Everyday Childcare at the Monastery

The album only recorded what happened after he tore apart Boss Yang's pirated copy and filed it away. It contained nothing about the Elysian Realm, nor about the later journey with Raiden Ryoma and Yae.

Li Ming was also baffled by the album's existence, but he could feel that it was strongly connected to him. As for when the things inside had appeared, he had no idea.

Closing the album, Li Ming went to sleep full of doubts.

In his dream, he saw Hua dressed in splendid robes, smiling gently at him. Then she reached out her hand as if she wanted to pull him over—then the scene abruptly changed.

Hua's biceps bulged, their definition striking. The moment she grabbed his hand, she hurled him with an Earth-overhead throw.

Li Ming then became a star shining in the sky.

And he could still see Hua, her left hand pointing at the heavens. "Your death star is already shining in the sky!"

For a moment, Li Ming didn't know how to describe how he felt. It was just... complicated.

All he could say was that the ingredients were complicated.

Then Li Ming jolted awake. Checking the time, he found that it was only six o'clock.

The moment he woke up, he heard someone knocking on his door.

Li Ming shuddered in fright and hurriedly got up to put on his clothes. He felt like he had developed a bit of a Fu Hua phobia.

Li Ming hurried to the door. The moment he opened it, he saw Hua standing prettily outside, her long low ponytail hanging behind her while a beret held down her upturned bangs.

She wore a light-colored short shirt and white hot pants, perfectly accentuating the girl's slender figure.

But when Li Ming saw Hua's movements, he did not dare move. Really, he didn't dare move at all. Yesterday's injuries still ached faintly.

"Time to get up. The children aren't awake yet, so we need to start preparing breakfast. Let's clean up first." Hua tucked her bangs to one side.

"Breakfast?" Li Ming looked troubled. To be honest, the only thing he knew how to make was egg fried rice.

"You can help me out. We'll make porridge this morning. I took a look—Grandma Rona prepared some pumpkin, probably for dessert. Help me cut it up." Hua could see Li Ming's embarrassment and naturally guessed what he was thinking. After all, he had been quite clumsy while making egg fried rice last night.

"Sure. Then I can learn a few tricks from you while I'm at it." Since Hua had taken on the hard work, Li Ming was too embarrassed to refuse.

After the two finished cleaning and entered the kitchen, Hua tied on an apron and began cooking, while Li Ming could only help from the side.

Little Sunflower Mom's Classroom was now in session—no, Valkyrie's Restaurant was now in session!

Sweet Pumpkin Porridge: rinse and pick through the rice, add water, use Heavenly Fire Sacred Judgment to bring it to a boil over high heat, then turn it down to low heat and slowly cook the rice until tender.

Inch-Force Melon Splitting: chop the pumpkin into chunks, peel it, and remove the pulp.

Transform Heavenly Fire Sacred Judgment into the Heavenly Fire Greatsword, light the fire, and steam the pumpkin over water until soft.

Then use Taixu's Grasp and circulate Inch-Force to mash the pumpkin into a puree.

Pour the pumpkin puree into the steamer, stir it evenly with the rice porridge, and simmer over low heat for fifteen minutes.

Just like that, a steaming pot of sweet pumpkin porridge filled with Heavenly Fire's love was ready.

Even Siegfried would have to say he had learned something.

The two left the porridge simmering in the pot and checked the time. It was only half past six.

Hua untied her apron and said, "Come on, we still have time. Want to train a little?"

"Can I not go?" Li Ming's mouth twitched.

But Hua directly grabbed his arm and dragged him outside. "A day's plan begins in the morning. Martial training requires perseverance!"

There was no resisting now. Li Ming could only pray that Hua would go a little easier on him.

The two went to the courtyard where the children usually played. To give the children enough space for activities, Aponia had put a great deal of thought into clearing out an open area in the middle of the orphanage.

Children's play equipment surrounded it, such as slides and the like.

Rather than doing their usual morning exercises, the two sparred with each other. Though they had held back somewhat, each collision of fists and kicks produced dull thuds.

The occasional strike that landed on the ground cracked the concrete directly.

Under Aponia's management, the monastery's children generally got up early. Grandma Rona alone could not keep up with all the cleaning, and the monastery had not hired additional help. No one knew why, but whenever anything needed doing, the children handled it themselves. Though they were called children, the oldest among them were already thirteen or fourteen.

A group of children had just gotten up to clean when they saw that the monastery had been completely refreshed. The cleaning had obviously already been done, and even places the children could not reach and had therefore left untouched were now spotless.

Then they heard fighting sounds from the courtyard. The children crowded by the doorway to watch the two spar—or rather, to watch Li Ming get beaten up one-sidedly.

"Adam, Brother Ming looks so miserable."

"Shh, Tina, keep your voice down. Don't let Sister Hua hear you, or she'll smash your skull."

"But Brother and Sister are so amazing! I want to be as amazing as them when I grow up!"

Children at that age admired heroes the most. Even Adam, the oldest among them, was no exception.

Facing Hua, Li Ming lacked the strength to match her and could only keep triggering the effect of the Chaotic Hundred Flowers [Plum] through evasions.

It increased attack power and movement speed by forty percent for eight seconds.

The enhancement was incredibly obvious. After triggering the inscription's effect, Li Ming felt that his back no longer hurt and his legs no longer ached. It was practically like some old man putting on his supportive shoes and instantly triggering a passive skill.

Unfortunately, even when Li Ming counterattacked, the force of his blows vanished like a stone sinking into the sea when they landed on Hua. Her body did not even budge.

Sinking into a stone... well, more like a plain.

At Hua's level, how could she fail to notice the resentful yet pitying, pitying yet relieved look in Li Ming's eyes?

Though she told herself not to get angry, the force behind her attacks increased by a few degrees. At first, Li Ming could still parry once or twice. Later on, forget triggering evasions—his health was worn down to a sliver.

Finally, just as Chaotic Hundred Flowers [Plum] entered cooldown and Li Ming was caught between the exhaustion of his old strength and the emergence of his new strength, Hua slapped him in the chest.

Li Ming flew off like a dead fly.

He ended up embedded in the wall, impossible to pull out.

The moment the children saw Li Ming get sent flying, their eyes seemed to light up.

Coach, I want to learn that!

Hua noticed the children's movements. Looking at Li Ming, whom she had slapped into the wall, she felt a little guilty. Then she caught a scent and sensed that something was wrong.

Turning around, she saw thick greenish smoke billowing from the kitchen. Clearly, the sweet pumpkin porridge filled with Heavenly Fire's love was in serious trouble.

As expected of the Heavenly Fire Greatsword. Even pumpkin porridge could not escape its clutches.

Hua rushed to salvage it and barely managed to save the pumpkin porridge. Unfortunately, it had already turned into pumpkin cake. The bottom was charred black, and quite a bit of it had even stuck to the pot.

Though Li Ming had been slapped into the wall, he had not passed out. His entire body just ached, and he could not be bothered to move. Later, a whole group of children gathered around him, making him feel deeply uncomfortable.

In the end, Li Ming could only stop playing dead and pull himself out of the wall. The moment he looked up, he saw thick smoke pouring from the kitchen.

Following Li Ming's gaze, a little girl only a few years old pointed at the rolling smoke in the distance and curiously asked, "It looks like there's a fire somewhere. There's smoke everywhere!"

Li Ming fell silent and hurried toward the kitchen. The children clearly realized what was happening as well and each ran off to find pots, bowls, and ladles to put out the fire.

The kitchen door opened, and thick smoke hit Li Ming in the face. His eyes were stung shut for a moment, and then he saw Hua walk out carrying a pot of something pitch-black.

Quite a bit of soot had also stained her delicate face.

After a while, the smoke in the kitchen dispersed. The children arrived carrying pots, bowls, and ladles, ready to put out the fire. But upon reaching the kitchen, they saw the once cream-yellow walls blackened by smoke.

Hua coughed dryly a few times. "Hahaha... well, let's eat first!"

Then more than a dozen children surrounded the pot in the middle of the table. The contents were a little yellowed, but looked almost like lumps of coal.

The children looked at the pot, then at Hua, their feelings becoming rather subtle. Why did Sister Hua seem even scarier than Mama Aponia?

Li Ming could only sigh. "Forget it. Let's make it again. But we're out of ingredients. Should we go buy some later?"

"You stay here with the children. I'll go buy them. You still aren't familiar with this place." Hua glanced around, tidied herself up, and prepared to leave.

Li Ming did not stop her. He merely took a basin of water from one of the children. "Wash your face first. We'll clean up the kitchen."

Hua paused. "Right."

After watching Hua leave, Li Ming looked at the children. "Come on, let's get to work. Otherwise, it'll be hard to explain when Sister Aponia comes back."

The moment he finished speaking, several children swept into the kitchen like a whirlwind. The smoke disappeared, the trash disappeared, and even the blackened walls were repainted cream-yellow, gleaming brightly.

Li Ming had just picked up the pot to wash it when a white-haired child came over. With two quick motions, a brand-new pot was produced.

Li Ming did not know what to say anymore. Why did he suddenly feel such an inexplicable sense of guilt?

"Brother Ming, what are we doing next?" The white-haired child who had taken the lead looked at him with bright, sparkling eyes.

Li Ming was at a loss. The children's efficiency was so high that it threw him off completely. He tentatively asked, "What do you want to do?"

"Learn martial arts q(≧▽≦q)"

"Learn martial arts ψ(｀?′)ψ"

"Learn martial arts (??ω??)?"

"Eat (☆▽☆)"

"Learn martial arts (/≧▽≦)/"

Wait, something different seemed to have slipped in there.

When Hua returned from buying groceries, she saw a group of children in the monastery sitting in neat rows, eating fruit—no, following Li Ming as they held horse stances.

This completely caught Hua off guard. Seeing that Hua had returned, Li Ming instructed them, "Hold your horse stances properly. Persevere, and one day you'll be as strong as Hua and me."

"Yes, Master Ming!"

Hua's lips twitched. "What is this?"

"The children are hungry. Hurry up and cook."

Li Ming quickly pushed Hua into the kitchen. After busying themselves for quite a while, they finally prepared another meal.

Once the steaming food was ready, the children, who had held horse stances all morning, finally got to rest. Even though it was only pumpkin porridge, they drank it to their hearts' content.

Then it was back to holding horse stances, while Li Ming and Hua helped repair parts of the monastery.

At first, the two had planned for one person to teach while the other worked. But when the children learned Li Ming intended to have Hua teach them, their expressions were enough to make listeners weep and onlookers cry!

So the final arrangement was for everyone to hold horse stances first. By the time they were done, Li Ming and Hua would have finished repairing everything, and then Li Ming would teach them.

Though he only taught them simple things, such as breathing exercises.

In the afternoon, the children busied themselves with what they called redecorating. Hua brought back a cartload of materials according to their requests. At first, Li Ming and Hua did not think anything was wrong, and they even helped out from time to time. It was not until evening that the work was finally completed.

Then Li Ming and Hua looked at the large plaque bearing the character "Martial" that the children had placed in the hands of the monastery's original holy statue.

The floor had been replaced with wooden boards, while the walls remained cream-yellow. No matter how they looked at it, the result felt strange.

After dinner, the children bathed and fell asleep from exhaustion. Some even lay down directly on the floor. Li Ming and Hua had no choice but to carry them to bed one by one.

After resting for a while, the two ultimately decided to stay at the monastery for another night before leaving.

Early the next morning, Aponia returned to the monastery. The moment she entered, her smiling eyes suddenly widened at the sight before her.

Then she silently walked back outside, took another look, and confirmed that this was indeed the monastery. But when she entered again—

The floor was smooth wooden planks, polished with wax. Stone locks, wooden training dummies, plum blossom poles, and more stood in the open courtyard. The tall holy statue had originally held its hands in a devout gesture of prayer, yet now it held a huge "Martial" sign.

A group of children followed behind Li Ming, still practicing horse stances and punches. Several crosses appeared on Aponia's smooth forehead, and her warm, ocean-blue eyes suddenly turned wine-red as her gaze swept toward Li Ming.

Li Ming, who had his back to the entrance, saw the children scatter in all directions. From behind him, he could feel a gaze repeatedly sweeping over his back, and he immediately understood what had happened.

His head turned as though it had jammed, frame by frame, toward the back. Sure enough, Aponia stood behind him with narrowed eyes, her hair fluttering and her loose long dress stirring despite the absence of wind.

She was clearly smiling with narrowed eyes, so why was red light leaking from the gaps? You're a monster!

"Nooo~"

A miserable wail then rang through the monastery, enough to make anyone shed tears.