Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 178 - 78 Reward

Chapter 178: Chapter 78 Reward

Hearing Zheng Fa’s question, Lin Bufan’s expression was very complicated.

But Li Nuo obviously let out a sigh of relief.

"Brother Lin has been somewhat reluctant to cooperate these past few days," Li Nuo informed on Lin Bufan in passing. Zheng Fa couldn’t help but turn to look at this former Demon Sect disciple, whose facial muscles slowly stiffened, revealing a sense of guilt.

It seemed that what Li Nuo said was no exaggeration.

Having left Jiushan Sect, Li Nuo could no longer control him.

"Tell me about the talisman symbols you’ve experimented with." Zheng Fa didn’t say anything to Lin Bufan, but continued to ask Li Nuo.

"I’ve tried it before, Brother Lin’s blood has some miraculous effects on Divine Soul-type talismans," Li Nuo said excitedly: "I first made a Soul Nourishing Talisman, then I created a Soul-shocking Talisman, Soul Stab Talisman... up till now, there are probably about eight or nine types."

"Divine Soul... What about other types of talismans?"

Zheng Fa pondered for a moment; he had always thought that the reason Lin Bufan’s blood could create Soul Talismans was due to the special spirit symbols in his blood.

"Other types won’t work, only those related to the Divine Soul are extremely successful."

"How much blood is needed to make one talisman?"

"Taking into account wastage, one liter of blood per talisman is guaranteed," Li Nuo thought for a while and said.

"Is the blood of someone at the Foundation Establishment Stage the same as that of the Qi Refinement Realm?"

"I don’t know, Brother Lin is at the Foundation Establishment Stage, and the talismans made from his blood are Xuan-grade." Li Nuo honestly said, "I speculate that if it’s the Qi Refinement Realm, the talisman symbols should correspond to the Yellow-grade."

"I remember you told me that talismans made from beast blood could imprint a thousand Spirit Talismans?" Zheng Fa recalled the data Li Nuo had told him and asked.

"The talismans made from Brother Lin’s blood can only imprint a hundred Xuan-grade talismans," Li Nuo said with a somewhat dejected expression.

Less than that of spirit beast blood, it seems that this Demon Sect disciple’s blood wasn’t entirely advantageous...

"Are there any other costs besides blood?"

"Yes, the paper for the talisman costs money, Spirit Ink costs money, the rest are minor," Li Nuo honestly said, "Almost all are mundane items."

Zheng Fa nodded his head.

Among the talismans that could be made with Lin Bufan’s blood, the Soul Nourishing Talisman and Soul Stab Talisman were relatively precious.

Others were also a bit more expensive than other Spirit Talismans—even to most cultivators, Divine Souls were immensely mysterious.

He glanced at Lin Bufan, with some thoughts in his mind—was the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor particularly accomplished in the realm of Divine Souls?

Lin Bufan, caught under his gaze, appeared even more frightened and pleaded, "Young Master, I was wrong!"

Zheng Fa looked at him but said nothing.

No one would be willing to have their blood drawn.

But this was Lin Bufan’s own choosing, to a certain extent, this was the price of buying one’s life.

This person was born into the Demon Sect, indeed he had more schemes than others.

"Do you think, since you belong to me, after I left Jiushan Sect... the others wouldn’t dare to deal with you? Maybe they even have to provide for you?"

He spoke to Lin Bufan, his tone devoid of emotion.

Despite Lin Bufan’s origins in the Demon Sect, he was now Zheng Fa’s servant.

And his status in Jiushan Sect was somewhat special—weren’t the stewards at Zhao Mansion also servants?

"I..."

Lin Bufan broke out in a cold sweat, evidently, Zheng Fa had hit upon some of his hidden scheming.

He knelt on the ground with a thud, head bowed and unable to speak for a long while.

Zheng Fa watched him, silent for a long while.

His face became increasingly sweaty.

"Get up," Zheng Fa gestured with his hand, letting him stand up, seemingly lightly letting the matter slide.

Lin Bufan looked at Zheng Fa, disbelief in his eyes.

"I’m not someone who likes to torment others," Zheng Fa earnestly said.

"..."

"I also won’t resort to mystifying tactics, I’ll just tell you clearly." Zheng Fa touched the Soul Seal in his hand and spoke softly, "If you still harbor such schemes, well, I’m soft-hearted..."

Yuan, standing aside, curled her lips.

"I’ll give you a swift end.

Yuan: "?"

"Do you understand?"

"Yes!" Lin Bufan trembled.

"Do you know what to do when training Jiushan Sect disciples this time?"

"Understood!" Lin Bufan spoke loudly, "I’ll do my utmost!"

"You may step back now."

...

As they slowly exited the room, Yuan who was aside asked, "Junior Brother, do you really plan to kill this Lin Bufan?"

"Sister, this place doesn’t lack much else, but there are far too many disciples from the Great Freedom Demon Sect."

"..."

Zheng Fa didn’t care about Yuan’s silence.

He went towards the hall where Master Pang was.

Yuan inquired from behind, "Junior brother, why are you going there?"

"I have something to discuss with Master Pang."

"I’ll come too!"

...

In the hall, after hearing Zheng Fa’s ideas, Master Pang opened his mouth in shock.

"You mean... using Spirit Talismans in the workshop to buy, no, to offer a bounty for... the blood of disciples from the Great Freedom Demon Sect?"

"Correct."

"Two liters of blood from a Foundation Establishment Stage disciple of the Great Freedom Demon Sect can be exchanged for a hundred Xuan-grade talismans?"

"We won’t be losing out, for Xuan-grade talismans, one symbol can imprint a hundred of them," Zheng Fa reasoned, "Two liters means two hundred talismans, subtracting the cost of the talisman paper and Spirit Ink, there’s a profit of at least a dozen Spirit Stones."

Master Pang listened and slowly closed his mouth.

He pondered for a while and said, "If we have too many Spirit Talismans, won’t the price drop?"

"At worst, we won’t make a profit, but this bounty... isn’t it under our control? We can just stop whenever."

Zheng Fa explained.

Master Pang was persuaded; he stroked his chin and spoke, "We don’t want the Qi Refinement Realm ones?"

"Master Uncle, the greatest threat in the Thunder Pool is still those at the Foundation Establishment Stage... As for the ones in the Qi Refinement Realm, are our Jiushan Sect disciples such trash?"

Zheng Fa wanted to use the rewards to reduce the casualties of the Jiushan Sect disciples.

But he is not a mother hen, can he really protect all the Jiushan Sect disciples?

"You’ve come to understand this, not bad." Master Pang nodded, his tone quite approving.

"Li Nuo... Li Nuo." Master Pang shook his head and said, looking at Zheng Fa with some inexplicably appreciative eyes: "I heard that you were the one who gave him Spirit Stones for his research, even Nephew Zhang couldn’t stop you."

"Who would have thought, he actually made a big fuss!"

Master Pang sighed: "This Li Nuo and his father have been around in our Jiushan Sect for more than a hundred years, and us old folks have really been blind!"

"Master Uncle, you can’t say that..."

"Especially that surnamed Huang! Li Nuo’s father had some connections with her!"

"..."

Zheng Fa twitched the corner of his mouth and said frankly: "Master Uncle, we had good reasons to not take Li Nuo seriously before. If it weren’t for the current situation, I wouldn’t have taken out this talisman technique."

"... True, whether it’s about money or life, our Jiushan Sect disciples aren’t fools."

Before, the art of talisman wasn’t popular because it would cut off the livelihood of most Jiushan Sect disciples.

But the situation now is not the same as before.

On one hand, what Zheng Fa is doing now is equivalent to hiring mercenaries to deal with the Great Freedom Demon Sect.

To put it bluntly, it is to save their lives.

No one can say there’s anything wrong with that.

On the other hand, the Great Freedom Demon Sect has already shown its face, the struggle is intensifying day by day.

Most people are busy fighting desperately with the Demon Sect.

They have no time for painting talismans.

An imprecise analogy would be that playing with automation usually overturns the rice bowls of workers.

But when a great battle breaks out, and workers all go to the front line, automation compensates for the shortage of labor.

"So what did you come to ask me for?"

"I’m afraid of offending the Great Freedom Demon Sect too much."

Zheng Fa honestly expressed his worry.

This matter is too unfriendly to the Great Freedom Demon Sect.

"Whether we offend them or not, do we have a choice now?" Master Pang sighed: "Do you think your master refused to leave Jiushan Sect even in death for what reason?"

"..."

"And one more thing, with this reward put out there, will anyone really go and desperately fight the Great Freedom Demon Sect?"

Master Pang gave him a strange look.

"One hundred Xuan-grade Spirit Talismans and dozens of Spirit Stones, who wouldn’t be tempted?"

"..."

"Zheng, you don’t understand those Loose Cultivators." Master Pang sighed: "They are desperately poor."

...

Zheng Fa called over Brother Yang and others, telling them the details of the reward and asked them to promote it in the workshop later.

"... Zheng, this reward... It’s not quite fair..." Unexpectedly, Brother Yang hesitated and seemed to have some objections.

"Hmm?"

"This is for people outside, can our Jiushan Sect disciples... also participate?"

"..."

Zheng Fa looked at Brother Yang.

Didn’t he come up with this strategy precisely to prevent these people from needlessly going to their deaths?

But now...

Brother Yang looked at Zheng Fa, seeming somewhat embarrassed, yet his voice was loud: "Eliminating demons and slaying monsters, has always been my dream..."

"..."

Seeing the others nodding in agreement, Zheng Fa couldn’t help but put his hand on his forehead and said: "Whoever wants to go to the Thunder Pool, must pass his test first."

He pointed to Lin Bufan beside him.

Brother Yang and the others looked at him with burning gazes, eager to begin.

Lin Bufan: "..."

...

What Zheng Fa did not expect was that just as the reward was issued,

Someone who didn’t seem like they would be interested in those Spirit Stones at all came knocking on his door.

"Mr. Zheng!"

When Master Pang mentioned that Yan Wushuang wanted to visit, Zheng Fa was a bit puzzled.

"Yan."

Zheng Fa greeted him warmly; after all, he was able to get information about Chen Ting thanks to him.

"The reward mentioned in your workshop, is it true?"

Yan Wushuang asked about the newly issued reward as soon as he arrived.

"It’s true, but for someone like you, Yan..."

Who is this person?

A True Inheritor of Tianhe Sect.

Could he lack so much?

"You don’t know, Brother Zheng, in my travels, making friends and intending to establish an organization—everywhere requires money." Yan Wushuang sighed: "I’m stretched too thin!"

"..."

Zheng Fa recalled, when that man was braving the Heavenly Thunder, there really wasn’t even a shirt under his crane robe.

At that time, he thought it was the style of Tianhe Sect.

Now it appears—was it due to poverty?

Realizing this, Zheng Fa said to Yan Wushuang: "The reward is real."

"Fine." Yan Wushuang fell silent for a moment, then suddenly asked: "If I... bring you a living one, how much will you give me?"

Zheng Fa was stunned.

He looked at Yan Wushuang with a square face and righteous expression.

Are you the wicked trader of Demon Slaves?