NOVEL NEXT Ch. 7
Chapter 7: Turning the Follower, Killing the Chicken to Warn the Monkey!
Chu Feng turned his head, his gaze burning as he looked at Wu Hao, and extended an olive branch toward him.
“Now, I’ll give you a chance to choose! A chance to change your destiny!”
“Leave him, and join our ‘Heavenly Dao Mutual Aid Association’!”
“I hereby make a public promise — as long as you come over right now, I will immediately appoint you as the ‘Lead Mentor’ of our Association’s ‘Team No. 2’! Your position will be second only to me and Brother Daniu! All resources will be prioritized for you!”
“You will no longer be someone else’s follower, but the leader of your own team! What you lose is merely a fickle master — what you gain, is a hopeful future, and a family who will sail through storm and fire alongside you!”
“Come! Make your choice! Will you continue to be a dog without dignity, or become a man who stands tall beneath Heaven?”
Chu Feng’s voice was full of bewitching power, and the vision he painted was fatally tempting to Wu Hao.
Be a leader? Resource priority?
Wu Hao’s heart began to pound violently. He glanced at the furious Li Aotian, then at the group of chores disciples behind Chu Feng — their eyes burned with heat, as though they already saw him as one of their own.
On one side was visible humiliation and a bleak future.
On the other, an alluring dream filled with infinite possibilities.
This choice wasn’t hard to make.
“Wu Hao! Don’t you dare!”
Li Aotian noticed Wu Hao’s hesitation and shouted in fury,
“If you dare betray me, I’ll make sure you die without a burial place in Qingyun Sect!”
That threat became the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
Wu Hao suddenly raised his head, a flash of determination passing through his eyes.
He could no longer stand being treated like a dog!
Taking a deep breath, under everyone’s shocked gaze, he stepped forward resolutely — step by step — leaving Li Aotian’s camp and walking to the base of Chu Feng’s high platform.
Then, he bowed deeply to Chu Feng.
“Senior Brother Chu Feng! No — President Chu! I, Wu Hao, am willing to join the Heavenly Dao Mutual Aid Association! From this day forth, I shall follow the President, through fire and water, without hesitation!”
“Good!”
Chu Feng laughed heartily, personally stepping down from the platform to lift Wu Hao up, patting his shoulder warmly.
“Brother Wu, welcome home! From today on, we are family!”
“Welcome, Mentor Wu!”
Zhang Daniu took the lead in shouting, and the other members joined in, their cheers and applause shaking the courtyard.
The dramatic scene utterly stunned Li Aotian and his remaining followers.
Li Aotian’s face burned hot, as if he had been slapped a hundred times in public.
Utter humiliation!
He — a dignified inner disciple — had his follower poached by an outer-sect nobody, right before everyone’s eyes!
“Chu Feng! Wu Hao! You… you two just wait!”
Li Aotian’s eyes turned blood-red, his whole body trembling with rage.
He knew that staying any longer would only invite more humiliation.
Casting a venomous glare at Chu Feng and Wu Hao, he spat out a threat and fled the Chores Courtyard with his pale-faced followers in disgrace.
As Li Aotian fled in panic, the courtyard erupted in thunderous cheers!
They had won!
This group of chores disciples, scorned by everyone, had actually driven away an arrogant inner-sect senior!
At that moment, they looked up at the calm figure standing atop the high platform — their eyes brimming with fiery worship.
In their hearts, Chu Feng was no longer human.
He was divine!
Li Aotian’s shameful retreat became the most glorious victory since the founding of the “Heavenly Dao Mutual Aid Association.”
Chu Feng’s public recruitment of Wu Hao spread through the entire outer sect like wildfire.
In no time, Chu Feng and his “Heavenly Dao Mutual Aid Association” became famous.
Many oppressed outer disciples, struggling at the bottom just like them, saw a beacon of hope and came one after another, seeking to “join the Association.”
In just three days, the membership of the “Heavenly Dao Mutual Aid Association” grew explosively from a little over forty to more than two hundred.
Chu Feng’s “field of leeks” was finally taking shape.
But with more people came more problems.
The most critical issue was the “benefits” Chu Feng had promised — the pills — which were now in severe shortage.
The thirty inferior Qi Condensing Pills he had tricked out of Elder Liu had long since been distributed.
Now, every day, countless new and old members stared eagerly at him, waiting for him to fulfill his promises.
Chu Feng knew well that no matter how beautiful the vision he drew, he needed to provide tangible “sweet rewards” now and then — otherwise, this makeshift organization would soon collapse when faith faltered.
He had to find a stable and cheap source of “products.”
Rely on the Sect’s allocation? A drop in the ocean.
Buy them himself? His pockets were emptier than his face was clean.
The only solution — was self-production.
But he, a financial con artist, knew nothing about alchemy!
Just as Chu Feng was at a loss, the newly recruited “Mentor No. 2,” Wu Hao, offered him a key piece of information.
“President, if you want to make pills, I might know someone.”
Wu Hao was now utterly devoted to Chu Feng, eager to prove his worth.
“Oh? Let’s hear it.”
Chu Feng’s interest was piqued.
“In our Sect’s Pill Pavilion, there’s a senior sister named Leng Yanran.”
Wu Hao lowered his voice.
“I heard she’s a genius in alchemy, with extremely high skill, but… she’s too cold and doesn’t socialize well. She offended the managers of the Pill Pavilion and has been suppressed ever since.”
“They say the Pill Pavilion only gives her the worst furnaces and the poorest herbs, leaving her to fend for herself. Yet even so, she still manages to refine high-quality pills — just not in large quantities.”
A genius alchemist? Suppressed by her peers?
Chu Feng’s eyes lit up instantly.
Wasn’t this exactly the kind of ‘technical partner’ he had been dreaming of?
Someone with skill and ability, but lacking platform and resources — the perfect match for his “business model!”
“Excellent! Wu Hao, that information is very valuable!”
Chu Feng patted Wu Hao’s shoulder approvingly. “You’ll be credited with 10 contribution points!”
Wu Hao was overjoyed. “Thank you, President!”
Without delay, Chu Feng set off toward the Pill Pavilion.
The Pill Pavilion of Qingyun Sect stood atop a small active volcano, with heat waves rising all year round and the air thick with medicinal fragrance.
Upon entering, he saw many disciples in alchemist robes busily tending to their furnaces — the entire place alive with fervent activity.
Ignoring the curious glances cast his way, Chu Feng followed Wu Hao’s directions straight to the most remote and shadowy corner of the pavilion.
Sure enough, before a dusty, half-broken furnace that looked like it might explode at any moment, he saw a solitary figure.
It was a young girl in a plain white dress, slender in build, her long black hair tied up simply with a wooden hairpin.
She was fully focused on the furnace before her, her pale face expressionless, her eyes cold as ice, as if nothing around her existed.
Even with the worst furnace and the poorest herbs, her every movement remained precise, filled with rhythm and grace.
Without a doubt, she was Leng Yanran.