Xu Yong had the reason to be excited as his disciple had heightened his reputation. Though he had certain authorities in the Wu's, his personality made him stay away from family affairs. He was only interested in researching various smelting skills and forging weapons that were as high-end as possible.
The sole reason he traveled all the way here from Yunzhou this time was his disciple. He was concerned about his only disciple. He did not expect such a big surprise from Junior Leopard when he had just arrived in Zhonghe Prefecture. Though he had not seen him yet, rumors about him had spread all over.
Among those rumors, some were confirmed to be true. Others were unproven. But just from those confirmed rumors alone, it was enough to tell him his disciple had gained a lot out of his task this time.
He was upgraded to Level Three and had condensed his fist intent!
He had no idea how Junior Leopard did it. Could he really be one of those legendary one-of-kind talents people could barely meet once in a thousand years, like Wang She from Tian Long Dao?
Right, Wang She. That was the most surprising part to him. How did his disciple become involved with Wang She?
Although the Wu Family was a subordinate to the Tian Long Dao, those two were supposed to have no connection with one being the leader of Tian Long Dao and the other a mere disciple of the Wu's.
Naturally, they were not going to guess what Wang She was thinking. The willpower of a Level Eight expert was much more powerful than all the Wu's combined. The only thing they could do was admire Junior Leopard's luck and think about the chain reaction and benefits they could get from the current situation.
This was the reallocation of benefits!
There was no doubt that the faction led by Xu Yong, unknown to public for dozens of years, seemed to have brought up a fantastic disciple who achieved Level Three and condensed his fist intent at just 13 years old. Such a talented person had never existed in the hundreds years of Wu's history. Even if the striking Wu's Patriarch also achieved Level Three at a similar age, he did not condense his fist intent until he was 60 or 70!
When they considered this, they could not help changing their
perception of Xu Yong and regretted not taking in this psycho Junior Leopard in their own factions on the disciple-selecting day in the Wu Family.
Silence returned to the lobby once again until urgent footsteps were heard. The expression of several elders changed at the same time as they looked outside.
"Disciple Zhou Bao greets teacher and the Elders!" As soon as Junior Leopard saw Xu Yong, he quickly walked into the lobby and bowed to his teacher with a smile.
"There's no need!" Xu Yong immediately held up Junior Leopard and took a deep look at his disciple. "Good boy! You've totally remodeled yourself in two months!" Xu Yong said, both surprised and elated.
Junior Leopard only stood there, smiling. He suddenly thought of something. Taking out a bag from the back of his waist, he handed it Xu Yong. "Teacher, these are from Chief Wang. The 19 fire attribute Spiritual Stones!"
"What..."
The expression of all the Elders around changed. They were aware that Junior Leopard's bag inside contained things that would make them jealous. They had even wondered several times how could they get some of those things from him. Should they ask with the principle of right and wrong or should they ask for the Wu's benefit? Whatever way was fine as long as they could get one or two Spiritual Stones. But they never thought Junior Leopard would take the most direct way and showed all the 19 Spiritual Stones at the same time.
There were various rules in this world, especially for well-known families like the Wu's. Though the Spiritual Stones in Junior Leopard's hands were his private things, he was supposed to submit 30% of them to the Wu's according to the rules. This was because he had gained such benefits as one of the Wu's. After submitting them, the rest of the stones were completely at his disposal.
However, as the elders were not part of Xu Yong's faction, they were not qualified to ask Xu Yong for the stones. They could have thought of another way if these stones were in Junior Leopard's hands. Now they no longer had the guts to do so after the stones were so publically handed over to Xu Yong.
Xu Yong was a veteran and he naturally understood the rules well. In the beginning, he was rather worried Junior Leopard might be greedy and get himself into trouble. He was prepared to remind him of the rules. He did not expect Junior Leopard's frankness in showing everything without any reminders. Of course he was satisfied with this disciple.
"Chief Wang gave them to you so you can keep them. But remember you're one of the Wu's disciples. 30% goes to the Wu
Wu Family, which means you have to submit six of the stones!" Xu Yong said. He opened the bag and took out six Spiritual Stones that glowed with a magical golden red light.
Everyone was stunned and their eyes shined when they saw the stones taken out of the bag. Those were some good things, real good things!
They all practiced the Nine Dragons Heavenly Fire Technique, which meant they were sensitive to the Spiritual Energy of Fire. When the Spiritual Stones were taken out, the density of the Spiritual Energy of Fire in the lobby instantly had increased at least five times.
Five times!
That was only from showing the stones for a few seconds in the lobby. What if they really took in the energy from the stones? What would that be like?
Though martial arts skills were about balancing the inner and external cycle, a Fire Way Spiritual Stone could save them copious time for inhaling and exhaling. That was the most time consuming process in practicing martial arts. No one else understood this better than these Elders whose cultivation had reached Level Four. When one's cultivation had reached a certain level, the difficulty of taking in Spiritual Energy of Fire from the essence of the world only increased.
For those who had reached Level Four, their body growth rate was two to three times higher than their inner cultivation growth speed. In other words, their practice would be at least two to three times faster if they could get a Spiritual Stone.
Unfortunately, what they could do was only to stare at the stones blankly at the moment.
Xu Yong took six Spiritual Stones out of the bag and placed them into another bag he retrieved from an inner pocket. The surrounding Spiritual Energy of Fire gradually dissipated as the Spiritual Energy of Fires was put away.
Xu Yong's bag was made from materials which contained snow silk from Tianshan Mountain and had the special function of insulating spiritual energy. It was a rare item, but was not that precious for a well-known family like the Wu's.
Due to the discovery of the underground fire vein, the Wu Family gave one to every Elder who came to Zhonghe Prefecture.
Putting the bag back inside his inner pocket, Xu Yong handed the rest of Spiritual Stones to Junior Leopard with a smile. "You're still young. There are many chances in the future to use
to use these Spiritual Stones for your practice. Keep them yourself!"
"But..."
"What? Chief Wang gave them to you. Are you afraid of being robbed?"
"I don't mean that!" Junior Leopard smiled. He thought for a while and once again passed the bag to Xu Yong. "I've received a lot from Chief Wang and these Spiritual Stones are not that useful to me at the moment. In addition, I'm a scatterbrain and I don't have the habit of keeping stuff. Why don't you keep them for me? They'll be perfectly safe!"
Xu Yong muttered to himself and nodded. He took the Spiritual Stones in front of these jealous Elders. "That's fine too. I'll keep them for you. You can come to me whenever you need them!"
"Please do keep them for me, teacher!" Junior Leopard excitedly replied.
"Right, I heard that you came out of the underground fire vein with Chief Wang yesterday. Why are you back now?" Xu Yong asked.
Junior Leopard looked displeased when this topic was brought up. "I've been sitting on the fire vein passageway for three days and nights without eating or drinking. I almost starved to death after a few fights and fainted once I got out of there. So Chief Wang took me to the General Mansion, which is the Guard County Manor, for a rest. When I had just awakened, I heard you're here, so I came here to meet you!" Junior Leopard said. "Oh, right! General Li asked me to hand you two letters. One is for you and the other is for the Family Head!" He took two letters out of his inner pocket and handed them over with both hands.
"Letters?"
Xu Yong's expression shifted. He had heard about General Li Yuan, but that was it. He had no connections to him, not to mention a fellowship. Moreover, he had nothing to do with the Wu Family. Why would he write to him and the Family Head for no reason?
Opening the envelope, he took out the letter and took a glance. He looked surprised and could not help looking up at Junior Leopard before returning his attention to the letter. He read the letter carefully from the beginning to the end.
Everybody watched his facial expression change from surprised to complicated, from cheerful to excite. Finally he calmed down and put down the letter slowly, but lost in thought.
"Elder Xu, what exactly is the letter about?"
Eventually, one Elder asked curiously.
Xu Yong did not try to hide anything and passed the letter to the Elder.
The Elder took over the letter and held it up to show the other Elders. The faces of those Elders were as capricious as Xu Yong was. They unexpectedly sighed in unison, all of them looking at Junior Leopard with a deeply conflicted expression.
"Elder Xu, you really do have an excellent disciple!"
The oldest Elder, also the most qualified one, sighed deeply as he patted Xu Yong on the shoulder and returned the letter to him. He did not say anything else.
There were two major points in the letter. First, General Li Yuan greatly admired Junior Leopard's courage and wanted him as his personal guard. Second, General Li Li will be the new Admiral of Zhonghe Prefecture. Though there no official letter of appointment yet, he had received the news from other sources. With his new role, he would assume military power with a permanent presence in Zhonghe City. Then he would have a substantial say in the underground fire vein.
This was a temptation, an undisguised temptation!
The Admiral of Zhonghe Prefecture had a strong say on the underground fire vein. If Junior Leopard really became his personal guard, would it not be easy for the Wu Family to benefit tremendously from the fire vein through him?
Though Yunzhou was far away from Zhonghe Prefecture, the benefits the Wu's could acquire would not be a penny lesser than any of the other three families. Instead, it would much more than what they could get.
As for the letter for the Family Head Wu Yansheng, it was totally out of respect. Anyway Junior Leopard came from the Wu Family, so he had better talk to the Family Head.
Of course both Li Yuan and Xu Yong clearly knew that Wu Yansheng would not reject such an offer.