Big Data Cultivation
Chapter 1179: Omnipresent

Chapter 1179: Chapter 1179: Omnipresent

The sequence of events was quickly investigated—Pan and Wu families were teaming up to bully the Sun family.

Supposedly, the Sun family was safeguarding the land for someone else, so no major incidents were expected. However, the issue lay in the mystery behind why someone purchased such a large tract of land in the first place.

Wang Botai had explained to the Sun family that the land contained "fossilized insect corpses" and that the buyer intended to profit from this venture.

Yet no one, not even the Sun family, believed this explanation—could fossilized insect corpses truly be exchanged for Spirit Stones?

The Sun family diligently protected the land while their disciples sought supplemental income from it.

This behavior wasn’t unusual; in fact, it was an unspoken rule. "Live off the land, live by the water." Given the riches spread across the 4,000-square-mile territory, as long as the Sun family disciples didn’t overreach, even Feng Jun wouldn’t mind them earning some extra income from it.

The Sun family disciples mainly combed the land for mineral deposits and Natural Treasures, all while patrolling the area.

The Sun family’s actions were entirely appropriate; however, they had a natural disadvantage—their clan lacked a cultivator in the Out-of-Dust Realm.

Wang Botai had considered hiring the Pan or Wu families for protection, but come on—he might have been a Wuyou Platform disciple, but his personal cultivation was only at the mid-stage Qi Refining level. If Pan Renjie were making the decision, he would’ve dared to negotiate with those families.

Moreover, hiring an Out-of-Dust Realm family came with the significant downside of high costs.

Wang Botai, aware that Feng Jun had Spirit Stones at his disposal, promised the Sun family a fee, assuming Mountain Master Feng wouldn’t make a fuss. However, hiring the Pan or Wu families would also incur significantly higher costs, potentially causing a headache.

He believed the Sun family was the most suitable choice and made the decision accordingly.

Nevertheless, the two families became suspicious of the Sun family’s disciples, who frequently visited the land. After some observation, the Wu family began sending disciples of their own.

Such behavior... how should one say? Trespassing on someone else’s land is undeniably unfitting, but law and sentiment are not strictly separated. If Wu family disciples entered the area merely to gather dry wood for cooking, should the Sun family stop them?

The Wu family eventually sent dozens, then hundreds, of disciples to White Pebble Beach, reaching the point where the Sun family couldn’t take it anymore. They openly warned, "This land belongs to someone already; you need to rein yourselves in."

The Wu family responded by beating up several of the Sun family patrollers—"Damn it, who gave you the guts to talk to us Wu family members like that?"

Sun family head Sun Daqi couldn’t bear this anymore. He stormed into the Wu family and declared, "The owner of this land is an Out-of-Dust cultivator, introduced by a Wuyou Platform disciple. If you have the guts, then go ahead and keep beating up my Sun family disciples. See if the land continues to welcome your intrusion!"

"Stop!" Feng Jun interjected upon hearing this. He directly halted the conversations and looked at the Wu elder with a sly grin. "Hand over every disciple of yours responsible for beating people up."

The Wu elder twitched his lips before reluctantly answering, "This was a misunderstanding caused by lack of communication, Fellow Daoist Feng. Surely you’re unaware—the Sun disciples were extremely rude at that time."

"No!" Sun Daqi roared. "We tolerated you multiple times and tried reasoning politely. Instead, you—"

"Shut your mouth!" Feng Jun glared at him coldly, his expression icy. "When elders are talking, do you think it’s your place to interject?"

He turned back to the Wu elder. "If the Sun family is in the wrong, I’ll resolve it myself. But now let me ask plainly—your Wu family harmed my people on my land... do you have any respect for me?"

The Wu elder hesitated briefly before nodding resolutely. "The Wu family concedes punishment. The Sun family disciples only suffered surface wounds—no weapons or talismans were involved. After all, we’re all neighbors, aren’t we?"

Feng Jun gave him an odd look, his expression caught somewhere between a smile and a sneer. "Surface wounds for Sun disciples, perhaps. But you also injured my dignity as Feng Jun."

The dignity of an Out-of-Dust cultivator... the Wu elder was speechless. If Feng Jun were only backed by a few elders, he wouldn’t be afraid to confront him. But backed by four elders? There’s simply no way to resist. If it escalates to blood-soaked retaliation, how could Wu still manage to endure?

If four top-tier cultivators launched an offensive, the Wu elder might not even escape alive. As for the weaker Wu family members... better not even think about it.

His refusal to surrender the accused disciples stemmed from a desire to preserve Wu’s unity. Handing family members over to outsiders for punishment would deeply demoralize his people—besides, he had tacitly approved of their behaviors.

In his view, these small skirmishes among lower-ranked cultivators didn’t amount to much. As long as it was contained, avoiding direct confrontations among high-rank cultivators would leave room for negotiation.

But when face—the dignity of an Out-of-Dust cultivator—was dragged into the issue, the Wu elder had no options left. "Was this level of seriousness really necessary?" he wondered.

So he gritted his teeth and replied, "Fellow Daoist Feng, I, too, am an Out-of-Dust cultivator. Could you spare me some dignity first? I do intend to give you an explanation."

"Your dignity?" Feng Jun sneered disdainfully, making it abundantly clear how little he regarded the Wu elder’s face. "Your dignity deserves to compare to mine?"

Nonetheless, Feng Jun nodded slightly and conceded, "Alright, you may play loose with it, but I do things properly. Let me remind you—I have Out-of-Dust Gu Cultivators under my employ who didn’t accompany me here... consider the consequences yourself."

The mention of Out-of-Dust Gu Cultivators made the Wu elder’s face pale even more.

Feng Jun paid him no further heed and glanced at Sun Daqi. "Continue speaking."

The subsequent development saw Sun Daqi taking a desperate stance, warning the Wu family with tragic determination. Seeing that Sun family retaliation might invoke the wrath of White Pebble Beach’s Out-of-Dust landlord, the Wu family hesitated before yielding.

Despite their attempts to avoid confrontation, curiosity burned. What exactly was hidden within this land? Thus, they began avoiding the Sun family and secretly exploring the territory, gaining some minor findings but failing to uncover its true value.

And the truth? The Sun family had already disclosed it, yet Wu stubbornly refused to believe.

During this time, the Pan family caught wind of the Wu family’s interest in White Pebble Beach. Being equally matched adversaries, Pan couldn’t resist wondering what Wu was scheming.

Eventually, Wu discovered Pan’s spying disciples and launched a counterattack. Both families clashed on Feng Jun’s territory, incurring losses on both sides.

Since their powers were evenly matched, neither side dared to pursue a mutually destructive clan war. Thus, they sat together to discuss how they might jointly annex White Pebble Beach and manage it as co-owners.

By now, the land’s true owner, Feng Jun, finally entered their discussions—seriously, they had to keep the landlord’s sentiments in mind.

The problem was that the land had been purchased by Wang Botai. Though he registered Feng Jun’s name as its owner, the stretch of land lay a mind-boggling half-million to nearly one million miles away from Qiuchen Market.

Reflecting on it, Feng Jun’s journey to this place—how long had that taken? Not even accounting for rest breaks, pure flying time alone had taken over a month.

Consequently, the locals knew next to nothing about Feng Jun’s identity. If someone named Ji PingAn had bought the land instead, it might have left more diplomatic impact. Currently, Mingsha Fang Market’s Combat Cultivators were offering side gigs for repairing fossilized Boiler Camel Motorcycles in Lantern Town.

Lantern Town, after all, was merely a subordinate town beneath the Fang Market. With no internet in the cultivation world, news naturally traveled at a sluggish pace.

Feng Jun’s reputation was sparse among the inhabitants, the little they knew painted him as an early-stage Out-of-Dust Loose Cultivator conducting worldly trials in the Secular World—not someone particularly intimidating.

Comparatively, they decided to investigate Wang Botai more thoroughly—who was backing this guy?

As it turned out, Wang Botai lacked notable backing. He was just an ordinary disciple of Wuyou Platform and not particularly accomplished in cultivation, living a rather idle lifestyle that led many to believe he’d never exceed his current Qi Refinement stage.

The disciples from the Four Sects on Wutai, though generally unwise to provoke, wouldn’t evoke fear if their prospects were poor—such disciples could be antagonized without consequence. After all, the cultivation world extends far beyond the influence of Wutai’s Four Sects.

The Pan and Wu families assessed the matter and deemed it feasible to act. However, to ensure safety, they decided to wait a little while longer—just in case that Feng character showed up first, letting them gauge the situation before making a decision.

Unfortunately, Feng Jun subscribed to Earth Realm’s values of "staking claims first." He had no immediate plans to develop the oil resources here—and might’ve delayed another three to five years if Elder Yu hadn’t nudged him to act.

Still, Feng Jun had indeed reached the point for cultivation advancement. Advancing within Mount Zhige would be astronomically costly.

Whether admitted or not, the cultivation world operates with its own systems. Even though Feng Jun spent considerable Spirit Stones renting a cave mansion in Qiuchen Market, advancing in cultivation there was far cheaper than doing so in Mount Zhige. Terms like "Cave Heaven" or "Spirit Land" aren’t just for show.

Arriving late had its downside—Pan and Wu families had already taken action.

They reasoned Feng Jun’s absence created a power vacuum ripe for exploitation—failing to seize the advantage would make them fools.

However, usurping White Pebble Beach’s resources required bypassing the Sun family entirely. Silencing or sidelining the Sun family was a prerequisite.

In an unfortunate twist of events, Sun Daqi’s youngest son had an exploitable weakness—a deep obsession with musical instruments. Out of his nineteen sons (six deceased, thirteen remaining), the youngest carried little pressure.

Thus, the Pan family executed a trap, luring Sun Daqi’s youngest with musical instruments and scores—tempting goods aplenty. "Can’t afford them? No worries, there’s gambling."

At first, Young Master Sun won, undoubtedly. But soon, he lost everything—his wins transformed into losses, just like the Confucian scholar hauling away his books.

The young master—a stubborn character who aspired for independence—refused to involve his parents, believing he could turn things around on his own. By the time he realized he’d created an unmanageable mess, it was far too late.

The Sun family couldn’t afford to pay the debt—well, technically they could if they sacrificed everything. But the other party offered a simple alternative: stay out of White Pebble Beach’s affairs.

And after considering their position, the Sun family quietly conceded.

After all, guarding White Pebble Beach had never yielded much profit—just enough for lifestyle improvements. Instead, scavenging resources directly from the land seemed more lucrative.

So, the Sun family reluctantly agreed—"Keep White Pebble Beach between your two families; we’ll stay out of it."

(Updated until now, summoning monthly votes.)