Lin Feng smiled and raised his hand, withdrawing the Celestial Small Worlds. He said calmly, "Mount Shu actually condones their disciples running wild like this, truly unbecoming of the leader of the Nine Heavenly Sword Alliance."
Yang Tonghui clearly picked up the subtle message behind Lin Feng's words.
He mentioned Mount Shu being the leader of the Nine Heavenly Sword Alliance instead of one of the Three Holy Grounds.
"A tree with lush verdant leaves will inevitably have some wilted branches and dried leaves. I believe their seniors would never allow such a rampage to tarnish their reputation." Yang Tonghui laughed, gazing at the Mount Shu Elders below him.
The Mount Shu Elders emerged from the Celestial Small Worlds, beaten to a pulp by Lin Feng. Even the short and fat Elder, the most pompous and stubborn of the four, was pulverized by Xiao Budian.
When they met Yang Tonghui, their Sect's reputation no longer provided a psychological advantage against a Nascent Soul Grandmaster, hence did not dare to say anything.
Lin Feng nodded and said to Yang Tonghui, "Now that this matter is settled, I'll take my leave."
Yang Tonghui asked, "Is Sect Master Lin here to participate in the Spiritual Conference of Hanhai?"
"Yes." Lin Feng replied frankly. Yang Tonghui pondered for a while and smiled, "Will Sect Master Lin also be joining the auction organized by the Pavilion of Heavenly Trade three days from now?"
An idea suddenly flashed across Lin Feng's mind after repeated mental calculations. Perhaps he could use Yang Tonghui to perfect his plan.
After much consideration, Lin Feng smiled and said, "I'm attending the auction for the first time, I don't know how to participate. Are there any requirements or restrictions?"
As Lin Feng said this, Miao Shihao, who was silent all this while and seemingly staring blankly at the sky, finally came to his senses and shot a look at Lin Feng.
Lin Feng met his gaze and said nothing.
Miao Shihao pursed his lips and smirked, then lowered his head without saying anything as well.
Yang Tonghui, on the other hand, was happily introducing the requirements of the auction to Lin Feng, namely the three conditions, exactly as Miao Shihao had explained previously.
Lin Feng pondered, "I see, I need a recommender."
Yang Tonghui turned to look at Miao Shihao, who he assumed was travelling together with Lin Feng.
Miao Shihao grinned, "The Skywalker Master need not look at me. I may be going with Sect Master Lin but unfortunately, I've already agreed to be the recommender of another friend this time round."
Yang Tonghui nodded and smiled at Lin Feng. "I can be your recommender if you'd like."
Lin Feng looked relieved. "You've really saved me by being so willing to extend a helping hand. How can I reject your kindness?"
Yang Tonghui smilingly shook his head without saying anything.
Speaking of helping, it was actually Lin Feng who had been a massive help to Yang Tonghui.
Not only did Lin Feng retrieve the 'Nine Steps of Heaven' Herb for him, Lin Feng also spared the Mount Shu cultivators on his account. This meant stomping on the dignity of the Mount Shu Sword Sect and raising the stature of the Heavenly Sword Sect.
In a sense, this gesture would definitely be just as beneficial as retrieving the 'Nine Steps of Heaven' Herb, if not more.
Although Yang Tonghui did give up the Seven-piece Heavenly Elixir, it's an insignificant sacrifice compared to what he gained.
Lin Feng called Xiao Budian and Yue Hongyan to his side and nodded at Yang Tonghui. "Thank you, my friend. See you in three days’ time."
After he bid farewell to Yang Tonghui and his convoy of Heavenly Sword Sect cultivators, Lin Feng turned to leave with Miao Shihao, with Xiao Budian and Yue Hongyan in tow.
After travelling a considerable distance, Miao Shihao used his mana telepathy and said, "What are you up to again?"
Lin Feng chuckled, secretly grateful for Miao Shihao for being so cooperative in putting up an act in front of Yang Tonghui. He wanted to reply when Miao Shihao shook his head violently. "Wait, no, don't say it!"
His eyes glimmered and smiled lightly. "It wouldn't be fun if you reveal it now. I'll wait and see what tricks you have up your sleeves. You truly are interesting, I was right to follow you."
Lin Feng was dumbfounded and twitched his lips. He wanted to tell Miao Shihao that his last sentence would easily cause unwanted misunderstandings.
But he knew that Miao Shihao wouldn't take it to heart if he said it, so Lin Feng just shook his head and laughed along.
Lin Feng wouldn't object to Miao Shihao travelling with him, but he definitely would not return to Miao Shihao's "boudoir".
After finding a place to rest in Shazhou City, he sent a message to Xiao Yan and Zhu Yi, requesting them to return quickly and regroup.
After they've settled in, Lin Feng was determined and unbending in chasing Miao Shihao out of his room, leaving only Xiao Budian with him.
Xiao Budian gazed at Lin Feng pitifully, "Master ..."
Lin Feng could tell straightaway that this brat was still indignant at the 'Nine Steps to Heaven' Herb flying away from him right in front of his lips.
"Stop looking so pitiful. As your master, how would I not know what you're thinking?" Lin Feng was displeased yet amused at the same time. Xiao Budian rolled his huge round eyes and cracked a wide grin. "Hehe, Master, what a pity this is."
Lin Feng smiled, "Silly boy, treat that as a pre-investment. We'll earn much more next time."
He flipped out the Blessed Nine-Petalled Lotus. "Not to mention, this is all yours."
Xiao Budian was elated. He carefully scrutinized the green lotus on Lin Feng's hand and felt the bountiful spiritual energy contained within it.
"Hm?" Xiao Budian's expression turned deadly serious. "Master, my spiritual altar ..."
He couldn't bother to say much more. He just sat cross-legged on the ground and conjured a spell from the Great Celestial Way of the Eight Trigrams.
Lin Feng scanned the situation and realized that the sixth spiritual altar in Xiao Budian's Aura Sea, which had been steadily developing its foundation up till now, was speedily shooting up from the ground.
Enveloped by powerful spiritual energy, the spiritual altar was being erected layer by layer, rising higher and higher until it assembled into a nine-storey spiritual altar.
It was the sixth first-class spiritual altar in Xiao Budian's body.
Lin Feng nodded and said, "Tianhao, concentrate, don't lose your focus."
With a flick of his hand, the Blessed Nine-Petalled Lotus floated into the air and landed on Xiao Budian's head. The lotus shone lustrously, morphing into a ray of Pure Aura with a brilliant rainbow-colored glow and fusing into Xiao Budian's body.
Xiao Budian shuddered for a moment before calming down and guided the Blue Nine-Petalled Lotus' spiritual essence into his Aura Sea.
Once the Pure Aura entered Xiao Budian's Aura Sea, it instantly dissipated and nine rainbow-coloured light spots flew forth. These are the mana essence of the Nine-Petalled Lotus.
The nine rainbow-coloured light spots floated motionlessly above Xiao Budian's Aura Sea, while the Pure Aura infiltrated into the Aura Sea below.
Xiao Budian's Aura Sea instantly rippled with pure light and began to churn and swell like boiling water.
With that, the seventh, eighth and ninth spiritual altars also shot up towards the sky and moulded into shape.
Xiao Budian's entire body was flooded with surging mana. All nine spiritual altars were first-class!
At the same time, the nine spiritual altars that were all arranged in a straight line began to shift.
Lin Feng's eye pupils contracted as he saw the drastic changes in Xiao Budian's nine spiritual altars.
The spiritual altars, that are supposed to stand anchored at stationary positions in the Aura Sea, were rearranging themselves to form three concentric rings.
In the outermost ring, four spiritual altars were arranged in positions corresponding to the North, South, East, and West directions respectively. The middle ring also consisted of four altars, but these were placed in the Southeast, Southwest, Northeast, and Northwest positions respectively instead.
The innermost ring contained the last remaining spiritual altar.
Lin Feng, who has been observing the changes closely, immediately recognized the new pattern formed. "This pattern is exactly how the nine lotus seeds are arranged within the Blessed Nine-Petalled Lotus."
Once the nine spiritual altars fell into position, the nine rainbow-coloured light spots formed from the lotus seeds floating above the Aura Sea began to move, landing on each corresponding spiritual altar.
A shadow began to form on each spiritual altar. They were shadows of crucibles.
Xiao Budian's mastery levels have always grown the fastest among all of Lin Feng's disciples.
If it wasn't for the abnormalities in his body requiring him to erect nine spiritual altars, he could have formed his crucibles before Xiao Yan and Zhu Yi and proceeded to the advanced Foundation Establishment stages earlier.
Now with all nine spiritual altars successfully completed, he immediately entered the crucible-formation stage, wanting to complete his crucibles as well.
When each crucible shadow on the spiritual altars was matched with a lotus seed, the virtual shadow instantly began manifesting as a physical entity.
"Manifesting nine crucibles at once would really take a toll on one's spirit, even if one possesses ample mana." Lin Feng watched and pointed at Xiao Budian, infusing a ray of purple Qi into Xiao Budian's body.
The stronger the mana, the easier it is to manifest the crucibles. Completing the process as quickly as possible would inflict significantly less stress on one's spirit.
Xiao Budian was not distracted in the slightest, concentrating wholeheartedly on channelling his mana. He transported Lin Feng's purple Qi into his own Aura Sea, and split the ray of Qi into nine portions, distributing them evenly to each crucible.
On each of his nine spiritual altars, his sumptuous mana was all concentrated within each shadow.
"Boom!" Xiao Budian hastily opened his eyes. His eyes were gleaming brightly as if there were nine light spots shining forth from his pupils.
In that instant, the nine crucible shadows in his body manifested into nine real massive four-legged crucibles.
Xiao Budian stood up then grovelled before Lin Feng, "Master!"
Lin Feng smiled and helped him up, then thought to himself, "Nine first-class crucibles? He still hasn't reached the Supreme Master's glory. Perhaps he is accumulating them to metamorphize all at one go when forming the Aurous Core?"
Nine spiritual altars would normally be able to form nine crucibles, but nine crucibles surely cannot produce nine Aurous Cores.
For Foundation Establishment cultivators to form an Aurous Core, they must channel all their mana and Abhijina into the Aurous Core. But for Xiao Budian to do the same, he must merge the nine crucibles into one.
After sending Xiao Budian off with a few warm words of encouragement, Lin Feng sat alone in his room. After deliberating for a moment, he took out a ring.
Lin Feng's psychic sense entered the ring and saw the small Taotie Tun Tun, still petite and adorable, sitting alone in the Light Prison, seemingly bored to death.
When she noticed Lin Feng, Tun Tun twitched her nose and let out a grunt, then back-faced Lin Feng, looking particularly unwilling to entertain him.
But unfortunately for her, Lin Feng had grasped her weaknesses and said something that made her turn back around unhesitatingly.
"Do you still want the Grand Sun Primordial Flame?"
Tun Tun swung around to see Lin Feng smiling widely, and barked angrily, "You're such a bastard!"