Big Data Cultivation

He had no interest in raising pets—the world was already deficient in Spiritual Energy. The bit of possessions he had accumulated was not just for his own use; his parents needed it, and it was meant for good friends too,

so where would he find the surplus Spiritual Energy to form a bond with two dogs?

When Feng Jun realized the impact Spiritual Energy could have on real society, he couldn’t help but finely attune himself to the Spiritual Energy in the air again.

It was truly…extremely scarce. If he wasn’t deliberately sensing it, he might not even be aware of it.

He initially wanted to transfer the Spirit Stone back to the mobile phone plane, as his presence in this plane meant that there was no movement on that side, and the leakage of Spiritual Energy was almost nonexistent. There was no timeline, so no one else could detect it.

But since the leak of Spiritual Energy wasn’t much, he thought about it and decided not to take any action for the moment.

For a cultivator, it was inappropriate for Xu Leigang to give up cultivation to busy himself with other matters, but as a parent, fulfilling a promise to his child was not wrong by nature and fundamentally positive.

No matter what, the information Fatty Xu came into contact with, including his way of thinking, was all from modern society.

He didn’t grow up in Donghua Country, so there was no need to make him miss an opportunity because of this.

Feng Jun sorted out his thoughts and then walked around the house to see if the Spiritual Energy had caused any other changes.

However, regrettably, he didn’t find any new anomalies for the time being.

About ten minutes later, Xu Leigang appeared at the entrance of the villa.

He completely ignored the two dogs at the entrance and knocked on the door nonchalantly.

After entering, he spoke with a smile, “Master, I’ve had some family matters these past two days…”

“Alright, I know,” Feng Jun waved his hand, cutting off his words, “Take care of the two dogs outside, have their owner take them back. If they come over again without being leashed and get killed, they have it coming!”

In theory, such incidents should be reported to the property management. However, in Peach Blossom Valley, the situation was complicated. The majority of the residents had the power to ignore property management, so issues like unleashed large dogs really weren’t considered major.

So instead of contacting property management, it was better to rely on an influential long-term resident like Xu Lei. If he was unwilling to listen, then directly killing the dog was an option. Zhu Laoda’s son could handle the subsequent trouble.

Realizing it was such a trivial matter, Lei Gang hastily agreed, also to avoid the Master dwelling on his lack of dedication to cultivation.

Property management sent someone quickly, who captured the two dogs and then put up a notice at the entrance for the dog owners to claim them.

On the third day, Feng Jun discovered another uninvited guest. A crow had taken residence on the poplar tree at the entrance of the courtyard. Sometimes, it watched the small yard intently; other times, it flew back and forth above the yard.

There were seven or eight similar villas nearby, and with the smaller ones, there were nearly thirty in total. Yet, this crow flew over only Feng Jun’s yard.

Sitting in the yard, Feng Jun observed for a long time and finally confirmed that the crow too had sensed the Spiritual Energy. Suddenly curious, he wondered if even such an ominous bird could possess spiritual awareness?

After doing some research, it turned out to be true. The intelligence of crows appeared to be quite high.

Strictly speaking, he didn’t dislike these spirited beings. Everyone loves charming creatures.

For instance, creatures like Gungun could become global internet sensations just by being adorable.

But even the landlord’s family didn’t have surplus grain. With such a small amount of Spiritual Energy, his own family and friends were barely covered, let alone animals.

So Feng Jun pondered whether he should get an air gun to take down the crow.

But before he could take any action, another species showed up in the yard—mice!

Feng Jun was aware that mice were quite intelligent, and their sensing of Spiritual Energy was not unexpected. However, his dislike for mice was deep-rooted. If the crow could be killed or let be, the mice had to die!

Killing mice was much simpler. With Feng’s skill, dealing with mice was a piece of cake—in fact, ever since his promotion to the Innate level, he could hover in the air for a short time, making it possible to deal with the crow as well.

But this was a modern community, and if he flew into the sky in broad daylight, he would become an internet sensation…right?

He was about to go out to kill the sneaky mouse when the crow in the sky folded its wings and shot towards the mouse on the ground like an arrow, with an impressive force.

Feng Jun seemed to understand its body language—Hey, buddy, dare to snatch my cultivation resources, death it is!

The mouse on the ground, not counting its tail, was already half a foot long, rather large in size. But it was unclear whether it was truly shortsighted, unable to see the distance or distracted by the Spiritual Energy, it failed to notice the sky above and was abruptly grabbed by the tail and lifted into the air by the crow.

In a panic, the mouse squeaked while desperately struggling, trying to bite the crow in retaliation.

But the crow was also very agile, flying and shaking all over, not giving the mouse any chance.

Feng Jun found the sight amusing, so he stepped out of the villa and stood in the yard to watch the crow torment the mouse.

This crow is really not just a bit clever, carrying the rat and flying for about two minutes, at a height of thirty to forty meters in the air, it released its claws, and with a plop, threw the rat towards the ground.

However, the creature’s aim was off because the flight’s momentum caused the rat to land on the road outside the villa.

Fortunately, there was no traffic at the time; otherwise, regardless of who was driving, encountering such a furry object falling from the sky would likely scare them witless.

This rat was quite large, and not light in weight, but when it hit the ground, it didn’t die immediately and was struggling laboriously.

Rats have a strong ability to heal themselves. Even though it seemed half-dead now, given a few minutes, it could likely recover enough energy to scamper into the surrounding ditches. The problem shouldn’t be too big.

The crow probably thought the same, circling in the air for a while before diving towards the ground again.

But at that moment, Feng Jun had already come out of the yard and with a flick of his hand, a gust of wind hit the rat’s head.

This was the gust from an Innate Expert. The rat’s head instantly burst open, its body shuddered, and it breathed its last.

The crow, which had been watching for passing cars, was so frightened that it braked sharply in the air and flew desperately back into the sky, crying “caw caw” in terror.

Feng Jun didn’t kill the rat out of sheer boredom but recalled an old saying from his hometown: after killing a rat and hanging it up at home, for a long time no other rats would dare enter.

Conversely, with snakes and weasels, it’s the same. Kill these animals and you mustn’t handle their corpses inside the house, or you’ll invite revenge from their kin.

Snakes taking revenge is a legend, but Feng Jun had indeed heard real accounts of weasel revenge back in his hometown.

Years ago, in a village, someone caught a young weasel in a trap, and for the following ten years or more, weasels incessantly harassed that family, to no avail even with dogs.

In the end, that family had no choice but to move away, and only then was the feud finally settled.

Of course, these tales aren’t necessarily true, but in any case, a rat’s corpse is definitely a warning to its fellows.

Feng Jun found a sturdy hemp rope, tied the dead rat up, and hung it under the eaves of the villa’s main gate.

At the moment the weather was quite cold, so the rat’s corpse would not decompose for a while, and even if it did rot, the smell would disperse into the air, and it likely wouldn’t reach an unbearable level.

The crow had already flown back and perched on the poplar tree by the entrance, cocking its head as it watched him do all of this.

Feng Jun knew well that crows eat carrion. After hanging up the rat, he turned to look at the crow, pointed at it, and then at the hanging rat, and with the flick of a finger, mimed the gesture that killed the rat.

—Don’t eat this meat, got it? Or I’ll finish you off too!

And would you believe it, the crow actually didn’t dare to touch the dead rat.

That very evening, Xu Leigang completed his cultivation of the second diagram and officially progressed to the intermediate level martial artist.

He was cultivating the Tun Na of the Eighteen Diagrams, with one advancement for every two diagrams, unlike Wang Haifeng, who was practicing the Twenty-Seven Diagrams with one advancement for every three diagrams.

After progressing, Xu Leigang was exceptionally happy. Everyone has a competitive spirit; you see, he had felt the Qi earlier than Wang Haifeng and had fewer diagrams to practice, yet he advanced later than Wang Haifeng, which had long left him feeling frustrated.

In fact, after advancing, his strength had increased even more than Wang Haifeng’s had.

Previously, their arm wrestling was evenly matched, but now Coach Wang was clearly unable to keep up.

Actually, this was not just a matter of Xu Leigang’s improvement; it was mainly because Coach Wang’s attributes were not naturally very high, and his ability to increase them was limited.

Discovering he had been caught up to, Wang Haifeng felt very imbalanced and asked the master if he was consolidated enough to begin cultivating the fourth diagram.

Xu Leigang, who usually tended toward laziness, became anxious when he heard Coach Wang say this, asserting that his sense of Qi was excellent, almost like divine help, and he felt there was no need to consolidate further. He believed there would be no issue continuing straight on to cultivate the third diagram.

Of course, Feng Jun knew in his heart that this was not divine help but the assistance of the Spirit Stone!

He rejected Fatty Xu’s request, insisting that he consolidate for at least three days, but Wang Haifeng… truly could continue.

Previously, he had given Xu Leigang a helping hand, turning a blind eye to Fatty taking advantage of the Spirit Stone’s influence. This time, he might afford Hai Feng a few days’ benefit as well.

The next afternoon, Feng Jun discovered another strange occurrence: there was yet another dead rat in the yard!

This rat was smaller than the one from yesterday, with multiple injuries on its body, both scratches and penetrations, yet its body was limp, suggesting its bones were likely shattered. Its eyes, however, were wide open, hinting at the tremendous horror it had endured before death.

As Feng Jun was examining the dead rat with a stick, a “caw caw” noise came from above, filled with triumph.

Looking up, on the poplar tree outside the gate, that crow was proudly arching its tail and stretching its neck, glancing down at him with something resembling expectation in its eyes…

(Another bonus update, as resilient as an eighteen-year-old.)