This courtyard was far better than the woodshed.
There were flowers and grass in the courtyard.
There was even a little fish tank, with two small fish, one black and one white, swimming back and forth.
The place had two rooms, a sitting room, and a washroom, plus a separate compartment that served as a private practice room.
The larger room was the main bedroom, furnished with a bed, a table, stools, bedding, and pillows. Every little necessity of daily life had been provided.
He could move straight in with nothing but his bag.
The smaller room beside it was a study.
Inside stood a bookshelf with a few books on it.
There was also a tea table and two bamboo chairs.
It seemed the previous occupant had been someone who enjoyed the pleasures of sipping tea and reading.
What could he say? These living conditions were better than those in the Azure Cloud Mountains by more than a little.
Even a servant steward like Chen Yang had never enjoyed such lavish treatment.
In the past, Lin Shisan would never have dared dream of it.
Warmth filled his heart, washing away the little resentment he had held toward Han Yansong.
He set down his shoulder bag, took a bath, and changed into clean clothes.
Once everything was settled, Lin Shisan locked the door behind him and returned to the great hall.
The pavilion was empty. Feng Qingye was not there.
Just as Lin Shisan was looking around for him, Feng Qingye's voice came from inside. "Kid, come in."
Hearing him, Lin Shisan hurried up the steps and went inside beside the pavilion.
That little pavilion was essentially a gatehouse, responsible for keeping watch and registering visitors.
Beyond the gatehouse was a courtyard with two more rooms.
One was Feng Qingye's office, which also served as the place where he rested and ate.
There was a red sandalwood tea table with a chair behind it.
Feng Qingye sat in the chair, gnawing on a large pig's trotter.
It smelled delicious, and his mouth was smeared with grease.
Feng Qingye wiped his hands and waved Lin Shisan inside.
"Come here. I'll explain your duties, so listen carefully."
Lin Shisan walked over, stood straight with his hands at his sides, and pricked up his ears to listen respectfully.
"First and foremost, your job is to keep this place clean."
"This courtyard, the rooms, the pavilion outside, and the tabletops must all be spotless. There mustn't be a single fallen leaf on the ground."
"Our guiding principle is simple: not a speck of dust."
"Don't worry, Brother Ye. I'll clean everything thoroughly. I won't leave a speck of dust or a single fallen leaf."
Lin Shisan spoke deferentially.
"Mm. The usual work is quite simple. As long as you don't slack off, you should generally be able to finish it."
"Things might get a little more complicated when the Immortal Lords and Fairy Aunts come by. That mostly depends on their mood-and your luck."
Lin Shisan's heart lurched.
What did that mean? What did he mean by their mood, and what did he mean by my luck?
Could this job put my life at risk too?
He recalled his work in the Pill Room and Zhao Xun's pill refining. Chen Yang had nearly hacked him to death, and Zhao Xun had nearly slapped him to death.
Drawing a connection between the two, he seemed to understand a little.
Presumably, coming to the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion to look for combat techniques and cultivation methods was much like whether a batch of pills turned out successfully.
If they found what they wanted, everyone was happy, and there might even be a little bonus or reward.
If they found nothing, then it was bad luck for him, bad luck for you, and bad luck for everyone.
But suitable combat techniques and cultivation methods were hardly easy to find.
Otherwise, wouldn't everyone become an immortal on the spot, their combat power soaring off the charts? How could the road to immortality remain so elusive, as difficult as ascending to heaven?
"Mm..."
Feng Qingye nodded.
It seemed this dark-skinned kid was not entirely a blockhead.
Perhaps he really could live a couple more days.
That would at least do right by Lin Shisan, who had offered him a Body Tempering Pill upon arriving.
He would also have something to say for himself to that old drunk.
"The large courtyard outside needs to be cleaned too."
"Especially the green bamboo and grass on either side of the path. Trim them every day, and don't let them obstruct the Immortal Lords' and Fairy Aunts' view."
"Yes, I've remembered everything."
Lin Shisan spoke respectfully.
But then his confidence began to falter.
With such an enormous complex of halls behind them and so much ground to cover, how could he possibly manage alone?
"Brother Ye, don't I need to clean inside the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion?"
"I saw how huge it was, with all those courtyards and towers. With just me, I don't think I could keep up."
Lin Shisan asked tentatively.
Rather than fail to finish his tasks and be punished later, it was better to get things straight now.
So far, he had not seen any other servant disciples moving about.
Feng Qingye blinked his large, dark eyes a few times, and the favorable impression he had just formed vanished at once.
So this one was another big fool who looked capable but was useless. He was dreaming of pie in the sky.
"You dark-skinned brat, you've certainly got some nerve. Do you think you can just stroll into a place like the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion?"
"Even Immortal Lords and Fairy Aunts have to pay to get in. I can't even enter, and you think you'll go inside to clean? Keep dreaming."
"Pay?"
Lin Shisan was so astonished that his eyes nearly rolled back.
Wasn't the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion just a place for reading books?
Why did people have to pay to enter? Wasn't it open to everyone?
"You don't look stupid, you dark-skinned brat, so why do you keep asking such stupid questions?"
"Doesn't opening the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion cost anything? Don't we get a monthly wage for cleaning? Doesn't running the pavilion's restricting formation cost money? It all costs money."
"Where does that money come from? The sect's own pockets? Wouldn't the sect have gone bankrupt ages ago? With such a large sect and so many disciples, the sect needs money too."
"Yes, yes, yes. I was being foolish."
Lin Shisan hurriedly stood up and bowed in apology.
Although he did not quite understand everything, Feng Qingye's reasoning seemed sound.
Money mattered just as much everywhere. Whether living in the countryside or cultivating immortality in a sect, everyone needed the essentials.
In the countryside, money bought food, clothing, shelter, daily necessities, and travel. It bought oil, salt, sauce, and vinegar. It bought a livelihood.
In a sect, money bought opportunities and miraculous spirit pills. It bought cultivation methods, combat techniques, and a path to immortality.
"You're not stupid. You simply don't understand the situation."
"Each outer sect disciple gets only one free visit a year. If they want to enter more often, naturally they have to spend some money."
"Remember this, foolish boy: money is a good thing. Without it, even immortals can starve to death, and immortal sects can go bankrupt."
"So we can go without anything else, but we can never go without money."
"You're right, Steward. My understanding was too shallow."
Lin Shisan was as deferential as an obedient child.
He no longer dared ask questions of his own, and merely lent his ears to listen.
From
Feng Qingye's words, he really did come to understand a great many things.
Under normal circumstances, each outer sect disciple received one free visit a year.
If they wanted to enter more often, they naturally had to spend money buying Spirit Tokens.
Some people with connections had spotted this opening.
They had used those connections to create a route to riches: selling Spirit Tokens.
Yet disciples who paid to enter might not necessarily find suitable combat techniques or cultivation methods.
They might even return empty-handed, having obtained nothing at all.
The anger bottled up in their hearts had to come out somewhere.
Inside the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion, they did not dare vent it.
Once outside, things were different. They smashed, hacked, and slashed, raging at heaven, earth, and even the air.
Naturally, the gatekeepers were the first unlucky souls to bear the brunt.
His poor predecessor had been cleaved in two by an Immortal Lord who had come back empty-handed, ascending to heaven on the spot.
At that moment, Lin Shisan's favorable impression of Han Yansong dropped back to zero.
He had thought he was a fish leaping through the dragon gate. As it turned out, he had merely jumped out of one pit and into another.
And this one was even bigger.
In the Pill Room, there had at least been several other small fry to share the danger. Here, all the risk fell on him alone.
But after thinking of his dream of cultivating immortality and his father's memorial tablet, there was nothing more to say. He could only hope his luck would not be too bad.
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