The surrounding masses began to discuss as more and more unbelievable theories were thrown around.
Lin Feng did not show any sign of fear as he simply stared at Mei Wulang calmly.
Mei Wulang moved to a place not too far away from Lin Feng and stood still over there. Out of a sudden, he bowed in front of Lin Feng with much respect, "I, the humble servant of the Emperor (Translator’s Note: Humble way of expressing his respect for the Emperor), Mei Wulang, am here to offer a gift to the leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders to congratulate him on the opening of his Sect. It is a simple gift and hence, I seek your forgiveness."
After hearing his words, everyone was shocked as they stared hard at Mei Wulang, wondering if he was being sincere or sarcastic.
But the more they examined him, the more they felt that something was unusual.
Mei Wulang was so sincere and humble, his smile so gentle and warm that it was borderline unreal. In this world, it was only probably the Immortal Soul Stage cultivators that could draw this amount of respect and admiration from Mei Wulang.
Most importantly, Mei Wulang was alone. Although he was a very famous cultivator at the final level of the Nascent Soul Stage, Pang Jie’s plight had shown that even the cultivators at that level would not be able to put up a fight against Lin Feng.
If he had wanted to pit himself against Lin Feng, he would definitely not approach Lin Feng in such a manner.
Some of the people had began to look around to find the legendary Great Zhou Empire’s Divine Martial Army but they were nowhere to be seen.
Mei Wulang completely ignored the shocked look on the people’s faces as he smiled and continued, "Whatever that Mr Zhang had just done, they were all simply a misunderstanding. He had misunderstood the intentions of Marquis of Xuanji and had disrupted the Opening Ceremony of the Celestial Sect of Wonders. Hence, the Emperor had ordered myself to come forth to express our apologies."
He gently clapped his hand and the void behind him cracked open as a group of people brought a few gift boxes forward.
These people were at best in the Foundation Establishment Stage. Therefore, they also symbolized the lack of malicious intent.
As they opened the gift boxes one by one, one would be able to notice that all the gifts were materials to craft powerful magic items. Although the gift boxes were only about half a meter long, the interior space was a separate dimension of its own and hence, could contain a lot of things.
Mei Wulang, the Great Zhou Empire Palace Superintendent, recited out himself, "Restrained Heat Flint, one ton, Amherst Lamprophyre, a ton, Green Moss Stone Marrow, one ton, Stalactite Crystals, one ton...
Everyone’s jaws dropped when they realized the gifts that the Zhou Empire had given to Lin Feng were not a joke and were actual expensive and precious minerals.
They were all very precious resources for crafting and the quantity which were given to Lin Feng for not in the least bit small.
With the reserves that the Great Zhou Empire had, the tonnes of materials were definitely not raw minerals but rather processed ones which only bore the essence of the minerals.
The Restrained Heat Flint was one of the the best fire-type materials for crafting fire-type magic items. One would have to look for an erupting volcano and to cool its lava before refining it to acquire the Restrained Heat Flint. From ten tonne of volcanic ash, one could only refine a single kilogram of Restrained Heat Flint.
The Amherst Lamprophyre would be created from the refining of rocks which had been struck by the natural lightning. Manmade lightning casted using spells would not be able to achieve the desired effects. Hence, one could appreciate the rarity of such resources.
The Green Moss Stone Marrow needed one to excavate the stone fossils of a ten-thousand year old tree before they turned into charcoal and following which, to refine and extract the essence from the stone fossils.
The Stalactite Crystals’ rarity was commonly known as they were the same stalactites that we learnt in the standard natural geography.
Any of these resources or materials would give an insanely high price of ten red talismans for a single kilogram.
And what the Great Zhou Empire just did was to dump a single ton of everything to Lin Feng.
And Mei Wulang was not done.
"...Ice Fantasy Supreme Rock, hundred pieces. Glory of the Beginning crystals, ten pieces, Jade Azure Sand, five bags, Matte Glowless Metal, ten kilograms."
After he had mentioned all these items, everyone was left speechless. For some of them, their eyes were red with greed as they stared at the boxes which the servants were holding onto.
If not for the deterrence factor arising from both the Celestial Sect of Wonders and the Great Zhou Empire, they would have dashed forward to plunder all these items.
In fact, if not for the insane abilities that Lin Feng had displayed, they would have totally stolen the items.
It was because these items were really that precious.
A hundred pieces, ten pieces, five bags and ten kilograms sounded as if they would not be able to match the price of the previous gifts.
But for those who truly understood the value of these treasures would know that the value of any of these four items would beat the previous items hands down.
The Ice Fantasy Supreme Rock was the best ice-type material out there. It was condensed by aeons and aeons of ice and had even blended into the concept of space and time. It was so rare that it usually took only a single fragment of a small rock for everyone to fight against one another.
The Glory of the Beginning crystals was said to be one of the mystical items that were created in the midst of the creation of the Heaven and Earth. It was said to contain the purest form of spiritual energy and had the power to change fate.
The Jade Azure Sand and the Matte Glowless Metal were ranked as the Six Mystical Metals and were all insanely good ingredients for crafting the flying swords. As long as one were to put in one or two scoops of the metals, the strength of the flying sword would increase by a single notch, and the sword would also gain special properties.
Seeing these items, regardless of whether they were the cultivators from the smaller sects or even Yang Tonghui, the Flying Flames Grandmaster and the Azure Clouds Grandmaster, they were all very much envious and attracted by the gifts.
The three of them looked at one another and a single thought ran through all their heads, "It seems like the Great Zhou Empire have to splurge quite a bit."
The Great Zhou Empire had indeed invested quite a bit as following the precious minerals, they continued to deliver twenty purple deity robes and many other powerful magic items.
Everything that Liang Pan gave came in sets. This meant that the Purple Deity Robes, the Ceremony Sealing Swords, the Fortune Jade and Pearls and the Panlong Jade Belt all came in twenty pieces.
Even though the Great Zhou Empire might have an abundance of reserves, taking out so many of the treasures in a single go would still be very painful for them.
After the recitation was done, Mei Wulang retrieved a white jade scroll form his sleeves and humbly spoke to Lin Feng, "The Emperor knows that Mr Zhang might have disrespected you and ordered myself to deliver this jade scroll as a form of apology."
As the jade scroll opened, it let out a blinding white light. And in the center of the white light, a crown glistened and projected two silhouette above it. One of it radiated an aura of righteousness while the other radiated an aura of viciousness.
The two silhouettes combined and melted into one another, generating a violent rippling of energy which was so strong that it looked as if it could tear apart all void space.
The Nascent Soul Stage magic item, the Golden Crown of Angels and Demons!
Wu Yunliang and Meng Chaoran who were standing aside look at one another before sighing. Meng Chaoran spoke, "If the purpose of all of these is to buy back Zhang Hai’s life, it would indeed be a bad deal."
"His life? It would be more than enough to buy ten lives." Wu Yunliang nodded his head, "The Great Zhou Empire wants to create an alliance with the Celestial Sect of Wonders!"
Meng Chaoran frowned, "But the Marquis of Xuanji and Lin Feng do not seem to get along well. Cracks will definitely form on this relationship. Liang Pan would not dampen the heart of his loyal subordinate just to get into the good books of an outsider."
"But before the relationship is fully fractured, both parties will have a common interest." Wu Yunliang’s eyes glowed as he muttered in a deep voice, "Befriend the distant enemies and attack the near ones. This is the most simplest of logic but it is also most commonly right."
Meng Chaoran repeated Wu Yunliang’s words in his mind and immediately understood what he meant.
Mount Yujing could move through time and space but the geopolitics of the world was largely settled already. The only blank space left was Mount Kunlun.
Lin Feng’s roots were set in Mount Kunlun and both the Celestial Sect and the Zhou Empire were separated by the Great Qin Empire and the Mount Shu Sword Sect. Even if they had any disputes, there would be no immediate to resolve them. Instead, they could sandwich all powers that were between them.
Now that Lin Feng and the Yu Family as well as the Mount Shu Sword Sect had developed unfriendly relationships, the Great Zhou Empire found the time even more opportune than before to get into Lin Feng’s good books.
Of course, that was under the premise that Lin Feng had showcased his abilities, and must be worth the time and money to buy over.
Meng Chaoran looked up immediately and stared at Wu Yunliang, "Unless the Great Zhou Empire intends to attack the Great Qin Empire?"
Wu Yunliang nodded his head as his eyes glowed with ambition, "This is the golden opportunity for our Ethereal Mountain Sect."
Meng Chaoran suddenly spoke, "But the abilities and power which the Celestial Sect of Wonders had just showcased was no more powerful than the Sword of Radiance Sect and the Intense Flaming Sword Sect. I don’t see why the Zhou Empire would splurge so much on them."
Wu Yunliang replied, "Maybe there might be other reasons...Let’s just watch the show."
His heart turned cold when he suddenly recalled a line that Lin Feng said when Zhang Hai was about to fight with Zhu Yi. "The Great Zhou Empire, at the end of the day, is still under the control of the Emperor, Liang Pan."
It sounded confusing and irrelevant previously but now when it was placed in the context of the current situation, Wu Yunliang realized that Lin Feng might have predicted that something like this would happen.
Lin Feng stared at Mei Wulang and his servants calmly before giving a gentle smile, "I welcome all friendly visitors."
He pointed at the Celestial Small World which Zhang Hai was in and instantly released the completely-despaired Zhang Hai.
Zhang Hai stared at Lin Feng for a good long while before looking at Mei Wulang. Afterwards, he let out a long sigh and kept quiet.
Emperor Liang Pan’s big spendings definitely meant that the Marquis Xuanji would have minimally agreed to the plan.
The fact that the Marquis did not inform Zhang Hai meant that he wanted him to test out the true abilities of Lin Feng.
From the look of things, Zhang Hai had managed to understand some of Lin Feng’s abilities and hence, this was not a wasted trip.
But to finish his mission in such a manner, Zhang Hai could not help but laugh at himself. But all of these thoughts and reflex actions remained within himself.
After releasing Zhang Hai, Lin Feng continued and released Kong Chang.
Seeing this, everyone was at a loss for words.
Even Mei Wulang could not help but frowned, "If Lin Feng dares to whack Kong Chang into this state, it already means that he was not afraid of any act of revenge from the Mount Shu Sword Sect… But why is he releasing Kong Chang now?"
Kong Chang was also shocked and wary of this sudden act of kindness, "What do you want from me…"
Lin Feng did not wait for him to finish his sentence and immediately used a clump of purple clouds to wrap around his nascent soul. Following which, he delivered him to Yang Tonghui and spoke in an utmost dignified manner, "Today is the opening ceremony of my Sect. We have seen enough blood today. I’m afraid I have to trouble my dear friend Yang Tonghui to send Master Kong back to Mount Shu."
Yang Tonghui was caught off guard and a peculiar expression formed on his face.
Kong Chang, landing into the hands of the Heavenly Master Sword Sect could be both a golden opportunity and also a recipe for disaster.
"Unless he wants me to…" Yang Tonghui thought as his expression became even more confused.
Lin Feng, on the other hand, left it there as he looked at the horizon in the distant and muttered softly, "My old friend, why don’t you come out now?"
In the distant horizon, the sea of clouds opened up slowly to reveal the figure of a person.