Chapter 396 - Chapter 396: 365

Chapter 396: 365

“Sister!!”

Feng Luan wanted to plead again, but was obediently deterred by Feng Que’s stern gaze.

She wasn’t afraid that Feng Que would bully Xu Mu, after all, Xu Mu’s cultivation far surpassed Feng Que’s, but she just found it inconvenient to reveal this, hence her silence.

What she feared was a conflict arising between them, after all, one was her sister and the other her husband, if a conflict were to really arise, she wouldn’t know whom to side with.

Moreover, her sister was well-known for her fiery temper, being stubborn and headstrong.

If she really insisted on confronting Xu Mu, there would be nothing she could do.

Her short-temper wasn’t because she was a bad person at heart.

When they were young, their parents passed away and they depended on each other for survival. To avoid being bullied and to protect themselves, Feng Que had to become more aggressive, and over time, it became a habit.

And her well-protected younger sister, on the contrary, became weak and easily bullied.

In the end, she was dominated by Xu Mu and they had two children together.

At first, when Feng Que heard about her sister’s marriage, she opposed it strongly but due to commitments in the sect she was in, she was unable to leave.

Eventually, she found an opportunity to leave the sect to visit her sister, but always managed to miss Xu Mu.

Although their relationship was expected to be extremely explosive, due to the passage of time, they slowly accepted each other.

Of course, the main reason was that Feng Luan was not bullied but rather, lived well. Otherwise, Feng Que would not react this way.

However, Xu Mu’s mysterious disappearance over a hundred years stirred up the dissatisfaction that originally accumulated in Feng Que’s heart.

Who would abandon their wife and not return for hundreds of years?

Feng Que even tried to hint at persuading her to remarry several times, until she learned that her sister had joined the Palace of Pure Heart and was cared for by Mo Wuxin, and gradually gave up on this idea.

However, judging from Feng Que’s demeanor, there were bound to be problems when they were alone together.

“My dear, my sister has good intentions, please don’t anger her,” Feng Luan looked pitifully at Xu Mu and communicated to him via mental transmission.

“Don’t worry,” Xu Mu reassured her with a smile.

He was only at the Foundation Establishment Stage, if it wasn’t for Feng Luan, he wouldn’t care at all.

Yes, Feng Que was also at the Golden Core Stage, but unlike regular practitioners of the Golden Core stage, she obtained it through external cultivation.

She was similar to the previous Gang Leader of the Whale Sea Gang.

She relied on external forces to reach the Golden Core Stage with hardly any potential for the future.

The only advantage of this method was that it saved time and effort.

Feng Luan’s talent was very poor, and if it wasn’t for Xu Mu, it would have been a miracle for her to cultivate to the Foundation Establishment Stage.

As Feng Luan’s elder sister, Feng Que wasn’t much better, with just above-average talent. With such talent and good luck, cultivation to the Foundation Establishment Stage is possible, but the Golden Core Stage is out of the question.

Yet now, not only has Feng Que reached the Golden Core Stage, but she is also less than 150 years old. This rapid cultivation speed is on par with that of super geniuses, and it’s clearly not right.

When Xu Mu first heard about this from Feng Luan and Mo Wuxin, he realized something was wrong and specifically had Mo Wuxin investigate.

Mo Wuxin had already informed him about the investigation results.

Although Cluster Stars Sect was mysterious, certain information was impossible to hide.

Feng Que was one of the cannon fodder they strategically nurtured.

This kind of quick-success scheme for Golden Core cultivators, who consumed fewer resources, cultivated quickly, and had no potential, were perfect disposable frontliners.

Not only Cluster Stars Sect cultivated them, but Butian Pavilion and the Four Seas Immortal Palace did too, just not as extravagantly.

This method of nurturing cannon fodder Golden Core cultivators was originally developed from the Demonic Dao and was the most popular there.

Xu Mu also mastered numerous similar methods, but he simply didn’t need them.

He could manufacture Golden Core stage puppets himself, which were even more practical than cannon fodders.

Through Feng Luan, Xu Mu found out that the reason why Feng Que chose to be a cannon fodder cultivator was partly to protect Feng Luan. Only by joining the Cluster Stars Sect, could they avoid being bullied by others.

The other reason was they had no choice.

The cultivation academy itself existed to nurture these types of cannon fodder.

Most of the cultivators who were recruited met such a fate.

Speaking of which, he felt somewhat sympathetic towards Feng Que.

However, all things considered, Feng Que wasn’t exactly at a complete disadvantage.

These Golden Core cultivators brought into existence by stimuli, even though they have the lowest quality of Golden Core, are still Golden Core cultivators. Under normal circumstances, they could live for three to five hundred years without a problem.

Of course, this is the best-case scenario.

For cannon fodders like them, living until a natural death was virtually impossible.

After all, their purpose was to serve as sacrificial lambs. Once their cultivation reached its peak, they were sent to explore and treasure hunt in dangerous places.

There were many places where even a Nascent Soul could enter but never return.

Not to mention fake pill cultivators like Feng Que.

And it wasn’t just a one-time thing; as long as they survived, they had to keep carrying out these tasks.

The outcome was pretty obvious.

If you keep walking near the river’s edge, how could your shoes not get wet?

In most cases, the ability to survive two or three times is already a stroke of extreme luck. The ones who survived five or six times were considered extremely rare, not to mention ten times – that was virtually a miracle.

Xu Mu didn’t know how many times Feng Que had gone through this, but according to Feng Luan, many life-saving measures he had given her were exhausted.

Others considered him a devil, but to Feng Luan, he was more like a nurturing devil who would give numerous life-saving measures he got from Xu Mu to Feng Que, which was why she was still alive.

However, they didn’t know how long they could keep this up.

After all, there were some places even Xu Mu wasn’t sure he could survive.

Xu Mu didn’t comment on Feng Luan’s actions to help Feng Que. After all, Feng Que had also made many sacrifices for Feng Luan, so he was just returning a favor.

However, this situation obviously could not continue any longer.

On the one hand, the consumption was too large; those life-saving measures he prepared were not cheap at all.

Continuously supporting Feng Que like this was equivalent to giving benefits to Cluster Stars Sect for free.

On the other hand, he didn’t want Feng Luan to feel heartbroken. If Feng Luan continued like this, problems were bound to arise.

So, he wanted to use this opportunity to see if he could help Feng Que break free from Cluster Stars Sect.

After Feng Luan left, there were only two people left in the courtyard.

“You should already know about my sister’s situation, right?” Feng Que took the initiative to speak.

“What situation?” Xu Mu was a bit baffled.

He initially wanted to try and build a closer relationship, then subtly display some of his power to see if he could help her break free from Cluster Stars Sect.

But Feng Que’s question left him completely bewildered.

“Don’t play dumb with me; can’t you figure out something so obvious?”

Seeing Xu Mu acting oblivious, she felt so exasperated that she couldn’t hold it in.

The patience that he was displaying was unbelievable; in order to gain some resources, he could even pretend to be a tortoise.

“Older sister, why don’t we just speak plainly, we’re all family here. There’s nothing we need to hide.” Xu Mu said helplessly.

His incomprehension towards her vague words was clear.

“You, you, you…”

Feng Que was so angry she started to tremble. How could she possibly say something like this out loud?

But it looked like Xu Mu really didn’t know.

Could it be that he really was a fool?

Forget it, she might as well tell him directly. Short, sharp pain was better than long, drawn-out agony.

She wanted to make him face reality earlier to avoid any foolish actions in the future.

“Of course, it’s about Master Mo and my sister. This matter is so obvious; don’t tell me you had no clue about it.” Feng Que snorted coldly and turned her head, not wanting to see his shocked expression.

“Master Mo? Oh, you mean Brother Mo. That’s no problem!” Xu Mu smirked.

“No problem!!!!!!!!”

Feng Que turned her head around, her eyes wide with surprise as she looked at Xu Mu.