Chapter 97: Preparations

On the third evening, Jing Shizhen and Tong Dongjie returned to the sealed city together.

Tong Dongjie brought two pills the size of longan fruits for Su Xiaofan, saying they were secret healing pills from their family, which could help Su Xiaofan recover from his injuries as soon as possible.

In fact, Su Xiaofan's injuries were already about 70-80% healed, and he would be fully recovered in another three to five days.

However, at Uncle Jing's suggestion, Su Xiaofan thanked him and still put the pills away. Anything that Uncle Jing approved of must be good.

Jing Shizhen, under Su Xiaofan's phone call urging, brought a hundred pounds of giant python meat as food for the little tiger cat over the next few days.

Seeing the little tiger cat running around the living room, both Jing Shizhen and Tong Dongjie were quite surprised.

A few days ago, this tiger cat was only the size of a fist, but in just three to five days, it had grown to the size of an ordinary adult cat. This growth rate was too fast.

Tong Dongjie had an eager look on his face. He knew this tiger cat must be an extraordinary creature, otherwise, it wouldn't exhibit such a phenomenon that defies the normal growth of living beings.

However, the little guy didn't give Tong Dongjie any face. When he tried to feed the tiger cat with the python meat, he received a claw instead.

"Damn, this thing is too vicious, right?"

Looking at his hand, which was bleeding profusely from a deep scratch, Tong Dongjie's eyes widened.

As a practitioner of ancient martial arts, it was embarrassing enough to not dodge the claw, but more importantly, Tong Dongjie's external skills were not weak. Yet, his defense was as fragile as paper against the tiger cat's claws.

"Think about it, Brother Dong, and you'll feel better."

Su Xiaofan was very satisfied with the tiger cat's performance. Who says only dogs are loyal? His tiger cat was no less loyal.

"Uncle Jing, are you still selling it for one hundred million?" Tong Dongjie looked at Jing Shizhen, completely ignoring his bleeding hand.

"Fifty billion, I'll sell it to you!" Jing Shizhen glanced at Tong Dongjie. What a joke, the one hundred million was a chance for you to get a good deal, but you lacked the courage. This is your own fault.

"Alright, consider I didn't ask." Tong Dongjie smiled bitterly and waved his hand, knowing that with the price Uncle Jing set, the tiger cat was essentially non-negotiable.

"Master, give the tiger cat a name."

Su Xiaofan's own name for the tiger cat was terrible, and the little guy didn't buy it at all.

"Do you want a refined name or a simple one?" Jing Shizhen was very interested in naming the little guy.

"An easy one to say." Su Xiaofan replied.

Jing Shizhen thought for a moment and said, "The tiger cat's fur is very similar to that of a jaguar. 'Money' means treasure, so how about calling it 'Duobao' (Treasure)? It has a good meaning."

"Duobao, that's fine. Let's see if it likes it." Su Xiaofan didn't care what the tiger cat was called, as long as the little guy accepted it.

"Money, that's a good name, more treasures are always better!"

Su Xiaofan called the tiger cat over, fed it with python meat, and called it "Duobao" a few times.

"Meow..." The tiger cat didn't seem to mind the name. After eating the python meat, it even licked Su Xiaofan's fingers with its tongue.

"Done, from now on, you're called Duobao." Su Xiaofan laughed, and the issue of the little guy's name was resolved.

"Duobao?" Tong Dongjie called out again, but the little guy just glanced at him and continued to play with Su Xiaofan's fingers.

The tiger cat wasn't afraid of people, but neither Jing Shizhen nor Tong Dongjie could get close to it. They stayed several meters away.

"Brother Dong, bandage your hand."

Seeing Tong Dongjie's hand covered in blood, Su Xiaofan patted Duobao, making sure it wouldn't develop the habit of hurting people casually.

"Alright, you two chat. I'll go bandage it."

Tong Dongjie nodded with a bitter smile. Being scratched by a kitten that had just been born a few days ago would be embarrassing if it got out.

"How is the body technique I taught you coming along?"

After Tong Dongjie left, Jing Shizhen looked at Su Xiaofan. Although he didn't want to ask, as a master, he had to care about his disciple's progress.

"Shenxing Qianli still has a few meridians left to unblock. It will take a few more days."

Su Xiaofan was honest. Shenxing Qianli could also be cultivated using repair points.

Like the palm lightning, cultivating Shenxing Qianli required only 30 points, but Su Xiaofan had everything except repair points, so he had to unblock the meridians himself.

"Good, don't be arrogant or impatient. Shenxing Qianli is the foundation. Build a solid foundation, and the cultivation of the other two techniques will be smoother."

Jing Shizhen felt this was the right way to interact as master and disciple. He then taught Su Xiaofan a few techniques for unblocking meridians, which he had discovered himself, not part of the inherited techniques.

"Master, how is your preparation going? When are we going back to Shuangmen Village?"

Although staying in a five-star hotel with food and drink provided and a little brother to serve him, Su Xiaofan felt a bit bored after a while. He missed the antique market in Luochuan.

"The cold storage is installed in my house. You can take the python meat from there."

Jing Shizhen said, "Your house is being renovated, so you can also install a small cold storage. It will be useful in the future."

"That's easy."

Su Xiaofan took out his phone and sent the cold storage request to the designer. With another 18 million in his bank account, he was a true tycoon.

"Xiaofan, did you bring the wind chime?"

Jing Shizhen asked.

"I did, Master, what's the matter?"

Su Xiaofan nodded. The wind chime was in his room, but he didn't bring it to Shuangmen Village last time.

"Give it to me first. I'm short one low-grade magical artifact." Asking his disciple for something, Jing Shizhen's face turned red.

However, Jing Shizhen had no choice. Even if he brought Yunzhan from Beijing, along with the golden money sword, he was still short one low-grade magical artifact for the array.

If given ten days or half a month, Jing Shizhen could definitely get a low-grade magical artifact.

But Jing Shizhen wanted to complete this commission as soon as possible and return to refine the inner core, so he decided to borrow it from Su Xiaofan.

"No problem, Master, I'll give it to you later."

Su Xiaofan nodded. The dragon-shaped jade pendant on his neck was already cultivated, and with this medium-grade magical artifact for protection, the wind chime wasn't as important.

"These are consumables. I'll find a better magical artifact for you later." Jing Shizhen made it clear. Once the wind chime was used in the array, it would be gone for good.

"It's fine, Master, you can use it."

A low-grade magical artifact was nothing. As long as Su Xiaofan wanted, he could cultivate it anytime.

Of course, that would require finding rare meteorites to increase repair points, which Su Xiaofan currently lacked, even for healing his own injuries.

"More materials will be delivered tomorrow, and then we'll go back to Shuangmen Village."

Jing Shizhen, who had already achieved the greatest gain from this trip, was a man of his word. He would use all his strength to seal the spatial rift, and he had already spent a lot of his own resources.

The four magical artifacts were worth at least 20 to 30 million, and in the past few days, Jing Shizhen had bought 15 million worth of Hetian white jade from his old connections in Dajiang Province.

Jing Shizhen said he would use the jade to set up a Two Instruments and Eight Trigrams Array, and use the four magical artifacts as the array's focal points to seal the spatial rift.

Su Xiaofan was a novice in cultivation, not even having learned all the techniques of his lineage, let alone array formations. He was there to learn.

During the day waiting for the materials, Su Xiaofan asked his master many questions about cultivation.

It must be said that with a master's guidance, a disciple can avoid many detours.

Jing Shizhen gave Su Xiaofan a lot of advice on the strength of force when unblocking meridians and the rhythm and frequency of true qi impact.

This greatly inspired Su Xiaofan, and the next day, he managed to unblock all the meridians required for Shenxing Qianli.

Jing Shizhen suddenly felt bad. Having such a talented disciple made him feel less accomplished as a master.

On the morning of the third day, Jing Shizhen, Su Xiaofan, and Tong Dongjie returned to Shuangmen Village.

The happiest one to return might have been the little tiger cat.

From the moment they entered the forest, the little guy slipped out of Su Xiaofan's arms and climbed a tree, disappearing in a few seconds.

Just as Su Xiaofan was a bit worried, the little tiger cat returned with an owl in its mouth, making Su Xiaofan laugh and cry at the same time.

However, he didn't scold the little guy. As a king of the forest, Su Xiaofan didn't want to turn it into a house cat, as a tiger cat with suppressed nature would never become a true extraordinary creature.

"Dongjie, the spatial rift should be in this well. I'll seal this well.

When you renovate Shuangmen Village, you need to harden this area and set up a Nine Dragons Spitting Pearls Feng Shui Array. I'll come back to guide you."

At the place where the dragon and tiger fought, Jing Shizhen carefully observed the terrain and began setting up the array.

The array Jing Shizhen set up was not something that could be done casually, but required many materials.

The first task was physical labor, and Su Xiaofan, who was still injured, avoided it.

Ordinary people couldn't stay here for long, so Jing Shizhen and Tong Dongjie had to do the work themselves, leveling the ground that was full of deep pits.

Just leveling the ground took a whole day, and both were exhausted. They didn't stay in Shuangmen Village in the evening but drove back to the hotel.

After resting for a night, they went back early the next morning. According to Jing Shizhen's estimate, they should be able to complete the sealing within three days.

However, when they arrived at the entrance to Shuangmen Village, they found a minibus parked there, and a group of people were getting off the bus.

What Su Xiaofan didn't expect was that among the group, he saw someone he knew, someone he knew very well.