Chapter 18: Shadowing

Lu Youyou is indeed not someone good at lying; watching her flee in disarray, Xu Jie became increasingly certain there was a problem.

Running all the way back to her lodgings, Lu Youyou whispered to herself, still shaken.

"That was dangerous; I almost got discovered by third senior brother."

After slowly calming her emotions, she then began to look forward to dinner; she checked the time—why hasn't it arrived yet?

For Lu Youyou, what she looks forward to most each day now is her three meals a day.

Meanwhile, Ye Zhangqing, returning from One Yuan City, rode Xiao Bai down into the courtyard.

He casually tossed a body-refining pill into his mouth; seeing this, Xiao Bai moved its head closer, looking as if it also wanted to eat.

Seeing this, Ye Zhangqing smiled and fed a body-refining pill to Xiao Bai.

"Go play in the backyard yourself; I need to prepare dinner."

The time was about right; after putting away the things he had bought, he then began preparing dinner.

Today Ye Zhangqing planned to make two dishes: stir-fried pork and mapo tofu.

As the aroma drifted out from the kitchen, Xiao Bai in the backyard couldn't help but come to the kitchen door.

Watching the busy Ye Zhangqing, the little creature drooled continuously from the corner of its mouth, its eyes glowing green as it stared at the just-out-of-the-pot stir-fried pork.

Seeing this, Ye Zhangqing smiled helplessly.

"You want some too?"

It nodded repeatedly, indicating it wanted to eat; Ye Zhangqing then found a small bowl and scooped out some for it.

"Go ahead and eat."

The aroma hit its face; even as a demonic beast, Xiao Bai couldn't resist, took a bite, and an unprecedented flavor surged through its mouth, causing it to cry out excitedly—it had never tasted anything so delicious.

As a red-crowned crane, Xiao Bai's usual feed was certainly not lacking, but compared to this bowl of stir-fried pork, it was completely on a different level.

Unable to contain its excitement any longer, Xiao Bai quickly devoured the stir-fried pork in the bowl, leaving nothing behind.

Immediately afterward, it looked hopefully at Ye Zhangqing.

"There's none left; this is dinner prepared for everyone—if you eat more, there won't be enough."

Who would have thought the crane would like this food, but Ye Zhangqing still refused directly, having given it all to Xiao Bai, leaving none for the others.

Upon hearing that, Xiao Bai immediately showed a disappointed expression, and in Ye Zhangqing's mind a system notification sounded.

【Received one positive review, reward: talent +1, cultivation +1.】

"Demonic beasts can also give positive reviews?" He turned his head to look at Xiao Bai, his eyes full of surprise.

【Any living being can provide positive reviews.】

The system's answer was also quite definite.

This was unexpected; he hadn't anticipated such a pleasant surprise. Looking at Xiao Bai's dejected face, Ye Zhangqing thought for a moment and said.

"If you still want to eat, you'll just have to wait until mealtime and line up."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Bai's eyes lit up instantly—any chance would do.

For a moment, even Xiao Bai, a demonic beast, was looking forward to the arrival of mealtime.

As time slowly passed and mealtime drew nearer, the menial disciples all over Divine Sword Peak could not help but become restless again.

"Mealtime is here; it's about to start."

"Hurry up, put in some effort—finish this and then go get your rice."

At the logging site behind the mountain, several menial disciples swung their axes with all their might.

This is no ordinary tree—it's black iron wood, the trunks are pitch-black, extremely hard, comparable to steel.

This is also the main material Divine Sword Peak uses to construct buildings—solid and not easily damaged, though felling it requires considerable effort.

Five menial disciples working together can at most fell three black iron trees in a day.

This very tree is the third one; cutting it down will finish today's task.

Upon hearing that mealtime was starting, the previously exhausted menial disciples each suddenly seemed injected with adrenaline, their axes swinging so fast they left afterimages.

"Holy shit.............."

A menial disciple from another group nearby saw this and was dumbfounded.

Their task today was also to fell black iron trees; everyone's work hours were roughly the same, and though they had clearly been exhausted before, why did this group suddenly become full of vigor?

However, what shocked them even more was still to come.

Seeing that the efficiency was still too slow, one of the menial disciples spoke up.

"Brothers, burn your qi and blood, or we won't make it to the food line in time."

"Exactly, if we're late we won't get a spot in line."

"A little qi and blood is nothing; a bowl of stir-fried pork will replenish it."

Immediately, several of them began emanating wisps of blood qi, causing the other menial disciples who were already dumbfounded to question their very existence.

"Big brother, why go to such lengths? It's just chopping a black iron tree—why burn qi and blood? Those who don't know might think you're fighting a life-or-death battle with that tree."

"Burning qi and blood isn't a clever tactic; every body-refining cultivator does this."

"However, after burning qi and blood, a person falls into weakness for a time and must afterward recuperate and replenish their qi and blood to slowly recover."

"Normally this is only done in battle; but now we're just chopping trees—is it really necessary to go to such extremes?"

"They couldn't understand it, but with the aid of burning qi and blood, this group of menial disciples quickly felled the last black iron tree, completing today's task."

"I thought they'd be extremely weak by now, but who would have expected that these guys had no intention of stopping the qi and blood burn; one flashed forward, and while still burning, they dashed madly toward the mountain base."

"Charge, charge, charge—while we still have strength left."

"Are they crazy? Running wildly while burning qi and blood—even if the house were on fire it wouldn't be like this."

Faced with this group of menial disciples' strange behavior, the surrounding menial disciples stood frozen in place until someone spoke up.

"These guys are a bit off."

Indeed.

I've realized that lately many people are like this; it seems that whenever a specific time comes, they all act as if they've been injected with chicken blood.

There's a problem; they definitely have something they're hiding from us.

What should we do?

Let two people follow them secretly.

Okay.

Upon noticing the problem, immediately, two Menial Disciples secretly followed up.

Meanwhile, Lu Youyou finally managed to wait until almost mealtime at her residence, in high spirits she hurried toward the mountain foot.

Even to go a bit faster, she employed a movement martial technique, her speed practically pushed to the extreme.

But she didn't notice that a figure was closely following her behind; it was none other than her Third Shī xiōng, Xu Jie.

All the way from the residence to now, only Xu Jie's doubts keep increasing.

Little junior sister even employed a movement martial technique; what is she going to do? So rushed?

Usually when traveling, it's absolutely impossible to employ a movement martial technique, because it consumes enormous Línglì; especially like Lu Youyou now, still employing it fully.

What urgent matter could make Lu Youyou go to this extent?