Under Construction

At noon, the drizzle began to let up, and the wind weakened to a whisper.

In the afternoon, the sun broke through the clouds, signaling that the typhoon had already passed.

At dusk, the gravediggers who had finished burying the corpses did not delay for even a moment, hurrying home.

They were not the only ones. Anyone who was able to finish work at this hour was doing much the same.

Because they needed to go back and repair their houses.

Of course, there were exceptions.

The people from the Bully Gang were one of them.

Liu Qixiang, a member of the Green Robe Gang, had already finished work by then. He was making his way along a road littered with obstacles, planning to collect protection fees.

Talk about adding insult to injury!

Gangs like the Green Robe Gang were, in truth, utterly inhuman. The typhoon had caused losses for those above them, so they had to find a way to make up for them from those below—even if doing so would drive quite a few people to their deaths.

However, because of what had happened before, Liu Qixiang now shared the considerable misgivings of many ordinary gang members.

"Damn it, they're hiding behind the scenes and only sending us out to collect the debts. If I get noticed because of this, I'll be unbelievably unlucky!"

But the gang leader above had already given the order. As a lowly underling, he could only obey meekly and force himself onward.

Otherwise, even without an Evil Cultivator lifting a finger, the gang leader would use him as an example to scare the others!

"Those hall masters are crafty as foxes. They're actually planning to use this opportunity to build a big house and all live together, looking out for one another. That'd be nice... We're not so lucky. We can only fend for ourselves. But..."

He had been grumbling inwardly, but when he looked around at the scattered people who seemed displaced and wore bleak expressions, Liu Qixiang had to admit that his circumstances were still far better than theirs.

That was also why he had joined the Bully Gang. If you could not beat them, join them. At least he could get some benefits!

Before he knew it, he had reached a stretch of road that seemed unusually open.

He was just about to gather his strength and start from there when he suddenly froze.

"Hmm? Wait. This place seems to be..."

The typhoon had not only torn down houses; it had also swept away every trace of human life. As a result, the foul-smelling barrier around the gravediggers' courtyard sign had vanished without a trace, so he had not recognized the place right away.

Just as he was about to turn his head for a closer look, voices came from the far end of the road.

Rumble, rumble~

The familiar sound of cartwheels made Liu Qixiang jolt. He widened his eyes and looked over, and sure enough, he saw Du En and the others, along with Ren Li sitting on their handcart.

"I'm screwed!"

He wailed inwardly, then immediately bowed and scraped, clasping his hands obsequiously as he retreated into the clutter by the roadside.

Du En and his group had never been easy to bully. Now they had a Peak Qi Refining overseer with them as well, always following them around. Liu Qixiang had long since stopped daring to come here.

It was not just him. The hall masters and gang leaders above had given special instructions too: even if they had to collect protection fees here, they had to be gentle and polite, and never let themselves be caught doing anything improper.

In short, there was only one rule: if you dared offend Overseer Ren, they would kill you to vent his anger!

That could also be considered one of the benefits Ren Li had brought. Although he followed Du En and the others mainly to find someone to chat with and relieve his boredom.

He had been meditating all day without gaining anything, and his progress was painfully slow. It was inevitable that he would feel depressed. To maintain a good mindset for the next day, he needed to relax appropriately.

Looking around, Du En seemed eccentric, but that also made him someone Ren Li could talk to. At times, Ren Li could even show off in front of him and enjoy a sense of superiority.

Their group noticed Liu Qixiang, but none of them stopped or paid him any attention. They hurried past him and went straight to the courtyard.

"Old Ning, go to the trading point and buy some lumber. Don't worry about saving Spiritual Materials. Get two extra pieces and have their people transport them here. That'll save us from any accidents along the way."

Du En handed Ning Caize what he had earned today from extracting corpses.

"No problem!"

With Spiritual Materials, everything became easy!

Rebuilding a house was not something they could handle by casually chopping down some wet wood, hauling it over, and assembling it.

As Ning Caize left, he was still somewhat concerned about Liu Qixiang, but the underling had his head lowered and was running as fast as his legs could carry him. He did not dare linger at all.

"Wei Ming, take the others and clean up the courtyard. Then prepare the necessary tools."

"Got it!"

The other four answered and went off, beginning to clear up the inside and outside of the courtyard, which they had not had time to deal with that morning.

As for Du En, he was inspecting the condition of the main beams and the foundation.

Ren Li folded his arms, looking utterly idle as he paced along behind him. He even tossed out a few sarcastic remarks. "This ordinary wooden house has quite a few problems. Why not take this chance to change it? Oh, right. You're all working for free now. You didn't get any wages at all, so you clearly don't have much spare money."

Although he was the overseer and could hold a conversation with Du En, he was not going to stand up for the gravediggers for no reason.

Besides, the main party involved was not in a hurry. Since Du En remained as calm as an old immortal, Ren Li had no reason to be anxious either.

Of course, if Du En asked him for help, Ren Li might be in such a good mood that he would go demand the money for them.

It was not that Du En was too proud to ask. It was that doing so would very likely cause He Bo, the steward, to vent his anger on him for no reason, creating unnecessary trouble and shattering the stable situation they currently enjoyed.

"Something on your mind?"

Hearing the idle man behind him, Du En continued working and asked without turning his head.

Seeing how bluntly he had gotten to the point, Ren Li smacked his lips and nodded. "I need something called Corpse Yin Grass. It isn't particularly precious—it's only First-tier Mid Grade—but it grows in a rather tricky environment. I only know the general area."

"Since you already know the general area, there's no need to tell me this, is there?"

"Because I can't just leave on a whim. And besides, aren't you facing a problem? How about this? If you can help me find it, I'll give you a reward."

The problem Ren Li referred to did not belong to the gravediggers, nor had it been caused by last night's typhoon. It was something that had surfaced even earlier.

His proficiency in culinary arts had already reached its current limit, just like his proficiency in appraisal and gathering. Both had become completely stuck!

The outward sign was that Du En could cook First-tier Mid Grade braised owl and braised jackal with effortless fluency and incredible skill, but he could not advance any further. He was completely stalled at First-tier Mid Grade.

By rights, with his current proficiency in culinary arts, he should even be able to attempt First-tier Perfection, and there was a very high chance he would succeed on his first try.

But even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice!

"Setting aside the ingredients themselves, which need no explanation, there are mainly two things hindering your spiritual cuisine."

"What two things?"

Whenever Ren Li saw Du En asking questions with such humility, he could never resist tilting his head back, feeling smug and superior, before offering his own instruction. "Simply put, they're the equipment and the heat."

"The equipment is easy to understand. You should have noticed it already, considering you ruined a pot some time ago. Ordinary containers can no longer keep up with your techniques or withstand the high-frequency flow of your magical power. You need to replace it."

"Then there's the heat. Ordinary mortal fire can only affect ordinary medicinal and culinary ingredients. The moment you need to cook Spiritual Materials, it can no longer burn hot enough."