Chapter 33: The Bully Sect

"As expected of a body cultivator; to still be moving after a round of fire, you gave me a fright."

Lin Jing shook the water droplets off the muzzle of his bamboo gun. Ignoring the "seen-a-ghost" expressions on his fellow sect disciples, he looked toward the Pine-Leaf Rat, who was returning in high spirits.

"Squeak!!!" This is way more satisfying than the inner sect assessment!!!

"You... motherf—!" The Snow Plains cultivator’s lips trembled slightly, but no sound came out. His shattered body made it difficult to move, and his consciousness gradually blurred. He could not comprehend what was going on with this beast-taming cultivator.

Bang.

As the Snow Plains cultivator collapsed from his heavy injuries, the scholar in green, the female alchemist, and the young swordsman all turned their gazes toward Lin Jing and the Pine-Leaf Rat.

"Qi Refining Level 3? Qi Refining Level 7?"

They had all assessed Lin Jing and the Pine-Leaf Rat’s cultivation bases. The Pine-Leaf Rat’s cultivation was barely passable, but Lin Jing’s was truly too low.

Yet, with such low cultivation, he had directly crushed this foreign body cultivator. It was simply absurd.

"Is that a mechanical construct?!" the scholar in green spoke up. "Wait, are you a beast tamer or a mechanist?"

"Does it matter?" Lin Jing lowered his mechanical bamboo gun.

Staring at the mechanical construct in Lin Jing’s hand, the other three felt a sense of wariness. Mechanists were always like this; their own cultivation might not be high, but their strength... was all in their mechanical constructs!

If these geniuses from other sects were already wary, the disciples of the Beast Taming Sect were even more bewildered.

Looking at the calm-faced Lin Jing, even the few members of the Monster Hunting Hall had their expressions shift. Wait... could it be that this Lin Jing intended to use this thing to compete with them for the inner sect assessment?

What kind of joke is that...

"Junior Brother, this..." Senior Brother Ziran said, "We don't have any grudges, do we? I assume?"

"Senior Brother, what are you saying? Of course not," Lin Jing replied. "I prepared this to deal with Foundation Establishment monsters during the assessment."

As he spoke, he aimed the mechanical bamboo gun at the scholar in green, the female alchemist, and the young swordsman. "The three of you, I helped you eliminate the Snow Plains cultivator. It’s not unreasonable for me to use this Golden Bodhi Tree, right?"

"I suppose you must be the true prodigy chosen by the grotto-heaven for the Beast Taming Sect." The scholar in green brushed the dust off his clothes. "Impressive. I never expected the Beast Taming Sect to produce a genius mechanist."

"However, the use of mechanical constructs requires a massive amount of energy, and the durability of low-level constructs isn't very high. After such an intense offensive just now, your construct... probably doesn't have much energy left, right? The mechanical structure can't be far from breaking down either."

Lin Jing reached out, swapped in a bamboo magazine, and pressed the trigger directly at the scholar in green.

"From the start, you and that bald guy have been the most talkative." As he finished, arrows of water sprayed out once more, causing the scholar’s expression to change. He had seen the miserable state of the Snow Plains body cultivator and dared not try to tank the attack of this mechanical construct.

"Sword-Tongue Combat!" He opened his mouth slightly, and the Qi within transformed into a sky full of spears and swords, flying rapidly to intercept the water arrows in mid-air. Having learned from the Snow Plains cultivator’s mistake, he didn't let the arrows get close enough to explode, intercepting them halfway instead.

Rumble!!!

The mechanical bamboo gun did have significant drawbacks, and the scholar in green, having reacted in time, successfully blocked it. However, after one magazine from Lin Jing, the scholar, who had been continuously casting Sword-Tongue Combat, was left with a dry mouth and throat.

He quickly took out a Spirit-Replenishing Pill, but just as he was about to swallow it, he felt a red leaf press against his neck, drawing blood.

The scholar in green looked at the Pine-Leaf Rat on Lin Jing’s shoulder.

It was staring intently at his storage bag.

Two against one.

"I concede." The scholar in green took a deep breath. "Thank you for showing mercy. I am Xu Zhi from the Saint Fortune City of the Literary Domain."

"Beast Taming Sect, Tang Seng," Lin Jing said, removing the bamboo magazine and swapping in a new one.

This made Xu Zhi’s eyelids twitch.

You guy, did you know you were going to enter the grotto-heaven today? You’re so well-prepared!

Lin Jing’s gaze shifted to the female alchemist and the young swordsman.

Although Xu Zhi was unhappy, he walked toward the Silver Bodhi Tree, intending to cut his losses.

As a scholar, he wasn't skilled at combat anyway!

"Rude fellow. A beast tamer—even if you get the Golden Bodhi, you won't be able to comprehend anything good. What a waste."

But who would have thought, Lin Jing’s Pine-Leaf Rat jumped to the base of the Silver Bodhi Tree a step ahead of him.

It took a "miniature mechanical bamboo gun" from its own storage bag, set it on the ground, lay down, and fired a shot right next to the approaching Xu Zhi.

Boom!

The power was undiminished.

Xu Zhi stopped in his tracks.

"Sorry, the Golden Bodhi Tree is mine, and the Silver Bodhi Tree is hers. The two of us don't intend to share one tree," Lin Jing said.

"Huh?!!!" Xu Zhi was furious. Isn't it your pet? You two are splitting up?

"Sir, don't be too greedy!"

"If we were greedy, you’d already be dead, and you wouldn't be keeping your storage bag either. After all, this item has a destiny with my pet," Lin Jing said. "Opportunities belong to those capable; I think that’s very reasonable. If we couldn't beat you, I would naturally withdraw. Let’s be reasonable—fair, friendly, and harmonious competition is quite good."

In the eyes of the Pine-Leaf Rat, a storage bag was far too precious.

However, regarding this Xu Zhi, Lin Jing stopped while he was ahead. Ninety-nine percent of cultivators from the Literary Domain eventually entered the imperial court as officials. As a genius of the Literary Domain, this guy definitely had a background and might already hold an official post in some city of the ancient kingdom. Unlike the foreign Snow Plains cultivator, he didn't want to make an enemy of the Beast Taming Sect for the sake of a storage bag.

"You two, do you really intend to let him monopolize both Bodhi Trees? This guy is even more excessive than that Snow Plains cultivator!" The scholar in green sought help from the female alchemist and the young swordsman, wanting to team up.

The taciturn young swordsman still didn't speak.

"Let’s team up, the three of us," the female alchemist said. "This squirrel isn't cute at all. How is a pet also a mechanist?"

The young swordsman... finally drew his sword, which counted as tacitly agreeing to the proposal, as he had no confidence in taking down Lin Jing alone.

"Ganging up on someone—what kind of hero does that make you?" At this moment, Qin Caixin, a senior sister among the Beast Taming Sect disciples, stepped forward. "Everyone, don't forget, our Beast Taming Sect still has seven people here."

"Fellow Senior Brothers, we entered the grotto-heaven by accident. With our strength, we likely have no chance at the grotto-heaven’s opportunities. Since that’s the case, we might as well assist Junior Brother Lin... Tang in battle. We cannot let outside sects bully our Beast Taming Sect just because they have more people."

"Junior Sister Caixin is right," Senior Brother Ziran said, stroking his Fire-Spirit Sparrow. "We are competitors during the assessment, but outside the sect, we are all Beast Taming Sect disciples. Elder Li also said that if we have no chance at the opportunities, we should assist Junior Brother Tang with all our might."

"Although we aren't strong, we are all in the Qi Refining stage. These three don't seem to have the terrifying defensive power of that body cultivator; they won't feel good if they take a sneak attack." He Yiming also felt he had no chance at the three Bodhi Trees, so he had his Fighting Ape remove the white cloth, revealing a hoe, intending to put some pressure on the other three.

"Good." The four disciples of the Monster Hunting Hall exchanged glances. They were very sensible and locked onto the other three along with their pets.

Since they couldn't all obtain opportunities, they would fully assist one sect genius to maximize the gain.

Lin Jing’s performance just now had already convinced these fellow disciples, not to mention they were just tagging along in the grotto-heaven anyway.

Sure enough, as the Beast Taming Sect disciples stood in solidarity, forming a 16-against-3 situation, the other three felt a certain amount of pressure, even though they felt that apart from Lin Jing, the others weren't strong.

"You aren't the Beast Taming Sect; you’re clearly the Bully Sect." The female alchemist was furious. Sixteen people plus beasts, and they still complained about them ganging up.

"Thank you, Senior Brothers," Lin Jing said.

Lin Jing wasn't sure what trump cards the other three geniuses had, but having a larger presence on his side was always beneficial. Grotto-heavens were hard to come by, and opportunities were rare. Lin Jing didn't want to miss out; he wanted to maximize the opportunities for himself and the Pine-Leaf Rat within his capabilities.

As he spoke, under the silent expressions of the scholar in green, the female alchemist, the young swordsman, and the Beast Taming Sect disciples, he took out a mechanical bamboo turtle. "Senior Brothers and Sisters, don't panic. I have one more mechanical beast. Three against three, I’m not at a disadvantage in numbers. You all take care of yourselves."

The next moment, the turtle, the same color as the mechanical bamboo gun, aimed its cannon at the enemies, making the scholar in green feel a slight ache in his gut. He didn't doubt for a second that this cannon could also fire the same kind of attack as before.

"Damn it, is this a Qi Refining cultivator from the Beast Taming Sect?" The scholar in green felt like his years of study had gone to the dogs. This person and this squirrel were completely different from the Beast Taming Sect cultivators in his memory. Whose squirrel carries mechanical constructs?! ===== CHAPTER 34 =====