145 A Happy Ending?
Myriad Cauldron Sect
The aftermath of the herb gathering event was chaotic as Xin Pi had expected. Many survivors, who had encountered the dryad queen, complained to their masters that they had tricked them into the plane. Several orthodox sects' disciples and elders couldn't return.
Han Wenjie, Ju Shoufen, and Xin Pi had to make their appearance and declared – There was an accident in the plane this year as the dryad queen could neutralize the safety rules, which had been arranged by the Myriad Cauldron Sect.
The excuse couldn't appease the crowd. They still blamed everything on the alchemists. Fortunately, most organizations swallowed their pride and retreated as they weren't strong enough to wage war against the Myriad Cauldron Sect. Moreover, they still had to rely on them in the upcoming war with Wei Huang and his allies. It was not the time to fight with each other.
The Myriad Cauldron Sect's reputation took a hit after this incident. In the future, nobody would join their public event anymore. Only a few merchants would continue purchasing the sect's pills.
It would take a while before these alchemists could regain their fame and attract back customers.
.
Meanwhile, Yu Shun was not satisfied with the result of his scheme. He pinpointed the location of Wei Yuan and Cao Mao for everybody, but nobody was smart enough to find them.
It was partly Yu Shun's fault as he forgot to update the current appearance of Cao Mao to the public. His incompetent subordinates' sketched portraits were the ones with silver long hair and a babyface. However, Cao Mao rolled around with his Mao Miaomiao's form, so everybody couldn't find him.
It took him a while before Yu Shun realized the mistake.
"Ah, shit. Come to think of it, those portraits are outdated. I need to revisit them and take Xu Miao's photos. Or, maybe I can send agents to take photos of those women and give them to Huangjin Sect or the Dong Clan. That fatty chancellor and those maniacs should be interested in those beauties."
As Yu Shun was plotting how he could reveal Wei Yuan and Xu Miao's whereabouts to the world, his phone rang. Someone had called him.
The caller was one of Yu Shun's major customers, the crown prince, Liu Bian.
The prince was merely 8 years old. However, his intelligence and cultivation base surpassed someone his age. This meridian establishment realm youngster was the master of formations, traps, talismans, and arrays, who could easily defeat any 4th-stage expert without using a drop of essence.
Rumors said that the crown prince was the reincarnation of an ancient master. Some said that he was a supreme prodigy that only appeared once in a thousand years.
Despite the promising future and his status, the crown prince's hobby was nasty. He collected dead bodies and corpses.
The fat merchant was afraid and wary of this nasty prince. He didn't like it when the prince directly called him.
Reluctantly, Yu Shun picked up the call, "What can I do for you, your highness?"
'I need you to investigate something for me.'
"Investigate?"
'There is an individual with the name, Xie Tian. I think he has just died recently. I want you to search for his dead body or his remains.'
"W-What? You want me to find a dead body!?"
'Exactly.'
"Y-Your Highness, I'm afraid that's not my area of expertise. I'm a merchant, not a grave robber."
'Shut up and listen to what I say! You're not the only one I've called and commissioned with this task. I ordered the Mi Clan and the Zhou Clan the same thing I'm ordering you! The first one who can find me Xie Tian's corpse will be given 1,000 essence cores and a shadow element crystal!'
Yu Shun's face changed when he heard the bounty rewards. One essence core could be sold for a million refined stones, so 1,000 essence cores were a lot of money.
Furthermore, all orthodox and unorthodox sects would be willing to do anything to get their hands on any element crystal since it could give new power to their top disciples. Talented experts could easily comprehend a new element by studying an element crystal, which was the condensed power of elemental essence.
This deal was huge.
Yu Shun had to take a few seconds to calm his excitement.
"I'll do it."
'Good. Be quick.'
The crown prince ended the call.
Yu Shun stared at his jade phone. Then, he turned to Yeet City.
"Hmm, fine. I'll deal with you later. I'll complete this stupid corpse digging task and use that brat's authority to hunt you down later, Xu Miao!"
.
After the subdimension event, Cao Mao managed to return in one piece. He did not need to worry about the system's threatening time-limited quests anymore.
Yet, the tutorial quest wasn't over yet. The only task Cao Mao had to complete was the 9th mission, which forced him to master three core techniques.
Dual Flame
Vampiric Touch
Goose Tongue
The first two techniques were powerful and played an important role during the previous fight. However, Cao Mao was still confused about the last technique.
The technique scroll only gave him a vague training method. First, Cao Mao had to mingle with geese, mutated geese, and monster beast geese and listen to their honks.
The next day after Cao Mao's return, Jia Shan visited him to check his disciple's progress and his profits after the event.
Seeing Jia Shan, Cao Mao requested for some tips, "Senior, good timing. I have a few questions about the Goose Tongue technique."
Jia Shan was delighted that his disciple was working hard. He also sensed Cao Mao's dormant power, which subtly changed.
Cao Mao's spiritual aura currently leaked an archaic air, which contained the will of heaven and earth. It resembled the air around Xie Tian, but it was weaker since Cao Mao didn't have a domineering bloodline of a dragon.
Instead of teaching Cao Mao about the Goose Tongue technique, Jia Shan was curious about his pupil's growth, "You've been through a life-and-death fight, I see."
"Wow. How did you know, master?"
"Your aura has changed. It can only change when you have gone through an ordeal that almost took away your life."
"I-I see."
Cao Mao wanted to refute that he risked his life many times in the Isolation Training Space, fighting 200% difficulty clones almost every night. However, the tension between fighting a real battle in the real world and a simulation was a lot different, so Cao Mao couldn't refuse the notion.
The last fight was dangerous, yet easy at the same time. Xie Tian had too many skills and hidden trump cards. The first half of the fight was evenly matched, but the latter half was one-sided after Cao Mao started using his brain and his wooden element Qi.
Jia Shan patted Cao Mao's head, "It's good that you've managed to return unharmed. Say, can you tell me what you've gained in that plane? Maybe I can help you identify some unknown herbs or items."
Cao Mao was reluctant of revealing his assets. He had already identified all items that Hopea had given him, so he didn't need Jia Shan's help. Still, he revealed some of his spirit corns and a few low-grade herbs to his master.
"Ah, spirit corns. These are the ingredients of the grain pills. You should hire an alchemist to teach you how to make the pills and start producing it yourself. You can learn some basic alchemy skills with this."
Jia Shan's explanation was similar to what the system told him. Aside from his personal opinion, there was nothing new.
But when Jia Shan noticed a bud of a brown and green flower, which Cao Mao unintentionally brought out, the old man was shocked.
"Wait, disciple. Isn't this a nightmare flower? How did you get this?"
Cao Mao looked confused for a second as he didn't remember taking out some of his precious herbs. When he noticed that a finger-sized bud got pulled out along with other ginsengs and corns, he almost smacked his forehead for his stupidity.
In Cao Mao's modern world, everyone called it Marijuana.
However, the system and Jia Shan identified it as Nightmare Flower.
"Umm, that. It stood out from other ginsengs, so I picked it up."
Cao Mao feinted ignorance as he didn't want his mentor to know that he had over 5,000 potted plants of weed in his spatial ring. He planned to grow them as a hobby along with a few hundred tobacco plants. The purpose of cultivating these plants was obvious, for making the good-old-joints.
The narcotic plants were the departing gift from Hopea. Although Cao Mao didn't know how she got her hands on them, he appreciated the weeds nonetheless.
Jia Shan raised the corner of his mouth as he noticed how nervous Cao Mao was, "You know how this plant is used, don't you?"
Cao Mao bitterly smiled and nodded.
"Haiz. Don't smoke this thing. It will corrupt your Qi and Essence. Sell it to the alchemist sect. At least you can make two or three refined stones per a flower bud."
"Wow. It's that expensive?"
"It's a narcotic drug ingredient. Obviously, commoners and trash cultivators are addicted to this! I'm sure those garden masters will be delighted to see more of these flowers in the market since they have a close connection with several underground black markets."
In other words, the Myriad Cauldron Sect secretly distributed illegal drugs to make money while they were keeping the fa?ade of a righteous sect. They were too similar to the Silver Phoenix Sect.
"Is this alchemy sect an unorthodox sect?"
"Meh, every sect has dipped their hands in shady businesses here and there. This is considered cute if you compare it to other sects out there. Do you know that some of those so-called righteous sects have murdered more innocent people than evil sects?"
"You're admitting that you weren't a good sect leader either."
"Yeah, I killed a lot of rookie cultivators in all annual tests. Well, that's the past. I'm a weak senile old man now."
"… Weak? Sure."
Getting a disapproval look from Cao Mao, Jia Shan coughed changed the subject, "For now, let's continue our training. I'll give you a few tips about Goose Tongue."
.
After that day, Cao Mao and his wives shut themselves in the guest courtyard, enjoying their peaceful slow life.
Jia Shan visited them once every week, delivering food supplies and the daily necessity to his disciple. He also took Kang Yan, who had been practicing swordsmanship in secret, under his wings as well.
Ju Chen, the vampire girl, joined the ranks of yin slave, but her glutton nature didn't change. Sometimes, she snuck into the kitchen and ate at least 10kg of raw meat alone.
Except for Kang Yan and Ju Chen, Jiang Lan and ten yin slaves were found pregnant. The girls celebrated while Cao Mao got a panic attack. He stopped cultivating and searched the city to buy a bigger resident for his family.
Cao Mao ended up buying four acres of the empty plot inside the Myriad Cauldron Sect by using Jia Shan's connection and orc strength pills. Ju Shoufen and many garden masters agreed to sell them the land with the condition that Cao Mao had to sell at least 10,000 orc strength pills to the sect every year. Also, he was acknowledged as a freelance worker of the sect, and he had the rights to access facilities in the outer sect areas.
A month after Cao Mao bought the land, a four-story mansion, and tall fences were built. The rest of the empty plots were converted into a big pond to rear geese.
The Cao Manor had officially been established.
Cao Mao enjoyed a blissful life with his family, kind mentor, his good neighbors, and cultured men in the sect. Everything seemed like a good ending for him… until the day Cao Mao mastered all three core techniques 8 months later.
This chapt𝒆r is updated by free(w)ebnovel(.)com