Once Zhao Ting finished speaking, all the elders except the delighted Chu Ningshang sighed and said nothing more.
In truth, Zhao Ting had made the right choice. None of the treasures or cultivation methods these elders could offer compared to the fact that the Fourth Elder herself possessed a metal-attribute heavenly spiritual root.
"Good!" Chu Ningshang waved a hand, lifting Zhao Ting to his feet from a distance, then cast Jiang Bailu a provocative sidelong glance.
Speechless, Jiang Bailu shook his head and sat down. He felt a little disappointed, though it was no great loss.
At the head of the hall, Nangong Yao nodded slightly. In his mind, Chu Ningshang had always been the right master for Zhao Ting, for no other reason than that their spiritual roots were identical.
However, it would have been inappropriate for Nangong Yao to say so outright. Letting Zhao Ting choose for himself was the better approach.
With that thought, Nangong Yao stood and said, "All right, that settles it. First Elder, once we leave, send invitations to the neighboring sects. In five days, we will hold a conferment and apprenticeship ceremony, naming Zhao Ting the Heavenly Dao Sect's fifteenth Purple-Robed Disciple!"
"Yes." Liu Yunjian bowed in acknowledgment.
Zhao Ting was overjoyed. All he wanted now was to share this good news with Chen Xun.
At the first glimmer of dawn the next day, Chen Xun slowly woke, wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, and got out of bed.
With his wooden sword on his back, Chen Xun left the thatched hut and bounded through the mist toward the dining hall like a mountain monkey, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
At that moment, over eight thousand servant disciples were gathered on the training grounds, forming a dense sea of people.
On the platform, Qian Laifu stood with his hands behind his back and his large belly thrust out, delivering some impassioned speech to the disciples.
The disciples were starving, but they could only clutch their stomachs and endure it, listening irritably.
There was no helping it. Here on the mountainside, Qian Laifu held the most authority. Every morning, he gathered the disciples to say a few words and remind everyone of his importance.
Meanwhile, Chen Xun had followed the enticing aroma to the dining hall.
With so many disciples to feed, the dining hall was enormous, like a public square.
Some servant disciples were in charge of the dining hall. This was their assigned work.
After entering, Chen Xun sprinted straight toward the serving counter.
Chen Xun took a bowl and chopsticks from the side, then went over and handed the bowl to a disciple serving food.
The serving disciple paused and looked at Chen Xun, then glanced outside the dining hall. Has Fatty Qian finished talking already?
No, that can't be right. Apart from this fellow, none of the other disciples have come yet.
Puzzled, the serving disciple took the bowl, filled it to the brim with porridge, then placed two steamed buns and some pickled vegetables on top before handing it back to Chen Xun.
Only then did the disciple notice Chen Xun's clothes. With a momentarily blank stare, the disciple asked curiously, "You must be new here, junior brother, right? You'd better change your clothes after breakfast. If Fatty Qian sees you like that, he'll definitely punish you."
Chen Xun chuckled without answering. Rather than finding a seat, he stood there and began eating.
Swish, swish, swish-
In the blink of an eye, Chen Xun was licking his lips and holding his bowl out to the serving disciple again, giving it a little shake.
The serving disciple, who had just put down the ladle, stared at the completely empty bowl, dumbfounded.
Finished already?
The serving disciple took the bowl, gave Chen Xun another identical helping, and handed it over. Once Chen Xun accepted it, the disciple was about to put down the ladle.
But the next instant, after just a few swishing sounds, the serving disciple looked over in astonishment, only to find Chen Xun already holding the bowl out again...
The serving disciple froze.
With his cheeks bulging, Chen Xun chewed the steamed bun in his mouth a few times, swallowed, and shook his bowl meaningfully.
"J-junior brother, you're the fastest eater I've ever seen."
The serving disciple swallowed nervously.
Then the disciple handed Chen Xun the ladle and said, "Junior brother, help yourself. Take as much as you can eat. I still have to help carry the other barrels of porridge out of the kitchen."
"Hehehe." Chen Xun accepted the ladle.
Seeing this, the serving disciple headed into the kitchen.
Chen Xun's eyes blazed with excitement. He simply tossed the ladle and bowl aside, then picked up the entire barrel of porridge...
A short while later, Chen Xun rubbed his stomach, looking dissatisfied, as though he still wanted more. But besides that huge barrel of porridge, he had also eaten all the steamed buns, pickled vegetables, and everything else on the counter. Yes, every last bit-licked clean.
Chen Xun smacked his lips and could only leave, shaking his head.
Not long after Chen Xun left, the serving disciple from earlier came out of the kitchen with another disciple, carrying a barrel of porridge between them. But when they saw the empty counter, both were dumbstruck.
Just then, wave after wave of servant disciples poured into the dining hall.
"W-we're done for! There probably won't be enough breakfast today! How did this happen?! Where's the porridge? The steamed buns? The pickled vegetables?"
The disciple's face went pale.
The serving disciple from earlier, however, remembered Chen Xun and suspected this must have something to do with him!
Though the disciple had no idea what Chen Xun had done, he was definitely involved.
Of course, he couldn't possibly have eaten it all. That barrel of porridge alone would have fed several hundred people if each received a bowl!
And then there were the hundreds of large white steamed buns and two huge basins of pickled vegetables that had disappeared!
"What do we do, junior brother? When some of the disciples can't get breakfast, they'll definitely report us to Fatty Qian. Then all of us responsible for breakfast will be punished!"
Sure enough, before long, several hundred disciples who had missed out on breakfast began arguing fiercely with the disciples responsible for serving it. Outnumbered, the dining hall disciples could not hold their own and trembled with fear.
The uproar was so loud that no one even needed to report it. Qian Laifu was soon drawn over.
"What's all this racket?!"
Qian Laifu bellowed the moment he entered the dining hall.
The dining hall immediately fell silent.
A short while later, once Qian Laifu had learned the whole story, puzzlement crept into his eyes.
No wonder these several hundred disciples were causing trouble.
There not being enough breakfast was a first in the history of Servant Disciple Peak.
Qian Laifu immediately demanded, "What exactly happened? You disciples responsible for breakfast in the dining hall-why did you make a mistake like this today? How long have you been doing this job? There are just over eight thousand disciples here on the mountainside, and you still can't work out how much food they need?"
The dining hall disciples looked at one another, their expressions bitter. It was hardly that they couldn't work out the portions. They had always prepared this much, and there had been leftovers every time. Who could have expected it wouldn't be enough today?
Finally, the disciple who had encountered Chen Xun raised a hand and said cautiously:
"Deacon, this is what happened. A little while before the other disciples entered the dining hall, one disciple came in. After I served him two bowls of porridge, I went into the kitchen. Later, when I carried another barrel out with a junior brother, we discovered... discovered that the original barrel of porridge on the counter, along with the steamed buns and pickled vegetables, had all... all disappeared."
Hearing this, the servant disciples looked skeptical, and some even felt like laughing.
These people were far too irresponsible. If they had misjudged the amount of food needed, they should just say so. Instead, they had concocted such a ridiculous excuse.
All the disciples had been gathered on the training grounds earlier. How could one have come to the dining hall alone to eat?
Would admitting their mistake kill them?
Before you continue