Chapter 39

Entering the east wing, Luo Chen finally realized why the back room he lived in only cost the cheapest ten spirit stones a month.

Although the area wasn't that spacious, the layout was very reasonable.

The windows everywhere were in the best lighting spots.

And at night, it wasn't that cold here either.

Compared to the warm and comfortable east wing, his back room was simply like a warehouse combined with an ice cellar.

Luo Chen wallowed in self-pity for a while before sitting down happily at the dining table.

Feng Xia glanced at him, and a bowl of spirit rice was placed over.

"Thank you, Sister Xia!"

Feng Xia said, "Don't thank me, Xiuxiu is the host."

It would have been fine if she didn't speak, but as soon as she opened her mouth, there was a sound like sandpaper rubbing.

Luo Chen frowned and asked cautiously, "Sister Xia, your throat?"

"It's always been like this. When Sister Xia was testing medicine for the Hundred Herbs Hall in her early years, she accidentally ate a poisonous herb. Although she was treated, her throat could only recover to this extent."

Bai Meiling sat down beside her, her tone a bit low.

Only then did Luo Chen know the reason.

One could only say that working for a big company wasn't easy either!

The Hundred Herbs Hall was just one of the Yaowang Sect's industries, but the work inside was also full of high-risk tasks.

Like Feng Xia's job as a medicine tester, the pay was high, but the danger was also great.

Common herbs, because of their growth environment and the fact that they lived alongside demonic beasts, often produced unique mutations.

At such times, it was fine if conventional methods could detect the difference.

If they couldn't be detected, one could only use the cultivator's own flesh and blood to test them personally.

Feng Xia was the one doing this work.

It had been better these past two years; the Hundred Herbs Hall in the Dahe Market had recruited new medicine testers, and she had started to shift to some deep processing work for medicinal materials.

"What are you chatting about, the atmosphere is so depressing?"

Fu Xiuxiu walked over with a plate of steaming meat slices.

"Taste it, this is camel-scale beast elbow meat, I brought it back from the Divine Talisman Pavilion, let you all taste something fresh."

Bai Meiling told her what they had just been chatting about, and Fu Xiuxiu couldn't help but sigh.

"We rogue cultivators are like this, either living from hand to mouth in the outer city or being driven by others in the inner city. Jobs with slightly higher pay all require paying a huge price."

Saying this, the expressions of Bai Meiling and Feng Xia turned dim.

Luo Chen, on the other hand, was a bit thick-skinned.

Being driven by others?

One had to have the capital to be driven by others first.

Not to mention anything else, places like the Spirit Medicine Pavilion and the Myriad Treasures Tower all had young and beautiful female cultivators responsible for receiving guests.

For them, the male cultivators, they didn't even have the chance to be ordered around.

"Therefore, we must help each other and huddle together for warmth."

Fu Xiuxiu picked up the wine pot and poured for everyone; Bai Meiling wanted to do it herself, but Fu Xiuxiu pressed her hand down.

"Being able to live here shows that we have a connection; if there are any difficulties in life or cultivation in the future, everyone can help as much as they can."

"Little Luo, although you just moved here, with Senior Sun's vetting, your character and disposition are naturally no problem."

"From now on, we can be considered one family."

After speaking, she raised her wine glass.

Bai Meiling and Feng Xia also raised their glasses at the same time.

Luo Chen, however, was very surprised.

Traveling to this world, every day he saw the chaotic slaughter in the outer city and the bickering over every penny for cultivation resources among cultivators in the market.

To be honest, it was a bit cruel.

But he had to say, this was very consistent with his understanding of the style of the immortal cultivation world.

Yet in this small courtyard, there was actually such a warm side.

What was this, the immortal cultivation world version of "Yearning for the Courtyard"?

He didn't do anything to spoil the mood and also raised his wine glass.

"Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

The clear and transparent wine entered his mouth, smooth and non-irritating, with a faint fruity fragrance.

Fu Xiuxiu smiled slightly, "Eat, don't be reserved."

Bai Meiling was the first to move her chopsticks; after a piece of stir-fried demonic beast meat entered her mouth, she smiled until her eyes curved into crescent shapes.

"Sister Xiuxiu's food is the best!"

"You, eat more if it's good. Little Luo, don't be reserved either, eat freely, there's plenty of spirit rice in the pot."

"Mm-hmm!"

A certain softness in Luo Chen's heart seemed to be touched.

His eyelids drooped, and his movements of scooping rice couldn't help but speed up.

Seeing this, Fu Xiuxiu picked up a piece of meat for him.

"It's a pity the Qin family has all gone to the Luoyun Sect; after they come back, I'm afraid Qin Qin Xiaohu won't be seen for a long time."

"Yeah, that child Qin Qin Xiaohu has dual gold and water spirit roots and is only twelve years old, with a clean background; major sects love such disciples the most," Bai Meiling said.

Living here these days, Luo Chen had also learned about that family in the west wing.

Qin Liangchen and Duanmu Qinglian, the couple were both at the ninth level of Qi Refining.

Their son, Qin Qin Xiaohu, whose full name was Qin Yuanjiang, was born intelligent and clever and had been carefully protected by the Qin Liangchen couple since childhood.

All kinds of medicinal baths and spirit medicines were arranged every month.

At the age of eight, Qin Qin Xiaohu was detected to have dual gold and water spirit roots.

They wanted to sign up for the Yuding Sword Sect, but the next time the Yuding Sword Sect opened its mountain gates to accept disciples would be in ten years.

Helplessly, in order not to delay the best cultivation time, the Qin Liangchen couple took him to sign up for the Luoyun Sect in the Yuding Region.

That was also a major sect, and the sect's Supreme Elder, Han Zhan, had the potential of a Nascent Soul.

It could be said that this was a sect with a boundless future.

In order to have a sense of participation, Luo Chen interjected.

"Sister Caiyi isn't here either; she quite likes enjoying good food."

However, after these words were spoken, Fu Xiuxiu visibly frowned.

But she quickly restrained it and shook her head.

"Gu Caiyi and we have different schedules, so we rarely run into each other."

Luo Chen blinked, nodded, and didn't say anything else.

Things between women were the most troublesome.

After eating, Fu Xiuxiu took out some melons, fruits, and pastries, and took advantage of the moonlight to set up a tea party in the courtyard.

Everyone spoke freely and chatted a lot.

Such as how the businesses of the six major sects in the inner city were doing recently, or how the shops of some other small sects in the Yuding Region were being suppressed miserably in the market.

At the joint auction held last year, it was said that a cultivator who obtained a treasure was hunted down for a year and had recently returned to the Dahe Market to bicker with the organizer, the Yuding Sword Pavilion.

He said that the people from the Yuding Sword Pavilion leaked his information, putting him in danger.

The people from the Yuding Sword Pavilion naturally didn't admit it and brought out the signboard of the Yuding Sword Sect, making the bickering cultivator retreat in shame and anger.

It was also mentioned that Fu Xiuxiu had become a manager of the Divine Talisman Pavilion and was expected to join the outer sect of the Divine Talisman Sect.

Once successful, Fu Xiuxiu would no longer be a rogue cultivator without roots or duckweed.

Even if she didn't make a living in the Dahe Market in the future, she would be able to establish herself better elsewhere.

This matter made everyone else in the courtyard very envious.

Everyone wanted to join a major sect; as long as they got in, the benefits and treatment would be too good.

Not to mention anything else, the benefit that outer sect disciples could return to the sect every ten years and enjoy one year of second-grade spirit vein cultivation land for free was the most anticipated benefit.

The tea party didn't last long.

When the moon was in the middle of the sky, everyone went back to their rooms to rest.

After all, Bai Meiling and the others still had to go to work tomorrow.

"Put it here, put it here."

"Everyone, drink some water!"

"Manager Liu, sorry to trouble you, this is five spirit stones, please count..."

Haha, both men laughed.

What was there to count with five spirit stones; it was a matter clear at a glance.

After putting away the spirit stones and chatting with Luo Chen for a few words, Manager Liu left the courtyard with several early-stage Qi Refining cultivators.

Luo Chen looked at the pile of bricks and stones as high as a small hill and nodded with satisfaction.

The cloud sand bricks for building the wall, the high-quality stream white stones for heat insulation, plus a pile of sulfur soil with high stickiness—his alchemy room could finally start construction.

Without hesitation, Luo Chen rolled up his sleeves and started moving bricks into his room.

By noon, he had already started laying stream white stones on an empty space partitioned off in the back room.

Fu Xiuxiu woke up in the morning and took out a large pile of potted plants from her room, placing them where they could be exposed to the sun.

From time to time, she pruned the branches and occasionally added a few bags of spirit fertilizer.

She also saw the busy Luo Chen, and after greeting him, she didn't disturb him.

Until noon, Luo Chen looked at the alchemy room that was beginning to take shape and felt quite a sense of accomplishment.

"I am also an alchemist with an independent workspace!"

Seeing the satisfied and proud Luo Chen, Fu Xiuxiu smiled, "Little Luo, you will definitely be a master alchemist famous throughout the six regions in the future!"

Luo Chen chuckled, "That's for sure, I'm an alchemy genius!"

"Do you want to eat together at noon? There are still a few dishes left from yesterday."

"That wouldn't be very good... then this younger brother will not decline!"

Lunch was eaten between the two of them.

Fu Xiuxiu was a very gentle woman and also very knowledgeable; for some of Luo Chen's doubts about cultivation, she could often give answers easily.

This was a feeling Luo Chen had never had with Old Daoist Chen, Wang Yuan, or even Gu Caiyi.

In Fu Xiuxiu's words, she had also tried to impact the Foundation Establishment stage.

But without the assistance of a Foundation Establishment Pill, for a rogue cultivator like her, there was only the result of failure.

Since then, she hadn't had any unrealistic thoughts about Foundation Establishment.

Even if she cultivated normally, it was just a habit formed over many years.

"Having eaten two meals of Sister Xiuxiu's food, I'm a bit embarrassed. Let me wash the bowls and chopsticks!"

Fu Xiuxiu pushed Luo Chen's hand away, "How can a man do these things? Let me do it!"

Luo Chen picked his teeth, standing at the kitchen door, watching Fu Xiuxiu wearing an apron washing bowls and chopsticks in front of the sink.

For a moment, his eyes were filled with hot tears.

In his previous life, as a native-born man of mixed Sichuan and Chongqing descent, how could he enjoy such treatment.

The only girlfriend he had ever dated had the catchphrase, "My capital is the Shu Road Mountain."

"Sister Xiuxiu, do you usually live at the Divine Talisman Pavilion?"

"Mm, there are rooms equipped for managers, with small spirit-gathering arrays, suitable for our cultivation."

"I see that many of your flowers and plants like the sun; it's not very good to just hide them in the room after applying spirit fertilizer."

Luo Chen made a suggestion, "Why not put them outside? I'll help you look after them when I'm free."

He was definitely not coveting one of the Moonlight Grasses, which had the wonderful effect of calming the mind and stabilizing the soul.

Placing the bowls and chopsticks on the rack, Fu Xiuxiu thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Then I'll trouble you."