Long Nuhuang looked at her husband, who nodded in kind to indicate he supported her no matter what decision she made. She was the family head, after all.
She then turned back to the emissary and made her wish. "I wish for you to help raise, train and cultivate my family into the biggest middle finger to the heavens!"
****
A month had quickly passed, and the date of the auction was quickly approaching. Long Di and the disciples had finished their month-long cultivation session.
They had gained within this one month the equivalent of months' worth of cultivation, maybe even years, considering their current achievements.
They could see the outline of the village already and so they quickened their travelling pace.
Before long, they made it back to the village.
"Senior sister!"
They received the same enthusiastic welcome from the diverse members of the village, just like how it had been when they first dragged Long Di here.
Once they finished their greetings, they headed to the hall where the elders were most likely waiting for them.
"Senior brother Long Di, can we go to the auction with you after we're done here?" TIe Lang asked. It could be seen that he had matured quite a bit this month. The innocence that he gave off prior to the cultivation session was nowhere to be found.
"Sure." Long Di had no reason to refuse them, and getting some good gear from the auction was a great way to reward them for their performance this month.
The one who made the biggest impact on him this month was Shen Ling. She was still a bit shy, but it wasn't as bad as it was before.
In addition, there was this atmosphere about her that he couldn't quite pinpoint. What made it worse was that the Destiny Scale was in a deep sleep, so he couldn't ask it anything.
Once they made it to the hall, just as expected, all the elders were present as if they knew the disciples would arrive today.
Long Di didn't have to be here since his master was Uncle Tian Lu. However, he couldn't feel the old drunk's presence, so he thought that maybe one of the elders knew where he was.
"So you have finally returned. I guess we should be thankful that you decided to let us know that you returned this time," commented one of the other elders.
This was the fourth elder. He was responsible for the training of Tie Lang. All the elders, barring the second elder, were responsible for a specific disciple, except Shen Ling, but they still paid attention to all of them.
Feng Yu stepped forward and executed a bow. "Disciple knows where she went wrong. I take full responsibility for this slight of ours."
"Were you the one who orchestrated this outing?" The normally reticent second elder actually chose to speak this time around, surprising Feng Yu.
"N-No esteemed elder!"
"Then silence."
The second elder's curt command had Feng Yu know that nothing she said would allow her to take the blame from Long Di.
"Your name is Long Di, correct?" The first elder asked.
Long Di had a pretty good idea of what was happening. "That is correct."
"How dare you take the disciples out of the village to cultivate!? Do you know the intricacies of their cultivation technique!? Also, what if they were killed by bandits!?" The third elder started to blame Long Di and make him seem bad before everyone.
"For your question, yes, I am aware of the intricacies. For your second question, I was there," Long Di calmly answered.
"Do you think that you're so great simply because you have a decent cultivation base!?" asked the third elder.
"Is this something that should be said by someone weaker than I am?"
"You…!" The third elder's face was reddened with embarrassment and rage.
All the elders by now were aware of Long Di's cultivation base, which made them ashamed that an eleven-year-old was this strong. Even the fourth elder was aware of this. Though he was not present at the battle of the Scarlet Flame Long Tailed Hawk, the first elder apprised him of the situation so that everyone was on the same page.
They were well aware that Long Di's strength was above their own despite his cultivation base only matching theirs or, in the second and third elder's case, being slightly lower. His tribulation lightning energy was something that gave him an edge if it ever came to them to fight.
"The reason why I took your disciples out for training was because they sucked," advised Long Di.
"What did they suck? Was it something poisonous?" The first elder became worried.
Long Di was caught off guard for a moment there when he realised that not all terms were understandable in a place that was eerily similar to ancient China. 'Now that I think about it, why is this place similar to ancient China? Or wait a second, maybe it's ancient China that is similar to here. I mean, if Truck Kun sent me here, then it isn't too far-fetched to believe that maybe an uh… I'll say Carriage Kun sent someone there. Maybe they're writing novels based on remnant memories that they've mistaken for imagination.'
"Long Di?"
"Huh?" The first elder calling his name broke Long Di out of a revelation. "Oh, they… they're fine."
"First elder, surely we can't take anything that this… this human says at face value right!?" The third elder refused to let this go.
"Someone's a flaming racist," mumbled Long Di to himself, though everyone heard.
"Third elder, calm down." The first elder couldn't be bothered with the third elder's prejudice. "Long Di," he turned his attention back to Long Di. "You need to understand that these are our precious disciples. Surely, you can't expect us to be at ease with you saying that you helped them cultivate, right?"
"Right you are," Long Di agreed. He then turned to Tie Lang. "If you would please."
Tie Lang understood what he meant and revealed his cultivation base.
Dum!
His cauldron burst into existence and the mere sight of it was enough to give the elders great palpitation!
"What in the world!?" The elders couldn't understand what was happening.
Long Di then turned to the other one, "Jia Yan."
Dum!
"Heavens!" The elders widened in shock and amazement when they felt and saw Jia Yan's cultivation, as well.
"And finally," Long Di nodded at Feng Yu, who took a deep breath to ready herself.
Du-Dum!
"Inconceivable!"
The elders were all blown away, every single one of them. If it wasn't enough that both Jia Yan and Tie Lang had somehow broken through to the Cauldron Forging realm, they also both possessed Orange cauldrons! These were supreme-grade cauldrons!
Not to mention Feng Yu who had two cauldrons, meaning she had broken through as well. She was a Second Duan Martial Disciple! Even more impressive was her first Orange cauldron, while the second one was bright red! In addition, it was in a state of still being refined, meaning that she wanted to bring it to the same level as the first! She had a high-grade cauldron as her second cauldron, but she wanted to bring it to the supreme grade as well!
"Who!? How!? When!? Whabba!?"
"That last one wasn't a word," said Long Di in the face of their apparent excitement. "However, it seems that you have all been effectively shooketh."
"H-How did you manage to do this!?" The first elder was the first one to regain his composure. The rest still needed time.
Nevertheless, they still looked at him as if they were staring at a monster. They wanted to know how he was able to bring their disciples to never before seen heights! The method must be ingenious, they thought. Something that only the mind of a demonic genius could concoct!
"Please, tell us what secret methods you used to do this." The first elder asked once more.
It was taboo to ask a cultivator about their secrets, no matter how old or young they were. However, this matter was of paramount importance since it included their disciples. They wanted to know if there was any danger in the method used and if it was possible to repeat the same feat in others.
Long Di looked to the outside of the hall with a profound look on his expressionless face. The elders didn't dare to disturb him. It seemed as if he was contemplating internally whether to tell them or not, so they waited patiently.
'It must be a heaven-defying method indeed!' Seeing the look on Long Di's face, their own expression became grave as well.
"I will tell you." Long Di declared.
They were over the moon! They couldn't force it out of him. Not only was it not in their character to do so, but they were also not strong to force him to do so. So they waited with bated breath for Long Di to apprise them of his ingenious method.
"So I took the disciples out in the wilderness, and then…" the elders nearly leaned over their respective benches to take in Long Di's every word.
"I threw money at them till they became better."
"…"
Silence pervaded the hall after those words were said. A gust of wind even passed through, bringing with it a tumbleweed that danced around them before it exited the hall.
Long Di's eyes even followed the path the thing took as it made its round. 'Is that the same tumble—'