When Chen An arrived at Chen Xin's residence, the old man was just about to head out.
Seeing him come running over at daybreak, Chen Xin thought something had happened in the Kitchen. Instead, the boy opened his mouth and immediately blurted out what he had been holding in since last night.
"Grandpa Sword, I'm rank twenty-three."
Then he stood there waiting, unable to suppress the smile on his face.
Chen Xin stopped and laid a hand on his shoulder, signaling for him to circulate his soul power. Chen An had already checked twice last night, so he was all the more composed now. Following his usual cultivation method, he sent his soul power through a full circuit inside his body.
For more than a month, he had cooked during the day and meditated as usual at night. Sometimes, after a whole day's work, Uncle Zhou even had to remind him to wash up, but he had never neglected his cultivation. Chen Xin had seen it all and knew he was close to rank twenty-three. Still, the beggar's chicken had only just been cracked open last night, and the courtyard had stayed lively for quite a while afterward. He had not expected the boy to have the energy to cross that threshold after going back.
A moment later, Chen Xin withdrew his hand.
"Mm. Very stable."
Chen An felt even more reassured.
"Are we still training today, then?" he asked.
"What, you've only just gained a rank, and you already want to give yourself a holiday?"
"I was just asking."
"Training as usual." Chen Xin glanced at him, then added, "Get the cooking done this morning and come over in the afternoon. You've been doing a lot lately, but you've managed your cultivation time sensibly enough. You don't need me watching over you."
That meant more to him than a simple "well done."
Chen An readily agreed, then turned and ran toward the Kitchen. Only after leaving the courtyard did he remember that he had not eaten breakfast yet. If he had thought of it earlier, he could have brought over the old man's portion of hot porridge from the pot and saved him another trip later.
When he returned and told Uncle Zhou, the older man was happy for him first, then pushed the washed rice in front of him.
"Once you're done celebrating, lend a hand. Even rank twenty-threes need breakfast."
"I was hoping you'd give me half a day off."
"Sure. Dish up your Grandpa Sword's portion first, then take your break."
Chen An grinned, rolled up his sleeves, and took the rice. The Kitchen was not going to skip lighting its fires for a meal just because he had gained a rank. Uncle Zhou prepared the vegetables as usual, and the adult kitchen workers in the front courtyard had already set up the big pot. By the time the hot porridge and a few side dishes were served, Lu Yuan, Fang Ming, and the others came through the door one after another and discovered that Xiao An had started smiling even earlier than usual today.
Holding his bowl, Fang Ming could not resist asking. When he heard it was because Chen An had reached rank twenty-three, he instantly forgot his complaint about the porridge being too hot.
"You made us Beggar’s Chicken last night, then went back and gained another rank?"
"Just eat," Chen An said. "The chicken was made during the day. The soul power was cultivated at night."
"I didn't say eating chicken did it."
"You practically looked like you were about to."
Fang Ming did not keep arguing. He lifted his bowl and blew on it twice, genuinely a little envious. Chen An was busy tending fires, preparing ingredients, and cooking, yet could still cultivate at night. Yesterday, Fang Ming had only helped Uncle Zhou wash half a basin of vegetables before returning to his room and falling straight asleep.
After breakfast, Chen An delivered the portion he had saved for Chen Xin, then returned to prepare lunch with Uncle Zhou. Having just advanced a rank, his soul power circulated more smoothly than yesterday, but the dishes on the stove still needed watching. He would get the cooking done first.
At noon, Ning Fengzhi brought Rongrong over to eat, and Chen Xin was there too. The other diners had already left, leaving only the elders and the two children at the table. The old man did not usually like discussing the children's cultivation over a meal, but this time, he took another bite of food and casually shared the morning's good news with Ning Fengzhi.
Ning Fengzhi was naturally pleased. He asked whether the advancement was stable, and only after Chen Xin said he had checked it himself did he smile and nod at Chen An.
"Good. You haven't let cooking hold back your cultivation. You've been getting better and better at organizing your days lately."
Beside him, Rongrong had just picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks. At those words, she raised her head.
"You leveled up again?"
"Just last night."
She looked at Chen An, then at her own palm. Everyone could see her unwillingness to concede.
At the training grounds a few days ago, she had finally managed to wait until Fang Ming was actually under strain before releasing her soul skill, and she had been feeling pleased with herself. Yet this fellow had quietly moved another rank ahead.
"When I have nine soul rings someday," she said, setting down her chopsticks, "I'll definitely be able to catch up with you too."
The table fell quiet for a moment.
Chen An remembered her saying the same thing before she had awakened her martial soul. Back then, Uncle Ning had only told her to awaken it first and take the rest slowly. Rongrong had not taken it to heart, but after she left, Chen An had learned about the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's limitation from Grandpa Sword.
Now she already had a soul ring and was seriously learning to use her pagoda. If they said "we'll talk about it later" again, even she probably would not believe them.
Ning Fengzhi did not answer immediately. He first looked at his daughter. Rongrong was puzzled by his gaze. She had been about to boast about her first soul skill, but now she stopped.
"Daddy?"
"Rongrong," Ning Fengzhi said, "there's something I should tell you."
She sat a little straighter.
Ning Fengzhi held out a hand, asking her to summon her Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda. The little seven-story pagoda rotated in her palm, her first yellow soul ring floating beneath it. Rongrong had practiced for a long time recently, and now she summoned it quickly and steadily.
"Your pagoda is very good," he said. "The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect owes its standing today to it as well. But it has one limitation. Once it reaches seven soul rings, it can no longer accommodate any new ones."
Rongrong first lowered her head and counted the pagoda's stories. She had long known it was called Seven Treasure from reciting her soul incantations. What need was there to count? Yet when she thought of Grandpa Sword and Grandpa Bone both having nine soul rings, she suddenly did not want to finish counting the seven stories before her.
"Yours too, Daddy?"
"Mine too."
"Then even if I train harder, I can only get seven?"
Ning Fengzhi did not avoid her gaze.
"If it remains a Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, then yes. The sect has been searching for a way all along. There is even a Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda in the legends, but so far, no one can tell you how to achieve it."
Rongrong pressed her lips together and said nothing for a long while.
Her earlier wish for nine soul rings had not come from calculating what rank she would cultivate to in the future. Grandpa Sword had them, and so did Grandpa Bone, so she had naturally assumed she could have them someday too. Now, suddenly hearing her father say she could have no more than seven felt as though someone had blocked off a stretch of road before she had even reached it.
"Why didn't you tell me when I asked last time?"
The question was blunt, but Ning Fengzhi did not try to soothe her with something else.
"You hadn't awakened yet then. I wanted to wait until you were a little older. Now that you've asked, I should tell you the truth."
Rongrong withdrew her pagoda, but she no longer wanted to eat.
Gu Rong had been sitting to one side. When he saw her push her bowl away, he was just about to speak, but Ning Fengzhi shook his head slightly at him. The old man could only swallow his words for now. He doted on Rongrong and wished he could find those two extra soul rings for her himself, but how could this be fixed simply by finding two soul beasts?
"You go ahead and eat." Rongrong climbed down from her stool. "I'm going for a walk."
"Don't go far," Ning Fengzhi said.
"I know."
In the end, Gu Rong could not help following her outside for a look. Seeing that she was only walking along the corridor outside the little courtyard and had not gone anywhere else, he stayed by the doorway to keep her company.
Chen An also set down his chopsticks, but Ning Fengzhi did not ask him to go comfort her. As her father, he had been the one who needed to say those words. He could not have Chen An tidy everything up for him.
After lunch, Chen An handed the work at the stove over to Uncle Zhou before going out to find her.
Rongrong sat on the stone steps outside the courtyard, a thin twig beside her, arranging little stones on the ground one by one in a row. Chen An sat down next to her and looked. There were already seven lined up in front.
"Why's it empty after those?"
"There aren't any more stones."
That excuse was far too halfhearted.
Chen An did not expose it. He simply picked up a stone by his foot and placed it in her palm. Rongrong looked at it for a while. Instead of adding it to the end of the row, she just closed her hand around it.
"You knew already?"
"After you said you wanted nine rings last time, Grandpa Sword told me."
"And you didn't tell me either."
"Uncle Ning wanted to tell you himself." Chen An paused. "Besides, I didn't know how to say it back then either."
Rongrong asked no more. He understood, and so did she.
Chen An had indeed looked through several books recording martial soul mutations and wondered whether he could make the pagoda grow a few more stories. But the books only described people whose martial souls had changed after awakening. Not one taught anyone how to reproduce it. There was the shadow of an immortal herb in his memories of his previous life, but he could not even recall its name or appearance. With those few pages and a vague memory, what grounds did he have to tell Rongrong that her pagoda would become Nine Treasure sooner or later?
"I don't like seven," Rongrong said suddenly.
"Mm."
"All you've got is 'mm'?"
"What do you want me to say? That seven is more than nine?"
Annoyed, Rongrong turned to look at him. Seeing that he was not smiling either, she lost the desire to bicker.
"Anyway, I still want nine." Rongrong gripped the stone in her hand. "I'm still going to train tomorrow. Don't think that just because I didn't go today, I'm giving up."
"What about today, then?"
"Not going today." Rongrong tossed the twig aside. "Today, I just want to be unhappy."
"All right."
"Also, my birthday's coming up in a while. You have to make me something I've never eaten before."
"Didn't you just say you were unhappy today?"
"I'm unhappy now. Does that mean I can't be happy on my birthday?"
There really was no arguing with that. Chen An smiled and agreed. Rongrong finally put the stone in her palm back on the ground, stood up, and patted down her clothes.
From the corridor, Gu Rong saw that she was willing to go back inside and hurriedly asked Uncle Zhou to reheat her unfinished meal. When Rongrong reached the doorway, she turned back to remind Chen An.
"It's a promise. Something new."
"I know. You'll get the first taste."
Before you continue