Asking the Dao Peak, the main hall.
Li Chunsong, who had been busy all night, flew back again to report to the high-level members of the Dao Gate.
"There's a problem with the technique Chu Huaixu is practicing. It's incredibly demonic!"
"It looks like it was adapted based on Artifact refining, taking a path of both internal and external cultivation."
"I suspect that the person who created this technique has extremely high Artifact refining skills. Their mastery of this path has likely reached the pinnacle. It's very possible they were a Grandmaster of Artifact Refining!"
istening to his words, everyone in the main hall frowned.
Sect Master Xiang Yan asked, "Did you investigate where this technique came from?"
Li Chunsong nodded. "I went to the Scripture Pavilion and checked the records."
"Was there a problem?" Law Enforcement Elder Lu Pan asked.
"This technique was brought back and entered into the library by Little Martial Uncle a few years ago," Li Chunsong said, spreading his hands.
When members of the Dao Gate obtained cultivation techniques or arts in the outside world, they could bring them back to the sect for review and inclusion in the library. The sect had its own set of review standards and would rate them before issuing rewards. Of course, a submission could also be rejected.
It was too demonic,
and also of little value, with obvious drawbacks. It simply didn't match the righteous disciples of the Dao Gate.
Hearing this, Li Chunsong suddenly smiled.
"Why is Sixth Martial Brother laughing?" Xiang Yan was puzzled.
"Sect Master, you may not know, but I just scanned him with my Spiritual Sense. That kid has already woken up, and he even wrote four words in the little booklet for cultivation insights."
Nangong Yue immediately pressed, "What words?"
The smile on Li Chunsong's face became even harder to contain, and he laughed out loud. "Peerless Divine Art! Haha, hahaha!"
In an instant, the main hall was filled with a cheerful atmosphere. The high-level members of the Dao Gate were all a mixture of amused and exasperated, except for the First Elder.
"Hmph! This young man chosen by Little Martial Uncle, his heart seems a little black," Law Enforcement Elder Lu Pan snorted coldly.
"Er..." Li Chunsong immediately reined in his smile, realizing he had misspoken. This type of person was not looked upon favorably by the First Martial Brother!
As expected, First Elder Lu Pan spoke again. "Since it is a peerless divine art, then have the outer sect deacons supervise him closely, so that he practices it diligently!"
...
...
Medicine Mountain, the bamboo hut.
The sky was gradually brightening.
He had spent a long time studying the [Heart-Sword] but had figured out nothing.
"Normal. The aperture-opening stage is really just laying the foundation for future cultivation. Strictly speaking, I don't even count as a cultivator yet."
Chu Huaixu rubbed his stomach, which was already rumbling with hunger.
In the Xuanhuang Realm, there was no such thing as a cultivator who could completely abstain from food. Everyone had to eat, without exception. Compared to ordinary people, cultivators, aside from possessing greater strength, were not much different. Even their lifespans weren't that much longer. In the cultivation world, living to be a hundred was still considered a blessing, not a curse.
The Medicine Mountain where Chu Huaixu was currently located had a cafeteria. Disciples paid monthly and could go there to eat. Of course, if you wanted to buy some ingredients and cook for yourself, that was also fine.
The entire outer sect of the Dao Gate was not so much a sect academy as it was a small town formed by the gathering of low-level cultivators, a world unto itself. There were ordinary cafeterias and high-end restaurants. There were tailor shops, spiritual pill stores, and weapon pavilions... Therefore, living here required money for everything.
This included the bamboo hut Chu Huaixu was currently living in. Starting next month, he would also have to pay rent to the sect. If he had the ability to do business and wanted to open a shop, he would also have to get a "permit" and a "business license" from the Dao Gate, and then pay taxes.
Of course, he could also go to a shop run by others and work as an apprentice, to be a beast of burden.
In addition, the Dao Gate itself also provided some job opportunities for its disciples. The most typical employment project on Medicine Mountain was spiritual herb cultivation and maintenance. As for an Outer Sect Deacon like Niu Yuanshan, he was part of the official management, a bona fide leading cadre with immense power.
However, the inner sect of the Dao Gate was a world apart from the outer sect. That place was more like a true sect. The main purpose of the disciples there was to cultivate, to become stronger!
As for money, Chu Huaixu wasn't worried for the time being. Don't forget, he had a one-hundred-tael silver note on him. This money was enough for him to use for a while.
Holding an outer sect map, Chu Huaixu headed for the officially-run cafeteria. Along the way, some diligent people had already set up stalls to earn money.
"Fellow martial brothers, why don't you come and see the Fasting Pills I've newly developed."The Xuanhuang Realm did not have a fasting realm,
but it did have Fasting Pills. If you ate one, you didn't have to eat.
The man who was hawking his wares continued to promote them, "Junior Brother, look at my new white-flour Fasting Pill.It's white and soft, has risen particularly well, and has a fluffy texture."
Chu Huaixu asked with a speechless expression, "Senior Brother, the principle of a Fasting Pill
l is that you eat one and you won't be hungry, not that you eat until you're full and then you won't be hungry."
Isn't this fist-sized thing of yours just a damn steamed bun!
"Not at all, not at all, Junior Brother. This is a white-flour Fasting Pill. If you eat it, it's as filling as five white-flour steamed buns of the same size!"
"And when you eat steamed buns, you have to go to the latrine, right?"
"This white-flour Fasting Pill of mine doesn't require that."
"Just tell me, isn't it perfect for eating during closed-door cultivation!" the disciple said with a proud expression.
As the ancient saying goes, cultivation depends on: Wealth, Technique, Companion, and Land.
Cultivation was truly expensive. His one hundred taels of silver could allow him to live comfortably for a long time in the outside world. But in the outer sect of the Dao Gate, that was hard to say.
As Chu Huaixu reached the entrance of the cafeteria, he ran into a familiar person. The veiled Han Shuangjiang walked out from inside, her expression not looking good.
"Everything here is so expensive. Overall, the sect cafeteria is the cheapest, but you have to pay for the whole month's meals in advance." She was short on cash.
There was nothing she could do. She had grown up in a brothel and later went to the Joyful Sect. After the Joyful Sect was destroyed, she had lived a life of displacement. After meeting the storyteller, she had rushed all the way to Wumeng Mountain, and her travel money was almost all spent.
Right now, Han Shuangjiang had only 103 copper coins on her. With the terrible prices in the outer sect, a mere 103 coins wasn't even enough for her three meals today! This meant she had to find a job today. The daily life of an in-name disciple was basically working during the day and cultivating at night. Such a predicament was now beckoning to this ice mountain of a woman.
At this moment, Han Shuangjiang looked forward, and her gaze couldn't help but converge on Chu Huaixu. The morning light spilled
on half of his body. In the bustling crowd, as you looked down from the high steps, it was hard not to notice him. There was no helping it; he was, after all, a top-quality cultivation cauldron.
However, Han Shuangjiang only planned to nod to him as they passed each other. After their brief time together, she felt that this cultivation cauldron was not particularly easy to talk to. He had retorted sharply to her several times already.
Unexpectedly, this man bathed in the golden morning light took the initiative to smile and speak to her.
"Morning. Eaten yet?" Chu Huaixu said, his eyes beginning to size her up.
Just from her worried expression a moment ago, he actually already had an answer in his heart, feeling that things were starting to become easier.
This ice-cold [World Protagonist]...
—So you're broke!
Chu Huaixu: "..."
He walked and browsed with curiosity. When he played "Borrowing a Sword", the outer sect of Spring and Autumn Mountain was much the same, a world unto itself. Chu Huaixu was very familiar with it; he had even opened a shop there before. But this was his first time in the Dao Gate's.
"Spring and Autumn Mountain is famous for having a lot of perverts, so it's a bit more chaotic."
"The Dao Gate is much better in this regard."
"But how should I put this... the prices are just as outrageous as Spring and Autumn Mountain's!" he complained inwardly.
But their Little Martial Uncle's status was, after all, special. Would the review committee dare to block something he brought back? Would they even be able to?
Xiang Yan's brow furrowed tightly. He couldn't quite figure it out, feeling as if hair was about to sprout on his bald head.
"Little Martial Uncle specifically brought back an aperture-opening stage technique?"
Li Chunsong shook his head. "No, I checked. Two other arts and a set of high-grade Artifact refining techniques were entered into the library along with it."
"This 'Sword Tempering Art' was just bundled in with the rest."
"Therefore, I suspect that during his last trip, Little Martial Uncle came across the posthumous belongings of a certain Grandmaster of Artifact Refining by chance."
Hearing this, the others nodded slightly. That made much more sense.
Li Chunsong continued to voice his speculation, "Of course, it's also possible that Little Martial Uncle killed a certain Grandmaster of Artifact Refining."
As soon as he said this, everyone felt it was even more plausible.
It was just that everything was quite the coincidence. The technique their Little Martial Uncle had tossed into the sect a few years ago happened to be learned by the kid he had just picked to bring up the mountain.
Xiang Yan pondered for a moment, then said, "This 'Sword Tempering Art', let's remove it from the technique library later."