The happy events of having the Darkening virus solved, lifted everyone"s spirit and removed the issue that weighed in Tang Xiu"s mind. After returning to the center area of the mountain, Tang Xiu escorted the Everlasting Feast Hall"s people to continue searching for the precious resources.
Quickly, two days pa.s.sed.
After searching for two days, a large number of precious herbs had been gathered as well as six types of precious ores, enough to fully fill up 6 of the 10 interspatial rings. According to Gu Xiaoxue"s report, the resources they had gathered were enough to support the Everlasting Feast Hall for at least 3 to 5 years.
It greatly elated Tang Xiu"s mood. While he also stowed away various resources inside his interspatial ring, the thing made him happiest was a Goblet Spirit Stone Milk.
This Goblet Spirit Stone Milk was definitely not something ordinary, for a sip of it could even prolong the life of ordinary people, making them thoroughly remold their bodies. It was thanks to his good luck to find a small Spirit vein inside the small crevice of the mountain which led to a narrow pa.s.sage to the bottom of the vein. The quant.i.ty of this Goblet Spirit Stone Milk was not much, but still, it was about a few kilograms.
"Let"s go outside."
As they were outside the white mist area, Tang Xiu glanced at the direction of the shrouding white mist with delight in his eyes. His curiosity toward the Earth itself increased. He could hardly believe that a small planet amidst the boundless universe such as Earth could have so many heavenly materials and treasures.
He once encountered such a treasure star in the Immortal World. That star territory was full of treasures, yet it was still slightly inferior to the good things he found on Earth.
Tang Han, on the other hand, was looking at the shrouding white mist with a smile and a hint of an unwilling expression. She had taken a bit of the Spirit Stone Milk Goblet and had her body thoroughly remolded. Not only had her cultivation broken through the martial grandmaster level, but the True Qi inside her body had also begun to qualitatively transform into True Essence. The enhancement of her strength was thanks to the cultivation technique Tang Xiu imparted to her.
"How good it would be if I could stay in this place forever," sighed Tang Han wholeheartedly.
"Well, ordinary people would lose their mind if they lived forever in a place like this, you know," Tang Xiu smilingly interjected. "But for you, just tell me in advance if you wanna come here later, Big Sis. I"ll take you inside again."
"That"s a promise!" replied Tang Han smilingly.
Tang Xiu then looked at Gu Xiaoxue and the rest as he ordered, "Alright, you all have climbed the area of the mountain range that you can and have finished gathering the resources, so you are to lead everyone to go back first! Improve your strength for the time being and you can come back again in the future to look for more treasures in higher ground."
"Aren"t you finished solving all the issues in this place, Grand Master?" Asked Gu Xiaoxue curiously. "You have dealt with the Darkening virus and also have driven out those foreign forces already. Why wouldn"t you come back to Jingmen Island with us?"
"No, I still need to stay for a while here, even though those matters and my mission have been solved." Tang Xiu shook his head. "A couple of days ago, I suggested to the Garrison Commander of Mist Source Island to lay out a Feng Shui formation array on the surroundings of the island, which I have yet to finish, so I can"t leave yet."
"You want to lay out a Feng Shui Array that covers the entire of Mist Source Island? Why?" a surprised Gu Xiaoxue asked.
"Isn"t it the duty for every citizen to serve their country?" replied Tang Xiu with a chuckle. "But of course, the state will provide a large number of jades since laying out such a formation array will require a lot of them, right? Now think, why shouldn"t I seize the chance to earn some money here? Shouldn"t I consider it as reimburs.e.m.e.nt for the hard work I have done in the last few days?"
"Pfft…"
Gu Xiaoxue figured out Tang Xiu"s ploy in that instant and couldn"t help but smile. "Grand Master, you"re really… amazing."
Tang Xiu didn"t continue speaking on the topic and said, "Alright. You are to go back directly! I"ll go to Jingmen Island right after I"m done dealing with the issue here."
"Affirmative!"
As Gu Xiaoxue took the group to leave, Tang Xiu went to the southern village. Mo Awu and the rest had been waiting for him there. They immediately looked relaxed and smiled when they saw Tang Xiu arrive. Tang Xiu, on the other hand, felt rather curious when he saw Shui Gui whose face was swollen and bruised.
"Eh, what happened to you?" asked Tang Xiu as he looked at Shui Gui.
It was Zhenlei Duomo who looked up and replied instead, "Well, I smacked him." She was at the doorway, fiddling with a dagger in her hands.
Quizzical and frowning, Tang Xiu asked, "What exactly happened?"
"Shui Gui and Zhenlei Duomo kind of sparred, Boss." Mo Awu wryly smiled and said, "It was Sui Gui"s loss and he was badly beaten. He first wanted to exact his revenge but suppressed his urge due to your command. But now he knows that he isn"t Zhenlei"s match, so it has also alleviated the vented anger in his heart a lot."
Tang Xiu understood quickly, yet his expression was somewhat puzzled as he looked at Shui Gui. His eyes then landed at the carefree Zhenlei Duomo and said, "Alright. Stop it here. I don"t want to see both of you fight again. If you really want to fight to the death, wait until I"ve broken through the most important stage and only then will I be the witness to your bout."
Shui Gui turned his head to stare at Zhenlei Duomo and then respectfully replied, "I already thought it through, Boss. If she"s really like all of us, I"ll give up on my revenge. Besides, although the Everlasting Feast Hall"s rules dictate that we can"t have an internal fight, I want her to pay some compensation."
Tang Xiu"s expression changed. He looked at Zhenlei Duomo and asked, "Let me ask you once again. Are you really adopted by Yan"er and got her inheritance?"
"Yes," answered Zhenlei Duomo.
"After we come to Jingmen Island and once Yan"er decides about this matter, do you want to join the Everlasting Feast Hall?" Asked Tang Xiu. "I will tell you about this clearly now. Once you join and are a member of the Everlasting Feast Hall, you will forever be a member while you"re alive, and once you die, you will become the revenant of the Everlasting Feast Hall"s ghosts. They will also exterminate you once you become an enemy with the Everlasting Feast Hall."
Zhenlei Duomo turned solemn. She fell into thought for a long time before slowly replying, "She has given me everything—my life, my present achievements. To me, she"s a mother, so I"ll do everything she wants me to do."
"If she agrees for you to join the Everlasting Feast Hall, a year of your resource quota will be given to Shui Gui as compensation. Are you alright with that?" asked Tang Xiu.
Resource grants?
Zhenlei Duomo thought that she should be a member of the Everlasting Feast Hall, regardless, and thought that she could also get some money and salary. She was not short on money; she was even a billionaire, so she nodded and said, "I don"t have a problem with this, I can overlook the feud."
"What about you? Do you agree?" Asked Tang Xiu to Shui Gui.
"I agree," Shui Gui nodded quietly.
"Alright. It"s settled then. Your feud is written off until later!" Tang Xiu nodded and smiled. "After all, you both belonged to different camps before and it"s difficult to determine who is in the wrong and in the right. Shortly put, I hope you both can become brother and sister who fight side by side, not mortal enemies."
"Alright," Shui Gui nodded dignifiedly.
Zhenlei Duomo expressed agreement with Tang Xiu"s decision without much care. Joining the Everlasting Feast Hall actually didn"t interest her a bit because, in her eyes, there was no one in the Everlasting Feast Hall that could be her opponent aside from Tang Xiu. Although she could join such a power, they wouldn"t be able to restrain her.
"The issue with the virus outbreak has been solved, while we have driven out those foreign forces now," Tang Xiu smilingly said, "We only have one thing left to do—to lay out a geomancy formation to cover the entirety of Mist Source Island"s surroundings. We"ll go to Jingmen Island after we"re done arranging it."
Suddenly, he seemed to recall something and asked, "By the way, what about the issue of maintaining law and order on the island for the last few days?"
"We killed some people and it acted as a very good deterrent," reported Mo Awu. "The antidote for the Darkening virus has been researched which gave rea.s.surance to the inhabitants of Mist Source Island, so the public safety issue could be said to be under control. Also, the antidote is currently being manufactured on a large scale; the army and government personnel have taken the antidote while the police have taken over the duty to maintain order."
Jin s.h.i.+ chuckled and smiled, "You"ve now become famous, Boss. Everyone on Mist Source Island knows your name now and they feel grateful to you. They are kind of wanting to make a shrine for you, you know."
"What do you mean?" Tang Xiu stared blankly and quizzically asked, "I don"t get it."
"Well, Divine Doctor Gui Jianchou developed the antidote based on your research idea that you provided him, Boss." Jin s.h.i.+ smilingly explained. "It led to the present result. The Divine Doctor explained about it when he had an interview with the media, emphasizing that you"re the greatest contributor to the development of the antidote."
Tang Xiu was stunned. He never thought that Divine Doctor Gui Jianchou would unexpectedly push the credit directly to him. He came to Mist Source Island with a mission to solve this crisis. It indeed was one of his responsibility, yet he never thought that he would be pushed to the limelight!
"Nevermind it. I"ll just wait for the ma.s.sive number of jades to be sent here, lay out the geomancy array, and then leave immediately. Besides, being famous here won"t affect me whatsoever later."
Tang Xiu gave it a thought for a moment and easily relaxed.
Tang Han, who stood next to him, suddenly asked, "If you and I go back to the Tang Manor Martial School, will it expose the relations.h.i.+p between us?"
"Definitely!"
Tang Xiu was perfectly aware of the power of the media. He had become a well-known personage now; the journalists would soon smell something once he appeared at the Tang Manor Martial School. At that time, the media would likely dig deeper that he had been to Tang Manor Martial School.
"We won"t be going to the Tang Manor Martial School for now, Big Sis. Contact me directly via cell phone if you want to see me the next few days, and let"s have a meal together before I leave this place. Also, I"ll find a way to help you freely enter and exit Mist Source Island, so that you can leave the island to look for me when you miss me."
Tang Han indeed wanted to spend more time with Tang Xiu. But she knew her mission, so she nodded and replied. "If so, then I"ll leave first. But remember to call me when you"re about to leave, got it? Sis will cook for you."
"Got it!"