Chapter 197: A Welcome Back Party
Lin Feng and company headed through the Kunlun Mountains and approached the vicinity around Lingyun Peak. Breaking through the void, they were received by the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree upon Mount Yujing.
Landing on Mount Yujing, Miao Shihao appeared to have been shocked. Staring at Mount Yujing and the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree, he was dazed for a long while before he finally exclaimed, "Now here’s a place fit for human inhabitation."
Lin Feng agreed that everytime someone was taken aback by Mount Yujing he felt a glow in his heart.
However, he still laughed drily at Miao Shihao’s exclamation, as he thought, "Saying that would piss off god-knows how many people."
As the company walked towards the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree, they saw a group of ten kids running towards them.
These kids were all wearing form-fitting purple robes and a little blush was present on their snow-white faces. Each and every one of them had adorable complexions.
A strong aura could be felt around them as their eyes sparkled like newborn infants. They were imbued with a childish innocence and the taint of the world was absent from their complexion. These were the kids that Lin Feng had brought back from the Hundred Herbs Sect.
Around 12 people ran out to welcome them as most of them ran in front of Lin Feng. They neatly formed two rows, with one row comprising six kids. Similar to little adults, they bowed in unison.
Their clear youthful voice sounded as one, "Welcome back to the mountain grandmaster."
Lin Feng was slightly taken aback, but due to the presence of Miao Shihao next to him, he could not express it. He nodded his head and smiled, "Eh, thanks for the welcome."
Despite not knowing what was going on, this ceremony did give him some face.
The 12 kids raised their heads, looked at Miao Shihao, and bowed again while saying, "Welcome honorable guest, if there’s anything that did not please you about our welcome please forgive us."
Miao Shihao looked at the kids interestedly, then praising, "Not bad, really not bad."
He laughed a bit before continuing, "However, I am not a guest. I am a part of the Celestial Sect of Wonders too. Just call me Brother Shihao."
The kids were at a loss as they had never seen anything quite like that before.
One of them pulled his companion’s sleeves, asking, "Brother Huanzi, what should we do? Mr Kang didn’t teach this before."
Looking at the increasingly disorganized group of kids, Lin Feng coughed quietly before saying, "He is another sect guardian of our sect. He is the Master of Mirror and Flower, Miao Shihao. All of you could just address him as Mr Miao."
"Yes, grandmaster." The 12 kids reorganized themselves and soon took on an adult-like demeanor again. Respectfully, they bowed to Miao Shihao and said, "Good day to you, Mr Miao."
The sides of Miao Shihao’s mouth twitched as he said, "Meh, this isn’t as interesting as before."
The group of kids then welcomed Xiao Yan and the rest.
"Welcome back Big Master."
"Welcome Back Second Master."
"Welcome back Little Master."
As they had not formally recognized their masters, they could only be said to be kids within the sect without a fixed master. Hence, according to the sect’s ranking, they had to address Xiao Yan as Big Master, Zhu Yi as Second Master and Xiao Budian as Third Master.
At that moment, Wang Lin was the Third Master.
While they greeted Xiao Yan and Zhu Yi normally, they noticed that Xiao Budian was only a little bit older than them. 12 tiny faces scrunched like a bun.
Xiao Budian, however, took on his new role gladly. With a loud "hm" as a reply, he made the kids even more confused.
Xiao Yan and Zhu Yi looked at each other in shock too.
Yue Hongyan looked at the kids curiously. This time, Little Huanzi took the lead as the group fell into a disarray. He giggled as he shouted, "Welcome back, Sister Hongyan."
Looking at this scene, Lin Feng turned to the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree and saw Kang Nanhua walking over.
"You taught them this?" Lin Feng smiled as he asked Kang Nanhua. Kang Nanhua nodded his head, and said, "I was bored and there was nothing to do, so I decided to teach them a bit of manner. Next time, when you open up your sect and have to deal with guests, these kids can help with the reception."
Looking at these kids, Lin Feng noticed that the oldest was no more than six or seven. He inadvertently sighed to himself, "Looking at their age, this should be the time when they are the most carefree and wildest. Instead, you disciplined them into this."
Kang Nanhua’s tone became deeper as he said, "Due to their tribulations in the Hundred Herbs Sect after their minds cleared up they are a lot mature than kids of their age and are more aware of details. They were not hard to discipline."
Looking at the group of kids, Kang Nanhua’s expression appeared different. "Furthermore, I quite like interacting with them..."
Lin Feng’s heart was twitched slightly as the felt that there was something amiss about Kang Nanhua.
At that moment, Miao Shihao’s attention became focused on Kang Nanhua. Sweeping him with his gaze, Miao Shihao asked, "For a cultivator in the Aurous Core stage, why is your mana so strong?"
Lin Feng coughed drily as he made introductions.
Miao Shihao analyzed Kang Nanhua with his gaze as he said with a tinge of envy, "What a lad, your mana level put me, a cultivator at the brink of the Nascent Soul stage, at shame. How did you do it?"
"Was it through the Great Thunderclap Temple’s ’Herculean Diamond Sutra’? Nope, you do not seem to be a Buddhist. Was it through the Great Spirit Star Book of the Great Spirit Sect? Nope, you don’t seem like one." Miao Shihao began to circle Kang Nanhua. "Wait, this aura. Could it be the Great Chaos Primordial Water? Did you manage to produce the Great Chaos Primordial Water."
Kang Nanhua smiled slightly, "Indeed, I have."
Miao Shihao giggled, "Aiyah, this style of yours. Truly you appear different from the rest, and I like that."
Kang Nanhua was made slightly speechless by Miao Shihao, but as a result of his personality he just laughed it off without saying anything.
"Go up to the mountain and find a nice cave to rest in," Lin Feng said while he slapped Miao Shihao on the shoulder. Miao Shihao was not angry. Rather, he smiled a bit and headed off to the peak by himself to find his own cave.
Kang Nanhua remarked as he looked at Miao Shihao’s disappearing frame, "I feel that he is not as airy-fairy as his behavior suggests."
Lin Feng smiled drily, and said, "Even if that’s so, he is already driving me slightly crazy."
"How’s Wang Lin?" Lin Feng asked as he shook his head.
Kang Nanhua replied, "Three days ago, he felt that he had already made the necessary preparations and hence, he sealed himself in the cave. He planned on reaching the Foundation Establishment stage in one go."
Lin Feng calculated silently for a while. Three days outside is the equivalent of 300 days in the Heavenly Cosmic Ray World, which is almost a year.
"I wish him all the best," Lin Feng waved his hand and Xiao Yan and the rest went on their way.
After bidding Kang Nanhua goodbye, Lin Feng went to a quiet secluded spot and entered the system interface.
As he had accepted Miao Shihao as a sect guardian, the system rewarded him again with another lottery. Lin Feng decided to make the best out of this chance.
Firstly, he entered the Spin-A-Wheel page. He looked at it carefully, and he realized that it did not have the much-needed Sect Establishment deed.
He furrowed his eyebrows as he exited the Spin-A-Wheel page and entered the Dice system. There was nothing there too.
While the two systems randomly gave out 15 items each, they would not update the items they issued out before they were used.
That was to say that as long as Lin Feng had to undergo one more lottery before the Spin-A-Wheel system and the Dice system would give him a new selection of items.
That was to say that since both systems did not possess the item Lin Feng wanted, he had to resort to two other ways to obtain the deed.
Firstly, he could choose to use the method that got him the Great Hall of the Main Pavilion. That would be through the Lucky Draw system.
In the Lucky Draw system, there were four types of sticks: red sticks, long white sticks, white sticks and short white sticks. Drawing the red stick would allow one to exchange for an item of choice with the item Lin Feng used as a collateral.
The white stick would waste the chance at the Lottery System and return the collateral, whereas the short white stick would confiscate the collateral without giving anything in return.
As for the long white stick, it is like a ’chance’ card. While it would not return the collateral to Lin Feng, it would randomly pick an item to give him.
The first Sect Establishment deed Lin Feng obtained, the Great Hall of the Main Pavilion, was obtained after he had drawn the Long White Stick.
However, this Lucky Draw system was too risky. The item it may randomly issue out may not be what he needed.
After thinking about it for a while, Lin Feng decided to try the second method.
He decided to try for one of the mysterious boxes in the Spin-A-Wheel system to hopefully obtain a big ’three-in-one’ prize.
After understanding the rules, Lin Feng understood that he had a 25% chance of getting a mysterious box. If he could obtain the special ’three-in-one’ prize, and obtain three prizes in one go, then his chance of obtaining his deed would increase significantly.
Whereas for the Lucky Draw system the main goal was still to obtain the red stick.
Lin Feng took a deep breath, and after counting the sections he activated the Spin-A-Wheel system.
The wheel spun quickly and after three revolutions its speed began to slow significantly. It spun another half-revolution and appeared to be stopping.
"Three-in-one, special prize, three-in-one, special prize..."
The idealists would say that Lin Feng’s prayers had touched the heavens while the realists would say that a 25% was rather reliable.
In the end, through his calculations, the wheel stopped at Lin Feng’s desired section.
The special prize, the mysterious box, belonged to him now!
"Next, I still need some gambler’s luck." Lin Feng’s heart felt like 15 different buckets drawing water at once. It was truly nerve-rattling.
He opened the mysterious box, and three rays of light shone from it.
"Nice!" Lin Feng was elated as he felt that he could almost burst from joy.
The first ball of light flew before him, and after the light had gone a crimson roll of silk appeared before him.
"The Demon-Destroying Crimson Silk. While it’s useless in battle it works wonders controlling someone’s inner demons."
Lin Feng looked at the system’s description, as he pondered, "Well, it’s something useful no doubt. One’s inner demons are a major obstacle in cultivating. Let’s not talk about me, even my disciples will face problems against their inner demons. As their master, while I can’t help in that regard this silk can."
The second ball of light flew before Lin Feng and revealed itself to be soft armor. It appeared to be made out of jade as it shone radiantly.
While it appeared weak like a flowerpot, the soft armor emanated a strong mana and it appeared to possess a strong, indomitable will of its own.
"The Ancient Jade Armor, an Aurous Core stage item with extremely powerful defensive capabilities. It works wonder against contact sparring moves."
Lin Feng nodded his head, "Not bad too, while I can’t use it I can bestow it to my disciples."
While the two items from the mysterious box were not bad, Lin Feng became increasingly panicky.
He still did not manage to obtain his Sect Establishment deed.
Lin Feng thought about the path that he had taken. While he had obtained nonsensical items from the Lottery system before, most of the time he was successful.
"Could I have messed it up this time?
He stared tightly at the last ball of light.