CHAPTER 582: CHAPTER 592: SHOCKING THE WHOLE AUDIENCE

"This is merely my duty, I dare not accept such high praise from Manager Chu," said Wu, his face cold and proud. He quickly changed the subject. "Manager Chu, do you still remember your promise to us? My medicine fields have already produced more than one-third surplus. How about your medicine fields?"

Quite the character, this Wu Ming, always so exceedingly proud.

After showing off his brilliant results, he actually turned the tables on Chu Feng.

Administrative Officer Cheng’s face showed a schadenfreude smile; he was eager for Chu Feng to make a fool of himself.

He was even more pleased to see the Big Chiefs under Chu Feng start infighting with him.

Fang Zhengda and others also looked at Chu Feng with mocking eyes. Wu Ming, being the most formidable among the three Big Chiefs, if he really outperformed Chu Feng, what face would Chu Feng have to demand anything from them in the future?

"Wu Ming, don’t be presumptuous in front of Manager Chu!" Zhong Hong jumped out again to show loyalty and defended Chu Feng’s authority. "Manager Chu’s skills are significant, not something we Big Chiefs can compare."

"Zhong Hong, stand down!"

Chu Feng raised his hand to stop Zhong Hong from continuing to rant.

"What should happen if I beat you?" Chu Feng pressed Wu Ming with his gaze.

Longevity Hall has opened, and it always needs more capable subordinates. If he could subdue Wu Ming and make him willingly loyal, then the medicinal herbs needed for alchemy at Longevity Hall in the future would be secured.

Dan State is a natural habitat for medicinal herbs.

Sooner or later, Chu Feng would return to Dan State and turn it into his own herbal garden. At that time, he could appoint Wu Ming to take charge.

It’s necessary to prepare early, securing good generals in advance.

Living through a second life, Chu Feng took every step very carefully and more steadily, ensuring he would not make the same low-level mistakes as in his previous life, like capsizing in the gutter.

"The Saint once said, always plan for the worst in all things, for that is the best strategy! Can Manager Chu guarantee he will certainly win?"

"To my knowledge," Wu Ming boasted confidently, "Manager Chu has hardly spent any time managing the medicinal herbs for most of the past six months. Only in this recent half-month has he been tending to the medicine fields diligently. Even with your great skills, I’m afraid it might be hard to defeat me."

"And what if you lose?"

Wu Ming is very talented, no small feat, his temperament is extremely arrogant.

He has been closely monitoring Chu Feng’s movements these past six months, believing in knowing himself and his enemy, he could win every battle.

He thought that since Chu Feng had hardly spent any time managing the medicinal herbs, there was no way he could be a match for him.

"If I lose, this position of Manager is yours, and I will serve under you! If you lose, from then on, you will serve as my Sword Slave!"

Chu Feng, being the reincarnation of the Eternal Life Pill Master, if he were to lose the skills of cultivating medicinal herbs to one of his subordinates, his previous life would have been lived in vain.

Surrounded by countless onlookers, he was too lazy to mince words and directly proposed the conditions.

"Fine, just as Manager Chu says! If I, Wu Ming, lose, I will willingly serve as your Sword Slave, never to betray you. If you lose, the position of Manager is mine, and you will serve under me," agreed Wu Ming boldly to Chu Feng’s terms.

The expression on Master Cheng The Third’s face became slightly gloomy and uncertain, his eyes flickering.

"This Chu fellow is cunning and full of tricks. Now to so readily say that if he loses to Wu Ming, he will give up the Manager position and serve under Wu Ming. He wouldn’t dare agree without being somewhat certain of victory."

"Mao Wu Mountain Master had ordered me to come to Chu Feng’s medicine field two days early to collect medicinal herbs, even laying down a strict order to do everything possible to make Chu Feng’s performance fall short. Now it seems, things might be difficult. This fellow, it seems he still has a backup plan."

Thinking this, Administrative Officer Cheng’s gaze at Zhong Hong carried some dissatisfaction.

Being Mao Wu Mountain Master’s spy planted next to Chu Feng, how could such crucial information not be reported back?

If that Chu fellow really turned the tables and they ended up getting slapped in the face, it wouldn’t just be him, the Chief Clerk, suffering; even the Mountain Master Mao Wu behind him would be in trouble.

Chu Feng’s performance barely met the standards, and this was the result of Administrative Officer Cheng’s exhaustive efforts to suppress him.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t have just met the standards, but would have exceeded them.

It would have been enough to turn in an impressive performance.

Mao Wu Mountain Master, in order to prevent Chu Feng from succeeding as a Manager, also invested heavily. Because Chu Feng being the Manager under him, if the performance is good, Mao Wu Mountain Master also benefits.

If the performance is poor, it might very likely drag down the progress of Medicine Mountain No. 106.

Mao Wu, by intentionally cutting down Chu Feng’s performance, is akin to harming himself.

...

A group of people, led by Chu Feng, quickly arrived at his medicine field. The area was not particularly large.

The field was even covered by towering trees blocking the sunlight, making it hard to imagine how such a field could produce good medicinal herbs?

A sarcastic smile appeared on Master Cheng The Third’s face.

"This, these are Black God Mushrooms?"

When he saw the herbs planted in the field, he couldn’t help but widen his eyes.

He kept rubbing his eyes, over and over again.

"Although Black God Mushroom belongs to the rare medicinal herbs that are extremely difficult to cultivate, as long as the environment is damp and shady, it’s not too difficult. Manager Chu has only been cultivating them for half a year; it’s almost impossible for him to surpass my four thousand-year-old medicinal herbs."

The tone and demeanor of Wu Ming were quite arrogant.

Chu Feng smiled and walked into the medicine field. He did not need any help from Administrative Officer Cheng’s subordinates, but personally dug up two of the best Black God Mushrooms.

"These two Black God Mushrooms, please inspect them, Administrative Officer Cheng!" The two Black God Mushrooms that Chu Feng dug out were precisely those that he had used special fertilizer on and personally watered out of the eleven.

The rest, he was reluctant to hand over to the Sect.

Instead, he planned to keep them for his own use.

As a Manager, he still had that privilege. In fact, not only could a Manager like him privately keep some medicinal herbs for personal use, even ordinary Medicine Farmers could as well.

However, the Sect has performance requirements for every Medicine Farmer.

It’s pretty good for ordinary Medicine Farmers to meet their performance targets. They generally don’t have any extra medicinal herbs to keep for personal use.

If the performance doesn’t meet the standards, the Sect has rather harsh penalties.

If they exceed the performance targets, the Sect also provides pretty good rewards.

Thus, very few people keep medicinal herbs for personal use. Even if they do, it requires carefully cultivating for over a decade, or even longer.

These low-level Medicine Farmers are generally very poor. They cannot afford the pricey Elixirs.

To push their cultivation to the next level, they opt for the most economical methods.

For instance, to attempt reaching the Sword Saint Realm, they grow their own main medicinal herbs for over a decade or several decades. Then they dig out that main medicinal herb, buy some needed auxiliary medicinal herbs, and ask the Pill Master to concoct for them.

This way, if the concoction is successful, it indeed saves a lot of money.

"These two Black God Mushrooms have actually reached a Hundred-year-old maturity!" Master Cheng The Third’s gaze was fixed on the two Black God Mushrooms.

It’s one thing to have grown the exceedingly difficult Black God Mushroom in less than a year, but to also have them reach a Hundred-year-old maturity. Could this young man surnamed Chu be practicing sorcery?