Listless eyes, sunken shoulders, tired faces. These were the appearance of the six members of the sect that took the mission. They redeemed the success in the missions hall, wrote a report, and retreated into their abodes.
They were, Wang Feng, Bastard Yi, Wu Qiao, Fang Xiuying, Cui Junjie, and Ma De. Cui Junjie looked even worse than before. He was somehow more derelict and haggard. He was a dog beaten by life. Worries about the future wrinkled his forehead. His precious sword had some chinks on it. It had to be reforged. Reforging required spiritual stones. Spiritual stones that he burned thru during this expedition. Junjie sighed. Life was unfair.
Wu Qiao was shaken. This was a traumatizing experience for a little girl. Nasty people gored human beings, people that she knew days ago dying. It was too much for a little girl all at once. Fang Xiuying was not faring any better. She was suffering from psychological battle fatigue. Due to her fighting style, she had to watch people's flesh bloom open in front of her. She can pretend to be valiant all she likes but, Such scenes don't do nice things to people's psyches.
They all were worried about the Kang clan. "What will they do to us? We completely offended them. Even before offending them, they tried to kill us. The world is too cruel."
They had to cultivate better, just to be safe. Small folk died by dozens. This trip taught them that. A yearning has been ignited in their hearts. A yearning for power. It was a primordial feeling. A feeling true and right, untainted by human reasoning. "I must not be bullied" "I need to be stronger." "I need to be more influential.". Every person the six killed was a cautionary tale, telling them to stay true to their martial convictions. Or else they would be the ones sprawled on the ground, miserable and bleeding out. They learned how nasty people can become when it comes to their wealth.
Wang Feng returned to his abode, washed up, and requested a meeting with Shi Hong.
Shi Hong was so giddy that it was Wang Feng who requested the meeting first that his heart skipped a beat. This gave him an opportunity to pretend to be busy to make Wang Feng wait for several days so he can establish himself as the bigger man during their interactions. Shi Hong was the kind of man who wanted to get the win no matter how petty it is.
Wang Feng took the opportunity to properly rest. Wang Feng was a man who lived in a modern world for 90 years. The modern world and its complex workflows required someone to make appointments weeks in advance more often than not. It didn't even occur to him that there were some ego games in play.
He unloaded his iron ingots into his abode, instructed the servants, and lay down. He somehow managed to become the nexus of the ominous karmic strings in the Zhangsheng territory.
"Sigh, I need to lay low for a hot minute."
Since he was back at the sect, he decided to cultivate again. Thanks to his special circumstances, his qi-gathering exercises were not painstakingly delicate endeavors. Minutes later, his cells were charged to the brim and started to go into the metamorphosis phase once more.
His senses were growing sharper. His muscles were constantly aching. He also had to prepare for his foundation establishment. He had to gather any and all foundation designs and analyze them. Then he had to study and come up with a design for himself. He wouldn't be able to do that if he kept busying himself with enmities. The number of scum was endless in this world. A person can not clean it up with just a broom. Especially when this world had scum that fought back. The only way to win was not to play their game.
To properly establish his foundations, he had to wait for his body to stop growing. Only when the base for the body he is working with, has been revealed would he be able to design his body accordingly. Ready-made cultivation methods didn't need this because designs were there and adequate for all body types. However many things got sacrificed to attain that versatility. Wang Feng wanted to design a foundation that is specially made for himself. He wanted to add a gradient mode changer that can adapt to low-energy and high-energy environments. Kind of like a transmission box in a car. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to survive without competing for resources all the time. He also wanted to try and build a spiritual computer. He wanted to overhaul the spiritual compression apparatus. He wanted to learn energy conversion methods.
Two days later, Shi Hong accepted the meeting.
Gloating, the sect master sat in his high chair, looking down on Wang Feng.
"Greetings, Sect Master"
Shi Hong smiled. "Greetings Wang Feng."
"Sect Master, I've come here today with a proposition. "
Shi Hong was amused. "What is it?"
"I've just come from Zhansheng Sect territory. Before this mission, I divined that this mission was slightly ominous for me. I went anyway. I've wanted to see if I can handle ominous. Needless to say, all the clans in that territory, especially the Kang clan are now hostile to me. I need to lay low for a bit.
I've been thinking. This sect doesn't have a divination hall where someone teaches divination. I can teach in this sect. You, in the future, would have more diviners to choose from. And I would stay in the sect and be safe until I grow up and establish my foundation. "
Shi Hong understood.
"Just one thing, will you be loyal to me? Be under my control? Do as I say?"
Wang Feng immediately said "No. That decision is absolutely ominous. It's pitch black. I will not end well if I do your bidding without question. You can think of me as a business partner. "
Shi Hong understood that Wang Feng will never dance on his palm. He was actually willing to settle on the next best thing. He internally agreed.
"I'll have to think about it." Shi Hong knew how to do negotiations. He didn't agree to it posthaste. He wanted to maintain his powerful position at the negotiation table to obtain maximum benefits. By saying "I'll have to think about it" he established his authority by insinuating that "The final decision belongs to me. You are the one requesting.".
Wang Feng cupped his fists and left Shi Hong's pagoda. He would have to make do with what he currently has until the sect master decides to appoint him. It didn't matter though. He was at the forging and refinement hall for most of his free time anyway. He was trying to make things that can make his divination use less qi. He also wanted to make devices that could Help him divine at a distance. He thought, "Maybe I can sell weather forecasts to sailors, and receive spirit stones in return."
He could use his divination to rob without worry from the people who can't fight back, he could plot and plot all day. Wang Feng however, is not that person. He wants to and aspires to make his wealth in a legitimate way that is legitimate by Earth's standards. He didn't believe in messing with his own moral compass just because the world is nasty and cruel. He believed evil was dirt and good was hygiene. Dirt would always exist. However, if everybody kept hygiene to a standard we would have less sickness. He decided to at least try to be good in the face of overwhelming pressure to become a monster. this might hinder his cultivation, inconvenience him, or straight up endanger him but he wanted what he wanted.
He made a tiny windmill and put a piece of spirit at the bottom of the windmill that refines a piece of spiritual wood as the windmill turns. Refined spiritual root creates auspiciousness as it turns because the spiritual wood increases in value, thus creating a wind speed calculating divining device. His abode was littered with many such devices. Heat sensors, light sensors you name it. However he also wanted to make a computer to compile divination data however such endevor was far beyond him. He had to compile divinaton data by hand. That forced the potential endevor to become smaller in scale.
Another project was a list of divination teaching devices. A black board, a set of thin mahjong stones to demonstrate chain reactions, a math book. There was so much to do before divination hall is built. Before going all in, he first wanted to get the definitive say so from the sect master, Thousand Puppets Venerable, Shi Hong.
He was getting fiercer senses and more robust muscles after he recieved spiritual qi nourishment. His thinking became clearer too. He was amazed. It was as if he spent all his life crippled and just now he got cured.