Injured

The three of them first went to check out the area around the county examination venue for tomorrow's exam, and found that it was under martial law. After familiarizing themselves with the area, they left.

After that, they went to a small market in the county town and started a small business selling fried rice noodles made from a small amount of powder on Jiang Youfu's body. After earning a few hundred coins, they immediately packed up and started to stroll around the county town.

Although Anqun County is far from prosperous, everything is new and exciting for these three teenagers who have traveled the farthest from their hometown in the past ten years to Emerald Peak Town.

They even squatted down in front of a girl with straw stuck in her hair, saying she was going to sell herself to bury her father, and stared at her for a long time.

They only ran away when they were so embarrassed and angry from staring at them.

It wasn't until nearly evening that the three of them reluctantly returned to the courtyard.

Upon entering the room, they saw a cloth spread on the table, on which lay Tuan Tuan, covered in Tuantuan. Sun Yigao, who should have been diligently reviewing his studies, was feeding it a healing pill called Rejuvenation Pill, which he had recently learned from Senior Liao.

"What's wrong?" Lin Xiao asked, looking at Tuantuan looked completely different from her energetic self yesterday.

Sun Yigao shook his head:

"I don't know either. Not long before you came back, I heard a scratching sound outside the door, so I went to check it out. When I opened the door, I saw it lying on the ground like this."

Everyone looked at Tuan Tuan, whose Tuantuan had hardly any healthy fur.

"It's a cat demon at the Spirit Awakening Seventh Layer, how could you beat it like this..."

Lin Xiao noticed that Tuantuan's originally long tail had also been broken off.

"It seems the person who injured it must be far more powerful than it..." He pointed to Tuantuan's severed tail and said, "They say cats have nine lives. Although Tuantuan doesn't have nine tails, perhaps severing its tail to survive is a unique Divine Ability of cat demons, which is why it was able to escape death."

Everyone felt a chill run down their spines as they looked at the cat's tail, now only half intact.

Jiang Youfu asked in confusion, "Isn't this the Mortal Realm? It used to seem quite peaceful, so why does it become so unsettling as soon as we start cultivating?"

Liu Yunan shook his head and said to him earnestly:

"You don't understand, do you? Before we had any cultivation, we wouldn't know why we saw things. For example, if it were before, if we saw Tuantuan like this, we would just think it was an ordinary cat that had been injured by someone, right?"

Unlike now, because they know it's a cat demon at the Spirit Awakening Seventh Layer, they know the person who injured it must be a powerful cultivator.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Youfu nodded, finding his words quite reasonable.

Lin Xiao also said:

"That's right. Just like that Silver Frost Python Demon in our village before, if none of us had cultivated or had any cultivation, we wouldn't have thought there was anything wrong at all. We would have just thought it was the weather being unpredictable. Even if everyone in our village died, people might just think we all froze to death. Afterwards, the survivors would lament that God didn't let anyone survive, Xiushui Village might have become a thing of the past forever."

Hearing him say this, they all felt a sense of empathy.

After feeding Tuantuan her medicine, Sun Yigao also spoke:

"Therefore, in this world, only by standing higher can you see more of the truth. But often, those who stand higher know the truth of those below, yet they simply let it go and do nothing. And they themselves are being manipulated by those above."

While everyone was talking, whether it was due to Tuantuan's strong vitality or the effectiveness of the Rejuvenation Pill refined by Sun Yigao, Tuantuan, who had lost consciousness and was breathing more out than in, gradually woke up.

It struggled to open its eyes, saw the four young men it had met yesterday, felt a rejuvenating energy within its body, and sensed the familiar atmosphere of the courtyard. Feeling at ease, it fell into a deep sleep again.

Soft snores drifted gently through the quiet courtyard.

Sun Yigao stood up and said softly:

"I'll leave it to you for now; I'll go back to studying."

Seeing that the three agreed, Sun Yigao turned and went into another room to read.

As the sun gradually sets, the afterglow of the sunset is slowly replaced by the darkness of night.

The three of them placed some food and water next to Tuantuan.

Liu Yunan went out to the Fang Household to pick up their dinner for the evening.

Jiang Youfu was already hungry, so he took out the dry food that his family had given him and started eating it with water.

Lin Xiao, on the other hand, was contemplating the tasks related to the construction of the three sects.

Construct a talisman-making room, Artifact Refining Hall, and Formation Hall.

In fact, Lin Xiao could have plenty of soil and wood whenever he wanted, but the reason he didn't start building these three places immediately was because he remembered that when he built the Alchemy Chamber before, in addition to soil and wood, he also put in the Red Lotus Lava as a fire source and the Pill Cauldron needed for alchemy.

So he wondered if the other three locations might also need some specific items.

He can't just build a house out of mud and wood and then call it whatever he wants, can he?

Of course, he could do that, and I believe no one in the entire sect would oppose him.

But he was afraid the system wouldn't recognize it.

So far, the system seems to have been treating him quite well.

But he didn't think the system would allow him to be so casual.

Otherwise, the issued tasks wouldn't truly achieve the goal of building a sect. The system can't just issue tasks simply to deliver items and Spirit Stone, can it?

Moreover, once these places are built, their sect will also benefit.

Therefore, Lin Xiao didn't want to be too casual.

If, based on the experience of the Alchemy Chamber, all that's needed is to put in the tools required for that purpose, then wouldn't the talisman-making room need to be filled with special pens and talisman paper for drawing talismans?

Lin Xiao thought it might actually be possible.

He'll put in a bunch of paper and pens, then create a bunch of seats for drawing talismans, with paper and pens on them?

Oh, and we also need ink.

But then he thought about it and realized that didn't make sense either. Ink and paper are consumables, and he hadn't put any herbs in when he was in the Alchemy Chamber...

Well, he'll just put all the necessary brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones in there as a precaution, once he gets them.

As for the Artifact Refining Hall...

He doesn't have any ideas yet.

He didn't know much about either of them. He wasn't sure whether weapon forging was done like a blacksmith forging iron or like Alchemist using a furnace and cauldron.

As for the Formation Hall, he did know that some arrays were carved with engraving knives.

But he didn't know if all formations were like this.

Since setting up a formation is also part of battle formations, right?

While he was lost in his chaotic thoughts, Liu Yunan had already returned from the Fang Household with the food. He and Jiang Youfu were carefully carrying Tuantuan from the table to the kang (a heated brick bed) to clear the table.

Then, despite their hunger, the two of them took the fragrant food out of the food box.

Three dishes and a soup, a good balance of meat and vegetables.

Moreover, each dish is served in a very large portion.

Aunt Fang Household, considering that they were all boys, specially filled a rice bowl with rice and packed it tightly.