White Crane Boy, Clear Tea

Cultivating to Foundation Establishment gave Lu Qing a little more confidence.

He was no longer among the very bottom rung of cultivators.

He glanced at the Spirit Field, where red, golden, crescent-white plants swayed in the wind.

This batch of Spirit Rice had been newly sown again.

"My contribution points have reached exactly one hundred."

The spells Lu Qing had on hand were nearly all cultivated to proficiency. As for his sole fundamental cultivation method, after practicing day and night, he had finally entered the third level.

The third level sounded high, but this superior cultivation method had eighteen levels in total.

Reaching Core Formation with it would absolutely not be a problem.

After reaching the third level, a warm current flowed through his entire body, cleansing his soul and spirit.

The Profound Heaven Origin Scripture embraced all things, like water, like wind.

The Spiritual Power condensed in Lu Qing's hand had inherited the characteristics of that cultivation method as well—gentle and natural, just as water gave life to all things.

He continued cultivating.

The wind and rain beyond the mountain gate could not fall upon his head.

The years of cultivation were long.

In the blink of an eye, another month passed.

"Lu Qing, Lu Qing, are you home?"

White Crane Boy had happened to return to the mountain gate today.

Lu Qing opened the formation. "White Crane Boy, you returned today. How did you find the time to come over here?"

White Crane Boy spread its wings and fluttered down to the ground.

"All the White Cranes I know here have gone out, so I came to find you."

It followed Lu Qing into the courtyard. One man and one White Crane sat across from each other at an ancient stone table.

Tea cups, clear tea, and Qingling. With nothing to do in his spare time, Lu Qing had planted a tea tree in a corner of the courtyard. It had no great use, only a wisp of first-grade clear spiritual energy.

"Heh, I was just thirsty."

White Crane Boy gulped it down. The clear tea entered its mouth, and like a cow chewing peonies, it poured the tea down its long neck.

After drinking a cup of tea—

"Delicious, delicious!"

Lu Qing had not expected a cup of clear tea to earn such endless praise from White Crane Boy.

"It's really delicious, Lu Qing. You're the first person to brew tea for me."

Lu Qing said, "If you want some, White Crane Boy, I still have plenty of tea leaves here."

The tea tree in the courtyard had been cultivated with spiritual energy, so it naturally tasted somewhat better than ordinary mortal tea.

However, ever since Lu Qing had begun cooking Spirit Rice for himself, he had grown used to it and no longer found the things he planted particularly astonishing.

Hearing White Crane Boy say this, he could only conclude that it had simply never had tea before.

White Crane Boy smacked its beak, savoring the flavor. After thinking for a moment, it pulled out a feather from beneath the feathers on its chest.

"Here, Lu Qing. This is for you."

The snow-white feather, with black tips on its wings, glimmered with auspicious light. At a glance, it was clearly extraordinary.

"White Crane Boy, we know each other. How could I accept such a valuable gift?"

White Crane Boy chuckled. "Not valuable, not valuable. You treated White Crane Boy to a cup of tea, so I ought to treat you in return."

"Isn't that what humans often say? Friends should visit back and forth."

Lu Qing smiled faintly at that.

His first friend since coming to the Dao Academy had unexpectedly been the White Crane Boy before him.

"This feather of mine isn't valuable. I see that you should be farming here. Plant this feather in your Spirit Field. With my aura here, you won't need to worry about insect infestations or other calamities."

So that was it.

"White Crane Boy, thank you."

Although he had begun cultivating the Geng Metal Finger while tending the Spirit Field, he had yet to find any pests.

But with one of White Crane Boy's feathers here, it would at least deter some insects.

He poured another cup of tea into White Crane Boy's cup.

White Crane Boy was truly thirsty, and it truly liked tea.

This clear spiritual aura had always been beloved by the White Crane Clan.

But planting tea trees, fermenting tea, and brewing tea—such fine things truly had nothing to do with the White Crane Clan.

Now that it had drunk tea at Lu Qing's place, White Crane Boy felt comfortable all over.

After a few more gulps, White Crane Boy even felt that from now on, spiritual tea would become one of its greatest loves alongside Spirit Stones.

Lu Qing asked, "White Crane Boy, you said you would return a month ago. Why did you only come back now?"

Because of the Spirit Vein explosion incident a month ago, some disciples whose minds had been clouded by slaughter, Tribulation, and greed on that battlefield saw mountains collapsing, earth overturning, and great rivers flowing backward, as though the world had ended. For a time, they were gripped by lingering fear.

Quite a few disciples had already set out on the road back to the mountain gate.

Whenever Lu Qing sat atop the cliff by the mountain, drawing in the essence and spiritual energy of heaven and earth to cultivate—

He would see countless streaks of light, flying boats, treasure ships, Immortal cranes, Azure Luans, and the like soaring through the skies.

He knew in his heart that the disciples outside had most likely returned as well.

The moment Lu Qing brought this up—

White Crane Boy immediately became furious. "Let me tell you, Lu Qing, those Demon cultivators are worse than beasts!"

Its crisp, genderless voice was filled with indignation.

"They could have escaped in the first place. We said we were eliminating Demons and defending the Dao, but later, when I saw that Minor Realm, I understood that what those above truly wanted was not the Demon nest at all."

"In the end, no one was willing to give it up, so this Earth Vein explosion broke out."

"Then even that Minor Realm was affected by the Earth Vein. It shattered into pieces and scattered in all directions. If not for powerful experts fixing the entrance in place on the spot, that Minor Realm would likely have been completely destroyed in the turbulent currents of the void this time."

White Crane Boy had originally wanted to go treasure-hunting, but after running into such a disaster, it had nearly failed to fly back. One could imagine just how furious it was with the Demon cultivators.

"This time, a batch of disciples was lost, and several elders were injured as well. The mission will probably end soon and everyone will return, but people are still needed over there to stabilize the Earth Vein. They'll probably send another group of disciples."

White Crane Boy told him everything it knew.

Lu Qing consoled it a few times.

He knew many people had died.

After all, some of them had already been quite famous, and their deaths had stirred up no small commotion.

"Good thing you didn't go this time. Sigh, being afraid of death does have its benefits."

Lu Qing had been deep in thought, but upon hearing that, black lines immediately fell across his face.

He said seriously, "White Crane Boy, cultivation is for Longevity. If you lose your life, how can you speak of Longevity?"

Not to mention that Greatly Ominous Hexagram still lingered in his mind. How would he dare take even a single step beyond the mountain gate?

He might as well step out with his left foot and have his head fall off with his right.

White Crane Boy shook out all its feathers. Its eyes were as small as black beans, yet they were now filled with profound agreement.

Blood mist filled the sky, corpses fell from above, and the stench covered the ground.

Those were all things that had truly happened.

The White Crane Clan loved clear spiritual energy, so naturally they hated foul and turbid air.

White Crane Boy said, "Sure enough, Lu Qing, you were right."

After chatting for a while, White Crane Boy flew away again.

"Assignments stationed outside are something every Foundation Establishment cultivator basically has to consider."

Lu Qing did not return to the cultivation room to practice.

He pondered this stationed assignment. The Profound Heaven Dao Academy was not a cultivation force perched high above the clouds.

On the contrary, it was closely connected with the twelve provinces of the Profound Heaven Domain.

Within the provinces, there were no dynasties and no nations—only the Profound Heaven Dao Academy as the sole ruling power.

Dao Academy branch institutes had been established in places such as cities, counties, and villages. They held minor openings every three years and recruited every five years.

Lu Qing had taken the three-year path, which valued aptitude.

The five-year recruitment was the true opening of the mountain gates, selecting candidates through comprehensive evaluations of aptitude, temperament, comprehension, and more.

The sea embraces a hundred rivers; tolerance makes greatness.