A Storm Was Brewing!
Shi Jian stopped chewing.
Any Rogue Cultivator or wild Demon Beast offered these terms would have long since kowtowed in gratitude. A hundred mid-grade Spirit Stones amounted to ten thousand low-grade Spirit Stones.
That was equivalent to five years of the tribute paid by the Sun Clan. Counting the second-tier pills and other things, one year would be worth ten years of the Sun Clan's tribute!
Shi Jian was sorely tempted, but he soon regained his composure.
Go to the White Cloud Temple and become a protector?
That was just dressing it up in nice words. Once he entered a Golden Core sect, a great mountain would forever loom over his head. His life and death would be in someone else's hands, and every day he would have to watch their expression.
In Hongtian City, he was a local emperor, and Sun Bo'an revered him like an ancestor.
All the money he earned was his to spend as he pleased!
As the saying went, better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix. Shi Jian had no intention of becoming a dog for the human race. If he were going to be a dog, wouldn't he be far more comfortable joining a major Nascent Soul sect instead?
Shi Jian swallowed the fruit's flesh, put on a guileless expression, and raised a paw to scratch his ear. He looked as guileless as could be:
"Temple master, I'm mighty grateful for your favor."
"It's just..."
Shi Jian sighed, his voice suddenly full of the vicissitudes of life. "Back then, I was badly hurt and nearly died in the desolate mountains."
"If an ancestor of the Sun Clan hadn't passed by and fed me half a bottle of pills, saving my life, I, Old Shi, would've fallen long ago."
"Demon Beasts are stupid and stubborn."
Shi Jian looked Zhao Qing straight in the eye. "As long as one member of the Sun Clan is still alive, I've got to keep guarding the gates of Hongtian City for them."
Hearing this, Zhao Qing frowned slightly.
"In the struggle for the Great Dao, wealth, companions, methods, and land are what matter. For an empty promise and a bond of affection that has faded away, you're willing to ruin your own Dao Path?"
"Temple master, you've got that wrong."
Shi Jian shook his head and said solemnly, "The White Cloud Temple's might shakes the land all around. With a Golden Core mighty figure holding the fort, its Foundation Establishment experts are as numerous as clouds."
"What need have you for a big, stupid wild bear like me, who only knows how to use brute force?"
"By staying in Hongtian City, I'm actually helping ease your worries, temple master. Foundation Establishment cultivators have dwindled in Hongtian City, and no one is guarding the vast lands under its rule."
"By guarding that place and protecting its lands, I'm also guarding this part of your domain for you, temple master!"
"If any Devil Cultivator scoundrels dare trespass, I'll be the first to stand against them. The White Cloud Temple stands high above and commands the whole situation. Leaving the dirty, tiring work in Hongtian City to a rough bear like me is just right."
His speech was watertight.
His words were sincere and full of righteous conviction. They established his image as a loyal bear who "valued bonds and loyalty" and "repaid kindness," while also greatly elevating the White Cloud Temple's standing.
Finally, he had demonstrated his value as an ally: being a watchdog down below was more useful than being a mascot at home.
The great hall fell deathly silent.
Zhao Qing stared at Shi Jian, his gaze piercing. Shi Jian met it calmly, his eyes clear and stupid. There was nothing to be gleaned from them.
A long while passed. Zhao Qing suddenly burst out laughing.
"What a stubborn bear demon! And what a fine way to guard a region for the White Cloud Temple!"
Zhao Qing swept a sleeve, and a jade box bearing a sealing talisman flew toward Shi Jian.
"Since your mind is made up, I will not force you. I grant you this second-tier high-grade Blood Bodhi. Guard Hongtian City well for me."
"Protecting the lands there well is also a fine thing."
Shi Jian caught the jade box steadily and grinned with a guileless chuckle.
"Thank you for your reward, temple master!"
Half an hour later.
Shi Jian walked out of the great hall. Yunsong was waiting outside to lead him down the mountain.
As he walked along the mountain path, the guileless look vanished from Shi Jian's face. He glanced back at the great hall on the main peak, which towered into the clouds, his eyes calm as frost.
That Golden Core pressure just now had seemed terrifying, but it had carried a hint of outward strength masking inner weakness.
The instant Zhao Qing withdrew the pressure, his breathing faltered for half a beat. Though he had concealed it extremely well, Shi Jian was a Demon Beast, and his perception of Qi and Blood far surpassed that of human cultivators.
Deep within that Qi and Blood, a trace of deathly Qi lay hidden.
This Golden Core ancestor was probably injured, and the injury had damaged his very foundation. There was likely a serious problem with his lifespan. He might even have overdrawn it...
No wonder he was so eager to recruit a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage combatant, to the point of offering such generous terms.
The White Cloud Temple, the great mountain pressing down on the nine counties of White Cloud Commandery, probably had undercurrents churning within it. It had already become a pool of muddy water!
Shi Jian tightened his grip on the jade box in his paw. He didn't know whether the sky outside would fall.
But he knew that the weather in White Cloud Commandery was probably about to change.
He had to get that boy Sun Bo'an to pick up the pace of making money even more. If the Sun Clan could produce one or two Foundation Establishment cultivators in the next twenty years...
Then in the future, they would at least have enough strength to keep a region secure.