At the center of Fire Spiritual Land, in a palace, Du Rufeng rushed over and stood in front of the deepest hall, bowing respectfully, “Venerable!”
The heavy door of the hall slowly opened, revealing a small gap where a person could enter and exit. Du Rufeng stepped inside and soon saw Duan Hai, the Protector Venerable of the Fire Spiritual Land who was meditating and refining the Open Heaven Pill.
After waiting for nearly an hour, Duan Hai finally let out a sigh of relief and asked, “How is it going?”
A look of joy appeared on Du Rufeng’s face as he cupped his fists and replied, “Reporting to Venerable, I have gained a great harvest.”
“A Third Grade Scarlet Clouds Order Flame isn’t a big harvest. Did you discover something else?” Duan Hai’s eyes flashed.
Du Rufeng quickly replied, “The information is incorrect, it’s not a Third Grade Scarlet Clouds True Flame, but a Fourth Grade Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame!”
“Fourth Grade!”
“Please take a look, Venerable!” Du Rufeng said as he took two steps forward and handed over the Heaven-wrapping Net. Duan Hai took it, swept it with his Divine Sense, and nodded, “It really is a Fourth Grade Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame. You’ve done well this time. A Fourth Order material is also a precious thing for my Seven Skillful Land. Keep it for yourself.” Reaching out, he tossed back the Heaven-wrapping Net.
Du Rufeng was overjoyed, “Many thanks for Venerable’s generosity.” This Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame was something he desperately needed, so he was naturally overjoyed.
Duan Hai said, “Zhou Zheng should also get some benefits. After all, he was the one who discovered it, and it can also be said that he solved a big problem for the fruit garden.”
“I just happened have a report for the Venerable,” Du Rufeng carefully put away the Heaven-wrapping Net, “Today’s matter actually has nothing to do with Zhou Zheng. The one who discovered this Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame was a servant, and Zhou Zheng lied that he found it because he wanted to benefit from it.”
Duan Hai sneered, “This isn’t a big deal. Since he’s the manager of the Fruit Garden, he should be rewarded for obtaining this Fourth Grade material.”
“Yes!”
Duan Hai asked curiously, “But for a servant to discover traces of this Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame, he must have some skill.”
Du Rufeng smiled and said, “He really does have some skill, and his luck is quite good. Do you remember the batch of newcomers that Venerable brought back a few months ago?”
Duan Hai was surprised, “Could it be one of those newcomers?”
“It was one of them called Yang Kai who discovered it, and he was the one who put in a lot of effort to collect this Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame.”
Hearing this, Duan Hai became interested, “How did he put in a lot of effort?”
Du Rufeng briefly explained how he had gone to the fruit garden to collect the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame, then said, “Disciple was a bit suspicious at the time and didn’t know what was so special about the Wood Element energy Yang Kai condensed. Only he could activate the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame, so Disciple allowed him to release his Dao Seal to observe it. In the end, Disciple discovered that what he condensed was the Wood Element energy above the Fourth Grade!”
“Above Fourth Grade!” Duan Hai’s eyes flashed, “Are you sure?”
“Disciple confirms without a doubt that his wood element energy is purer and richer than Disciple’s. If it wasn’t for the fact that it’s above the Fourth Grade, Disciple would never have such feelings.”
“This is interesting… a junior who has just entered the Three Thousand Worlds actually has such an opportunity.”
Du Rufeng said, “Disciple asked him about it, and he said that before he met the Venerable, he happened to discover a small white jade tree in the vast universe. It had a few branches, a few leaves, and a strange smell. He accidentally absorbed it and condensed it into his wood element energy.”
“A small white jade tree? And a strange smell?” Duan Hai frowned, stroking his beard as he muttered to himself.
Du Rufeng watched from the side, not daring to interrupt.
After a while, Duan Hai’s hand suddenly stopped moving, a look of shock appearing on his face.
“Senior, what is that small tree? What grade is it?” Du Rufeng asked.
Duan Hai took a deep breath and said seriously, “If this old master isn’t mistaken, what he found should be Bodhi White Jade, and it has already grown into the shape of a small tree. At the very least, it should be a Fifth Grade, at most it could be a Sixth Grade material!”
“Fifth Grade, Sixth Grade!” Du Rufeng exclaimed, his eyes turning red with jealousy.
In the entire Seven Skillful Land, the strongest was only a Fifth Order Open Heaven Stage, Heavenly Monarch. The other Protector Venerable were all Fourth Order Open Heaven Stage masters, and all of them had used Open Heaven Pills to increase their strength. In other words, when they first achieved Open Heaven, Heavenly Monarch was nothing but a fourth oder, while the rest were third order.
That servant, Yang Kai, had actually found a Fifth Order, or Sixth Order Open HEaven capital all of a sudden. Was he trying to defy the heavens? If he could find a few more Fifth Order or Sixth Order materials to Open Heaven, wouldn’t he be able to directly reach the Fifth Order or Sixth Order Open Heaven Stage? At that time, in the entire Seven Skillful Land, who would be his opponent?
“Good luck, good luck indeed!” Duan Hai nodded repeatedly.
Du Rufeng’s expression fluctuated for a moment before suppressing the jealousy in his heart and cupping his hands again, “There is one more thing I must report to the Venerable. It is also related to this servant, Yang Kai.”
“Speak.”
“I don’t know how this guy offended Great General Si Chen, but the Great General used his head as a net. When this disciple went over, the Great General was always on top of his head.”
Duan Hai was surprised, “Si Chen is lying on top of his head?”
“Precisely.”
Duan Hai couldn’t help laughing, “It seems Si Chen really likes this guy.”
Du Rufeng was stunned. “Like him?” What did he mean?
Duan Hai said, “If Si Chen didn’t like this guy, he wouldn’t be so close to him.”
Du Rufeng was speechless when he heard this. He would rather not have this kind of liking, it would be too embarrassing to walk out.
“Then Yang Kai, this person…” Du Rufeng hesitated. If he didn’t know that Yang Kai’s Wood Element power was so high, it would have been fine if he didn't know, but now that he knew about it, he couldn’t just ignore it, but Du Rufeng couldn’t decide how to deal with him, so he could only wait for the Venerable to explain.
Duan Hai pondered for a moment before suddenly asking, “How many years has your Senior Brother Yu Lian been in seclusion?”
Du Rufeng bowed and said, “Senior Brother Yu Lian went into seclusion to condense the Earth Element ten years ago, so it shouldn’t be long before he comes out.” Saying so, he suddenly understood, “Disciple knows what to do.”
“Go,” Duan Hai waved his hand and closed his eyes again.
Du Rufeng respectfully withdrew, and after he left the hall, the heavy door slowly closed.
In the fruit garden, Old Fang’s eyes widened as he exclaimed, “A Fourth Grade Open Heaven material? Are you serious, boy? Are you lying to me?”
In his excitement, he no longer call him little brother and instead called out boy to him.
Yang Kai picked up his wine cup and took a sip, “Why would I lie to you? Du Rufeng personally said that it was a Fourth Order Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame. If he didn’t have a suitable artifact with him at that time, all of his efforts would have been for naught.”
“Good boy…” Old Fang couldn’t help exclaiming, “A Fourth Grade material, isn’t it worth 150,000?”
Yang Kai glanced at him, “Why are you so excited? It’s none of your business.”
Old Fang said, “It’s none of my business, but it’s your business. You were the one who discovered it, so how much reward did you receive?”
“Who knows?” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders. In fact, what he was concerned about now was not the reward, but his Wood Element force. Previously, he had been forced to release his Dao Seal for Du Rufeng to observe. Although the other party had not discovered anything, there was still the Protector Venerable behind him. With Duan Hai’s experience and knowledge, he didn’t know if he could hide his lies.
Thinking for a moment, he said, “Old Fang, let me ask you something.”
“Brother, please speak.”
“Have you ever heard of any Secret Technique that can forcefully seize the Yin-Yang Five Elements from others?”
“What kind of Secret Technique is this?” Old Fang’s eyes widened.
Yang Kai was speechless, “I don't know, that’s why I asked you. If I knew, why would I ask you?”
“I’ve never heard of it before,” Old Fang shook his head like a rattle drum, “But even if there is such a Secret Technique, it’s not strange. Since this old master left his Universe World, he has come to this Fire Spiritual Land to serve as a servant. Even now, he has never gone out, so he doesn’t know much about the outside world… En, why do you ask?”
“Just asking casually,” Yang Kai replied half-heartedly.
Old Fang looked at him for a moment before chuckling, “Little Brother, don’t worry too much. As the saying goes, when the cart reaches the mountain, there will always be a way forward. Before this, we were all worrying about your piece of land and the fruit trees, but who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, Little Brother would have made such a great contribution. That Fang Tai thinks he can act so arrogantly just because he has made two contributions. If he were to find out about Little Brother’s situation, wouldn’t he die of shame?”
“Why should he be ashamed…” Yang Kai laughed.
The reward from the Fire Spiritual Land came very quickly. Perhaps because the fourth grade Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame was too important, on the third day after that day, Zhou Zheng came again.
Yang Kai and Old Fang were playing chess when they saw him arrive and quickly stood up to greet him.
Zhou Zheng placed one hand behind his back and tossed a Space Ring to Yang Kai with his other hand, saying lightly, “Yang Kai, you did well in collecting the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame last time. When the Venerable learned of this, he also praised you greatly, all of this was given to you by the Venerable.”
Yang Kai received it and swept it with his Divine Sense, somewhat surprised, but quickly collected his expression and put away his Space Ring before cupping his hands, “Many thanks, Senior!”
Zhou Zheng nodded calmly but didn’t say anything. He simply clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky as if it was a beautiful scenery, but he had no intention of leaving immediately.
Old Fang gave Yang Kai a meaningful look, and seeing that he wasn’t paying attention to him, he poked him again.
Yang Kai turned his head and saw Old Fang glaring angrily while pointing to Zhou Zheng’s direction with his mouth, his eyes constantly darting in that direction.
Yang Kai asked curiously, “Old Fang, what happened to your mouth?”
Old Fang nearly vomited blood. He felt that his hint was already obvious enough, and Yang Kai was not an idiot, so how could he not understand? In front of Zhou Zheng, it was not appropriate for him to secretly send a message, so he was quite anxious.
On the other hand, Zhou Zheng’s expression became worse and colder.
Seeing Yang Kai’s confused expression, Old Fang had no choice but to take out a Space Ring and walk over to Zhou Zheng. Smiling apologetically, he handed over the Space Ring and said, “I’m really sorry to have to trouble Manager Zhou to personally make this trip. Manager Zhou has worked hard.”
TO BE CONTINUED...
Martial Peak