Watching Han Yun take Han Fu away, Lin Ke landed on the ground with a smile.
Han Fu probably had yet to grasp what had happened, but Han Yun was a shrewd one.
People like him could make friends on every side and would not offend anyone lightly.
Even if they did offend someone, they would change their tune on the spot if there was room to mend things.
And today, because Lin Ke had shown signs of a sixty-percent-complete Dao Foundation, Han Yun had changed his mind at the last moment and decided not to antagonize him.
After all, Lin Ke could complete the sect mission regardless. Han Yun had no way to make things difficult for him and could not give Li Le a satisfactory account anyway, so he might as well earn some goodwill from Lin Ke.
"What a sly fox..."
Lin Ke shook his head with a smile, then returned to the wooden cabin on the mountain where he lived.
"Immortal Lin, the sect mission..." Seeing Lin Ke return smiling, Fang Tong breathed a sigh of relief, but still asked cautiously.
"Completed, of course." Lin Ke smiled. "After today, you can have everyone come out of Insect-Breeding Mountain."
"It's fine, no trouble at all. Staying another couple of days won't hurt." Fang Tong wiped nonexistent sweat from his forehead, his face breaking into a smile as well. "Let's wait until these two days are over. We can't interfere with your grand plans, Immortal Lin."
Lin Ke smiled. "The Sect Grand Tournament begins in three days. You can go back inside during those days. Come out and get some fresh air for these next two."
He would certainly be away from the Green Mulberry Garden during the Sect Grand Tournament.
Planning for the worst, what if Li Le sent people here to wreak havoc then?
He would be in the heart of the sect at the time, unable to look after the Green Mulberry Garden.
"The Sect Grand Tournament?" Fang Tong understood. "Yes, yes, you still have the Sect Grand Tournament to attend, Immortal Lin. Look at this brain of mine! The immortals before you were too old to participate, but you're still so young!"
The Green Mulberry Garden had previously been a retirement home. Many outer disciples nearing the end of their lives without breaking through to the Dao Foundation Stage would be sent here to retire.
They called it enjoying their twilight years, but in truth, they were merely eating their fill and waiting to die.
"I'll go to the Yi-Wa Market today to buy a formation. After that, just be careful when entering and leaving Insect-Breeding Mountain," Lin Ke added.
Fang Tong naturally nodded his agreement.
Lin Ke then gave him further instructions concerning the Green Mulberry Garden, particularly the daily management of Golden Silkworm Peak and Insect-Breeding Mountain and the matters requiring special care, before setting off for the heart of the sect.
With the sect mission completed, he only needed to weather the ordeal of the Sect Grand Tournament. After that, Li Le would no longer be able to hold him back.
Insect cries burst through the air, and clouds of vapor stirred the hibernating creatures awake.
With the end of March approaching, insects were everywhere in the Golden Wing Sect.
Along the way, Lin Ke encountered quite a few inner and outer disciples, some flying through the sky and others traveling on the ground.
Some rode enormous locusts through the air, some were surrounded by dense swarms of flies, and others had slippery earthworms over a meter long coiled around their bodies.
All in all, they shared a distinctive common style while retaining their own individual touches.
Still, there were also plenty who flew or ran on their own, like Lin Ke.
Their Spirit Insects were not enlarged.
An insect's size had nothing to do with its strength, so there was no way to judge someone's strength by the size of their Spirit Insect.
Nor could he tell which disciples belonged to the inner or outer sect. After all, their auras did not leak out constantly, and the difference between Qi Refining and Dao Foundation was not that pronounced.
These people were all chatting quite cheerfully, however.
"I heard the Cloud Frontier Beast Venerable flew into a terrible rage. Our Scripture Repository elder has been frowning all day long."
"It's not just the Scripture Repository. I heard the Discipline Hall's teams have gone in and out of the sect dozens of times lately!"
"Ah, is the sect master still not coming back? I wonder how the talks in the Dali Domain are going."
"The Dali Domain is our human race's largest and most prosperous territory in the Cloud Frontier. It's far more prosperous than our Poison Tempering Mountains. I really want to visit someday!"
Almost every disciple, inner and outer alike, was paying close attention to the major events of recent days.
The Cloud Frontier Beast Venerable's earlier outburst, for instance.
Others, however, were discussing different matters.
"More people are participating in this year's tournament. Apparently, it's because the sect recruited roughly a thousand additional outer disciples!"
"Have the mortals in those native tribes finally come to their senses?"
"Exactly! It's been thousands of years, and those mortals still can't see who rules the roost in the Poison Tempering Mountains!"
Two people nearby were chatting. One sat upright on a meditation cushion, while the other flew on a sword.
Expanded recruitment?
Hearing this, Lin Ke immediately moved closer. "Senior brothers, I'm Lin Ke."
The two looked over.
The tall, thin man seated on the cushion cupped his hands. "Junior Brother Lin, I'm Shi Ping."
The green-robed man flying on a sword also cupped his hands. "I'm Huang Fuqi."
"I heard you two say the sect is recruiting more disciples this year?" Lin Ke smiled. "I happen to have a nephew who wants to join the sect. When I heard what you said, I thought I'd ask."
"I see!" Shi Ping understood, then smiled. "If your nephew's aptitude meets the requirements, you can simply approach the Transmission Elder. When it comes to us inner disciples, the Transmission Elder is this."
He gave a thumbs-up.
Beside him, Huang Fuqi also smiled and nodded.
Lin Ke nodded at their words. "I see. I've only just established my Dao Foundation, so I hadn't heard about this yet. Thank you, senior brothers."
He was asking on Fang Tong's behalf.
Fang Tong's son wanted to join the sect and cultivate immortal arts. Perhaps this was an opportunity.
Of course, after hearing so many conversations around him, Lin Ke felt a faint sense of foreboding rise within him.
The Cloud Frontier Beast Venerable's rage... the sect master's prolonged absence... the sect recruiting more disciples...
They're preparing for war!
Come to think of it, the Spirit Pearl the Cloud Frontier Beast Venerable had lost was very likely Lin Ke's Mysterious Bead.
But from the look of things, the Cloud Frontier Beast Venerable was not going to war solely over the Spirit Pearl. At most, it was the spark that lit the fuse.
If someone needed seven steamed buns to fill their stomach, that did not mean eating only the seventh bun would make them full.
Relations between the Cloud Frontier Beast Venerable and the human race were probably already dreadful, and the shattering of the Mysterious Bead had directly ignited tensions accumulated over many years.
That was why the sect had already begun preparations as soon as the Cloud Frontier Beast Venerable erupted in fury.
If even the Poison Tempering Mountains were like this, one could imagine how tense things must be over in the Ailao Great Forest.
"Come to think of it... you look rather familiar, junior brother. Where do you serve?" Shi Ping asked curiously.
The three flew side by side. Whether they flew unaided, rode Spirit Insects, or traveled on swords, all of them had to expend spiritual power.
As such, they could roughly sense one another's cultivation.
For instance, Lin Ke could sense that Shi Ping was at the middle Dao Foundation Stage, while Huang Fuqi's aura was obscure, suggesting he was at the late Dao Foundation Stage.
"I work at the Green Mulberry Garden." Lin Ke smiled and cupped his hands.
The Green Mulberry Garden?!
Shi Ping's expression changed, and a sharp gleam flashed through Huang Fuqi's eyes.
"Junior brother, were you the one who failed to... failed to advance through the disciples' tournament for three years, and whose cultivation even fell from the ninth layer of Qi Refining to the first?" Shi Ping unconsciously slowed down a little.
Lin Ke smiled. "That was indeed me."
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