Chapter 16

Not long after, Lin Jing left the Mission Hall with the freshly minted mission scroll.

With this item, he could enter Golden Pearl Source to harvest spiritual bamboo at will, but without this proof, he would be arrested for the "crime of destroying sect resources."

"That senior brother said that ordinary Flying Leaf Art is very laborious for harvesting spiritual bamboo, but I don't know how the red flying leaves will perform."

Regarding the Mission Hall senior brother's statement, Lin Jing and the Pine-Leaf Rat didn't care; the other party was talking about a spirit beast Pine-Leaf Rat, what did that have to do with their rare beast Pine-Leaf Rat?

Since Elder Yu had entrusted them with this important task, even if they didn't eat or drink, they had to cut down enough spiritual bamboo to send to Elder Yu.

Lin Jing and the Pine-Leaf Rat hurried to Golden Pearl Source without stopping, for fear of wasting too much time; after all, cutting ten fewer stalks meant one less spirit stone.

After showing the mission scroll to the sect senior brother guarding the bamboo forest, he took the Pine-Leaf Rat into the bamboo sea.

Walking into the bamboo forest, they looked up; the bamboo leaves blocked out the sky and sun, and each straight spiritual bamboo radiated a profound and vibrant emerald color, making the Pine-Leaf Rat unable to help but drool.

"Squeak..."

"You are a squirrel, not a bamboo rat." Lin Jing corrected it, patted the cloth pouch hanging at his waist, and the Pine-Leaf Rat, sighing, immediately took out the precious red flying leaves from it and held them to its chest.

However, before it used the red flying leaves, Lin Jing bent down and picked up an ordinary bamboo leaf and handed it to it.

"Let's compare it just right to see how much difference there is in the destructive power against spiritual bamboo between using an ordinary bamboo leaf to perform the Flying Leaf Art and using your red flying leaves."

Hearing this, the Pine-Leaf Rat nodded, took the green bamboo leaf, and soon it had a bamboo leaf in one hand and a red flying leaf in the other, its gaze becoming sharp as it looked at the nearest spiritual bamboo!

"Ah squeak!" It burst forth with spiritual power, waved its little hand, and first threw out the bamboo leaf. With a swish, the green light collided with the spiritual bamboo, the bamboo stalk swayed slightly, and the bamboo leaf only left a tiny, negligible cut on the bamboo before it exploded directly.

Seeing this, the Pine-Leaf Rat frowned; this spiritual bamboo was indeed hard. Harvesting normally, I'm afraid that staying here for a day, the distance to getting rich would be very far away.

It and Lin Jing looked at each other again, this time switching to using the red leaf to launch the Flying Leaf Art.

"Squeak!" The Pine-Leaf Rat leaped from Lin Jing's shoulder, the red flying leaf was thrown out, a red glow flashed, and with a click, the red flying leaf passed straight through the bamboo stalk, and immediately after... the tall bamboo fell to the sound!

And this was not the end. Accompanied by the Pine-Leaf Rat's control, the red flying leaf was still flying very quickly. Click, click, click—within a few thoughts of the Pine-Leaf Rat, the red flying leaf had already cut down several spiritual bamboos. Such efficiency directly made Lin Jing and the Pine-Leaf Rat's eyes light up.

From this, it could be judged that the lethality caused by the Pine-Leaf Rat controlling the red flying leaves was definitely much higher than that of a middle-stage Qi Refining Pine-Leaf Rat. Besides that, in terms of the flexibility of the Flying Leaf Art, it was something an ordinary Pine-Leaf Rat could hardly reach!

"We're rich!" Lin Jing.

"Squeak squeak!!" The Pine-Leaf Rat was also extremely excited. Although controlling the red flying leaves was very tiring, at the thought that these spiritual bamboos would eventually become its storage bag, it erupted with intense enthusiasm, its fatigue swept away, and it was very motivated.

"We're not going back; we'll live here from now on." Lin Jing suggested.

"I heard the sound of a stream earlier; there is a water source in this bamboo forest, which means there are fish. I'll eat grilled fish, you eat bamboo leaves, let's see where our limits are!"

The Pine-Leaf Rat was stunned. Just a moment ago he said it wasn't a bamboo rat, and now he was letting it eat bamboo leaves! But eating anything was still eating, and the leaves of this spiritual bamboo were at least more nutritious than the leaves in the courtyard.

Lin Jing and the Pine-Leaf Rat's eyes... shone again!

One week later!

The senior brother responsible for guarding the bamboo forest suddenly felt something was wrong. He was sitting cross-legged in the bamboo house cultivating when he remembered something.

"A few days ago, it seems a junior brother entered the bamboo forest for a harvesting mission? It's been several days, why haven't I seen them come out?"

"They are truly diligent." He sighed, looked at the pastries on the table, and planned to visit this junior brother. Being able to receive Elder Yu's mission meant that this junior brother's talent and potential were not bad, and executing the mission so diligently meant his future was even more immeasurable, worth making friends with.

He carried the pastries and began to enter the bamboo forest. As he went deeper, the senior brother's eyelids twitched; he saw that the roadside was bare, completely different from the bamboo sea in his memory.

Replacing it were piles of spiritual bamboo bundled up on the ground, one pile... one pile... and another pile.

"What happened!" He was stunned. He clearly remembered that just a few days ago he had let in one junior brother and his Pine-Leaf Rat; this posture looked like the Pine-Leaf Rat clan from Pine Forest Peak had come to clear the land collectively.

"Junior Brother, where are you!" Whirlwinds swirled under his feet, and the spell Wind-Walking Art was activated. Instantly light as a swallow, he began to search for Lin Jing and the others. Not long after, he found the Pine-Leaf Rat eating bamboo leaves... and Lin Jing, who was massaging it.

"This senior brother... is there something the matter?" Lin Jing looked up, terminated the Spirit-Nurturing Art in his hand, and looked at the twitching-mouthed forest-guarding senior brother.

"These were all cut by you?" He looked incredulous, looking at the third-layer Qi Refining Pine-Leaf Rat, which was exhausted but whose eyes were full of light, and he couldn't believe it in his heart.

"Yes." Lin Jing showed a look of fatigue.

"This..." The forest-guarding senior brother was silent for a while and said: "Did Elder Yu say... how many spiritual bamboos he needs?"

Lin Jing shook his head: "Elder Yu didn't say, but for such an important festival as the Rising Dragon Festival, surely the more spiritual bamboo the better, right? Only in this way can more mechanical bamboo dragons be manufactured to make the festival more lively."

"I'll go ask Elder Yu for instructions..." The forest-guarding senior brother was really uneasy, scratched his head, and turned to leave. He was very afraid, afraid that if he let Lin Jing stay in the bamboo forest for another period of time, the bamboo sea here would disappear.

And as the forest-guarding senior brother left, Lin Jing and the Pine-Leaf Rat, as if facing a great enemy, accelerated their harvesting.

Outer Sect, Mechanics Workshop!

Although Elder Yu of the outer sect mainly cultivated the way of beast taming, he was also a mechanics fanatic and loved researching mechanics very much.

Outside the workshop, there was a plaque that read "Mechanical beasts are also beasts."

At the moment, he was drinking tea and chatting with another elder. If Lin Jing were here, he would definitely recognize him as Elder Mo, who had been out of the sect for several days.

"I just returned to the sect and hadn't even flown to Lotus Peak when you stopped me. Is there any important matter?" Elder Mo took a sip of tea and looked at the other party.

Elder Yu laughed, stroked his beard, and said: "A month ago, you put the Longevity Body you found in the outer sect and asked me to take extra care of him. I took it very seriously, and even tailor-made a sect mission for him to harvest spiritual bamboo. Shouldn't you thank me? 10 spiritual bamboos for one spirit stone; for an outer sect disciple, this is like pie falling from the sky!"

"Hehe! Such a small matter, what kind of thanks do you want? Don't bother; with their cultivation, how much spiritual bamboo can they cut?" Elder Mo snorted.

"Do you think I don't know your stinginess?! Speak, did you take a fancy to some resource I collected?"

"What do you mean stinginess? I just saved some... for the sect to research mechanical beasts." Before Elder Yu finished speaking, a crane landed outside the workshop and delivered a letter.

Elder Yu opened it and looked, his expression changed instantly, and he said: "Are you sure what you brought back was a Longevity Body, not a Wood God Body?"

"What's wrong?" Elder Mo was puzzled.

"The forest-guarding disciple said that the disciple currently executing the harvesting mission in the bamboo forest has almost cut down all the bamboo in the outer area!" Elder Yu's scalp went numb.