Small World, Build Courtyard, Jade

Chen Renfeng returned to the small world and saw Bai Xue reading quietly in the distance. Chen Qing was manipulating two puppets in a wrestling match, having a great time.

Chen Renfeng rubbed his hands together and then his face, hiding his disappointment. He put on a cheerful smile and said, "You two are really enjoying yourselves!"

"Professor, you're back!" Chen Qing happily took his puppets to greet the professor. The two puppets already had eyebrows, eyes, and mouths drawn on their faces.

Hearing the professor return, Bai Xue also put down her book and went to meet him, asking with concern, "Uncle Chen, are you alright? You look very tired!"

Chen Renfeng shook his head and asked with concern, "What have you two been eating these past few days?"

Bai Xue replied, "Uncle Chen, I'm not hungry. If I get hungry, I just drink some lake water and I feel energized."

Chen Qing also replied, "Professor, I feel full of energy just by drinking some lake water."

Upon hearing this, Chen Renfeng walked to the edge of the lake, cupped his hands, and took a drink. The fatigue instantly vanished, and he felt filled with strength. He used his divine sense to examine the water but couldn't sense any spiritual energy. Instead, there was something that surpassed spiritual energy. Could it be immortal energy?

Chen Renfeng stood up and said to the two, "We can't go back for now. How about we settle down here?"

"Professor, I'll listen to you." Chen Qing accepted the idea at this point.

"Uncle Chen, I guess we have no choice. It's just that there are no houses here, no bathrooms... we have to hide in the bushes to go to the toilet..." Bai Xue said helplessly, expressing her current concerns.

"Haha! What's so difficult about that? How about we build a few wooden houses?" Chen Renfeng asked with a smile.

Chen Qing and Bai Xue nodded in agreement, and the three began to divide the work.

Chen Renfeng took the two puppets to the forest to chop down 100 trees, bringing back the trunks, branches, and leaves. He used magic to isolate the mirror image in the fantasy forest.

Bai Xue flattened a piece of land, pulled out all the grass, and then collected many stones.

Chen Qing drew a courtyard on the ground, like an old Beijing courtyard house. There were three bedrooms side-by-side on the north side, a kitchen and dining room connected on the east side, a study and a storage room connected on the west side, and an alchemy room and two bathrooms connected on the south side.

The three of them worked day and night, drinking lake water when thirsty or hungry, and napping on the grass when tired.

Tree trunks were split into planks and nailed together. Branches were laid on the roof, covered with leaves and grass, and then plastered with mud.

After the main structure of the courtyard house was completed, Chen Qing and Bai Xue were left to pave the ground with wooden planks and lay stones in the courtyard for some finishing touches. Chen Renfeng left the small world to go to the market to purchase daily necessities.

The market on Penglai Immortal Island had many shops. Most cultivators were Loose Immortals below the True Immortal Realm, and they also needed to eat, drink, and use the restroom. Everything from bedding for the bedrooms to pots and pans for the kitchen was available, including all the ingredients for cooking.

Chen Renfeng spent five High-Grade Spirit Stones, buying only high-quality items, and returned to the small world.

The courtyard house stood alone in the grass by the lake, but Chen Renfeng happily ran inside. Chen Qing and Bai Xue were cleaning.

"Bai Xue, Chen Qing, come out quickly!" Chen Renfeng called out happily.

"Professor! You're back, look, we're done!" Chen Qing ran out of the house.

"Uncle Chen, where are the things you bought!" Bai Xue asked urgently.

The professor took out a Storage Bag, untied the opening, and with a wave of his finger, the items inside flew out, all hovering at waist height.

Bai Xue looked at so many things and gasped in amazement.

The professor laughed and said, "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and move them into the house!"

Bai Xue and Chen Qing heard him and started moving with smiles. Hundreds of items were organized into the bedrooms.

Chen Qing lay on the bed in his room, feeling like he was dreaming. As they were lost in thought, they smelled a fragrance – the aroma of rice, scrambled eggs, and stir-fried pork with chili...

Bai Xue was soaking in a bathtub in the bathroom. The pleasant time made her feel like she had returned to her previous life. Lost in thought, she suddenly smelled the aroma of food...

This world suddenly had a sense of life and vitality.

In the kitchen, the professor had prepared a table full of delicious food and placed it on the dining table. He left a note: "I'm going out to buy some things. You eat first."

While cooking, Chen Renfeng thought that rice, vegetables, eggs, and fish should be able to be produced in the small world. Moreover, the spiritual energy here was so high that anything grown would be rich in spiritual energy, which would be of great benefit to Bai Xue and Chen Qing.

This time, Chen Renfeng went out to buy Immortal Rice Seeds, Immortal Vegetable Seeds, fish fry, and chicks and ducklings. Since they were all of superior quality, he spent a full ten High-Grade Spirit Stones.

In the bird market, an old man saw his generous spending and insisted on selling him a pair of black and white swan chicks. Chen Renfeng refused, but the old man quietly told him they were caught in the wild and only charged him one High-Grade Spirit Stone. Chen Renfeng was tempted and bought them.

Chen Renfeng also went to the fabric store and bought ten zhang of silk cloth, needles, and thread, spending another ten High-Grade Spirit Stones. The shop owner thought he must be going to bribe someone.

He went to the market to buy things and returned quickly, as two students were waiting for him at home.

In the small world, the courtyard house truly felt like a home. Bai Xue held the ladder while Chen Qing nailed a wooden plaque onto the gatehouse. Seeing the professor return, they happily tidied up and went to meet him.

"Uncle Chen, what did you buy this time?" Bai Xue asked happily.

Chen Qing was also full of curiosity.

Chen Renfeng kept them in suspense and said with a smile, "First, let's dig a pond by the lake and fill it with lake water. Then I'll show you a magic trick."

The three of them got to work immediately. A five-zhang square pond was dug to a depth of one person. The excavated soil was piled up on the shore, and a ditch was dug to the lake. After the lake water was filled, a fence was made with wooden planks, and a large area of grass was enclosed within the fence.

Chen Renfeng took out his Storage Bag, untied it, and with a wave of his hand, chicks, ducklings, and fish fry wrapped in water flew out, hovering in the air, along with the two black and white swan chicks.

Bai Xue was overjoyed and clapped her hands, shouting, "Uncle Chen, quickly... quickly put them in the pond!"

With another wave of Chen Renfeng's hand, the fish dove into the pond, and the chickens, ducks, and geese floated on the water. Soon, the chicks climbed ashore and went to eat grass in the bushes.

This world suddenly had more than just the three of them; it was filled with vibrant life.

Chen Renfeng also planted the Immortal Rice and Immortal Vegetable Seeds he had bought. After watering them with lake water, they quickly sprouted.

Their living situation was resolved, their food was sorted, and their clothing was being tailored according to modern short-sleeve and short-pant styles. Although it was slow, the silk clothes were very comfortable to wear.

With everything settled, the professor took Bai Xue and Chen Qing to identify most of the grasses, flowers, and fruits in the small world. They were very similar to the plum, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum, hemp, osmanthus, perilla, and ginger herbs from their modern world, but they all had prefixes of gold, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, ice, and thunder. Furthermore, the roots of these medicinal herbs grew in Spirit Soil, which was strange. He wondered who had transplanted them here and from where.

Chen Renfeng compared and marked over a thousand pages based on the Immortal Realm Herb and Plant Compendium, with over a thousand pages yet to be read.

"With immortal herbs, can we start refining pills?"