignore them.
However, since now they were guaranteed to get an Open Heaven Pill for 2 Jade Fire Silkworms from Dié You, how could this not be a great deal? They would definitely come in flocks. Moreover, the Workers would stay in the orchard for a month each time, so they definitely would have caught a few worms.
Although they had no idea what Dié You was doing at first, after confirming the authenticity of the information and seeing others exchange 2 Jade Fire Silkworms for an Open Heaven Pill, everyone formed a line as long as a dragon at the door of Dié You’s residence. Since everyone had just returned from the orchard, they certainly had some worms on hand.
Dié You had always kept a good relationship with the others in the Worker’s Room. At the moment, some of her so-called ‘Sisters’ spared no effort to inquire about the reason for her doing so, but since this matter was related to the interests of her and Yang Kai, how could she disclose it? She just smiled and kept her mouth shut.
Only a few people looked at the lively scene with reservations…
On the other hand, after Yang Kai arrived at the Worker’s shopping district, he went straight to the store that sold Cyan Wood Boxes and Well-Refined Incense where he bought two boxes of Well-Refined Incense for 10 Open Heaven Pills.
He originally planned to use the few hundred Open Heaven Pills he earned before to buy as much Well-Refined Incense as possible, because he would still need to take the Ruler of the Dawn Great General to catch worms in the future, and the consumption of incense would definitely be tremendously high.
But after listening to Dié You’s suggestion, he agreed that her proposal was better. If he had done as he originally planned, not to mention offending a large number of people, the efficiency would be too low. With Dié You buying Jade Fire Silkworms from those Workers in Fire Spirit Land, it would save them time and effort, and also avoid offending others. Even if some came to know the truth in the future, they could only think that Yang Kai was the lucky one who was valued by Great General, rather than hate him.
As Dié You mentioned before, no matter where one went, hoarding all the profits for oneself would attract a lot of jealousy. Furthermore, his income through Dié You’s proposal would be higher than his previous plan.
However, although Yang Kai had no need to stock up on incense in bulk, he still had to keep two boxes on standby.
After leaving the shop, Yang Kai went on a tour of the shopping district, looking for a place to set up a stall, but he soon found that all the good spots were occupied by others.
After observing for a while, Yang Kai went straight to a stall, extended his hand and thrust 3 Open Heaven Pills at the stall owner.
The stall owner was a young man and looked up at Yang Kai in amazement and asked, “What do you want to buy, Senior Brother?”
“Your stall!” Yang Kai shook the Open Heaven Pills in his hand, “Store your things and give me this spot, and these 3 pills are yours.”
The young man pondered a little, then quickly put away all the things in his stall.
“Leave the signboard too!”
“It’s all yours!” The young man took the 3 Open Heaven Pills delightedly and soon disappeared into the crowd.
The stall owners on the left and right sides looked sideways at him with strange looks. They had never seen anyone buying a stall spot like he did. No one actually managed the stalls here, so they always went on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.
Yang Kai sat down where the young man previously sat, picked up the signboard, and erased the words on it. He then took a piece of charcoal from the ground, pondered for a moment, and then scribbled a line of big characters across the signboard before sticking the signboard next to the stall. He was now open for business.
The stall owner on the left side was an elderly man and stole a glance at Yang Kai before he broke out laughing. He thought Yang Kai was going to do a big business seeing that he bought the stall spot so generously, but according to the signboard he was just buying worms that grew on the fruit trees of the various orchards.
The old man also knew that there were worms in every orchard, but he did not find them to be important. Generally, they would crush the worms directly when they caught them, so he had no idea why the young man beside him wanted to collect them.
However, he was too lazy to pay attention to other people’s affairs. He shook his head, stopped paying attention to Yang Kai, and concentrated on his own business.
Yang Kai spent half a day sitting there. He rolled up his sleeves and was ready for a big showtime, but after half a day, although many people stopped to observe for a while, no one actually went forward to inquire, which made him feel a little irritated. On second thought, however, Yang Kai realized that not every Spirit Land had a ‘Ruler of the Dawn Great General.’ The stupid chicken in Fire Spirit Land was a pet tamed by their Venerable Protector, and it just so happened to love eating Jade Fire Silkworm; therefore, the Workers of Fire Spirit Land had the habit of catching and collecting worms, though the workers in other Spirit Lands would also catch worms, they certainly would not keep them.
After realizing this, Yang Kai frowned secretly. If so, his plan would not work.
Just then, a shy voice came to his ear, “Excuse me, Senior Brother, what worms do you want to collect?”
Yang Kai looked up and saw a petite young girl standing in front of his stall. The girl was beautiful, with little freckles on the tip of her nose, and when their eyes met, the girl’s face slightly flushed.
Yang Kai had long waited for someone to patronize his stall, so he was greatly refreshed and disclosed, “The worms that live on the fruit trees. Do you have any?”
The young girl shook her head, “I don’t…”
[Then why did you ask!?] Yang Kai almost cursed her, but seeing her timid appearance, he could not bear being mean and forced out a smile, “Girl, you can leave.”
The young girl did not leave, however, but stood on the same spot for a while before she asked, “How much are you buying?”
Since he had nothing to do and it was rare for someone to ask, Yang Kai replied casually, “4 worms in exchange for 1 Open Heaven Pill here!” He had agreed with Dié You to exchange with a ratio of 2:1 in the Worker’s Room of Fire Spirit Land, but the price of other Spirit Lands would not be the same.
As soon as Yang Kai made his offer, before the young girl in front of his stall could speak, the elderly man who set up the stall next to him suddenly widened his eyes and turned to Yang Kai to ask, “Young man, what did you just say? 4 worms for 1 Open Heaven Pill?”
“One hand gives the worms, the other hand gets the pill, but I need them alive.”
The elderly man could not believe what he was hearing and only stared at Yang Kai suspiciously, for he had never seen anyone use precious Open Heaven Pills to exchange for useless worms in all the years he had been here.
“In that case, please wait a moment. A friend of mine has worms. I’ll ask her to come over.” While the freckled girl said before she took out a bell and shook it gently.
The elderly man to the side was not interested in doing his own business anymore and instead stared at the situation at Yang Kai’s stall with great interest, as if to determine whether things were really true to what Yang Kai offered, four worms for an Open Heaven Pill.
Soon, a woman who appeared to be in her early twenties squeezed through the crowd, and looked at the freckled girl, “Xiao Mo, is someone really collecting worms?”
The girl who was called Xiao Mo pointed at Yang Kai as she answered, “Elder Sister Xue Ping, it’s him. He wanted the worms. Ask him yourself.”
Yu Xue Ping frowned at Yang Kai before looking at the signboard next to him to make sure she did not get it wrongly. Then she asked, “How many are you buying and for how much?”
“4 worms for 1 Open Heaven Pill!” Yang Kai illustrated the numbers with his fingers.
Although she had learned about it from Xiao Mo’s message, Yu Xue Ping still could not believe it when she heard it with her own ears. She really did not know what was wrong with this guy in front of her. Who would use Open Heaven Pills to buy worms? Did he have too many Open Heaven Pills?
However, since he was doing this, he must have a reason.
After pondering for a while, she took out a Cyan Wood Box and handed it to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai took it over, scanned it with his Divine Sense, and nodded gently, “En, 11 worms. Are these Blue Water Silkworms?”
“Indeed!”
“The number is not enough, but I’ll consider it as 12 since you’re my first customer. 3 Open Heaven Pills!” As Yang Kai spoke, he moved the Blue Water Silkworms into his own Cyan Wood Box. When returning the box, he handed over 3 Open Heaven Pills. This was his first sale, so he did not mind being a little generous.
Yu Xue Ping and Xiao Mo were completely flabbergasted as they confirmed that this young man was doing exactly what was written on his signboard.
This was an unexpected fortune. Yu Xue Ping only caught some Blue Water Silkworms for fun because she was bored; after all, there was not much entertainment for a Worker. Who knew that these worms actually benefited her at the moment?
Suddenly, Yu Xue Ping sensed a business opportunity from this transaction and asked hurriedly, “Senior Brother, how many Blue Water Silkworms do you want to collect?”
“No limit. I’ll take as many as you have.” Yang Kai smiled lightly.
“Will you come again next month?”
“Indeed!”
“I see.” Yu Xue Ping nodded heavily, “Then when the shopping district opens next month, I’ll come here to find you!”
A sudden realization dawned on Yang Kai, for he finally understood what she was going to do and secretly scolded himself for being stupid. He could have just hired an agent to help him to get what he wanted instead of sitting here waiting for customers.
The Workers in the other Spirit Lands did not have the habit of catching and keeping worms at all. If they were not given some incentive, how could he get those worms? Since this woman in front of him was smart enough to come up with this idea, however, he could cooperate with her.
“Fine!” Yang Kai smiled and nodded.
“May I know Senior Brother’s name? This Junior Sister is Yu Xue Ping.”
Yang Kai introduced himself too.
Yu Xue Ping carried on, “So it is Senior Brother Yang. I believe Senior Brother Yang isn’t from Water Spirit Land, and since this is our first meeting, we don’t know each other very well. What if I can’t find Senior Brother when I come back next month?”
Yang Kai assured, “I will definitely be here.”
Yu Xue Ping shook her head, “Words cannot be trusted!”
Yang Kai looked at her with great interest, “What do you suggest then?”
“What if Senior Brother offered 30 Open Heaven Pills in advance as a deposit?” Yu Xue Ping persuaded, obviously having planned this beforehand, “Of course, I will also use something as collateral, so Senior Brother won’t need to worry that I won’t come back after taking the Spirit Pills.”
Yang Kai laughed, “Good, but I wonder what Junior Sister is willing to use as collateral?”
Yu Xue Ping stretched out her hand and summoned a gleaming long sword, which she handed to Yang Kai, saying, “I’ll use this as collateral.”
Yang Kai reached out to take it and flicked the blade with his fingers. A crisp and light tinkle resounded, which continued to hum for quite some time, “Good sword, I’ll take it!” He nodded approvingly, sliding it into his Space Ring.
Yang Kai had no idea of the value of this long sword, but it was definitely worth at least 30 Open Heaven Pills, so when the shopping district opened next month, he and Yu Xue Ping would undoubtedly meet and thus secure their transaction.
He took out 30 Open Heaven Pills and handed them to her, causing Yu Xue Ping’s beautiful eyes to light up, “Many thanks, Senior Brother! We’ll see you next month.” She then beckoned her companion, “Xiao Mo, let’s go.”
The two hurriedly left the shopping district and headed straight towards Water Spirit Land.
They did not avoid any audience during their conversation, so the surrounding stall owners managed to eavesdrop, and they were not fools. After Yu Xue Ping left, the elderly man on the left immediately jumped in, “Little Brother, that girl came from Water Spirit Land, and this Old Master is from Earth Spirit Land, The orchard in Earth Spirit Land has worms too, so I wonder if we can work together?”
“I’m from Metal Spirit Land!” The stall owner on the right, too, came over, the expression on his face became much more enthusiastic, “I also know a friend from Wood Spirit Land. Would you like me to call him over?”
…
After two hours, Yang Kai closed his stall and left. Although he did not collect many worms during his stay, only the first 11 were sold to him by Yu Xue Ping, a path had been opened up, and now he just had to wait for various meetings next month.
Yang Kai could foresee swarms of Open Heaven Pills rolling his way.
Returning to the village where the Worker’s Room was located, Yang Kai could already see a long queue in front of Dié You’s house from a distance. Knowing that the plan was going well, Yang Kai cackled happily.
A figure slithered up next to him at that moment and Yang Kai turned to see Old Fang rubbing his hands together with a flattering smile, “Little Brother, you’re back.”
“En!” Yang Kai responded casually, “Is something wrong?”
“Not at all!” Old Fang laughed aloud, “If Little Brother is free, why don’t you come to my place, the fine wine I have kept for many years can be unsealed today. Rather than enjoying it alone, it would be an honour for Little Brother to enjoy it together with this old man.”
Yang Kai crossed his arms and looked at him with a smirk, “Fine wine? I’m not interested, and I distinctly remember someone asking this Yang to just pretend that we had never met.”
Old Fang lifted his hand and slapped himself bitterly, “This Big Brother was foolish, so please don’t take it to heart. Little Brother, we’re all away from home, and it’s not easy to get acquainted in this vast world. Give this Big Brother some face, and let me make amends to you.”
Yang Kai was still hesitating, but Old Fang had already grabbed Yang Kai by the arm and pulled him towards his house, “Little Brother, you’re a generous man, don’t be calculative with me.”
Yang Kai growled in a low voice, “If you want to drink then drink, stop dragging me around, it’s highly improper.”
“Good, good, good, I won’t insist!” Old Fang nodded his head repeatedly, immediately humbling himself yet still insisting.
Yang Kai entered the house with Old Fang, who closed the door behind him and took out a wine urn. He also took out two plates of Spirit Fruit, and then sat down opposite Yang Kai.
The strong aroma of the wine filled the room immediately after opening the seal, and Old Fang politely filled Yang Kai’s cup first, then poured one for himself before raising his glass and making a toast, “It’s really this Fang’s blessing to be able to meet Little Brother Yang in this Fire Spirit Land. This cup is Big Brother’s respect for you.”
He raised his head and downed the cup.
Yang Kai glanced at him and downed his cup too. A look of surprise involuntarily surfaced on his face. The wine was truly good; it was mellow and thick to the taste, and a warm, fuzzy feeling crept up from his abdomen, which made him feel warm and light all over.
Old Fang refilled Yang Kai’s cup and continued with a smile, “This Old Master has been saving this urn of wine for 800 years. Back then, I collected the most precious materials from my Universe World, which cost a huge amount of money and time, and only brewed three urns in total. One urn was drunk right before this Old Master set off to the Outer Universe, the other was given to Manager Zhou, and this is the very last urn in the world.”
“Good wine!” Yang Kai praised.
“If it’s good, drink more.” Old Fang’s face was radiant, “and this Spirit Fruit too was brought from this Old Master’s homeland, I’ve always treasured it and was never willing to eat it. Although the Outer Universe is wonderful, it is absolutely impossible to find these.”
Yang Kai nodded, picked up a bunch of grape-like berries and ate them.
As he ate and drank, Old Fang rambled on and on, reminiscing about how powerful he was in the past, and about how desolate his current situation was. Tears suddenly filled his eyes and he was unable to speak for a while…
Yang Kai finally couldn’t stand it anymore and snorted, “Just get to the point. Don’t talk nonsense and irritate others.”
Old Fang wiped the corners of his eyes, “This Big Brother doesn’t really have anything to say, I’m just wondering if Little Brother is willing to help Big Brother if he can.”
“How can I help you?” Yang Kai looked at him with a smile, “You know, I’ve only been here for two months while you’ve been here for hundreds of years. If anyone needs help, it should be me.”
Old Fang waved his hands frantically, “One’s achievements are not dependent on age. I haven’t made a name for myself here even after hundreds of years. It’s you, Little Brother, who has made an Earth-shattering move.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Yang Kai threw a Spirit Fruit into his mouth and munched happily.
The corners of Old Fang’s brow twitched. Gritting his teeth, he decided to stop beating around the bush as he knew if he continued to do so, he would always be the passive one, so he went straight to the point, “Sister Dié You is currently exchanging 2 Jade Fire Silkworms for one Open Heaven Pill.”
“Really?” Yang Kai blinked, “Then you better hurry up and sell to her, it’s a good deal.”
Old Fang lowered his voice, “I saw her enter your house earlier, and she took a long time to come out.”
“This Young Master is both handsome and talented, and it is not surprising that women come flocking.”
Old Fang growled through his teeth, “You said before that Great General gave you a lot of Open Heaven Pills!”
“I’m lucky that Great General favours me.”
Old Fang was about to cry, “Little Brother, when you first entered the orchard, this Big Brother was the one who taught you how to take care of the fruit trees, and let you practice in my own orchard, and when you didn’t have a Cyan Wood Box and Well-Refined Incense, I was the one who lent you them for free…”
“Didn’t I give you an Open Heaven Pill when I was rewarded by the Great General?” Yang Kai looked sideways at him.
Old Fang opened his mouth but was unable to give a reply.
After a long time, he sighed, “Forget it, it’s this Old Master who has no luck, and I’m afraid there is no hope left for me in this life.” In an instant, he seemed to become much older.
Yang Kai patted him on the shoulder with a smile, “Anyway, many thanks for your teachings in that one month. You are a bit stingy, but overall you’re not too bad.”
Old Fang looked at him in amazement.
“Go help Xiao Dié later, I think she’s getting a little too busy over there.”
Old Fang’s face lit up, and he grabbed Yang Kai’s hand with a look of extreme gratitude, “Many thanks, Little Brother, this Big Brother will never forget this! If there’s anything you need in the future, you can come to me anytime! This Big Brother will not ask for too much, and when Little Brother has made his fortune, you just need to give me a touch of it. I’ll go first, enjoy the wine!”
After saying so, he ran out the door with astonishing agility.
Yang Kai wiped his hands on his clothes with a disgusted face and continued drinking and eating until he finished the urn of wine and the Spirit Fruits before heading home.
Night fell, but Yang Kai’s house was brightly lit by a golden radiance. The Ruler of the Dawn Great General was present with his head raised high, looking straight ahead proudly.
Yang Kai stood in front of him, feeding him one Jade Fire Silkworm after another, while Old Fang and Dié You held their breath as they watched closely from the side.
Every time about 10 worms were fed, Yang Kai would stretch out his hand, into which the Great General would spit out a ball of golden light from his mouth…
After repeating the cycle countless times, Yang Kai finally finished feeding the worms. Great General burped heartily and walked out of the house slowly.
It was only then that Yang Kai realized that this stupid chicken had an unexpectedly huge appetite. It was a false impression that he could be full from just ten worms from the orchard before.
Great General’s stomach seemed to be a bottomless pit, and he could probably gobble down as many worms presented to it.
After closing the door shut and reactivating the barrier, Old Fang gulped and could not help asking, “How… how many?”
He had never seen so many Open Heaven Pills in his life. Today would be an eye-opener. He would never have believed that the Ruler of the Dawn Great General could be so generous if he had not seen it with his own eyes.
He fed Great General a few worms just now and did not even get a single Open Heaven Pill.
Dié You’s situation was better as she got 1 Open Heaven Pill for 5 worms, which was about average.
Only Yang Kai had a ratio of 1:1 for worms fed to Open Heaven Pills!
Under their scorching gazes, Yang Kai swept his Divine Sense over the Space Ring in his hand to check, then looked up and grinned, “More than 1,400 pieces!”
At the same time, Yang Kai could not help pondering, [How many Open Heaven Pills does that stupid chicken have?]
Great General casually gave him more than 1,400 pills, so he clearly had many more! But the pills were all given by the Venerable, and unless Great General was willing to share, no one would dare snatch them from him.
Despite expecting such a number already, Dié You’s hand could not help flying to her red lips as her beautiful eyes flashed fiercely. Old Fang, completely flushed with excitement, looked at Yang Kai and exclaimed, “Little Brother, you’re rich, you’re rich!”
He and Dié You had been living in the Worker’s Room for a long, long time, and had seen many Workers come and go, but none of them were like Yang Kai, who had gotten so many Open Heaven Pills in just two months. They would not be able to acquire so many even if they saved up for hundreds of years.
This was nothing short of a miracle, but it all came down to Great General’s peculiar bias towards Yang Kai. No Worker had ever been treated so favourably by him before.
The three people in the room were dazzled by a table full of Open Heaven Pills. When the business was finished, the next step was naturally to share the profits. This was an exciting moment.
Yang Kai looked left and right. With a swipe, he divided the Spirit Pills on the table into two and pushed one half to Dié You, “Xiao Die, this is your capital.”
Dié You smiled and stored them. The Spirit Pills that she spent on purchasing Fire Spirit Silkworm today was all her own asset. Without her, the plan would not work because Yang Kai did not have Open Heaven Pills, so it was fine for her to take back her initial investment.
Yang Kai swiped again, divided the remaining half into two, and then pushed half of them to Dié You, “This is yours.”
Dié You looked at him with beautiful eyes.
“What we have agreed is sharing the profit equally,” Yang Kai explained.
Then he separated out 50 pills from his half and pushed them to Old Fang, “Old Fang, these are yours. Don’t feel bitter about it. Xiao Dié came up with the plan and funded it, so she deserves more.”
Old Fang’s face flushed with excitement, “It’s enough, enough. I only ran some errands with Sister Dié You.” It was true that it was quite a lot to him. The Worker’s salary was only three Spirit Pills a year, and would only get more pills as occasional rewards from Great General or when he made some contribution in the orchard. But in general, the number of Spirit Pills a Worker could earn in a year was about 10 to 20 pieces, with the unlucky ones getting only 5 or 6. It was difficult for the Workers to achieve more than that.
However, Old Fang easily obtained 50 Open Heaven Pills just from assisting Dié You, which was equal to the income of several years of hard work. How could Old Fang not be satisfied? How would he dare to say so?
He had this opportunity all thanks to Yang Kai, so Old Fang was sincerely satisfied with his share. Excited, he wanted to put away the Spirit Pills, but when he saw that Dié You did not do it, he was afraid that he would be too rude if he acted too hastily, so he calmed down and waited.
Dié You smiled and divided the half share in front of her into two shares again, pushing the bigger share back to Yang Kai.
Both Yang Kai and Old Fang looked at her dumbfounded.
Dié You explained, “Since Little Brother is so kind, how can this Elder Sister take advantage of you? This time I’ve paid the capital, so I’ll take a bit more, but you keep the rest. You’re new here, and it’s exactly now that you need Open Heaven Pills.”
Yang Kai looked at the part that she separated, and estimated that there were about 100 pills before saying, “We agreed to share the profits equally. This Yang would be breaking his word if he received this.”
Dié You pursed her lips, “I know you’re a man of your word and Elder Sister is proud of you, but we should share the profit according to our own contributions. If you insist on giving it to me, I won’t feel comfortable receiving it… Moreover, since the path has been opened, this will not be the only time we will do business together. This Elder Sister is not afraid of not earning enough Open Heaven Pills with you in the future. I believe as long as I follow you, I will earn more Open Heaven Pills. Take this as my long-term investment!”
Noticing her sincerity, Yang Kai knew that she would not accept it even if he insisted, so he nodded, “Good, let’s cooperate and make a fortune together in the future.”
To the side, Old Fang became anxious. He made the least contributions and took the smallest share, but comparatively, the 50 Open Heaven Pills he got were actually more than he deserved. After struggling for a long time, he took out five Open Heaven Pills and pushed them back, “I’ll take less too. I hope that Little Brother will not forget me when there are more good opportunities in the future.”
Yang Kai looked at him and could not hold his laughter, “Forget it. Just keep it.”
Old Fang did not object and put the 50 Open Heaven Pills into his Space Ring with lightning speed, his face was full of satisfaction.
Yang Kai and Dié You, too, put away their Open Heaven Pills. The three people in the room exchanged looks, and could not help laughing together.
Who would not be happy about making a fortune?
“There’s something else I should tell you two. The business has already expanded to the other Spirit Lands. When the shopping district opens next month, we can go and collect a number of worms. By then, the profit will not be just like this, but seven times this!”
“Have you made an agreement with others?” Dié You questioned curiously.
Yang Kai disclosed his meeting with Yu Xue Ping and explained how he had found an agent in each Spirit Land and asked them to collect the worms at a price ratio of 1:4!
Dié You sighed after hearing this, “That Yu Xue Ping is a smart one. She saw the key of the matter at once.”
Yang Kai played with an Open Heaven Pill in his hand as he grinned, “It’s good for us. We can’t buy worms in other places without their help anyway.”
“That’s good… En, I have a proposal!”
“Enlighten me!” Yang Kai looked at her.
“Old Fang and I will follow up on this matter, and contribute in both effort and money. You don’t have to worry about anything, your only responsibility is to feed Great General and ask for rewards. After that, Old Fang and I will get ten percent each of the rewards, while the rest belongs to you.”
Old Fang chuckled, “I’m fine with just five percent.”
Dié You looked at him with a smile, “Old Fang, do you know how much ten percent is? Are you sure you won’t regret giving it out so generously?”
“How many is it?” Old Fang questioned.
Dié You beamed, “Our income this time, which is based only on our Fire Spirit Land worms, was almost 700 Open Heaven Pills. Ten percent of that is 70 pieces, and this is the number earned by acquiring worms in the price ratio of 1:2. The price ratio of the worms of the other six Spirit Lands is higher, so we will earn more from there. I believe that the ten percent will be worth six to seven hundred Open Heaven Pills…”
*Gudong…* Old Fang gulped and looked eagerly at Yang Kai, “Little Brother, I’m afraid I’ve been drinking too much just now and was not clear-minded when I said those things. Don’t take it to heart.”
Yang Kai guffawed, “How can I treat both of you badly after all your help? Ten percent it is!”
Old Fang was extremely grateful, but could not help calculating silently. If he and Dié You each took ten percent, which was six to seven hundred Open Heaven Pills each, there would be five to six thousand remaining. He could not help but be taken aback. This number was terrifying! He had never saved so many Open Heaven Pills even after living here for hundreds of years, but Yang Kai could earn such a huge income in a month!
With a solemn look, he continued, “Little Brother, this matter must not be known to others; otherwise, we won’t remain safe. This Big Brother swears that if I, Fang Bi Qi, leak this matter, I will be struck by lightning and my Soul will be shattered to pieces.”
Dié You shook her head slowly, “The things in Fire Spirit Land can’t be concealed for long, but the purchase of worms from other Spirit Land should be kept strictly confidential. When I meet those agents later, it should not be difficult for me to keep their mouths shut; after all, they stand to benefit as well, and no one would sabotage their own business.”
Yang Kai nodded, “Then I’ll leave that to you.”
“One more thing.” Dié You looked at Yang Kai, “You have to improve your relationship with Manager Zhou. If this matter in Fire Spirit Land is leaked, he will undoubtedly become jealous. If you don’t establish a good relationship with him, we will certainly be targeted in the future.”
Yang Kai became a little annoyed, but after giving it some thought, he realized she was right and immediately nodded, “I’ll find a chance to cosy up to him.” It would be best if he could take this opportunity to pull himself out of the problematic plot as well.
Thinking about it, if this business worked, the income from Fire Spirit Land would only represent a small portion, and it did not matter much even if it was exposed. At most, he just had to share some benefits with Zhou Zheng, which was not a big deal.
After chatting for a while, they were dismissed. Given that they had finished discussing everything, they had to wait to carry out the plan only when the shopping district opened next month.
However, the acquisition of Jade Fire Silkworm in Fire Spirit Land could be carried out in advance. Dié You and Old Fang were in charge of it, so Yang Kai did not need to worry about it.
Sitting cross-legged in his room, Yang Kai casually tossed an Open Heaven Pill into his mouth. He had not eaten one before because he could not bear to consume the few he had, but now, he naturally wanted to have a taste.
In the end, Yang Kai found it was nothing special. Zhang Ruo Xi mentioned that Open Heaven Pills had two functions. One was to improve the Order of an Open Heaven Realm Master, though with a limit of two additional Orders. The other was to help the cultivators to purify and condense their Yin, Yang, and Five Elements. Therefore, the Open Heaven Pill was the hard currency throughout the entire Outer Universe. Basically, the improvement and growth of each cultivator’s strength were related to this Spirit Pill.
However, the medicinal efficacy of a single Spirit Pill was limited. Only the Open Heaven Pills spontaneously generated from Universe Furnace could help one reach the pinnacle.
Yang Kai was not an Open Heaven Realm Master, and the Wood Element he condensed was the essence of the Immortal Tree, so other than making him feel warm in his stomach, the Open Heaven Pill had no other effect on him. As such, he learnt that it would be a waste if he ate more, so he did not care about it anymore.
Three days passed by in a flash.
Early in the morning, the golden rooster announced the coming of dawn. The Workers of the Worker’s Room came out in herds, turned into streams of light and rushed towards the orchard.
In front of everyone’s eyes, the Ruler of the Dawn Great General’s body shone with golden light and shrank to the size of a small rooster. With a thump, he sat on Yang Kai’s head, his buttock wiggling to part away Yang Kai’s hair so he could find the most comfortable position.
Yang Kai’s face twitched, but thinking of the huge benefits this stupid chicken brought to him, he endured the shame.
When he arrived at his plot in the orchard, he took care of the fruit trees as usual. He fertilized, watered, nourished, caught worms, and surged his Wood Element to energize the fruit trees.
Nevertheless, he did not need to go around snatching worms with Great General like last month, for that would gain too much hatred from the others. Moreover, the final income would undoubtedly be worse doing things his way than Xiao Dié’s.
In his spare time, Yang Kai drank wine and played chess with Old Fang, living a carefree life. From time to time, someone would come to Old Fang to sell him Jade Fire Silkworms.
According to Old Fang, he and Dié You had spread the word to everyone. As long as the Workers in Fire Spirit Land caught 2 worms, they could exchange them for an Open Heaven Pill; therefore, people came to Old Fang’s plot every so often. He had no idea about the situation in Dié You’s plot, but it should be similar to here. When their rest time arrived, Yang Kai could feed the Jade Fire Silkworms that were collected to Great General all in one go.
The taste of making a fortune effortlessly was intoxicating. Yang Kai treated Great General like the God of Fortune, while Old Fang treated Yang Kai as the God of Fortune, complimenting and buttering up to Yang Kai every day, taking out any treasured food and drinks from his Space Ring without hesitation to share without reserve.
In the blink of an eye, another month flew by.
On their first day off, the group of three went straight to the shopping district.
They arrived at the previous stall, where two women were already waiting. It was Yu Xue Ping and the girl named Xiao Mo. Seeing that Yang Kai had fulfilled his promise, Yu Xue Ping’s beautiful eyes lit up.
Yang Kai beckoned at her, but instead of stepping forward, he turned around and left, leaving Old Fang and Dié You behind.
Yu Xue Ping and Xiao Mo looked at each other and quickly followed.
Following him all the way to a remote place, Yang Kai stopped and smiled at the two of them.
“Senior Brother!” Yu Xue Ping greeted.
Yang Kai nodded, sweeping their surroundings with his Divine Sense to make sure they were alone before lowering his voice, “What are the results, Junior Sister?”
“Senior Brother can see for himself.” Saying this, Yu Xue Ping handed over 3 Cyan Wood Boxes.
Yang Kai received the boxes and scanned them with his Divine Sense, then reported the exact number, “1138 Blue Water Silkworms, which comes to a total worth of 285 Open Heaven Pills. Discounting the previous 30 pills deposit, here are 255 Spirit Pills. Junior Sister can confirm it herself.”
“There’s no need to count, I trust Senior Brother.” Yu Xue Ping suppressed her excitement. She took the Spirit Pills handed over by Yang Kai and looked at Xiao Mo, who was equally excited.
To be honest, she was only able to breathe easy after this transaction was completed. Although Yang Kai had paid a deposit before, he was also holding on to her collateral, and in order to acquire these Blue Water Silkworms, she had invested a lot of Spirit Pills. If Yang Kai did not show up today, she would be at a big loss.
Now that the Spirit Pills were in her hands, there was nothing to worry about. Even counting her previous investment, she had made a solid profit.
Yang Kai returned the longsword given to him as collateral, and Yu Xue Ping asked, “Is Senior Brother still interested in more of these Blue Water Silkworms?”
“Indeed. You can come here every month in the future, and as I said before, I will take as many as you have!”
“Good, then I’ll continue collecting more from Water Spirit Land for Senior Brother.”
Xiao Mo asked curiously, “Senior Brother, what are you doing with these Blue Water Silkworms?”
As soon as she asked, Yu Xue Ping elbowed her and immediately apologized, “Xiao Mo is a naïve girl, don’t blame her, Senior Brother.” She also knew that Yang Kai would definitely not collect these seemingly useless worms for no reason. What was useless to them might not be useless to others. Yang Kai’s covert actions in bringing them to such a remote place to trade obviously meant that he did not want anyone to know about his activities. Xiao Mo’s question was too direct.
“It’s not an issue.” Yang Kai chuckled.
Yu Xue Ping was obviously in a good mood after completing their very first transaction, so they chatted for a while and also agreed on the time for their next transaction before they suddenly heard someone approaching. She turned around to look, only to see that the newcomers were the companions who arrived together with Yang Kai. She smartly excused herself, “We have a deal, Senior Brother. I will come to you again next month.”
“Good, I’ll wait for you right here.” Yang Kai nodded.
Yu Xue Ping and Xiao Mo left right before Old Fang arrived, together with the old man from Earth Spirit Land. The old man watched Yu Xue Ping leave, knowing that the deal negotiated last month had been reached. With much anticipation, he greeted Yang Kai enthusiastically.
The price had long been negotiated, so there was nothing much to say and the transaction was completed smoothly. However, the number of worms brought by the old man from Earth Spirit Land was not as many, only slightly more than 300.
He was probably doubtful about Yang Kai’s trustworthiness and dared not collect too many worms; because it was impossible to have collected only so few from the entire Spirit Land after a whole month. In this regard, he was not as bold as Yu Xue Ping.
When the deal with Earth Spirit Land was over, Dié You led another dealer over.
Within two hours, Yang Kai ushered in and received six groups of people, but except for Yu Xue Ping, the five from the other Spirit Lands brought only at most 600 worms. Most only had 300 – 400, just like the old man from Earth Spirit Land.
It was understandable as they were all not familiar with each other, and it was their first time working together. It was only correct to be cautious; after all, not everyone had the boldness of Yu Xue Ping.
The number of worms from all six Spirit Lands added up to a very impressive total.
After completing their deals, there was no reason to remain in the shopping district, so the trio immediately headed home, summoned the Ruler of the Dawn Great General, and hid in Yang Kai’s house to share the spoils!
The earnings for this month were in excess of 3,000 Open Heaven Pills. According to the previous agreement, Old Fang and Dié You each took ten percent, and the remaining 2,000 or so Spirit Pills entered Yang Kai’s pocket.
Old Fang cheered for their incredible profits. If they made more than 2,000 a month, they would earn at least 30,000 in a year, which was enough to buy two Third-Order materials.
As long as they had enough materials, there was no need to worry that one would not be able to advance to the Open Heaven Realm in the future! Once they were promoted to the Open Heaven Realm, they could immediately rid themselves of their Worker status and truly become a part of Seven Wonders Land.
In a good mood, Old Fang took Yang Kai and Dié You to the shopping district for a drink.
There was nothing else to do, and since Old Fang warmly invited him, there was no reason for Yang Kai to refuse, though Dié You did not join them due to having other commitments. Without Dié You, Yang Kai and Old Fang flew to the shopping district together.
There was a restaurant in the shopping district, which was also operated by Seven Wonders Land, but the servers inside were all Workers, and they were only open for three days a month. The expensive food and drinks served in the restaurant could barely be afforded by ordinary Workers, but since it was the one and only upscale restaurant in the entire shopping district, which was the shopping hub of Workers from all seven Spirit Lands, despite its prices, it was bustling with people every day, and the business of the restaurant was actually not as sluggish as one would imagine.
Following Old Fang into the restaurant, a Worker dressed as a shopboy immediately greeted them warmly.
Yang Kai looked around and found four out of eight tables on the main floor were occupied.
Old Fang was clearly a repeat customer because he fondly waved his hand and declared, “Give us a private room!”
There were not many people who could afford to eat and drink in this restaurant, and the rooms on the second floor were certainly not full, so the shopboy nodded and smiled, “Two Senior Brothers, this way please!”
They followed the shopboy up to the second floor and entered the room, where they took their seats.
Old Fang quickly ordered a series of dishes, and then waved his hands, “And ten urns of good wine.”
Yang Kai turned his head to look at him and chuckled, “Can we finish it?”
“We can take it away if we can’t finish.” Old Fang instructed the shopboy again, “Pack another ten urns to take away. That’s all for now, I’ll summon you if it’s not enough.”
The shopboy responded quickly, turned around, and went to work.
Yang Kai looked around and grinned, “Do you come here often?”
Old Fang forced a smile, “How could that be? At most, I will just buy a few urns to take back and enjoy slowly. I have been in Seven Wonders Land for hundreds of years, but I have come here no more than ten times. I am only willing to come here today all because of Little Brother.”
After a while, he followed up, “The food here is a bit more expensive, but it’s quite tasty and many of them are dishes we can’t get where we came from. Little Brother should eat more later.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly, “Since Old Fang is treating me, I won’t refuse.”
Old Fang laughed, “It’s what I should do.”
In no time, the wine and food were served.
Old Fang took the initiative to pour the wine, warmly served the dishes, and sincerely treated Yang Kai as a God of Fortune. He chatted animatedly as they ate and drank; after all, Old Fang arrived here hundreds of years earlier and knew more about Seven Wonders Land than Yang Kai. Although he was just as clueless as to what was going on outside of Seven Wonders Land, he knew as much about Fire Spirit Land as anyone else, if not more.
Yang Kai listened eagerly.
According to what he disclosed, Zhou Zheng, Manager Zhou, was also a Worker in Fire Spirit Land before, but he was fortunate and was appreciated by his superiors at the time. He also made a few contributions in the orchard and saved enough Open Heaven Pills to buy all the needed materials to reach the Open Heaven Realm, allowing him to be promoted to Manager of Fire Spirit Land.
Yang Kai was surprised and the cup of wine he was holding stopped right in front of his mouth, “Manager Zhou is an Open Heaven Realm Master?”
He had no clue and always thought that Manager Zhou was simply working on breaking through just like him, having probably gathered several more Elements than him.
“His Open Heaven Realm is nothing!” Old Fang sneered, probably too excited and having consumed too much alcohol, seemingly a little tipsy, “He’s just a First-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. This Old Master could have broken through a long time ago if he wanted to.”
Yang Kai silently made some calculations. The value of a First-Order material was 150 Open Heaven Pills, so one would need at least 1,000 Spirit Pills to condense all seven Elements. Since Old Fang had been here for hundreds of years, he was not bragging when he stated that he had saved enough.
Emptying his cup, Old Fang sneered again, “First-Order Open Heaven Realm Master is the most unpromising Open Heaven Order. Doing this is akin to cutting off his own future. No matter how many Open Heaven Pills he takes in the future, he at most will only reach the Third Order. This Old Master is more ambitious than that and wants to promote straight to the Third Order.”
He had the same goal as Dié You, whose plan was also to achieve Third-Order Open Heaven Realm. In that case, there would be hope for them to promote to Fourth-Order or even Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm, entering the Mid-Rank Open Heaven Realms, a completely different class from the Low-Rank Open Heaven Realms.
Yang Kai nodded, “Even so, a First-Order Open Heaven is also an Open Heaven.” He was actually a little curious as to how much strength a First-Order Open Heaven Realm Master could display, but unfortunately, he could not compete with Zhou Zheng, so there was no way to verify it carefully.
Old Fang continued, “You don’t know, Little Brother, although that guy is also an Open Heaven Realm Master, he is only able to show his prestige in front of us Workers. The true Seven Wonders Land disciples, or anyone who condensed Third-Order materials, won’t even spare him a glance.”
Yang Kai suddenly recalled Du Ru Feng, the disciple he met when he first came to Seven Wonders Land. That guy was definitely a Half-Step Open Heaven Realm, but Zhou Zheng’s status was definitely not comparable to his; even the woman surnamed Yao who brought them to Fire Spirit Land was also not an Open Heaven Realm Master, but Zhou Zheng was very respectful to her. It could be seen that in the Outer Universe, reaching the Open Heaven Realm did not mean that one achieved a high status. It was better not to break through if it meant a bright future would be cut off.
It was easy to say such things, but everyone had their own difficulties. Furthermore, higher-Order materials were not so easy to come by, so there were always some people who had no choice but to just break through to the Low-Rank Open Heaven Realms.
While the two were talking, the door was kicked open with a loud bang.
Like the cat whose tail was stepped on, Old Fang immediately slammed the table, stood up and shouted angrily, “Who!?”
He turned to look, but he did not recognize the person, though the person did look familiar. Nevertheless, Yang Kai recognized the person at once and was surprised, “Brother Shi?”
The visitor was one of several newcomers who came along with him. Shi Hao Cang, the Male Monster, had appeared and kicked the door impolitely for no apparent reason.
After hearing Yang Kai, Old Fang vaguely recognized him from the Worker’s Room in Fire Spirit Land and asked, “Do you know him?”
Yang Kai nodded, secretly thinking that he did not just know him, but also formed an alliance with him and several other newcomers to watch out for each other.
Since he was a person Yang Kai knew, it was inappropriate for Old Fang to show bad manners to him, so he relaxed a little and proceeded, “Since you’re Brother Yang’s friend, why don’t you sit down and have a drink together?”
Shi Hao Cang glanced at Yang Kai with a light frown, then fixed his eyes on Old Fang again and shook his head slowly, “I don’t dare to.” Then, he turned aside and invited, “Manager Zhou wants to see you two.”
“Manager… Manager Zhou?” The shiver running up his spine, sent Old Fang half-sober, “Which… Which Manager Zhou?”
Shi Hao Cang sneered, “How many Manager Zhous do you know?”
“Where is Manager Zhou?” Old Fang gulped hard.
Shi Hao Cang just stared at him quietly. Cold sweat started to bead on Old Fang’s forehead, and a sudden feeling of imminent disaster struck him.
At this time, he realized. He must have been too excited earlier from the wine, and lost control of his mouth, speaking so loudly that the people sitting next door had heard him. Perhaps, Manager Zhou was the one who was sitting next door.
He turned to Yang Kai for help, but Yang Kai was also smiling wryly. After pondering for a while, he got up, “Let’s go.”
What would happen would happen. Since he mentioned that the two of them were invited, Yang Kai must have been included.
Shi Hao Cang led the way, followed by Yang Kai and Old Fang. Old Fang’s legs were shaking. Although he belittled Zhou Zheng as a waste in his previous conversation with Yang Kai, he was still an Open Heaven Realm Master. Moreover, Zhou Zheng was an orchard Manager. Old Fang was unable to stand against him in any way. If Zhou Zheng was about to make him suffer, he could only bear it.
He could not wait to slap himself. How could he speak so casually just because of some wine?
Manager Zhou was indeed next door, and he was not alone.
As Shi Hao Cang entered the room next door, Yang Kai raised his eyes to see a table full of exquisite dishes, with five people seated around it.
Manager Zhou was in the main seat while on his left was Fang Tai of Black River World, and on his right hand was the woman Su Nian Yi. The young boy, Qian Yu and Ah Sun were also present. All the newcomers who had just come to Fire Spirit Land recently were there.
Yang Kai immediately revealed a surprised expression. It was obvious that Fang Tai and the group of people were hosting this banquet to treat Manager Zhou, but what surprised him more was that he did not know anything about it. No one informed him. Although he came to the shopping district as soon as he came back from the orchard, everyone left contact information with each other after they formed an alliance the last time. As such, it would have been simple for them if they wanted to find or contact each other.
Since he did not receive a message, it could only mean that they did not intend to inform him.
Sifting through the information in his head, Yang Kai quickly understood. He beamed from ear to ear, unaffected by the situation and went forward with Old Fang, cupping his fists, “Greetings, Manager Zhou.”
Zhou Zheng’s face was as cold as ice. He sat in the main seat steadily and did not even look at them, simply picking up a cup of wine and taking a sip.
Since he was silent, Yang Kai and Old Fang had no choice but to be silent as well. The atmosphere of the whole room was heavy to the extreme. The several newcomers also dared not to look at them, except for Ah Sun, who kept signalling Yang Kai with her eyes, but he did not understand what she meant.
After a long time, Fang Tai laughed softly, picked up the wine urn and poured Zhou Zheng another round, “Manager Zhou, don’t be angry. Why should you care about the words of these idiots?”
“Heh, heh…” Manager Zhou sneered softly and picked up the wine cup in front of him. Suddenly, he stretched out his hand and splashed the wine directly on Old Fang’s face.
Although it was just wine, his Open Heaven Realm strength was condensed into the liquid, and the impact was just as strong as a beating with a stick. When Old Fang was splashed, his head was thrown back and he stumbled a few steps back to stabilize himself. When he stood up again, his nose and mouth were full of blood.
Zhou Zheng got up, walked to Old Fang, looked at him and asked in a cold voice, “How is the Open Heaven Realm of this Manager? Is it good enough for you?”
Old Fang could not care to wipe the blood off his face, but just lowered his head. Like a quail without a nest in the cold winter, he trembled and kept muttering apologies.
Zhou Zheng snorted coldly, swung his big sleeve and slapped Old Fang’s face, then turned around and left.
Fang Tai was so anxious that he chased after Zhou Zheng while shouting, leaving the rest in the room looking at each other.
“Are you okay?” Yang Kai looked at Old Fang with concern. To be honest, he felt a little responsible for this. If he did not drink with Old Fang and start a sensitive conversation, they would not have fallen into such a disaster. However, no one would have thought that the one who Old Fang talked about would coincidentally be sitting next door, and all those words had tragically reached his ears.
[The soundproofing of these rooms is terrible… ] Yang Kai cursed secretly in his heart, but he knew this was due to their carelessness. They drank too much and did not notice someone was sitting next door.
Old Fang was obviously wholly sober now, and when he heard Yang Kai, he looked up at him bitterly and cried, “Little Brother, save me!”
Yang Kai was speechless and comforted, “Don’t panic, don’t panic. It’s not a big deal.” He looked away. Although it was rude, Old Fang’s bruised and swollen face was actually really funny so he had to try hard not to laugh.
“You two… I’m speechless.” Su Nian Yi looked at them with a frown, “Don’t you know that walls have ears? Today, even if we were not sitting here, there would be others sitting here and reporting to Manager Zhou about what you said. Can you bear the consequences?”
Yang Kai replied with a wry smile, “It’s too late to say this now.” He turned around and looked at them, “Why are all of you here?”
Before Su Nian Yi could answer, Fang Tai came back from the door with a dark face, “Of course to hold a banquet for Manager Zhou. Do you even need to ask?”
Ah Sun explained, “Yang Kai, you have no idea. Senior Brother Fang has made another contribution, so today he specially held a banquet to thank Manager Zhou.”
“Another contribution?” Yang Kai turned to look at Fang Tai, wondering, [Isn’t this guy too damn lucky? Didn’t he just make a contribution last month and get rewarded 30 Open Heaven Pills? Now this month he made another contribution? Is making a contribution a routine to him? Since he dares to treat Manager Zhou at this place, it seems he obtained quite some reward.]
Yang Kai suspected there was something off about Fang Tai’s contribution and wondered if it was even real, or if it was the result of building a good relationship with Zhou Zheng. He did not see any signs of him making a contribution, and he had no idea what he did to achieve it.
Fang Tai ignored him and was obviously upset. It made sense because he purposely invited Zhou Zheng today. By the looks of the wine and dishes on the table, it seemed that they had not been on the table too long and no one had started to eat yet. In other words, they probably just sat down and Zhou Zheng had already stormed out before the banquet began. How could the one paying be happy about this?
Sitting down again, Fang Tai, whose face was as dark as coal, ate the food and drank the wine without saying a word.
Old Fang grabbed Yang Kai’s arm with a pleading expression, as if he was grasping at straws.
Yang Kai had no way to save him though, but seeing that he could not calm Old Fang down, he simply pulled him to sit down. Although Zhou Zheng only vented his anger on Old Fang today, Yang Kai guessed that he was also marked by him too.
This was truly bad luck. Before this, he considered sending some gifts to Zhou Zheng after making money this time; after all, Yang Kai was working under Zhou Zheng currently. Even if he did not benefit from it, it would not be bad for him. But now, everything was ruined, for he had offended Zhou Zheng before he could carry out his plan. Including the previous incident, Yang Kai was afraid that he had thoroughly offended Zhou Zheng now.
“How are you two still in the mood to sit here!?” Fang Tai glared at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai asked, “What should I do then?”
Seeing Yang Kai fail to understand his place, Fang Tai felt resentful and snorted, “Tell me, there are so many people outside, why must you make friends with him? This old guy got you into trouble now. Let’s see how you will get a foothold in Fire Spirit Land in the future!”
Yang Kai was extremely stunned by Fang Tai’s manner, like an Elder scolding his Junior.
“And…” Fang Tai looked at Yang Kai with a cold face, “What’s the matter with you and the Ruler of the Dawn Great General?”
“What?”
“How did you offend him? It’s been rumoured that you offended the Ruler of the Dawn Great General. Isn’t he using your head as a chicken coop now? Don’t deny this. This Fang saw it with his own eyes before so it can’t be fake. Do you know who the Ruler of the Dawn Great General is? He’s the pet kept by our Fire Spirit Land Venerable Protector. To be honest, if you only offended Manager Zhou, you may still be able to live in Fire Spirit Land, but after offending the Ruler of the Dawn Great General, how could you have a good future? This Fang wouldn’t be surprised to see your dead body one day soon.”
Yang Kai was speechless.
Many people had seen the stupid chicken using his head as a chicken coop, so it was not surprising to have such rumours had started outside. Yang Kai did not bother to argue with them though and even thought that it was good for them to misunderstand. In this way, his secret would not be revealed so soon.
However…
Yang Kai frowned and was slightly displeased as he snapped, “Isn’t Brother Fang being too nosy?”
Fang Tai sneered coldly, “Do you think this Fang wants to be worried about you? This Fang just doesn’t want you to draw trouble to us. We are in the same batch of newcomers who came with Venerable. How you act has more or less some influence on us!”
“Isn’t Brother Fang overthinking things?”
“I hope so too, but if you’re still so stubborn, I don’t think we need to continue associating after today. From now on, we should go our separate ways.”
“Little Brother, this Big Brother has troubled you. Forgive me.” Old Fang apologized repeatedly as they made their way out of the shopping district.
Previously in the restaurant, Yang Kai and Fang Tai had parted ways bleakly due to their discord. Although he was greatly distressed at the time, Old Fang was still aware of the situation.
Yang Kai smiled, “You think too much, that guy made it clear that he wants to cut ties with me. Even if this didn’t happen today, he would have found another way to do it in the future.”
However, there was not much of a relationship between him and Fang Tai. All they had was a pot of tea together in the shopping district last month and verbally agreed to an alliance.
Yang Kai never placed much importance in such an unreliable alliance anyway.
Fang Tai took the opportunity to use this as an excuse to cut ties with him out of fear that he might be dragged into Yang Kai’s troubles. To begin with, everyone was not very close, and no one would be involved even if something happened to him; however, due to the alliance they formed, it would be unreasonable for Fang Tai to stay uninvolved if something happened to Yang Kai.
Well now, since they have parted ways, Yang Kai’s life and death had nothing to do with him.
“Were you close? Why does he want to cut ties with you?” Old Fang was puzzled.
Yang Kai shook his head, “We’re not.” He was too lazy to mention the alliance, and turned to Old Fang, “Let’s talk about you. How do you plan to solve what happened today? If you don’t handle it properly, I’m afraid you’ll be in trouble.”
Old Fang answered wryly, “I don’t know.”
Yang Kai sighed, “You should prepare for some massive haemorrhaging. Zhou Zheng seems to be a greedy man, so if you’re resolute and give him some benefits, it should be fine.”
“I hope so, it’s not too bad if the problem can be solved by money. Would you like to join, Little Brother? He saw you with me today. If I go alone without you, you’ll look even worse in contrast.”
“That’s true.” Yang Kai touched his chin, “Okay, count me in to put in a share, but I won’t be going. It’s indiscreet if too many people go to see him. I’ll count on you to be our representative.”
Old Fang thought for a while, and what Yang Kai said made sense. After all, bribery was not something honourable, so it was better if fewer people appeared. He nodded and agreed, and he was not afraid that Yang Kai would go back on his word. They had a massive income every month, and Yang Kai would not cheat him of a small amount of Spirit Pills.
They did not speak again as they returned to the Worker’s Room.
After what happened during their celebration meal, Yang Kai was not in the mood to stroll around, so he spent the rest of the time in his own room.
After two days, he entered the orchard again with the Ruler of the Dawn Great General on his head and began patrolling his plot as usual.
It did not take much effort to care for thirty fruit trees, but soon Yang Kai stopped in front of a certain one and a frown was revealed on his face.
It could be just an illusion, but something felt wrong with this specific Fire Spirit Fruit Tree. After carefully comparing it with the other several fruit trees next to him, Yang Kai confirmed that something was off. The leaves and Fire Spirit Fruits on this fruit tree seemed to be a little redder than they were three days ago, as though it was on the brink of ripening.
Unsure of what was happening, he hurriedly ran to Old Fang to ask.
Seeing him coming, Old Fang smiled, “Is something wrong, Little Brother?”
Yang Kai noticed his expression and laughed, “Is it done?” Because if it was not, Old Fang would not be so calm.
Sure enough, Old Fang nodded and confirmed, “That’s right, just that it cost a lot…”
“How much?” Yang Kai asked.
Old Fang gestured the number in distress, “100 Open Heaven Pills! That was my income for a few dozen years.”
It really was some big bleeding.
“It used to be.” Yang Kai looked at him with a smile, “How much do you earn every month now? There’s nothing to feel sore about, it’s best if you can spend money to solve problems.”
“En.” Old Fang kept nodding his head, “By the way, I gave him 30 pills on your behalf. Manager Zhou accepted it gladly and said that you were quite sensible. I think you’ll be able to get rid of this spoiled plot soon.”
“Good, I’ll give you more shares for the next payment.” Yang Kai frowned, “Speaking of that land, come with me and have a look at something.”
Seeing his solemn expression, Old Fang quickly put down his work and followed Yang Kai to the fruit tree. Upon arrival though, Old Fang’s face changed greatly and he exclaimed in an alarm, “This is bad.”
“What happened?”
Old Fang explained, “The same thing happened to the three fruit trees that died before. The colour of the leaves and fruits became darker. Once this symptom appears, within one month, the fruit tree will die.”
Yang Kai was stunned, “Are you sure?”
Old Fang was as anxious as an ant on a hot wok, “My orchard is right next door, why wouldn’t I know what had happened here before? This is a great disaster.”
“Then what should I do?”
Old Fang turned around several times, desperately racking his brains, and did not stop for quite a while before muttering, “The only one who can help you now is Manager Zhou. Fortunately, I gave him some pills before on your behalf. He wouldn’t just sit idly by. Go to the pavilion located at the centre of the orchard where Manager Zhou usually stays. Go to him and explain the situation…”
“It seems there’s no need to look for him.” Yang Kai suddenly turned his head and looked in a certain direction. A figure was flying towards them quickly from above. Who would it be if it was not Zhou Zheng?
By the looks of it, he seemed to be coming straight here. It was probably due to the generous gift from Old Fang before, or he would not have come here at all except to inspect the orchard.
Shortly after, Zhou Zheng landed in front of the pair.
Yang Kai and Old Fang hurriedly saluted.
With his hands folded behind his back, Zhou Zheng nodded lightly and proceeded, “The two of you seem to have a good relationship. You are always together.” The smile on his face did not show that he was the one who splashed wine on Old Fang a few days ago.
Old Fang nodded and bowed, “Little Brother Yang is new and lives next door to this Old Master. Naturally, I need to take better care of him.”
Zhou Zheng nodded, “Very good. If everyone here was like you, Old Fang, this Manager wouldn’t have to always run around and tire himself out. I really want to rest early.”
Old Fang hurriedly continued, “This orchard can’t run smoothly without Manager Zhou. With power comes responsibilities. We Workers can only try to help Sir Manager as much as possible.”
Zhou Zheng cracked up and pointed at Old Fang, “You sure can talk.”
Old Fang laughed along, “By the way, Manager Zhou, there is something this Old Master wants to discuss with you.”
“Hm, what’s the matter?”
“It’s like this, Yang Kai has been here in the Worker’s Room for more than two months now and this Old Master has been teaching him diligently. Seeing that he is learning fast and doing well, he has the ability to take care of more fruit trees. We are lacking in hands in the Worker’s Room anyway, so it’s a waste to let him only take care of these thirty fruit trees. Manager Zhou, could you transfer him to another place? Otherwise, this little brat will only be idle all day with nothing to do but to harass this Old Master. It’s really quite annoying.” While speaking, he gave Yang Kai a wink.
Yang Kai quickly added, “Manager Zhou, this Yang is ready to contribute more to Fire Spirit Land.”
Zhou Zheng nodded, “Good, it’s rare for one to have this kind of heart. Since that’s the case, this Manager will grant your request. And to tell you the truth, this Manager came here for the same reason.”
Hearing this, Old Fang was overjoyed. He turned to look at Yang Kai and knew that the gift he gave before had worked, and it was quite effective, having an immediate effect.
“Many thanks, Manager Zhou.” Yang Kai cupped his fists.
Zhou Zheng smiled and was about to say something when his eyes suddenly fixed on the fruit tree behind them. He looked at it carefully for a while before his face suddenly changed and he quickly excused himself, “This Manager suddenly remembered that there is something more important that needs to be done. I will return later.”
He then turned and left without another word.
How could Old Fang let him go though? Quickly grabbing his arm, Old Fang begged, “Manager Zhou, Manager Zhou, don’t go yet, can you transfer Yang Kai to another place first?”
Zhou Zheng snatched back his sleeves and answered, displeased, “This Manager is responsible for the inspection and management of all of Fire Spirit Land’s orchard, and is burdened with many tasks. Any carelessness may lead to endless disasters. Now that there is an important matter to deal with, why are you delaying me? Can you bear the consequences if something goes wrong?”
Old Fang smiled apologetically, “There’s no need to be in such a hurry. Sir Manager simply needs to open his mouth to give the order to transfer Yang Kai.”
Zhou Zheng looked at him coldly, “It’s easy to transfer him, but after he leaves, who will take care of these thirty fruit trees? This Manager has not found a replacement yet, so why don’t you take care of them for now, Old Fang?”
Old Fang was stunned when he heard those words. How could he dare to agree? Old Fang subconsciously loosened his grip, and Zhou Zheng immediately freed himself and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
“This is bad, this is bad!” Old Fang slapped his thigh angrily, “It’s all over now.”
Seeing Zhou Zheng’s reaction just now, it was obvious he saw the problem with the fruit tree. The reason he came here earlier was to transfer Yang Kai, but he immediately went back on his word after seeing the situation. Obviously, Zhou Zheng did not want to bear any responsibility and planned to let Yang Kai carry the blame.
He was pushing Yang Kai into a fire pit.
Old Fang has just had a taste of fortune with Yang Kai and had only begun to enjoy the good life. If something happened to Yang Kai now, he would lose all future hope.
Therefore, no matter what, he could not let anything happen to Yang Kai; but now that Zhou Zheng had left, he was as clueless as a headless fly.
“Why aren’t you worried at all?” Old Fang was surprised to see Yang Kai’s indifferent expression, without the slightest hint of nervousness.
“What’s the use of worrying?”
Old Fang froze for a moment, knowing that what he said was correct. The most important thing now was the fruit tree, and worrying would not solve the problem. On second thought, he just gave Zhou Zheng such a big gift the day before yesterday, but today he left them to die. Unable to suppress his anger, he spat in the direction where Zhou Zheng was standing and scolded angrily “That bastard is nothing but an ungrateful wolf! Those 100 Open Heaven Pills were completely wasted.”
If he had not offended Zhou Zheng so badly a few days ago, how could Old Fang have been willing to give away so many Open Heaven Pills? He even thought he could have a better life now, but was cornered again in the blink of an eye.
“Let’s check it first.” Yang Kai did not lose focus, “I inspected this tree several times before and found nothing wrong with it, but since there is a problem now, we might find some clues.”
Old Fang nodded, “Good, good, let’s investigate together. No matter what, we must first find the root of the problem; only then can we prescribe the right treatment.”
The two immediately got busy with the fruit tree. Old Fang did not hesitate to perform a Secret Technique over it. As his power fluctuated, a bundle of white lights permeated from his fingertip, swimming through every corner of the fruit tree bit by bit.
Unfortunately, after a four-hour examination, he still found nothing.
Old Fang was sweating anxiously and kept muttering, “How can it be? Why can’t I spot any problem? Little Brother, is there something different with your nurturing routine?”
Yang Kai stood aside with his arms crossed, and shook his head, on which the Ruler of the Dawn Great General was still sitting, “It’s impossible. If there’s really any problem with the routine, it should not be only this fruit tree that has a problem, but all thirty of my fruit trees.”
“That’s true.” Old Fang also felt that his speculation was nonsense. Although Yang Kai had been here for a short time, he had already learned everything regarding taking care of the fruit trees. Moreover, even if Yang Kai made a mistake, did the previous three owners make a mistake too?
“Since there is no problem with the fruit tree, the problem should be with this piece of land.” Old Fang frowned, “Don’t give up. Keep looking. We’ll find it.”
They busied themselves again, almost turning the entire plot over. In fact, if it were not for the fear of damaging the fruit trees planted above, they might really have done just that.
But in any case, they failed to find the root cause. Old Fang was becoming stressed out again and kept muttering as if he was the one who was in danger instead of Yang Kai.
Old Fang was not even in the mood to receive them when someone came to Old Fang to sell Jade Fire Silkworms.
Yang Kai was about to face a tremendous disaster, and without Yang Kai, even if he collected more Jade Fire Silkworms, they could not be turned into Open Heaven Pills.
“Old Fang, you should go back to your site first. Let me think about it alone for a bit.” Yang Kai could not stand his nagging anymore and took the opportunity to send him off.
Old Fang nodded and comforted Yang Kai before leaving, “Don’t worry, there is always a way out. I’ll ask Sister Dié You to come over later. I don’t believe we can’t find the root of the problem together.”
Then, he led the visitor towards his orchard.
As soon as Old Fang left, Yang Kai felt his ears relax. Yang Kai stared at the problem fruit tree, carefully recalling every single detail in the past two months when he had taken care of the trees, and confirmed that he did not neglect or miss anything.
Turning around and making sure that there was no one nearby, Yang Kai put his palm on the trunk of the fruit tree and quietly stimulated the Wood Element in his Dao Seal.
Ever since Dié You told him last time, he had used his Wood Element to nourish his fruit trees from time to time. Of course, the three seedlings were not included mainly because Yang Kai was afraid that they would grow too fast and arouse suspicion. With the nourishment of his Wood Element, the rest of the fruit trees were growing quite well.
But as there was one tree in trouble now, Yang Kai wanted to try to solve it with his Wood Element. After all, the Wood Element was condensed from the essence of the Immortal Tree. Although it could no longer resurrect him, Yang Kai believed this potent Wood Element could still produce some beneficial effects. It could at least delay the death of the tree and give him more time to find the root cause.
Or at least, that was his initial plan.
When Yang Kai poured his Wood Element into the fruit tree in front of him, the fruit tree did get better. The colour of its leaves and Spirit Fruits seemed to be fading a little, but at the same time, Yang Kai noticed another phenomenon.
From underground, a scorching power surged out uncontrollably and rushed into the fruit tree in front of him. The scorching power dispersed to the surrounding area, and the fruit tree that had just improved went back to its altered state again.
“Em?” Yang Kai frowned, looking dumbfounded.
He already knew that potent Fire Element leaked from the ground, for the whole orchard was located on a vast Fire Spirit Land. When taking care of the fruit trees, he had even used his command token to draw out some Fire Element Energy from the ground to nourish the Fire Spirit Fruit Trees, but that flower of Energy had always been well controlled.
Without using the token to trigger the Grand Array, it should be impossible for Fire Element Energy to flow out on its own.
However, the scorching power just now was not drawn by him intentionally.
A sudden realization dawned on Yang Kai and he felt like he had found the root cause of his troubles, but he could not figure out what it was exactly.
He tried his experiment again carefully several times, and he realized that every time he surged his Wood Element and poured it into the fruit tree, Fire Element Energy that was hotter and stronger than normal would gush out of the ground.
Although the Fire Spirit Fruit Trees needed this Energy to survive and thrive, it had to be in an appropriate amount. If the fruit tree absorbed too much Energy, it would obviously put a huge load on it.
Yang Kai had not noticed until now because he had not touched the fruit trees each time he surged his Wood Element. This time though, in order to focus his efforts and perform an exam, he touched this fruit tree directly.
“Did you find anything?” Old Fang finished his work and returned anxiously. Seeing Yang Kai frowning and pondering, he hurriedly asked.
Yang Kai touched his chin and answered, “I don’t really know how to put it in words. En, have you condensed your Wood Element?”
Old Fang nodded, “As long as it’s possible, the Workers in Fire Spirit Land will give priority to condensing their Wood Element.” Because Wood sustained Fire, it was of great benefit to the Workers to condense their Wood Element to better care for the fruit trees.
“Try to nourish this fruit tree with your Wood Element.” Yang Kai pointed.
Without further asking, Old Fang immediately did as he was told.
But a moment later, he frowned, “What’s the matter? Is there anything special?”
“Don’t you feel it?” Yang Kai was puzzled.
“What do you feel?” Old Fang stared at him.
It seemed that he truly felt nothing, so Yang Kai asked him to try again. This time, however, Yang Kai also put his palm on the fruit tree and after Old Fang surged his Wood Element again, indeed nothing really happened.
[Strange!]
Yang Kai told Old Fang to stop and pushed his own Wood Element Energy.
Old Fang’s brow immediately jumped as he muttered, “This power…”
He finally felt it and suddenly, his face was scrunched up with mixed expressions, making him look extremely strange. His voice trembled as he shouted, “Little Brother, try a few more times!”
Yang Kai had no idea why Old Fang seemed so eager, but it was obvious that he had found something. As such, he tried several more times as requested.
After a long time, Old Fang raised his hand, indicating that Yang Kai could stop, and after pondering for some time, he suddenly slapped himself.
“What are you doing?” Yang Kai was taken aback.
Old Fang looked at him with scorching eyes, “Why didn’t I remember? I should have thought of it long ago! It’s a blessing, not a curse. A blessing!” His two eyes, which used to be cloudy, suddenly lit up brightly.
Yang Kai frowned, “What do you mean by it’s a blessing, not a curse? Speak clearly.”
With an envious look, Old Fang stated, “Little Brother, you are really so damn lucky.”
Yang Kai clicked his tongue, “Fang Tai is the one who is lucky. He has already made two contributions since he came here two months ago.”
“How can his luck compare to yours? Although this Old Master doesn’t know what contribution that Fang Tai made, it’s nothing compared to what you’re about to do!” Old Fang rubbed his hands, exhilarated.
“What do you want to say?” Yang Kai was confused by him.
Old Fang explained, “The whole orchard is built above a vast Fire Spirit Land. You should know that the Fire Element Energy contained in this Fire Spirit Land is a nutrient needed by the fruit trees. If we categorize the Open Heaven Realm into Nine Orders, the ambient Fire Element here is categorized as First Order. In other words, we can utilize the Element in the air here to condense our own Fire Element for free. However, the Order of this power is too low, and not many people choose to do so. It was exactly because Manager Zhou accidentally absorbed the Fire Element Energy here at that time that he was forced to achieve the First Order of the Open Heaven Realm. However, there are exceptions to everything and it is also possible to produce higher Order materials in this place.”
Yang Kai nodded. Zhang Ruo Xi had told him about this before. It was said that among the Seventy-Two Paradises, Golden Antelope Paradise possessed a treasure land filled with Golden Blade Yuan Spirit. This Golden Blade Yuan Spirit was a Fifth-Order material. As long as a sufficient price was paid, anyone could enter that treasure land to condense their Metal Element. However, sometimes a Seventh-Order Spirit Essence could be born from that Golden Blade Yuan Spirit!
In the same way, the First-Order Fire Element Energy here could naturally produce higher Order materials. Back then, it was indeed unfortunate that Zhou Zheng was forced to achieve the First-Order Open Heaven Realm because he accidentally absorbed the Fire Element here.
“I remember that three hundred years ago, a Scarlet Clouds True Flame appeared on the site managed by a guy in this orchard. At that time, many people from Seven Wonders Land came and spent a lot of effort to collect that Scarlet Clouds True Flame, which was a Third-Order material!”
Yang Kai was flabbergasted, “Do you mean… there is a Scarlet Clouds True Flame here?”
“Exactly!” Old Fang exclaimed excitedly, “Back then, when those Seven Wonders Land disciples collected the Scarlet Clouds True Flame, many Workers including this Old Master were there to watch. Although we were blocked by a barrier and we could not see the situation clearly, when the barrier was lifted, I felt a slight difference in the ambient Fire Element in that area, just like what I felt just now.”
“Are you sure?” Yang Kai looked sideways at him, “Don’t lie to me. How can there be such a good thing?”
“Why would I lie to you?” Old Fang grinned from ear to ear, “Little Brother has such great luck! A random piece of land that was assigned to you turns out to have a Scarlet Clouds True Flame buried beneath it! You don’t have to worry now and can instead celebrate! How lucky are you? This Old Master is so envious of you!”
“Even if there is any Scarlet Clouds True Flame, it belongs to the people of Seven Wonders Land. What does it have to do with me?”
Old Fang continued, “How can you say so? If you hadn’t found the Scarlet Clouds True Flame, they wouldn’t have found it either. Besides, a Third-Order material is worth at least 15,000 Open Heaven Pills. Even in Seven Wonders Land, it’s considered a good material that those Seven Wonders Land disciples covet. When they collect it, you will definitely be rewarded something too! Of course, it probably won’t mean much to you with your current wealth.”
Yang Kai’s eyes flashed, “Since it’s a Third-Order material, what do you think would happen if I collected it for myself…”
Third-Order materials were incredibly valuable, and Yang Kai naturally did not want to miss out on this opportunity.
“Absolutely not!” Old Fang was shocked, realizing that Yang Kai was really ignorant and dauntless. He dared to say anything and dared to come up with the most outrageous ideas. Turning his head around to make sure that there was no one around, Old Fang lowered his voice and scolded, “Don’t even think about it, Little Brother. You have a great way to make money now, don’t ruin your future for this petty profit; after all, this is something that belongs to Seven Wonders Land. Once exposed…” He drew a line across his neck with his hand.
It made sense. Now that they were in Seven Wonders Land, even if they really obtained the Scarlet Clouds True Flame, there was no place to sell it, and Yang Kai was not interested in refining Third-Order materials.
After weighing the potential gains and the risks, Yang Kai dismissed the ideas in his heart and nodded, “Should I report this matter then?”
“Yes, what are you waiting for? I believe Manager Zhou will come to investigate immediately if he knows about this.” Old Fang urged, finally letting out a big breath of relief after finding out the root cause.
Yang Kai followed his advice and immediately set off to find Zhou Zheng in the very centre of the orchards.
If it was possible, he did not want Zhou Zheng to benefit from any of this as the latter had just received more than a hundred Open Heaven Pills from him and Old Fang but abandoned them right after. Zhou Zheng was nothing but an opportunistic wolf. Unfortunately, there was no way to leave the orchard without permission, let alone to report this to someone else; Zhou Zheng was his only option.
After Yang Kai had left, Old Fang suddenly had a doubt, [Why did Yang Kai discover the problem immediately when the previous owners here could not? Also, why did the Scarlet Clouds True Flame not respond when I used my Wood Element but responded to Yang Kai’s instead?]
He was suddenly confused.
It did not take long before two figures flew towards him; Zhou Zheng and Yang Kai.
Old Fang stepped forward and saluted as Zhou Zheng questioned suspiciously, “Yang Kai reported that there are traces of the Scarlet Clouds True Flame’s aura here, is it true?”
“It’s true, this Old Master can’t be wrong. It’s definitely the aura of a Scarlet Clouds True Flame, Yang Kai can show it to you if you don’t believe it, Sir Manager.”
Zhou Zheng turned his head to look at Yang Kai, who walked to the fruit tree without a word, placed his hand on it, and injected his Wood Element Energy.
In the next moment, Zhou Zheng’s face lit up in glee, “It really is a Scarlet Clouds True Flame!”
He was not even close to the fruit tree, but he had already felt it. It seemed that an Open Heaven Realm Master was indeed different, even if they were only First-Order.
After pondering for a while, Zhou Zheng’s face changed abruptly, “So, that’s the case…” He raised his head and commanded them, “You two stay here, this King will be back soon.”
When the words fell, he rose into the sky.
Old Fang watched him leave, then beamed at Yang Kai, “Little Brother, congratulations!”
Yang Kai was much less excited, “What is there to congratulate? This Scarlet Clouds True Flame doesn’t belong to us.”
“You can’t say that. Although this Third-Order material is indeed not ours, since Manager Zhou has confirmed it, it is a solution to a major concern, and naturally, it should be something worth being happy for.” He then lowered his voice, “It’s a Third-Order material, isn’t it? It’s just a little more than 15,000 Open Heaven Pills. With Little Brother’s current ability, are you afraid that you won’t be able to earn that much?”
Yang Kai knew he made sense, but he still felt a little disgruntled. He had already acted very humble. After coming out of the Star Boundary, he adjusted his mentality very well. There were plenty of others who jumped out of their Universe Worlds and were not able to adapt. If he still had the same ‘I am supreme beneath the Heavens’ attitude here, he probably would have already died multiple times.
In less than half an hour, Zhou Zheng led a large number of Seven Wonders Land disciples over. It could be seen that this Scarlet Clouds True Flame was also important to Seven Wonders Land; otherwise, they would not have been so efficient.
Yang Kai recognized the leader, Du Ru Feng, as the disciple in charge of Fire Spirit Land. Zhou Zheng, who usually stood proudly in front of the Workers, was nodding and bowing to him with every move he made now.
Du Ru Feng led the way, not bothering to lay eyes on Zhou Zheng. Many Seven Wonders Land disciples behind him did the same.
Landing in the orchard, Zhou Zheng dismissed Yang Kai and Old Fang, “Leave, you have nothing to do here.”
When the two heard this, how could they still stay? Although Yang Kai was a little curious about how they would extract the Scarlet Clouds True Flame, there was nothing he could do if they did not want to show him.
He returned to Old Fang’s plot and sat on the stone bench in front of the hut, while Old Fang took out some wine and filled their cups.
While drinking and chatting, Yang Kai occasionally looked over at his plot.
Old Fang smiled, “Don’t bother, Little Brother. They will set up a barrier and we won’t be able to see anything. There’s nothing to worry about over there. Come and have a drink with me.”
Yang Kai nodded absent-mindedly.
He soon discovered that, as Old Fang said, many restrictions were quickly placed in his plot, and everything beyond the barrier was obscured. As expected, nothing could be seen.
Confirming that he did not need to observe anything, Yang Kai gave up and started drinking with Old Fang.
After only a few drinks, however, he suddenly felt something and turned to look, only to see a figure hurrying toward them. It was Zhou Zheng.
At this moment, his face did not look very good and sweat was beading profusely on his forehead. For some reason, he called from a distance, “Yang Kai, come here.”
Yang Kai and Old Fang looked at each other, both of them as confused as each other, and got up to greet Zhou Zheng. Yang Kai cupped his fists, “What is your order, Manager Zhou?”
Zhou Zheng lowered his voice, asking, “How did you get that Scarlet Clouds True Flame to react?”
The question was rather baffling, but Yang Kai answered, “I simply injected my Wood Element Energy into that tree.”
“Bullshit!” Zhou Zheng gritted his teeth and scolded, “If it was so simple, would this King still need to come to you?”
Yang Kai was astonished, “Can’t Sir Manager trigger the Scarlet Clouds True Flame?” He suddenly recalled that there was no response when Old Fang surged his Wood Element either, but there was an immediate response from the Scarlet Clouds True Flame when he tried it.
Zhou Zheng retorted, “Not only this King, even Senior Brother Du and the others couldn’t do it either!”
“Could you have used the wrong method?”
“What method is needed to circulate Wood Element Energy?” Zhou Zheng scowled at Yang Kai, “Come with me and perform well when you get there. If you can help Senior Brother Du to collect the Scarlet Clouds True Flame, they will definitely reward you.”
After taking a few steps forward, he stopped again, and turned to Yang Kai, “If Senior Brother Du and the others ask, tell them that the Scarlet Clouds True Flame was discovered by this King, understand?”
[You want to take my credit for yourself?] Yang Kai was speechless, but he remembered what Old Fang said; receiving credit would mean receiving rewards. Zhou Zheng would definitely fight for it. If it was not because they could not extract the Scarlet Clouds True Flame, they would not even have summoned Yang Kai.
Yang Kai sneered silently as he thought Zhou Zheng was truly really insatiable.
After getting Yang Kai’s definite answer from his careful instructions, Zhou Zheng patted him on the shoulder, “Rest assured, if there is a reward from Venerable, you will definitely get a share of it, and this King will also arrange another place in the orchard for you, lest your talents be wasted.”
“Many thanks in advance, Manager Zhou.” Yang Kai responded casually.
Yang Kai returned to his plot with Zhou Zheng and entered the restriction. At a glance, the Seven Wonders Land’s disciples had set up an array around the fruit tree while each of their hands formed specific seals. Du Ru Feng had his hands folded behind his back, seemingly doing nothing but looking dashing.
Zhou Zheng stepped forward and reported, “Senior Brother Du, I’ve brought him.”
Du Ru Feng glanced at Yang Kai and ask casually, “Are you new here?”
Yang Kai cupped his fists and answered, “Greetings, Sir Du, this Yang has been in Fire Spirit Land for less than three months.”
Du Ru Feng nodded lightly, “Zhou Zheng said you can trigger the Scarlet Clouds True Flame?”
“Indeed!”
“Go ahead!” Du Ru Feng gestured at the fruit tree without saying another word.
Yang Kai did not hesitate, and stepped forward to the fruit tree, placed his palm on the trunk, and poured his Wood Element into it. In the next instant, a scorching power gushed out from the ground.
Du Ru Feng raised his brows, while Zhou Zheng was overjoyed and exclaimed at him, “Senior Brother Du!”
Du Ru Feng nodded and urged Yang Kai, “Continue!”
Hearing this, Yang Kai had no choice but to continue pouring more Wood Element Energy into the fruit tree. At the same time, Du Ru Feng signalled around him.
The hands of the Seven Wonders Land disciples who were in the array immediately switched their hand seals, and a light flickered under their feet. At the same time, a gentle Water Element Energy was poured into the ground.
Yang Kai was stunned. Water subdued Fire, so were they trying to use a Water Element to extract the Scarlet Clouds True Flame? That seemed feasible. It seemed that the Seven Wonders Land disciples brought here by Du Ru Feng were all carefully selected for the extraction of the Scarlet Clouds True Flame; otherwise, how could they be so well prepared?
One could say the entire process was quite uneventful, and there was no Earth-shattering phenomenon, only a fluctuation of a particular power in this little plot.
However, as time passed, Yang Kai could clearly feel that the Scarlet Clouds True Flame was being forced out little by little, but the condition of the fruit tree in front of him was getting progressively worse, its leaves and fruits gradually releasing a burnt smell.
Du Ru Feng did not speak, so Yang Kai did not dare to stop and continued to surge his Wood Element.
After half a day, the fruit tree in front of Yang Kai suddenly burst into flames, turning into a huge ball of fire and releasing scorching heat towards Yang Kai, who swiftly retreated.
“Do it!” Du Ru Feng, who had been observing, yelled in a low voice.
The Array activated and Water Element Energy gathered from all around, slowly turning it into a cage, closing in on the ball of flame with perfect timing.
Zhou Zheng looked excited, “It’s done.”
As soon as he finished speaking though, there was a loud bang and the cage formed from Water Element Energy shattered while the ball of flame escaped from the trap, trying to bury itself back into the ground. The group of Seven Wonders Land disciples exclaimed in surprise at the destruction of their Secret Technique and fell out of formation.
The situation was beyond everyone’s expectations, and not even Du Ru Feng could react to it. They had experience from three hundred years ago collecting a Scarlet Clouds True Flame as Du Ru Feng had been in charge at that time as well, so this should have been a simple matter for him. No one expected things to end up this way.
Everyone watched the bundle of scorching power about to escape deep into the ground when a soft shout was heard, “You can’t run!”
When the words fell, a layer of light swept across the area of a thousand meters of land, and the ground surface suddenly became extremely hard.
Zhou Zheng lifted his head and saw Yang Kai holding a token, activating the power of the orchard’s Grand Array to stop the Scarlet Clouds True Flame from escaping.
The Scarlet Clouds True Flame plunged to the ground, but it was hindered by the surface, unable to dive into it.
“Well done!” Du Ru Feng roared and with a lift of his hand, a large blue net plummeted from the sky, covering the Scarlet Clouds True Flame. It was unknown what kind of artifact the large net was, but it permeated a bone-chilling cold aura.
In the blink of an eye, the large net enveloped the Scarlet Clouds True Flame. The Scarlet Clouds True Flame bounced left and right within the net, but it could not break free of it. Du Ru Feng changed his hand seal and stretched out his palm, causing the large net to contract tightly, seizing the Scarlet Clouds True Flame tightly in his grip.
After examining carefully for a while, Du Ru Feng revealed a look of pleasant surprise, and could not help bursting out into laughter.
Only then did Zhou Zheng come back to his senses and hurriedly went forward with his fists cupped, “Congratulations for collecting the Scarlet Clouds True Flame successfully, Senior Brother Du.”
Du Ru Feng’s laughter abruptly ceased as he turned to Zhou Zheng and snorted coldly, “How dare you speak now!? Luckily this King had his Sky Seizing Net, otherwise, this Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame would have escaped!”
“Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame?” Zhou Zheng was dumbstruck.
Du Ru Feng put away the large net along with the thing inside, and continued with a cold voice, “You thought this was a Third-Order Scarlet Clouds True Flame?”
“Isn’t it?” Zhou Zheng was puzzled.
“This is the Fourth-Order Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame!” Du Ru Feng bellowed with his teeth gritted, “Waste!”
“Fourth-Order?” Zhou Zheng exclaimed.
Yang Kai was amazed too. How could a Third-Order material suddenly become Fourth-Order? But given the change of events and Du Ru Feng’s previous actions, he readily believed him. Furthermore, Du Ru Feng had no reason to lie to them about this.
No wonder the Seven Wonders Land disciples almost failed the task despite all the preparations they made, it was because a Fourth-Order material was buried under the ground. Therefore, it was natural for them to fail by using Third-Order methods to deal with it.
A Four-Order material…
[First-Order materials are worth 150 Open Heaven Pills, Second-Order materials 1,500, Third-Order, 15,000, Fourth-Order…. 150,000?!]
The dispirited Seven Wonders Land disciples became excited when they realized what was happening. They followed Du Ru Feng here today to collect the Open Heaven material, and since they completed the task, the Venerable would definitely reward them, and the reward for a Fourth-Order material was definitely greater than that of a Third-Order.
Moreover, looking at the whole Seven Wonders Land, there were only a few Open Heaven Realm Masters who were Fourth-Order and above. In other words, the materials of the Fourth Order were also extremely precious to Seven Wonders Land, to the point where they could no longer be measured simply in Open Heaven Pills. They definitely would prosper from this achievement this time!
The group of people came forward, all smiling, gathering around Du Ru Feng and begging to have a look at it. Even these Seven Wonders Land disciples had never seen Fourth-Order materials before.
But how would Du Ru Feng agree? The Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame in the Sky Seizing Net was incredibly important and he considered himself quite lucky to be able to collect it now. If anything happened to it, he could not bear the consequences. As such, he reprimanded the group of disciples with a stern face, which dispelled their stray thoughts.
Looking up at Yang Kai again, Du Ru Feng’s face turned more pleasant, “What’s your name?”
In fact, Yang Kai had just reported his name to him, but he probably did not take it to heart earlier.
Yang Kai reported his name once more.
Du Ru Feng nodded, “You did a good job this time. I will report today’s affairs to Sir Venerable. You will be rewarded when I return.”
If it were not for Yang Kai’s quick reaction earlier, using the orchard token to focus the Grand Array here, delaying the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame for a moment, Du Ru Feng would not have had the opportunity to summon his Sky Seizing Net. Du Ru Feng then turned to Zhou Zheng, who was in charge of the whole orchard and frowned. Zhou Zheng’s performance was mediocre at best today. What’s more, he had reported inaccurate information, which almost cost them a great opportunity for Fire Spirit Land.
“Many thanks, Sir!” Yang Kai thanked, secretly wondering, [How much reward would I get? Given this thing is worth 150,000 Open Heaven Pills, I should be able to get at least a few thousand of them, right?] This was a huge income even for him, and he suddenly had a little expectation. Besides, he was still wondering how to make a contribution as a Worker in this orchard, but who knew he had made one in the blink of an eye.
Du Ru Feng waved his hand to the others, “All of you leave first. I still have something to ask.”
After receiving the order, the group of Seven Wonders Land disciples soared to the sky without any hesitation.
Du Ru Feng turned to look at Zhou Zheng again coldly, and Zhou Zheng immediately understood and hurriedly stated, “Junior Brother will take his leave first.”
After everyone left, Du Ru Feng waved his hand, placed a barrier around them, and stared at Yang Kai for a moment.
Yang Kai frowned slightly. He knew why Du Ru Feng kept him here. It was natural for him to be suspicious about what happened today, but Yang Kai was not sure if he discovered anything. Swiftly, Yang Kai cupped his fists and asked, “May I know what Sir wants to ask?”
Du Ru Feng stood with his hands behind his back and proceeded seriously, “You must have known that there was something wrong with this land. For the past ten years, this King has brought people to investigate here many times, but we could not find any clues. This time, through your blessing, I learned that it was the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame that was causing the trouble.”
“Many thanks for saying so, Sir, but it was just luck.”
“I don’t believe in luck. Since you found out about this, you must be capable.” Du Ru Feng continued, “Previously, this King also tried to use his Wood Element to stimulate the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame, but couldn’t. None of the others could do so either. Why could only you do it? What’s the Order of the Wood Element you have condensed?”
[As I thought…]
Yang Kai already knew that he wanted to ask him about this; after all, none of the others’ Wood Elements could trigger the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame except his. This undoubtedly showed that his Wood Element was a little special, and the most obvious reason for that would be a difference in Order.
“What Order Element has Sir condensed?” Yang Kai questioned instead of answering.
Du Ru Feng replied proudly, “Fourth Order!” He was the most outstanding disciple of Fire Spirit Land and the person who the Venerable Protector placed high hopes on. Naturally, he would not be careless in the path of achieving the Open Heaven Realm. The reason why he has not been promoted yet was to collect other appropriate Fourth-Order materials.
Yang Kai shook his head, “I don’t know the Order of the Element that I have condensed. I haven’t been in the Outer Universe for long, and am clueless about many things here. Before I met Venerable, I happened to encounter a Sealed Space in the Void and after inadvertently refined my Wood Element from an object I found there.”
Du Ru Feng nodded, “Let me see your Dao Seal.”
This request was somewhat rude as his Dao Seal was the crystallization of Yang Kai’s cultivation and his own Dao, which contained many of his secrets. Normally, who would make such a request? Moreover, releasing one’s Dao Seal was equivalent to a Monster Beast spitting out its Monster Core, which was an extremely dangerous thing.
Back then, if Yang Kai had a choice in the Star Boundary, he would not have released his Dao Seal to deal with the Can Ye.
However, given that he was in other people’s territory, Yang Kai was afraid that it would not be easy to refuse this request. Judging from Du Ru Feng’s look, if Yang Kai did not release his Dao Seal now, he definitely would not let him go, and it would only bring him more trouble later.
Therefore, after a short hesitation, Yang Kai surged his own Dao Seal.
An amorphous mark appeared on his forehead, which contained the Void Grand Dao that Yang Kai comprehended. In the Dao Seal, a rich Wood Element Energy was rotating. Yang Kai was secretly vigilant and paid close attention to Du Ru Feng, preparing to rebel if something untoward happened.
Staring at Yang Kai’s Dao Seal, Du Ru Feng made no secret of releasing his Divine Sense to examine it and soon his face changed, “Your Wood Element is above Fourth Order!”
Yang Kai was half-relieved from his anxiety. It seemed that Du Ru Feng could only judge that his Wood Element was higher Order than his, but he was not capable of distinguishing the exact Order. After all, Du Ru Feng’s insight was still limited. Yang Kai hastily pretended to be surprised, “Is Sir serious?”
“No mistake.” Du Ru Feng answered in amazement, “You’re really lucky to be able to obtain such an opportunity. Looks like luck does work sometimes.”
Yang Kai grinned, “I don’t know what Order my Wood Element is, but since Sir stated it’s above the Fourth Order, it can’t be wrong.”
Du Ru Feng pressed on, “What is it that you found in the Void?”
Yang Kai quickly came up with a story, “A crystal-clear, small tree like white jade, with several shoot buds and leaves. The tree was about this tall, and it had a strange scent!” He casually elaborated with his hand gestures, and looked at Du Ru Feng, “Does Sir know what it was?”
Du Ru Feng shook his head slowly, “I haven’t heard of it.” He had no way to study deep into it, so he allowed Yang Kai to put away his Dao Seal, lest he become jealous of him. After that, he asked again casually, “Are you the one who found the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame here?”
Yang Kai answered, “Yes!” Although Zhou Zheng warned him in advance, since the ungrateful wolf did not try to save him from trouble previously, Yang Kai did not bother to give away his own credit. In any case, it was only him and Du Ru Feng here, and Zhou Zheng would not know what he said.
Du Ru Feng sneered, “Zhou Zheng, that waste. I knew he was not the one who found the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame here.”
Soon, Du Ru Feng departed. He actually had to report to the Venerable as soon as he collected the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame, for a Fourth-Order material was truly rare. Nevertheless, he stayed for a while to inquire about Yang Kai’s Wood Element. Since he had a clear picture of it now, he had no reason to stay longer.
After the departure of Du Ru Feng, Zhou Zheng came over hurriedly, “What did Senior Brother Du ask you?”
“He didn’t ask anything, but just offer a few words of praise.”
“Seriously?” Zhou Zheng looked at him suspiciously.
Yang Kai replied, “You may ask Sir Du yourself if you don’t believe me.”
Zhou Zheng snorted coldly, “It’d better be so!” After a pause, he continued, “You have made a great contribution today. There will be rewards from Venerable and Senior Brother Du. Wait for the good news.”
He flew away after stating it, with displeasure clearly etched on his face.
In the palace located at the centre of Fire Spirit Land, Du Ru Feng strode quickly, and stopped in front of the main hall at its deepest part, bowed, and saluted, “Venerable!”
The heavy gate of the main hall slowly opened up a gap that only allowed a single person to pass through. Du Ru Feng stepped in and soon, he saw Duan Hai, the Fire Spirit Land Venerable Protector, who was sitting cross-legged and refining Open Heaven Pills.
After an hour, Duan Hai let out a long breath and asked, “What is the situation?”
Du Ru Feng cupped his fists with a joyful look, “Reporting to Venerable, we have achieved a great harvest.”
“A Third-Order Scarlet Clouds True Flame cannot be considered a great harvest. What else did you find?” Duan Hai’s eyes flashed.
Du Ru Feng hurriedly reported, “The information was wrong. It was not a Third-Order Scarlet Clouds True Flame, but a Fourth-Order Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame!”
“Fourth-Order!”
“Please have a look, Venerable!” Du Ru Feng took two steps forward and handed over the Sky Seizing Net. Duan Hai took it and nodded as he scanned it with his Divine Sense, “It’s really a Fourth-Order Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame. You did well this time. Fourth-Order materials are precious in Seven Wonders Land. Keep it for yourself.” He threw the Sky Seizing Net back at Du Ru Feng.
Du Ru Feng was overjoyed, “Many thanks for your generous gift, Venerable!”
The Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame was exactly something he needed badly now, so it was natural for him to be happy.
Duan Hai continued, “Give some benefits to Zhou Zheng; after all, he was the one who found it and solved the mysterious danger in the orchard.”
“I was about to inform Venerable about this.” Du Ru Feng stored the Sky Seizing Net carefully, “Zhou Zheng had nothing to do with what happened today. It was a Worker who discovered the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame. Zhou Zheng lied in order to seize the merit for himself.”
Duan Hai sneered, “It’s not a big deal. Since he is the orchard Manager, he should still be given a reward for finding a Fourth-Order material in the orchard.”
“Yes!”
“But, given that a Worker actually found traces of a Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame, he must have some skill.” Duan Hai was curious.
Du Ru Feng smiled, “Indeed, and he’s quite lucky too. Do you remember a group of newcomers that were brought back a few months ago?”
Duan Hai was surprised, “Is he one of those newcomers?”
“Indeed, a young man named Yang Kai. He also contributed to collecting this Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame.”
Duan Hai’s interest was piqued, “How did he contribute?”
Du Ru Feng briefly explained the matter of the trip to the orchard to collect Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame, and then pressed on, “Disciple was a little suspicious at that time, wondering what was special about the Wood Element condensed by that Yang Kai as only he could stimulate the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame, so this Disciple asked him to show his Dao Seal. As a result, this Disciple found that he had condensed a Wood Element above the Fourth Order!”
“Above the Fourth Order!” Duan Hai’s eyes flashed, “Are you sure?”
“Disciple has no doubt. His Wood Element was purer and richer than that of my own. If it were not above Fourth Order, it would never make this Disciple feel that way.”
“Interesting… What an opportunity for a young man who has just entered the 3,000 Worlds.”
Du Ru Feng continued, “This Disciple questioned him for a while and he said that before meeting Venerable, he accidentally found a white jade-like small tree about this tall in some kind of Sealed Space. It had several shoot buds and leaves and apparently gave off a strange smell. He says he inadvertently absorbed it and condensed his Wood Element.”
“A small, white, jade-like? One with a strange fragrance?” Duan Hai frowned and caressed his beard as he pondered.
Du Ru Feng watched from the side and dared not to disturb him.
After a while, Duan Hai suddenly stopped his hand movement and revealed a shocked expression.
“Venerable, what exactly is that small tree? What Order is this material?” Du Ru Feng questioned.
Duan Hai took a deep breath and answered in a solemn voice, “If this Old Master is not mistaken, what he found should be the White Jade Bodhi. Since it had grown into a small tree, it should be at least Fifth-Order, most likely Sixth-Order!”
“Fifth or Sixth-Order!” Du Ru Feng exclaimed, his eyes bulging with jealousy.
In the entire Seven Wonders Land, the most powerful person was the Heavenly Monarch who was a Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, while the other Venerable Protectors were just Fourth-Order, and all of them had promoted their current Order once after their initial breakthrough. In other words, when they achieved the Open Heaven Realm, the Heavenly Monarch was only Fourth-Order, while the several Venerables were all Third-Order.
But this Worker, Yang Kai, actually found a Fifth or possibly Sixth-Order material and successfully refined it! Was his luck not Heaven-defying? If he continued to find more Fifth or Sixth-Order materials, would he not be able to break through to the Fifth or Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm directly? At that time, he would be invincible in the entire Seven Wonders Land.
“He’s lucky, very lucky!” Duan Hai kept nodding.
Du Ru Feng’s expression fluctuated for a while, but eventually suppressing the jealousy in his heart, he cupped his fists again and said, “There’s another thing to inform Venerable about, which is also related to that Worker Yang Kai.”
“Proceed.”
“This Disciple has no idea how he offended the Ruler of the Dawn Great General, but the latter is currently using his head as a chicken coop now. Great General has perched atop Yang Kai’s head the entire time Disciple was with him.”
Duan Hai was surprised, “Ruler of the Dawn really perched atop his head?”
“Yes.”
Duan Hai could not help laughing, “It seems that the Ruler of the Dawn favours this Yang Kai quite deeply.”
Du Ru Feng was stunned, “Great General likes him? Why does Venerable say so?”
“If Ruler of the Dawn didn’t like him, he wouldn’t get so close to him.” Duan Hai explained.
Du Ru Feng was speechless when he heard this. He would rather not hope for this kind of affection, for it was a shame to be seen like that.
“Then about Yang Kai…” Du Ru Feng wanted to say something, but he stopped. He could ignore it if he did not know how high the Order of the Wood Element Yang Kai had condensed was, but since he knew now, he could not take it lightly. However, Du Ru Feng could not make up his mind about how to deal with him, so he could only wait for the Venerable’s order.
After pondering for a while, Duan Hai asked, “How many years has your Senior Brother Yu Lian been in the retreat?”
Du Ru Feng bowed, “Senior Brother Yu Lian went into retreat ten years ago to condense his Earth Element. Disciple believes it is about time for him to exit.” At this point, a sudden realization dawned on Du Ru Feng and he continued, “This Disciple knows what to do.”
“En, go.” Duan Hai waved his hand and closed his eyes again.
Du Ru Feng saw himself out respectfully, and after he walked out of the hall, the heavy gates closed slowly.
Back at the orchard, Old Fang exclaimed with his eyes widened, “A Fourth-Order Open Heaven material? Are you being serious, little brat? Or are you lying to this Old Master?”
Due to his excitement, Old Fang started calling Yang Kai a little brat instead of Little Brother again.
Yang Kai took a sip of wine from his cup and replied, “Why should I lie to you? Du Ru Feng himself said that it was the Fourth-Order Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame. At that time, if he didn’t have a suitable artifact on hand, he would already have fallen short of success.”
“Amazing…” Old Fang muttered, “Then, isn’t it worth as much as 150,000 if it’s a Fourth-Order material?”
Yang Kai looked sideways at him, “What are you excited for? It has nothing to do with you.”
Old Fang explained, “Indeed it doesn’t, but it has plenty to do with you! You are the one who found it! How much of a reward will you receive?”
“Who knows?” Yang Kai shrugged. In fact, what he cared about now was not the reward, but his Wood Element. Before, he had to release his Dao Seal for Du Ru Feng to observe. Although it seemed Du Ru Feng did not figure out anything specific, there was still the Venerable Protector behind him. With Duan Hai’s level of knowledge and insight, Yang Kai was not sure whether the lies he made up on the spot could fool him.
After thinking about it, he asked, “Old Fang, can I ask you something?”
“Sure, Little Brother.”
“Have you ever heard of any Secret Technique that can forcibly seize the Yin, Yang, and Five Elements from another’s Dao Seal?”
“What kind of Secret Technique could do that?” Old Fang widened his eyes.
Yang Kai was speechless, “I also don’t know. That’s why I asked you. Why would I ask you if I knew?”
“I’ve never heard of anything like that.” Old Fang shook his head like a rattle, “But even if there is such a technique, it wouldn’t be surprising. Unfortunately, this Old Master arrived in this Fire Spirit Land soon after he left his Universe World, becoming a Worker for others. I haven’t gone out and don’t know much about the world outside… En, why do you ask?”
“No reason,” Yang Kai replied absent-mindedly.
Old Fang looked at him for a while and smiled, “Don’t worry too much, Little Brother. As the saying goes, there’s always a way out. Didn’t we worry about your land and the fruit trees before? Who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, Little Brother would turn disaster into a great contribution? Fang Tai thought he could be arrogant after making two contributions, but if he knew your situation, wouldn’t he be ashamed to death?”
“Why should he be ashamed…” Yang Kai chuckled.
The reward of Fire Spirit Land came down quite fast. Perhaps it was because the Fourth-Order Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame was too important, but on the third day after its collection, Zhou Zheng came again.
Yang Kai and Old Fang were playing chess when he arrived, and seeing Zhou Zheng come, they quickly got up and saluted.
With one hand behind his back, Zhou Zheng threw a Space Ring at Yang Kai with the other hand, stating flatly, “Yang Kai, you did a good job in collecting the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame last time. Venerable appreciates your effort. This is your reward.”
Yang Kai caught the ring and was a little surprised when he scanned it with his Divine Sense; however, he quickly composed his expression and put away the Space Ring, cupping his fists, “Many thanks to Venerable!”
Zhou Zheng nodded but did not say anything more. He just looked up at the sky with his hand behind his back, as if there was marvellous scenery up there, clearly not meaning to leave immediately.
Old Fang winked at Yang Kai, but seeing the latter not pay attention to him, he prodded him with his elbow.
Yang Kai turned to Old Fang and saw that he was pointing his lips and eyes at Zhou Zheng.
“Old Fang, what happened to your mouth?” Yang Kai asked curiously.
Old Fang almost coughed up blood as he was certain that the hint was obvious enough. Yang Kai was not a fool, so how could he not understand what Old Fang was trying to say? It was simply inappropriate for them to whisper in front of Zhou Zheng, so Old Fang was anxious and did not know what to do.
On the contrary, Zhou Zheng’s face became uglier and colder.
Seeing Yang Kai’s aloof look, Old Fang had no choice but to take out a Space Ring and approach Zhou Zheng. He handed the Space Ring over with a smile, “I’m sorry to trouble Manager Zhou to come here in person. Please forgive the inconvenience, Sir Manager.”
Zhou Zheng took the Space Ring coldly, and scanned it with his Divine Sense and found that there were only twenty Open Heaven Pills in it. Following a cold snort, he threw the Space Ring on the ground and flicked his sleeve, “Never mind. I’m leaving!”
Normally, Zhou Zheng would gladly accept twenty Open Heaven Pills, but the situation now was a different case. Twenty Open Heaven Pills were nothing compared to the rewards Yang Kai received.
“Manager Zhou, Manager Zhou…” Old Fang quickly picked up the Space Ring and chased after him.
After a long time, Old Fang came back looking dispirited. By the look of his face, it was obvious that things did not go well.
When he came back, he found that Yang Kai was checking the Open Heaven Pills in the Space Ring, smiling from ear to ear. Old Fang was infuriated and pointed at him, “Tell me, why did you have to make enemies with him? You should’ve just given him some benefits.”
Yang Kai sneered, “I wouldn’t mind giving him some benefits if the previous gift had worked, but it’s clear that he did not bother saving us even when we had given him such a big gift. So, why do we need to be generous to him?”
Old Fang stomped his foot, “He is still the Orchard Manager! You should make friends with him with the money rather than offend him like this. Can you stand it if he causes you trouble in the future?”
“There is always a solution to a problem!” Yang Kai sneered, “Although he is a Manager, he can’t just do whatever he wants, and I’m not afraid of him even though I am just a Worker.”
Old Fang sighed, “Let’s stop talking about this matter. It’s useless to say anything now.”
After sitting down and drinking a cup of wine, he saw that Yang Kai was still smiling and he could not help but ask, “How much did Venerable reward you this time that you keep smiling like that?”
“See for yourself,” Yang Kai tossed the Space Ring in his hand to him.
Old Fang caught it, and exclaimed after scanning it with his Divine Sense, “So many?”
He did not count them properly, but there should be at least four or five thousand Open Heaven Pills in the Space Ring! This was a terrifying number for a Worker.
Although Old Fang expected the Venerable to give a great reward, the amount was still out of his expectation. He thought it would be just a few hundred to a thousand at most.
Yang Kai disclosed, “Five thousand pieces exactly! Though I’m not sure if Zhou Zheng took some beforehand.”
Old Fang shook his head, “Of course he didn’t. This is a direct reward from the Venerable; as a trivial Orchard Manager, Zhou Zheng wouldn’t dare touch it. Otherwise, his life would not be spared if Venerable found out. I see… No wonder he was uninterested in the twenty Open Heaven Pills that I just offered him.”
Yang Kai laughed “Now you understand why I pretended to be ignorant. If I share the benefits with him, how much would be an appropriate amount? Judging by his character, I’m afraid he won’t be satisfied without at least a thousand Open Heaven Pills. Since he was useless previously, why should I give him a thousand Spirit Pills for free?”
Old Fang nodded, “That’s true. He will only be more resentful if he gets a smaller share, but we will suffer losses if he gets too many. It’s better to just ignore him.”
“Exactly!” Yang Kai took back the Space Ring with a grin.
Old Fang admired Yang Kai for being able to gain five thousand Open Heaven Pills so easily. None of the Workers in Seven Wonders Land were a match for him. Old Fang had seen others making big contributions before, but the largest reward given out for those had been 60 Open Heaven Pills. 5,000 pills were equivalent to the pay of about a thousand Workers without any other expenses for almost two years. In addition to Yang Kai’s previous income, it was not an exaggeration to say that he was now the richest Worker in Seven Wonders Land.
And how long had he been here? It was only less than three months!
“Old Fang, don’t you think this reward is too much?” Yang Kai suddenly frowned. Although the Fourth-Order Open Heaven material was worth 150,000 Open Heaven Pills and Yang Kai had contributed greatly to its acquisition, such a massive reward was still somewhat surprising.
“Isn’t it good that it’s too much?” Old Fang was bewildered, “This is the first time I’ve heard someone complaining about being rewarded too much. If you think it’s too much, you might as well share half of it with me. I don’t mind.”
Yang Kai pretended he did not hear him.
Old Fang sighed again, “But after this, I’m afraid that you won’t be able to get rid of this small plot.” As Workers, everyone naturally wished to take care of as many fruit trees as they could. In this way, they could earn extra income, and also have more opportunities for making contributions.
None of the Workers in the Worker’s Room would be upset about managing a large area of the orchard. They all wanted it to be as big as possible.
“It doesn’t matter.” Yang Kai chuckled, “I don’t rely on this land to make money.”
After a single thought, Old Fang agreed with him. Yang Kai had his own way to earn a fortune now. Unlike the ordinary Workers, the size of his orchard made no difference to him. It could even be said that a smaller orchard would be more convenient and better for him.
He had been here for hundreds of years, and it was the first time he had seen a Worker acting so carefree. Old Fang could not help but admire Yang Kai.
Everything was calm for the next few days. From time to time, people would come to sell Jade Fire Silkworms to Old Fang, and Old Fang bought all of them without hesitation, then passed them to Yang Kai to feed the Ruler of the Dawn Great General, while the Great General spat out Open Heaven Pills seemingly endlessly.
Old Fang was beaming every day all day. He had experienced more glee these past two months than in the past few hundred years combined.
A few days later, Yang Kai, who was sunbathing under a fruit tree, suddenly opened his eyes and looked in a certain direction.
At the same moment, Old Fang, who was calculating his recent income, also turned to look. Then, his face changed slightly and called Yang Kai, “Little Brother, get up.”
Yang Kai turned over lazily, turning his back to him.
Old Fang was speechless as he got up and greeted the visitor. After a few minutes, a man approached him. It was Zhou Zheng, so Old Fang hurriedly saluted.
“En.” Zhou Zheng scanned around, but seeing that Yang Kai did not show him any respect at all, his face immediately turned cold and he snorted heavily.
A few days ago, he was upset that he did not get a share of benefits from Yang Kai. He had naturally checked the Open Heaven Pills in the Space Ring before, and he knew that there were 5,000 of them. With a twenty percent ‘gift’, he would acquire 1,000 pills. However, Yang Kai did not give anything to him at all.
If Du Ru Feng had not given him an order in advance, Zhou Zheng would have taught Yang Kai a lesson already. He was hoping Yang Kai would come to his senses and make up for his mistakes, but he did not expect Yang Kai to ignore him outright.
Coming here and seeing Yang Kai still lying under the sun, the anger almost blew out of Zhou Zheng’s chest.
“Yang Kai, what is the meaning of this!? As a Worker, why are you not taking care of the fruit trees and instead lazing around here!?” Zhou Zheng shouted.
Yang Kai turned over and squinted at him. Then he got up, and cupped his fists, “So it is Manager Zhou who came. Does Manager Zhou need anything?”
“You…” Zhou Zheng was maddened, “I’m asking you, have you finished taking care of the fruit trees in your orchard?”
“I’ve finished my task properly. If Manager Zhou doesn’t believe me, you may inspect it yourself. If there is anything wrong, I will correct it immediately!”
“Are you that confident?” Zhou Zheng sneered repeatedly. If he wanted to find fault with Yang Kai, it would be futile even if Yang Kai took perfect care of the fruit trees.
Old Fang noticed something was wrong, knowing that Yang Kai was digging his own grave. Taken aback, he quickly went forward to apologize, “Manager Zhou, please calm down. I went to see his fruit trees myself, and this little brat indeed has taken care of them. Since Manager Zhou came all the way here, please sit down to have some wine!”
Then he went to pull Zhou Zheng.
Zhou Zheng reprimanded as he looked at him coldly, “Go away, what thing are you?”
Old Fang’s hand froze mid-air, and embarrassment filled his face. He knew that Zhou Zheng was really mad this time, otherwise he would not say such words. In the past, he was just greedy, but he always had an amiable attitude towards the Workers. Of course, the premise was that they had paid him enough, but today he actually rebuked them with harsh words.
Zhou Zheng turned back to Yang Kai and suppressed his anger because he needed to settle something with him today. Although he was upset with Yang Kai’s attitude, he could not delay this matter anymore. This matter should have been done a few days ago, but he was too enraged at the time, so he did not mention it. But he was getting anxious after a few days, and he was afraid of getting into trouble if he continued to delay.
“Yang Kai, come with me,” Zhou Zheng snorted coldly. Although he could not harm Yang Kai due to Du Ru Feng’s order, it did not mean he could not punish him slightly. With his identity as a Manager, it was too convenient for him to teach Yang Kai a lesson.
“I wonder if Manager Zhou has anything to tell me?” Yang Kai questioned.
Zhou Zheng retorted, “Enough nonsense. Just follow me as I ordered!” After saying so, he soared to the sky and rushed off.
Yang Kai frowned, for he had no idea what Zhou Zheng was going to do. [Could he be angry and want to beat me up? I don’t think he has the courage to kill me.] Although the status of the Workers in the Worker’s Room was low, each of them was a valuable resource to Fire Spirit Land. Otherwise, the Venerable Protector would not have gone out to attract more; therefore, Zhou Zheng definitely would not kill him. Only the Venerable Protector had the authority to execute Workers in the entire Fire Spirit Land.
Old Fang looked at Yang Kai worriedly, “Be patient and don’t be so impulsive later. Speak softly, and if Manager Zhou wants to do anything to you, bear it if you can and don’t fight back, otherwise, you’ll be doomed in the future.”
Yang Kai said nothing and glanced in the direction Zhou Zheng had left, having no choice but to keep up as he thought to himself, [If Zhou Zheng really attacks me later, what should I do?]
[Good, I will grab Ruler of the Dawn Great General and throw him at him. Let’s see if he dares to fight back then!]
After he decided, Yang Kai caressed the Ruler of the Dawn Great General on his head, [I’m putting my faith in you for later!]
Great General did not understand what was happening and just crowed twice.
Yang Kai sped after Zhou Zheng, and after a stick worth of incense, he saw him plummeting straight into the orchard. Yang Kai also landed and looked around suspiciously.
Even if Zhou Zheng wanted to teach himself a lesson, he should not have chosen this place. Zhou Zheng could not afford it if their fight caused any problems for the surrounding fruit trees.
If he was not here to teach him a lesson, what was his intention of bringing him here?
While Yang Kai was still puzzled, Zhou Zheng suddenly bellowed, “Where’s the Worker of this plot!?”
After only three breaths of time, a rumbling sound approached rapidly, as if thunderstruck across the ground, causing it to tremble. Then, a burly figure rushed towards them from a distance and bowed, “I’m here, I’m here. So it is Manager Zhou here. Please forgive this Xiang for being far away just now. Hahaha, Manager Zhou, have a seat.”
Yang Kai took a closer look, and found that the visitor was actually someone he knew.
Given that he had only been in the Worker’s Room for less than three months, he did not get acquainted with many people, but the one in front of him was actually one of the few he recognized. It was Xiang Yong, the bear who chased after Dié You in the shopping district and blocked him outside of it.
He only met Xiang Yong twice and only talked to him once, but Yang Kai had the impression that he was a simple-minded and domineering person. By the look of it, this plot was probably Xiang Yong’s territory.
[Why did Zhou Zheng bring me here?] Yang Kai was puzzled.
On the other side, Xiang Yong also saw Yang Kai. He suddenly widened his bronze bell-like eyes and pointed at Yang Kai while scratching his head, “You… You… I seem to have seen you somewhere!”
Yang Kai smiled, “At the shopping district!”
“Oh, yes, it’s you. I remember.” Xiang Yong was immediately enlightened by Yang Kai’s reminder.
“You two know each other?” Zhou Zheng observed from the side coldly. Listening to them, he looked at Yang Kai, then looked at Xiang Yong, the corner of his mouth slightly curving.
“No!” Xiang Yong shook his head and turned to Zhou Zheng, “Does Manager Zhou have any orders?”
Zhou Zheng put one hand behind his back and proceeded faintly, “This Manager is here to inform you that from now on, your plot will be taken over by Yang Kai.”
As soon as he declared this, Xiang Yong’s jaw instantly dropped so low that it could fit a giant fist inside of it. He was dumbstruck, and could not return to his senses for a long time.
Yang Kai too, was stunned for a moment, wondering if there could be such a good thing for him.
This was good news to any Worker. The plot that Yang Kai managed before was too small and there were very few fruit trees. It would be of great benefit for him to change to any other place, and this was also the reason why he requested Old Fang to send gifts to Manager Zhou on his behalf before.
But how was it possible that Zhou Zheng would treat him well after he offended him like that? Even if he could not do anything to him publicly, Zhou Zheng could still do some things discretely.
[Is there any problem with Xiang Yong’s land?] With a single thought, Yang Kai dismissed this idea and instead understood something. There was probably no problem with Xiang Yong’s land, but Zhou Zheng’s move had another hidden intention!
On the other side, Xiang Yong hesitated for a while and scratched his head, “Heh heh, Manager Zhou, what did you say just now? This Xiang didn’t hear it clearly.”
Zhou Zheng repeated word by word, “From now on, your plot will be taken over by Yang Kai. Did you hear me clearly now?”
Xiang Yong immediately jumped like a cat whose tail was stepped on, the veins on his forehead bulging as he pointed at Yang Kai with a stubby finger, “Him? Why?”
Zhou Zheng explained coldly, “Because this Manager has ordered it so, is that not enough of a reason? What now? Are you not putting this Manager in your eyes?” While speaking, his Open Heaven Realm aura gradually permeated.
Feeling the aura, Xiang Yong woke up from his rage and put on a fawning face, “I didn’t mean that, Manager Zhou. This Xiang dares not disrespect you. Is there any misunderstanding in this? What did this Xiang do wrong? Why is my territory being taken over by someone else all of a sudden?”
“It has nothing to do with you.”
Yang Kai also cupped his fists and started, “Manager Zhou, since Brother Xiang is so reluctant, let’s forget it. My land is still good and doesn’t need to be changed.”
Zhou Zheng sneered, “You’re in no position to speak. Let this Manager tell you, this is the order of Senior Brother Du, so you have to change plots no matter what!”
Yang Kai was speechless as he thought to himself, [Why is Du Ru Feng suddenly involving himself in such a small matter in the orchard? Isn’t he a Core Disciple of Fire Spirit Land? However, since Zhou Zheng said so, he must not be wrong. Is it because I helped him to collect the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame a few days ago?]
Xiang Yong kept blinking, “Did Sir Du purposely order him to take over my territory?” If so, there was nothing he could say. He could only blame himself for being looked down upon by Du Ru Feng.
Zhou Zheng answered, “Not really.”
“Then why does it have to be my place?” Xiang Yong was visibly upset. After that, he pulled Zhou Zheng over and leaned in to whisper something.
Yang Kai did not bother to eavesdrop, because they would find out if he tried; therefore, he had no idea what they were talking about, only that Xiang Yong was muttering endlessly while Zhou Zheng shook his head from time to time. Intermittently, Xiang Yong would turn to look at Yang Kai with his eyes full of vicious light.
For Xiang Yong, this was apparently a great disaster. He could not do anything to Manager Zhou for Zhou Zheng was stronger and had a higher status than him, so he could only turn his anger on Yang Kai.
Yang Kai folded his hands behind his back and turned his gaze away, avoiding eye contact with Xiang Yong, which made the latter even more furious.
Since Zhou Zheng brought Yang Kai here today, it meant that he had planned this long ago. Perhaps, Xiang Yong had no way to turn the situation around.
Sure enough, the two talked for a stick’s worth of incense as Xiang Yong’s face became increasingly ugly. Suddenly, he left Zhou Zheng, and charged towards Yang Kai directly while putting his fist in front of his face, and threatening fiercely, “Little brat, if you’re smart, hurry up and tell Manager Zhou that you don’t want this land, otherwise, this Xiang will not let you end well!”
Following a sigh, Yang Kai looked over at Xiang Yong and gazed at Zhou Zheng. Seeing the grin on his face, he knew that he was right. Zhou Zheng was trying to commit murder with a borrowed knife!
Since Zhou Zheng wanted to manipulate others to harm him, Yang Kai definitely could not let him succeed so he immediately explained, “Brother Xiang, I can’t help it. I’m innocent too. I was dragged here by Manager Zhou, and I don’t know what happened to cause all this. But since Manager Zhou has made a decision, there’s no way to change his mind. How about this? Even if I take care of this land for you, if any benefits or credits appear from this place, I will give them to you. Deal?”
“No deal!” Xiang Yong’s spit flew everywhere, “This is my Heavenly Paradise. I won’t give it away no matter how many benefits you give me!”
Yang Kai almost choked to death. How could this plot of land be a Heavenly Paradise? All the plots in the orchard were the same other than being bigger or smaller.
“The income of this land will belong to you as well!” Yang Kai added.
Xiang Yong waved his big hand like a cattail leaf fan and almost slapped Yang Kai’s face, “I already said I won’t give this place away for any price! You must quickly settle this issue for me!”
Yang Kai was becoming annoyed. He felt that he had made enough concessions and was even willing to give up the benefits of two pieces of land to settle things with Xiang Yong, but this bear indeed had a bear’s brain, making him near fanatical about his territory.
Given his attitude, Yang Kai knew that he could not talk sense to him, so he did not bother to waste further energy.
“When will you stop grumbling? If you’re finished, leave with me!” Zhou Zheng urged from not far away.
Xiang Yong turned to Zhou Zheng and wanted to say something; however, seeing the look on Zhou Zheng’s cold face, Xiang Yong knew that it was probably useless to say anything so he could only accept his fate. Still, he glared at Yang Kai hatefully and declared, “Just wait. I’ll be back.”
While leaving with Zhou Zheng, Xiang Yong would turn back every few steps to glare at Yang Kai with threatening eyes. Only after disappearing out of sight did Yang Kai click his tongue.
Zhou Zheng’s move was brilliant. By using the name of Du Ru Feng, he made it impossible for either side to object, and on top of that, Xiang Yong was clearly difficult to deal with. Zhou Zheng was able to justify himself, and no one would complain about him even if this matter was spread, because his move was considered as good news for Yang Kai.
But in fact, Yang Kai did not want to change his territory at all. Since the hidden danger of his original plot had been resolved and with the Ruler of the Dawn Great General, the God of Fortune, he was not expecting any harvest from the orchard like the other Workers did. Comparatively, Yang Kai preferred his small plot as he didn’t need to spend much time or energy to care for it. Furthermore, the main advantage of it was to be close to Old Fang. When they were free, they could drink and play chess together. Those days were so carefree.
But now that things have come to this point, Yang Kai could only take things one step at a time.
This plot was much larger than his previous one, and there was an exquisitely built thatched house on it. Yang Kai knew at a glance that it was not built by the bear Xiang Yong. It was probably left by the Worker who took care of the fruit trees here before.
Old Fang also had his own hut. The reason why Yang Kai did not have one was because the area of his plot was too small to build one. Otherwise, he would have built one for himself.
After all, the Workers had to spend nearly a month in the orchard at a time. Although it was fine for them to live without a house, it was more comfortable to live in a shelter.
When Yang Kai pushed the door in, so much dust blew into his face he almost choked.
Yang Kai was speechless, wondering how long the bear had not entered the house as the dust inside was visibly thick. After some simple cleanup, Yang Kai brought out some furniture from his Space Ring and only then did the small house look half-decent.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Yang Kai took out the control token for this plot and held it in the palm of his hand.
Before Zhou Zheng left, he exchanged his token with Xiang Yong’s. The tokens of each territory were distinct, so Yang Kai needed to refine it before knowing the details of this plot
Yang Kai immediately refined the token, though he remained vigilant after what happened today. He felt that he had to be on guard at all times now so that Zhou Zheng could not find fault with him.
The token was specially made by Fire Spirit Land for the Workers, and because their owners frequently changed, the tokens were not difficult to refine.
Yang Kai took less than two hours to finish refining the token, and he then poured his Divine Sense into it to investigate.
Yang Kai immediately clicked his tongue.
It seemed that Xiang Yong was quite valued. Although this plot was not excessively large, it was still 50% bigger than Old Fang’s, thus having 50% more fruit trees.
Yang Kai could not see the details of each fruit tree in the token, however, so he could only check them one by one to see if there were any problems that needed to be solved.
After leaving the house, Yang Kai wandered around his new plot and examined the fruit trees. Only then did he discover that Xiang Yong had not been doing a good job in taking care of the fruit trees. Xiang Yong had clearly made so many mistakes that Yang Kai had no idea how he managed to get such a large territory.
If this plot was given to Old Fang, he definitely would have taken much better care of the fruit trees than Xiang Yong.
Yang Kai had no choice but to take some time to fix these issues. After an entire day of hard work, Yang Kai was deeply missing his small plot of land. Fortunately, the number of fruits on the fruit trees was recorded correctly, without any discrepancies.
The next day, Yang Kai continued to patrol his plot, taking care of the fruit trees, but while he was deworming one of them, he heard a familiar voice not far away, “Yang Kai?”
Yang Kai looked up and saw a beautiful figure standing against the fiery red background, looking at him curiously from a short distance, her somewhat sleepy eyes full of puzzlement.
“Xiao Dié?” Yang Kai was pleasantly surprised, “Why are you here?”
Dié You rushed over, all the while peering around, “I was about to ask you the same. Why are you here? Isn’t this plot Xiang Yong’s?”
“It’s mine now.” Yang Kai chuckled, immediately understanding something, “Is your plot nearby?”
Dié You pointed to the side.
Yang Kai nodded, “No wonder it’s a Heavenly Paradise, I understand now!”
“What Heavenly Paradise?” Dié You was confused.
“It’s nothing.” Yang Kai shook his head and did not explain. He did not understand when Xiang Yong called this place his Heavenly Paradise yesterday. To others, this place may not be much different from any other plot, but to Xiang Yong, there was no better place in the orchard than here. No wonder he reacted so strongly when Zhou Zheng wanted to change his site yesterday.
Xiang Yong was nowhere to be seen when Zhou Zheng and Yang Kai arrived here together, so clearly he was pestering Dié You. How could Xiang Yong take care of such a large plot when he was spending most of his time and effort on Dié You?
The mystery of the dusty hut was also explained; he obviously had no time to go back to it.
Now it seemed that the person that Zhou Zheng used was not just a random choice, but was selected carefully. He must know how Xiang Yong felt about Dié You, and deliberately picked this plot for Yang Kai to take over. It would be strange if Xiang Yong did not hate him now.
“What did Xiang Yong do? Why did you take over this plot?” Dié You wondered.
Yang Kai smiled bitterly, “It’s a long story.”
“Take your time,” Dié You pursed her lips and giggled.
There was nothing to do, and since they were friends already, Yang Kai recounted what happened before. Hearing that Yang Kai actually found a Fourth-Order’s Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame, Dié You’s hand flew to her scarlet lips in shock, and Yang Kai, who made such a great contribution, not only won a generous reward from Du Ru Feng but was also transferred to this plot.
However, he offended Zhou Zheng, and now Xiang Yong too. It was a blessing and a curse at the same time.
“Your days have been quite exciting,” Dié You laughed sweetly as her eyes upturned into crescents.
Yang Kai narrowed his eyes at her, “Why do I feel like you’re taking pleasure in my misfortune?”
“No, no.” Dié You waved her hands quickly, “It’s true that I’ve never met a Worker who has caused such a big scene in just a few months, and this is not even inclusive of the matter regarding Great General.” As she spoke, Dié You took out a Jade Fire Silkworm and fed it to the stupid chicken, who pecked on it lazily but returned no reward.
“Do you think I want this?” Yang Kai was indignant; sometimes trouble would come looking for him even if he did not want it to.
“It doesn’t matter. According to what you said, you have made great achievements, so Sir Du is probably looking at you in a different light now and intends to promote you. So even if Zhou Zheng doesn’t like you, there’s nothing he can do. But of course, the premise is that you do not commit any huge mistakes.”
“If only it was that easy. Zhou Zheng is not so easy to deal with, you can see that from the matter regarding Xiang Yong.”
Dié You nodded softly, “He wants to murder with a borrowed knife… And Xiang Yong…” She looked like she was having a headache. It seemed like she was terribly harassed by the bear, “Don’t worry, if Xiang Yong comes asking for trouble, I’ll warn him.”
“Don’t, if you intervene when he comes to make trouble, the situation will only get worse.” Yang Kai stopped her hurriedly. He was already stopped once by the bear when he was seen going to the shopping district with Dié You. If Dié You showed up again, it would only give birth to more misunderstandings between him and Xiang Yong.
“You’re right.” Dié You frowned, “Then what should we do?”
“Nothing, just let it be.” Yang Kai shrugged, “By the way, how many Jade Fire Silkworms have you collected these days? Give them to me while we’re here.”
“Sure.” Dié You handed over the Jade Fire Silkworms she collected the past few days to Yang Kai, who then patted Ruler of the Dawn Great General on his head, “Time to eat!”
Even though he knew that Xiang Yong would not give up and would definitely come looking for trouble again, Yang Kai did not expect him to come so soon.
Not long after Dié You left, the big bear plummeted from the sky and landed in front of Yang Kai.
Yang Kai blinked at him, “Brother Xiang is here?”
Xiang Yong threatened with rage in his eyes, “Just you wait, I’ll be back to deal with you!”
After leaving that threat, he hurriedly walked towards Dié You’s plot. A moment later, Yang Kai heard a screech, followed by Xiang Yong howling in pain from the depths of the orchard.
After a while, Xiang Yong returned with a bruised nose and a swollen face. Although he looked terrible, his expression was full of contentment. He went straight to Yang Kai and stared at him condescendingly, “Little brat, you have any wine?”
Yang Kai turned his eyes away from him, for fear that he might burst out laughing if he continued to stare at Xiang Yong directly, and picked up an urn of wine and handed it over.
Xiang Yong slammed the seal on the mouth of the wine urn and gulped half of it down his throat, then nodded contentedly with a loud burp, “Little brat, you have the right attitude at least!”
Yang Kai asked while busying himself with work, “Doesn’t Brother Xiang need to take care of his plot? How are you so free to be here?”
Xiang Yong spat and complained, “Can that pea-sized place even be considered a plot? Father here can deal with it with just a glance. It’s so small that I don’t even want to care for it, so I left it all to that old guy next to me.”
Yang Kai turned to look at him, “Is that old guy surnamed Fang?”
“En, him!” Xiang Yong nodded, “He was very concerned about what happened to you, it seems that you two have a good relationship.”
Yang Kai suddenly realized that he forgot to report to Old Fang that he was safe. He had no time to go back after he was taken to this place by Zhou Zheng yesterday, so Old Fang was probably worried sick.
“What did you tell him?”
Xiang Yong sneered, “Why should I tell him anything?”
Yang Kai was speechless and immediately took out a communication artifact. After sending Old Fang a message, he immediately received a reply, asking him what happened. Old Fang was obviously waiting for news for the past two days.
Without going into detail, Yang Kai could only assure Old Fang not to worry, that everything was fine, and he would explain to him during their rest days.
After communicating with Old Fang, Yang Kai put away the artifact and turned to Xiang Yong, “Looks like she was quite ruthless.”
Xiang Yong was quite strong, so Dié You must have not held back to have beaten him up like this.
“I’m used to it, it’s no big deal.” Xiang Yong snorted.
Yang Kai could not help admiring it, “Brother Xiang is truly loyal.”
“What do you know?” Xiang Yong snorted, his mouth full of alcohol, “If it wasn’t for Xiao Dié, I would have been dead for a long time! My life is hers, what does it matter if she beats me up a few times?”
Yang Kai wondered, “Sister Dié You is Brother Xiang’s life-saver?”
Xiang Yong snorted, “I have nothing to say to you, why are you asking so much?”
“Just chatting, there’s nothing much to do anyway.”
Xiang Yong frowned and pondered for a while. He seemed to think that what Yang Kai said was reasonable, and softened his tone a little, “Then tell me, why doesn’t Xiao Dié like me? What am I doing wrong?”
[How am I supposed to know? You should ask Dié You. Love is a matter of two people, what’s the use when only one person is involved?]
“Aren’t you being too intense?” Yang Kai asked.
“What’s too intense?” Xiang Yong stared.
“You’re pushing her too intensely!” Yang Kai explained, “Take a moment to think about this, how would you feel if a woman pestered you all day long and didn’t give you any space to even breathe?”
“Is she beautiful?”
“Does it matter?” This time it was Yang Kai’s turn to stare.
“Of course it does.” Xiang Yong snorted, “If she’s beautiful, I will make her my woman on the spot. If she’s ugly, I’ll give her three punches and two kicks… Eh? Little brat, are you saying I’m ugly? How am I, your Father, ugly!?”
Yang Kai replied sternly, “Brother Xiang is brave and heroic, an extraordinary man in every way. How can he be associated with the word ‘ugly’? Sister Dié You probably doesn’t know how to appreciate your handsomeness!” As he spoke, Yang Kai for some reason, felt his conscience hurt a little.
Xiang Yong narrowed his eyes, “Are you saying Xiao Dié has bad eyes?”
There was nothing else he could say, so Yang Kai just waved his hand, “Brother Xiang, please go, I have work to do!”
A palm slammed hard on Yang Kai’s shoulder and felt his knees bend from the large impact, “Don’t go, don’t go, let’s talk this out.” Xiang Yong ‘requested’.
“Talk what out?” Yang Kai turned to look at him.
“Tell me, how can I get Xiao Dié to follow me willingly? As long as you can help Father here this time, this Xiang will let go of everything in the past!”
[Damn it, how am I supposed to help you with this? It’s all up to you!] Yang Kai was really speechless.
By the looks of it though, Xiang Yong would not let this go until Yang Kai came up with a sensible plan. After racking his brain hard, he finally suggested, “Why don’t you try playing hard-to-get?”
Xiang Yong’s eyes lit up, looking around for a while before asking sneakily, “How do I play hard-to-get?”
Yang Kai lowered his voice too, “Brother Xiang has been following Sister Dié You constantly for a long time now, so she’s probably used to having you look for her every day. In that case, if you suddenly stop looking for her, wouldn’t she feel something is odd? Then she would start wondering what you’re busy with, or wondering if you got hurt. As long as she has thoughts like this, she will start to care about you. Men and women are the same, we always want what we cannot have. She wouldn’t know how to cherish Brother Xiang if you constantly offer yourself to her.”
Xiang Yong’s heart was moved when he heard this and his face flushed as he pictured the possible scene of a wonderful future. He licked his lips and asked again, “Is this way possible?”
“You won’t know if you don’t try. In any case, Brother Xiang has nothing to lose. If it doesn’t work, just think of another way.”
“I’ll do it!” Xiang Yong loudly palmed his fist, “Let’s do as you suggested, when should I start?”
“Let’s start now.”
“Good!” Xiang Yong strode in big steps, “Then I’ll go back first. If Dié You asks about me later, remember to let me know.”
Seeing that Xiang Yong had left, Yang Kai let out a sigh of relief. He did not expect this guy to be so easy to fool.
However, after only two days, Xiang Yong returned again. Yang Kai’s head instantly started aching at the sight of him, but he had no way to hide, so he greeted him, “Brother Xiang is here again?”
Xiang Yong rushed over, looked around, then leaned over to whisper, “How is it? How is it?”
“What do you mean?” Yang Kai was confused.
“Did Xiao Dié ask about me? Did she miss me? Did she cry and try to look for me?”
“Ah…” Yang Kai saw a face full of expectation and did not want to hurt him by telling him the truth, so he could only lie, “I’m not sure. I haven’t met Sister Dié You these two days. I’ve just come here and am busy taking care of the fruit trees.”
“Waste!” Xiang Yong snarled as he glanced sideways at Yang Kai, “Why don’t you inquire about it? Why do I need such an incompetent person like you?”
The corner of Yang Kai’s mouth twitched and he did not know what to say.
Xiang Yong shoved both arms, “I’ll ask myself.”
He went past Yang Kai straight to Dié You’s plot, and after a short while, the familiar screech and painful howl of Xiang Yong echoed through the air.
A moment later, Xiang Yong came back limping with bruises on his face. Yang Kai was shocked, because this time, his nose and mouth were bloody.
When he came in front of Yang Kai, Xiang Yong retorted angrily, “What kind of shit idea did you give me? It didn’t work at all! Xiao Dié hit me even harder!”
Yang Kai sighed, “Brother Xiang, I have something to say, but I’m not sure if I should!”
“Just say it!” Xiang Yong snorted coldly and wiped the blood under his nose with his hand.
“There are plenty of other fish in the sea…”
Xiang Yong guffawed, “Although there are many women in the world, Father here has identified Xiao Dié as the love of my life! Except for Xiao Dié, even if the most beautiful woman in the world stands in front of me, I won’t steal a glance. I have decided since she saved my life back then, she is destined to be my woman! Whoever dares to touch her, I will tear his flesh apart and drink his blood!”
Hearing this, Yang Kai was genuinely impressed. He did not expect Xiang Yong to be so infatuated. It was just that his method of picking up women was a little too annoying, while he was also quite dumb.
But then again, even though Xiang Yong was a little hateful, without a doubt he was sweet to Dié You, otherwise, he would not endure getting beaten like this every time.
“Are you planning to lay your hand on Xiao Dié?” Xiang Yong suddenly turned his head and glared at Yang Kai fiercely, with his eyes full of murderous light, as if he would kill Yang Kai on the spot if he dared to say yes.
“I’ve only known Sister Dié You for about two months. I don’t deserve such a Heavenly beauty like Sister Dié You.”
“It’s best you think so!” Xiang Yong snorted, “If you dare to touch her, I will tear you to pieces!”
“I wouldn’t dare!”
“I’ll give you a task!” Xiang Yong put on a grim face and ordered regardless of whether Yang Kai was willing or not, “Look after Xiao Dié for me. If anyone dares to pester her, tell me immediately and I’ll deal with him. Do you hear me?”
Yang Kai nodded silently.
Only then did Xiang Yong look satisfied. He reached out to touch the wound on his face, hissed as he winced in pain, and walked back.
After taking a few steps, he suddenly turned around and shouted, “Oh, one more thing, remember what you said last time.”
Yang Kai was puzzled, “What did I say?”
Xiang Yong continued, “You said last time that the income of this land and your previous land belongs to me. Your tiny plot is not really profitable, but mine can earn me twenty Open Heaven Pills every year. Remember to give it to me later.”
[Twenty?] Yang Kai could not help glaring at him. This was obviously nonsense. Although the area of this plot was not small, given that Xiang Yong was not focused on taking care of the fruit trees and devoted all his time to wooing Dié You, how much extra income could he get except above the normal salary of a Worker every year?
Twenty pills were absolutely impossible. It was obviously blackmail.
Earlier, Yang Kai still had some admiration for Xiang Yong’s unwavering infatuation, but now it seemed that this hateful man indeed had a hateful side.
Yang Kai did not bother to negotiate with him though because twenty pills were really nothing to him with his current wealth.
Right after the departure of Xiang Yong, Dié You appeared, “Sorry, Little Brother Yang Kai. I’ve caused you trouble.” Dié You apologized.
“It’s not because of you.” Yang Kai waved his hand. Zhou Zheng was the cause of this situation. If he had to blame someone, Zhou Zheng was the one.
He turned around and asked curiously, “Xiang Yong mentioned that you saved his life before?”
Dié You smiled wryly, “That’s a big exaggeration. When he first came to Fire Spirit Land as a Worker, he made some mistakes and was punished nearly to death. I only fed him a healing pill while he was able to survive thanks to his own good foundation, so it doesn’t have much to do with me. He has been like this since then. If I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t have meddled in his business.”
Yang Kai nodded, “Xiao Dié has always been kind it seems.”
“Actually, he isn’t a bad person, it’s just his character that is a little overbearing.” Dié You sighed, “And he’s quite stubborn.”
Yang Kai smiled, “Xiao Dié, have you ever considered him?”
Dié You shot a glare at him, “Don’t tease your Elder Sister!”
After saying so, she was too lazy to talk to Yang Kai anymore and turned back to her plot.
Since that day, Xiang Yong would come over almost every day, and he would get beaten as usual, but he actually seemed to be enjoying it. Yang Kai also gradually got used to it.
Sometimes, after being beaten, Xiang Yong would leave directly, but sometimes he would stay and talk to Yang Kai, just to find out if anyone harassed Dié You when he was away.
On a certain day, when Yang Kai was taking care of the fruit trees, he heard a sky-piercing sound, followed by someone falling nearby.
He thought it was Xiang Yong again, so he did not bother to turn around and continued to take care of the fruit trees; however, out of his expectation, the visitor did not mean to leave, so Yang Kai looked back curiously. At first glance, he immediately turned around in shock and cupped his fist, “Greetings, Sir Du!”
The visitor this time was not Xiang Yong, but Du Ru Feng.
Du Ru Feng did not act as cold and proud as before, but smiled instead, “I thought I saw you from above, so I came down to have a look.”
“Was Sir looking for me?” Yang Kai asked.
“I’m not looking for you specifically. I just came to inspect the orchard today. Head Manager will be coming to inspect things in a few days, so I have to perform a check in advance to avoid any mistakes.” Du Ru Feng explained.
Yang Kai looked enlightened. He had been here for several months, and he knew almost all the information about Seven Wonders Land that he should know now. There were seven orchards, and each orchard had a Manager like Zhou Zheng, who oversaw the day-to-day operations of the orchards of each Spirit Land respectively. Above them, there was a Head Manager who was directly in charge of all the orchards and reported only to the Heavenly Monarch. His status was no worse than that of the Venerable Protectors.
“Then Sir should really check carefully,” Yang Kai answered casually. Since he was not close to Du Ru Feng and only assisted him in collecting the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame last time, Yang Kai had no idea why the latter purposely came to talk to him.
“Is this the new place that you’ve been assigned?” When Du Ru Feng questioned, he glanced towards the Ruler of the Dawn Great General unintentionally. During their last meeting, he thought that Yang Kai had offended the Ruler of the Dawn Great General, and Great General was punishing him. However, he did not expect the Venerable to tell him that this was the way Great General showed his affection.
Now that he observed carefully, he realized that it was true. Great General just laid there with his eyes closed, taking its nap carefreely. Du Ru Feng found it funny and interesting, wondering which part of Yang Kai had gained the interest of the Great General.
“Yes!” Yang Kai nodded, “After last time, Manager Zhou brought me here and appointed me to this plot. He also mentioned that it was on Sir Du’s order.”
Du Ru Feng nodded, “En, it was my order. You should be rewarded for your good work. It seems that Zhou Zheng has done his job well and found you a suitable place.”
Yang Kai replied, “The 5,000 Open Heaven Pills were already a generous gift. Yet, Sir still gave me such a good piece of land. This Worker is truly grateful.”
Du Ru Feng waved his hand, “Anyone who contributes should be rewarded. You deserve it.”
[But I don’t want it!] Because of this, Yang Kai was involved in the matter of Xiang Yong, and he had offended the fool for nothing. However, after a few words of probing, Yang Kai was sure that the original reward was indeed 5,000 Open Heaven Pills. Zhou Zheng had not meddled with the reward.
“So,” Du Ru Feng suddenly looked at Yang Kai, “Are you interested in following and working for me?”
Yang Kai was stunned, “What does Sir mean?”
Du Ru Feng folded his hands behind his back, “If you follow me, you will no longer be a Worker, but a disciple of Seven Wonders Land.”
Yang Kai could not help widening his eyes. He was dumbstruck, as if a pie had fallen from the sky and landed in his lap.
The Workers in Fire Spirit Land had the lowest status and had to do the most work every day. Therefore, getting rid of this status was every Worker’s dream. However, they could only achieve their wish by being promoted to the Open Heaven Realm. As such, the Workers had been working hard for countless years to store up Open Heaven Pills, using them to buy appropriate materials in the shopping district. Yang Kai would never expect that such good news would happen to him.
With Du Ru Feng’s status in Fire Spirit Land, since he proposed it himself, it was definitely not a lie. In other words, as long as Yang Kai agreed, he could instantly get rid of his status as a Worker and become a disciple of Seven Wonders Land.
This was absolutely advantageous to his plan of getting the Open Heaven Pill recipe.
[But… This is strange! Although I made great contributions last time, I already received 5,000 Open Heaven Pills and a bigger piece of land as rewards. What’s the purpose of Du Ru Feng sending such a big gift again?]
[Could it be that my Wood Element is being eyed by someone?] Yang Kai secretly became alert.
As if he noticed his hesitation, Du Ru Feng pressed on with a smile, “This is not the order of Venerable, but my personal proposal. The Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame that we collected last time has been awarded to me by Venerable, and it’s the exact Fourth-Order material that I will need within ten years. With this Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame, I am a big step closer to the Fourth-Order Open Heaven Realm. Do you now understand the importance of that Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame to me?”
He paused for a while before he continued, “But you may rest assured. Although this is not the idea of Venerable, since I dared to mention this, I am sure that I can persuade Venerable to remove your identity as a Worker.”
“I’m a man who always returns favours. The Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame is of great importance to me. Now that I’ve profited, I’ll not forget your contribution.” Du Ru Feng looked at Yang Kai with a smile, “What do you think? Are you interested in joining me? I dare not promise anything else, but I still have the confidence to let you be promoted to the Third-Order Open Heaven Realm within three hundred years.”
“Third-Order Open Heaven Realm!” Yang Kai exclaimed.
It could be said that the Third-Order Open Heaven Realm was the greatest that Workers could hope for, but so far, none of them had achieved it. After all, there were too many materials they needed to condense of that Order, and each of them was extremely pricey. The Workers simply could not save enough Open Heaven Pills for them. Of course, Yang Kai’s goal was definitely higher than the Third Order, but he had to act like a Worker should at this moment.
Du Ru Feng nodded, “I know you were fortunate to have condensed a Wood Element above the Fourth Order, but you should know that this is just a moment of luck. If you don’t have other high Order materials, your achievement in the Open Heaven Realm will be limited even if you have a Wood Element above the Fourth Order now.”
“I understand,” Yang Kai nodded.
“It’s good that you understand. I was afraid that your expectations have become extravagantly high due to your excellent starting point, which might lead you to accomplish nothing in the end.”
“Many thanks to Sir for your kind reminder,” Yang Kai cupped his fists, “But after considering it, this Yang should work in the orchard for the time being.”
“Why?” Du Ru Feng was slightly stunned. He did not expect Yang Kai to reject his proposal; after all, it was an irresistible temptation for any Worker.
“First, this disciple only arrived in Fire Spirit Land three months ago. Although I made a contribution, I’ve already received more rewards than I deserve. If there was another huge reward, I’m afraid that if the other Workers learnt about it, they would accuse Sir of being unfair. At that time, they might get impetuous, and I’m afraid that the work in the orchard will be affected.”
“Who would dare?” Du Ru Feng sneered.
Yang Kai continued, “They dare not in public, but I can’t guarantee that they won’t do it secretly.”
Du Ru Feng pondered for a while, and nodded, “Go on.”
“Second, this disciple wants to train further in this orchard. When the time comes in the future, more experience will allow me to better serve Sir. By that time, no one will dare to say anything about it, and it will be more convenient for this Yang to assist Sir. But if I join Sir now, I would not be able to accomplish anything other than just being protected under Sir’s wings.”
Du Ru Feng looked at Yang Kai with a grin, “It’s rare that you are so thoughtful. In that case, follow your thoughts. When you’re ready, you can come to me at any time.”
“Many thanks to Sir for your kindness.”
After encouraging Yang Kai with a few words, Du Ru Feng continued to inspect the orchard. Looking at the direction of his departure, Yang Kai frowned. What happened today was extremely strange to him. Du Ru Feng’s interest in him was very suspicious; therefore, he refused the offer, not just because of his doubt, but also because of the Ruler of the Dawn Great General.
He had just found a way to make a fortune, earning thousands of Open Heaven Pills every month, so he had no reason to follow Du Ru Feng. If he really went over, his income would definitely be cut off. Du Ru Feng guaranteed him that he would be promoted to the Third-Order Open Heaven Realm within three hundred years, but the materials needed for the Third-Order Open Heaven Realm were only worth about 15,000 Open Heaven Pills. Since he could earn this amount in a few years, why did he need Du Ru Feng’s promise?
The next few days were notably calm, but Yang Kai could sense a heavy air in the orchard. Perhaps it was because of the upcoming arrival of the Head Manager, the Workers stayed on their own land obediently and took good care of the fruit trees, for they feared making any mistakes. Even Xiang Yong did not dare to leave his small plot recklessly. It was likely that Zhou Zheng had passed down some orders.
When the time came, the orchard barrier was activated, and everyone was forced out.
Yang Kai quickly rushed back to the Worker’s Room. Soon, Old Fang and Dié You arrived too, and they went straight to the shopping district without hesitation.
They were busy collecting worms from the other six Spirit Lands in the shopping district for the whole day. At night, just like the previous month, the three sat on the ground and split their shares in Yang Kai’s house.
However, the income this time was much greater than the last time. Previously, the agents of those Spirit Lands had doubts and dared not buy too many worms at one time, except for Yu Xue Ping who was bold from the beginning, while the others only brought about six hundred worms at most.
But after confirming the business was legitimate, they no longer hesitated.
This time, more than 12,000 worms were purchased from all over the six Spirit Lands. Including the worms they bought from Fire Spirit Land this month, there were about 15,000 worms in total.
After feeding Great General for a whole day, despite the stupid chicken’s bottomless stomach, he was probably so stuffed that he walked away unsteadily when he left Yang Kai’s room, as if he were drunk.
After deducting the expenses, the income of this month was nearly 10,000 Open Heaven Pills!
According to the previous agreement, Old Fang and Dié You each took ten percent, which was 1,000 pills, while the remaining 8,000 belonged to Yang Kai.
Old Fang’s eyes turned red; it was not due to jealousy though, but excitement. Recalling the past hundreds of years when he had to work so hard for his Open Heaven Pills and had to be exceptionally careful with his spending, then thinking about how he could earn so many with such little effort now, he could not help being emotional.
Yang Kai laughed and patted him on the shoulder, “Old Fang, why are you crying? This is just the beginning. The good days are still yet to come!”
Old Fang wiped the tears off the corners of his eyes, “Shitty brat, I cried because you did not come to Fire Spirit Land hundreds of years earlier! If you came earlier, this Old Master wouldn’t have had to work so hard only to refine the Second-Order materials. If this Old Master had condensed Fourth-Order materials, he could have been promoted straight to the Fourth-Order Open Heaven Realm! Unfortunately, since things have been set, I don’t have a chance to change it anymore.”
“I wasn’t even born several hundred years ago!” Yang Kai sneered, “You’re talking nonsense again. Fourth-Order materials in Fire Spirit Land are incredibly rare. Even if you saved enough Open Heaven Pills, you wouldn’t be able to buy them. You should be content to be able to condense Second-Order materials.”
Old Fang nodded, “True. I’m content, I’m content!” His original goal was the Second-Order Open Heaven Realm, and he worked so hard to save Open Heaven Pills just for this goal. What could he be uncontented about now?
Dié You smiled on the side, “According to our current income, we can buy a material every one or two years, but… we still can’t compare with Little Brother Yang Kai.”
“Who can compare with him?” Old Fang smiled wryly. Previously, Yang Kai received 5,000 Open Heaven Pills as a reward, and he thought it was already a massive number, but who knew Yang Kai would earn 8,000 more each month?
“How about I share another ten percent to both of you?” Yang Kai looked at them.
Dié You and Old Fang exchanged looks, and waved their hands together, “No, we should just stick back to our original agreement, which is ten percent. If necessary, we can just borrow Open Heaven Pills from you in the future.”
“Good!” Yang Kai nodded, and suddenly asked as he remembered something, “By the way, if a Worker buys materials and wants to condense and absorb them, what should they do about their plot in the orchard? You can’t take care of the fruit trees and absorb Open Heaven materials at the same time, right?”
Dié You explained, “You can apply for a retreat. They can’t make a horse run without feeding it, so Seven Wonders Land is still quite understanding when it comes to this matter.”
Old Fang nodded, “Yes, you can apply for a retreat as long as you need to absorb Open Heaven materials. Of course, it also depends on the arrangement of each Manager. You can’t have too many people in retreat at the same time, or there will be no one to take care of the orchard.”
Dié You continued, “Therefore, this matter still needs the Manager’s approval. Even if you apply, you may have to wait more than ten or twenty years or even longer to get your turn. I once applied for a retreat, and had to wait for fifty years!”
Yang Kai laughed, “If I apply, Zhou Zheng certainly will not approve.”
After chatting for a while, the three dispersed with Yang Kai and Old Fang heading to the shopping district again. They had earned a lot this time, so they were going to enjoy themselves before the shopping district closed.
Dié You did not want to go, so they did not force her; after all, drinking was really not entertainment that was suitable for women.
When Yang Kai came back from the shopping district, he went straight to Dié You’s house and knocked on the door. Dié You was a little surprised to see him, but still let him in, serving him a cup of tea as she asked curiously, “Did you forget something?”
“Nope.” Yang Kai smiled as he acted mysterious, “Just wanted to give you something. See if you like it.” He took something out of his Space Ring.
Dié You blushed, “You came all the way just to give me something? What is it?”
“See for yourself,” Yang Kai grinned, and did not tell her what it was.
Dié You glanced at him, then looked down and saw a delicate box in front of him. It was not the Cyan Wood Box that was used for catching worms, but another box that looked quite familiar. Suddenly, she realized what was in the box, and immediately looked up at Yang Kai, “Did you buy it?”
“You know what it is?” Yang Kai was surprised.
Dié You replied, “I’ve been here for a thousand years, and have made purchases there before. I recognize this box.” As she spoke, she opened the box, and a bundle filled with a rich Metal Element that kept transforming in shape was revealed before her eyes.
“Stainless Golden Dew!” Dié You sighed lightly, “It’s really this. Why did you buy it?”
Yang Kai beamed, “I told you before that I’d buy it for you!”
“That was just a joke! No, this is too expensive. Take it back!” Dié You shook her head. This Third-Order material was worth 16,000 Open Heaven Pills in the Open Heaven Temple. She could only take a look at it every time she went to the shopping district, but she did not really expect to be able to buy it one day, so she could not believe that it was placed in front of her now. She closed the box and pushed it back to Yang Kai as she spoke.
“Since I gave it to you, I won’t take it back.” Yang Kai pushed the box back at her again and continued with a solemn face, “I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t have sufficient financial resources. Since I have enough Open Heaven Pills now, I naturally have to fulfil what I promised you before. Moreover, when I first came to Fire Spirit Land, you helped me a lot. Take this as a gift of thanks from me.”
Dié You still insisted on rejecting it, but Yang Kai pressed on, “It’s useless for me to take it back. I can’t get a refund on it anyway”
“Keep it for yourself. You’ll definitely need it in the future.”
Yang Kai shook his head, “I’m not aiming for the Third Order!”
Dié You was a little baffled…
Looking at the entire Seven Wonders Land, the Third-Order Open Heaven Realm was not only the Workers’ limit, it could even be said to be the limit of the achievements of most Seven Wonders Land disciples.
Apart from disciples like Du Ru Feng, who were highly valued by the Venerables, who else could get materials above the Third Order? There were very few in the entire Seven Wonders Land who had the opportunity to achieve anything above the Third-Order Open Heaven Realm.
Dié You was not a fool, and when Yang Kai said that he was not interested in Third-Order materials, she naturally understood what he meant. Back then, when she first came to Fire Spirit Land, she was just as ambitious. Unfortunately, the passing of the years had dampened her spirit, and she had long lost such drive.
Who knew if Yang Kai would accept a fate equal to hers after many years…
“Where did you get so many Open Heaven Pills?” Dié You asked, then she suddenly remembered that Yang Kai earned 8,000 this month and received 5,000 as a reward, which added up to 13,000. Including his income from the last two months, it should be enough. Even if it was not enough, he could have borrowed some from Old Fang.
“Don’t worry about it.” Yang Kai grinned meaningfully, “Could it be that Xiao Dié wants to achieve a higher Order like me and doesn’t find Third-Order material attractive anymore?”
“How is that possible? Old Fang said it before too, we have already set our foundation, and we have no chance to change it. It’s just that…”
Seeing that she was still a little hesitant, Yang Kai started, “Don’t think too much, it doesn’t mean anything else. It’s just what I promised before. Now that I’m capable, I will naturally keep my word. I didn’t expect to be able to buy it so soon either.”
Dié You sighed softly, “Fine, I will accept it, but I’ll take it as a loan from you. Now that I can earn a lot of Open Heaven Pills from you every month, this amount is not something I cannot afford.” After a pause, she continued solemnly, “Little Brother, thank you!”
Yang Kai laughed, “I didn’t even thank you when you helped me so much.”
Dié You replied, “How can it be the same? It didn’t cost me much when I helped you, but this thing is worth 16,000 Open Heaven Pills.”
Yang Kai shook his head slowly, “Many are willing to add flowers to one’s bouquet, but few will send you charcoal in a frigid winter. It has always been like this. And to me, the value of the few Open Heaven Pills you loaned me back then can’t be measured.”
…..
At the same time, inside another house located in the Worker’s Room, two people sat opposite each other at a table fully plated with wine and dishes. One of them was serving the wine and dishes enthusiastically, the smile on his face never faltering for a moment, “Manager Zhou, try this, these are all specially bought by this Xiang from the shopping district.”
Zhou Zheng drank the wine and ate the food served to him for a time before he slowly put down his chopsticks, “I’m sure this table cost you a great deal.”
Xiang Yong replied hastily, “Not at all, not at all. As long as Manager Zhou is pleased.” All the while, he cursed silently how difficult it was to even invite him to a meal. When he came back from the orchard, he intentionally invited Zhou Zheng but was ignored. Only after persisting several times in a row did Zhou Zheng accept the invitation, but because he was not in a good mood, he did not want to go to the shopping district and insisted on dining here in the Worker’s Room.
What else could Xiang Yong do? He went to the shopping district and brought back a table of wine and dishes.
After three rounds of wine and tasting all the dishes, the atmosphere became livelier as they chatted, and Xiang Yong decided that now was the moment to strike, “Manager Zhou, is there something you can do about this Xiang’s matter?”
Zhou Zheng replied as he continued eating, “This Zhou is sorry, but this Zhou can’t do anything about it. Sir Du has spoken, and this Zhou had to find a place to switch with that fellow; otherwise, I wouldn’t know how to explain to Sir Du.”
Xiang Yong almost cursed out loud. [Sir Du did ask you to find a place for Yang Kai, but the orchard is so big, why pick my Heavenly Paradise!?] The displeasure was obvious on his face as he continued, “Since it was Sir Du who gave the order, it should be done, but Manager Zhou, can’t we change him to another place? I have taken care of that plot of land for so many years, and it is somewhat sentimental to me. I am reluctant to leave it.”
Zhou Zheng sneered in his heart, knowing that it was not the land that was sentimental to him, but Xiang Yong’s neighbour. Outwardly though, Zhou Zheng waved his hand, “Impossible, if it was a few days ago, it might have been possible, but today, it is impossible to move him.”
“Why?” Xiang Yong’s eyes widened, “That little brat can’t be so powerful that Manager Zhou can’t even move him!”
“Of course not.” Zhou Zheng smiled bitterly, “But that little brat made a massive contribution recently and is now heavily favoured by Sir Du. When Sir Du was inspecting the orchard a few days ago, he even went down to talk to him for a time. In other words, Sir Du already knows that he is in charge of that plot. If I moved him away casually, and Sir Du asked about it, how would I explain it to him?”
“Sir Du went down to talk to him on purpose?” Xiang Yong was stunned, unable to understand why Yang Kai had such good luck.
After a moment of silence, Xiang Yong poured some more wine and spoke in a low voice, “Manager Zhou, if we can’t move him, we can move others. This Xiang also doesn’t want that piece of land, couldn’t you find a way to transfer me to a land neighbouring it? It shouldn’t be difficult, right?”
“There must be a reason for a transfer of personnel. The others have done a good job, so why should I transfer them away?”
Xiang Yong was speechless, [Is this the first time you did this? Haven’t you done it before? As the Orchard Manager, mobilizing personnel is just a matter of one sentence, who can complain about it? It’s obvious that you don’t want to help Father here!]
Looking at Zhou Zheng’s hateful face, Xiang Yong could not help but get angry.
However, Zhou Zheng just sneered, “You might as well worry about that person instead of worrying about your little piece of land. If the land is gone, it can be replaced, but if the person is gone, what can you exchange for it?”
“Who?” Xiang Yong was confused.
“Who do you think?” Zhou Zheng looked at him coldly.
Xiang Yong blinked, “Xiao Dié? What happened to Xiao Die?” Suddenly nervous, he stood up abruptly, looking ferocious again, “What happened to her?”
Zhou Zheng chuckled, “What could have happened to her? Not only has nothing happened to her, but she’s also still alive and well at this time.”
Xiang Yong frowned and stared at him, feeling that Zhou Zheng was implying something, and he was disgusted with his pretentious attitude. Recalling how he was rejected by Zhou Zheng’s excuses, he could not help but remarked coldly, “Manager Zhou, if you have anything to say, please say it directly. This Xiang is a rather straightforward person and can’t understand people who beat around the bush.”
Zhou Zheng patted him, looking heartbroken for him, “It’s because you are too naïve that you don’t even know that you’ve been deceived.”
“Who dares to deceive me!?” Xiang Yong was furious.
“Forget it, let’s not talk about this, come and drink!”
“Bullshit!” Xiang Yong yelled and flipped the table in front of him to the ground with a large stomp. He would have drenched Zhou Zheng with wine and dishes if the latter had not dodged in time.
“Xiang Yong, what are you doing!?” Zhou Zheng was furious. Although he knew that Xiang Yong was an uncultured brute, he did not expect him to be this crude.
Xiang Yong’s face was grim and rebellious, “Manager Zhou, when someone kindly invites you for a meal, isn’t it not right that you stir up so much trouble in their heart?”
“It’s not this King that made you upset, but someone else. Why are you mad at me?”
Xiang Yong cracked his neck, “I don’t care, Manager Zhou, you have to make it clear right now!”
Zhou Zheng sneered again, “Are you sure you want to know?”
Xiang Yong’s glare looked as though he could eat him alive. His answer was obvious.
Zhou Zheng gritted his teeth, “Good, good, good. Since you want to know, then I’ll let you know. I hope you won’t regret it.” He did not explain further, but just took out a token and surged his power into it. Holding the token up, and waving it in front of himself, Zhou Zheng proceeded, “Open your eyes and look clearly.”
When the words fell, a projection of a scene immediately appeared in the air between the pair. There was nothing unusual about the scene. It was just an ordinary house, one of many in the Worker’s Room. There were at least five hundred huts like this in the entire Worker’s Room.
Xiang Yong, however, recognized it at a glance, “Isn’t that Xiao Dié’s house?”
“You have good eyesight!” Zhou Zheng snorted coldly.
“What does Manager Zhou want me to see?” Xiang Yong wondered.
“Just watch and wait, you’ll know soon enough.” Zhou Zheng did not bother to talk nonsense with him.
Xiang Yong stared at him for a while, guessing that he would not be able to get any further answers, so he just stared carefully. Nothing abnormal happened, however, and it was rather boring.
After waiting for more than half an hour, the door of the hut in the projection suddenly opened.
Xiang Yong was startled, and watched expectantly.
But in the next moment, his anticipation turned into shock, and then turned into anger. The fury in his eyes burned as though he was a volcano about to erupt.
“Yang… Kai!!” Xiang Yong growled through gritted teeth, “Why is this little brat coming out of Xiao Dié’s hut at this hour!?”
In the projection, Yang Kai seemed to be in a good mood as he walked out of the house with a smile on his face, and Dié You, who followed behind him, had a blush on her beautiful face. Yang Kai did not look back, however, and just waved his hand at her.
Zhou Zheng watched indifferently, clicking his tongue, “A man and woman meeting up in the dead of night, what do you think this little brat was doing just now? Tsk tsk, he has only come to Fire Spirit Land for a few months, and was already favoured by both Sir Du and a beautiful woman. He is truly enviable.”
Xiang Yong’s face twitched, and the anger in his eyes instantly turned into endless murderous intent, “Damn him!”
He turned around with an axe in his hand, a murderous aura boiling violently as he walked towards the door, “I’ll kill him!”
Zhou Zheng barked coldly, “Workers are not allowed to fight in private. The assaulter will be imprisoned for up to a hundred years depending on the severity of the assault. Murderers will be killed without mercy. Do you want to be buried together with him?”
Xiang Yong halted. Although he was angry at the moment, he still had some sense left. He knew that what Zhou Zheng said was right. If he really killed Yang Kai, he would definitely follow after him, and no one could save him then.
After just three breaths of time, Xiang Yong roared, “Then I’ll beat him up first!”
Zhou Zheng replied, “Even for a minor assault, three years of confinement is inescapable. While you spend three years in prison, this little brat and your Sister Dié You will be free to do whatever they want.”
Xiang Yong turned his head sharply, glaring at Zhou Zheng.
Zhou Zheng sneered, “What are you looking at me for? It’s not me who messed with your woman!”
“Then do you want me to do nothing!?” Xiang Yong shouted angrily, his face contorting into all kinds of ferocious and scary expressions constantly; he was obviously struggling inside.
Seeing this, Zhou Zheng advised, “Xiang Yong, you have to be especially calm at this time; otherwise, your impulse may spoil everything.”
“It’s easy for you to say, and your advice is not helping at all!” Xiang Yong replied in a deep voice, “Manager Zhou, just pretend you don’t know anything today. I’ll kill him now!”
“If you want him to die, you don’t have to do it with your own hands!” Zhou Zheng sneered.
Xiang Yong, who was about to leave, immediately stopped and turned to Zhou Zheng.
Zhou Zheng’s face changed, “I always talk nonsense when I drink. Don’t take it seriously. It’s late at night. I should go back and have a rest.” After stating this, he wanted to rush out of the door.
Xiang Yong stopped Zhou Zheng with a swing of his axe, and his burly body stood blocking the entrance, looking down at Zhou Zheng.
Zhou Zheng was not scared but still narrowed his eyes slightly, “Xiang Yong, are you going to fight this King? This King is a little drunk after all that wine, but it seems that you are even more out of your mind.”
Xiang Yong answered in a deep voice, “Sir Manager is an Open Heaven Realm Master, and I know that I’m no match for you. If we really initiate a fight, I would only end up being humiliated; however, the matter of Xiao Dié is exceptionally important to me. If Manager has a good plan, please tell me directly. I will be very grateful.”
“What if I don’t?” Zhou Zheng stared at him coldly.
Xiang Yong snickered, “Although Sir Manager is an Open Heaven Realm Master, you’re just First-Order. I will fight to my death and probably be able to tear off a big chunk of your flesh!”
“You’re crazy!” Zhou Zheng was infuriated.
Xiang Yong rubbed his own chin with a ferocious look, “Please teach me, Sir Manager!”
Zhou Zheng was staring at him in the eyes quietly and saw only determination and viciousness in his eyes.
After a long time, Zhou Zheng started, “Xiang Yong, why do you have to be like this? Since Dié You doesn’t like you, why do you still not let go?”
“This is my own business. Sir Manager doesn’t need to care about it!”
Zhou Zheng sighed, “It’s actually not up to me to have a say about this matter, but for the sake of your infatuation, this King can give you some advice. However…”
Xiang Yong assured, “Don’t worry, Sir Manager. It has nothing to do with you. No matter what happens in the end, this Xiang will bear all the consequences!”
“Very good!” Zhou Zheng nodded, “If so, come closer!”
Xiang Yong hurriedly leaned in, and Zhou Zheng whispered to him in detail for a while. The expression on Xiang Yong’s face changed endlessly during the conversation, and he secretly sighed that Zhou Zheng was truly a cruel and merciless person. If the plan really worked, Yang Kai would die without doubt, and he could obtain victory without staining his own hands!
A moment later, Zhou Zheng informed in a deep voice, “This matter involves many pieces. If it is exposed, your end will not be pleasant, so you should think it over carefully.”
Xiang Yong snickered, “It’s a good idea, Sir Manager. If I don’t do it, I’ll waste your idea.”
“What does it have to do with me?” Zhou Zheng was appalled.
Xiang Yong quickly slapped his mouth, “Yes, yes, yes. It has nothing to do with Sir Manager. It was all my own idea. Come and drink.”
There was no point in continuing drinking when the drinks and food were flipped all over the floor of course, so Zhou Zheng flicked his sleeve and declared, “It’s already late. This King is going back to have a rest.”
Xiang Yong continued, “Then I’ll rely on Manager Zhou for the future affair.”
Zhou Zheng staggered, wondering whether it was a good idea to share this plan with Xiang Yong. However, it was too late to regret. By the look of Xiang Yong, he would definitely carry out the plan, so Zhou Zheng could only secretly pray that it would succeed in making Yang Kai have no way to recover.
Life in the Worker’s Room was uninteresting. After Yang Kai came back from Dié You’s house, he meditated and rested. The next day, he took Old Fang to the shopping district again, mainly to explore new places.
Although he knew about the general situation in the shopping district, there were still some quaint things selling in the stalls, which were brought out by the Workers from their own Universe Worlds.
In order to buy the Third-Order Stainless Golden Dew for Dié You, Yang Kai had spent his entire fortune and even owed Old Fang a few Open Heaven Pills. However, he was not worried, for he could earn a large amount of Open Heaven Pills next month anyway.
All the eating and drinking in the shopping district were Old Fang’s treat. Old Fang naturally would not be calculative with him and he even mysteriously brought Yang Kai to a special place this time.
The place was extremely well hidden and looked insignificant on the outside, but one would only know it was a different world inside when he entered. The people who came here were not only the Workers but also some Seven Wonders Land disciples. Many Seven Wonders Land disciples donned in Seven Coloured Robes were busy with their hands wrapped around beautiful women, having the time of their lives.
Yang Kai was so shocked that he tugged Old Fang’s arm, “Is there such a place in the shopping district?”
Old Fang sneered, “What’s so strange about this? Since ancient times, this industry can be seen everywhere.”
“Who are the… women?” Yang Kai looked around.
Old Fang sighed, “They are all Workers from various Spirit Lands. Everyone is working for a living. I didn’t have the capability last time, but since I have it now, I will try to help them as much as I can.”
Yang Kai looked at him strangely. This was the first time he heard someone making this activity sound so noble. Frowning, he asked, “The Workers should have no spare money, right?”
Old Fang answered, “That’s why most of the customers here are disciples of Seven Wonders Land. It’s quite rare for a Worker to have fun here. Although this place is not specially opened for Seven Wonders Land disciples, the business is mainly dependent on them.”
Just as Old Fang mentioned, most of the customers Yang Kai saw here were Seven Wonders Land disciples with Seven Coloured Robes. As for the Workers, there were only a few including the two of them.
“Stop talking nonsense and find a girl to take care of you.” Old Fang pushed him, and pointed to a group of more than ten women, “Just take one you like upstairs directly.”
After that, he swiftly went upstairs and knocked on the door of a room as if he was familiar with this place. A moment later, the door opened, and a jade white hand extended out of the room to pull Old Fang in.
Yang Kai’s jaw dropped at the scene. He stood there and scratched his head. Looking aside, more than ten women over there were looking at him curiously, but no one wanted to serve him.
This place was mainly maintained by the Seven Wonders Land disciples, and it was only open for three days a month. These women also understood that if they wanted to make money, serving those who wore Seven Coloured Robes was the better choice. Most of the Workers like Yang Kai were ignored by them unless they took the initiative to talk to them.
[It’s good that nobody cares!]
Yang Kai went straight to a table on the side, then ordered a table of wine and dishes from the server before enjoying himself.
Although this was a brothel, the environment here was clean, similar to a high-end teahouse.
If it were not to wait for Old Fang, Yang Kai would have left long ago.
It was a long wait though, and Yang Kai had to order another round of wine and dishes. Finally, a girl could not stand it anymore and approached him, “Senior Brother, are you waiting for your companion?”
Yang Kai nodded.
The girl smiled, “Then you shouldn’t wait anymore. I heard from the Senior Sisters over there that your companion will always stay overnight every time he comes.”
Yang Kai almost cursed. He thanked her with a darkened face, and settled the bill for the wine and food. Just as he was about to leave though, the girl suddenly reached out and grabbed his sleeve.
Yang Kai turned to look at her, and seeing her flushed cheeks, he asked, “What happened, Junior Sister?”
The woman lowered her head, “Senior Brother, are you only here to drink?”
Yang Kai was not a fool and certainly understood what she meant. After checking her out, he found that this woman was beautiful and did not look loose in any sense of the term, so he laughed and commented, “I came here to accompany my friend. I’ve never been to a place like this before.”
The woman replied with a soft voice, “There’s always a first for everything. Senior Brother, do you want to… Do you want to try?”
As she spoke, she almost buried her head into her chest, her face turning redder by the breath.
Yang Kai was a little speechless and wondered if the woman in front of him was shy due to her own nature or if she was still new.
While he was still thinking, the woman pressed on, “Senior Brother, let this Junior Sister tell you… It’s… It’s also my first time.”
Yang Kai frowned as he asked, “Junior Sister, why are you here?”
The woman kept silent; however, Yang Kai had been here for several months, so he naturally knew how hard the life of a Worker was. Their salary was just three Open Heaven Pills a year, and if they wanted to buy Second-Order materials, it would cost at least 1,500 Open Heaven Pills. If they wanted to be promoted to the Open Heaven Realm, they had to find an alternative method of making money.
Yang Kai sighed secretly and agreed with Old Fang. If it were not for living, who would be willing to work in a place like this?
Just then, a burly man suddenly walked in. He swept his eyes across the place and stopped on Yang Kai. Surprised, he approached.
Aware of the movement, Yang Kai turned his head and was astonished, “Brother Fang?”
“Why are you here?” Fang Tai looked at Yang Kai curiously, “Are you in the wrong place?”
“What does Brother Fang want to say?” Yang Kai frowned slightly.
“Nothing.” Fang Tai shook his head slowly. He probably did not want to talk to him much. He looked around, then saw the woman next to Yang Kai, and smiled as he advised, “Junior Sister, you have to know how to choose the right people. Some people might not be able to pay you after you serve them. It’s not worth working for nothing.”
The woman forced a smile, “Senior Brother must be joking.”
Fang Tai continued, “I’m not. The one you’re holding onto is a newcomer. He’s only been here for a few months and hasn’t even gotten his salary. How can he give you any reward?”
The woman looked at Yang Kai strangely as he certainly did not look like a newcomer when he splurged on wine and food.
“This Fang is different, however. I will definitely satisfy Junior Sister.” After saying so, he reached out and grabbed the woman’s arm. The woman could not avoid it, and was caught at once. She quickly turned to Yang Kai with a pleading face. Comparatively, she was more willing to serve Yang Kai; otherwise, she would not have taken the initiative to talk with him.
To her disappointment though, Yang Kai just glanced at her and commented, “Then I won’t interrupt Brother Fang’s business. Goodbye.”
“Hmph!” Fang Tai snorted coldly.
Yang Kai strode towards the exit, but he could clearly feel a pair of eyes staring at him from behind.
“Stop looking at him, why do you need to care about that waste? This Senior Brother will take you to have fun.”
Yang Kai stopped, then turned around and went straight to Fang Tai. He looked right at him as he asked, “Brother Fang, did you take the wrong medicine today?”
Fang Tai answered, “This Fang is not ill. Why would he need to take medicine?”
“If you’re not, why did you talk nonsense and insult me for no reason?”
Fang Tai was extremely surprised, “When did I insult you? Oh… Do you mean the ‘waste’ that I mentioned? I wasn’t talking about you. I was actually referring to others, but if you admit it yourself, this Fang can’t help it.”
Yang Kai stared at him calmly; Fang Tai’s eyes were full of ridicule and mockery.
Yang Kai nodded, “It seems that Brother Fang is really ill.”
When Fang Tai was about to say something, a fist magnified rapidly in front of his eyes! Followed by a buzzing sound in his head, he was sent flying as if he had been hit by a strong force that sent him into a daze for a while.
Dumbstruck, the woman beside Fang Tai looked at Yang Kai who was still holding his fist up.
If she had not seen it with her own eyes, she would not believe that this kind-looking Senior Brother actually had such a hot temper, and would punch people without hesitation. Did he not know the consequences of doing this?
Less than three breaths after Yang Kai punched, the women in the lobby had run out of the building in the blink of an eye with their respective Movement Skills.
On the contrary, the several Seven Wonders Land disciples were watching with great interest. It had been quite some years since a Worker dared to start a fight. Today, they finally had a show to watch.
On the other side, Fang Tai got up slowly. He felt a sticky patch between his mouth and nose, and he realized it was blood when he wiped it. He raised his head and glared at Yang Kai, and growled in disbelief, “You dare hit me?”
He was bewildered. He did not expect Yang Kai to attack him all of a sudden; otherwise, with his ability, he would not have been hit so effortlessly. For a moment, humiliation and anger surged into his heart, and his aura started to heave too.
“If you dare to curse me, why wouldn’t I dare to punch you?” Yang Kai sneered.
“Good!” Fang Tai roared furiously, kicked away the tables and chairs blocking his way, and pounced at Yang Kai like a ferocious Ancient Beast. Two large fist shadows completely shaded Yang Kai.
Fang Tai was also a newcomer who had just arrived in the Outer Universe, so his strength was on par with Yang Kai’s, making it an even match.
To the side, the several Seven Wonders Land disciples in Seven Coloured Robes cheered loudly as they enjoyed the battle.
However, after about more than ten breaths of fighting, a troop of people rushed in from the outside. The Captain, who had his hands behind his back, glanced at the two of them and shouted angrily with narrowed eyes, “Stop!”
Yang Kai and Fang Tai totally ignored him and continued fighting.
“Are you two rebelling!?” The Captain was infuriated and waved his hand violently. The Seven Wonders Land disciples on both his sides threw out ropes made of unknown materials. The ropes wrapped around Yang Kai and Fang Tai like Spirit Snakes and tied them up like rice dumplings in the blink of an eye.
Yang Kai tried to struggle a little, but he could not get rid of the bindings. On the contrary, the rope tightened even more, which made him feel uncomfortable.
“You two are certainly brave to be fighting in private. Don’t you not know the rules of Seven Wonders Land?”
After the two people were tied up, the Captain came to Yang Kai and Fang Tai, looking at the two of them with a cold look on his face.
“Senior Brother…” Fang Tai had finally calmed down. He was mad mainly because of getting beaten by Yang Kai previously, otherwise, he would never dare to be so presumptuous. He knew that they were in big trouble this time, and they might be doomed if it was not handled well, so he immediately begged for mercy, “Senior Brother, this Little Brother has only been here for a few months and is not familiar with the rules of Seven Wonders Land. Can Senior Brother please spare me on account that it is my first offence? This Little Brother will be truly grateful.”
“Hmph!” The Captain snorted coldly, “Rules are rules. Who cares if it’s your first offence or not? You’ll learn to be obedient next time after suffering a loss this time.”
Fang Tai became anxious, “Senior Brother, I’m innocent. This bastard hit me first and I had to fight back. If you don’t believe it, you can ask the few Senior Brothers over there. They can be my witnesses.”
The Captain looked at him coldly, “All I know is that you were fighting with this boy when this King entered! As for who was the initiator, this King doesn’t care to know. Take them both!”
When the words fell, he turned around and went out. Fang Tai and Yang Kai, who were tied up tight, were detained in the rear. Fang Tai tried to explain himself, but only received a scolding from a Seven Wonders Land disciple nearby. Seeing this situation, Yang Kai also gave up on defending himself.
On the second floor, Old Fang was as white as a sheet, muttering, “It’s over, it’s over, it’s over…”
He naturally heard the movement from downstairs clearly. When Yang Kai fought with Fang Tai, he hurriedly got dressed and rushed out, but he was still a little late and could only watch Yang Kai being taken away. There was nothing he could do to save him.
It was the Seven Wonders Land Patrol Team in the shopping district who took Yang Kai away, so Old Fang had no authority to speak to them as a Worker. After thinking about it, he realized that only Zhou Zheng could save Yang Kai at this moment. As the Manager of the orchard and also an Open Heaven Realm Master, if Zhou Zheng was willing to show up, he should be able to help.
Old Fang prepared for another massive haemorrhaging as he hurriedly rushed back to Fire Spirit Land, not even bothering to tidy up his clothes.
In a dark, humid, shabby jail, Yang Kai and Fang Tai sat in opposite corners of a single cell.
The cell was located deep underground in the shopping district and was built with low-quality wood. Yang Kai could break out of the prison if he wanted to in an instant.
But neither he nor Fang Tai had the courage. Seven Wonders Land disciples were guarding outside, and they would be dragged back even if they broke out.
Therefore, even if they were left unattended at the moment, and the shackles on them were removed, they only stared at each other while keeping their distance.
Yang Kai was a little speechless as he did not expect to get into such trouble just by accompanying Old Fang to the brothel.
Nevertheless, he felt a bit strange about what happened today. Although Fang Tai had drawn the line with him because he offended Zhou Zheng, it was odd for him to insult him for no reason. It was as if Fang Tai had provoked him on purpose.
But what were the benefits of doing this? He ended up being imprisoned here with him too, and Yang Kai had no idea what punishment they would face.
From what Old Fang had told him, the punishment of Seven Wonders Land for the Workers who made mistakes was quite harsh. Perhaps, he would be locked up for three to five years.
He would suffer a great loss if he was locked up for such a long time. Once he was locked up there, his business would come to a stop, and he would definitely lose a lot of Open Heaven Pills.
The more Yang Kai thought about this, the angrier he became at Fang Tai. He turned to Fang Tai coldly and saw that this guy was looking in a direction with a look full of expectation.
Yang Kai frowned slightly as he did not know what Fang Tai was expecting.
After an unknown time, suddenly, footsteps could be heard from the outside. Fang Tai, who was sitting cross-legged, immediately stood up, and Yang Kai also turned his attention outside.
A moment later, a man came to the cell and looked at the two of them with a darkened face.
“Sir Manager!” Fang Tai shouted excitedly.
“Manager Zhou!” Yang Kai cupped his fists lightly. Although he did not get along well with Zhou Zheng, since he was still the Orchard Manager, he had to show some courtesy to avoid being accused by him of anything.
“The two of you have really brought shame to our Fire Spirit Land Worker’s Room!” Zhou Zheng gritted his teeth as he pointed his finger at the two in the cell, looking dreadfully disappointed, “You two fought in the shopping district just for a woman. Good, very good!”
Fang Tai replied awkwardly, “It’s a misunderstanding, Manager. Yang Kai and I fought not because of a woman. It’s just that our hands got a little itchy and we wanted to exchange pointers with each other, but we did not expect to cause trouble.” While talking, he turned to Yang Kai and gave him eye signals, but Yang Kai turned his head away and pretended that he did not see it.
“You were caught red-handed by the Patrol Team. How dare you still claim everything is a misunderstanding!?” Zhou Zheng reprimanded furiously, “And the wound on your eye. Do you think I’m blind?”
Fang Tai stretched out his hand to cover his eye that was hit by Yang Kai, and kept quiet.
Zhou Zheng snorted, “Do you know what punishment will be given to Workers for fighting privately?”
Fang Tai asked nervously, “What punishment?”
“Anywhere from 3 to 100 years of confinement!” Zhou Zheng sneered, “Do you want 3 years or 100 years?”
Appalled, Fang Tai begged, “Manager Zhou, please save me!”
Zhou Zheng continued, “Fortunately for you, this Zhou happens to know the Captain of the Patrol Team who arrested you, so I can still help you. Since you two are newcomers and this is your first offence, this King has asked for face and gotten you released. If this happens again, however, you will be punished severely!”
[He got us out?] Yang Kai was bewildered, thinking he was going to be locked up for a few years at least. He had already been mentally prepared for such an eventuality.
Fang Tai was overjoyed and cupped his fists while bowing repeatedly, “Many thanks for your grace, Manager Zhou! This Fang will never forget your kindness today!”
Without responding to him, Zhou Zheng opened the cell and barked, “Get out now, what are you still doing in there?”
Fang Tai and Yang Kai took turns to walk out of the cell.
Zhou Zheng snorted coldly, “If it weren’t because of what is happening in the orchard today, this King wouldn’t have bothered whether you two live or die!”
Fang Tai questioned, “Is it because of the inspection of the Head Manager?” This was not a secret as all the Workers in the Worker’s Room had heard about it from different sources.
“Good, Head Manager should have arrived in the orchard by now. You two quickly return. If Head Manager inspects your territories, you two better behave appropriately; otherwise, no one can save you if something goes wrong.”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Fang Tai hurriedly nodded.
Only then did Yang Kai remember that the so-called Head Manager was coming to inspect the Fire Spirit Land orchard today. The reason the entire Fire Spirit Land was busy for the past few days was because of today.
However, it did not have much to do with him, so he did not worry too much. He just needed to do his own things well.
Soon after, the trio arrived outside. At this moment, the whole shopping district was quiet. The three-day rest period had passed, and the Workers had all returned to their respective orchards, so it made sense that the shopping district was empty. There were not even Seven Wonders Land disciples guarding the jail. It seemed that they were the only ones in the place.
“It’s getting late. Manager Zhou, I’ll leave first.” After a salute, Yang Kai soared into the sky and went straight towards Fire Spirit Land.
“He simply has no respect. He didn’t even thank Sir Manager for rescuing him.” Fang Tai looked at Yang Kai’s departure direction and snorted coldly.
“Why would I need his gratitude?” Zhou Zheng chuckled. He already got what he wanted, for Old Fang had spent a lot of Open Heaven Pills to ask for his help. For the sake of those Open Heaven Pills, he did not bother to care about Yang Kai at all. He then turned solemn as he whispered, “You did a good job this time.”
Fang Tai replied, “This Fang’s success is all thanks to Sir Manager, so this Fang will definitely fulfil Manager’s orders.”
“En, good.” Zhou Zheng nodded and was notably satisfied with Fang Tai’s attitude.
Fang Tai frowned, “But there’s something this Fang doesn’t understand…”
“Don’t ask what you shouldn’t!” Zhou Zheng seemed to know what Fang Tai was wondering, and immediately interrupted, “Remember, this was just a coincidence!”
“Understood,” Fang Tai bowed his head.
“Hurry back to the orchard. There might be a good show later! Furthermore, the Head Manager is here. As an Orchard Manager, I must be there to accompany him.” After stating so, Zhou Zheng soared into the sky.
Fang Tai was puzzled and did not understand what kind of good show there could be. He vaguely felt that it had something to do with yesterday’s events, but since Zhou Zheng warned him, he could not ask further questions.
When they set off, Yang Kai had already arrived at Fire Spirit Land. As he passed by the village where the Worker’s Room was located, he suddenly saw a golden light from the corner of his eye. He looked down and saw the Ruler of the Dawn Great General in front of his house pecking incessantly at the door, as if he was shouting for him to come out.
“Great General!” Yang Kai shouted.
As soon as he heard his voice, the Ruler of the Dawn Great General turned sideways to look, then turned into an ordinary-sized rooster, flapped his wings, and flew up and down unsteadily towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai laughed, “Great General, you should lose some weight.” Not sure if it was an illusion, Yang Kai felt that this silly chicken was fatter than when he first saw him.
He reached out his hand to welcome Great General over, placing him atop his head.
Great General wiggled his butt, found the most comfortable position as usual, and pecked Yang Kai twice with its beak.
Yang Kai explained, “Something came up. I didn’t mean to be late on purpose. Stop pecking me.”
Only then did the Ruler of the Dawn Great General relent.
Shortly after, the pair, one Human and one chicken, arrived at the orchard. Yang Kai landed in his territory to find Dié You waiting there anxiously.
Noticing his arrival, Dié You turned and was immediately relieved, “Are you okay? I heard from Old Fang that you fought with someone and got caught by the patrol.”
“Old Fang really has a big mouth!” Yang Kai was annoyed. It was not a glorious achievement after all, and he did not think Old Fang had to spread the news everywhere.
“I asked him. How are you? Did the patrol do anything to you?” Dié You asked with concern.
“Nothing. If something really happened, how could I be standing here unscathed?” Yang Kai beamed.
Dié You nodded, “True. Did Manager Zhou bail you out?”
“How did you know?” Yang Kai was dumbfounded.
Dié You disclosed, “Old Fang sent a huge gift to Manager Zhou…”
A sudden realisation dawned on Yang Kai, “No wonder!”
He was still wondering why Zhou Zheng had been so kind earlier. It was understandable that he went to save Fang Tai as they had some kind of cordial relationship, but Yang Kai could not understand why he saved him too. It turned out that Old Fang had helped him.
“How many did Old Fang have to offer?” Yang Kai questioned.
Dié You answered, “I don’t know, but I don’t think it was a small number; otherwise, it would have been impossible for there to be no punishment for Workers who were caught at the scene of a private fight. In any case, it’s all fine as long as you’re okay.”
“That’s true.” Yang Kai nodded.
“When you’re free, inform Old Fang that you’re safe. He probably doesn’t know you’ve come out.” Dié You looked around and continued, “Also, today is the day the Head Manager is coming to inspect the orchard. You have to be careful. Don’t act lazy.”
“I know. You should also hurry back. Before I came, I heard Zhou Zheng mention that the Head Manager should have already arrived at the orchard. If he found out that you didn’t stay in your own territory and came here, you would be in trouble.”
“Then I’ll head back first,” Dié You promptly returned to her plot.
After she left, Yang Kai took out his communication artifact and assured Old Fang that he was safe. Old Fang quickly replied to his message and asked him for details, so Yang Kai told him everything.
Old Fang warned him not to be so impulsive anymore.
When Yang Kai asked how much he had given to Zhou Zheng, the old guy immediately ended the conversation. Obviously, he did not want to disclose it, which further confirmed Yang Kai’s guess that Old Fang probably spent quite a lot this time. Otherwise, how could Zhou Zheng be kind enough to get him out of jail?
Yang Kai cursed Zhou Zheng silently for being greedy and swore that he would make him pay back everything and more if he ever had the opportunity. After that, he turned around and started busying himself in the orchard.
The orchard inspection of the Head Manager was a big deal, which could be seen from Du Ru Feng’s previous attitude. As such, Yang Kai dared not be careless.
Probably because of what happened yesterday, Yang Kai felt uneasy, and he had a feeling that something bad was about to happen, which made him more vigilant.
An hour later, Yang Kai stood in the orchard with his token in his hand, his face dark.
A Spirit Fruit was missing from his plot!
The number of Fire Spirit Fruits in each plot was recorded in each Worker’s token and they needed to report to the Orchard Manager if any fruits went rotten or spoiled. However, generally, the Fire Spirit Fruits would have no problems, let alone one of them disappearing for no reason.
But right now, this was exactly what happened in Yang Kai’s plot.
The number of Fire Spirit Fruits was one less than the number recorded in the token! Yang Kai double and triple-checked, confirming there was one fewer than there should be.
[How could there be one missing?] Before leaving last month, Yang Kai deliberately counted all the fruits, and the number was right at that time. But now, after just a few days, the number did not match anymore.
He swept his Divine Sense across and searched carefully among the fruit trees. A moment later, Yang Kai finally found a clue. He went straight to a Fire Spirit Fruit Tree and stared at a certain spot.
There should have been a Fire Spirit Fruit there, but there was no fruit present, only traces of a stem from which a Spirit Fruit was freshly plucked.
Even if Yang Kai had never harvested a Fire Spirit Fruit before, he knew that the fruit here was picked less than two hours ago!
[Did someone steal my fruit while I was away?] Yang Kai flew into a rage, wondering which fool was so bold enough to do such a reckless thing? Stealing a Spirit Fruit indeed could put him in danger, but if the truth were exposed, the culprit would suffer terribly.
[Who the Hell is doing something that would harm me and not benefit himself? Or rather, who holds such a deep grudge against me?]
Yang Kai did not know many people in the entire Fire Spirit Land, and those who had a grudge against him were only Zhou Zheng and Fang Tai who he had a fight with yesterday.
[Fang Tai did not have the chance, because when I was heading over here, he hadn’t even moved yet. Then, is it Zhou Zheng?]
[It shouldn’t be him! Zhou Zheng was bailing Fang Tai and me out of the shopping district jail during that time, so he did not have any time to do such a thing.]
[It was neither Zhou Zheng nor Fang Tai, but who else holds a grudge against me?] Yang Kai could not think of anyone else until the figure of the big bear Xiang Yong suddenly flashed across his mind.
Thinking about it, Yang Kai felt that it was possibly Xiang Yong.
[But there’s no resentment between us, why would he want to harm me?]
[Maybe I could ask Dié You. When I arrived, Dié You was in my plot, so she might have seen something.]
Just as he was about to leave though, he suddenly heard a rustle approaching from a distance and looked up, his expression stiffening.
A group of people was flying through the air at a moderate speed. The person leading the group looked like a dignified and calm 40 some year-old man and at first glance, it was obvious he was someone of high rank. On his left side, Du Ru Feng was just half a step behind and was talking to him with a smile on his face. However, the man just kept his hands folded behind his back and looked around from time to time, nodding occasionally with a cool expression.
Behind Du Ru Feng was Zhou Zheng, but by the looks of his position in the crowd, he did not seem to even have the right to speak.
Even if he had not seen him before, Yang Kai immediately recognized that the middle-aged man should be the Head Manager of the entire Seven Wonders Land.
Yang Kai’s neck instinctively shrunk. He would not be frightened if his plot was in order, but now he was worried about the missing fruit from his territory. He secretly prayed that these people would quickly leave and not pay attention to his side.
Nevertheless, his worst fears became reality. While he was praying for them to leave, Yang Kai heard the Head Manager remark, “Em… Isn’t that Duan Hai’s Ruler of the Dawn Great General? Why did it come here?”
Yang Kai almost spat blood! He only remembered to pray, but forgot that Great General was still perched on top of his head. The golden shining body of Great General was like a lighthouse in the dark. It was impossible to not draw attention. If he had known, Yang Kai would not have brought Great General with him today and should have just left him back in the Worker’s Room.
Du Ru Feng answered, “Head Manager is right. That’s Venerable’s Ruler of the Dawn Great General.”
The Head Manager chuckled, “How did that Worker offend the Ruler of the Dawn Great General that he would punish him like this?”
Du Ru Feng explained, “Head Manager, you have misunderstood. That Worker did not offend the Ruler of the Dawn Great General and is not being punished by him. I thought that was the case too at first, but later I was told by Venerable that this is how Great General shows his affection.”
“Showing affection?” The Head Manager was flabbergasted, “With the temper of the Ruler of the Dawn Great General that I know of, he wouldn’t care about ordinary people at all. What’s special about this Worker that he won over Great General’s heart?”
Du Ru Feng laughed, “This disciple has no idea. Maybe Great General has its own interest in people.”
“Let’s go down and have a look!” Interested, the Head Manager waved his hand and led the group of people flying downwards.
Seeing this scene from below, Yang Kai almost cursed. However, what would come would come. He had no choice but to compose himself and cupped his fists from a distance to welcome the group of people, “Yang Kai greets Sirs!”
The Head Manager was not looking at him but fixed his eyes on the Ruler of the Dawn Great General on his head with a smile on his face. He did not need to care too much about a mere Worker. The only reason why he came down was because of the Ruler of the Dawn Great General.
Du Ru Feng, who followed behind him, announced, “Yang Kai, this is our Seven Wonders Land Head Manager, who is in charge of all kinds of affairs in Seven Wonders Land.” He gave Yang Kai a signal to assure him to relax during his introduction.
Yang Kai saluted again, “Greetings, Head Manager.” He secretly thought, [There’s no way for me to be relaxed. There is a fruit missing in this plot for no reason. It will be fine if it’s not found out, but how do I explain it if it is? Should I say it was stolen? Where is the evidence? If I can’t find the thief who stole the fruit, I would have to bear the responsibility for losing the Fire Spirit Fruit. I wonder if Du Ru Feng can protect me at that time…]
He wanted to send a Divine Sense transmission to Du Ru Feng to explain the situation, but this Head Manager was certainly an Open Heaven Realm Master. How could Yang Kai send a transmission in front of such a Master without him knowing?
Yang Kai kept a calm look on the outside, though he was distressed on the inside. Even when he noticed the group of people who came with the Head Manager were scattered around his orchard and started their inspections, he remained tranquil and steady.
At this point, he could only pray that those people would not check the number of Fire Spirit Fruits carefully. Only in this way could he avoid a disaster.
Inadvertently, Yang Kai saw Zhou Zheng smiling at him faintly, which seemed to imply something.
Before he had the time to solve the riddle though, the Head Manager in front of him questioned, “How did you make the Ruler of the Dawn Great General get so attached to you?”
Yang Kai answered humbly with his head down, “I have no idea either.”
“You have no idea?” The Head Manager raised his eyebrows.
Du Ru Feng interjected, “Yang Kai, just say what you know. Head Manager is just wondering. Don’t be so nervous.”
Yang Kai put on a long face, “I really don’t know. When I first came to the orchard a few months ago, Great General fell from the sky right in front of me. Perhaps Great General thought I had done something to him, so he became angry that it wanted to peck the fruits in my orchard. How could this Worker let that happen? As an orchard Worker, it is my duty to take care of the fruits, thus I fought with him out of anger.”
“You fought with him?” The Head Manager guffawed, “You’re quite bold.”
Yang Kai replied embarrassingly, “This Worker was still new at that time and did not know the identity of the Great General, so I dared to offend him. If it was now, I certainly wouldn’t have the courage to do so.”
Du Ru Feng nodded, “Just so Head Manager knows, this Worker has only been in Fire Spirit Land for less than half a year. He is really a newcomer, but he has already made a great contribution!”
“Oh?” The Head Manager was surprised, turning to look at Yang Kai solemnly without asking what contribution he had made. Only after a brief silence did he nod, “Go on.”
Yang Kai spread his hands, “That’s the entire story. Since then, as long as I have come to the orchard, Great General has been like this.”
“So it’s a friendship born from a fight!” The Head Manager smiled and nodded, “Interesting.”
It was Du Ru Feng’s first time hearing this story too, so he pointed at Yang Kai as he proceeded, “Little brat, you should be glad that you didn’t injure Great General at that time, otherwise, Venerable would not let you go.”
Yang Kai forced out a laugh and secretly recalled that Great General lost quite a number of feathers that time.
At this moment, those people who scattered around the plot previously came back to assemble one after another. One of them glanced at Yang Kai, then handed a jade slip-like item to the Head manager.
Yang Kai’s heart skipped a beat, having a bad feeling.
The Head Manager took the jade slip, scanned it with Divine Sense, and then handed it to Du Ru Feng, “Look.”
Du Ru Feng took it curiously, looked at Yang Kai unintentionally, and wondered, [Is there something wrong with the orchard? Otherwise, why would Head Manager ask me to look at this? This is not within my authority after all.]
[But what can happen to this orchard?]
After careful examination, Du Ru Feng’s face turned slightly pale. He looked at Yang Kai coldly and asked, “Yang Kai, can you tell me why a Fire Spirit Fruit is missing from your orchard?”
“It’s really missing?” Yang Kai acted flabbergasted.
“You already know?” Du Ru Feng frowned.
Yang Kai explained, “Before the arrival of all Sirs, this Worker did a count of the Fire Spirit Fruits, and found that there was a difference from the record from before this Worker left last time. However, this Worker wasn’t very sure at that time. When this Worker was about to count them again, Sirs arrived.” He paused for a while before he continued, “Now it seems that there is no mistake in the previous counting and there is indeed a Fire Spirit Fruit missing.”
Du Ru Feng reprimanded in a deep voice, “As a Worker, you should take good care of everything in your plot of the orchard. Do you know what punishment you will be sentenced to for the loss of a Spirit Fruit?”
“This Worker doesn’t know!”
“Your cultivation could be crippled before you are expelled from Seven Wonders Land, or simply sentenced to death on the spot!”
Yang Kai was appalled, for he did not expect the punishment to be so severe and exclaimed, “Sir Du, this Worker is innocent. I counted the number of Spirit Fruits when I left a few days ago, and the number was correct. I haven’t had time to do anything yet today. The loss of the Spirit Fruit has nothing to do with me. Sir Du, please investigate this matter clearly.”
“How can it be none of your business?” Du Ru Feng’s face was solemn, “Since you are the Worker who takes care of this plot, everything here is related to you. The loss of a Spirit Fruit is the result of your negligence unless you have reported to the Manager here before.” Saying so, he turned to Zhou Zheng, “Zhou Zheng, did Yang Kai report anything to you?”
Zhou Zheng stepped forward, took out a jade slip, and examined it carefully. A moment later, he cupped his hand as he replied, “This subordinate has not found any such record!”
Du Ru Feng took a deep look at him, then turned back to Yang Kai, “What else do you have to say?”
“I object!” Yang Kai straightened his neck, “The loss of a Spirit Fruit is not the result of my poor care. It should have been stolen by someone, so it should be that person who is punished.”
Du Ru Feng immediately shouted with a dark face, “Be careful of your words! Who dares to steal Spirit Fruits in Seven Wonders Land?”
Yang Kai snorted, “If no one steals it, how could the fruit go missing for no reason?”
“Did you witness the crime?” The Head Manager, who had stayed quiet for a long time, suddenly asked in a deep voice. The loss of a Spirit Fruit was an easy case; whoever was supposed to take care of it would be punished. But now if someone dared to steal the Spirit Fruit, he must take action to set an example to the entire Seven Wonders Land, showing them the consequence of theft.
“I didn’t see it, but I have a suspect in mind!” Yang Kai shook his head, “Since Head Manager is an Open Heaven Realm Master, Sir definitely mastered some type of Soul Searching Technique. Just catch those people and interrogate them, and the truth will be revealed.”
The Head Manager grinned, “And if we gain nothing from this interrogation?”
Yang Kai answered, “Then this Worker will accept any punishment necessary.”
“You’ve thought this all out!” The Head Manager snorted lightly, “But who knows if you want to drag innocent people down with you? If we really want to start using Soul Searching Techniques, we should start with you!”
Yang Kai almost spat blood listening to him. He actually caused himself trouble by suggesting the wrong course of action. If a Soul Searching Technique was used on him, all his secrets would be revealed. Perhaps his Soul would be damaged and he might even lose his mind.
But now, he could not defend himself with words, and he did not have the strength to resist the Head Manager. For a person who was likely a Fourth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, the Head Manager could pinch him to death as easily as an ant.
He had no way to escape or fight, so Yang Kai could only turn to look at Du Ru Feng.
Fortunately, Du Ru Feng did not disappoint him. He cupped his fists as he proceeded, “Head Manager, since this is the matter of Fire Spirit Land, Fire Spirit Land will take charge of it. I’ll take him back with me and give Head Manager a satisfactory explanation later.”
The Head Manager shook his head, “Ru Feng, since you’ve spoken, by all rights, I should just let this drop; however, this matter is not just about losing a single Spirit Fruit anymore, it now involves a possible theft. You should also know that the Spirit Fruits of each land are the foundation of our Seven Wonders Land, and there is no room for carelessness. Now that there are Workers who dare to lay their hands on the foundation of our Seven Wonders Land, it is not me who needs an explanation, but Heavenly Monarch, “
Du Ru Feng felt a chill down his spine. Since the Head Manager brought the Heavenly Monarch into this matter, he was not in the position to speak anymore. He looked at Yang Kai speechlessly and secretly thought, [Why did you have to involve stealing a Spirit Fruit in this? Now I can’t help you even if I want to!]
Yang Kai was also a little dumbstruck. He did not expect that he would actually suffer a loss from his own proposal. According to the words of the Head Manager, as long as it was not about stealing, it was not a big deal; after all, the Fire Spirit Fruits were things that could rot or spoil, and there would always be some shortages. However, it was a different case when it came to stealing.
“Capture him!”
At the command of the Head Manager, two people stepped out from the left and right, and walked towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai’s whole body tensed up and he secretly began circulating his strength, struggling between surrendering or fighting with his life on the line.
At this time, a cock-a-doodle-doo was heard. The Ruler of the Dawn Great General on top of Yang Kai’s head flapped his wings and a bundle of golden light was spat out of his mouth.
Yang Kai habitually stretched out his hand. The golden light soon dispersed, but what appeared on his palm was not the usual Open Heaven Pills that he collected, but a longan-sized fruit pit.
[A fruit pit?] Yang Kai’s eyes shrank!
Du Ru Feng was also stunned for a moment, but quickly responded, “Wait a moment.”
The two Seven Wonders Land disciples who approached Yang Kai immediately stopped. Du Ru Feng hastily came over to Yang Kai, picked up the fruit spit in his hand, looked at it for a while, and laughed, “Head Manager, the thief seems to have confessed. The Worker of this place is clearly not responsible for the loss of the Spirit Fruit.”
Then he presented the fruit pit in his hand.
The Head Manager took it, examined it for a moment, then turned to look at Du Ru Feng with a chuckle, “You said that the Ruler of the Dawn Great General favours him, but from the looks of it, he was waiting for an opportunity to frame him and almost kill him! Fortunately, things didn’t go too far, and he was saved at the critical moment.”
Du Ru Feng laughed too, “So that’s how it is, and I was wondering why Great General would behave like this? It turns out that everything was planned for today.” He paused for a moment, “Now that the truth has been revealed, the missing Spirit Fruit was not stolen by a Worker, but was eaten by Great General on an impulse instead. What does Head Manager think about Yang Kai…”
The Head Manager waved his hand, and the two Seven Wonders Land disciples who came out immediately retreated.
After this incident, the Head Manager had no more interest in staying, “Let’s have a look elsewhere,” He turned around, and walked into the distance with his hands behind his back.
The group of people shouted in response and left together. Du Ru Feng glanced at Yang Kai before leaving, and sent him a transmission, “Take care of yourself!”
Yang Kai watched everyone leave, his eyes fixed on Zhou Zheng’s back. When Great General spat out the fruit pit, the look of surprise on Zhou Zheng’s face was apparent, so Yang Kai could not help frowning. [Who did this to me? Is this incident related to Zhou Zheng?]
After carefully analyzing the details of what happened, he was sure that the person who stole the fruit was keen on killing him, and he must have only stolen the fruit today.
He and Fang Tai were imprisoned in a cell in the shopping district before, so they arrived a little late and gave the thief a chance to commit the theft. It was not Fang Tai who did it, yet he was arrested by the patrolling team because of Fang Tai. Fang Tai seemed to have intentionally provoked him yesterday, and it was Zhou Zheng who bailed him and Fang Tai…
His heart skipped a beat, and with a click, Yang Kai felt as if he had cleared the fog and saw the truth!
However… If the truth was what he thought it was, how did he make sure that the Head Manager would come to inspect his specific plot? Just because of the Ruler of the Dawn Great General? It was not impossible. The Head Manager would definitely be curious if he saw the Ruler of the Dawn Great General, and with a little push from that person, the Head Manager would have visited even if he did not have any initial intention to do so.
It was a pity that the Head Manager had the initiative to come down today; otherwise, Yang Kai would be able to verify whether his guess was correct.
Yang Kai was infuriated. He was almost struck by a fatal disaster, and if the Ruler of the Dawn Great General had not turned the tide at the last moment, he would not have been able to escape. Even Du Ru Feng might not be able to protect him. It could be seen that the Head Manager was not affected even when Du Ru Feng came forward to speak for him. Stealing among the Workers was serious. On the contrary, it was not a big deal if Great General had eaten a fruit or two.
Yang Kai realized he could not stay a Worker anymore… It had only been a few months, but he almost lost his life, and the days to come were still long.
Thinking of this, Yang Kai hurriedly picked up Great General who was lying on top of his head, held him in both of his hands, and examined him closely!
Yang Kai was indeed quite embarrassed when this chicken used his head as a coop, but he quickly let it go when he saw the potential of Great General as a God of Fortune. Never had he thought that he would save his life today! This fat chicken looked so lovable no matter how he looked at him now. Crushing him in his arms with all his strength, “It’s all because of you that I survived in this desperate situation!”
Great General’s feathers were ruffled in this sudden embrace, and he cock-a-doodle-dooed as he struggled with all his strength, but he still could not get out of Yang Kai’s grasp. Its squawking reverberated terribly in the air.
After a while, Yang Kai released him, sat down on the ground, and put him in front of him, cracking up.
Great General lost all his majesty at this moment, his feathers completely dishevelled. As soon as he was released from Yang Kai’s grasp, he charged at him with flapping wings, pecking endlessly at his assaulter.
Yang Kai raised his arms, “Okay, okay, just vent.”
After venting his anger for a while, Great General finally calmed down and started to comb his feathers with his beak in front of Yang Kai, tilting his head from time to time to glance at this Human, his eyes as arrogant as ever.
Elbow on knees, cheeks on hands, Yang Kai asked curiously, “How can you have a Fire Spirit Fruit pit? Did you eat some Fire Spirit Fruits before?”
Great General opened his mouth and spat out a ball of golden light. Yang Kai took it and found that there were several fruit pits.
“You’ve really eaten some!” Yang Kai was surprised, this explained why the Ruler of the Dawn Great General was able to save him at a critical moment today, “Why did you help me?”
In fact, Yang Kai had wanted to know why the Ruler of the Dawn Great General treated him differently for some time now. Normally, it was up to Great General’s mood at the time when it came to rewarding others with Open Heaven Pills for worms. Yang Kai was the only one who could exchange one worm for one pill, and was able to make a fortune out of this opportunity.
This was definitely not just because they talked with their fists before. Unfortunately, until today, the two of them had not had a proper conversation. If Great General could understand him, it meant that Great General had the ability to communicate with people, but was just too lazy to do so.
Since Yang Kai did not understand, he set the matter aside. Stretching out his arms to pick up Great General and place him on his head, Yang Kai spoke to him again, “Today, I owe you my life. If there’s any help you need in the future, just come to me, this Yang will never say no!”
It was uncertain if Great General had heard it clearly, but there was not much of a response.
Although the orchard was big, the Head Manager’s inspection was only a day’s work. Yang Kai waited until the next day before Du Ru Feng arrived again.
As soon as they met, Du Ru Feng started, “Yang Kai, I tried my best to help you yesterday; but unfortunately, there’s nothing much I could do about the crime of theft. Fortunately, Great General took the initiative to confess at the last moment, otherwise, things would be really unimaginable.”
Yang Kai cupped his fists, “Sir Du is being too serious. This Yang remembers well how Sir Du cared for him.”
Du Ru Feng patted him on the shoulder, “It’s great that you understand. Good, what is it? Did you specifically invite me to come over to say something?” If it wasn’t for Yang Kai’s Divine Sense transmission yesterday, he would not be here today.
“There is something.” He reached out his hand and gestured, “Sir Du please!”
He sat Du Ru Feng down on the table beside him, and Yang Kai took out some tea and spring water, all of which were kept in the Space Ring for such occasions.
Du Ru Feng smiled, “If you have something to say, there’s no need to beat around the bush!”
Yang Kai pondered for a while, then began, “This Yang wants to ask, is the offer Sir Du proposed before still available?”
Du Ru Feng looked at him with interest, “What’s wrong? Why did you change your mind? Didn’t you reject this King not too long ago?”
Yang Kai laughed dryly, “The situation is different now. There was a reason that this Yang had reservations, but after what happened yesterday, I have discovered that many things are beyond a Worker’s control, and this Yang doesn’t like this feeling of not having control over his own destiny. Moreover, it’s only natural for people to aim for high places. Since Sir gave me the opportunity, this Yang should seize it.”
Still smiling, Du Ru Feng answered, “In Seven Wonders Land, the Workers occupy the majority of the population, but their status is the lowest. Some came to Seven Wonders Land and worked for three thousand years but still failed to succeed, while some people just needed a few years to rise up. It all depends on your capability, and you are a capable person, so this King wants to support you. Don’t worry, what this King offered before still stands.”
“Many thanks, Sir Du!” Yang Kai stood up and cupped his fists, but did not take his seat immediately after and continued, “This Yang would like to ask again, what would his status be after following Sir Du?”
“You’ll be promoted from the status of Worker to disciple of Seven Wonders Land.”
“What would I do then?”
“What do you want to do?” Du Ru Feng asked back.
Yang Kai raised his eyebrows, “Can this Yang have his choice of assignment?”
Du Ru Feng laughed, “As long as it is within my jurisdiction, and as long as it does not violate the rules of Seven Wonders Land, yes.”
Yang Kai drew a big circle with his hand, “This disciple wants to be the Orchard Manager!”
“Huh?” Du Ru Feng’s eyes narrowed slightly, “You have a big appetite.”
“If Sir can’t fulfil this request, then just take it as this Yang being presumptuous.”
Du Ru Feng snorted, “Are you provoking this King?”
“I dare not!”
Du Ru Feng stared at him for a while, regretting that he had said such big words just now, and now he was placed in a position where he could not go back on his words. If he agreed to Yang Kai’s request, there was no guarantee that he could fulfil it as he was not the one to make such decisions; if he rejected Yang Kai though, it would be a big loss of face.
After weighing his options for a while, Du Ru Feng spoke again, “It’s a good thing that you want to be the Orchard Manager. As you said, people should always aim for higher heights, but the position of Manager belongs to someone else currently, Zhou Zheng. Although he is a little incompetent, he hasn’t made any big mistakes, and it’s unfair to revoke his position for no reason. How about…”
Before he could finish speaking, Yang Kai interrupted, “What if Manager Zhou made a mistake?”
Du Ru Feng frowned, “What mistake did Zhou Zheng make? No matter what mistake he made, no one can help him because everyone has to follow the rules.”
“If Manager Zhou is dismissed, could this Yang take over as the Orchard Manager?”
Du Ru Feng chuckled, “Is there some kind of grudge between you and Zhou Zheng? Why do you want to pull him down and replace him?”
Yang Kai shook his head, “This Yang will reveal the mystery to Sir after Sir answers his question.”
Du Ru Feng thought for a while with a serious look, then explained, “The position of Manager needs to be appointed by Venerable, and I only have the right to recommend someone to it!”
“Then, many thanks to Sir in advance!”
“Good, after going around in circles, what do you want to say? Hurry up and spit it out.” Du Ru Feng was getting a little impatient and his slight annoyance was apparent on his face.
“It’s about yesterday! That Spirit Fruit wasn’t taken by Great General, but was actually stolen by someone!”
Du Ru Feng paled and warned hastily, “Yang Kai, you can eat anything you want, but you can’t just blurt out words recklessly. Do you know that someone may die if you say this?”
Yang Kai looked down and nodded, “I didn’t know it before yesterday, but I do now.”
Du Ru Feng gently tapped the stone table with his fingers, “Tell me the details!”
“Good, the first thing I did after I came back to the orchard yesterday was to count the number of Spirit Fruits, and found that one was missing. I found where it had gone missing from and determined it had been taken away less than two hours before. When I was worried about what to do, the Head Manager and his people had already arrived nearby and I didn’t have time to find out the truth anymore. Sir also witnessed what happened later. This Yang was almost doomed.”
Du Ru Feng narrowed his eyes. A flicker of cold light in the narrow slit of his eyes as he asked, “Do you mean it has something to do with Zhou Zheng?”
“This Yang dares not to comment rashly before it is confirmed, but if you will allow, I wish to have Sir Du witness a good show!”
“Good show?”
…
After a stick of incense, Yang Kai landed in another plot of the orchard, directly in front of two people.
The reactions of the two were completely opposite. One greeted him with joy, while the other’s face changed slightly and took a step back, looking at Yang Kai with a horrified and confused look.
“Little Brother, are you alright?” Old Fang looked up and down at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai did not look at him, but stared at Xiang Yong instead and chuckled, “Frightened but not hurt. Didn’t I send you a message before?”
Old Fang remarked, “I was still worried until I saw you with my own eyes. Seeing as you’re fine, I’m not worried anymore.” He paused for a while before he continued, “Why are you here, Little Brother?”
Yang Kai grinned, “Can’t I visit you when I’m free?”
“Visit me?” Old Fang was confused. [If you came to visit me, why are you only staring at Xiang Yong?] Instinctively, he felt that there should be something wrong between them. He then turned to Xiang Yong, who avoided eye contact and looked guilty for some reason, making Old Fang sure that there was indeed some problem.
“Brother Xiang, it has only been a few days since we last saw each other, why are we strangers now?” Yang Kai looked at Xiang Yong with a cold smile.
Xiang Yong’s face turned vicious, “Does Father here know you very well? We are not close to each other in the first place!”
“That’s true. Brother Xiang and I truly are not close, but why is Brother Xiang so surprised to see me today?”
“Surprised? I’m not surprised!” Xiang Yong waved his hand as he yelled, “Father here was just born with big eyes!”
“Really?” Yang Kai chuckled, “To be honest with Brother Xiang, Head Manager came to my place yesterday and inspected my plot.”
Xiang Yong widened his eyes, “Head Manager went there?”
“Brother Xiang seems to be very concerned about me!”
“What should Father here be concerned about? I was just wondering. You don’t need to tell if you don’t want to!” Xiang Yong snorted coldly and sat down on the ground, leaning against a fruit tree, crossing his arms and leaning sideways to nap.
“Did the Head Manager really go to your place?” Old Fang looked nervous. It was not a good thing to be inspected by the Head Manager. The Workers would not be rewarded for taking good care of the orchard for it was their duty, but if they did a bad job, they would be punished; therefore, no Worker would hope for the Head Manager to visit his own territory and wished that he would just fly past them. Nevertheless, there would always be some unlucky ones every time the Head Manager came. Yang Kai was truly unlucky. Out of hundreds of Workers in the orchard, the Head Manager picked him. Even if there were no mistakes, they would still find a way to nitpick.
“Did he do anything to you?”
“I almost never saw Brother Fang again.” Yang Kai sighed with fear.
Old Fang was taken aback, “What happened? Why was it so serious?”
Yang Kai answered solemnly, “I lost a Fire Spirit Fruit from my plot!”
Old Fang’s face turned pale at once, “Little Brother, this is no joke! You may really die! You’re a newcomer, and although I told you a lot of rules in the orchard, you may not realize the consequences of losing a Spirit Fruit. Let me tell you this, the life of us Workers is not more valuable than a single Spirit Fruit!”
“I know, I know.” Yang Kai kept nodding, “It’s a great sin to lose the Spirit Fruits! Head Manager attempted to arrest me on the spot, and even Sir Du’s pleas did not work.”
“Then how did you…” Old Fang was befuddled. [If Du Ru Feng’s plea was useless, how could Yang Kai still be standing here? What happened to him later?]
With a grin, Yang Kai stretched out his finger and pointed at Great General on his head, “Great General saved me at the last moment. He spat out a fruit pit from his mouth and the truth was revealed.”
Old Fang blinked and understood, “So, the Spirit Fruit was eaten by Great General?”
“Exactly. Otherwise, how could there be a fruit missing from my plot for no reason? Who dares to steal it!?”
“This Old Master was almost scared to death!” Old Fang let out a sigh of relief. Even though he knew that Yang Kai had certainly overcome the disaster since he was standing here, he could not help being frightened when he heard the whole story.
“Why did Great General do such a thing?” Old Fang looked at Yang Kai’s head, bewildered.
“How should I know that? Maybe he wanted some variety after eating too many worms. However, although Great General caused this, he turned the situation around for me in the end, so I’m still thankful to him. Old Fang, do you have any Jade Fire Silkworm here?”
“Just a few, not many of them.”
“Bring them all!”
After receiving the Jade Fire Silkworms from Old Fang, Yang Kai did not stay any longer and just left.
Up in the sky, light flowed like a curtain of water as Du Ru Feng concealed himself and witnessed everything. His position was less than three hundred meters away from Old Fang, but he was not spotted by Old Fang during the entire conversation.
Just after Yang Kai left, he suddenly reached out and performed a hand seal. The light curtain fluttered slightly and Yang Kai flashed in quietly from the outside.
“Will they take the bait for such a poor performance?” Du Ru Feng raised a brow.
Yang Kai grinned, “The quality of the play depends on who is watching it. If it was someone like Old Fang, he wouldn’t be fooled, but it won’t be the same case for Xiang Yong, who is recklessness incarnate. Wait and see. If it’s exactly as I guessed, he will certainly take action.”
Du Ru Feng questioned, “What if you’re wrong?”
“Does Sir want to punish me?”
“Not really, but I don’t have so much time to spend here. I will give you half a day. If we still don’t see results in that time, I will consider this matter settled.”
“Alright, half a day then!” Yang Kai could not disagree with him, let alone bargain, so he turned around and asked curiously, “Sir, this artifact is quite interesting. If we really successfully bait the culprit out of hiding, can this be used to hide our traces while trailing them?”
Du Ru Feng answered proudly, “This artifact was granted to this Du by Venerable himself, it’s called the Shadowless Veil. Third-Order and below Open Heaven Realm Masters can’t see through it, even if it were Open Heaven Realm Masters that are above Third-Order, as long as they don’t search carefully, we can fool them too.”
Yang Kai could not help but click his tongue. It must feel good to have a backer as one did not need to worry about being promoted to the Open Heaven Realm. Du Ru Feng had a lot of treasures like the Sky Seizing Net and Shadowless Veil while Yang Kai had to struggle with all his wisdom and courage just to obtain a small title like Orchard Manager.
As he was talking, Yang Kai’s face suddenly brightened, “The fish took the bait.”
Below, Xiang Yong, who was supposedly having a nap slowly opened his eyes. He looked around for a while and stood up, looking serious and hesitant, as if he had encountered a difficult decision.
After hesitating for a long time, Xiang Yong made up his mind and turned around as he shouted, “Old Fang, take good care of my trees for me!”
Saying so, without waiting for Old Fang’s response, Xiang Yong rose straight to the sky and by the looks of his direction, he was heading to the centre of the orchard.
Under the Shadowless Veil, Yang Kai and Du Ru Feng exchanged looks, “I’m afraid it’s really as what you said.” Du Ru Feng remarked.
Yang Kai replied, “We will find out soon, Sir.”
Du Ru Feng stopped talking and under the cover of the Shadowless Veil followed quietly behind Xiang Yong. Xiang Yong turned back many times during the flight, but he did not see anything.
Not long after, a high and strange-looking summit appeared before them, like a sword stabbed into the ground. The scenery on the summit was good while it was surrounded by the orchards below. A rare solitary mountain.
There was a main hall on the high summit, which was the place where the Orchard Manager usually lived and worked. There were Workers going in and out from time to time, and it was obvious that they all came to see Zhou Zheng.
Zhou Zheng liked to work in the pavilion at the edge of the mountain outside the main hall where he could see all the orchards below, giving him a feeling that everything was under his control.
At the moment, the number of Workers who came to Zhou Zheng was not many; after all, there could not be any serious matter in the orchard, and even if there were a problem, the Workers would want to solve it by themselves. They would only come to Zhou Zheng for help when they failed to solve these problems.
Xiang Yong did not go straight away to Zhou Zheng when he arrived. Probably because he also felt a little guilty. He waited for two hours before going forward when all the other Workers had left.
Inside the pavilion, Zhou Zheng asked without lifting his head, “What is it?”
“Manager Zhou!” Xiang Yong shouted in a buzzing voice.
Zhou Zheng’s face changed and he looked up and saw that it was Xiang Yong. He immediately looked around and gritted his teeth, “Why are you here? Didn’t I tell you not to come to me during this time?”
Xiang Yong twisted his neck, “I didn’t want to bother Manager Zhou, but there’s one thing that I really don’t understand. I’d like to ask Manager Zhou to solve my doubts.”
“What is it that is so important?” Zhou Zheng’s face turned ugly.
“About Yang Kai…”
“Shut up!” Zhou Zheng immediately got up. After glaring at Xiang Yong for a time, he bellowed, “Come with me!” He led the way with his hands behind his back, striding towards the main hall.
Xiang Yong scratched his head and kept up with him.
The two entered the hall one after another where Zhou Zheng waved his token and activated the barrier. Then, he turned around and glared at Xiang Yong, “Are you crazy? How dare you dare mention that outside? Don’t you know that the walls have ears? If someone overheard you, not just you, even this King would not escape death!”
Xiang Yong pressed on, “But Sir Manager said before that as long as I followed your instructions, Yang Kai would die without a doubt! I’ve followed your plan, risking my life, so why is the bastard still safe!?”
Zhou Zheng frowned, “How do you know that? Did you see Yang Kai?”