Dining Hall

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

"I'm avoiding her edge? What a joke!"

"What I'm doing is a strategic retreat..."

Wu Tian muttered to himself. He wasn't one of those hotheaded fools who insisted on charging straight in and fighting the enemy to the death.

Now that he had just entered the sect, the most important thing was to develop steadily and safely. If he stirred up trouble and offended someone, drawing the attention of the sect's higher-ups, that would be asking for trouble.

He possessed the Spirit of Wind talent. Combined with his keen dog's nose and his memory of Feitianyun and Guduo's scents, he could detect the two of them from far away and avoid them.

As Wu Tian sensed the scents carried by the wind, his talent improved several times faster after he entered Skull Mountain.

The reason was that the Eight Halls and Thirty-six Caves of Skull Mountain, along with its disciples, could almost all pose a danger to him.

Those dangerous scents mingled with the wind and were carried into his mind, constantly stimulating the growth of this talent.

Skull Mountain was far more dangerous than the Savage Jungle.

Wu Tian did not dare to be careless. Relying on his Spirit of Wind talent, he chose the safest route and cautiously approached the Law Transmission Hall.

Two days ago, Man Xiongmu had brought him to the Law Transmission Hall and spoken with the disciple in charge of food and daily affairs, allowing him to come to the hall in the morning and evening to scrounge for something to eat.

Naturally, Man Xiongmu had paid the corresponding price: three feet of Yin Soul Silk.

Wu Tian silently committed all this to memory. However, Man Xiongmu had begun secluded cultivation the very next day, so Wu Tian could only travel to and from the Law Transmission Hall alone.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly with the Spirit of Wind talent, and no accidents occurred.

It was still only dimly light when Wu Tian reached the small door on the north side of the Law Transmission Hall. After slipping in through the entrance, he saw the Dining Hall.

The two people in charge of the Dining Hall were both fifth-generation disciples, but their talents were terribly poor. Even after cultivating for several decades, they had yet to break through to Cauldron Casting and were still at the Qi-Nourishing stage.

There were quite a few disciples like them. Some had gone down the mountain, while others worked as menial servants in the sect's various halls, exchanging their labor for Merit points and sustaining their cultivation.

The two disciples at the Dining Hall were both over fifty years old, one man and one woman. The man was named Huang Ren. Everyone called him Master Huang, while in private they called him Fatty Huang.

He had a broad face and a fat body, and was always grinning. But he was extremely stingy, never giving the entry-level disciples even half a spoonful more food.

The female disciple, Wu Lian, had recently come to be called Aunt Wu by everyone. Though she was getting on in years, she was rather fiery, with a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Whenever she poured food into Wu Tian's dog bowl, she was afraid he might not get enough to eat.

When Wu Tian arrived at the Dining Hall, Wu Lian spotted him and began nagging, "We haven't even eaten yet, but you beast sure got here on time..."

Though she said that, her hands poured the food she had prepared earlier into the dog bowl. It was filled to the brim with meaty bones, glistening with oil and sending out an irresistible aroma.

Wu Tian rushed over. First, he approached Aunt Wu, raised his tail, and rubbed his head against the hem of her skirt, looking extremely affectionate.

Aunt Wu immediately laughed and scolded him, "Stop trying to act clever here. Hurry up and go gnaw on your bones. I still have plenty of work to do."

Fatty Huang grumbled from the side, "You beast, stop taking advantage of my wife. Get lost!"

Wu Tian deliberately barked at him twice. Seeing Fatty raise a cleaver, he tucked his tail between his legs and fled in a streak, then began wolfing down the food in front of the dog bowl.

Fatty Huang continued working, muttering curses under his breath. "Ungrateful beast..."

Seeing him grumble nonstop, Aunt Wu immediately arched her fine brows and slammed the iron ladle onto the chopping board with a bang. "Fatty Huang, are you done yet?"

Old Huang promptly shut his mouth. He could not afford to provoke his fiery wife. When she was young, many male disciples had pursued her. Who knew what sort of spell Wu Lian had fallen under that she had ultimately chosen an ordinary fatty like him?

One spouse was stingy and miserly, while the other was fiery but kindhearted. Though they bickered constantly, they had lived a peaceful life together. A few years ago, they had even had a child in their old age—a little daughter who was now cultivating at the Law Transmission Hall. That gave them even more to look forward to.

Wu Tian's teeth were as hard as steel. He gnawed through the bones quickly, and before long, he had cleaned every meaty bone in the dog bowl. He even licked up all the grease before lying on the ground with his tongue hanging out, resting in satisfaction.

Before long, the disciples of the Law Transmission Hall would begin their morning lessons. They would recite scriptures, and only after finishing class would they come to the Dining Hall to eat.

Sure enough, it was not long before the sound of entry-level disciples reciting scriptures came from the other side of the wall.

The scripture was called the White Bone Disaster Aversion Scripture. It was said to have been written by the founding patriarch and to contain the truths of the Great Dao.

Of course, no one had ever been heard to have comprehended anything from this Dao scripture over the years. More often, the book was used to help entry-level disciples familiarize themselves with the sect's lineage and learn written characters.

Wu Tian silently listened to the many disciples' recitation. The scripture was more than three hundred characters in total—not particularly long—but it was profound and obscure. Without anyone to explain it, it was difficult to understand its meaning.

He memorized all three hundred-plus characters of the scripture.

When the disciples finished their morning lessons and came to eat, he slipped away in a flash.

After returning to Qiyun Cave, he began that day's cultivation.

Wu Tian did not go to the cultivation Cave Mansion in the rear. That was not a place he could stay yet. Instead, he found a stone chair in the front hall, leaped onto it, and stretched out comfortably.

He began reciting the eighteen ancient sounds of the Tongyou Spell. At the same time, his Eating Radiance, Drinking Dew talent activated. The essence of heaven and earth gathered, and streams of azure radiance, like lengths of silk, surged into his mouth and nose.

He swallowed the azure radiance, nourishing his body.

The feeling was intoxicating.

When his mind grew weary from cultivation, Wu Tian took the White Bone Disaster Aversion Scripture from the bookshelf in the Cave Mansion and began learning the characters. Although his progress was slower without anyone to teach him, he already understood human speech. By comparing the characters one by one, he naturally gained something.

When he grew tired from reading and learning characters, he ran along the sheer cliffs outside the cave, tempering his talent.

With the Spirit of Wind sensing everything in all directions, he would not accidentally run into places he should not go or encounter any danger.

At night, he slipped over to the Law Transmission Hall again. The disciples there had already eaten dinner, but Aunt Wu would specially save some food for him.

However, Wu Xia'er, Aunt Wu's daughter, would also be there when he came in the evening. The little girl adored Wu Tian to a ridiculous degree, and every time she saw him, she had to hug him and shower him with affection.

"Wow, White Dragon, you're here again!"

The little girl was eight years old that year and had been cultivating at the Law Transmission Hall for three years. Her aptitude was quite excellent, and with her parents secretly giving her extra help, she had already cultivated the Tongyou Spell to a very profound level.

Wu Xia'er had a cheerful personality and had inherited Aunt Wu's good looks, making her quite pretty. She loved wearing red, and her lively chatter made her seem as active as a sparrow.

She scooped Wu Tian into her arms and reached out to stroke his snow-white fur.

Wu Tian rubbed his head against the little girl's neck. Wu Xia'er was ticklish, and every time she would burst into giggles, the sound of her bell-like laughter echoing through the night sky.

After the two of them played around for a while, Wu Tian quickly finished the food Aunt Wu had left for him.

After that, he cultivated the Tongyou Spell together with Wu Xia'er. Wu Xia'er's Immortal root was aligned with wind and fire, allowing her to draw in the spirits of wind and fire.

Cultivating alongside her made Wu Tian feel somewhat more relaxed.

In fact, this was also why the sect had entry-level disciples cultivate together. During cultivation, the many disciples gathered the essence of heaven and earth together, supporting and complementing one another, which could increase the speed of cultivation to a certain extent.

Of course, once one reached a certain level, a single person could communicate with heaven and earth. At that point, cultivating together would instead make them compete for the essence of heaven and earth, cutting their results in half while doubling their effort. That was when they had to open their own cultivation Cave Mansion.

Wu Tian lay beside Wu Xia'er and cultivated diligently with her. The Spirit of Wind howled, while fiery radiance blazed brilliantly, resembling the evening clouds at the edge of the sky.

After cultivating, the little girl would grow mentally weary, and her parents would drag her back to sleep and rest.

Wu Tian, meanwhile, would travel back through the night. To him, running was itself a form of cultivation...

"White Dragon, see you tomorrow." Wu Xia'er's voice drifted over on the night wind, as if she were watching him leave.

"Woof, woof!"

Wu Tian barked twice in reply and soon disappeared into the night.