Preparations Before School

After returning home, Li Ru began stewing the Fire Pattern Chicken.

This Fire Pattern Chicken was a First-Grade Low-Rank spirit beast, its meat rich with abundant spiritual energy.

It was quite valuable, costing one Low-grade Spirit Stone and fifty Broken Spirit.

On the way home, Li Ru had also bought Zhou Shan a jar of Spirit Wine to reward him.

All told, today's expenses had far exceeded Li Ru's budget.

Fortunately, their son had picked up a Spirit Stone, filling that gap.

At dinner, a large bowl of fragrant Fire Pattern Chicken soup sat on the wooden table.

The Fire Pattern Chicken meat in the bowl was pale red, firm in texture.

The broth was rich and clear, with a thin sheen of golden oil floating on top. It was garnished with edible spiritual herbs, parsley, and other side dishes, along with some spices.

It was a feast for the eyes, nose, and palate.

The sight made Zhou Ling swallow involuntarily.

Li Ru would only bring herself to buy spirit beast meat worth more than one Low-grade Spirit Stone every two or three months, when the Spirit Stones in her hands were a little more plentiful.

These spirit beasts were raised by cultivators. Their meat was tender and contained spiritual energy, which made it extremely expensive. Ordinary Rogue Cultivators simply could not afford it in their daily lives.

Li Ru ladled a brimming bowl of meat and soup, then tore off two large drumsticks and placed them before Zhou Ling, saying with a smile, "Son, eat!"

She filled another bowl, tore off two wings, and placed them before Zhou Shan. "Try it and see how it tastes."

Zhou Ling sat on the tall wooden chair Zhou Shan had specially made for him. Spoon in one hand and drumstick in the other, he began eating, taking a sip of soup and a bite of meat at a time. The soup was fresh, the meat fragrant, without the slightest greasiness.

This was the best food Zhou Ling had eaten since he was born.

"Delicious! Delicious!"

Zhou Ling could not help saying.

Li Ru's face was full of smiles. "Son, if it's good, eat more. This chicken is all yours."

"Mother will buy you another one next month!"

Holding the wine jar, Zhou Shan poured himself a small bowl of wine and watched Zhou Ling eat with great relish.

Then he picked up his chopsticks and placed one chicken wing each into Zhou Ling's and Li Ru's bowls, saying with a smile, "You two eat. When I'm in the mountains, I often eat Demon Beast meat too."

"Husband, you should eat some too. The beast meat in the mountains can't compare to this spirit beast meat!" Li Ru glanced at him and said heartfully.

Zhou Ling also picked up his chopsticks, lifted the chicken wing, stood up, braced one hand against the wooden table, and put the wing back into Zhou Shan's bowl.

"Father, you should eat more too!"

Seeing the concern in his wife and child's eyes, Zhou Shan looked deeply gratified. "My son is so sensible!"

Li Ru picked up the chicken wing and tried to put it into Zhou Ling's bowl, but Zhou Ling pushed her hand away with both hands and shook his head. "Mother! I've had enough!"

Li Ru could only take it back and place it in Zhou Shan's bowl instead, saying softly, "You'll be going into the mountains again in a few days. Eat more!"

"I'm a Body Cultivator. Spirit beast meat doesn't do much for me. You should eat it instead!"

The husband and wife began pushing it back and forth.

Zhou Ling found it rather helpless, yet his heart was filled with warmth.

[Detected sincere concern, Basic Insight +1]

Night had just fallen, and steam rose from the dining table.

Under the gentle glow of the Firestone Lamp, the three figures' shadows stretched long.

The entire room was filled with the warm atmosphere of home.

After eating the Fire Pattern Chicken soup, Zhou Ling gained 5 Physique points.

By now, his Physique had gradually begun to surpass that of children his age.

Time flew, and another half year passed. Zhou Ling was now just over two years old.

As their child slowly grew up, the pressure on Zhou Shan and his wife only grew greater and greater.

Rent, monthly Spirit Food expenses, their son's preschool books, and so on.

Next, their son would be attending the Dao Academy.

The Spiritual Root test alone was a considerable expense.

Moreover, the Dao Academy's Children's Classes came in different grades.

The spiritual energy differed depending on the Dao classroom one attended.

After discussing it, the couple decided that no matter what Spiritual Root their child tested for, they would send him to a mid-grade Dao class.

The tuition was five Low-grade Spirit Stones a month.

They knew their child's talent was quite good. As long as he received the Instructor's careful guidance, he would certainly surpass them in the future.

Of course, this was no small expense.

Including the rent, it already exceeded Zhou Shan's current monthly income.

And once the child entered the Dao Academy, there would be other expenses as well.

Although Li Ru had scrimped and saved over the years, leaving the family with some Spirit Stones, when it was all calculated out—

It would not last long.

So Li Ru could only suggest leaving their son at the Dao Academy while she followed Zhou Shan into the mountains to search for spirit herbs.

Zhou Shan refused outright. Their son's physique was frail, after all, and his nutrition had to keep up.

Zhou Shan secretly made up his mind. He could only venture deeper into the mountains.

The area where they mainly searched for spirit herbs was merely the outer region of Black Cloud Mountain.

If they went another hundred or so li deeper, the number and grade of spirit herbs would be relatively higher.

Of course, the danger would also be far greater.

In the outer regions, they generally only encountered Early and Mid First-Tier Demon Beasts.

If they went deeper, however, they would be highly likely to encounter Late First-Tier Demon Beasts.

That was absolutely not something he could handle.

But for the child's sake, he still had to take this risk.

So long as he could find one or two First-Grade Mid-Rank Spirit Herbs in a single trip into the mountains, it would be enough to cover the family's expenses.

Zhou Ling's physique was not actually as poor as Zhou Shan imagined.

Half a year had passed, and his Growth Value was now:

[Physique, Mediocre Nutrition (4800/10000)]

As his physique improved, ordinary food provided him with exceedingly limited Growth Value.

As for his [Physique Evolution] talent, once his exercise count reached ten thousand, its effect status had now changed as well.

[Effect: Total Punches Practiced 109 Times]

[Total Punches Practiced: 109/1,000]

The fist art he practiced was the Great Yang Art Zhou Shan had taught him.

This was also a foundational Body Tempering art issued by the Dao Alliance. It was said to have nine levels in total.

But Zhou Shan had only cultivated the first level.

[Comprehension, Mediocre (72/100)]

As for his Comprehension, after Zhou Ling finished reading fifty books, [Immortal Root Aptitude] was successfully activated.

Over the past half year, it had also improved greatly.

This also greatly enhanced Zhou Ling's results when reading certain ancient books.

And worth mentioning was that his [Mountain Treasure Hunt] talent had improved another step.

The range in which he could sense treasures had reached seven or eight zhang.

A few days ago, he had gone out with his mother.

As they passed by a bridge, he unexpectedly sensed a treasure by the riverbank.

He could only pretend to be curious and say he wanted to go catch fish by the river.

Li Ru went along with him and took him to play by the river.

Then Zhou Ling once again "accidentally" picked up a low-grade Magic Artifact—the Black Gold Hammer.

Li Ru was overjoyed.

Though they had no use for the Black Gold Hammer, a low-grade Magic Artifact was worth more than ten Spirit Stones.

After returning home, Li Ru gave Zhou Ling an extra meal and bought a Fire Pattern Chicken.

As for the Black Gold Hammer, she had Zhou Shan find a way to sell it.

After that incident, Li Ru took her son along with her almost every time she went out.

The child's luck was simply too good!

"Husband, the child is going to the Dao Academy tomorrow to have his Spiritual Root tested. Are you nervous?"

After dinner, Li Ru asked with an anxious expression.

"Don't worry. Ling'er takes after you, so his Spiritual Root should be quite good."

"If he doesn't have a Spiritual Root, then he can practice Body Tempering with me!"

Zhou Shan took a sip of wine and comforted her.