How the Turntables

"Hm? Huh?"

Liu Feng's beauty sleep was interrupted by a system notice. He yawned and stretched as he read the notice.

[Congratulations to the first major hunt of the host's disciple. Achievement: Hunter I (The host can now gain DP from defeating spiritual beasts. More details...)]

[Ding! A disciple has defeated a Lv. 14 Spiritual Beast. Received 1 DP.]

[Ding! A disciple has defeated a Lv. 15 Spiritual Beast. Received 1 DP.]

"Gaining DP from hunting spiritual beasts? Nice!"

Now, Liu Feng had one more method to solve his DP famine.

He opened the details.

———

Hunting DP rate is based on the level of the defeated spiritual beasts.

Current rate: 1 DP per 10 Lvs.

Note: Spiritual beasts that the host personally defeats will not contribute any DP.

———

"Eh? So low?"

Liu Feng thought that it should be a bit higher. At this rate, the Lv 4 and 5 boars and snakes that Shu Fanrong loved to rain hell upon wouldn't contribute any DP.

"Whatever, at least it's extra income."

As for the condition of the host's personal kills not counting towards the system, Liu Feng didn't care. It wasn't like he had the ability to go on a spiritual beast killing spree anytime soon.

"Wait a minute."

Liu Feng reread the achievement. A disciple has defeated a Level 15 beast?

"Little Rong is the only one who could've done this. That means... there are Foundation Establishment Realm beasts in the barrier?"

Fear struck Liu Feng. He could only live inside the barrier in comfort because he had no encounters with Foundation Establishment Realm beasts.

Inside Jushi Mountain Range, aka the territory of the Great Order Sect, beasts weren't commonplace as the entire mountain range was occupied by people before the attack, and there was a barrier that prevented the beasts from going inside after the attack.

This was the conclusion that Liu Feng came to after exploring the mountain range and burying all of the corpses he came across.

Of course, as a mere servant disciple, his knowledge of the territory was limited to the Mortal Peak where the mortal library resided. There were surely hundreds of locations that he wasn't privy to, and therefore missed.

"Ah? There's another notification."

[Ding! Notice: A member of the sect has exited the barrier. This notice can be turned off in settings...]

"Exited the barrier? A member of the sect?"

After a bout of thinking, Liu Feng realized what this notification entailed.

"Little Rong exited the barrier!"

Liu Feng hastily got up, his heartbeat growing faster by the second. The image of the black robed cultivator grew inside his mind.

Little Rong! It's not safe outside!

He rushed towards the barrier without any plans in his mind.

"System! Can you determine Little Rong's location?"

[Ding! Locate Disciple Shu Fanrong for 10 DP?]

"Damn, everything has a price!"

Amidst his complaints, Liu Feng quickly agreed.

[Disciple Shu Fanrong has been located!]

A vivid image flowed into his mind.

"She's near Kaojin Village!"

Liu Feng's legs moved as fast as they could.

.....

As Shu Fanrong laid the two foxes to rest, she wiped some sweat off her forehead.

"Phew, that was fun! Ehehehe."

"Rongrong? My daughter?" Shu Dashou called out to his daughter. His legs could already move, albeit barely, as he limped his way towards her.

"Daddy!" Shu Fanrong's cheerful expression disappeared. In an instant, she was on the verge of tears.

With one step, she arrived before her limping father and embraced him.

"Ahahaha, so the cultivator didn't lie after all." Shu Dashou returned the embrace and let a few tears down his eyes, quickly wiping them off so his daughter would not see.

"Daddy, are you okay? You're not walking properly! Let's go back home."

Shu Dashou felt weightless all of a sudden. He wasn't standing anymore—his daughter was carrying him behind her back.

"Wh-what the hell?"

He was more than thrice her height! How could he be carried like this, so embarrassing~

Shu Fanrong opened the gates.

"Everyone, charge!"

A group of resolute people with fearless eyes, including women and children, charged towards Shu Fanrong waving their farming tools and such.

"Stop!"

The familiar masculine voice made them freeze in their tracks.

Shu Dashou cleared his throat, his daughter looking at him with admiration.

"Wow, wow! Daddy, the entire village was waiting for you here!"

While Shu Fanrong continued walking with sparkling eyes, everyone looked at the father-daughter pair with a dumbfounded expression.

"That's Xiaorong, right?"

"Is Shu Dashou being carried by his daughter?"

"Looks like it..."

Before Shu Fanrong could get too far, someone shouted.

"Shu Dashou! What about the beasts?!"

The villagers stopped whispering to each other and fell silent.

This matter was of their utmost concern. This was the reason they were prepared to risk their lives earlier.

As they waited in bated breath, Shu Dashou recognized the one who had shouted.

It was one of his fellow warriors who he had entrusted the entire village's safety to.

"Hey, Wu Nao. What the hell were you lot doing, blocking the gates like that? Didn't we agree on evacuating everyone through the underground tunnels if worst came to worst?"

"B-but, the foxes?!"

"The foxes would have killed you all in one fell swoop if they got through the gates! Do you think your numbers would have mattered? Then all of our fellow warriors' sacrifices will have been for naught! Are you brainless?"

Wu Nao closed his mouth, as did everyone planning to talk.

"Evacuation should have been the main priority. I stalled time for nothing then!"

As Shu Dashou continued lecturing, the villagers' attention wandered towards Shu Fanrong under him, who was drawing on the ground with the tip of her toe.

As such, the villagers could not take Shu Dashou seriously. The imagery in front of them was too powerful.

The daughter, who was playing around while effortlessly carrying the father, who thought himself imposing...

"Aiya, back in my day, children like me listened immediately to everything the adults had said-"

"Daddy, you can stop now. Mommy is waiting for us." Shu Fanrong continued walking.

Shu Dashou closed his mouth immediately and felt ashamed, like a child caught stealing his mother's coins.

A second later, that feeling of guilt subsided and was replaced with confusion.

My own daughter... admonished me? And I immediately listened? Oh, how the turntables.

Before the pair could get far, Wu Nao shouted once more. "Wait! What about the foxes?"

"Oh, my daughter defeated them easily."

Shu Dashou absentmindedly answered, leaving the villagers dumbstruck.

Inside the Shu family house.

Wen Yingyu, who had heard the news of her husband sacrificing himself to buy time, wallowed in despair on the bed.

"First, my daughter, and now, my husband? What's even the point anymore..."

She didn't particularly desire death, it was just that her will to survive reached close to zero. As such, she didn't join in on the village's plan to evacuate. If she died here, so be it.

"Mommy, I'm home!"

"We're home."

Wen Yingyu didn't respond. Her red eyes teared up even more.

"Oh my, now I'm hearing voices. Just one step away from going crazy."

Seeing that her mother wasn't responding, Shu Fanrong pouted as she put her father down on a chair and rushed towards the bed where her mother was.

"Mommy, why aren't you reacting?"

Wen Yingyu felt someone shaking her leg, and only now did she raise her head to look.

"—!"

"What the- mommy, you look horrible!" Shu Fanrong's soul shook when she saw her mother's decrepit face.

Without words, Wen Yingyu got up and embraced her daughter tightly, afraid that she would disappear into the wind.