Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Hull left, so naturally the two of them didn't stay any longer. Besides, they couldn't afford the Mist Crystal Tea on the menu, anyway.

Following the manager's instructions, the attendant took them to Meeting Room No. 7.

On the other side, Hull and his people quickly finished the handover with the club. Only after the wooden box containing the painting was inspected and delivered to him did Hull finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The middle-aged man beside Hull smiled and said, "Congratulations, sir, on acquiring the Lady Painting. This mission of yours in China is complete."

Hull touched the wooden box with satisfaction and asked, "Are the plane tickets booked?" He had had enough of this damn place—too many rules, too many cultivators, and an extra troublesome demon cultivator. Now that the painting was in hand, he wanted to leave quickly. As for that demon, we'll settle scores later!

The middle-aged man nodded: "I've bought tickets for the next few flights. Mr. Hull can leave anytime."

Hull nodded, exited through a special passage, and got into a black car. After making sure no one was following, he opened the wooden box to inspect the painting again.

In Meeting Room No. 7, Bai Zhizhi, through his spiritual sense, saw Hull's actions. He focused his spiritual sense on the painting, but the moment his spiritual sense touched it, the Lady Painting burst into flames.

Hull was a Lightning element adept and couldn't use his powers to put out the fire. They were trapped in the confined space of the car, and in the chaos of frantically batting at the flames, not only did they fail to extinguish the flames, but their own clothes also caught fire.

Amid the confusion, the Lady Painting burned to ashes in an instant, the speed of the fire bizarrely fast, nothing like ordinary paper burning. By the time Hull and his men put out the flames on themselves, all they had left was the wooden box and the painting roller.

In the meeting room, Bai Zhizhi hadn't expected the painting to catch fire when his spiritual sense touched it, nor had he expected a mass of spiritual light to emerge from the painting as it burned. Though bewildered, he didn't hesitate to cover the spiritual light with his spiritual sense and then retract it.

Without checking what he had retrieved, he quickly hid it away in his storage item.

Just as he was hiding it away, the club manager, Yang, pushed open the door, followed by Jiang Lin.

Seeing Jiang Lin, Lin Xiaoyang stood up in surprise: "Brother Jiang!"

Jiang Lin gave a quiet "mm," then looked at Bai Zhizhi, his expression gentle but with a hint of helplessness: "Let's go. Heading home."

Lin Xiaoyang: "Brother Jiang, the spiritual fruit, Zhizhi..."

Before he could finish, Jiang Lin said, "I know. Let's go home first."

Lin Xiaoyang fell silent. Bai Zhizhi was still feeling guilty about secretly snatching someone else's property, so he just listened and did as he was told.

After leading them out of the club and into the car, Jiang Lin handed the spiritual fruit back to Bai Zhizhi.

Lin Xiaoyang went "huh?" and Bai Zhizhi was also puzzled: "How did it end up with you?"

Jiang Lin placed the fruit in his hand: "When you came out of the cave dwelling, you should have sensed the difference in the outside world. We are now in an era of waning spiritual energy, with scarce resources, making cultivation difficult. Spiritual fruits with such abundant energy are even rarer."

He smiled at Bai Zhizhi: "Whether it's spiritual fruit or spiritual medicine, you can keep them yourself or trade them for something else. But first, you need to understand their value. Once you know and understand, then it's up to you what to do with them."

……………………

After dinner, having bathed and changed into pajamas, Bai Zhizhi was leaning on the desk by the window in his room. The snake spirit fruit, surrounded by spiritual energy, emitted a faint glow with the sweet fragrance he knew well.

A gentle breeze occasionally drifted in from the window, carrying the chirping of cicadas resting in the trees. Both the smell of the wind and the noisy yet oddly peaceful cicada chirping reminded him that this was not the place he was familiar with.

These past few days had been chaotic. His sister had gone to Qingqiu for training, and he had somehow ended up in this strange place. He wondered if his parents had noticed he was missing and if they were panicking or worried.

Reviewing everything that had happened during this time, the last image in Bai Zhizhi's mind was the image of Jiang Lin returning the fruit to him.

Judging by the reactions of the club staff and Lin Xiaoyang, this spiritual fruit must be extremely precious. Jiang Lin was also a cultivator, living in an environment lacking spiritual energy for a long time, so he would want it even more.

But he had brought it back and returned it to him.

Despite his cold and aloof looks, he had gentle eyes. It seemed that ever since they met at the foot of the mountain, Jiang Lin had always been smiling warmly at him. Even when Bai Zhizhi had hurt someone, Jiang Lin didn't scold him at all.

What kind of person was Jiang Lin? Was he simply a good person, or was he pretending to be good because he wanted something more from him?

His clan members had said that the Heavenly Clan were greedy and vicious, the demons cunning and arrogant, and humans treacherous and insidious—none could be trusted completely. But his intuition told him that Jiang Lin was not pretending to be good.

When Lin Xiaoyang came over carrying a box of fried chicken, the first thing he noticed was the spiritual fruit glowing on the table, with spiritual energy leaking out. He couldn't help but take a deep breath, swallowing hard before saying, "Why don't you put the fruit away? Letting the spiritual energy dissipate like that, what a waste, it'll go stale."

Bai Zhizhi glanced at the fragrant box in Lin Xiaoyang's hand: "What are you holding?"

Lin Xiaoyang grinned, pulled a chair over, and sat beside Bai Zhizhi: "Fried chicken plus cola! This is the best shop nearby. When I went to buy sugar-roasted buns for Huanhuan earlier, I grabbed a late-night snack for you too. You definitely never had stuff like this up in the mountains."

When the box was opened, a wave of oily, fragrant heat hit their faces. Inside were not whole chickens but chicken wings and drumsticks, coated in a golden, crispy batter, indeed looking tempting.

Lin Xiaoyang grabbed a drumstick and started eating. Seeing him do so, Bai Zhizhi reached out and took one. The exterior was crispy, and biting through the crunchy shell revealed tender, juicy meat—a brand new texture. The chefs in his palace had made countless things but never anything like this.

Lin Xiaoyang smiled at him: "Good, huh? Let me tell you, there are so many delicious foods in the human world. From now on, I'll take you to try them all over the country!"

Bai Zhizhi licked his lips and nodded: "It's good."

This was a late-night snack for Bai Zhizhi, so Lin Xiaoyang stopped after eating one: "What were you thinking about just now? Were you thinking of home?"

Bai Zhizhi shook his head: "I was thinking about what kind of person Jiang Lin is."

Lin Xiaoyang chuckled upon hearing this: "Brother Jiang? He's a very, very good person."

Bai Zhizhi looked at Lin Xiaoyang.

Lin Xiaoyang continued: "Here, resources for cultivation are limited. Apart from getting them on our own, the state also distributes some when training us, but it's never equal—it's tilted toward the more talented. After all, it's better to cultivate a few outstanding ones rather than train someone with mediocre talent. Back then, Brother Jiang's master had mediocre talent, and so did Uncle Gao and Uncle Bi. As they got older and couldn't break through, cultivation became meaningless. But since they had contributed to the country, the higher-ups arranged for them to join the veterans' squad—the original Dongcheng Brigade."

Lin Xiaoyang couldn't resist reaching into the box again and taking a chicken wing. He ate as he spoke: "At that time, the Dongcheng Brigade was in a remote corner, barely noticed except for the monthly allowance. Later, they found a kid—Brother Jiang. Since they couldn't find his parents and had been feeding him for a while, they didn't want to send him to an orphanage, so they ended up adopting him."

"Unexpectedly, Brother Jiang also had spiritual roots. But back then, there was very little to aid cultivation, and his progress was slow at first. The higher-ups thought he was probably also limited in talent and didn't pay much attention. Later, when Brother Jiang's master was reaching the end of his life, Brother Jiang wanted to help him break through, so he signed up to go to the energy field."

Bai Zhizhi: "You have to sign up to go to the energy field?"

Lin Xiaoyang: "Of course! It's dangerous inside, but there are also opportunities. The number of cultivators is small, and each one is precious. To avoid unnecessary sacrifices, only those who are evaluated for their strength can enter."

Bai Zhizhi: "What happened next? Did he go?"

Lin Xiaoyang: "Of course he did. If he hadn't, he wouldn't be the Brother Jiang we know today."

Even now, Jiang Lin's legend is still told. At eighteen, he entered the energy field for the first time, and his cultivation broke through again and again. It turned out Jiang Lin's talent wasn't lacking—he simply had too little spiritual energy to absorb, and his talent couldn't be unleashed.

During that trip, a ferocious beast appeared in the energy field, causing heavy casualties. Jiang Lin gathered the cultivators from China, and together they hunted the beast, protecting their own people as much as possible and reducing losses.

Cultivators from other countries barely survived one in ten, showing how dangerous the situation was.

Jiang Lin became famous from that battle, and after leaving the energy field, he got the attention and support of the higher-ups.

Lin Xiaoyang sighed: "Even so, Brother Jiang couldn't save his master. His master still couldn't break through and passed away. Later, Brother Jiang took over the Dongcheng Brigade."

Lin Xiaoyang lowered his voice and told Bai Zhizhi: "Honestly, with Jiang Lin's skills, he could have gotten a better post—like Xiao Yu from Lin City, who is also a captain but has forty or fifty cultivators on his team. Not like our Brother Jiang, who has so few people."

Bai Zhizhi: "Why doesn't he recruit more people?"

Lin Xiaoyang: "Because of his sense of responsibility. Everyone who enters Eastern City becomes Brother Jiang's responsibility. He won't recruit people and let them cultivate on their own—he takes responsibility for each and every one. So even though we're few, every single one of us is family."

Lin Xiaoyang stretched: "Zhizhi, since Brother Jiang brought you back, whether it's temporary or not, as long as you're in the courtyard, you're one of us. Think of this place as your second home."

After speaking, Lin Xiaoyang looked up at the tree outside the window. This courtyard was left to Brother Jiang by his master. For Brother Jiang, this is his home, and by accepting them all, he naturally regards them as family.

After finishing his story, Lin Xiaoyang said with a coaxing smile: "Zhizhi, by the way, do you have a storage item? What does it look like? Can I see it?"

Bai Zhizhi bit into a chicken wing and looked at him. Seeing how eager he looked, he lightly raised his left hand, and a silver ring instantly appeared on his index finger.

The ring was simple in design, with a fox tail and fox head connected at the intersection. The simple lines were incredibly lifelike, and the fox head had two black diamond-like dots that served as eyes.

The storage bracelet his mother had crafted for him was something he couldn't casually reveal, but he had plenty of storage items; showing one for Lin Xiaoyang to see was fine.

Lin Xiaoyang didn't touch it, but his eyes were practically glued to it: "Wow, so this is a storage item! Do you have a powerful Great Demon among your ancestors? The Fox Demon Brother Jiang caught earlier couldn't use chopsticks, ate raw meat, and couldn't even put on clothes."

Bai Zhizhi was completely different. Though he also couldn't read, he had clearly received a good upbringing, and his speech and bearing had a noble air. He didn't seem like an ordinary demon.

Bai Zhizhi withdrew his hand, concealed the ring on his finger, and continued nibbling on his chicken wing without answering Lin Xiaoyang's question.

Lin Xiaoyang didn't mind. Having seen the storage item, he was satisfied, but still reminded: "Remember, never casually reveal a storage item in the future. These things are too rare and will make people covet it."

Brother Jiang also had one, obtained in the energy field. If Brother Jiang hadn't been capable himself, he might not have been able to keep that storage item.

After warning Bai Zhizhi, Lin Xiaoyang was strolling back to his room when he bumped into Jiang Lin, who was heading out again. He quickly ran over: "Brother Jiang, where are you going so late at night?"

Seeing Lin Xiaoyang running toward him, Jiang Lin stopped: "Going to Wangting Club. Something happened there. Did you warn Zhizhi?"

Storage items, whether for ordinary people or cultivators, are heaven-defying treasures. Every existing one is registered and controlled, and the authorities would never allow a storage item to fall into the hands of someone who couldn't be controlled.

But Bai Zhizhi's was likely inherited from his ancestors, and even the authorities had no reason to demand it be handed over. However, while the officials wouldn't take it, they were worried that some unscrupulous people might scheme to seize it.

From his recent interactions, this little fox had shown no aversion or hostility toward humans and was worth befriending. Jiang Lin didn't want greed to turn demons and humans into adversaries, so he had Lin Xiaoyang warn Bai Zhizhi not to casually reveal his storage item in the future.

Lin Xiaoyang nodded: "I warned him. Something happened at Wangting Club? What happened? Why are you going? You're not a police officer."

Jiang Lin: "This afternoon, the painting Hull bought caught fire as soon as it left the club. He thinks the club tampered with it. Earlier, he used a face-changing technique to hide his identity, but now he's not hiding at all. He's at the club demanding an explanation and trying to use his superpower. They're causing a commotion now. Since I'm the closest to Wangting Club, I have to go check it out."

Using supernatural abilities in their territory can only be dealt with by cultivators; ordinary people really can't handle it.

Lin Xiaoyang quickly said: "I'll go with you!"

Other bosses always bring their underlings; there's no way his boss is going alone!