The Iron Eater Tribe's Most Important Business

Gu Yuanqing returned to his Chair, poured them both another cup of tea, and asked, "What are your plans for the future?"

The two exchanged a glance, Xing Fei asked, "May I ask how far this place is from Lanting City, senior?"

Gu Yuanqing made a rough estimate and said, "About three thousand li."

Xing Fei's expression changed slightly. "Over three thousand li, it would take the two of us at least two days to get there."

Gu Yuanqing said, "Two days might not be enough. Along the way, there are several territories of the Core Formation Realm Demon Beast that you'll have to detour through. It will take at least three days. Are you prepared to go?"

Xing Fei said, "When we set off, the sect leader said that if we got separated, we would meet there. We two juniors would like to rest in this Mountain for a day to treat our injuries, and then set off early the day after tomorrow."

Gu Yuanqing nodded and said, "In that case, why don't you two rest in this Courtyard for a day?" As he spoke, Gu Yuanqing used the Heart Seal Technique, and the image of a Courtyard appeared in their Human Heart.

At the same time, he slightly loosened his control over the two of them. They felt their internal Vital Energy and willpower recover, but all their Vital Energy and perception remained confined to their bodies, unable to perceive anything Outer Realm.

The Spiritual Qi from the Outer Realm stopped approaching when it was about three zhang away from the two of them.

Gu Yuanqing did this to prevent any accidents. Although these two were not bad people, he couldn't let them know about the unusual Vital Energy here, lest it spread and cause trouble.

Xing Fei and Lu Jianqiu got up to say goodbye.

Gu Yuanqing watched the two leave, picked up a cup of tea, took a sip, and thought of the several Yan Mountain Sect members who had died tragically on the road. He sighed inwardly, "Compared to this realm, the Floating World is indeed a peaceful and stable place. At least we don't have to worry about being killed by Demon Beast."

With a thought, he assigned the small courtyard to the two people. A Qingfeng suddenly arose, stirring up all the dust in the Courtyard. In a short while, the furniture and floors inside the house were spotless.

Zhang Xuanlin and Ji Qingyun also arrived in the Courtyard. Looking at the messy Courtyard filled with fallen leaves and the rooms seemingly covered in dust, they fell silent. If they had cultivation, they could have dispelled the dust with a thought, but they naturally didn't have that ability now.

Ji Qingyun quickly said, "Sect Master, please wait a moment. I'll clean up this courtyard first. There's a spring halfway up the mountain; I'll go fetch a few buckets."

Zhang Xuanlin smiled slightly, "Thank you for your hard work."

Boom!

Suddenly, lightning flashed and thunder roared in the sky. Before they knew it, Dark Clouds had gathered, and heavy rain was pouring down from afar.

After being cleansed by the power of North Spring Mountain, the rainwater falls into the Mountain and nourishes the earth.

When it landed on Gu Yuanqing's head, it naturally avoided him.

Gu Yuanqing summoned a stream of water to wash the teacups he had just used, and with a wave of his hand, all the Tea Set flew back into the room.

In fact, he doesn't need water; he can clean a teacup in a moment simply by using his Object Control Power. However, it's a habit he's developed over decades, and he always feels that a cup that hasn't been washed with water isn't very clean.

In a small courtyard below, Xing Fei and Lu Jianqiu sat facing each other.

"Senior Brother, Ling'er Sister Ling'er and the other Senior Brother really... really dead?" Lu Jianqiu's voice trembled. He had restrained his emotions in front of Gu Yuanqing, but now he could no longer hold back.

Xing Fei's face was also grim, but he forced a smile through his grief and said, "Junior Sister, I know you're sad, and so am I. However, the dead cannot be brought back to life. The only thing we can do is to focus on our cultivation and break through to the Core Formation Realm, or even the Divine Platform Realm, as soon as possible, so that we can avenge them. This revenge is not only for the Demon Beast of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, but also for the Canglan City, the Qian Family of Zhenbei City, and the North Dragon Sword Sect of Qizhou Prefecture. If it weren't for them, why would our Yan Mountain Sect have been forced to come to these Hundred Thousand Great Mountains?"

Lu Jianqiu nodded tearfully, saying bitterly, "And them too. If it weren't for them kicking us when we were down, how could Master, Uncle Qi, and so many Senior Brother have lost their lives?"

"Alright, that's enough. Now is not the time to think about these things. Let's heal our injuries first. Only in this way can we head to Lanting City and reunite with the sect leader as soon as possible."

"Um!"

The two composed themselves and each took out Healing Pill to take, but suddenly they froze.

The two looked at each other.

"Could it be the effect of the tea I drank earlier?" Lu Jianqiu guessed uncertainly.

Xing Fei nodded. "That's the only possibility. I forcibly used the Wild Goose Sword Qi before, which damaged several of my meridians, but now most of those meridians have healed. Also, the speed at which our wounds are scabbing over is quite remarkable."

"It seems I owe this senior another favor."

Xing Fei said, "Such a great favor can only be repaid when I have achieved success in my cultivation."

Gu Yuanqing withdrew his gaze, and combining the scene of the battle between the two Front Mountain with the basic Secret Manuals in his hand, he had a general idea in mind.

"The cultivation in the Floating World is directly descended from that in the Cultivation World, and the True Qi True Qi cultivated in the Demon Realm also shares many similarities with that in the Cultivation World. However, the true energy in the Cultivation World tends to be more gentle and neutral, while the True Qi in the Demon Realm is more violent and has a stronger killing aura!"

"Spiritual Qi is also very beneficial to the people of the Demon Realm. Their Cultivation Method seem to rely on their own will to remove the negative emotions carried by the Demonic Qi and then absorb them for their own use. Judging from the fact that North Spring Mountain can transform Demonic Qi into Spiritual Qi, the two are essentially no different in their most fundamental nature."

"Perhaps it is precisely for this reason that the beasts of the Demon Realm are so eager to obtain the Spirit Fruit formed from my Dao Resonance."

After a long while, Gu Yuanqing finally gathered his thoughts. These things would be helpful to his future actions in the Demon Realm.

He glanced at Zhang Xuanlin and Ji Qingyun again.

Zhang Xuanlin stood under the eaves, looking up at the sky as if trying to see the Blood Moon through the Cloud Layer.

Ji Qingyun was still busy. Fortunately, even though he couldn't use his cultivation, his Physical Body strength was still there, so he could clean up quickly. However, he was clearly in a bad mood. In the Floating World for five hundred years, the Lingxu Sect respected him and had never done such a thing before. As a dignified Divine Platform Cultivator, he was imprisoned here and had to do such servant's work. He felt extremely aggrieved.

Gu Yuanqing smiled, returned to the house, sat cross-legged, and immersed himself in the Spiritual Mountain Trial.

After falling into the Demon Realm, his cultivation progress gradually slowed down, and he spent a little more time in the Spiritual Mountain Trial. After all, it would take some time before he could break through to the Divine Platform Realm, and the Demon Realm was different from the Floating World. He could face battles at any time, so he needed to have a better understanding of his own strength and hone some of the techniques of the Dao Fire Realm.

After he broke through to the Dao Fire Realm, Li Miaoxuan could no longer stop him. After all, the difference between the major realms was too great, and Gu Yuanqing's Dao Resonance and profound True Essence were far beyond what ordinary Dao Fire Realm could compare to.

However, the number of opponents for someone at the Dao Fire Realm decreased. Li Shi'an, Zuo Qiu, Ji Dai, and three other Cultivator had visited North Spring Mountain many years ago became his opponents.

Among them, only Zuo Qiu could rival Gu Yuanqing. As Dao Fire Peak cultivator and a disciple of a major sect, his skills far surpassed those of Li Shi'an and others. Even as Gu Yuanqing became more familiar with him, Zuoqiu still lost more often than he won.

Compared to him, even if they were only equal in terms of True Essence, Gu Yuanqing was slightly better in Dao Discussion essence. However, Gu Yuanqing, who had just entered the Dao Fire Realm, was still too inexperienced and needed to constantly hone his skills to master them.

Zuo Qiu wielded a long saber, each strike landing precisely on the weakest point in Gu Yuanqing's True Essence connection. Even with a powerful technique like the Demon Subduing Sword Formation, the opponent could still find an opening before the Array Formation was activated.

Gu Yuanqing was amazed by Zuo Qiu's strength, but little did he know that the person captured during the Spiritual Mountain Trial was a simulation of the opponent's strongest state, and was absolutely calm.

Although it lacks some of the Spirituality of True Person and lowers its upper limit, it raises its lower limit to the extreme.

If Gu Yuanqing were to fight the real Zuo Qiu, it would definitely not be as difficult as the Spiritual Mountain Trial.

However, he was happy with this arrangement; without such an opponent, how could he hone his skills?

An hour later, he withdrew from the Spiritual Mountain Trial, silently sorted out what he had gained, and then entered into cultivation again. He circulated his Cultivation Method, and Dao Fire ignited around his body. Most of his mind sank into the Dao Embryo Dao Embryo, merging with it to comprehend the Dao Resonance, while the Dao Fire continuously tempered his body and Divine Sense.

Two more hours passed before he withdrew from his meditative state and entered a state of Mountain Observation, calming his mind and comprehending the Dao of Heaven and Earth.

As dawn broke, he finally drifted into a deep sleep, his consciousness mostly empty.

Bamboo Mountain is the Ancestral Mountain of the Iron Eater Beast clan.

This place is full of various kinds of bamboo and bamboo shoots, and they devote most of their energy to cultivating better bamboo.

After all, for Iron Eater Beast, eating is the most important thing!

They can spend most of their day eating.

This morning, just as dawn was breaking, two Dao Body rode the Cloudmist and soared into the sky.

Standing behind was the Iron Eater Beast, the Great Gong Venerable who used to collect rent. At this moment, it was listening intently to the old ancestor's teachings.

"Little San, remember this well: collecting rent is a major matter. Our clan has entrusted you with this important task because you are smart and steady."

"Rent collection is crucial to whether our people can have enough to eat. Look, the Little Thirteen son of the family is clamoring for Dragon Phoenix Bamboo today, but we don't have any. How tragic is this? Our Iron-Eating Tribe can't even guarantee the food for its own people. How can we possibly grow strong? Therefore, you must always remember your responsibilities."

The Great Gong Venerable solemnly said, "Ancestor, rest assured, I have been negligent this year. I will definitely keep my mission in mind. The Dragon Phoenix Bamboo were all planted by the Two-Headed Flood Dragon, and we must bring them back today."

"And what about that Human Race? You're usually quite clever, so why can't you see things clearly? Since he's settled in our territory, he has to pay rent. We can't break the rules, or if word gets out, who will pay rent? If those old guys like the Sky Fox and the Demon Ape find out, they'll laugh at us, saying that the Iron Eater Tribe can't even collect Land Rent. That would be a huge joke."

Furthermore, remember this: Human Race are even more cunning than the stinky foxes of Sky Fox Mountain; be extremely careful when dealing with them.

The Great Gong Venerable scratched his ear, looking distressed, and said, "Ancestor, but that Human Race really didn't take our land, and I felt he spoke very sincerely and had good intentions towards me."

The Iron Eater Ancestor said in a deep voice, "No matter what, since you're in our territory, paying rent is a matter of course. I've come out with you today to personally teach you. Watch carefully, these are all ancestral skills. See how I collect rent!"

Thank you to the two bosses, Jinse Mu Nian Xiaokan Shijian Fushu and Mo Yinxi, for their rewards!