Chapter 22: Rewards

Outer Sect, Mechanical Workshop.

Elder Yu stood inside, looking at the ground covered in spirit bamboo that still hadn't been used up, and sighed.

"Elder Yu, it's bad!" A crane flew over.

"What's the matter, so flustered." Elder Yu frowned and looked at the Heavenly Feather Crane that flew over.

"The mechanical bamboo dragon you manufactured has been smashed by someone!" The Heavenly Feather Crane reported.

"It was Outer Sect disciple Lin Jing, and his Pine-Needle Rat."

After the Heavenly Feather Crane finished speaking, Elder Yu snorted and said: "Is this worth being flustered about?"

"This shows that under my leadership, the Outer Sect disciples are becoming more and more excellent!"

"There is another bamboo dragon there, transport it over. Also, summon Lin Jing and the others to me; I will personally reward them!" Elder Yu pointed to the spare mechanical bamboo dragon in the corner.

"Ah?" The crane was startled, feeling something was wrong.

Elder Yu had always attached great importance to the mechanical beasts he manufactured. Now that the mechanical beast had been smashed by an Outer Sect disciple across levels, how could he be so calm?

There's something strange, definitely something strange. This Heavenly Feather Crane took away the new bamboo dragon with suspicious eyes.

At the same time, Elder Yu felt a burst of relief inside. Fortunately, Elder Mo had given him a bottom line, letting him know in advance about the extraordinary nature of this Longevity Body. Otherwise, upon learning that the bamboo dragon he manufactured had been blown up, he definitely wouldn't have been able to be so calm.

And now, although a bamboo dragon had been scrapped, at least he had psychological preparation in advance, and, he had even utilized this point!

Since he knew that the Longevity Body and the mutated Pine-Needle Rat had a probability of defeating the bamboo dragon, he could use the final reward to guide the Longevity Body to learn his mechanical beast art!

Within the Beast-Taming Sect, apart from the Longevity Body who had time to spare, I'm afraid no one else... would be willing to learn the mechanical beast art he had studied!

Now that he had encountered a good seedling, he felt he could test Lin Jing's attitude toward Mechanical Art!

In the Central Plaza, following Lin Jing's successful challenge and even breaking the mechanical bamboo dragon, many disciples looked at Lin Jing in surprise.

"No wonder Elder Yu was willing to give him special treatment. This guy... is definitely not a disciple who entered the sect normally. He must be a genius found by some Elder from the folk! Most likely a special cultivation physique!" Senior Brother Ziran, who had helped out at the Mission Hall, gripped the novel in his hand and finally understood what was going on.

"I remember now, when I was guarding the Harvest Pavilion, they seemed to have bought some spirit plant seeds." Senior Sister Caixin, who was in the top three of the Outer Sect, also remembered Lin Jing. But it was hard to imagine that the Junior Brother who was short of money and couldn't even afford the feces of a Foundation Establishment spirit beast was actually so powerful.

Of course, the most speechless one was still the current number one of the Outer Sect. Recalling the flattery from others toward him earlier, a hint of shame flashed across his dark face. He thought to himself that the Beast-Taming Sect was worthy of being the top sect in the Great Desolate Domain. Even in the Outer Sect, there were hidden dragons and crouching tigers. The Beast-Fighting Arena... people might not even bother to go.

Lin Jing, who had broken into the sight of many Outer Sect disciples, now seemed to have the strength of the "new number one of the Outer Sect" in everyone's hearts.

Not only was the Pine-Needle Rat's Flying Leaf Art superb, but the Beast-Tamer himself at the second layer of Qi Condensation... was also proficient in the Object-Controlling Art. It was truly powerful.

"Speaking of which, can that kind of speed and power of flying leaves really be controlled so smoothly by the Object-Controlling Art at the second layer of Qi Condensation without damaging the power of the Flying Leaf Art? My Phoenix-Tail Chicken's egg-laying isn't even that smooth!"

"Does this count as a 'combination spell'?"

The Pine-Needle Rat, who came back after picking up the red leaves, heard the shocked discussions of the crowd and really wanted to say that the red flying leaves had always been controlled by itself!

Lin Jing... was purely to have a sense of participation, so he imitated the movements of the Object-Controlling Art in miscellaneous books. In fact, his whole role was just to help it carry the red flying leaves and spirit bean bombs that it couldn't easily carry itself.

"Senior Brother, this... counts as a successful challenge, right?" Lin Jing also looked at the forest-guarding Senior Brother.

Fang Yonghao's mouth twitched. You harvested the materials for making the bamboo dragon, and you also dismantled the bamboo dragon. Junior Brother, you have a grudge against bamboo!! And your Object-Controlling Art, why is there no true qi fluctuation at all?! ===== CHAPTER 23 =====

As for wanting to come into contact with true alchemy and perform it, according to what he knew, one had to enter the Inner Sect first. And there was still some time to endure before he and the Pine-Leaf Rat could enter the Inner Sect; during this period, he might as well keep busy.

"Probably..." Before Fang Yonghao could finish speaking, a shadow suddenly appeared in the sky. A crane was seen clutching a massive mechanical bamboo dragon, circling in the sky and chirping:

"The Dragon-Beast Battle activity continues. Outer Sect disciple Lin Jing, proceed to the Mechanism Workshop now to collect your activity reward."

After it finished speaking, Lin Jing signaled his understanding, then left with the Pine-Leaf Rat. Everyone watched Lin Jing's retreating back, knowing that Lin Jing was about to soar to great heights. Even if Elder Yu's mechanism arts were not as good as the sect's own beast-taming arts, what they were being compared to... was the complete True Inheritance Beast-Taming Art. The ordinary beast-taming techniques practiced by Inner and Outer Sect disciples were merely basic, castrated versions; before switching to higher-level cultivation methods, they were certainly inferior to Elder Yu's mechanism arts.

Regardless, that was a craft capable of creating Foundation Establishment-stage mechanical beasts!

"The position of True Inheritance is already fiercely contested; soon, another monster will be coming to the Inner Sect. I wonder what the group of animals in the Inner Sect will think when they find out." Senior Brother Fang shook his head and continued to host the activity.

Having received the notification from the Heavenly Feather Crane, Lin Jing quickly visited the Mechanism Workshop.

Inside the workshop, Elder Yu saw Lin Jing and the Pine-Leaf Rat arrive, his eyebrows and beard dancing as he said, "Good lad, are you addicted to dismantling bamboo? You were ruthless to the bamboo forest, and you were just as ruthless to the bamboo dragon!"

After saying this, he looked toward the remaining spirit bamboo piled up in the back, guiding Lin Jing's gaze, which caused Lin Jing and the Pine-Leaf Rat's faces to flush slightly, feeling embarrassed.

"Outer Sect disciple Lin Jing pays his respects to Elder Yu."

"Squeak!"

"Elder, the mechanical bamboo dragon you created has a spirit flame protecting it. The Pine-Leaf Rat using flying leaves to attack the exterior was undoubtedly like a mantis trying to stop a chariot; it could only attack from the dragon's mouth... who would have thought..."

"Alright, no need to say more. Being able to successfully destroy the internal mechanism with spells mastered at the Qi Condensation stage is also a testament to your strength."

"This Mechanical Soul Core and my insights on manufacturing mechanical beasts will be awarded to you."

After saying this, Elder Yu took out the grand prize he had already prepared and handed it to Lin Jing with a generous expression.

The Mechanical Soul Core was entirely white, shaped like a Luban lock, while the mechanism arts were summarized in a thick book.

"Thank you, Elder Yu." Lin Jing took the reward, but Elder Yu continued:

"By the way, the extra bamboo you harvested is useless to me. Spirit bamboo is also a fairly basic material for mechanisms; take it back with you. Once you have mastered the basics of mechanism arts, you can use this spirit bamboo as material to practice and see."

"Of course, mechanism arts are very difficult; I'm afraid you won't be able to master them quickly. Let me think, if you can successfully manufacture a moving mechanical beast, regardless of whether it's useful or not, I will grant you one reasonable wish!"