Ladybugs Were Especially Enthusiastic at the Start of the Month

"Wow, that smells amazing!"

The main room's door opened, and Gu Cai Yi, dressed in silk pajamas, let out a sigh of admiration.

Opposite her, Luo Chen sat at the doorway, cradling a large floral porcelain bowl as he shoveled mouthfuls of Spirit Rice into his mouth.

Several bright-red chunks of beef lay against one side of the bowl. Whenever he stirred the rice, the beef trembled precariously, looking especially tempting.

"You made this yourself?"

Watching the woman walk up to him and stare fixedly at those lumps of beef, Luo Chen tentatively offered, "Want a piece?"

"Yes!"

Damn, you really weren't holding back at all!

Watching the biggest piece of beef float under spiritual force into that rosy little mouth, Luo Chen wanted to cry but had no tears.

To reward himself for working hard today, he had deliberately cut an extra two taels of meat. Now it had all gone into this woman's mouth.

And she was at the Qi Refining Eighth Layer, so he did not even have anywhere to argue his case.

I only had myself to blame for having such a loose tongue!

"Mmm, it's soft and richly flavored, fragrant and spicy. That faint herbal taste not only sealed in the juices, it also contains dense spiritual energy."

Gu Cai Yi narrowed her eyes and swallowed that mouthful of beef with pleasure.

"I never expected you to be so good at living. Your cooking is far better than the chefs at our Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion. Even Zhong Ding Restaurant's spirit chefs wouldn't necessarily compare."

Only after praising him several times did she notice Luo Chen rapidly shoveling down the food in his bowl.

Both annoyed and amused, she poked Luo Chen on the head.

"It was only one piece of your beef. Was that really necessary?"

Gulp!

"I was hungry, that's all. Sister Cai Yi, don't misunderstand."

Gu Cai Yi licked her lips, still wanting more.

"I didn't eat your meat for nothing. I helped you find out. The Yin Qi in Great River Market is only seeping through the formation; it isn't harmful. As long as you don't stay there too long, it will have almost no effect."

"What counts as too long?" Luo Chen hurriedly asked.

"At least a month, and that's if you stay in secluded cultivation without moving an inch."

Luo Chen let out a long breath of relief.

Last night, when he had slept clutching a thick quilt, he had felt somewhat uneasy.

Cultivation was difficult enough already. If Yin Qi damaged his Dao Foundation, that would truly be rotten luck falling from the heavens.

Once his mood relaxed, his eating speed slowed on its own.

He even had the leisure to let his gaze follow Gu Cai Yi's graceful figure.

Under the control of spiritual energy, a wooden bucket drew up a pail of water from the corner of the courtyard. She bent down and splashed her face with clear water.

When she raised her head, the Water Beads on her face shimmered beneath the sunlight with a resplendent, rainbow-like beauty.

"Do I look good?"

"You do!"

"Giggle, giggle, giggle..."

Forgive Luo Chen for not knowing what adjective to use. He could only use the sound of a hen laying an egg to describe that clear, charming laughter.

Gu Cai Yi sat on the swing built beneath the tree by the west wing. Suddenly, she said wistfully, "They all say I'm beautiful, yet they also say I don't meet the Joyful Union Sect's entry requirements."

What were the Joyful Union Sect's entry requirements?

Didn't sects only look at age and Spirit Roots when accepting disciples?

Gu Cai Yi did not say. Sitting on that swing which had clearly been built for children, her waist and hips stretched the fabric tight, forming the outline of a peach.

As she swayed back and forth, her unpainted face turned toward the sky, carrying a trace of loneliness.

Luo Chen realized that Gu Cai Yi was different from Bai Mei Ling and Feng Xia. She was more like some of the people he had seen pursuing Foundation Establishment.

There were many such people among rogue cultivators, yet not truly that many.

Because most of them, under the pressure of their straitened circumstances, gradually became mundane, laboring all day for their livelihood.

Then, amid that day-after-day toil, they forgot that the reason they had begun striving in the first place was to pursue the Great Dao and establish their foundations.

Luo Chen was mundane too, but from time to time he reminded himself that the purpose of refining pills to earn Spirit Stones was not the Spirit Stones themselves, but to buy enough resources to pursue immortality.

"What time did you come back this morning? How did I not hear anything?"

"I came back last night during Yinshi Hour."

Yinshi Hour was roughly between three and five in the morning.

That was around two hours earlier than when she had previously returned during Maoshi Hour.

No wonder he had not heard any movement.

"It's been like this for the past two months. For some reason, those ladybugs are especially enthusiastic at the start of the month, swarming toward Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion all at once."

Ladybugs?

She meant clients, right?

"Then after two or three days, whether they've run out of Spirit Stones or run out of energy, they slink back home with their tails between their legs."

Wait, the start of the month?

Luo Chen seemed to realize something, and his gaze instinctively avoided Gu Cai Yi.

"Those of us who dance and play music are fine, really. It's the sisters in the flesh trade who suffer. They keep telling Madam that the start of the month is especially exhausting, and they all want to move their days off to the beginning of the month."

A certain man gave an awkward laugh and said nothing.

He stared at the few remaining grains of rice in his bowl, picking them up one by one and placing them in his mouth.

"Of course, the sisters also earn more. Some have already decided to hold out for a while, save enough Spirit Stones, then switch to another Marketplace and marry an honest rogue cultivator. They'll try to have a child with a Spirit Root, so the child can enter a major sect in the future, establish a foundation, and form a core."

Luo Chen lowered his head and drew circles with his finger.

I really ought to thank them on behalf of all honest rogue cultivators.

"Why aren't you saying anything? Do you not like hearing me talk about what goes on in Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion?" Gu Cai Yi suddenly turned her head to look at him.

Luo Chen hurriedly waved his hands. "How could that be? I've never eaten pork, so I don't know how to join the conversation."

"Heh, you brat!" Gu Cai Yi laughed teasingly, then advised, "If you still want to establish your foundation, you'd best not leak your Primordial Yang before then."

Luo Chen gave a hum of acknowledgment.

He understood this matter fairly well.

Most Cultivation Methods set a Lower Gate Golden Lock during the Qi Refining section, precisely to ensure that low-level disciples did not lose their Primordial Yang.

The Evergreen Art carried a similar warning.

"By the way, I have a question." Luo Chen felt rather awkward. "If cultivators in the Inner City need to practice spells, how do they handle it?"

Gu Cai Yi looked at him strangely. "Just practice them directly. How else would you handle it?"

"No, I mean spells that need to be cast repeatedly and practiced over and over. Like the Fireball Spell or the Great Sword Spell—large-scale attacks like those."

Luo Chen said gloomily, "The space is too small, and it's easy to disturb the neighbors."

"Fighting is strictly forbidden in the Inner City. Why are you learning those spells? Shouldn't you keep your spiritual energy full at all times and use it to push toward higher realms?" Gu Cai Yi asked, puzzled.

Luo Chen found that even stranger. "Spells and magical artifacts are means of protecting the Dao. Shouldn't one master them proficiently?"

"And the Inner City isn't necessarily absolutely safe, is it?"

"Fine, the Inner City does have one or two fools every year who provoke the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect's rules. It really isn't absolutely safe."

Gu Cai Yi shrugged and gave Luo Chen the answer he wanted.

"As far as I know, if Inner City cultivators want to practice high-powered spells, they either leave the city for some desolate mountain clearing, or go to the Combat Platform at the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion."

"Combat Platform?"

"Yes, it charges fees. One use starts at one Spirit Stone. If you want an opponent to spar with you, the price increases a hundredfold."

Luo Chen's eyelids twitched.

So the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect was this shameless when it came to squeezing money too!

Perhaps seeing that Luo Chen's pockets were empty, Gu Cai Yi gave him another solution.

"There's hardly anyone in the courtyard during the day. You can practice over in that corner by the wall. Just keep replenishing the soil whenever necessary, and don't let Senior Sun discover it."