Life Must Go On, the Beautiful Woman

The next day.

Yu Ke woke naturally again and stretched luxuriously.

The four blazing suns had once more reached the zenith.

Sunlight streamed into the room.

"It's noon already."

In his previous life, he had only gotten this feeling on weekends!

Yu Ke swayed as he got out of bed, pushed open the door, rubbed his eyes, and prepared to look for Zhou Liang.

Perfect timing!

The other door slowly opened as well, and Zhou Liang's familiar figure came into view.

Likewise, Zhou Liang had only just woken up, his face still clouded with sleepiness and dark circles.

The difference was that a beautiful woman emerged from behind Zhou Liang. She had been pressed tightly against him, but upon seeing Yu Ke, her cheeks instantly flushed red, and she hurried away.

Yu Ke keenly noticed that this woman was not the same maid from last night. He gave Zhou Liang a dark look.

You little bastard really are a scumbag!

Zhou Liang noticed Yu Ke and first cast a lingering glance at the maid's departing back.

Then he looked at Yu Ke, curiosity on his face.

"No, Junior Brother Yu, you actually slept until noon."

"The sun rose in the west."

In Zhou Liang's memories, Yu Ke had always been a cultivation fanatic, relentlessly pursuing the pinnacle of martial arts day and night.

Now that he saw him sleeping leisurely until the sun was high in the sky, he naturally found it rather unbelievable.

Yu Ke replied calmly, "The path of cultivation values balance between exertion and rest."

Hearing this, Zhou Liang threw an arm around Yu Ke's shoulder.

"Not bad, not bad, Junior Brother Yu. You've finally come around."

"Come on, let's get something to eat, then I can go home and sleep."

"I'm exhausted right now!"

Yu Ke was full of energy and could not help saying,

"You slept until noon, and you still haven't had enough sleep?"

Zhou Liang grinned. "How could I bear to sleep last night? You understand, right?"

I don't understand...

After the two finished lunch, Yu Ke quietly and carefully packed up the leftover food once they were full and satisfied.

This action made Zhou Liang pause in surprise!

Was this still the cool and aloof Junior Brother Yu everyone knew?

Yu Ke could not help it. He had no money; face was not important.

He borrowed another hundred Spirit Stones from Zhou Liang.

With that, the problem of food and warmth for the next three months was readily solved, and some of the worry in his heart dissipated as well.

Now, he only needed to go all out in preparing for the assessment three months from now.

After the two parted ways.

Yu Ke went to the Outer Disciple market and bought several jin of fresh, tender beef for five Spirit Stones. The meat looked plump and succulent, far superior to anything ordinary.

Yu Ke praised it inwardly. As expected of the cultivation world.

He also carefully selected more than ten jin of Spirit Rice. This kind of rice contained the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and was undoubtedly excellent sustenance for cultivators.

Although there was no stove at home, he planned to build one himself.

After all, cooking at home was both economical and affordable.

It had been the same in his previous life. Cooking for himself was always cheaper than ordering takeout.

Frugality was the name of the game now.

Carrying large and small bundles, Yu Ke returned to his courtyard in the outer sect.

The courtyard had four wings, much like a traditional quadrangle residence.

However, it did not belong to him alone. It was a place for cultivation jointly assigned by the sect to the four of them, like shared housing in the mortal world, with each person having their own domain.

Only two people lived in their four-person residence. Another had gone out and had not returned for a year.

He headed west, preparing to enter his own room.

Yet in that instant, he sensed something unusual.

In his line of sight, a graceful figure stood before the door of the room directly opposite.

He remembered that room. It was supposed to be empty.

From Yu Ke's angle, he could only see her back.

Her curves were astonishing!

A willow-thin waist that could be grasped in one hand, voluptuous hips, and a pair of taut, long legs.

That shape—pear-shaped!

Her long legs were clad in purple silk stockings, and her entire body exuded the aura of fruit ripened to perfection.

Yu Ke narrowed his eyes slightly.

He remembered someone saying that purple had a certain charm.

It truly did have charm.

Yu Ke was still wondering who this beautiful woman was.

Seemingly sensing his gaze, the beautiful woman slowly turned around.

This made Yu Ke hold his breath. At a single glance, they were like two towering mountains.

Her face had the classic look of a "widow."

Still, Yu Ke was not some uncouth lecher who had never seen the world. He merely smiled politely.

Then he slipped into his room.

The beautiful woman was slightly stunned by Yu Ke's reaction. After all, most men would stare at her a few more times.

After Yu Ke entered the room and put his things away, he soon heard the beautiful woman's voice from outside.

"Yingzhao, take good care of yourself. Mother is leaving."

Her soft words were like silk threads, and Yu Ke heard them clearly from inside.

"Mother?"

Suspicion rose in Yu Ke's heart, but he soon let it go without giving it much thought.

He pondered whether the stove should be placed indoors or outside, then stepped out to inspect the area.

The moment he stepped outside!

He saw a ridiculously handsome young man in white standing at the main entrance opposite, arms folded across his chest, as though he had been waiting for him all along.

He looked at Yu Ke with a rather cold and arrogant expression.

"What? You still haven't had your fill of looking? I advise you to put away those filthy thoughts."

"If I hadn't seen that you knew when to stop, this young master's fist would have reached you already."

After saying that, the youth in white slammed the door shut, giving Yu Ke no chance to speak.

Yu Ke could only call him sick in the head.

So this youth in white was the new neighbor?

The beautiful woman from earlier was the youth's mother!

Most Outer Disciples who could enter this place came from prominent families.

Those born into poverty, unless they possessed extraordinary talent and were selected for the inner sect, would end up as menial servants.

Those who could rise above the servants were few and far between. Servants simply had no time to cultivate; they came when summoned and left when dismissed.

In contrast, even if these children of prominent families had mediocre talent, there was still room for remedy. They could study in the outer sect for five years and still have a chance to make a push.

That was the gap.

The dividing line between people began in the womb.

Yu Ke did not dwell on it. After all, if he really tried to reason with the youth in white, he might not necessarily be able to beat him.

Why invite trouble for himself?

Yu Ke worked busily all day and finally completed a simple stove in the open space outside his door.

Several stones were stacked into a tower and plastered with yellow mud. Once it dried in the wind, it could be put to use.

Drawing on the little experience he had building things in the wilderness, he handled it with ease. Though the stove was plain and unadorned, it carried Yu Ke's livelihood for the next three months.

Looking at his handiwork, he felt satisfied. He resolved to guard this patch of ground and cultivate it steadily, one step at a time.

Life was built little by little.

As the sun's shadows slanted westward, evening had arrived after a day of work.

Yu Ke returned to his room and simply dealt with the packed food, treating it as that day's dinner.

Afterward, he sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes, and focused his mind, trying to enter a state of cultivation.

However, ever since his failure at Foundation Establishment, the meridians in his body had become tangled and convoluted. It was like a once broad, level highway turning rugged and impassable after being ravaged by a mudslide, even diverting elsewhere.

The formerly smooth meridians were now obstructed everywhere.

He took a deep breath and, following the familiar cultivation memories in his mind, carefully began guiding spiritual energy.

Yet as soon as the cultivation method of Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering began to circulate, those wisps of spiritual energy struggled through his acupoints and into his body as though traversing rugged mountain roads.

Just as he tried to move that spiritual energy from his dantian, his meridians felt as though they were being seared by blazing fire and pierced by steel needles. The pain was unbearable.

Yu Ke was startled and hurriedly stopped cultivating. Only then did the suffocating pressure in his chest gradually fade.

He understood that his current condition was unsuitable for forced cultivation. Otherwise, it would only backfire.

He sighed softly and decided to set cultivation aside for the time being, leaving it for future consideration.

It seemed that repairing his meridians could only be pinned on the Celestial Reincarnation of the simulated [Kun Void Cauldron].