Feng Jun’s people returned in batches, without causing any disturbance at White Pebble Beach.

Most people were already aware that although these people had low cultivation levels, they were truly Feng Jun’s "direct line," even the bloodthirsty Yun Buyao secretly asked Gu Jiahui if she could visit the small world they were in.

As for the fact that these people’s cultivation levels had grown again, everyone was not the least bit surprised—a long time had passed, isn’t it only natural for them to improve?

The emergence of Wang Haifeng didn’t garner any attention—after all, Feng Jun had a sect behind him, so suddenly having two Golden Cores pop up wasn’t a big deal, let alone the mere Innate level.

The only ones who might have expressed doubt were the Big Bosses, but after returning, they went into seclusion again, no longer bothering Feng Jun.

In half a year, the Earth Realm had acquired a lot of new products, continuing to sell them in Kunhao.

This time, Yu Qingzhu obtained something valuable, two root servers.

The principle of root servers isn’t that complex, the key lies in whether one has the qualification to participate in the allocation of IPV6 addresses; Huaxia didn’t have root servers, mainly because they were initially excluded, lacking the qualification to participate.

It’s like the satellites in the Big Dipper System, which are more numerous than those in the GPS System—not implying a technological breakthrough, but rather the most economical and efficient channels were occupied, and those who came later had to pay the corresponding price. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Yu Qingzhu got these two root servers, clearly intending to network, and Gu Jiahui was extremely interested—after all, this scholar was so resolute about getting a Haverford scholarship that she didn’t even want to take the Qingbei recommendation.

Allowing Kunhao to enter the network age... Feng Jun didn’t have much resistance to it. Accustomed to the conveniences of the Earth Realm’s network age, he really felt a little out of place here.

As for where these two root servers came from and whether they had backdoors, Feng Jun didn’t care at all—even if there are very potent backdoors, you’d have to be able to access them first, right?

And facts proved that just having a network without related content wasn’t very significant; the difference between a local area network and the internet lies in whether the content is abundant and the vision is broad.

Feng Jun felt that without anyone providing content, these root servers were no different from home routers, except one is IPV6 and the other is a subnet IP pool.

But since they liked it, just let them tinker with it.

Ten days later, True Immortal Cang Jing sought him out. Lately, she had been enthusiastically wandering around, understanding the operation mechanism and various businesses of White Pebble Beach. But this time, she found Feng Jun for official matters.

The application for the one-yuan Water Womb had been approved, and she wanted Feng Jun to accompany her to retrieve it.

Feng Jun had resigned himself to his role as a transportation tool and naturally accompanied her to Tianqin for a trip.

Upon reaching Tianqin, he realized that the incident of Wan Qing being attacked had thoroughly fermented, even You Xuan couldn’t quell the collective anger of Jinwu, currently engaged in a fierce dispute with Wanhuan Sect.

Between Lingmu Sect and Spirit Plant Sect, a peculiar silence was maintained. Tiegu’s death in Lingmu Sect caused a huge stir but was forcibly suppressed.

Spirit Plant Sect didn’t react excessively either, though they refused to release Tiegu’s disciples and another Nascent Soul Middle Phase cultivator.

Feng Jun felt that a storm seemed to be brewing, and he... was not far from its eye.

In the end, the words "damaged True Treasure" were enough to make people covet.

After retrieving the one-yuan Water Womb, the Big Boss mysteriously surfaced again, took the Womb, and then continued to stay out of sight.

White Pebble Beach remained serene as if nothing could interfere with its operation, but if one looked closely, there seemed to be hidden currents surging beneath the calm.

A month later, True Immortal Wu Xiu of Taixu Sect stationed at White Pebble Beach handed Feng Jun an invitation card—Master Yuan had successfully formed a Nascent Soul and would hold a celebration in three months, hoping Feng Jun would attend.

Upon hearing the news of Master Yuan’s Nascent Soul formation, Feng Jun was happy, but as for attending the celebration, he thought he’d better skip it. Although this was somewhat impolite, if others knew that he’d given Master Yuan the Nascent Soul formation plan, he wouldn’t get a moment’s peace, would he?

It’s not that Feng Jun didn’t want to earn money. He felt he was no different from penniless at present, but he didn’t want to go out to promote himself—after all, those who need him will eventually come looking, why bother creating a stir?

Ultimately, doing exclusive business comes with this confidence—if you can earn money standing, why kneel?

He was indeed a bit pretentious, feeling that only when you plead, would he be willing to help; those who weren’t sincere were out of luck—this is the demeanor of most who have some skills.

However, shortly after, Elder Qing Ji informed him that Master Jiangxia from the sect felt she was close to forming her Nascent Soul and was willing to pay a hefty sum for Feng Jun to come to Jinwu to help her deduce various precautions before forming her Nascent Soul.

Feng Jun decisively refused for a simple reason—he doesn’t provide door-to-door service; if anyone wants to deduce, they should come to White Pebble Beach.

In fact, he had quite a strong impression of Master Jiangxia—coming to deduce with a Stele Fragment; it was impossible not to be impressed.

And that True Immortal Huang Shu was no easy character. Although Master Jiangxia had a tight hold on him, there was no lack of hostility in his expression.

Elder Qing Ji, upon hearing his answer, smiled indifferently, indicating that she would handle it. The location for forming a Nascent Soul in Jinwu shouldn’t be casually open to outsiders. They could be refused based on this rule alone.

More than a month passed, and Xia Nichang returned from Jinwu Sect. She had already ascended and returned to express her gratitude for the sect’s nurturing and was willing to guard the Crimson Pheonix Sect for decades if desired.

However, Xia Nichang wasn’t very interested in guarding the Crimson Pheonix Sect. It wasn’t that she was naturally heartless, but during the hundred or so years after her Golden Core Peak, she had continuously guarded the Crimson Pheonix Sect with dedication.

This time, she visited the Crimson Pheonix Sect briefly and then came to White Pebble Beach to see Feng Jun. She wanted to know if there was anything at White Pebble Beach that needed her help. If Feng Jun asked, she felt it wouldn’t be a problem to guard the place for decades.

She wanted to repay the kindness, but Feng Jun didn’t need her to guard White Pebble Beach.

There were already two True Immortals from Jinwu Sect here—Qing Ji and Jiu Wei. This was even after Wan Qing was heavily injured, and Wu Nan hadn’t descended from the Higher Realm. Otherwise, with the addition of Xia Nichang, there would be at least five True Immortals in the Jinwu Sect here.

Therefore, he suggested that after forming the Nascent Soul, it would be best for her to stay more in Tianqin to align the Nascent Soul’s aura with Tianqin. If she really wanted to help, it wouldn’t be too late to do so in fifty years—since she had the potential to reach the Emergence Stage.

No exaggeration, he genuinely believed Xia Nichang had the potential for the Emergence Stage. Despite being nearly 600 years old when forming her Nascent Soul, she reached Nascent Soul Peak at just over 400 years old. Such progress in the Lower Realm could indeed be considered "outstanding talent."

However, as they talked about it, Xia Nichang’s expression turned a bit strange. She hesitantly shared that three True Immortals were now competing to guide her, and they had secured genius-level cultivation conditions for her, including allowing her to choose her trial tasks.

No wonder everyone wants to be a genius—the treatment is different from ordinary people. Trial tasks are usually meant to temper new disciples and assess their loyalty to the sect. Now, she can choose them herself.

Feng Jun and Qing Ji exchanged glances and laughed. Qing Ji finally spoke, saying, "I asked someone to look after you a bit, but I didn’t expect them to exert so much effort. However, don’t get lazy—choose some standard tasks to complete."

Xia Nichang actually understood why she was receiving this care; it was due to the True Immortal Qian Feng. He was surprised to find Xia Nichang’s beauty exceeded his expectations and immediately ingratiated himself with her.

Of course, he wasn’t foolish enough to coerce her. Generally, cultivators choose their true companions based on mutual willingness; coercion is generally reserved for cauldrons.

Qian Feng not only recounted the rivalry among the three True Immortals but also helped Xia Nichang analyze why she was so popular. He even mentioned Feng Jun’s activities in the Lingmu Sect—discovering others’ strengths after gathering information.

The world fears the word "diligence," and he deduced that Feng Jun’s most attractive quality to everyone was his Void Ability.

Of course, True Immortal Qian Feng didn’t just praise Feng Jun; he also highlighted his own strengths—for example, how much convenience he could secure for her within Jinwu Sect.

Xia Nichang was very grateful to him. As a newly ascended novice, she needed various kinds of care and assistance. Although she had previously visited Jinwu Sect, it was with the identity of a dispatched Golden Core, meaning she couldn’t access much important information.

Anyway, Xia Nichang had a favorable impression of Qian Feng, but just favorable. Having joined Jinwu Sect, the biggest support was still Elder Qing Ji, and she wasn’t so confused as to not realize this.

Qing Ji’s suggestion to choose tasks with standard difficulty was reasonable. Being new, it’s good to maintain an appropriate balance—being too strong could make others uncomfortable, while being too weak might lead to accusations of favoritism.

Xia Nichang nodded in agreement and then shared a piece of news with Feng Jun. After the auction in the main city of the Yiyao block ended, the hype around Void Materials had subsided, and he could retrieve his Spirit Stones.

This showed her thoughtfulness, knowing that Feng Jun currently wanted to keep a low profile, so she helped gather some information.

Feng Jun also felt that the hype around the Speculator might have slightly diminished. After all, such attention could never entirely fade unless he grew to the Emergence Stage or transferred the Speculator to someone else.

However, when he approached the Big Boss, he received no response, only being told that they were busy. So he could only wait a few days—since the Big Boss’s cultivation level had gradually recovered and had helped him a lot, he had become accustomed to its presence.

Three days later, after the Big Boss concluded its cultivation, it informed him he could leave. So Feng Jun called Liu Yiyi and set off for a trip to Tianqin.

This time, he took along Xia Nichang, as well as Cang Jing and True Immortal Qing Ji, leaving only Wu Xiu, Hua Sheng, and True Immortal Jiu Wei at White Pebble Beach, which should be sufficient to guard the place.

(Updated to summon monthly tickets.)