Chapter 397: Chapter 393: 393: Bizarre Scenery (First Update to Celebrate Alliance Leader Lan Tiantian)

Feng Jun lingered in the valley, while a crow circled above his head.

The creature had been busy lately, busy catching various insects to eat.

Like the plants, the valley’s insects were all very spirited, but no mutations had occurred—those fierce insects from the mobile phone plane had been bathed in spiritual energy for hundreds of years, leading to the emergence of mutant species.

Even without mutations, they contained more or less a bit of spiritual energy inside of them, and the crow ate them with great gusto.

Beyond that, it had also realized that the valley had become a treasure land, and then it subconsciously thought: If the man who often comes here is the boss, then I must be the second in charge.

As the treasure land’s deputy, it conscientiously took on the duty of guarding the entrance, letting small insects pass but driving away or killing any larger animal daring to enter its territory.

One day, Feng Jun heard its cawing and went over to find two hares facing off against it.

Crows are naturally fierce, but each hare weighed about five or six jin, much larger than it, and it was two against one, so the crow couldn’t win and had to call for the boss to make a move.

Upon receiving the news, Feng Jun hurried over and with a gesture, two gusts of finger wind pierced two holes in the heads of the hares. He then walked over, picked up the hares, and turned to leave.

Source: novgo.co

The crow followed behind him, cawing loudly, its meaning obvious, “Hey, hey, sharing is caring, taking it all is not cool!”

Feng Jun turned his head to look at it, lifted up one rabbit’s foreleg, and motioned—just this much.

The crow cawed a few more times and gradually sounded defeated, as if it had resigned itself to the situation.

That afternoon, Feng Jun put the stewed rabbit leg in the yard, and the crow dived down, pinned it with its claws, and pecked at it vigorously.

Days passed in this manner, and before he knew it, Feng Jun had been benefiting from the Spirit Gathering Array for more than ten days. Interestingly, the spiritual energy in the valley was still slowly increasing. Although the speed of increase was slowing down, it had not stopped.

The spiritual energy had become dense to a considerable extent, with the trees and plants growing wildly, especially the bamboo that had been planted around the concrete ground. When transplanted, they were only a little taller than a person, but now they were already over three meters tall, nearly four.

The environment was indeed good, although cultivating in this way was a bit slow. Feng Jun felt a bit regretful at first, but then he thought, this Spirit Gathering Array could sustain two intermediate-level cultivators in their practice.

So he told himself, it’s not that I’m cultivating slowly, but the Devouring Primordial Heaven Technique… requires a lot of spiritual energy.

I’m cultivating, no… at the moment, it seems it’s more appropriate to say cultivating in the true sense. Cultivating, after all, maintaining a good temperament is very important.

He thought it was slow, but to Wang Haifeng and others, the abnormality demonstrated by this small patch of valley land was utterly frightening.

If plants could grow as wildly as in that place, how could the government possibly lease out that piece of land?

There must be something fishy going on, but they dared not ask.

Feng Jun had no intention of concealing it; those three were all brought up by him, and he didn’t want suspicion to affect the group’s development.

Noticing their odd expressions, Feng Jun chose a day when all three were in the pavilion training to go over and take the initiative to inform them, “I did some work on that bamboo forest, but with your current cultivation levels, you shouldn’t practice there for extended periods.”

When the topic was broached by him, Xu Leigang finally spoke, “Master, the cultivation you’re doing now… seems to be not just martial arts, right?”

They had also heard the rumors about Baixing Town, and… there were also frequently people coming to the mountain gate to burn incense.

“This… how should I put it?” Feng Jun hesitated for a moment but still offered some explanation.

“My martial arts have reached a certain height, and it’s not easy to improve further. I’m currently pondering over some Daoist techniques, still trying to figure things out. Focus on your training for now, don’t think too much about the rest, being down-to-earth is very important.”

Wang Haifeng’s eyes lit up, “Master, to what realm can martial arts be cultivated when they reach a certain height?”

“Just honestly practice what you’ve been given,” Feng Jun looked at him and spoke with a smile, “Finish the manual I’ve handed over to you, and you’ll understand.”

His authority had significantly increased, even though he did not deliberately show it most of the time.

Wang Haifeng even stopped daring to joke around as much.

However, Xu Leigang added, “It’s pretty good for us to cultivate here, but does that bamboo forest need to be guarded?”

In addition to them, there were more than twenty staff members on the estate, and although the bamboo forest was forbidden to the average person, who didn’t have a bit of curiosity?

“We should still keep watch,” Feng Jun spoke gravely. “I came here to tell you that you three should discuss it amongst yourselves. Take turns guarding in shifts of twelve hours or twenty-four hours. While on guard, you may cultivate, but remember, keep a calm mind when you’re there.”

The three exchanged glances, each seeing the joy in the other’s eyes.

Feng Jun’s original plan was to use the Spirit Gathering Array only when he was cultivating, but the spiritual energy of this plane was so scarce that the array needed to be continuously activated for many days to absorb spiritual energy more effectively.

If he left halfway and returned to restart the Spirit Gathering Array, it would take a long time to accumulate spiritual energy again. Therefore, it might be better to keep the Spirit Gathering Array running at all times, so he could return and practice whenever he wished.

Since the Spirit Gathering Array is idle anyway, why not let everyone benefit from it?

These three are still at the martial artist cultivation level, while Feng Jun has already reached the peak of Qi Refining First Layer. He doesn’t need to worry about them catching up.

Xu Leigang nodded, speaking for the three, “We will be careful. If we feel it affects our mental state, we won’t cultivate there.”

“Even just sitting there is beneficial for the body,” said Feng Jun with a smile, “I’m just worried that it’s easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult the other way around.”

At this point, he glanced at Lu Xiaoning, “Right, Gazi, when you go back, bring my parents over to stay here for a few days. Now that we’ve got some recognition, let them enjoy some peace and quiet for a while.”

The spiritual energy in the Spirit Gathering Array is abundant; even without cultivating, staying there for a few more days is greatly beneficial for one’s health.

“No problem,” Gazi replied promptly, “I’ll have my mom help look after Uncle Wen Hui’s shop… Can they also cultivate?”

“Let’s exempt them from that; they are older,” Feng Jun shook his head, “The suffering from Body Tempering Pills is not something ordinary people can endure.”

“I’ll go with Gazi,” volunteered Xu Leigang, “We’ll drive there; it’ll be very fast to and fro.”

As they were talking, a large patch of dark clouds drifted over the sky, and it suddenly started to rain.

After about an hour of rain, the sun peeked out from the clouds, turning it into a sunshower.

“Holy cow, look over there,” pointed Wang Haifeng toward the bamboo forest, his eyes wide with astonishment.

A wisp of white mist rose from the valley, growing thicker and thicker. Amidst the rain, it wafted and tumbled, a vision so beautiful it seemed like a fairyland. Above the mist, a rainbow stretched across, clear and distinct.

Seeing this, Feng Jun couldn’t help but frown, and with a flash, he dashed towards the valley.

The bamboo forest, enveloped in an almost tangible white mist, presented a supremely vivid and beautiful sight, with several bamboo tips peeking through the tumbling vapor.

Entering the bamboo forest to feel it out, Feng Jun finally relaxed. It turned out the rain from the heavens had caused some of the spiritual energy to fall to the ground, creating water enriched with spiritual energy. The plants that absorbed this rainwater released a little white mist from their leaves.

Feng Jun wasn’t entirely sure of the principle behind this, or what exactly the plants were releasing, but on closer inspection, the mist seemed to be beneficial for the body as well.

“It seems I need to prioritize analyzing the Spirit Gathering Array,” he made a silent resolve.

In fact, this miraculous phenomenon was not only seen by them but also by many workers in the manor.

Unlike Feng Jun and his group, these workers truly admired and revered the new owner of the manor.

Respect because of the boss’s righteousness and generosity, fear due to the unknown “supernatural.”

Li Xiaobin and others had also heard rumors of supernatural events but were skeptical. However, in the workers’ community, many were locals who not only feared ghosts and deities but also heard many genuine local stories, making it impossible for them not to fear President Feng.

Even those with bolder spirits were influenced by the prevailing sentiment; when everyone else talked a certain way, they couldn’t help but be affected by it.

Thus, none dared to venture into the bamboo forest, which had been declared a prohibited area.

However, some people took pride in talking about the supernatural events in the manor after returning home, boasting their status as eyewitnesses.

——In fact, some even took photos and videos.

Li Xiaobin took photos and videos as well, posting them to her circle of friends and on Weibo, “A corner of my workplace, beyond the rainbow, a paradise on earth! @LuoHua18”

Amidst this phenomenon, she hardly imagined anything unusual, treating it as a rare natural spectacle. It was said that when this woman was careless, she really didn’t think things through.

Feng Jun hardly used Weibo, but it was Yuan Youwei who saw Li Xiaobin’s post and gave him a call, “Uncle Feng, that photo taken by Assistant Li, is that your new home? Can I come and visit during my holidays?”

Feng Jun wasn’t particularly indulgent towards children, but he had a favorable impression of Yuan Youwei, so he didn’t refuse. Instead, he answered with a smile, “If you can rank in the top three in your class, you can come and visit during your holiday. Otherwise, you’d better just stick to your cram school.”

Little Youwei disdainfully responded, “Anything but first place is a loss, do you really expect me to rank fourth?”

Huh? After hanging up the phone, Feng Jun shook his head: Born into privilege and still a top student, how are others supposed to live?

Opening Weibo, before he could search for Li Xiaobin’s information, his phone issued a series of pings. A quick glance revealed over two thousand notifications mentioning him.

Looking closer, they were all retweets of the crow video, many following Guo Bingying’s retweets. However, a good two hundred or so were from an ID named “Stepping Through Heavenly Heart.”

With so many notifications, Feng Jun couldn’t possibly read them all and missed some of the other @mentions mixed in.

(First update, celebrating the League Master Ziyan Lan Tiantian.)