Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 558 - 558 0374 Taichang Temple Minister

Chapter 558: Chapter 0374: Taichang Temple Minister Chapter 558: Chapter 0374: Taichang Temple Minister Chapter 0374: Taichang Temple Minister

Qi Tian didn’t know that Meng Fandong was invited by Chen Wenbo. He was currently counting the spoils Meng Fandong had brought him. Meng Fandong was much wealthier than Liu Ziyan, with a total worth approximately twice the latter’s. Qi Tian kept the items he could use and organized the rest to distribute later to Luo Xia and his group. Their contribution to defeating Meng Fandong was significant — an achievement deserving a reward, which was Qi Tian’s principle. Just because Qi Tian had nurtured them didn’t mean he’d withhold their rewards.

Of course, even if Qi Tian gave them nothing, Luo Xia and his companions wouldn’t complain. But such behavior could only be tolerated once or twice. Any more than that and resentment would surely breed. Instead of this, Qi Tian figured it would be best to manage things handsomely from the start. Then, in similar situations in the future, the group would still fight fearlessly.

While sorting through the spoils of war, Qi Tian found a strange item. It was a card about the size of a poker card. The card contained a series of numbers and an image of a snarling wolf, its mouth dripping with blood, on the backside.

A thought struck Qi Tian and he began to hastily search in a storage bag. Soon, he found another similar card. This card came from the belongings of Liu Ziyan after Qi Tian had killed him. These two cards were almost identical, with the only difference being the numbers on them.

Qi Tian recognized these numbers. They were written using the common language of Wanjie City. At first, Qi Tian didn’t know what use the card had, and only kept it because the numerals were in the common language of Wanjie City. Now, seeing another similar card, he began to suspect something.

Both Liu Ziyan and Meng Fandong might belong to a certain power in Wanjie City.

This assumption put Qi Tian on the spot. Wanjie City and the Great Zhao Cultivation World were worlds apart. In fact, the distance between them was such that it was measured in “countless miles”. And while the Great Zhao Cultivation World was considered an impoverished place for cultivators, those from Wanjie City wouldn’t normally be interested. Yet, in reality, they were.

Before Liu Ziyan, whether it was Qi Tian or Luo Xia’s group, they hadn’t heard of anywhere in the Great Zhao Cultivation World or nearby countries other than Mansion Master Xiao Xiaowu and a few other Gold Core Stage cultivators, having additional Gold Core cultivators.

This indicated Liu Ziyan and Meng Fandong likely appeared in Great Zhao recently, and as soon as they appeared, they came straight for Qi Tian. This suggested that they were after Qi Tian from the start. Since Qi Tian had no quarrel with them, it could only mean someone hired them.

Truth be told, Qi Tian had quite a few enemies in Great Zhao. If other countries like Chi Di were included, that number increased. All of them could potentially have hired someone to take down Qi Tian.

There was too little evidence about this point to pinpoint who exactly was behind it. What worried Qi Tian was the issue at hand — someone in the Great Zhao Cultivation World knew about Wanjie City and could communicate directly. This significantly reduced Qi Tian’s advantage of being able to travel to Wanjie City, and if that person could connect with Wanjie City, they could also utilize the resources for cultivation, and this would have grave consequences. Native Gold Core cultivators might even emerge from the Great Zhao Cultivation World.

This assumption greatly concerned Qi Tian, but he soon set it aside. He had very few ties in Great Zhao. His contributions to the Imperial Master Mansion far exceeded his obligations. The future of the Imperial Master Mansion should be handled by Mansion Master Xiao Xiaowu, and the future of Great Zhao was none of Qi Tian’s business. Therefore, the emergence of native Gold Core cultivators in Great Zhao would not concern him unless they provoked him, regardless of which power they hailed from.

Qi Tian summoned Luo Xia and his group and began to distribute the rewards. Each of them received a thousand middle-grade spirit stones, five Gold Core Stage healing pills, and a magical tool usable by Gold Core cultivators. All of these were leftovers from Meng Fandong.

Luo Xia and his companions were ecstatic and grateful when they received their rewards. They knew Qi Tian wouldn’t treat them unfairly, but they hadn’t expected such generous rewards. Luo Xia and Hao Wenxi repeatedly bowed to Qi Tian in thanks, while the other three fell on their knees, kowtowing their thanks to Qi Tian.

Qi Tian waved his hands and said, “No need for thanks; you earned this. Also, even with these rewards, you still have to continue cultivating. Don’t quit because progress is difficult. Who knows when a miracle will happen? Even without a miracle, remaining in peak condition doesn’t hurt. You’ve all seen how dangerous our situation can be, with the possibility of a third, fourth, or even more Gold Core cultivators showing up at any moment. To ensure survival, you must enhance yourselves. Of course, there’s no need to panic. The arrival of Gold Core cultivators isn’t necessarily bad. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have received such generous rewards, right?”