Chapter 2271: Chapter 2273: Gains (2nd Update)
The Guardian gave Feng Jun a transparent pearl, about the size of a pigeon egg.
This item is self-concealing, and unless you focus, it’s almost impossible to sense its existence. The sealing method is even harder for him to understand.
Feng Jun bid farewell with a cupped fist salute and did not linger in the Earth Realm, immediately heading to the Cultivation World.
Calculating the time, it’s been almost three months since Master Moli’s group entered the Void, so he brought four elders, Yi Jue, Duan Liang, Qing Ji, and Cang Jing, to the Ice Plate.
Feng Jun actually felt most assured with Geng Zi Yuan. However, the last time he went there, he ran into Elder Shanhu, and Yi Jue advised against returning there, so he went with the flow.
After wandering in the ice plains for a few days, the three-month agreement was up. Feng Jun didn’t take anyone else and ventured alone into the Void. About half a day later, he returned with Master Moli and his group.
Two Nascent Souls, three Golden Cores, and three Kun cultivators; apart from Master Moli, who remained composed, the rest carried a weary aura, giving the impression of having not rested for a long time.
Elder Duan Liang had been anxious for a long time but had to maintain composure. Only upon seeing them did he slowly ask, "Why did it take so long?"
The male True Immortal felt embarrassed to say anything, but the female True Immortal couldn’t help but confidently respond, "We were sorting through Void Materials."
She couldn’t help but feel aggrieved; everyone had struggled in the Void for two and a half years, only to have half the materials taken directly by Feng Jun. Thinking about the painstaking collection of materials, and spending many Spirit Stones to restore spiritual energy, her heart felt quite unbalanced.
Another male Golden Core couldn’t help but say, "We originally planned to divide the materials after coming out, but..."
But Feng Jun stated that if you don’t give me the materials, I won’t bring you out, so everyone had to accept it.
The Kun cultivator didn’t finish speaking, but Elder Duan Liang already guessed what happened, thus he gave Feng Jun a faint glance, "Mountain Master Feng is certainly impatient."
"It’s not about impatience," Feng Jun replied casually, then glanced around, "Some things are better not shown in front of others. I always believe... never test the human heart."
Elder Duan Liang instantly understood; currently present were not only the Taixu Sect but also the Jinwu Sect, Xuanshui Sect, and Lingmu Sect—none of which are easy to deal with. If the harvest from the Void were seen by these three, especially if there’s something extremely precious among them...
These three wouldn’t mindlessly try to buy items from the Taixu Sect, but if someone were to express amazement at some point, the news might leak, and then... no matter what, it would be troublesome.
So what Feng Jun did wasn’t wrong, distributing the items in the Void would mean fewer people were aware of them.
But Elder Duan Liang couldn’t help but comment, "By not letting me oversee, are you trying to hoodwink everyone?"
The Taixu Sect members engaged in the Void Treasure Hunt were all Golden Cores and Nascent Souls, supposedly more knowledgeable than Feng Jun, but the issue was... Feng Jun possessed strong deducing abilities, possibly deducing the origins of some rare materials.
"I hope you can trust my intelligence," Feng Jun shook his head amusedly, "I used an extremely fair method."
You say it’s fair, and it’s fair? Elder Duan Liang was somewhat speechless, so he turned to the Nascent Soul Kun cultivator, "Was it really fair?"
The Nascent Soul Kun cultivator hesitated for a moment but reluctantly nodded, "At least... relatively fair."
"Oh?" Elder Duan Liang was perplexed; fairness is often subjective, not having an absolute standard. Even when distributing cultivation techniques, not everyone can be satisfied.
So he curiously asked Feng Jun, "How did you do it?"
"It’s quite simple," Feng Jun seemed somewhat speechless; this plane’s people seemed accustomed to respecting the strongest, unlike those in the Earth Realm who strive to figure out how to achieve fairness, "It was actually only relatively fair..."
His method was straightforward: He took out a Storage Bag, someone was responsible for dividing the items into two parts, and then... the other party chose one part first, and the person responsible for allocation chose later.
In Huaxia’s rural areas, this method of distribution is very common—the person dividing chooses last, naturally striving for fairness.
As for who should be in charge of allocation, Feng Jun’s rule was—the first allocation decision was made by drawing lots, and then it was alternated between both parties.
So the Nascent Soul Kun cultivator could only say that Feng Jun was too eager to distribute, but couldn’t say Feng Jun’s scheme was unfair.
However, Elder Duan Liang found it quite enlightening: Can the problem be solved so easily?
This fairness isn’t true fairness in the literal sense, yet it easily creates a sense of "relative fairness" amongst participants.
In any case, Elder Duan Liang greatly admired Feng Jun’s wisdom: How did I never realize before that problems can be handled so simply?
He was responsible for the cultivation techniques, which was somewhat different from the distribution of materials, but even so, it provided her with inspiration and ideas.
Up to this point, Master Moli and others’ void treasure hunt would have to come to a temporary halt, while Elder Duan Liang, concerned about void harvest, suggested to his people, "How about... I take you to Yiyao?"
"Wait a moment," Elder Cang Jing spoke up, "I wonder if any of you brought back some ordinary stones from the void to bet on?"
The Taixu Sect was quite familiar with the Xuanshui Sect Branch on their territory, so naturally, when they went to the void, they had to follow their example—in fact, in the void for two and a half years, they had ample time to interact.
Nascent Soul Qianxiu answered, "We brought some ordinary stones... seeing your sect bet on stones, we also found it interesting."
"Learning our creativity requires a tuition fee," Elder Cang Jing said with a smile, "Sell us some of those stones cheaply, my disciple Jiu Tong is in charge of stone sales here, and he is running low."
"We don’t have much left," Nascent Soul Qianxiu was clearly reluctant to agree, so he apologized, "Sorry, Elder Cang Jing, if your disciple’s inventory is short, you can go back to the void. It’s not proper to forcefully buy our resources, is it?"
When your disciple Jiu Tong was betting on stones, he never said he’d sell cheaply to us, now you make such a request, that’s really overstepping!
"It’s actually quite proper," Elder Cang Jing answered without hesitation, "because that piece of void was originally mine, Yi Jue and Qing Ji’s, you all went in and plundered, taking our resources..."
"We don’t blame you, we just want to use Spirit Stones to buy some resources, is it really wrong for us to think this way?"
Nascent Soul Qianxiu laughed, to him, letting some stones go was negotiable, but how to let them go was a question with significant implications, and he wouldn’t relent unconditionally.
So he replied, "You really got it wrong, the void has no owner, where is the notion of special resources for you?"
"You better believe it, the notion really exists," Elder Cang Jing responded seriously, "Let me ask boldly, how long do you think it would take you to find a Broken Stone Zone if you entered the void on your own?"
Nascent Soul Kunxiu fell silent, only after a while did she answer, "The void is not empty, never mind how long it takes us to find the Broken Stone Zone, we will gain something even during the search, don’t you agree?"
"I certainly believe there will be gains," Elder Cang Jing smiled, "but the amount gained is another matter. The Broken Stone Zone Mountain Master Feng led you to is the best treasure hunting place, yet you complain incessantly, it’s really hard being a good person these days!"
Nascent Soul Kunxiu was momentarily stunned, and after a long time, she looked at Master Moli, "Master Moli... is this the case?"
Master Moli was taken aback for a moment before answering deeply, "I only know of two locations, among them one is indeed quite desolate and suitable for healing, but where we are is indeed Mountain Master Feng’s main treasure hunting site."
Upon hearing this, Nascent Soul Kunxiu slapped her forehead, her face flushing, "It’s really... quite embarrassing!"
Her dissatisfaction with Feng Jun wasn’t really significant, she just couldn’t accept having her pride as a dignified Nascent Soul of a top sect exploited by an Initial Golden Core Stage cultivator, the shame of being extorted by a lower-level cultivator left her feeling unsettled.
Elder Duan Liang, hearing this, also had a changed perception of Feng Jun, believing that Master Moli wouldn’t lie, and based on his understanding of the void, he could roughly discern that the place Feng Jun took them to was likely hard to find in the void.
So he looked at Feng Jun and suddenly asked, "Why?"
"What do you mean why?" Feng Jun was caught off guard and then realized, eventually smiling wryly, "What kind of question is that? The void is so huge, who can finish treasure hunting? You paid the entrance fee, if there’s a place with higher yields, I’d naturally lead you there."
Elder Duan Liang thought for a moment before speaking, "You can completely reserve it as a foundation."
"Wouldn’t I go find another place?" Feng Jun scoffed at this, expressing disdain, "The void is so big, to treat that little spot as a foundation... I wouldn’t get far."
Your words are really unpleasant! Elder Duan Liang’s face darkened, even if he knew Feng Jun’s comments were not aimed directly at him, "We’ll be leaving now. See you at the Yellow Sky Plate later!"
He released a flying boat, directly taking his people to the Transmission Array, all the while releasing a pressure—the Demon Beast levels on the Ice Plates were not high, at most reaching Nascent Soul, but in reality, Nascent Soul Middle Phase was quite rare, let alone High Stage.
The other two Nascent Souls also released some of their aura, ensuring a smooth journey all the way.
After flying for a while, Elder Duan Liang asked, "In these three months... in the two and a half years spent in the void, were your gains enough to break even?"
"Breaking even isn’t a problem," Nascent Soul Kunxiu answered frankly, "In two and a half years, the void materials I collected are worth at least five thousand upper-level Spirit Stones. After subtracting entrance fees and half given to Feng Jun, and then personal expenses, the earnings are about two thousand upper-level Spirit Stones."
She said this while being modest—after all, for Nascent Soul True Immortals, earning two thousand upper-level Spirit Stones in two years is not considered shameful.
In fact, it was already a very good deal. For instance, Master Rong Yang of Lingmu Sect, who is Nascent Soul High Stage and a divination expert, only managed to earn two hundred upper-level Spirit Stones after half a year of helping Xuanhuang Sect.
