Chapter 426: Chapter 271: Shameless Recruitment (Part 2)

When he opened the door, he was surprised to see Qiu Lan.

"Brother Zou... Brother Chen from the Purple Cloud Association wants to see you..."

Qiu Lan wasn’t a member of the Purple Cloud Association, but for some reason, she had become their messenger.

Her attitude now was even more respectful than when she learned Zou Feng had become the Head Chef.

’After all,’ Qiu Lan thought, ’the Purple Cloud Association clearly wants to recruit Zou Feng to replace Yang Haoyu.’

Once Zou Feng agreed, his power in the Outer Sect would almost certainly surpass Yang Haoyu’s.

But when Zou Feng heard the news, he just frowned slightly.

"Junior Sister Qiu, when Yang Haoyu worked for the Purple Cloud Association, how much did he have to offer up each month?" Zou Feng asked tentatively.

Qiu Lan was taken aback for a moment, then answered honestly, "From what I understand, he had to hand over sixty percent of his earnings to the Purple Cloud Association."

"Sixty percent?" Zou Feng was speechless.

’Looks like this Purple Cloud Association is even more shameless than I thought...’

After all, this "offering" was really just him using the Purple Cloud Association’s name to find new ways to squeeze the other Outer Disciples and collect protection money from them.

Zou Feng didn’t want to be squeezed himself, nor did he want to squeeze others for no reason.

Perhaps sensing his speechlessness, Qiu Lan quickly added, "But the benefits the Purple Cloud Association provides are well worth it."

"If you run into problems cultivating a Daoist Art, you can go directly to the Inner Sect and ask a brother who has mastered it."

"No matter what mission the Sect assigns, you’ll receive special consideration from the Purple Cloud Association."

"And when you enter the Inner Sect in the future, you’ll have even more advantages..."

Qiu Lan rattled off a long list, but not a single benefit was tempting enough to move Zou Feng.

Not only did he not need them, but joining the Purple Cloud Association would likely just cause him more trouble.

The mere thought of all the pointless socializing gave Zou Feng a headache.

Of course, the most crucial point was that Zou Feng had earned his position as Head Chef through his own abilities. Why should he have to do the Purple Cloud Association’s dirty work and then pay them "protection fees" on top of it?

"I get it. Where is this Brother Chen you mentioned?"

"He’s in the pavilion in the front courtyard..."

"Alright!"

With that, he strode directly toward the front courtyard.

Meanwhile, Qiu Lan let out a huge sigh of relief.

’We just had a normal conversation,’ she thought. ’It seems... Zou Feng isn’t going to hold my previous rudeness against me?’

’So, does this mean I’ve dodged a bullet?’

’Once Zou Feng joins the Purple Cloud Association, I’ll just make sure to visit him more often, and everything should be fine...’

Zou Feng walked quickly to the pavilion and, sure enough, saw a man standing in the distance with his hands behind his back, an impatient look etched on his face.

The fact that he was waiting here was clearly the result of Qiu Lan’s active mediation.

After all, when this Chen Bogong had first arrived, Zou Feng was still locked in a fierce battle with Gongsun Jinghong.

Even before getting close, Zou Feng could sense that this Chen Bogong was definitely an Inner Sect Disciple.

Like He Wenxuan, this man had reached the Spiritual Energy Realm.

Once True Qi transformed into Spiritual Qi, the way one utilized Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was vastly different from before.

Just by standing there, without actively cultivating, they could automatically absorb the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

One could only imagine how ridiculously effective Cultivation was in the Spiritual Energy Realm.

However, the fact that they sent an Inner Sect Disciple showed that the Purple Cloud Association was quite sincere in its recruitment effort.

"Greetings, Brother Chen!" Approaching the pavilion, Zou Feng offered a normal, polite greeting.

Chen Bogong first sized Zou Feng up for a few moments before saying, "Zou Feng, you’ve got some nerve!"

Zou Feng heard this and asked in confusion, "Uh, Brother Chen, what do you mean by that?"

"On the Dao Discussion Platform, it would have been one thing to just defeat Yang Haoyu, but why did you have to take his life?"

"Is that how little you think of my brothers in the Purple Cloud Association?" Chen Bogong huffed indignantly.

Zou Feng just shrugged. "Yang Haoyu stood in the way of my path. His death is no great loss."

Chen Bogong hadn’t actually come to reprimand him, so he suddenly put on a show and laughed heartily. "Well said! I happen to admire people like you the most!"

"However..." Chen Bogong’s tone shifted. "You still have to give the Purple Cloud Association an explanation!"

"What kind of explanation? Just say it plainly, Brother Chen."

"To be honest, a senior brother from above also admires you greatly. So, you can choose to take Yang Haoyu’s place and join the Purple Cloud Association..."

He then briefly recounted the benefits of joining the Purple Cloud Association.

It was no different from what Qiu Lan had said earlier.

But unlike Yang Haoyu, while enjoying the association’s benefits, Zou Feng would only need to offer up fifty percent of his monthly earnings.

It was indeed a very "generous" offer.

As soon as Chen Bogong finished, Zou Feng immediately cut in, "Brother Chen, this membership fee that needs to be handed over... it sounds an awful lot like you’re telling me to threaten the other Outer Disciples in the Dining Hall into paying protection money."

"Threaten?" Chen Bogong sneered. "You’ve got it all wrong. This is the Purple Cloud Association’s protection over them. Besides, they get to learn the craft of a Spirit Chef from you. It’s a win-win situation!"

’A win-win, my ass. People this shameless are scarier than ghosts.’

Not every disciple in the Dining Hall was willing to pay money to learn the skills of a Spirit Chef.

And even for those who were willing to pay and learn, that was money they earned through their own hard work. Why should they let the Purple Cloud Association act as a middleman and skim off the top?

"Tomorrow morning, go to the Inner Sect’s Wangyou Valley to be formally inducted. If your luck is good, you might even get to meet our vice president, Brother Fu Jiaming!" After saying this, Chen Bogong prepared to leave.

Zou Feng couldn’t be bothered to waste any more words with him. He shook his head and said, "Wait, Brother Chen. I never agreed to join the Purple Cloud Association."

"Hmm?" Chen Bogong seemed completely blindsided by Zou Feng’s refusal.

After all, any Outer Disciple without a powerful background or a special constitution would be fighting for a chance to join the Purple Cloud Association.

"Did you not understand what I just said?" Chen Bogong’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Do you have any idea that the higher-ups originally had other plans for you? It was only because Brother Fu values talent that he gave you this opportunity!"

"Then please thank Brother Fu for me. As for joining the Purple Cloud Association, I’m afraid I must refuse."

Chen Bogong was silent for a moment, then couldn’t help but laugh as if amused. "You’re really pushing it, aren’t you?"

"Do you really think offending the Purple Cloud Association is a trivial matter? Or are you so sure that as long as you don’t step onto the Dao Discussion Platform, we can’t do anything to you?"

Zou Feng said, "Alright, alright, you’re the ones making trouble, and you twist it to say I’m the one offending you?

"Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!"

Having said his piece, Zou Feng turned and left first.

Without going to the Dao Discussion Platform, Chen Bogong, burning with rage as he was, didn’t dare to make a move directly.

Besides, for an Inner Sect Disciple at the Spiritual Energy Realm to insist on fighting an Outer Disciple on the Dao Discussion Platform would only make him a laughingstock.

"Very good. I hope Junior Brother Zou can remain this tough forever!"

After leaving the pavilion, Zou Feng ran into Qiu Lan on the path.

The woman’s face was a mask of disbelief; she stared at Zou Feng, utterly at a loss for words.

Zou Feng and Chen Bogong hadn’t lowered their voices during their conversation, so Qiu Lan, who had been waiting nearby to congratulate Zou Feng on joining the Purple Cloud Association, heard every word clearly.

She simply couldn’t understand why Zou Feng would refuse to join the Purple Cloud Association. After all, there should be a limit to how stubborn one could be.

"Brother Zou... you..."

"Don’t you know... the founder of the Purple Cloud Association is a True Disciple..."

For an Outer Disciple to indirectly offend a True Inheritor was, at least in Qiu Lan’s eyes, something straight out of a fantasy.

Of course, this reaction was normal. Compared to Outer Disciples, True Disciples were like clouds and mud—worlds apart.

Take the conquests of the Outer Realms for example: Outer Disciples were cannon fodder, Inner Sect Disciples were the regular army, and Core Disciples were minor commanders, like centurions.

A True Inheritor, on the other hand, was equivalent to a general.

The gap was immense, as one can imagine.

Zou Feng hadn’t wanted to bother with her anymore, but her reaction was so amusing that he couldn’t help but say, "So what if he’s a True Inheritor? The Purple Cloud Association is just a tool he uses to rake in money from the Inner Sect. Do you really think he sees the people in the association as his brothers?"

"Besides... what makes you think that I won’t become a True Inheritor in the future?"

With that, he ignored the utterly shocked Qiu Lan, who was frozen to the spot, and walked straight back to his room.

Given the shamelessness of the Purple Cloud Association, Zou Feng knew that even if these scoundrels couldn’t openly target him, the Head Chef, they would very likely go after the people around him.

For example, Gongsun Jinghong and Teng County.

Both women were disciples of the Foreign Affairs Hall and had missions coming up soon, which would make it very easy to set them up.

P.S. Happy New Year to everyone!