"…Hm?"
Narrowing her green eyes, Jing Yao finds the light that emanates from Jiu Sheng somewhat odd. Contained in those golden eyes is a light of affection that is akin to a mother looking at their child.
"…"
Glancing between Jing Yao and Jiu Sheng, Long Hua crudely remarks—
"Careful now, Jing, this woman is as shady as they come."
"Who are you calling shady?"
In response to Jiu Sheng's outburst, Long Hua shrugs his shoulders, and replies—
"Those who specialize in life energy may look kind at a glance, but they're some of the vilest people around. During your practitioner life, how many fields of corpses have you left in your wake, and how many rich-soiled lands had you brought to ruin?"
"…"
Twitching her lips, Jiu Sheng finds it somewhat difficult to deny this; however—
"Jing Yao and Jing Yin were both my disciples during their life as practitioners."
"Ah?"
Shaking her head in response to Jing Yao's show of surprise, Jiu Sheng adds—
"We'll talk about this later."
Opening her storage pouch, Jiu Sheng takes out a wooden sculpture.
"…"
Sensing a vast amount of wood elemental energy emanating from the sculpture, Long Hua—under normal circumstances, would definitely be happy to receive it; however—
"…Do you have anything else?"
The wooden sculpture is modeled after a Lord Tian She Zi, causing Long Hua to look towards it with a light of disgust in his eyes.
Towards the picky look on Long Hua's face, both Jiu Sheng and Xu Tian Kun can't help but look back at him with an expression of displeasure.
"You want it or not?"
"Take it or leave it."
"Ai…"
Heaving a sigh, Long Hua reluctantly raises his hand, to which, Jiu Sheng tosses the sculpture towards him.
Catching the sculpture, which has its hands behind its back, Long Hua examines it with a frown on his face.
"…"
The more he examines this sculpture, the more unpleasant his mood becomes, and eventually, Long Hua summons the phantom maw of a serpent, and tosses the item in.
As soon as the maw swallows and vanishes, the same power of the wood element emanates from Long Hua's body.
In the same instance, the lands that were once barren—in the world within his spiritual seas, undergoes a transformation, as blades of green grass, and dark trees manifest.
Clenching his fist, Long Hua spews out a sigh, and says—
"Deal then."
"Un."
Nodding her head, Jiu Sheng tosses a rolled-up piece of parchment over to Long Hua, whereas Xu Tian Kun says—
"Let's hope you don't disappoint us, you venomous snake."
Simultaneously, Jiu Sheng and Xu Tian Kun thought—
(Hmph. You think we'll let you have a treasure like that so easily?)
(The device that is used to draw spirit Qi from practitioners, it's designed to suck you dry on contact. This will be payback for before, you venomous snake!)
"…"
Not showing any hints of emotions on his face, Long Hua gives the parchment, which is a simplified map of a city—with a blueprint on the opposite side, a quick glance prior to storing it away.
Inwardly, he thought—
(Ai, anyone with a brain would be able to realize that a Core Formation realm practitioner can't possibly hope to operate an entire city's worth of mechanics on their own. Seems like I'll have to get some assistants.)
...…
Pass the hour of 12:30 PM, NPI finished making their announcements—regarding the next ruins excavation, being an event that will be livestreamed.
Upon the broadcast's conclusion, Nian Yao Yao—who is in her office, leans back in her seat with her arms raised into the air.
"Careful with that."
"Let's get the smaller things out of the way first."
As Nian Yao Yao had made the announcements personally, there is currently various camera related equipment scattered throughout the vicinity.
By the time everything was taken out of the office, the clock had already hit one PM.
Picking away at her meal, which is a cup of instant ramen, Nian Yao Yao is slurping away at her own leisure, until—
"Hm?"
A request for a video call appears on her monitor.
"…"
Seeing the name on the call, Nian Yao Yao moves her mouse, and clicks accept.
As soon as the call connects, the face of her mother, Nian Tao Tao appears.
Judging by the familiar looking wooden couch's back, along with the large dragon painting that is done in black ink, Nian Tao Tao should be in the main reception area of the Long Yue family at this time.
Pressing her cheek against the back of her hand, Nian Tao Tao frowns, and says—
[Ramen of all things? Are you even eating well?]
Downing the broth like it's a can of beer, Nian Yao Yao replies—
"I'm eating just fine. This is just an in-the-mood sort of deal."
[…]
"…"
Smiling at each other in silence for a few moments, Nian Yao Yao eventually remarks—
"You still have that painting?"
[Of course.]
Although the two share the same tastes in clothing—mainly qipaos, their tastes in interior decorations are what sets them apart.
Different from Nian Tao Tao—who prefers to have all her furniture items have an archaic appearance, Nian Yao Yao prefers pieces that look modern.
However, that's not to say that Nian Yao Yao dislikes all things archaic—as she is demonstrating by having four bonsai trees situated in the corners of her office. It's just that, she prefers them in lower numbers compared to her mother—thinking that having too many archaic items on display, would make her seem old-fashioned.
"In any case, get on with it. I still have quite a few things that I need to do."
Putting on a solemn expression, Nian Tao Tao says—
[Just to confirm the rules. So long as my side obtains more leaves than your side, you will succeed in my will—for the Long Yue family's future development, correct?]
Wanting to settle their feud once and for all, this is the idea that Nian Yao Yao had come up with, to which, she nods her head, and replies—
"If my employees are more than capable of matching up to your Moon Guards, then there won't be any more meaning to creating more of them. That is what I intend to prove with this."
At least, that's Nian Yao Yao's explanation on the surface.
Her true objective lies elsewhere, and in the ideal case scenario, Nian Tao Tao wished to feel out the former's true object through this call.
But more important than that, Nian Tao Tao had to confirm one other matter—
[Leaves obtained by Sword Saint Long, they will not count towards your side's total, correct?]
"Naturally. What's the point of having an Immortal join in on this matter?"
[…]
Towards the smile on Nian Yao Yao's face, Nian Tao Tao replies—
[They won't count, but that doesn't stop him from trying to steal what my Moon Guards had collected, does it?]
"…"
Having this pointed out, the smile on Nian Yao Yao's face vanishes, as she replies—
"Well, seems like it can't be helped. You managed to figure out my secret plan, but it's not like there's anything that you can do about it—since it's not against the rules. After all, this is a competition in the end, isn't it? Every party for themselves, as they say."
[…]
Blinking her eyes, Nian Tao Tao can't help but feel like there is something off about how obvious Nian Yao Yao is making everything seem.
[I see.]
Saying this, Nian Tao Tao disconnects the call.
"…"
Leaning back in her office chair, Nian Yao Yao stares up at the ceiling.
Having seen recordings of the battle—between the mysterious deity and Xie Lie Yang, which were taken by Zhui Yun, Nian Yao Yao can't help but feel a sense of helplessness.
(Whether it's that deity or that Immortal, neither of them are a force that this world is able to contend against. But that doesn't justify the creation of the Moon Guards… If they can be produced in a stable manner—where all are able to emerge from the artificial womb successfully, and grow up healthy, I would agree to continue this accursed Bloodline Project, but…)
Till this day, Nian Tao Tao has yet to figure out a way to do just that, and because of it, the odds of successfully creating a single Moon Guard are still incredibly low.
As a knocking sound comes from the doors, Nian Yao Yao straightens her posture, and says—
"Enter."