Chapter 349: Prodigal Miaomiao
As the two men shared the same goal, they agreed to work together but with conditions.
Zhou Gongjin would try to convince his young lord to prepare for the upcoming war and help Siren City in whatever they could. Also, they would lobby the elders and the soldiers of Sun Clan to cooperate with Miaomiao.
Secondly, Zhou Gongjin would sell Miaomiao the blueprints of their most advanced flying warships and local specialties.
The horned sheep of Jiangdong Province had been consuming dark grass, which contained strong earth and water element Qi. Their meat could be used to nurture 4th-stage cultivators who pursued the path of earth or water element Qi. Their wool could also be woven into water or earth-based robes, which could provide resistance to the elements.
In exchange, Miaomiao would help Jiangdong White Tiger Sect dealing with the Mount Hua Sect and the Yuan Clan in the future. Also, he would prioritize selling the Siren City's elixir to the Sun Clan and the Jiangdong White Tiger Sect.
For starters, the exchange rate was one horn sheep per one liter of elixir or 300 gallons of elixir for one warship blueprint. The exchange rate could change, depending on the agreements of both parties.
After finishing lobbying, Zhou Gongjin and Zhou Tai left Sun Jing's manor and returned to Jianye City.
…
The next day morning, many elders descended the mountain to monitor the sect examination.
As for Miaomiao, he didn't need to attend the sect exam as he had already achieved his goal, getting the attention of Sun Wentai and Jiangdong White Tiger Sect.
At 8 AM, Sun Jing's servant came to fetch Miaomiao.
"Sir, Lord Sun Jing and the sect master have summoned you. I shall guide you to the sect's grand hall."
Miaomiao had no problem with it. He followed the servant.
The meeting place was located at the foot of the mountain. Nearby, a battle arena, training fields, and lecture halls of inner disciples were also there. However, tall walls separated the districts apart.
As Miaomiao was walking toward the checkpoint of the grand hall, several inner disciples in their red uniform gazed at him, checking his cultivation base and physique.
None of them mocked or gossiped about him even though Miaomiao stood out from the rest due to his clothes. They simply stopped to look at him.
Still, these disciples distinctively formed groups and cliques. Miaomiao hadn't seen anyone wandering in the sect alone. Also, they seemed to be on guard against their fellow disciples.
The environment was bad. This place looked like a warzone.
As soon as Miaomiao reached the entrance of the grand hall, a youth had been standing in front of the gate with a pair of bloody hands.
When Gan Ning spotted Miaomiao, he laughed, "Boss! Where have you been!? I couldn't find you last night!"
Miaomiao rolled his eyes, "That's my line. Where did you run off to? I was at Senior Sun Jing's residence."
"Ahaha! I couldn't find you at the banquet hall, so I toured the sect. When I came here, some of those red-clothed bastards picked a fight with me. Obviously, I taught them a lesson."
Miaomiao glanced at Gan Ning's hands and the latter's face. Dark bloodstain was on his face and his robes, but it belonged to someone else.
As long as Gan Ning was unharmed, Miaomiao was fine with it. He ignored the troublemaker and invited Gan Ning to follow him.
As Gan Ning got the approval of Miaomiao, the servant allowed Gan Ning to follow them.
Unfortunately for Gan Ning, he was asked to wait in front of the grand hall's entrance after he passed through the checkpoint. After all, it was supposed to be a private meeting.
…
The grand hall was self-explanatory, a giant hall. Smooth Roman-style pillars, seamless marble floor, scenery painting of mystic mountains on the ceiling, colorful glass windows, and neatly arranged dark-wood chairs looked majestic without luxurious decorations.
Miaomiao admired the colored windows as they looked similar to glass windows in a church.
However, one thing ruined the image of this sacred hall.
A chubby white tiger cub had been lying on the middle of the hall carpet, showing its fluffy white belly, seducing everyone nearby to rub its stomach.
In the hall, Sun Jing, Sun Bofu, Sun Wentai, and Huang Gongfu had already been waiting for Miaomiao, sitting in their respective seats.
Sun Wentai sat at the honored seat at the end of the hall while others sat on the sides, facing the long carpet that stretched from the honored seat to the gate entrance.
Had it been a normal circumstance, Miaomiao would have walked in and greeted Sun Wentai first. Unfortunately, the fat tiger cub was on the way.
Miaomiao stared at the cub and frowned.
The Sun Clan's members and Huang Gongfu had a wry smile on their faces, gazing at the childish tiger.
"Umm," Miaomiao pointed at the animal. "May I come over?"
Sun Wentai and others shook their head and gestured Miaomiao to stay there. Their sweaty faces looked comical from the outsider's perspective.
Miaomiao's attention turned to the tiger again. He approached it and transformed his skin into dragon scales. The right hand reached for the belly-rub trap.
Nobody could resist it!
"Rest in peace…" Sun Bofu muttered to himself, and Miaomiao could hear it. Unfortunately, it was too late to retract his right hand.
As soon as the hand touched the belly, the cub opened its red eyes and laughed.
"GOTCHA, BITCH!"
The cub suddenly jumped up caught Miaomiao's right hand with front paws. The glittering sharp fangs gnawed the fingers, after which it repeatedly kicked Miaomiao's arm with the rear legs.
But the fangs and the claws failed to penetrate Miaomiao's skin and the fragile-looking fingers. The cub kept kicking and gnawing the dragon scale hand.
Two minutes later, the cub let the hand go. Then, it struggled back on its feet and roared at Miaomiao with the terrifying majestic voice of a divine beast that could frighten every mortal in Heavenly Goose Planet.
"MEOW!!"
"…"
Miaomiao stared at the cub for a moment. Then, he looked at the Sun Clan gang.
He pointed at the tiger, "You guys are afraid of this kitty?"
The tiger cub was offended when Miaomiao had called him a kitty. He hissed and revealed his identity.
"Imbecile! How dare you call me a lowly cat!? I'm the majestic divine white tiger, the guardian beast of the Sun Clan! Fucking hell, I'm the one that gave you that exam, you piece of human diarrhea shit-eating monkey!"
As the cub was yelling, he sat on his butt and rubbed his fangs with his fluffy front feet as if he had bitten something hard, and his teeth were in pain.
"And what in the god realm is wrong with your physique!? Is your father a human-banging metal dragon with a human sow fetish or something!? How come my glorious invincible fangs can't penetrate human flesh? This GREAT ME has never failed like this before. You must have used some sort of heavenly talisman or a divine artifact! There's no way that a human's soft juicy hand can withstand my jaw strength and my god-like fangs!"
"You sure talk a lot," Miaomiao knelt and patted the cub's head.
"DON'T TOUCH ME, YOU LIZARD APE!"
However, the cub caught the hand again and repeated what he did earlier. Yet, it couldn't harm Miaomiao.
While the tiger was busy biting Miaomiao's hand, he looked at Sun Wentai and pointed at the tiger with the other free hand, "Is this your guardian beast?"
Everyone nodded as they gazed at Miaomiao in astonishment.
Miaomiao snickered and stood up. The tiger latched onto his right arm and continued gnawing him, refusing to surrender.
With the cub in tow, Miaomiao proceeded forward and formally greeted Sun Wentai, "Well, let's ignore this kitty and go on with our meeting. I know that it's late, but let's pretend that I've just come into the hall… Greeting Sect Master Sun. I'm an envoy from the Siren City, Mao Miaomiao. I have been using a fake name to disguise my identity before. Please forgive this junior for the past offense."
Everyone froze as they gazed at the comical sight. Their guardian beast was still latching on Miaomiao's arm, but the latter pretended that nothing had happened.
Moreover, the real name of Miaomiao even made the entire event interesting.
Sun Bofu lost it. He burst into laughter, "HAHAHAHAHA!! Awesome! I never believed in fate or destiny, but I believe in it now! You, sir, are destined to be a cat-whisperer. Even your name and surname are related to cats!"
"BOFU!!"
A teacup smacked on Sun Bofu's head, and the thrower was Sun Wentai.
Sun Jing also dragged Sun Bofu to the back of the hall and kicked him out. This child was not ready for the adult meeting.
Unlike yesterday, the sect master seemed friendlier to Miaomiao. He stood up and cupped his fist, "My son has offended you. I shall reeducate my child after this. If there's anything I can compensate you for, please say it."
Miaomiao waved his left hand, "It's alright. People made fun of my name all the time. I'm used to it. Also, I'm here to request an alliance with the Sun Clan and the Jiangdong White Tiger Sect. I can't be greedy and possibly ask for compensation when many lives are depending on me."
Sun Wentai appreciated the understanding. He started to like Miaomiao a bit.
"Thanks for your understanding. Well, since we've already learned about your purposes and the relationship between you and Sun Yun, I'll get to the point."
Miaomiao smiled as he had expected a positive answer.
"After we help you fending off the Yuan Clan and their goons, how much can you pay us?"
Miaomiao's face darkened. Sun Wentai was an ingrate!
He felt betrayed. He thought that Sun Wentai would never extort him, but it seemed that he was the same as other cultivators.
Greedy people could only be moved with money, and Sun Wentai might have desired Siren City's wealth.
Sun Jing and Huang Gongfu gave Miaomiao an apologetic smile. They had attempted to persuade Sun Wentai, but the latter wished to capitalize on this war and extort Miaomiao for the elixir supplies as a payment.
Miaomiao sighed and looked into Sun Wentai's eyes, "Are Sun Yun's livelihood and safety not important enough for you to move?"
Sun Wentai grinned, "She is a family member, but we can't possibly move the entire sect and my clan just to help her. Actually, I could have asked you to migrate Sun Yun to Jianye City instead."
From the point of view of the Sun Clan, they could have avoided the war by moving their family member out of harm's way. However, they might lose the source of the precious elixir to the Yuan Clan, and Sun Wentai didn't like it. Thus, he half-joked with Miaomiao.
Seeing that Miaomiao didn't protest and ignored the offense, Sun Wentai got to the point, "Well, since the Yuan Clan has framed you to make up an excuse to mobilize his army, we can't simply let it slide. But you see, wars require money, and the total mobilization requires great funds. We're merely a small sect from the southeastern province while your city is located on the far northwest. Not only do we need to travel across the continent, but we also need to feed our men, elders, and soldiers. Lastly, it is your war, not ours. If you need our forces to help you fight the Yuan Clan, you will need to convince us with your sincerity… a solid sincerity."
In short, Sun Wentai wanted money, cash, or any item that could compensate for the war fund.
Miaomiao sighed as he rubbed his spatial ring. A second later, 500,000 silver crystal balls at a finger size, aka essence cores, were ejected from his ring.
Sun Wentai's reaction was swift. As soon as the essence cores were shot out of the ring, he reached out his hand and collected them in his spatial ring. He also counted them.
"You're quite rich, junior Mao. However, this is probably not enough to convince my elders."
Miaomiao smirked and forked 400,000 more. These were the essence cores that Sun Wu had asked Miaomiao to share with Sun Wentai, so he didn't mind using them in this negotiation.
Seeing the number of essence cores, Huang Gongfu gulped. Miaomiao was indeed a Megalodon as he had proclaimed in the casino.
As for Sun Jing, his expression was blank. He had ever seen this many essence cores in their life.
"Is this enough, Sect Master Sun?" Miaomiao pressed for Sun Wentai's decision.
The latter was taken aback as he had expected Miaomiao to bargain. Yet, he simply threw money at his face, insulting Sun Wentai indirectly.
Sun Wentai was ashamed, but he was satisfied with this much SINCERITY.
"M-More than enough."
Looking at the dumbfounded people in the hall, Miaomiao was satisfied. He proceeded to steal the momentum and put the pressure on Sun Wentai instead, "How many elders, soldiers, and warships that you can provide? I hope that they are worth 900,000 essence cores."
Sun Wentai gulped, aware that he was being tested.
Unfortunately, before Sun Wentai could say or promise anything, the tiger cub let go of Miaomiao's arm and revealed the strength of the Jiangdong White Tiger Sect.
"Meh! They've just suffered a major loss from the recent battle at Xuan City. They have only seven workable warships, 20 transport ships, a thousand 4th-stage cultivators, 30 5th-stage cultivators, and seven 6th-stage cultivators. That shitty sect master that you're talking to is the only nascent soul cultivator around here. To be honest, they aren't worth your money. I don't know why you're paying for them when you can simply buy me off the Sun Clan, and I can return the favor by slaughtering whoever your enemies are."
Everyone in the hall: "…"
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