Chapter 3886
Translator: Silavin & Danny
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
A few days later, the orchard closed down and all the Workers returned to the Worker’s Room. Dié You and Old Fang went straight to Yang Kai’s house, but they could not find him. After they contacted each other, they learned that Yang Kai was in the Manager’s Room where Zhou Zheng lived before.
They did not doubt him anymore. Since Yang Kai dared to live in the Manager’s Room, he definitely had the authority. Furthermore, someone had been spreading the news among the Workers that Yang Kai was taking up the position of Orchard Manager.
Both Old Fang and Dié You swore that they did not leak anything. As such, Yang Kai guessed that Du Ru Feng must be the person behind it, in order to get everyone ready for the announcement in a few days, so that it would not be too abrupt for them.
Yang Kai would go to the shopping district to collect worms from various Spirit Lands every month, feeling completely motivated. However, because of the matter of Old Xu now, he was not in a mood anymore. For the whole day, he was dreadfully anxious, fearing that he would be implicated when the battle started in Seven Wonders Land.
He started a promising business with the aid of Great General, but now it seemed that it was not meant to last long.
He was demotivated, so he asked Dié You and Old Fang to go to the shopping district by themselves. After all, Yang Kai did not have many Open Heaven Pills left after buying the Third-Order Stainless Golden Dew for Dié You, and he needed them to pay for it anyway.
Dié You and Old Fang could not understand why Yang Kai seemed depressed after being promoted to a Seven Wonders Land disciple and taking over the position of Orchard Manager, but it was inappropriate for them to ask in detail. Therefore, they left and went to the shopping district to negotiate with the agents of the six other Spirit Lands.
Not long after the two left, a Worker came to visit Yang Kai.
Yang Kai did not know his name, and had never even met him before.
Seeing that Yang Kai was living in the Manager’s Room and wearing a Seven Coloured Robe, it was obvious that the news spread around was not just a groundless rumour.
Since the person-in-charge had changed, the Workers at the bottom of the pyramid naturally wanted to build a good relationship with Yang Kai.
Yang Kai saw Workers for the rest of the day. There were nearly a thousand Workers in the Worker’s Room, so even if only ten percent of them visited, it would be around hundred people. In order to build a good relationship, gifting was the most common practice.
The Workers were all poor, and they could not afford valuable gifts. As such, Open Heaven Pills were the most suitable gift from them. Each of them gave Yang Kai about five to ten pills, so he obtained quite a large amount in the end.
After three days, Yang Kai had met countless Workers, and received more than 5,000 Open Heaven pills.
It was hard for Yang Kai to reject the gifts from the Workers, otherwise it would seem impolite. During the daytime, Yang Kai met the Workers and received gifts from them, while at night he fed worms to Great General together with Dié You and Old Fang. His empty pockets were suddenly filled up again.
Three days later, before going to the orchard, Du Ru Feng visited in person and announced that Yang Kai had taken over the position of Orchard Manager. Not many people were surprised, but everyone was satisfied with it.
During the ceremony, Yang Kai naturally made an impassioned speech in front of Du Ru Feng and vowed to ensure that he would manage the orchard well. Du Ru Feng added a few words of encouragement and then dismissed the crowd.
After arriving at the orchard, Yang Kai went straight to the solitary mountain in the center of the orchard. He came here with Du Ru Feng before to eavesdrop, so this place was not unfamiliar to him.
With the Orchard Manager Token in his hand, the Grand Array of the entire orchard was under his control. Since he was still new to being an Orchard Manager, he was not familiar with many things; therefore, he only managed to straighten things out and started to understand the tasks of a Manager after several busy days.
The management of the orchard could be relaxing, but it could also be tough. When there was nothing to do, Yang Kai could just patrol around, but during busy hours, he had to assist the Workers of each orchard in taking care of the fruit trees. There was a lot of busy work.
A few days later, Yang Kai used his authority as Orchard Manager to transfer Old Fang and Dié You to his side in the name of assisting him in managing the orchard, and their sites were subsequently given to the other people to take care of.
Dié You and Old Fang were notably uncomfortable about this decision; after all, even Zhou Zheng had never used his power so blatantly for his personal gain when he was in charge before. Therefore, they persuaded Yang Kai to keep a low profile to avoid stirring up discontent with Du Ru Feng.
Yang Kai was too lazy to care about this though. Since Du Ru Feng had ill intentions for him, he would not mind such minor things. On the contrary, Seven Wonders Land was still so quiet after Old Xu disappeared for many days, which made Yang Kai anxious. He preferred Old Xu to cause trouble as soon as he arrived; however, the calm before the storm truly stressed him.
No one knew when Old Xu would start making trouble, or what situation Seven Wonders Land would be in at that time.
Old Fang and Dié You had been treating Yang Kai well since he arrived here half a year ago, so although he could not tell them about the crisis of Seven Wonders Land, he could keep them close by. In case anything happened, it would be convenient for them to take care of each other.
Since Old Fang and Dié You could not persuade Yang Kai, they had no choice but to help him manage the orchard quietly. Because of this, Yang Kai had nothing to do anymore.
Yang Kai thought that Old Xu would act soon, but after three months, nothing happened in Seven Wonders Land, and Old Xu did not come to look for Yang Kai again. If it were not for the faint but persistent uneasiness in his heart, Yang Kai really would have thought that Old Xu had left Seven Wonders Land.
However, Seven Wonders Land was completely covered by a Grand Array, and Old Xu only managed to get in with Yang Kai’s help; therefore, it was impossible for him to leave so quietly.
On this day, Yang Kai was playing chess with Old Fang when suddenly, he felt something and took an object out of his pocket. He examined it quietly, then explained, “Du Ru Feng is summoning me. I’ll be right back.”
Old Fang nodded, “En, come back quickly.”
Yang Kai dropped his chess pieces, went out of the door, and soared into the sky.
After a while, he came to Du Ru Feng’s residence and entered the hall. He saw Du Ru Feng standing there looking at him with a smile.
Over the past three months, Du Ru Feng summoned him to come over from time to time to ask about the orchard, and Yang Kai reported everything to him truthfully. He had done a good job in managing the orchard these months, so he did not have to be afraid of anything.
Every time when he came, Du Ru Feng was alone.
But this time was different. There were three people in the hall today, one was Du Ru Feng and the other was a young man he had never seen. As soon as Yang Kai came in, this man swept his eyes over him like a greedy poisonous snake, which made Yang Kai feel extremely uncomfortable. His gaze was full of examination, and with a trace of interest.
The two were standing, while the last one was sitting at the head of the hall. It was Duan Hai, the Venerable Protector of Fire Spirit Land!
Yang Kai turned solemn, and hurriedly cupped his fists, “Greetings, Venerable and Senior Brother Du!”
Since Duan Hai brought him to Fire Spirit Land last time, Yang Kai had not seen him again. Yang Kai had no idea why Duan Hai appeared here today. Yang Kai instinctively felt something was wrong, wondering if Old Xu was caught, and got himself involved. If so, Old Xu was truly useless.
“Is this him?” The young man whom Yang Kai did not know suddenly asked an inexplicable question.
Du Ru Feng answered, “It’s him!”
“There’s nothing special about him. How could he be so lucky?” The man chuckled.
Du Ru Feng continued, “This Junior Brother has no idea. You should ask him yourself.”
Yang Kai was confused, and asked suspiciously, “Senior Brother Du, this is...”
Du Ru Feng introduced, “This is Senior Brother Yu Lian. He was in retreat previously, and just came out, so you haven’t seen him yet.”
“So it is Senior Brother Yu!” Yang Kai saluted with his fists cupped, “Greetings, Senior Brother Yu!”
Yu Lian grinned, “Junior Brother Yang, right? Are you interested in guessing what I did in my previous retreat?”
[Why would I be interested? Is this guy crazy?] Yang Kai secretly felt disgruntled about him, but he still answered, “This Junior Brother has no clue. Please enlighten me, Senior Brother!”
Yu Lian smiled lightly, “If a cultivator wants to be promoted to the Open Heaven Realm, he needs to condense the power of Yin, Yang, and Five Elements. This Senior Brother first condensed his Yin and Yang Elements, then moved on to the Five Elements. Among the Five Elements, the first one I condensed was the Fire Element. Fire supports Earth, Earth generates Metal, and Metal begets Water... The last time I went into retreat was to condense my Water Element.”
Yang Kai calculated quietly and was secretly surprised. This guy was a Half-Step Open Heaven Realm Master, and only needed one Element to complete his breakthrough, “Senior Brother seems to be in a good condition, so I assume the last retreat was successful. Now Senior Brother is only one step away from the Open Heaven Realm. Congratulations, Senior Brother!”
“Good, just one last step!” A hint of fanaticism flashed in Yu Lian’s eyes, “But how many people have been stopped because of this one last step? Junior Brother, this Senior Brother doesn’t mind letting you know that the materials that I condensed were all Fourth-Order!”
“Then if Senior Brother breaks through to the Open Heaven Realm, he would be a Fourth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master? There would be another Master in our Seven Wonders Land! It is truly a blessing for us!”
“En, but it is hard to find Fourth-Order Open Heaven materials. Even with Seven Wonders Land’s resources, if I want to find the right one, I have no idea how long I have to wait. I’m afraid it will take hundreds of years or even longer.” Yu Lian let out a long sigh.
“With Venerable’s ability, Senior Brother definitely could find a suitable one.”
Yu Lian turned to glance at Duan Hai, and carried on with a smile, “We shouldn’t bother Venerable with such a small matter. I just need Junior Brother to help me.”
Chills ran up Yang Kai’s back as he felt something wrong, “Junior Brother is incompetent. May I know what I can do to help?”
Yu Lian leaned forward slightly, and gazed at him solemnly, “Junior Brother just needs to contribute his Wood Element!”
Hearing this, Yang Kai was taken aback. His previous doubts were finally answered! No wonder after helping to collect the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame, Du Ru Feng had been treating him well. It turned out that they were eyeing his Wood Element.
Although Yang Kai had speculated about it for a long time, he was not sure until now when his suspicions were confirmed. Everything had started on the day when he was forced to release his Dao Seal in front of Du Ru Feng.
Promoting him to be an Orchard Manager and asking him to hunt down Fang Tai were nothing but treating him like a pawn that could be abandoned. If his Wood Element was really taken away, Yang Kai guessed that his end would be miserable.
“Is that so!” As Yang Kai’s words fell, he had already punched forward. He surged his Space Principle and teleported out directly from his original place without even hesitating.