"How many cultivators died?"
"Twenty-six rank 3 cultivators and 3 rank 4 cultivators."
"What the hell! Who was the one to devise such a plan? I am sure Brother Ming Hao wouldn't design a plan like this." Shouted an elder in the meeting hall.
When Ming Hao heard this, his eyes twitched slightly.
This Min Jae idiot! Who the hell threatens their own father to reveal their secrets?! And how the hell does he know that I used to like Wang Lei?!: Ming Hao was embarrassed.
"Brother Ming, did you say something?" Wang Lei asked Ming Hao.
"Uh… no, no, I didn't say anything."
"Anyway, forget about who devised the plan. And anyway, we had to eventually build a wall if we wanted to stop the beasts from entering the village. What's more important is that we have someone who has already experienced the Water Hounds army attack in the past."
Wang Lei said something shocking and thought: Why did Jun Yi and his friends had to do something like this?
"What? We do?"
"Yeah, we do, I have already summoned him. He should be here by now."
Just when Wang Lei said this, the door to the hall opened and a servant brought Jaen Fen in.
"Respected Luo Sect elders, did you call me?" Jaen Fen greeted respectfully.
"Yeah, come and sit here…"
Wang Lei pointed to a chair that was placed to his left row.
Jaen Fen nodded and sat down.
"Now that I see you in person, aren't you too young for being at rank 4?"
Wang Lei observed Jaen Fen carefully and was curious.
"No, sect leader, you misunderstand me. I am actually nineteen years old. I used a Ka in the past to slow my growth."
"Oh, so that's what it was. By the way, I heard that you have already experienced Water Hounds onslaught?"
"Yes, I did. It lasted for a whole year, and that sect was three times the size of this one."
"Oh…"
This sentence of Jaen Fen shocked everyone. Whole year? Three times bigger than Luo Sect?
"Can I ask for the name?"
"It would be Zan Sect."
"Zan Sect? Even though I haven't heard about them for a while now, I remember they were three times bigger than us and also lived in an area dominated by the Water Hounds." Wang Lei answered after thinking for a while.
Zan Sect is thousands of miles away from here, and they also don't use Dark Falcons for communication. On top of that, it's located in the region dominated by the Water Hounds: Jaen Fen contemplated.
"Anyway, we would like your help. We have already incurred a heavy loss by losing so many cultivators, so we can't waste any more time." Wang Lei requested.
On top of that, because of losing so many cultivators, despair is spreading, and many outsiders are refusing to help. We need to deal with this situation as soon as possible: Wang Lei considers the severity of the situation.
"I would be more than willing to, but…"
Jaen Fen came to a stop and didn't complete what he was about to say.
"We will reward you handsomely."
Wang Lei said with a smile. If Jaen Fen was asking for rewards, they could relax as they now knew that this Jaen Fen could also be bought.
"What are you willing to…"
"How about we double the essence stones we are rewarding the other cultivators?"
Double the amount? They think that I am also stuck with them, huh?: Jaen Fen was impressed by Wang Lei's shamelessness.
Fine, double was already more than enough. No, even the usual was fine. But, this was Luo Sect. They were paying so much. So how could Jaen Fen agree on just this? Yeah, Jaen Fen was one being shameless here.
Even though I could benefit from this double offer, I don't have much time. I also need to reach the Mantora Mountain. I can only give about two months of time here: Jaen Fen wasn't willing to waste his time here.
Jaen Fen is silent. An awkward silence dominated the hall. Jaen Fen isn't even trying to say anything, nor does he act like he is thinking. He just shamelessly sat there like he didn't hear Wang Lei.
What the hell is wrong with this kid?!
Even the elders started to feel shame.
Wang Lei looked at the other elders strangely. Did he say something wrong?
"Cough, cough… what would you prefer?" Wang Lei asked awkwardly.
"Two million."
Shameless, extremely shameless. He didn't even hesitate.
Everyone here was shocked.
"This kid has achieved perfection in shamelessness," muttered an elder.
Jaen Fen didn't like to beat about the bush unless necessary. He knew he had the upper hand here, so he didn't even try to hesitate.
"Cough, Is your information that valuable?" Inquired Tian Yu.
"Should I tell you something interesting? By now, we should have been surrounded by the Water Hounds for about three miles."
What?!
These few words of Jaen Fen shocked everyone.
"How can we trust you?! It's not like you have already observed the situation outside the village…" Li Wei¹ asked hurriedly.
Wang Lei, Tian Yu, and Li Wei, all three of them were at rank 5. Including Chi Lein who was about to advance to rank 5, there were a total of 4 here. Not to mention other rank 4 cultivators.
Right now, he was sitting inside a wolf's den. Along with being cautious, his words must contain logic and be convincing.
These people weren't fools. This was the reason he was here sitting. Otherwise, he wouldn't have appeared here.
Demanding 2 million essence stones from them wasn't a joke. And to extort these out of them wasn't going to be easy.
"Think about it: you have been killing rank 2 hounds for more than a month already. Last night, the ones to attack were mostly rank 3 hounds, including many rank 4. Since morning, there are no rank twos to be seen anywhere outside the village, but rank threes…"
"What do you think is happening? Till yesterday, you could see as many rank twos outside the village as far as your eyes could see. Now, there are only rank threes as far as you can see."
"Where did those rank twos disappear to, and where did those rank threes appear from? Even with those lush trees out there, I am sure you could see at least a thousand meters outside the village with cultivation methods…"¹
"So, thousand meters for rank twos before and thousand meters for rank threes now, two thousand meters. And that is only including what we can see. I am sure you didn't see the end of rank twos or even rank threes. Let's say a thousand meters for the ones we cannot see…"
"Two miles already, right? But let's not count them. But, what about rank 4 and rank 1 hounds? Excluding the rank 4, rank ones alone should add up to two thousand meters. It's two and a half miles already, right? Considering the unknowns, and the ones I excluded, it's safe to say that we have been surrounded by them for at least three miles."
Jaen Fen finished speaking.
A grave silence fell in the hall.
/!*****!*****!/
1- He said thousand meters outside the village considering that a rank 5 cultivator has a range of 500 meters to 1000 meters.
Some people asked me why I say Early, Mid, Third, Peak, Perfect, or Over. Why does Mid appear in the second when there are many levels after it and only one before it?
Let's say it like this: there is a mountain. It has three levels. First is early, second is mid, and then third. Why? Because after this, the peak of the world appears, even above the mountain and sky. What about perfect then? There are two ways here.
In cultivation case, perfect and over is the same stage. It means perfection, over the peak, outside of this world's comprehension. Perfection has been reached. He went Over this world.
In realization case, peak means he reached the top of this world. Perfect means he has now perfected his realization this world had to offer. After this, he goes Over the world, achieving what even this world didn't have to offer, inventing new realization.
So, yeah, there it is. That's how I named them.
If you want to know why perfect and over are the same stage for cultivation, but different for realization, I can answer that in the next chapters if you are curious. Just ask me anything.
As for this explanation, don't worry, I won't omit the words from the story chapter because of this.