Chapter Four Hundred and Fifty Six – Off With A Bang
Famous!
Turtle Island cultivation classes became famous across Xu Ling City.
People crowded around every registration place for the cultivation classes, countless people waving their jingshi in hopes of getting a spot. The Vermillion Bird Camp xiuzhe that had never seen such a spectacle before were rushed and clumsy as they hurried.
The one that was most orderly was Wei Sheng' Sword Teaching Hall. All incomers were respectful as they sincerely presented their jingshi and then found a corner to sit silently after receiving permission to wait for class to start.
Wei Sheng's powerful sword essence shook all of Xu Ling City. Even jindan sword xiu came to register.
The first day passed in a hurry.
The people that thought they could take a rest found to their shock that on the second day the number of people coming to register had exploded. Many people had held doubts the first day, but the skill level of Zong Ru and the others had been shown during their first classes. The xiuzhe that had been wavering hurried in.
The busy scene in front of them seemed unexpected to everyone. Even Zuo Mo felt his scalp prickle.
After a long time, Zuo Mo finally understood the cause.
All the cultivation classes on the market were actually very low in terms of the skills they imparted. What did they have to do if they wanted to learn some substantial spells? Enter a sect. The cultivation classes that were on the market were really just used to get students to enter sects. Sects would have exams when they chose disciples.
So when Zuo Mo and the others opened their cultivation classes, it was like a crane among chickens, and the skills they taught were much higher than other cultivation classes.
The spells and tricks that Zuo Mo and the others passed on in their eyes were just the simple basics, but for the elementary xiuzhe that were stuck outside the doors of the sects, they were profound truths.
In one day, the name of the Turtle Island Cultivation Classes rose greatly. The xiuzhe that attended the first day of classes were excited and passed the news on to their friends. What were they most afraid of when attending cultivation classes? Afraid that they would pay the jingshi but would not learn anything. Now they found that the teachers of these cultivation classes were all powerful. How could these people not go crazy?
Because these cultivation classes came from Turtle Island, everyone called them by the general name of Turtle Island Cultivation Classes.
The beginner cultivators were the largest group and also the group that was paid the least amount of attention. Most of them were not very talented, and it was very hard to even get admitted into a small sect. Most of the time, they survived as hired employees, learning one or two of the most basic spells and had difficulty eking out a living.
No matter what jie, mastering one more spell meant one more hope of finding a job. The more profound the spell, the better the job.
For example, first grade fire spells were the most basic and elementary fire spells. They could only do the most labor-intensive and difficult fire-related work, such as stoking fires. Second-grade fire spells meant they could enter a kitchen and cook some simple ling dishes. Third-grade fire spells meant they could enter specialized medicine houses to treat all kinds of materials.
There were enormous differences between the income of different grades of spells.
But who held all the spells? Those small and large sects. In order to learn these spells, they could only enter these sects in order to learn them. Like the Wu Kong Sword Sect that Zuo Mo was in before. Now, it seemed a tiny sect, but even the second-grade sword scriptures of the sect were things that outer sect disciples had to pay contribution points to view.
Just paying a certain amount of jingshi and being able to learn a pretty good spell, this was fatally attractive to elementary xiuzhe.
Zuo Mo definitely would not have thought that the effect produced by the Turtle Island Cultivation Classes spread at astounding speed in Xu Ling City and even into more distant areas.
———
Looking at the empty hall, Tian Zhong Zhou showed a puzzled expression.
In a few short days, his cultivation class went from two hundred people to three people!
The last three students looked at each other and silently gathered their things to leave the hall. They had only come with their last hopes. Seeing the Tian cultivation class like this, they instantly understood.
No one was dumb!
The Turtle Island Cultivation Classes were not cheap, but the spells they taught were much more profound than other cultivation classes. In the past, the Tian cultivation class was the oldest and most reputable ling plant cultivation class in Xu Ling City. Yet the students who had attended the Turtle Island ling plant cultivation class never came back after that.
Tian Zhong Zhou looked on woodenly as the last three students left. His mind was dazed.
A few days ago, the upper levels had asked to them to blow away this cultivation class. Tian Zhong Zhou and the others had been full of motivation, each of them using all of their power and were waiting to beat the other down!
In other areas, the Tian Family didn't dare, but in ling plants, who was a match for them in Xu Ling City?
Each teacher of the Tian cultivation class was full of motivation. The stuff that the Turtle Island Cultivation Class had taught on the first day were just tricks in the eyes of Tian Zhong Zhou and the others. It showed that the other was not as strong as they were so they would put their efforts on those unorthodox methods.
Cultivation class, they were about strength in the end!
Tian Zhong Zhou and the others were full of confidence.
Yet the suddenly change turned everyone dumbstruck.
No one had expected the Turtle Island Cultivation Classes that they thought of as clowns to gain such popularity and become unstoppable! In the span of a few short days, the students of the Tian cultivation classes quickly left.
At the start, Tian Zhong Zhou had thought, these students should never think about coming back to class ever again. Including him, the teachers of the classes had used all their skills. They had never worked so hard before, never been so professional! They hoped to use this method to stem the tide.
Yet they quickly found that all efforts were useless.
The number of students that came everywhere lessened.
Coming out of his thoughts, Tian Zhong Zhou's eyes filled with blood. His hands unconsciously balled together and his discontent erupted!
Why was it like this!
Why!
He suddenly walked out. His face was determined. He was going to see just how evil the other's cultivation class really was!
He wasn't even in the mood to clean up what was on his table and left without a glance back.
He was going to expose the other's tricks in front of the public!
A light drizzle came down as he walked. Tian Zhong Zhou walked quickly and did not detect the pitter-patter of rain against his body.
It was very easy to find the ling plant cultivation class of the Turtle Island. He only need to make a few inquiries and found the general location. Tian Zhong Zhou was very familiar with Xu Ling City and quickly found the place.
The deep little alley was completely silent.
It seemed these people were not very wealthy. The location of this little alley was not good and it used to be one of the most remote areas where no one would come. Tian Zhong Zhou recovered some of his confidence. Compared to this place, the location of their Tian cultivation class was in the golden stretch of the inner city.
Yet when Tian Zhong Zhou turned the corner to the alley, he seemed to be paralyzed.
People sat on the ground of the long and narrow alley. Their faces were upraised as they listened intently to the sound coming from the end of the alley. The entire alley was filled to the brim but silent. No one was speaking.
Tian Zhong Zhou was astounded!
Suddenly, an unspeakable feeling filled his chest and his lips uncontrollably trembled. His cultivation talent was normal and he did not have much status in the family. Otherwise, he would not have been sent to be the teacher for the ling plant cultivation class.
He had been a teacher of the ling plant cultivation class for ten whole years.
But in his ten years of teaching, he had never seen such a shocking scene!
He didn't have good feelings about the students in his class. These xiuzhe that lived on the lowest level of society always had exhaustion-filled faces, and were never focused. The great majority of them were rough and crude, hard to like. They were the examples of the lowest level of xiuzhe in society, they were without any hint of refinement or beauty or the otherworldliness that came with cultivation.
Yet, it was also this group of people sitting quietly in rapt attention... ...
Tian Zhong Zhou's mind was dazed. The students that were sitting wore serious expressions that were slightly pious. There was no exhaustion or tiredness in their expressions, their focused faces shone with another kind of light.
Tian Zhong Zhou looked dazedly at this group of unfamiliar students.
The voice came from the end of the valley. It was not very loud but very clear. The teacher inside had seemed to predict this scene and had used a sound amplifying talisman.
"The five elements of ling plants have their own wonders. We are going to talk about the water element today. There are many water element spells, but does that mean that all water element spells are suited to ling plants? No. The water element spells that are able to be used on ling plants must have warm and nurturing effects. Today, I am going to talk of a water element spell called [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. It is not a profound spell, but for us ling plant farmers, it is very useful. Here, I must remind everyone to not always pursue high grade spells. High grade spells are better than low grade spells but the consumption of ling power is also higher. This is likely to cause you to land in the awkward state of not having enough ling power when using it ... ..."
After listening for a little while, Tian Zhong Zhou showed shock on his face.
They also taught [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] but only just the most basic variations. The higher level variations were only permitted to be taught after the student entered the Tian Family. Many of the wondrous parts this person talked about were ones that even Tian Zhong Zhou felt were novel. In this little while, he felt as though he had learned greatly!
But he did not feel happy, but disbelieving!
He did not wonder at this person's deep comprehension of spells, but rather that this person would publicly teach such exquisite content!
Was this person crazy?
Did he not know what he was talking about were things no sect would easily make public?
If he only passed it on to a few people, no one would pay attention to him! But to publicly teach it like this, to so easily pass high grade spells, there was only one result, offending all the sects!
Why were the sects so powerful? Wasn't it because they held the great majority of resources? And spells, that was the most important kind of resource that the sects possessed!
The monopoly sects had over spells was one of the foundations that they used to monopolize in reality. Due to this, in these thousands of years, all the sects and factions maintained this unusual and unspoken agreement.
This guy's conduct intruded onto the profits of all the sects and factions around Xu Ling City!
He really was crazy!
Tian Zhong Zhou shook his head. But looking at the scene in front of him, for some unknown reason, all he felt it was pity.
Translator Ramblings: Zuo Mo is accidentally ... ... breaking unspoken norms. I'm not sure of the exact chapter but way back in the beginning, there had been a paragraph on how the "training classes" offered in Dong Fu were not actually very good and just gateways to entering a sect. Well, here's more on how sects keeps knowledge under barriers.Chapter Four Hundred and Fifty Seven – Devious
Tian Xiao Wei drunkenly walked on the streets as he was returning from drinking ling wine.
Ever since three years ago when he tasted ling wine for the first time, he was enchanted with the taste of ling wine. Every time after he received his wages, he would run to Heavenly Restaurant to have a few cups. He could not afford very good ling wine, and could only drink second-grade ling wine.
He didn't have much interest in cultivation and had been stuck on the second stratum of zhuji for five or so years without any movement.
The night wind blew on his face, the intoxication rose and he was dazed.
Suddenly, two people appeared and walked towards him. Seeing him, they warmly gave their greetings, "Little Brother Wei!"
Tian Xiao Wei felt they were unfamiliar but he still pretended to know them and responded, "Where are you two going?"
"Planning to go drink wine. How about it, Little Brother Wei, go with us!" The other was very enthusiastic. The two people circled him and pulled his arm.
Tian Xiao Wei suddenly felt slight wariness. He wanted to break free but found to his shock that his body could not move!
He wanted to speak but no matter how hard he tried, his mouth could not produce any noise.
His eyes revealed the terror he felt.
He was pinned on both sides by the two and great force was applied to his arms,, and forced to walk outside the city.
———
"They are seeking death!" When Tian Yong Qing finished hearing Tian Zhong Zhou's report, he said with a smirk, "These short-sighted people are not a problem."
Tian Heng Bo's expression was not so good, "I spoke with Xu Zheng Wei. He didn't say it explicitly but these people do not plan on selling Turtle Island, even trading won't work! I just want to see how they think they can oppose our Tian Family! Bastards! They are shameless!"
"Oppose our Tian Family, they need to have the ability," another elder said with a smile, "Ye brother's battalion rose forty-something ranks, that is really frightening."
Speaking of this, the members of the Tian family all had smiles on their faces.
Among the sound tablets of Cloud Sea Jie, there was a program called Battalion Review. They would regularly review and rank the famous battalions of Cloud Sea Jie and held great authority. The Tian Ye Battalion had risen quickly, and successfully entered the top two hundred, ranked one hundred and ninety two. Due to this, public opinion of the Tian Family's strength had also risen rapidly and they had become the second largest power in Xu Ling City next to Xu Ling Sect.
A powerful battalion was the representation of a faction's power!
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However, compared to individual rankings, battalion ranks were much steadier. So when Tian Ye Battalion had suddenly rose quickly, it attracted the attention of many people. The Tian Family instantly felt the change in attitudes of the surrounding factions when they became the second most powerful faction of Xu Ling City.
At this time, the Turtle Island people were such an eyesore in the eyes of the Tian Family!
"We must have Turtle Island!" A cold light flashed through Tian Yong Qing's eyes. "This is too important for our Tian Family! No matter which method we use, we need to have Turtle Island in our hands!"
Everyone stopped breathing to wait for his next words.
"The Turtle Island Cultivation classes has almost forced all other cultivation classes out of business. Ha, an outsider has stolen everyone's business, this is not allowed on the business market!"
"Investigate which families have been damaged the most. We need to let the outsider see our power! Hmph, an outsider, what waves do they think they can make?"
Tian Yong Qing smiled coldly.
———
Ma Fan carefully laid his stomach against the ground, the presence of his body was concealed. He didn't dare to even breathe.
He was memorizing the surrounding geography and formations.
No one would have expected for him to hide here for three whole days. In these three days, he became very familiar with this area. This was a storehouse for the Tian Family. Just as Zuo Mo's cultivation classes were gaining popularity, he had secretly started an investigation of the Tian Family.
Ma Fan and the others had been there when Daren had been ambushed last time and felt great responsibility.
After that, Ma Fan and the others received a mission to secretly investigate the Tian Family. Shu Long had given them a jade scroll with a variety of concealment and scouting techniques. This was like giving wings to the tigers, the seasoned veterans of Sky Peak Platoon.
They quickly collected information and determined the general situation of the Tian Family.
Want to play in the dark, let's see who is more devious!
Ma Fan muttered inside, he didn't know who was direction the mission this time. In the beginning, everyone thought it was Lil' Miss but they quickly found the style was completely different. Lil' Miss was good at being a battle general, but scheming like this from the shadows was not something Lil' Miss could play with. Was it Daren? But it didn't seem like it. Daren was sometimes wretched but he liked being straightforward much more.
Then who was it?
Such an evil plan, even an old-timer like Ma Fan couldn't help but feel his scalp prickle when he carried it out!
Devious!
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It was truly too devious!
Ma Fan refocused. His gaze landed on the storehouse opposite him and paused to calculate the time.
After a while, the door to the storehouse opened and two xiuzhe laughed and chatted as they walked out.
When these people were far away, Ma Fan suddenly moved. Like an arrow, Ma Fan flew out against the ground. Beside him, his fellows moved at the same time.
Having scouted the warehouse for the last several days, Ma Fan and the others knew that no one would guard the storehouse at this time.
Charging to a place about ten zhang from the storehouse, the procession suddenly stopped. Then Ma Fan took out a jade medal and hung it on his waist.
The formation lit up, and so did the jade medal on Ma Fan's waist.
The doors to the storehouse opened.
The interior of the storehouse entered their eyes. Mountains of ling plant farming talismans that were so numerous Ma Fan and the others inhaled sharply. They knew that the Tian Family were renewing a batch of ling plant farming talismans soon but when they saw the talismans with their own eyes, they couldn't help but feel shocked at the great power of the Tian Family.
There were tens of thousands of ling plant farming talismans!
Even though these were only second-grade low level talismans, when this many were piled up, it was still shocking to see.
However, other than this batch of talismans, there were pitifully few other items in the storehouse.
Ma Fan and the others did not hesitate. They all took out little jade bottles and then poured it onto the pile of ling plant farming talismans. Several drops of multicolored medicinal fluid were dripped onto this pile of talismans.
Several balls of thin rainbow mist silently expanded, gradually dispersing until they were invisible.
Ma Fan and the others put away the jade bottles, and then took away the most valuable items. The storehouse instantly became a mess.
After finishing this, the group quickly disappeared.
———
"What?" Tian Heng Bo was furious. Like a ferocious man-eating tiger, he stared at the storekeepers who had their heads bowed.
The storekeepers all shook with ashen faces.
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"Nice! All of you!" Tian Heng Bo said darkly, "People walked right in and took everything! Sixteen storehouses, a whole sixteen storehouses were robbed! If people didn't know, they would think our Tian Family was a charity! You parcel of pigs!"
Tian Yong Qing's expression was also ugly. He had never thought that people would dare to rob the Tian Family's storehouses!
And to rob sixteen of them in one go!
Suppressing the fire in his heart, Tian Yong Qing asked in a dark voice, "What happened? Speak in detail!"
The storekeepers took turns to explain. The more he heard, the colder Tian Yong Qing's heart was. The Tian Family had sixteen storehouses in Xu Ling City and they were all robbed at the same time! This showed that the other wasn't just very familiar with the Tian Family, they were also very powerful. In order to rob sixteen storehouses at the same time, they needed a significant number of xiuzhe to act at the same time.
He also learned from these storekeepers that none of them had detected it and only discovered the theft after the fact!
This caused Tian Yong Qing to feel cold!
Tian Yong Qing asked about some of the details but still could not make any heads or tails of it. The other had not left any traces behind.
Sixteen storehouses robbed, the Tian Family had suffered heavy losses. Other than the low-grade ling plant farming talismans that had not been moved, any other talismans that were worth something had been taken away! These storehouses had held vast amounts of the ling plants and grains that the Tian Family had produced. Even though they were not valuable or rare specimens, but the amount was so large the loss was great!
In a rough estimate, the Tian Family's losses this time was valued at minimum ten pieces of fifth-grade jingshi!
"Motherf***er! If ye find out who did it! See if ye won't skin them!" Tian Heng Bo gritted out.
Tian Yong Qing also felt pain. The losses they suffered this time was definitely the most serious losses of the past years. In the past, these storehouses had not held valuable items so they had not put great attention on them. Additionally, Xu Ling City's security had always been good and nothing like this had happened before!
"Send someone to investigate secretly who is selling large amounts of ling grasses and grains recently!" Tian Yong Qing resumed his calm. "These things are not jingshi and it is such a large amount, the sale of it is not easy to conceal! Don't search in just our Xu Ling City, send people to look at the surrounding cities."
Tian Heng Bo's eyes lit up. "Big Brother is right! Sixteen storehouses' worth of ling plants and grains is not so easy to sell off!"
"Do not announce it if you find them!" Tian Yong Qing's voice was dark. "It is not so easy to swallow our Tian Family's things!"
Tian Heng Bo ran off with the orders.
Tian Yong Qing looked at the storekeepers and his expression returned to indifference. "Do not lose the remaining ling plant farming talismans! The sowing season will start soon and these talismans will be used. If something else happens, I do not need to state the result."
The storekeepers had white faces and nodded frantically.
Tian Yong Qing knew the strength of the storekeepers would not be enough so he picked up a pen and wrote on the paper. Putting down the pen, his right hand lightly rubbed and the paper became a paper crane that flew up and disappeared quickly.
"There will soon be people coming to help you guard the storehouses," Tian Yong Qing said as he raised his head. "Move the talismans in the stores back to the family base. Pass this order down and do not delay this!"
"Yes yes yes!" The storekeepers hurriedly nodded.
The good fortune among the misfortune, the other had disregarded the ling plant farming talismans. Otherwise, it would really be troublesome! It had taken them some effort to buy these ling plant farming talismans. The seed sowing was going to start in a few days, and if these ling plant farming talismans had been stolen, it would be very hard to buy such a number of ling plant farming talismans so quickly!
Thinking about recent events, Tian Yong Qing's head started to hurt.
Before one wave ended, another began!
Translator Ramblings: Payback is swift with Master Pu Yao!
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