"Why are you the only ones back? Where are the others?"
Takeshita hurried back and saw that there were only five seagoing monks on the receiving boat, and his mood suddenly sank to the bottom.
"Takeshita-senpai, it's just us."
"Everyone else... died in the battle."
The monk on the boat lowered his head and said sadly.
"Where are Ji Zhang, Chun Ying and Matsuoka?"
Takeshita was stunned for a moment and asked.
"Three seniors... also died."
Upon hearing this answer, Takeshita was absent-minded for a while. After a while, he asked: "Hongji, tell me, how did they die?"
Hong Er raised his head and replied: "Both adults, Ji Zhang and Chun Ying, acted alone. We didn't see the specific fighting process in person, so we don't know much about it. Senior Matsuoka accidentally hit a trap while chasing Zhao Lin and died."
Takeshita stumbled back two steps, looked back at Cheng Huazong's magnificent ship, and felt helpless in his heart. Without saying anything, he waved the guard to sail the ship.
…
Zhao Lin chatted with Chu Hongtian for a few words, then wisely stepped aside and gave the spotlight to others.
Chu Hongtian met Chao Duan, Du Zhen and others one by one, and said some words of encouragement. When he was excited, he ordered his men to take out the spirit wine, set the table and invite everyone to drink together.
Everyone couldn't refuse, so they drank a few drinks with him.
Chu Hongtian drank most of the jar of wine and still had unfinished thoughts.
With the help of alcohol, he asked the guards to sail the ship to the waters under the jurisdiction of the Di An Sect, and swaggered through the market with great fanfare, and even beat the war drum.
Dong dong dong...
The sound of war drums could be heard far away. The guards on the Di An Sect island thought that the Cheng Hua Sect was going to attack the island. They were so frightened that they quickly gathered their ships and reported the news to the island owner Iishane.
After a while, a ship from the Di An Sect came quickly.
There was a purple-robed monk standing on the bow of the ship. He said angrily before he even got close: "Island Master Chu, what do you mean by this? Are you going to start a war if you invade our sect's waters for no reason?"
If in normal times, Chenghua Sect occasionally crossed the line, Jing Shigen would probably tolerate it.
But he had just learned a moment ago that during this mission, the sect had lost three Pearl Beaches, and all the realm-changing monks had died. He was in a furious mood, how could he endure it?
Chu Hongtian ignored Jing Shigen, looked around and asked, "Where is this?"
Gan Xingquan stepped forward and said, "Back to the island master, this is twenty miles east of Chiwei Island."
"Why did you drive here?"
Chu Hongtian said with a slight reproach, turning to look at Jing Shigen, "Sorry, we are lost."
Jing Shigen's face twitched when he heard this, "Lost? Are you still beating the war drum when you are lost?"
Chu Hongtian picked up the wine glass and downed it in one gulp, and said drunkenly: "What war drum? I'm in a good mood today. I just drink and play drums to cheer up. Master Jing Island must be thinking too much."
Jing Shigen took a deep breath, tried to calm down, and said in a deep voice: "In this case, Lord Chu, please leave quickly to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings."
As he spoke, his eyes swept across the crowd, and finally settled on Zhao Lin's face.
Zhao Lin looked back, deliberately raised his arm, and showed the captured eyebrow knives to the other party.
This move was tantamount to adding fuel to the fire. Jing Shigen's eyebrows stood up and his face became terrifyingly gloomy.
Zhao Lin didn't take it seriously. Anyway, he had already offended the Di An Sect severely, and there was no less a monk in the Purple Mansion Realm who hated him to the core.
"Let's go home."
Chu Hongtian yawned and gave an order. The ship moved in response, parted the sea and headed west of Chiwei Island.
Not long after, everyone returned to the island.
Chu Hongtian sent two scribes to talk to the monks who went to sea one by one and record the progress of the mission.
If you are just collecting spirit beads, there is no need to go to such trouble. You can simply calculate the number of spirit beads.
However, the recapture of Pearl Beach this time was of great importance, and detailed records must be left, and good deeds must be distributed according to merit.
After Zhao Lin finished writing the notes, he handed over the spirit beads, eyebrow knife, lock bag and other items.
He kept three things for himself: Ji Zhang's black clothes bag, Chunying's silver dragon whip, and Matsuoka's eight-sided ancient mirror.
The three magic weapons all came from foundation-building monks, and Zhao Lin was not willing to exchange them for spiritual stones.
"Goodbye, Fellow Daoist Zhao!"
"Brother Zhao, see you later."
Du Zhen, Chang Jianqiu and others left the island one after another. Before leaving, they all came to say goodbye to Zhao Lin and exchange a few words.
They knew very well that with Zhao Lin's combat power, even if he could never break through the foundation, he would become a figure like Miao Kefa, so they naturally wanted to make friends.
After sending everyone away, the guard came over and informed Zhao Lin that the island owner had summoned him.
Zhao Lin was planning to talk to Chu Hongtian about the Lingzhu monopoly, so he followed the guards to the island owner's mansion.
"Little friend Zhao, you really impress me."
Chu Hongtian looked at Zhao Lin carefully and said in a tone of admiration and surprise.
He was not shocked that the Di An Sect exploited a loophole and sent three realm-changing monks out to sea, but that Zhao Lin actually killed them all.
What kind of combat power is this?
If it weren't for the unanimous consensus among the monks who went out to sea, he would have even thought it was a fabricated matter.
"Among the three realm-changing monks you killed, I recognize the monk named Matsuoka. When I was still in the foundation-building realm, I fought against this man. He was an extremely difficult character to deal with."
Chu Hongtian looked solemn, "In terms of combat power, even if his realm is downgraded, he is still stronger than most early-stage foundation-building monks. It's really amazing that you can kill him!"
"The island owner is overly complimentary."
Zhao Lin said modestly, "Actually, in a head-to-head confrontation, this junior is definitely no match for this person. He only succeeded by luck with the help of mechanisms."
"Another fluke."
Chu Hongtian did not dwell on this issue, and then said with a calm look on his face: "I came to you for two things. First, you took the most credit for recovering Zhutan this time. If you count it according to your merits, you will take half of it. Not many good deeds either.”
"However, there are a total of more than a dozen people performing the task, and the difference in rewards is too big to justify. There are also four formation mages, and their contributions are not insignificant."
"Do you think this will work? Each of the four formation masters will get 2,000 good deeds, and the remaining eight people will each get half a percent, which is 1,500 good deeds."
"My little friend has won ten thousand meritorious deeds, how about it?"
"It all depends on the arrangement of the island owner!"
Zhao Lin agreed happily, "Ten thousand good deeds are enough to exchange for a foundation-building pill. How can this junior not be satisfied?"
Chu Hongtian laughed when he heard this, "Then I'll be relieved. Also, you killed thirteen underground secret sect monks. I promised you three times the reward before, which means you get six hundred good deeds for killing each one. Calculating the total, That’s seven thousand eight hundred good deeds.”
"But, there are three realm-changing monks among these people. It's unfair to count them with ordinary monks. Let me just give you a round number, which is also ten thousand good deeds."
Zhao Lin quickly saluted and said: "Thank you very much, Island Master!"
I couldn't help but sigh in my heart. In the past, I thought it was out of reach to accumulate the 10,000 good merits required for the Foundation Establishment Pill. How could I have imagined that I could get 20,000 good merits in this mission? It was like a dream. (End of chapter)
