Chapter 17

"Not early, not early at all."

"Exactly. A day's plan starts with the morning; getting up a bit early is nothing."

Everyone shook their heads one by one. Heaven knows how they spent last night for the sake of this bowl of braised noodles; they were even slurping noodles in their dreams.

Ye Changqing felt helpless about this. These guys were truly going all out for the sake of a meal.

Without saying much more, he let everyone enter the courtyard. Ye Changqing went to stir-fry the sauce, while everyone very consciously split firewood, fetched water, and started the fire, all just to be able to eat these braised noodles a little sooner.

Before long, the fragrance of the sauce wafted through the courtyard. Dozens of Divine Jianfeng disciples squatted together in groups of three or five, not caring about their image in the slightest, just eating in large mouthfuls.

Each one of them was wolfing down their food, lacking any of the bearing of sect disciples; they looked more like old village men from the secular world.

"Junior Brother Changqing, add a bowl of noodles."

"Two bowls."

"Over here too."

The requests for more noodles came one after another. Even the female disciples had to eat at least two bowls, not to mention the male disciples.

"Junior Brother Changqing, prepare more noodles for lunch."

After eating, everyone washed their bowls and tidied up. Some even said to Ye Changqing that these braised noodles were never enough to eat.

As soon as these words were spoken, they immediately won the agreement of everyone present, but Ye Changqing shook his head.

"No noodles for lunch. I've researched a new dish."

Eating noodles every meal would get tiresome after a while. It just so happened that the system had rewarded him with a new dish, stir-fried pork, yesterday, so he could change things up for them.

It was also a very common home-cooked dish, using high-quality red-striped pork, with a perfect balance of fat and lean. It was simple to make and, paired with rice, was absolutely a delicacy.

Hearing that there would be a new dish for lunch, the eyes of the many disciples lit up.

In the past, they might not have had any expectations at all, but now, after tasting the braised noodles, everyone's opinion of Ye Changqing's culinary skills had completely changed.

"Good, good, good. Is there anything Junior Brother Changqing needs help with? Just say the word."

"Exactly. I still have a few Body Refining Pills here. Junior Brother Changqing has been working hard, take them to cultivate."

"Senior Brother, you are too kind. Junior Brother still has quite a few pills left from yesterday."

"This doesn't conflict. If Junior Brother thinks there are too many, just eat them like sugar beans."

Hearing that there was a new dish to eat, everyone vied to show their favor, with some offering to help and others giving pills or medicinal powders.

Regarding this, although Ye Changqing waved his hands repeatedly to refuse, in the end, he still had to accept these pills.

These people would rather have Ye Changqing eat them like sugar beans than take them back.

"Help isn't needed. Everyone, just come at the right time."

There was nothing that needed help. Hearing this, everyone didn't say anything more, and after finishing breakfast, they left one after another.

Almost all of them were chore disciples, and every one of them had tasks to attend to, so naturally, they couldn't stay at Ye Changqing's place forever.

Lu Youyou, however, did not leave. Looking at her left behind alone, Ye Changqing smiled.

"Senior Sister Youyou, are you free today?"

"I'm free every day."

Hearing this, Lu Youyou replied with a smile, while Ye Changqing's mouth twitched.

"I mean, doesn't Senior Sister Youyou need to cultivate?"

"I do need to, but there's no rush. I can just cultivate at night. By the way, Junior Brother, do you need help?"

As a direct disciple, Lu Youyou's only task was to cultivate; others handled everything else for her.

But once she thought about being able to eat a new dish at noon, this girl didn't have any thoughts of cultivating at all, so she simply chose to stay here and wait until noon.

Seeing this, Ye Changqing didn't say anything more, intending to cultivate for a while first; anyway, it was still early until noon.

"Then Senior Sister, please make yourself at home. Junior Brother will cultivate for a while."

"Then I'll teach you."

She said it without any hesitation. Personal guidance from a direct disciple was something that, for any disciple, was rare and hard to come by.

Moreover, to have such an opportunity, one would definitely need to pay an extremely high price.

After all, not just anyone could come into contact with direct disciples, just like how many chore disciples had never recognized Lu Youyou's identity because they simply couldn't come into contact with direct disciples on a daily basis.

"Alright."

Ye Changqing didn't refuse either, and afterward, the two began to cultivate in the courtyard.

But after only half an hour, Lu Youyou began to doubt life.

Perhaps it was because everyone's experiences were different; Lu Youyou had been surrounded by geniuses since she was a child.

But Ye Changqing's talent was truly somewhat hard to describe.

His comprehension was quite high; he could understand many things about cultivation after being told once, and could even draw inferences about other cases. But when he actually started to cultivate, everything changed completely.

It was that feeling where the brain understood, but the hands and feet didn't.

For simple basic martial arts, Ye Changqing had to learn a single movement for a very long time.

In Lu Youyou's view, such simple martial arts should be mastered after one or two tries.

Looking at the confusion in Lu Youyou's eyes, Ye Changqing couldn't help but blush.

"Senior Sister Youyou, why don't you go rest first, and I'll practice for a while by myself?"

"No, I can do it. If it doesn't work, we'll just practice a few more times. Master said that diligence can make up for clumsiness."

Lu Youyou said stubbornly. This little girl was quite persistent; she had said she would teach Ye Changqing to cultivate, so she must teach him.

Cultivating until near noon, seeing that the time was about right, Ye Changqing began to prepare lunch.

And Lu Youyou fell into deep thought alone, pondering how to instruct Junior Brother Changqing.

He didn't bother with her, taking half a side of red-striped pork, over a hundred catties; it should be enough for lunch.

He washed it, sliced it, marinated it, and then prepared the ingredients, as well as cooking the rice.

Just as Ye Changqing was preparing lunch here, in various parts of Divine Jianfeng, chore disciples had already begun to silently calculate the time.

At the main square on the mountainside, more than a dozen chore disciples were cleaning. Among them, three gathered together, saying with drool flowing down.

"How much longer?"

"Don't be anxious, there's still half an hour until mealtime."

"Damn it, why is there still half an hour? I'm going to starve to death."

"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and finish sweeping so we can go queue up. Be careful not to miss out on food if you're late."

"Yes, yes, yes, hurry up and finish so we can go queue."

For the sake of a bite to eat, the three of them instantly felt like they had been injected with chicken blood; the brooms in their hands were practically swung into afterimages.

Watching the three of them swinging their brooms so fast they were almost smoking, the rest of the chore disciples had complex expressions, their eyes revealing confusion.

"Senior Brother, are they okay? Why do they feel abnormal?"

"I don't know. Could it be that they are cultivating some kind of martial art?"

"No way, what martial art has to do with a broom?"

"Doesn't seem like it. Damn, it's on fire, look quickly."

Following the finger, they saw that one of their brooms was truly swung until it caught fire. For a moment, everyone was completely stunned. It's just sweeping the floor, what's the meaning of you setting your broom on fire? ===== CHAPTER 18 =====