“You could ask uncle Yan to introduce some reliable seniors from the alchemy division. It would lend more prestige if you, Master, were to make the request. That’s certainly more effective than me running around.”
Chen Mobai nodded. This was simply a matter of making a small mention.
It had been quite a while since he had met with E Yun, Yuan Chiye, and others. He could take this opportunity to invite Yan Jinye. She should be willing to provide this courtesy.
“All these matters are minor. Although I have entrusted you with managing the Spirit Field and the shop, all these should take a back seat to your own cultivation level. After all, for us cultivators, the pursuit of longevity is the most important.”
The implication of these words was that Chen Mobai was not taking Zhuo Ming’s proposal seriously.
As for that shop, he was just reluctant to waste it. Hence, he kept it running selling spirit rice and spirit wine. The income of a few hundred spirit stones a year was, for him now, merely better than nothing.
Upon hearing this, Zhuo Ming showed a teachable demeanor, indicating that she would prioritize cultivation in the future.
Next, Chen Mobai performed his duties as a teacher.
Compared to Liu Wenbo, the still unformed Zhuo Ming had much more that could be molded. Furthermore, Zhuo Ming’s cultivation was still low, and considering she hadn’t encountered a teacher during her time as a loose cultivator, she had accumulated a great many questions.
Usually, due to Chen Mobai’s infrequent appearances, she could only select the most important questions to ask.
Yet now, Chen Mobai, contrary to his usual behavior, indicated that he had encountered a bottleneck in his cultivation recently and planned to give them thorough guidance. They could feel free to ask anything.
A question asked would be answered.
Upon hearing this, Zhuo Ming’s eyes lit up. She pulled out a thick notebook from her storage bag. This was a compilation of all the questions she had accumulated since she entered the world of cultivation.
There were questions related to cultivation, talisman making, and various miscellaneous topics about elixirs and magic artifacts.
Every once in a while, she would flip through this notebook. If she could answer a question herself, she would cross it out.
However, up until today, she still had this thick book filled with unresolved queries.
Although Chen Mobai felt slightly bitter, having declared so, he couldn’t very well back out.
As a result, the teacher and student, from sunrise to sunset, from nightfall to daybreak, spent three full days and nights, going through all the questions in Zhuo Ming’s notebook.
With Chen Mobai’s cultivation level and the knowledge he had gained as a top student at the Dance Tool Dao Academy, he was able to answer almost all of the questions.
There were a few such as, how strong is the Gold Core Elder? How many Gold Core Realm cultivators could a Nascent Soul person fight? Can those who ascended return?
These were questions he genuinely could not answer.
All he could say was that his disciple, though she appeared simple and naive, had quite an imaginative mind.
At that moment, the two spirit stones held in Liu Wenbo’s hand suddenly shattered. He opened his eyes, his face beaming with delight.
Feeling the breakthrough within his body and a stronger spiritual power, he was tempted to let out a loud roar.
But, seeing his master and junior sister opposite him, he held back.
“Thank you for your guidance, Master.”
“Haha, all I hope is that you can be successful in achieving the Foundation Establishment stage in one go and make the most out of the opportunity to enter the Divine Tree Secret Realm.”
Chen Mobai expressed his sincere hope. His two disciples took this as a blessing.
“By the way, are senior brothers E and Yuan in the sect?”
“Senior brother E went to Cloud Dream Marsh to oversee an event. Senior brother Yuan just returned from a mission last month.”
“Arrange a meeting for me with them.”
Hearing this, Liu Wenbo immediately went off to make arrangements.
That evening, the two old friends who hadn’t seen each other in a long time had a merry drink up.
“You rarely come down from the mountain. The last time we had a drink was half a year ago.”
Yuan Chiye took the spirit wine brought by Chen Mobai, smelt it, and poured himself a full glass with satisfaction.
“Is the issue with the spirit stone mine in Lei Nation resolved?”
“Senior Brother Zhou and Brother Luo, the town guard of Lei Nation, put pressure on them together. I was there to back them up in the sidelines. And we managed to suppress the six immortal cultivation families of Lei Nation and dissected 40% of the spirit stone mine for ourselves.”
Yuan Chiye simply stated the result, but Chen Mobai understood the undercurrents of conflict associated with it.
Snatching food from the tiger’s mouth, and that too nearly half the cake at once, wouldn’t have been an easy task even though they were representing the Divine Wood Sect.
The allied and forced friendships, the threats and manipulations, Yuan Chiye elaborated on all this over drinks. Initially, his tone was calm, but the more he talked, the more excited he became. Especially when he talked about Zhou Wangshen’s secret midnight meeting with the two biggest families, his combat with the number one Foundation Establishment cultivator of Lei Nation, and how he deterred the prowling town guard of Shake Mountain…
“Senior Brother Zhou is truly divine.”
Although he was E Yun’s man, after their cooperation in Lei Nation, Yuan Chiye had nothing but praise for Zhou Wangshen.
He stated that if Zhou were to become the sect leader, the Divine Wood Sect might reunite with the Five Elements Sect and unify the Eastern Wilderness within his lifetime.
Chen Mobai just listened quietly. When Yuan Chiye finished speaking, he subtly shifted the topic.
“Has senior sister Yan been in the sect lately? My little disciple wants to experiment with making two types of medicinal drinks and needs a trustworthy alchemist to assist. Yan, as the former chief of the alchemy division, should have someone in mind, right?”
Having promised, Chen Mobai naturally brought up the matter.
“As for Senior Sister Yan, she hasn’t returned since her last visit to that Foundation Establishment cave dwelling. She might be trapped by the dwelling’s array prohibitions. We can go to the Spirit Treasure Pavilion later and check if the alchemy division has issued any rescue missions.”
Hearing this, Chen Mobai couldn’t help but nod.
Indeed, he had made the right choice by staying put and not following them to treasure hunt.
After all, in the Tianhe Realm, previous cave dwellings were usually filled with traps. Some loose cultivators specialized in setting up these traps.