Chapter 227 (Part 2): Unique Competitive Advantage

But when faced with an expert like Lingcaifeng Master, it was indeed a bit inadequate.

“Alright, stop worrying about our affairs. Go find your cheap master at the Wanling Sect already.” Qian Feixue pouted irritably toward the door.

“She’s not a cheap master. My relationship with the Peak Master is…” Hua Jian found herself momentarily at a loss for words, realizing she couldn’t actually refute Qian Feixue’s statement.

Theoretically speaking, Lingcaifeng Master really did count as her cheap master.

She now viewed Lingcaifeng Master with the attitude of a master, and was even a little afraid of being disciplined by the Peak Master.

(It felt like a rebellious teenager who ran away from home, built some unspeakable great enterprise, and then didn’t know how to face her parents).

“Cough, well, I’ll get going then. Remember to tell Linglong that I might not be back today!”

Hua Jian had stayed in Frozen Winter City for a fairly long time and had already memorized the city’s various layouts.

She could reach Wanling Sect’s location without needing a guide.

Of course, as a Saint Sect’s stronghold, the place was still very conspicuous—the kind you could tell at a glance was anything but ordinary.

Hanging on the main gate was a plaque adorned with birds and blooming flowers, inscribed with three large characters: Wanling Sect.

In the snow-covered Frozen Winter City, a plaque so colorful and surrounded by all kinds of spirit birds chirping and circling was absolutely one of a kind, and it particularly showcased Wanling Sect’s characteristics.

If you looked closely, you could even see Caidie fluttering among the flowers on the plaque, and at the entrance beneath it stood two mighty, handsome dogs with resolute expressions.

It pretty much displayed the four peaks of Wanling Sect all in one spot.

What, you ask where the fish-keeping folks went? Ha, Wanling Sect couldn’t very well place a giant fish tank at their front gate, could they.

“You are… Oh! It’s you!” The Wanling Sect cultivator guarding the gate gave Hua Jian a careful once-over, then slapped his palm in realization.

Short figure, colorful eyes, very pretty—this should be the Hua Jian their Shixiong told them to welcome.

“Who am I?” Hua Jian was confused by this Wanling Sect cultivator’s reaction. Why was he reacting so strongly?

“The Saintess, right? Who doesn’t know your great name by now.” The male disciple guarding the gate respectfully made way, “Please come in, the Peak Master is waiting for you at the main hall.”

Although Hua Jian felt this male cultivator had no ill intentions, the words still stung her ears a little, carrying a hint of mockery.

The reputation she had spreading outside was nothing but infamy.

Sigh, forget it. Dwell on these things and the infamy would just become true. Besides, the Peak Master was watching from inside.

Hua Jian didn’t believe the Peak Master, with her strength, couldn’t hear the conversation at the gate. So from now on, she was going to act like a good girl!

Stepping into the compound, Hua Jian saw small pale-red flowers blooming one after another along the path ahead of her.

Looking up, she saw brightly colored little flowers extending from both sides of the road all the way into the compound. These were clearly not naturally growing flowers!

This was… the Peak Master welcoming her?

At that thought, Hua Jian relaxed. Using such a clever trick to welcome her arrival meant the Peak Master was in a good mood today—it looked like she wouldn’t be scolded.

Following the trail of extended flowers, weaving left and right through the compound for a while, Hua Jian finally arrived at the main hall—and the flowers that had only lined the path now covered the steps before her.

Wow, going this big? Hua Jian struggled to control her expression, carefully finding gaps between the flowers to step in, so she wouldn’t crush those cute little blossoms.

It wasn’t that she was trying to show off her love of flowers in front of Lingcaifeng Master; it was just that she normally cared for flowers and plants quite a bit, avoiding stepping on them whenever possible.

But no matter how she herself thought about it, this scene definitely made Lingcaifeng Master even more satisfied.

Sure enough, Hua Jian had only carefully climbed two steps when a gentle breeze lifted her body, pulling her straight into the main hall.

Lingcaifeng Master stood in the center of the hall. The hall, apparently because of her arrival, was now full of flowers of every color, like an Immortal Land.

“How many years has it been since we last met?”

“Four years and change, almost five!” Hua Jian answered without a second thought.

She had been asked this question who knows how many times; it was pure muscle memory now.

“You’ve learned to be bad, but at least not too bad.” The Peak Master walked up to Hua Jian and lightly flicked her forehead with a finger.

It stung a little. Hua Jian covered her forehead and chuckled twice.

She had been prepared for Lingcaifeng Master to scold and interrogate her; getting just a single forehead flick was practically a delightful surprise.

“How has Wanhuagu been teaching you? Tell me about it.” After flicking Hua Jian’s forehead, the Peak Master gestured to a seat nearby, signaling her to sit down and speak slowly.

“Oh oh, well, it’s like this…”

While Hua Jian was secretly badmouthing Wanhuagu, people in Wanhuagu were again discussing Hua Jian and Lingcaifeng Master’s matter.

After all, the moment Lingcaifeng Master finished her mission she rushed straight to Winter City—did anyone really need to guess why?

She was absolutely here to poach from their Wanhuagu!

“Valley Master, that old woman Lingcai is way too disrespectful. How dare she take people right in front of us…” Yanghong Venerable complained with a gloomy face, conveniently ignoring how Hua Jian had become one of their people in the first place.

“Don’t worry about where Hua Jian was before; at least now she’s Wanhuagu’s Saintess. That Lingcaifeng Master trying to poach from our Wanhuagu is utterly shameless!”

And what worried Yanghong Venerable the most was that Hua Jian might be swayed by Lingcaifeng Master.

When the five years were up, she’d go straight back to Wanling Sect with her—and then wouldn’t all the resources they’d invested in Hua Jian have gone to waste?

Compared to the anxious Yanghong Venerable, the Valley Master of Wanhua displayed the bearing of a true master, not caring at all about Hua Jian’s leaving or staying.

“Some things can’t be judged by immediate gains and losses. If she wants to follow Lingcai, I won’t stop her. I’ll even continue to acknowledge her as the Wanhua Saintess.” The Valley Master laughed heartily, looking for all the world like she was truly Hua Jian’s caring elder.

But how could the Valley Master of Wanhua, who had cultivated to sagehood in this very valley, possibly be a good person?

She naturally had her own reasons for doing this. Hua Jian was a very important existence, and Wanhuagu could not stand on the opposite side of her.

This was her premonition, and a sage’s premonition was never wrong.

“Her potential is limitless. Surpassing either of us in the future isn’t impossible. Right now is the best chance to build a good relationship with her—we can’t let her develop a grudge against us.” The Valley Master said slowly.

“Besides, I’m not worried about Hua Jian being lured away by Lingcaifeng Master.

A leopard can’t change its spots. Deep down, Hua Jian isn’t the type to quietly play the good child within the Right Path. T

he ferocious nature from her Bloodline will drive her to make choices that the Right Path cannot tolerate.

“She is a Heavenly Talent that the Right Path cannot contain, and we are the best soil for her growth.”

Hua Jian was a bad kid. If she joined a Saint Sect, she would definitely break all kinds of Saint Sect rules, and if she messed up once, she’d be expelled.

But on the Wanhuagu side, Hua Jian could fully spread her wings.

No matter how strict the Saint Sect was, they couldn’t extend their reach into a Demonic Sect like Wanhuagu, nor could they govern what their Saintess did on a daily basis.

Hua Jian’s personality was a chaotic mix of good and bad.

She wouldn’t commit the kind of heinous evils that would make the Saint Sect want to eliminate her, but if she went to a Saint Sect, they probably couldn’t handle the little mischief she got up to either.

Not only would the Saint Sect have headaches, but Hua Jian would also live miserably.

So Wanhuagu had a distinct advantage here—it was the very embodiment of chaos, perfectly matching all of Hua Jian’s traits.

Besides, Wanhuagu was very generous. They didn’t mind Lingcaifeng Master teaching their Saintess some practical little tricks, nor did they mind her taking their Saintess to Wanling Sect for a visit.

“No need to worry too much about Hua Jian. We need to trust her, and trust ourselves.”

Trust in their Wanhuagu’s unique competitiveness in the art of being bad!

“What a waste of talent! Wanhuagu is truly a bunch of short-sighted fools. Teaching you things like this—no wonder all your techniques are so crude.”

Slamming her teacup heavily onto the table, Lingcaifeng Master evaluated Wanhuagu’s training of Hua Jian with a trace of anger.

What difference was this from raising an ordinary Wanhuagu cultivator? This was practically neglect!

Teaching a few basic Spirit Techniques and calling it done? Did they not know where Hua Jian’s true advantages lay?

Instead of developing Hua Jian’s unique traits, they treated her like an ordinary genius.

Calling Wanhuagu a bunch of talent wasters was practically restrained of Lingcaifeng Master.

Aw, come to think of it, Wanhuagu didn’t even cultivate the Five Elements Spirit Energy in the first place. Their research on Spirit Plants certainly couldn’t be as deep as Lingcaifeng’s.

If Wanhuagu really taught Hua Jian this kind of knowledge, she’d probably be led straight into a pit.

And right now, Hua Jian was still a blank slate, which gave Lingcaifeng Master the perfect chance to work her magic and turn that blank slate into her own masterpiece!

Thinking about it that way, Wanhuagu’s waste of talent was actually a good thing.

“Starting today, you will come to me every day. Any problem with that?”

“No! What are you going to teach me, Peak Master?” Hua Jian quickly shook her head. How could she refuse a Venerable’s personal instruction?

For comfort, Wanhuagu’s free atmosphere definitely suited her better, but for combat compatibility, Lingcaifeng was unquestionably number one.

Now that Lingcaifeng’s top leader wanted to teach her, she’d be an idiot to refuse!

“I’m going to teach you how to properly fight with plants.” Lingcaifeng Master stood up and walked toward the back of the hall. “Follow me.”

Hua Jian scurried after the Peak Master like a little duckling, all the way to the training grounds within Wanling Sect’s compound.

A few Wanling Sect disciples had been sparring there, but seeing the two big shots—Hua Jian and Lingcaifeng Master—approaching together, they quickly vacated the training area.

They weren’t angry about losing the training ground. Instead, they eagerly gathered around to watch what the Peak Master and Hua Jian were going to do.

As for whether watching would get them in trouble… if it were a secret that outsiders couldn’t see, the Peak Master would have shooed everyone away beforehand.

Since she hadn’t dispersed them, it meant whatever they were doing wasn’t confidential, and they were free to watch.

So they obviously chose to stay and enjoy the show. One was the Peak Master, the other was the recently famous Wanhua Saintess—only someone with water in their brain would leave.

“Use everything you know.” Lingcaifeng Master beckoned to Hua Jian.

“Okay!”

Hua Jian nodded, scattering a handful of seeds on the ground, then activating Magic Mist to pull Lingcaifeng Master into her own home turf.

The seeds that fell to the ground began to sprout and grow rapidly, turning into shooter-type plants for long-range attacks, launching an assault on Lingcaifeng Master.

But the spreading fog and the dense barrage all stopped one step in front of Lingcaifeng Master, unable to advance even a single inch further.

After getting a feel for Hua Jian’s full-powered attack, Lingcaifeng Master pulled a few seeds from her Storage Pouch and tossed them on the ground one by one.

These seeds were just like the flower seeds Hua Jian had thrown—they rooted and sprouted the moment they hit the ground, transforming into combat-ready forms.

Only, compared to the plants Hua Jian had figured out on her own, these were the regular army.

There were tanks for taking damage, shooters for physical attacks, and mages for spell attacks.

The moment the two sides clashed, Hua Jian’s plant army was suppressed so hard they couldn’t even lift their heads.

The attacks her plants released were far too low in quality to block Lingcaifeng Master’s offenses.

Especially those mage-type plants—those guys actually played with fire!

And it was a large-scale fire AOE. If Hua Jian’s own plants didn’t have innate fire resistance, that one move alone would have wiped her entire army.

Moreover, Lingcaifeng Master wasn’t bullying with superior strength.

The plants that grew from her seeds were only at Ling Wang Realm strength—meaning she had beaten Hua Jian back using plants of the same rank.

Losing to same-rank plants with such a gap in performance, Hua Jian suddenly felt embarrassed. Wasn’t she performing a bit too poorly here?

But she did have means to threaten Lingcaifeng Master’s plants. Her shooters’ normal attacks couldn’t beat those spells, but her Enhanced Bullets could.

The Enhanced Bullets mixed into the barrage could even punch through Lingcaifeng Master’s Shield Guards and damage their True Form.

Though even if they got damaged, it didn’t matter much. The germination effect attached to Hua Jian’s bullets couldn’t activate on plant bodies.

After taking damage, the Shield Guard plant simply shed the injured part. Even if Hua Jian’s bullets sprouted, they’d only get a bite of hard wood—completely pointless.

Realizing that a positional war wouldn’t work, Hua Jian chose a different approach and played a war of movement with Lingcaifeng Master.

With a wave of her hand, the plants under her control quickly converged into a four-legged Monster, charging at the Peak Master’s defensive line.

Compared to the low-mobility fire team, this Monster Puppet was far more agile.

And this was with Hua Jian controlling it herself; if she could get some Spirit Beast Soulforce to pilot it, her puppets would perform exactly like Spirit Beasts.

No—they’d be even stronger than Spirit Beasts, since Spirit Beasts feared death while her puppets did not.

But her attempt hit a wall quickly. The plants Lingcaifeng Master threw out could actually move too.

Not fast, sure, but they managed to intercept the Monster.

The Monster Hua Jian released was quickly stopped by the Shield Guards and focus-fired by the mages, its body riddled with pits and holes.

“Child, you really don’t know anything. You’re fighting purely on Heavenly Talent.”

Watching the Monster that was nearly torn apart yet still moving, Lingcaifeng Master finally couldn’t help but remark.

An ordinary plant would have been burned to ashes long ago, yet Hua Jian’s plant did little damage but had an absurdly long health bar.