Big Data Cultivation

Feng Jun also instantly understood that, after all, Tiantong is just a commercial alliance, where relationships are incredibly complex.

It's completely normal for someone to be close to the Yinsha Sect, right? President Jiang of Yinsha Fang City is even closer to Yinsha—businessmen have to deal with all kinds of people.

So, if Chairman Liu of Silver Apricot Tiantong handles some matters based on his own position, even Tiantong Headquarters cannot say anything—what if, in the future, they need to ease relations with Yinsha, then they might need President Liu and President Jiang.

This is what a mature commercial alliance should look like.

Thinking a little more, perhaps it's for this reason that Yinsha chose to receive Master Hanpo in this market town—going to another market town, aside from how easily the local cultivators can be fooled, there's a possibility that the Tiantong Division there might spoil things.

Understanding this, Feng Jun couldn't help but tell Jie Chaosheng about the bounty on Shifang Platform that he placed.

"Bounty on Shifang Platform?" Jie Chaosheng was stunned, such an impressive maneuver?

It's no wonder he's so surprised, as that's one of the Four Sects of Five Platforms, although it doesn't quite align with Tiantong, such a bounty is rarely seen—even ignoring the target of the bounty, the act of placing such a bounty demands a lot of the person offering it.

From what he remembers, forty years ago, someone once placed a bounty on a master from Wuyou Platform at a Tiantong Division. Indeed, it was just a division, not the headquarters, and that bounty was withdrawn after only three days.

When asked if the bounty was withdrawn because it was fulfilled, the response from Tiantong was that agreeing to place a bounty for three days was already a show of generosity—extending it further would affect business—we are a commercial organization, not a killer organization.

But this time? It's a bounty against the entire Shifang Platform, issued from Tiantong Headquarters to all divisions, and it wasn't withdrawn until Shifang Platform came forward to beg for forgiveness.

This is what shocked Jie Chaosheng, while Feng Jun focused on another point: Shifang Platform was incited by the Yinsha Sect to target him, but when he placed a bounty on Shifang Platform, Yinsha showed no sense of responsibility, not even sending a master to mediate.

He disdainfully said, "Yinsha is not to be trusted... if they can sell Shifang Platform, how much more readily would they sell you?"

Jie Chaosheng was not stupid and understood the meaning behind those words. After pondering for a moment, he replied, "I know where ChengFeng Zi's clan is."

Feng Jun thought for a moment and finally shook his head, "Harm should not extend to his family... Has he not severed earthly ties?"

He wanted to kill ChengFeng Zi for two reasons: firstly, this person is a senior disciple of You Longzi.

You Longzi is one of the main reasons for Feng Jun's animosity with the Yinsha Sect. The role ChengFeng Zi played is hard to determine, but there's no doubt that without such a senior disciple, You Longzi would have acted more cautiously.

The second reason, of course, is that ChengFeng Zi took away Master Hanpo.

These two reasons justify Feng Jun's move against ChengFeng Zi, but not against ChengFeng Zi's family.

Frankly, he is targeting the entire Yinsha Sect, and that goal is already significant enough. However, given his grievances, he's not afraid of being blamed when he speaks out.

But if he were to target the families of Yinsha Sect disciples, the scope of attack would become too large; only a madman would do that.

Of course, critically, the disciples of the Four Great Sects are all supposed to sever emotional ties, so killing their families might not even hurt them—it's better to kill their close fellow disciples.

Strictly speaking, severing emotional ties is twofold: once you enter a sect, don't expect to look after your family anymore; but at the same time, grudges within the sect shouldn't be taken outside.

Of course, there are many who secretly violate such rules—for example, Kong Ziyi's master is actually her grandmother.

But if Feng Jun were to act so openly, it would indeed lead to unpredictable consequences.

Jie Chaosheng, however, didn't think that far. In his view, You Longzi is the culprit, ChengFeng Zi is an accomplice, the three Golden Cores of Yinsha escalated the conflict, and now ChengFeng Zi has taken the main culprit away, so what's the big deal in killing his whole family?

However, Feng Jun's refusal surprised him somewhat, indicating that this person hadn't been consumed by hatred?

No one likes a person twisted by hatred, so Jie Chaosheng proposed a more reasonable suggestion, "Since Master Feng is magnanimous and not vindictive, could we then target Master Hanpo's business ventures?"

"That can be done," Feng Jun readily agreed, "if they can conspire against me, I can certainly do the same. Do you know where they are?"

"I don't," Jie Chaosheng answered cautiously, "but if you trust me, I can help you find out."

"Then you go ahead," Feng Jun didn't really care about his loyalty since knowing the other's background gave him little fear of surprises, especially given that the renowned Jie Family of Sword Forging Peak could hardly relocate.

Jie Chaosheng piloted the Flying Boat, "Then we should head to Celestial Star Marketplace... you don't need to enter the marketplace, I'll go in alone."

Celestial Star Marketplace is quite close to Yinsha, less than two million miles away. Feng Jun let Jie Chaoqun take the Transmission Array himself, while he removed a footprint from Jumu Market Town, and in other greyed-out, non-clickable footprints, he selected "Rong Mountain Square Market" to add.

Here at Rong Mountain, he also chose a forest—it was mainly to avoid being trapped in a cave.

As soon as he appeared, he noticed a young couple, less than ten meters away, passionately kissing. Instantly, he activated the Mirage King Bracer and cursed internally, "Oh damn, a secluded spot... turns out it's really an eyesore."

"Huh?" The man released the woman in his arms and looked around, "What was that sound just now?"

The woman blushed and glanced around, "You idiot, there's no one around. Can you stop being such a downer? You've completely killed the mood."

"No mood, huh? Then let's just sit and chat for a while, build it up slowly," the man took a small handkerchief from his pocket, spread it on the ground, and sat back-to-back with the woman.

Both of them were in the Qi Refining Initial Stage and it seemed they didn't have Storage Bags—though they must have Storage Talismans, but those have usage limits, so carrying a few things with them wasn't surprising.

"Youth is wonderful," Feng Jun couldn't help but mutter to himself. The kind of youthful days when love was enough to fill the stomach were far behind him, but he was willing to bless the couple.

To prevent witnessing anything more excessive, he planned to leave quietly: life's tough for everyone, right?

But then he reconsidered and floated a hundred meters away, hiding behind a large tree, standing there incognito.

The man and woman didn't do anything more excessive; they enjoyed sitting back-to-back and occasionally made innocuous remarks like "Are you cold?" or "Feeling sleepy?" Their relationship seemed relatively innocent.

Feng Jun waited for about half an hour before he heard the woman whisper softly, "There's really no one here."

"Hmm," the man replied vaguely, "The air is so nice, just lean on me and nap for a bit."

Another half an hour passed, and the man let out a long sigh, "Looks like there really isn't anyone, scared me to death."

"What kind of crappy mission is this," the woman complained in a low voice, "hanging around here every day, waiting for someone to drop from the sky?"

"Twenty broken spirits a day, just bear with it," the man responded softly, "Hang in there for another month. When the weather gets better, I'll head to Rongyuan Town to find work; they're opening two new spirit plant gardens and need lots of hands."

"The main issue is this job is too dangerous," the woman murmured, "what if we come across a ruthless killer..."

"What job isn't dangerous?" the man sighed, "My mother-in-law's birthday is coming up soon. We have to earn the gift money, right? I actually hope we run into that person. Then we'd dare to have kids."

"I would rather not encounter them, just earn this little money," the woman sighed, "carelessness could get us killed."

"Fortune favors the brave," the man also sighed, lighting a cigarette with the Fireball Technique, "I'd rather die than watch you suffer along with me... if someone shows up, just pretend to be embarrassed and run away."

When Feng Jun sensed something was off with them, he really contemplated doing a Soul Search. But after listening to their conversation, he swiped his mobile phone a couple of times and realized they were two rootless individuals, so he pocketed the phone and silently left.

There are many reasons for poverty, but since they were truly in love, they deserved to be let off.

He floated around invisibly for a bit, occasionally pulling out his phone for a swipe, avoided several warning arrays, and encountered a woodcutter, an old lady basking in the sun, and a young girl doing laundry by the river...

After spending half a day, he finally figured out that within a hundred-mile radius, these people were all lying in wait for one person.

Then he knocked out an idle man with a bit of a rogue demeanor, took three Spirit Stones, a dozen broken spirits, a Storage Talisman, and a pair of flying boots from the guy, before waking him up and speaking angrily, "Bastard, you only carry this little money when you go out?"

Feng Jun's altered appearance featured a long scar across his face, his body was very thin, yet he looked extremely fierce.

This idle man was interesting; despite his casually rogue look, he was timid. He sensed the other was at the High Tier of Qi Refinement while he was only at the Intermediate Level, and he replied shakily, "Big brother, three Spirit Stones ... is not little... could I have my boots back?"

"Not little?" Feng Jun bared his teeth, speaking viciously, "Should I cut off your feet and shove them in your boots?"

"Big brother, you can't rob me like this," the idle man stammered, "I'm employed by the Loose Cultivator Alliance at Kongming Mountain, doing a task here."

"Loose Cultivator Alliance? Why not say you're employed by the Taiqing Sect?" The scar-faced man sneered disdainfully, "Keep making stuff up!"

"I'm not lying, it's true," the idle man swore, saying that if Feng Jun didn't believe him, he could inquire in the Fang Market.

Feeling the other person's "fear," he even mustered up the courage to say, "You can try, there are a lot of people doing tasks nearby, you could rob many... but the Loose Cultivator Alliance has more than one high-ranking person at the market, you'd better think twice, big brother."

Feng Jun clearly pondered for a moment before speaking again, "What kind of task have they issued?"

(Updated to, summon monthly tickets.)