A Long Night, No Heart for Sleep—Let's Make People Together!

Jiang Ping had always hated doing chores like these, but now that Miss Feng was keeping him company, he found them incredibly interesting.

What had originally been tedious and troublesome was finished before they knew it.

After resting for a while, Nuwa suggested, "Young Master, since I can't sleep anyway, why don't you teach me how to make clay figurines?"

Jiang Ping thought about it. That worked too. The night was long, and he had no heart for sleep alone.

With a beauty to keep him company, it was naturally more than he could ask for.

"Fine, then I'll play around with Miss Feng for a bit."

"Oh, right. If Miss Feng is interested in this sort of thing, I have a few books to give you." With that, Jiang Ping went to the bookshelf in his room, searched through it carefully, and took out three books.

The Basics and Techniques of Handmade Pottery

Learning Pottery from Scratch

The Pottery Master's Bible

The moment Nuwa took them and looked inside, her hands trembled.

These were top-tier artifact-refining manuals. Even a fleeting glimpse of the methods recorded within revealed their extraordinary nature.

There was no way she could comprehend them fully in such a short time.

"Thank you for your gift, Young Master. But these books are far too precious. How could I possibly deserve such a generous gift from you?"

Jiang Ping smiled and shook his head. "Don't stand on ceremony, Miss Feng. These are nothing."

"Let's begin now. You might not understand just by reading. Pottery takes plenty of learning and practice. Starting with clay figurines may be a little harder, but if you make a few more with me, it'll be easier to get the hang of it."

Nuwa listened obediently at his side, her sparkling eyes fixed on Jiang Ping's movements.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ping crouched on the ground and began taking out what he called pottery clay.

"First, we need to take out an appropriate amount of clay and let it rest initially."

"At this step, we need to make sure the clay has enough moisture and stickiness before we can smoothly proceed to the next step. Give it a try."

"Alright, I'll try."

Nuwa watched Jiang Ping's movements. They were elegant and looked exceedingly simple, and she had long been itching to try it herself.

She bent over and stood opposite Jiang Ping.

Extending her two fair, jade-like hands, she prepared to take out a lump of pottery clay.

Who would have thought that while an expert could pluck it up as easily as picking a flower, when she tried it herself, the so-called pottery clay would not budge in the slightest?

Nuwa was incomparably embarrassed inside. As expected of the Nine Heavens Breathing Soil—she had underestimated the expert and overestimated herself.

How formidable was the expert? Even with such top-grade material, he could naturally slice off and portion it out without the slightest effort.

Compared to the expert, the gap between them was as vast as heaven and earth. How could she possibly be as relaxed and casual as he was?

Nuwa's face reddened slightly as she secretly exerted force, yet she still could not move it.

Now she truly panicked inside. If this continued, she would give herself away.

Did she really have to use magical power?

But that would inevitably disappoint the expert.

It was merely taking off a little pottery clay, yet she had to use magical power. What would the expert think of her?

Unwilling to accept this, Nuwa took a deep breath, rose, bent over, and secretly exerted force with her hands.

At last, the pottery clay began to loosen, and she managed to pull off a piece the size of her fist.

That might not be enough, Nuwa thought secretly. She continued bending over and exerting force, pulling off another two or three pieces in succession.

Crouching opposite Nuwa, Jiang Ping happened to glance over carelessly and caught sight of a sliver of scenery he should not have seen.

Then a faint, secluded fragrance mischievously slipped into his nose. Looking again, he saw that Nuwa was already drenched in fragrant sweat.

Her snow-white lotus-root arms, pink gauze dress, flushed little face.

Jiang Ping immediately felt a wave of heat surge through his body, and his nasal cavity grew hot as well. An unworthy stream of heat burst forth.

Drip, drip—it all fell onto the pottery clay on the ground.

Nuwa noticed at once. Greatly alarmed, she asked with concern, "Young Master, what happened to you?"

Jiang Ping was mortified. He hurriedly tipped his head back and finally stopped the nosebleed.

Waving his hand as he spoke nasally, he said, "Don't worry, Miss Feng. I just ate too much barbecue earlier and got overheated!"

"Overheated?" Nuwa asked doubtfully.

"Right. Barbecue has too much heat in it. I accidentally ate too much tonight."

Neither of them noticed that the bloodstains on the pottery clay were gradually fading away, seemingly all melting into the clay—or perhaps being swallowed by it.

Nuwa secretly found it amusing. The expert truly knew how to joke. With your formidable physique, you had long since become impervious to water and fire, indestructible by myriad arts. How could mere barbecue possibly affect you?

Still, although it looked like he was injured, when Nuwa sensed him closely, she found that the expert's aura had instead grown even stronger, his essence, qi, and spirit far surpassing their usual state.

This definitely was not an injury. The expert must be cultivating some secret art.

But that was far beyond the realm of my understanding, so I would leave it alone for now.

Jiang Ping gave an awkward laugh. Good thing Nuwa had not noticed, or he would have embarrassed himself badly.

He quickly changed the subject. "Miss Feng, let's begin. This clay may all have been contaminated by my blood. We might as well throw it out and get some fresh clay."

Nuwa lowered her head and carefully examined it, then said in puzzlement, "No, Young Master. Look closely—there isn't any blood on it."

Jiang Ping was stunned as well. He had bled so much from his nose just now; how had every trace vanished in the blink of an eye?

Since there was no blood to be seen, they would keep using it.

After bustling about for an entire night, Nuwa failed dozens of times before finally mastering the method of making clay figurines.

She was immensely excited and carefully gathered up every last scrap of remaining clay.

Jiang Ping chuckled. "Miss Feng, there's no need to collect those fallen bits. I'll clean them up myself later."

Nuwa thought to herself, This is all precious Nine Heavens Breathing Soil. A Houtian Spirit Treasure only needs a finger-sized amount added to it to immediately rise by a grade.

You, a great expert, may disdain it, but I cannot bear to leave behind even the tiniest bit.

Once they had finished cleaning up, a soft rustling came from outside.

Nuwa said wearily, "Time truly passes quickly. Young Master, you have worked hard."

Normally, whether she was in secluded cultivation, seeking enlightenment, or contemplating the Great Dao in meditation, Nuwa could go months or even years without closing her eyes.

Yet after spending merely one night learning pottery, her mind and spirit were exhausted, the expenditure enormous.

"It was no hardship. With a beauty by my side, it was a fine hour amid lovely scenery, beauty enough to feast one's eyes upon." Jiang Ping squeezed out a pedantic, thoroughly awkward compliment.

Nuwa's face flushed faintly. "Young Master, I'll go see whether my younger sister has awakened."

"That would be good. We were so busy all night that we nearly forgot Miss Wu. How shameful." Jiang Ping felt rather embarrassed too. He had completely forgotten about a drunken young woman.

When they arrived at the small courtyard and saw the scene outside, they did not know whether to laugh or cry.

Da Huang was pinned beneath her, Xiao Bai was clutched in her arms, and the two chicks, practically serving as pillows, were firmly crushed under Houtu.

At the sight of Jiang Ping coming out, Da Huang whimpered, tears of grievance spilling out despite himself.

Xiao Bai let out pitiful meows that tugged at the heart.

The two chicks were nearly at death's door, too weak even to chirp.

Jiang Ping found it both infuriating and hilarious.

Nuwa was deeply embarrassed and hurried forward.

"Wake up, hurry." Nuwa shook Houtu.