Inquiry Peak, main hall.
Li Chunsong, who had been busy all night, flew back again and reported to the Dao Sect higher-ups.
"Chu Huai Xu's cultivation method is problematic. It's extremely sinister!"
"It looks like it was adapted from artifact refining, taking the path of Internal and External Cultivation."
"I suspect the person who created this cultivation method had extraordinarily high artifact-refining skills. Their mastery of this path must have reached the pinnacle. They were very likely an Artifact Refining Grandmaster!"
Listening to him, everyone in the main hall furrowed their brows.
Sect Leader Xiang Yan asked, "Did you investigate where this cultivation method came from?"
Li Chunsong nodded. "I went to the Scripture Pavilion and checked the records."
"Did you find anything?" Enforcement Elder Lu Pan asked.
"This cultivation method was brought back and registered by the Junior Uncle a few years ago." Li Chunsong spread his hands.
If members of the Dao Sect obtained cultivation methods or techniques outside, they could bring them back to the sect for review and registration.
The sect had its own set of review standards. It would assign them a grade and then issue rewards.
Of course, the review could also reject them.
But that Storyteller had a special status, after all.
Would anyone dare to block something he brought back? Would the review even dare reject it?
Sect Leader Xiang Yan's brows knitted tightly. He could not quite understand it, and he felt as though hair was about to grow on his bald head.
"The Junior Uncle specifically brought back a cultivation method for the Aperture Opening Stage?"
Li Chunsong shook his head. "No. I checked, and two techniques and a superior artifact-refining art were registered at the same time."
"This 'Sword Refining Art' was merely bundled in with them."
"Therefore, I suspect that during the Junior Uncle's last travels, he happened to obtain the relics of an Artifact Refining Grandmaster."
Hearing this, everyone nodded slightly. That made much more sense.
Li Chunsong continued to reveal his speculation. "Of course, it's also possible that the Junior Uncle killed an Artifact Refining Grandmaster."
After he said that, everyone felt it made even more sense.
It was just that everything had happened so coincidentally. The cultivation method the Junior Uncle had tossed back to the sect a few years ago had happened to be learned by the boy he had brought up the mountain.
After pondering for a moment, Xiang Yan said, "When the time comes, remove this 'Sword Refining Art' from the cultivation-method repository."
It was too sinister, and it was also extremely useless. Its drawbacks were obvious as well.
It simply did not suit proper Dao Sect disciples.
Hearing this, Li Chunsong suddenly laughed.
"Why are you laughing, Sixth Junior Brother?" Xiang Yan asked, puzzled.
"The Sect Leader may not know this, but I just investigated with my spiritual sense. That boy has already woken up, and he wrote four words in the booklet where he recorded his cultivation insights."
Nangong Yue immediately asked, "What words?"
The smile on Li Chunsong's face became impossible to suppress. He burst out laughing. "Peerless Divine Art! Hahaha, hahaha!"
In an instant, a cheerful atmosphere filled the main hall. The Dao Sect higher-ups were all caught between laughter and tears, except for the Grand Elder.
"Hmph! This young man chosen by the Junior Uncle seems to have a rather twisted heart." Enforcement Elder Lu Pan snorted coldly.
"Uh." Li Chunsong immediately restrained his smile, realizing that he had said the wrong thing.
People like this were not popular with Senior Brother!
As expected, Grand Elder Lu Pan spoke again. "Since it is a Peerless Divine Art, have the Outer Sect Deacon urge him to practice diligently!"
Medicine Mountain, Bamboo House.
The sky gradually brightened.
He had studied the Heart Sword for a long time but had figured out nothing.
"Normal. The Aperture Opening Stage is actually just laying the foundation for future cultivation. Strictly speaking, I still don't even count as a cultivator."
Chu Huai Xu rubbed his stomach. He had long since become ravenously hungry.
Cultivators in the Xuanhuang Realm did not practice complete abstinence from food.
Everyone had to eat, without exception.
Compared with ordinary people, cultivators were not much different aside from possessing greater strength.
Even their lifespans were not much longer.
In the cultivation world, living to a hundred was considered a blessing, not a curse.
Medicine Mountain, where Chu Huai Xu currently lived, had a cafeteria. Disciples paid monthly and could go there to eat whenever they wished.
Of course, if they wanted to buy ingredients and cook at home, that was fine too.
The Dao Sect's entire Outer Sect was not like a sect academy. It was actually more like a town formed by low-level cultivators gathering together, with its own self-contained community.
There were ordinary cafeterias and high-end Wine Houses.
There were tailor shops, Spirit Pill stores, and weapon pavilions.
Therefore, living here cost money in every respect.
That included the Bamboo House where Chu Huai Xu currently lived. Starting next month, he would have to pay rent to the sect as well.
If he had the ability to do business and wanted to open a shop, he would also have to apply to the Dao Sect for a "permit," obtain a "business license," and then pay taxes.
Of course, he could also apprentice and work at someone else's shop, becoming a beast of burden.
Besides that, the Dao Sect itself provided disciples with some job opportunities.
The most typical employment project on Medicine Mountain was caring for spiritual herbs.
As for someone like Niu Yuanshan, an Outer Sect Deacon, he was part of the official administrative structure—a genuine leading cadre with considerable authority.
However, the Dao Sect's Inner Sect was worlds apart from the Outer Sect.
That was what more closely resembled a sect.
The disciples' primary goals were to cultivate and become stronger!
As for money, Chu Huai Xu was not worried for the time being.
He had a hundred-tael banknote on him, after all.
That money would be enough to last him for a while.
Holding the Outer Sect Map, Chu Huai Xu headed for the cafeteria run by the authorities.
Along the way, some diligent people had already set up stalls to make money.
"Senior Brothers and Junior Brothers, why not come and take a look at my latest invention, the Grain Abstinence Pill?"
The voice caught the ravenously hungry Chu Huai Xu's attention.
There was no stage of complete abstinence from food in the Xuanhuang Realm, but there were Grain Abstinence Pills. After eating one, there was no need to eat again.
The hawking man continued promoting his product. "Junior Brother, take a look at my newly developed White Flour Grain Abstinence Pill. It's white and soft, and it rises especially well. The texture is soft, too."
Chu Huai Xu asked with a speechless expression, "Senior Brother, the principle of a Grain Abstinence Pill is that one pill keeps you from feeling hungry, not that eating until you're full keeps you from feeling hungry."
That thing is the size of a fist. Isn't it just a steamed bun?
"Not so, not so. Junior Brother, mine is a White Flour Grain Abstinence Pill. Once you eat it, it can fill you as much as five white-flour steamed buns of the same size!"
"Besides, you have to use the toilet after eating steamed buns, right?"
"You don't have to with my White Flour Grain Abstinence Pill."
"Just tell me, isn't it perfect to eat during Secluded Cultivation?" The disciple's face was filled with pride.
Chu Huai Xu: "..."
He walked around while indulging his curiosity.
When he played "Borrowed Sword," the Outer Sect of Spring Autumn Mountain had looked just like this, with its own self-contained community. Chu Huai Xu was very familiar with it. He had even opened a shop there.
But this was his first time at the Dao Sect's.
"Spring Autumn Mountain is famous for having many lunatics, so it's a little more chaotic."
"The Dao Sect is much better in that regard."
"But how should I put it? The prices are just as outrageous as Spring Autumn Mountain's!" he grumbled inwardly.
As the saying went, cultivation required four things: wealth, methods, companions, and a place.
Cultivation really did cost a great deal of money.
His hundred taels could let him live comfortably outside for a long time.
But in the Dao Sect's Outer Sect, that was difficult to say.
When Chu Huai Xu reached the cafeteria entrance, he encountered someone familiar.
Han Shuangjiang, wearing a veil, walked out from inside with an unpleasant expression.
"Everything here is so expensive. Overall, the sect cafeteria is the cheapest, but you have to pay the monthly meal fee in advance." She was short on money.
There was nothing she could do about it. She had grown up in a Brothel, then later gone to the Joyful Sect.
After the Joyful Sect was destroyed, she had lived a wandering, unsettled life.
After meeting that Storyteller, she had hurried all the way to Wumeng Mountain, spending almost all her traveling money.
Han Shuangjiang now had only 103 copper coins on her.
With the Outer Sect's terrifying prices, that mere 103 copper coins was not enough for even three meals today!
This meant that she had to find work today.
The daily life of a Registered Disciple was basically working during the day and cultivating at night.
A life of such hardship was already waving at this iceberg.
At that moment, Han Shuangjiang looked ahead, and her gaze naturally settled on Chu Huai Xu.
The morning light fell across half his body. Amid the bustling crowds, it was hard not to notice him as he stood on the high steps and looked down.
There was nothing to be done. He was, after all, the finest Cultivation Cauldron of the highest grade.
However, Han Shuangjiang only intended to nod to him as they passed each other.
After spending a short time with him, she felt that this Cultivation Cauldron was not particularly easy to talk to.
He had needled her several times already.
Unexpectedly, this man bathed in golden morning light took the initiative to smile and speak to her.
"Morning. Have you eaten?" Chu Huai Xu said, his gaze beginning to size her up.
Just from the troubled expression she had worn moments ago, he already had an answer in his heart. He felt that everything was becoming much easier to handle.
This cold and aloof World Protagonist.
So you're actually a broke loser!
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