Chapter 417 Si Fang's Attemp
"Now!" He Rong shouted as he grabbed Si Fang's hand and used himself to throw his senior upwards. They had barely passed a quarter of the vertical tree climb when Shu began disrupting the group of four store owners that challenged it.
He Rong was stuck in a growing number of vines that appeared suddenly from the tree trunk. The only thing he could remember was that he stepped on something slightly slippery and all of a sudden, the vines grabbed him as if it was about to devour him. The only thing he could do now was to assist his other teammates.
The Sakura Treant had also summoned his pet Praying Mantis to attack the group though Lai Fu stayed back, intercepting it early on so the other three could continue their ascend. Unlike the fight against Jin, the Praying Mantis merely upset their tempo and did not aim exclusively at Lai Fu's vitals.
The general store owner initially thought he would be a goner when he recalled the brief fight the mantis had with Jin, but after some exchanges of blows (blades?), he assumed that the Wunder Pandits did adjust its difficulty for their group.
Si Fang then grasped the chance that He Rong assisted him with in order to grab a branch sprouting from the side of the trunk. Ke Ru was the only one that was still able to move in pace with Si Fang until Lai Fu shouted at them to be careful. The Pet Praying Mantis had used a feint to disengage him and was chasing after them.
"Not so fast, you nasty insect!" Lai Fu concentrated the chi in his arm and launched his two handed sword towards the Praying Mantis which the mantis noticed barely in time to dodge it. While it did not do any damage to it, it made the mantis stopped at its track, buying more time for his two friends. He Rong tried to do the same though, but the Praying Mantis was able to deflect that one attack with style.
Feeling breathless quickly from the climbing, Si Fang knew that he was very out of shape. Even Ke Ru had better stamina than him (Especially as a floor manager who had to run about operating at the frontlines of Wacdonald.) "Ke Ru, when we reach the next branch, I will boost you up and deter the mantis!" He sent a telepathy chi message to her to conserve his stamina.
Ke Ru acknowledged his help and when both cultivators ran and jumped again to grab onto a large branch, Si Fang quickly shifted himself to Shu's trunk. Meanwhile, Ke Ru ran to the other end of the branch before sprinting towards Si Fang. As she was running, the Cafe Boss mentally prepared himself to boost Ke Ru further upwards especially when his senior activated her Hunting Hog cultivation, and two hog silhouettes appeared above her.
"You are not THINKING OF--?!!!" Si Fang shouted while closing his eyes the instant Ke Ru began charging at him. All he could do was to hope that his hands would not be trampled so badly by the Hunting Hog Charge. Ke Ru utilised all her powers into her legs and stepped onto Si Fang's clasped hands while he boosted her as far as he could.
Even though his hands were hurting, he unsheathed his sword and prepared to intercept the Praying Mantis. But as luck would have it for him, he peered over the branch a little too far, causing him to lose balance and fall.
The only thing he could think was to change the trajectory of his fall to at least hinder the Praying Mantis. However… things did go as he had imagined. The Praying Mantis dodged his fall quickly without losing a beat and even giggled at him before flying upwards. (That Mantis giggled! Such evil mantis!)
"I GOT IT!" Ke Ru grabbed onto a prize ticket, and Shu whacked his Praying Mantis for wasting too much time being distracted. The group laughed a little except for Si Fang who nearly had a heart attack for falling from such a height. The Wunder Pandits rescued him in time and eventually the others who later crowded around Ke Ru to see the prize ticket.
"Four Bottles of Spiritual Essence and 20 Panda Medals. Boss Jin, what is this Spiritual Essence?" He Rong asked and Jin told them not to ask and just redeem it at the corner where there was a small redemption cart which had a tree growing from the side of its cart.
The Wunder Pandit gave them the bottles and told them to drink it immediately so that they could recycle the bottle. Hence, the store owners did what was asked of them, and suddenly, their bodies turned burning hot except for Si Fang's.
It was so abrupt that Lai Fu, He Rong and Ke Ru immediately went into their cultivation stance and started to cultivated right beside the redemption cart. They could feel their entire body pulsating with spiritual energy and their chi points were clot free. Jin looked at Si Fang who felt left out and asked how was his body feeling.
"Nothing at all. There was a tingly warm feeling after drinking it, but other than that, I do not feel anything special." Si Fang said regretfully and he could see that his friends were all pumping hot with chi in them.
In less than a minute, two of them advanced their cultivation. A set of three Hunting Hog silhouettes snorting above He Rong and Ke Ru's head while Lai Fu had three sharply defined shark fin's silhouettes hovering at the top of his head until a shark jumped up to show its shiny jaws before returning back into the 'sea' of chi.
He Rong and Ke Ru advanced to Grade Two while Lai Fu finally reached the peak of Grade 4, not stagnating at a measly Grade 4.
"What is this?! Some miracle drug? A potion of advancement cultivation grade?!" Lai Fu exclaimed loudly, which attracted the attention of other cultivators and the seasoned ones laughed mildly.
"No no, it is a bottle of stored spiritual essence. Killing monsters in my dungeons usually allows your body to absorb some spiritual powers from it, unlike other dungeons suppliers. I have somehow managed to convert these spiritual powers into drinkable essences." Jin said and their mouth opened wide in disbelief.
"It's not something new, trust me. The traditional Dungeon Suppliers have done it before. I am merely able to replicate it… at a higher quantity." Jin smiled as they all clapped in approval.
"However, the quality of the store essence is not that prominent, especially at higher cultivation grades. At higher levels, it feels more like a power drink, granting the ability to keep their chi moving, something like how Si Fang had described when he drank it." Jin said, and the rest had shifted their attention towards Si Fang.
"It's most effective at lower cultivation grades. Though I should add that it is supposed to be used as a supplement and not to increase one's grades. You know, the whole deal about proper foundation of cultivating and stuff." Jin went on but the group's attention maintained at Si Fang.
"Are you keeping any secret from us, Junior?" Ke Ru folded her arms and stared at Si Fang. He panicked a while before adamantly denying.
"I …I…never did any cultivation training since that incident. I swear! I've no idea why the drink was ineffective on me!" Si Fang said which made Jin laughed.
"I am sorry that I teased you. Such instances may happen for some people who have deviated from an established cultivation path. For example, Xiong Da, one of our Pandawans, his cultivation threshold is crazy high. He was a basic Grade 4 when I last saw him but his powers could rival a Grade 5P, heck maybe a Grade 6 too." Jin pondered as he examined at Si Fang from top to toe.
"Maybe Boss Si Fang might have accidentally cultivated the Hunting Hog cultivation slightly different from what he was taught. His cultivation may have turned into a variant one without him realising, especially if he has not actively done any cultivation for some while." Jin inferred, but in actual fact, he had already taken a look at the statistical page and found that it was not called the Hunting Hog style anymore.
Instead, it was the Haunting Hog Style.
This may also explain why he himself always seemed to have such unlucky streaks even though it boosted his teammates' luck. After all, the prize ticket that they received was considered as one of the rare higher tier prizes that one could earn from the Sakura Treant Climbing Challenge.
Jin also noticed during the previous fight that Si Fang's silhouettes was more of a spectral form compared to the Hunting Hogs his fellow cultivators displayed. However, for the time being, Jin decided to keep quiet about it and let the group figure out themselves or else he might be in trouble if Si Fang's team keep winning those high tier prizes.
"Aww, its alright Senior. You will get there and with more training with us, you might be able to figure out your cultivation style." He Rong patted his Senior's back.
"Figure what out? Isn't he cultivating the same as us? Maybe he has too many clotted chi points for the essence to work properly." Ke Ru jokingly said.
As they were laughing at Si Fang's demise, suddenly the entire WunderPanda theme park went completely dark. The Wunder Pandits who were working, stopped all the rides and brought the cultivators who were enjoying the rides back to safety. Even the monsters who were patronising the park assisted and everyone was wondering what was happening.
"Boss Jin, is something wrong with the dungeon instance?" Lai Fu asked and Jin shook his head as he pointed his finger upwards. From afar, everyone could vaguely recognise the jingling sounds that were coming from the skies.
"Ho Ho Ho Ho~!" The deep booming voice reverberated throughout the entire WunderPanda Theme Park, but it sounded more ominous than the usual ones the cultivators were used to. It was then that the cultivators saw the guest monsters taking out their weapons and smirking at one another which prompted them to follow suit.
The reindeers eventually came into sight, pulling the sledge and the figure on it. Wunder Pandits then shone a beam of bright light on him whenever he passed over them revealing that Santa Claus was not the kind Santa they all seemed to expect. His eyes were glowing eerily blue in colour, and his beard seemed sinisterly alive. Even his reindeers looked demonised with broken horns and scaly patches on their fur.
Santa the Fallen subsequently conjured and threw a snowball large enough to bury the Wunder Pandits making their light source to disappear until the next one would shine some light on him, repeating the cycle. There were sounds of horrors by the cultivators when they saw what the rotten santa did to the Wunder Pandits.
In addition, possessed clockwork toy soldiers crawled out of the snowball armed with swords, spears, guns and other assortments of weapons. Weirdly enough, they looked more like Spartans than traditional clockwork toy soldiers although they still retained their toy like appearances with plastic joints and moulded eight packs.
The Toy Spartans immediately went into formation, and it was obvious that they were protecting the snowball from being destroyed. After throwing the snowballs, Santa the Fallen repeated that creepy Ho Ho Ho tune before shouting at the cultivators and monsters in the WunderPanda Theme park.
"I have checked my list twice. All of you Naughty children! No presents for any of you!" Santa The Fallen said as he continued to ride in circles, enjoying the scenery from above.
"EMERGENCY EVENT! SAVE WUNDERPANDA FROM SANTA!" Everyone's Pandamonium Apps were beeping like crazy as if to demand the cultivators to accept the event. Those who did not want to participate in the event would be transported into another WunderPanda Theme Park instance where the event was not being held.
For those who had accepted, the cultivators were all secretly sniggering along with Jin's monsters as they faced the Toy Spartans.
Time to earn more Panda Medals! (and perhaps other secret rewards!)