Xiong Ba Collects the Rent

Two Iron Eater Beast rode on clouds.

After an incense stick had burned, the Great Gong Venerable said in a muffled voice, "Ancestor, we've arrived."

The other, noticeably larger, Iron Eater Beast paused for a moment upon hearing this, then quickly fed the bamboo shoots it was holding into its mouth, stood up, and stood straight on its short legs, looking majestic.

It swallowed the bamboo shoot in its mouth, coughed twice, and then said, "Little San, give me the gong."

The Great Gong Venerable took the gong and gong mallet from his waist and handed them over.

The Iron Eater Ancestor took it and said, "Strictly speaking, those living in our territory are all people who raise bamboo for us... they are all guests, so when collecting rent, we must treat them with courtesy. First, we must let others know that we have arrived. I heard that Human Race shout with their mouths, which is too unrefined. But we Iron Eater Tribe are different. This bronze gong passed down from our ancestors represents our identity. Since this bronze gong has been passed down to you, it means that the clan recognizes you. By the way, which clan are the tenants below?"

The Great Gong Venerable said, "The Golden-eyed Ape Demon, their family hasn't harvested any Golden Spirit Bamboo for two years. Yesterday, several clansmen asked me if I had any this year. They're long-term tenants, and I don't want to kick them out."

Even long-term tenants can't fall behind on rent, look at my example.

The Iron Eater Ancestor took a deep breath, his ears perked up, and his expression turned serious. He channeled his inner Vital Energy into the gong mallet, slammed it down on the bronze gong, and shouted, "Rent is due!"

A visible ripple spread out, and the Great Gong Venerable standing next to it was so shaken that its head buzzed and it swayed twice, almost falling over.

Down the mountain, Gale arose, causing large trees to bend to one side, and leaves to scatter everywhere. Ape in the mountains rolled their eyes back and fell backward.

The Iron Eater Ancestor was stunned for a moment, then reached out and lifted the Great Gong Venerable by the neck. With a wave of his other hand, a Gale swept in, and the white cloud on the mountain turned into a long rainbow and disappeared.

At the same time, amidst a roar, a Demon Ape leaped into the air, transforming into a height of tens of feet, wielding Golden Staff, and roared, "Xiong Ba, you stupid bear, don't you dare run away!"

The Great Gong Venerable, held by the soft flesh of his neck, remained motionless. Hearing the sounds coming from afar, he stammered, "Ancestor, weren't we here to collect rent? Why are we leaving already?"

After running a long way, the Iron Eater Ancestor finally slowed down, put down the Great Gong Venerable, coughed twice, and said, "It's been many years since I've struck this gong, and I couldn't control my strength. Besides, I think that Ape Demon isn't in a good mood today, so it's not a good day for collecting rent."

The Great Gong Venerable asked in bewilderment, "Do we have to depend on their mood to collect rent?"

The Iron Eater Ancestor slapped the Great Gong Venerable to the ground, angrily saying, "I taught you before that you can't just look at the present, you have to think about the long term. I've taught you what to do, figure it out yourself."

Then, seeing the aggrieved look on the Great Gong Venerable statue, he couldn't help but add, "Don't go collect from this family this year; go next year."

On Bamboo Mountain.

An old-looking Iron Eater Beast was lazily walking through the mountains when it suddenly remembered something. It turned around, looked around, and asked the Iron Eater Beast beside it, "Where's that kid Xiong Ba?"

A Iron Eater Beast, engrossed in eating a bamboo shoot, paused, then said, "It seems the Second Ancestor went out with Meng San, saying he was going to teach him the art of collecting rent."

"It went to teach rent collection?" The old Iron Eater Beast was full of questions.

"Yes, Elder Clan Chief, the Ancestor got up very early this morning and set off with Meng San in high spirits."

The Iron Eater Beast Chieftain's lips twitched, and he stood up upright, gazing into the distance.

Hopefully, nothing too serious will happen.

The Great Gong Venerable looked at the old ancestor beside him with some doubt. He had visited six houses today, but apart from one house that was prepared to pay rent today, the other five houses had not received any money.

Looking back on today's battles, two Great Mountain were destroyed, a Great Demon at the Void Heaven Realm was accidentally killed, a Thunder Tiger chased after him demanding to know when he planned to return the Demonic Spirit Stone he lost to it in a bet years ago, and finally, the Winged Snake family was thrown out of the Iron Eater Tribe's territory by the Ancestor in a fit of rage.

Something about the Great Gong Venerable just doesn't feel right. When the master taught it how to collect rent, he didn't say it like that.

Iron Eater Ancestor felt uneasy under his gaze, but forced himself to remain calm and glared at him, saying, "What's wrong? You think I don't know how to collect rent?"

The Great Gong Venerable repeatedly said he dared not, then reminded him, "Ancestor, if you follow this route, the next family will be that Human Race."

The Iron Eater Ancestor snorted, "Watch me teach you how to deal with Human Race."

After a while, they arrived at the foot of North Spring Mountain.

The Iron Eater Ancestor stared blankly at the Spirit Mountain. With its cultivation level, it couldn't see through the situation Mountain. That day, it felt that a mountain had appeared in its territory. Now that it was there, it seemed to have appeared out of thin air, which was really strange. But it didn't want to care too much, as long as it could collect the rent.

It glanced at the Great Gong Venerable, resisted the urge to strike it itself, straightened its body, put its short hands behind its back with an air of mastery, and coughed. "You strike the gong."

In the early morning, Gu Yuanqing studied the Cultivation Method Secret Manual. He had obtained several cultivation Cultivation Method for the Divine Platform Realm from Lan Tinglie. Although they were quite different from the Heavenly Dao Zen Heart Art that he cultivated, there were still many things he could learn from them.

In the Demon Realm Cultivation Techniques, many acupoints are utilized in a way completely different from those in the Cultivation World. These modifications make the power of True Essence bursts stronger.

There are also some Secret Method to stimulate the Physical Body and strengthen the physique, and the ideas behind them are all quite innovative.

The contrast between the two Cultivation Method developed under different environments sparked a surge of inspiration in Gu Yuanqing's mind.

He dared not arbitrarily modify the cultivation method in reality, but he could boldly try it within the Spiritual Mountain Trial.

The Heavenly Dao Zen Heart Art, which was originally thought to be perfect, gradually had dozens of acupoints of varying sizes added to it. When True Essence travels along these routes, slight vibrations will be emitted between the acupoints. When these vibrations fall on the Physical Body, countless cracks will be generated. The Spiritual Qi in the body will quickly repair these cracks. In this alternation, the strength of the Physical Body will be greatly improved.

Combined with the tempering of the Dao Fire, the speed of Physical Body strengthening is increased by almost 50%. The only drawback is that it consumes a huge amount of Spiritual Qi, and Ordinary Person need Restoration Pill or heavenly materials and earthly treasures to repair the damage to their Physical Body.

But that's exactly what he has in abundance; this set of Cultivation Method is practically tailor-made for him.

He was continuing to refine this method of cultivation when he suddenly heard the sound of a gong, which went straight to his mind.

He looked up from the Courtyard and saw two black and white, short-legged, short-armed, Gungun- bodied Iron Eater Beast looking down from the clouds.

"They're here to collect rent again, and this time there's an extra one."

Gu Yuanqing's expression suddenly turned slightly serious. The one banging the gong above the clouds was the same one who used to collect rent; he was at least Great Demon at the Divine Platform Realm.

Judging from its position, the Iron Eater Beast standing in front of it is clearly of higher cultivation level and status.

Judging from the undisguised aura emanating from it, this bear is at least Void Heaven Realm being above the Divine Platform.

"Let's try it out for a while. If that doesn't work, we'll take out a few bamboo poles and see if that can fool us."

As Gu Yuanqing gradually gained a better understanding of the Demon Realm, he realized that even if he took out a few items imbued with Spiritual Qi, it wouldn't attract too much attention, because some Array Formation and Cultivation Method could also remove negative emotions from Demonic Qi, achieving a similar effect to Spiritual Qi.

As long as we don't reveal that this is a Spirit Mountain, the problem isn't too big.

He stepped out and came to the Cliff by the Heaven and Earth Pool.

The two bears descended from the clouds and arrived at a position about a hundred feet away from North Spring Mountain.

"Human Race brat, I am the Bamboo Mountain Ancestor, Xiong Ba. Quickly hand over your rent. In the territory of my Iron Eater Tribe, no one has ever dared not to pay rent," the Iron Eater Ancestor spoke in human language.

Upon hearing this, Gu Yuanqing became extremely serious. He was very familiar with the name Xiong Ba, the Bamboo Mountain Ancestor; the moment he saw it, he recalled a TV series from his previous life.

In the Demon Realm, he was one of the two Heavenly Human Realm Mighty Figure of the Iron-Eating Tribe.

He never imagined that collecting rent would require the intervention of a Heavenly Human Realm Cultivator. This was not a mere Split Soul of Zhang Xuanlin's consciousness, but a supreme Great Demon from his own territory, someone he could not afford to ignore.

He composed himself, clasped his hands in a fist and smiled, "So it's Senior Xiong! I never said I wouldn't pay rent, but there has to be a reason for how it's paid. After all, this isn't a one-off thing; it's something that has to be paid every year, don't you think?"

The Iron Eater Ancestor had already planned ahead, saying, "You may station yourself anywhere within a thousand miles of this area; you only need to pay a thousand catties of high-grade Demonic Bamboo each year."

"Ancestor, he said before that he doesn't need such a large territory, it's useless to him!" the Great Gong Venerable reminded him in a low voice.

The Iron Eater Ancestor turned and glared at it, then said to Gu Yuanqing, "What's that, Human Race brat?"

Gu Yuanqing laughed and said, "Ancestor, isn't this a forced sale? You see, even Brother Xiong knows that I have no use for such a large territory. I heard that the Iron-Eating Tribe is very particular about rules, which is why I settled here. If your words get out, wouldn't it ruin the reputation of the Iron Eater Tribe?"

The Great Gong Venerable whispered again, "Ancestor, it seems that's indeed the case."

The Iron Eater Ancestor was stunned for a moment, then turned around and angrily said, "Shut up!"

The Great Gong Venerable covered its two ears and remained silent, looking aggrieved.

The Iron Eater Ancestor snorted coldly, "Who said I forced you to buy or sell? I'm just... offering you advice. Yes, that's what you Human Race say. Fine, since this won't work, then you come up with a plan yourself. Tell me how you're going to pay the rent? If we can reach an agreement, great. If not, I'll just have to throw this place out."

Gu Yuanqing hadn't expected the question to be pushed back to him. Facing a Heavenly Human Realm expert, he still had to be cautious. Although he didn't believe that the Iron Eater Ancestor could really throw North Spring Mountain away, he didn't want to antagonize someone else since they were already in someone else's territory.

He pondered for a moment and said, "I've just arrived here and didn't know that the Iron-Eating Tribe requires Demonic Bamboo for rent. How about this, senior, how many years' rent do you think this Law Treasure can cover?"

As he spoke, he sent a Bell over using the power of North Spring Mountain. This treasure was Lan Tinglie's Divine Platform Treasure, and its value naturally far exceeded that of a graded Demonic Bamboo.

The Iron Eater Ancestor waved his hand and sent the Bell back. "What would I do with this piece of junk? My Iron-Eating Tribe only accepts bamboo as rent; we don't want anything else."

Gu Yuanqing glanced at the two giant pandas and said with some regret, "Since you don't like them, then forget it. I originally thought these Bell looked quite nice hanging around my neck."

Upon hearing this, the Great Gong Venerable's eyes lit up. He looked down at the gong and Gong Mallet hanging at his waist, then glanced at the Bell, thinking they seemed to match quite well.

However, since the ancestor had just been angry, it dared not speak again.