Chapter 2280: Chapter 2282: Escape Route (First Update Celebrating Patron Xiaoyao)
Feng Jun and his companions eventually left—without the spirit of adventure, can one even be called a cultivator?
The disciples of the two sects, seeing that they couldn’t stop him, assigned ten Golden Core cultivators to him.
These ten masters are all disciples of the two sects. They don’t interfere with the actions of foreign cultivators; their main responsibility is to document—recording various discoveries, and somewhat act as supervisors.
Firstly, to supervise the accompanying cultivators to avoid crossing boundaries, and secondly, to ensure that there are no conflicts among the same tribe of cultivators.
Acts like killing for treasure are not uncommon on Tianqin, but arriving in a foreign world, it is best to unite against external threats. Turning against one’s own kind not only hinders the progress of exploration but also makes one a laughingstock to other races.
The reason for calling it a "standard allocation" is that most teams of foreign cultivators would have such disciples from the two sects accompanying them.
Why were ten Golden Core cultivators assigned to Feng Jun? That’s because his team had ten True Immortals, each followed by one, making it inconsequential even if they split up halfway.
One must admit, the variety of contingency plans devised by these individuals are indeed sensible. Shortly after departure, Elder Duan Liang came to Feng Jun to discuss how we should reasonably allocate resources to explore in several directions.
He approached with the mindset of developing new financial resources, without the intention of sidelining Feng Jun and his group, purely aiming to accelerate the pace and increase efficiency—if manpower can be rationally utilized, wouldn’t more areas be explored?
Cang Jing and Qing Ji also had similar thoughts, but they did not answer directly and instead looked at Feng Jun.
Feng Jun then turned to Yi Jue, "What do you say?"
Yi Jue replied expressionlessly, "I think resources are secondary, understanding the rules of this world is the proper course."
"As expected of someone I can talk to," Feng Jun gave a thumbs up. As someone who advocates for low-key (hidden) development, wealth is secondary; survival is primary.
He spoke solemnly, "I also believe that for us strategizing entities, understanding the rules is the greatest gain."
Then he looked at Cang Jing and Qing Ji, "We plan to wander around freely, how about we... do as we please?"
Anyway, the two sects have sent along ten Golden Core masters, and the ten True Immortals are more than enough to be distributed.
"No need," Elder Qing Ji shook her head, discarding her calculations, "I’ll follow you two."
She indeed wanted to find some resources for the disciples of her sect, but she hadn’t forgotten her original intention; protecting Feng Jun was her greatest benefit! To be honest, as long as she maintained a good relationship with Feng Jun, how could she worry about not gaining benefits?
Within her sect, Elder Cang Jing held more power than Qing Ji, and she was more inclined to achieve some results. However, upon hearing Qing Ji’s stance, she immediately found her position, "Me too."
The relationship between Qing Ji and Feng Jun was much stronger than hers, and she had always tried to draw closer to Feng Jun.
Elder Duan Liang was stunned for a moment, then smiled awkwardly, "Then let us go together."
"No need for that," Cang Jing glanced at Yi Jue, saw no reaction, and thus proactively said, "You have five True Immortals, you can fully act independently. Our Xuanshui Sect only brought two True Immortals, so it’s better to follow Mountain Master Feng."
She wasn’t wrong; the Taixu Sect brought four Nascent Souls all at once, and with the Elder leading, they were fully capable of independent exploration, whereas the Xuanshui Sect only had two True Immortals, which made exploring less feasible due to the thin manpower.
Especially in such an unfamiliar world. If the number of people in the expedition team is too few, facing problems is not only a matter of her personal safety—should she be captured, the other side might gain more understanding of the Tianqin Plane.
At that point, she would become the sinner of all Tianqin.
This is not a joke; Tianqin has a rich history of external warfare. The precautions for exploring new planes are well-known, among which a crucial point is—avoid important individuals falling into enemy hands at all costs, even assisting them in liberation if necessary.
Her justification was strong, not needing to emphasize her bodyguard attribute, Elder Duan Liang repeated, "Then, together?"
This was really just a polite statement. Although he would very much like to get on good terms with Feng Jun, right now, the difficulty of doing so was a bit high.
Additionally, being the Elder of Cultivation Techniques, this rare opportunity for an inter-dimensional exploration was a rare experience in his life. If he were with Feng Jun, most likely... there would be little room for personal play?
Deep down, he wanted to achieve something and hoped to let the disciples of Taixu look at him with admiration.
As for not being able to get closer to Feng Jun temporarily, he could always turn to Yi Jue in case of emergencies.
"No need to go together," this time, Yi Jue spoke up, "Mountain Master Feng and I did not come for resources."
Only she could say this, not just regarding profit—she could also make decisions and statements for Feng Jun.
She spoke with such confidence because she believed Feng Jun would understand her—you and I are kindred spirits.
Feng Jun nodded in agreement, "I came to the Insect World to learn more about things and refine my strategies, not mainly for resources... I am not particularly interested in resources."
As he said this, he suddenly realized he was beginning to understand Ma Daxia of Earth Realm.
Elder Duan Liang is a very decisive person, and he is skilled in considering the whole picture—an Elder in Cultivation Technique must have a broad perspective. Pleasing Feng Jun is what he needs to do, but he also cannot abandon his duty to benefit the Taixu Sect.
He thought for a moment and said, "Then let’s divide into two groups, and make sure to look out for each other."
There are five True Immortals in total, just enough to split up with five on each side, leaving no room for disputes, and then they went their separate ways.
After separating, Feng Jun did not rush to act, but rather turned to Yi Jue, "Could you please deduce which direction we should head?"
At this moment, their location was already more than eight hundred thousand miles from the passage entrance, and they hadn’t veered off course. They could consider a moderate change in direction now, but he wasn’t good at large-scale deductions, so he entrusted Yi Jue with the task.
Yi Jue didn’t bring out her divination sticks but looked at him seriously and spoke, "At this time, I suggest you first test the Teleportation Divine Ability... Whether this ability can continue to be used holds strategic significance."
"Oh?" Feng Jun blinked in surprise, you’re thinking even more thoroughly than I am.
Actually, this was also what he wanted to do, but testing it in front of everyone would firstly expose his privacy, and secondly make him seem fearful for his life, so he planned to try it somewhere private.
Cang Jing and Qing Ji nodded in agreement as they heard this, "Indeed, it has strategic significance."
Feng Jun thought about it and took out his mobile phone, "Since everyone says so, then I’ll give it a try."
The test result was good, he could freely switch between Tianqin, Kunhao, Earth, and the Void.
Learning this, the others let out a sigh of relief. When Huo Liu True Immortal understood the background of the situation, he straightforwardly stated, "That’s good, if the passage has any fluctuations, we have other choices."
This statement was a bit ominous, but people of the Spirit Plant path are mostly straightforward and say whatever comes to mind.
"Then let’s go straight forward," Feng Jun pointed ahead, "to those few stars, I think we should use the flying boat for the journey."
The speed of the flying boat is not faster than the Nascent Soul’s physical teleportation, but a good point is that it can conserve spiritual energy.
Taking five days, they reached a nearby star system, where there is a star and hundreds of smaller planets, among which the larger planets number more than ten.
Yi Jue and others are not unfamiliar with such celestial phenomena, she even joked with Qing Ji, "Aren’t you going to take away this Sunfire?"
She was pointing at that star, Feng Jun’s mouth twitched, really, can you collect a sun?
Elder Qing Ji rolled her eyes, "I can’t collect it, even if I could, I wouldn’t dare to randomly collect it... This True Fire of the mortal realm has great karmic consequences, which I cannot bear."
Upon hearing she couldn’t collect it, Feng Jun felt relieved, "Is this karmic consequence referring to the living beings on the planets?"
Elder Qing Ji gave him a strange look, then replied seriously after thinking about it, "It is, but not only that... Even if there are no living beings on the planets, you still can’t randomly collect them. All things have their evolution process, and who knows when life may arise."
Elder Cang Jing also spoke, "Living beings from other planets could migrate here. The karmic consequences of the mortal realm are much more troublesome than those of cultivators, it’s best not to touch them if possible."
Feng Jun raised his eyebrows and spoke in surprise, "You all seem quite experienced?"
No one noticed any hidden meaning behind his words; Huo Liu True Immortal even answered, "Walking around and observing a lot, it’s actually not that strange, this True Fire of the mortal realm is not the best choice for collecting true fire."
"Let’s start exploring," Yi Jue spoke, "I suggest we start from the outer areas and gradually move inward."
"Okay," Elder Cang Jing agreed, "The outer planets are relatively cold, getting hotter as you go inward. None are habitable planets, but the Insect Race’s tolerance is strong, so their presence can’t be ruled out."
The group spent about ten days exploring the entire star system; initially cautious, they relaxed more over time, eventually openly sweeping around with Divine Sense.
They found no life on any of the hundreds of planets; on one small asteroid, there were some fossils suspected to be of the Insect Race, but Cang Jing True Immortal identified them as an ancient rodent species.
Yi Jue True Immortal stated that there was no need to be surprised why such fossils appeared on the asteroid, suggesting it may have drifted from elsewhere and then been captured by the star system.
Besides life forms, they also paid attention to the resources here. Elder Qing Ji was pleased to discover a mine, "There’s actually a White Bizarre Gold Mine, and it seems quite abundant... We might consider mining it later."
Elder Cang Jing was a bit unhappy, "After finally finding decades-old Profound Ice, its quality is so poor. The mortal realm’s Profound Ice is a disgrace to the term ’Profound’!"
Meanwhile, Feng Jun frowned, "Oh, such a large gold mine..."
(First update, dedicated to Master of the House, Xiaoyao’s Mouse; double time last eleven hours to summon monthly votes.)
