The Black Disc

After everyone devoured the food on the table, they patted their full bellies with satisfied expressions and let out a long sigh of relief.

Yang Jinshu had brewed a pot of tea earlier, and he was just bringing it out for everyone to drink.

Only then did Lin Xiao have time to talk to everyone.

Thinking of the newly built house at the foot of the mountain, he asked with some doubt:

Who built that house down the mountain? Did someone from our village move here recently?

Upon hearing this, everyone at the table who was sipping tea from their cups turned to look at Liu Yunan was also sipping tea.

Lin Xiao, not understanding what was going on, followed everyone's gaze and looked at him.

Liu Yunan chuckled sheepishly and said to him:

"Brother Xiao, actually, we built that house. Didn't you come back and tell us more than half a month ago that you were going to build a house for Yigao to use as a private school? You're so busy, so we thought we could build it ourselves. It's just building a house, right? With Tietou around, and if we ask Tietou -tou's father for advice, we can build it too. That way, we don't have to wait for you to come back and do it yourself."

Lin Xiao was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected that after he had only come back and said he would ask them to prepare the materials when he had time, they had quickly built the house while he was away.

"I see."

"The private school is still missing some desks, chairs, bookshelves, and other furniture. We ordered some from your grandfather and some from the carpenter in town. They should all be delivered by tomorrow, and then our private school will be completely finished," Liu Yunan continued.

Suddenly, Lin Xiao thought of something and asked again:

"You paid for all the bricks and tiles for that private school, didn't you?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Yunan quickly said "Oh," and then took out a small booklet from his Storage Bag and handed it to him:

"Brother Xiao, all the expenses for building this private school this time are here. The bulk of it was for the materials, and then there was the money for buying groceries recently. It was all paid for with the money that Jianghe sent back to me that you gave me before. When it wasn't enough, I took a few pieces of pine soot ink that you gave us as a spare and sold them. Now we have twenty-one taels left over."

Lin Xiao took the booklet, flipped through it symbolically, and then handed it back to him.

"This is truly a pleasant surprise... Thank you all for your hard work. Fuzi is such a good cook, so as long as he's willing to cook, we absolutely mustn't skimp on the groceries!"

Although he had only glanced at it symbolically, he noticed that the expenses listed included almost no labor costs. In other words, apart from buying materials, all the work in building the house was done by the sect members together.

As he walked up the mountain, he noticed that the path leading up the mountain had been roughly repaired, and there were many small things and buildings scattered throughout the sect. In one rather secluded and remote spot, there was even an outhouse.

To be honest, it felt great to come back and find that the things he had written down and was waiting for him to do had been perfectly taken care of by his colleagues. He immediately felt a great weight lifted off his shoulders.

So Lin Xiao simply handed the matter over to Tuzi and the others, completely ignoring it, only reminding them to copy down some of the cultivation methods below the middle -Earth Rank from the sect and put them in the private school at the foot of the mountain.

Then he addressed the crowd:

"I'm planning to go see Jianghe tomorrow, and while I'm at it, I'll give him this Location Sound Transmission Talisman I recently created. Tuzi, if you have time later, could you go to the Qin Household and ask his parents if there's anything they need to bring him?"

Liu Yunan nodded in agreement.

Jiang Youfu let out a somewhat regretful "Ah":

"Brother Xiao, you've just gotten back, and you're already going out again?"

Lin Xiao looked at him with amusement:

"Then why don't you come with me tomorrow?"

Liu Yunan immediately gasped:

"No, Brother Xiao, if you take Fuzi away, where are we going to eat?"

Jiang Youfu's eyes lit up, and he raised his hand and waved:

"You all go home and eat! I'm going out with Brother Xiao tomorrow!"

Hearing this, Lin Xiao smiled and nodded:

"Okay, remember to let your family know when you get home tonight."

After the business was finished, everyone started chatting about everyday things.

Lin Xiao noticed that his father wasn't there, so he asked his brother, Lin Yun. Lin Yun told him that their father had been going down the mountain to help with chores every day after finishing his cultivation.

Because Old Master Lin recently took on a large order of custom-made tables and chairs for their sect, the whole family was helping out, and Lin Dayou often went to help as well, leaving only Lin Yun to look after the spiritual fields on the mountain.

Tuzi and Tietou also asked Lin Xiao about what he had seen and heard in Guchuan Dam during this period. When they heard that the prefect of Liaoju Prefecture and his advisor had come up with such a plan just to send him a gift, they were all very surprised.

Lin Xiao then remembered the bundle he had put in his private stash.

He immediately took it out of his private treasury and placed it on the stone table, which had been cleaned up by everyone and only had two pots of tea left.

Unwrapping the bundle revealed its contents: a simple wooden box.

Lin Xiao reached out and opened the wooden box, revealing its contents to everyone.

Inside the wooden box, there was only one item and a letter next to it.

The object was a dark, round disc made of a material that resembled wood but wasn't.

The onlookers were puzzled. Why would the prefect give Brother Xiao a black round plate?

Lin Xiao didn't know what this was either, so he picked up the letter next to him first.

In the letter, Prefect Tong first expressed his gratitude, and then said that the immortal probably did not like money and other material possessions. After thinking about it for a long time, he decided to give this item to the immortal.

According to Prefect Tong, he acquired this item by chance on his way to take up his post as magistrate in a remote county town when he first entered officialdom.

On his way to take up his post, he was ambushed by bandits. During his escape, he got separated from his entourage and lost his way in the mountains. He hid in a cave and accidentally discovered a strange pit inside. He said that the pit looked no different from the surrounding stone walls, but he could reach his hand through the stone walls into it.

He found the black disc by feeling it in that pit.

Even more strangely, after he took the black disc out of the pit, seeing that he couldn't see anything, he casually put it aside and went to sleep. Who would have thought that when he opened his eyes again the next day, he would find that he was no longer in the cave, but had come to the woods not far from the county town.

The black disc was pressed beneath him.

Therefore, he believed that the black disc must be something extraordinary.

However, since then, he has never seen the black disc display any supernatural phenomena again.

However, he believed that being able to rescue him from the unknown wilderness like that time was already a stroke of luck. Such treasures were not something that ordinary people like himself could possess, but he dared not easily show them to the public.

Only now, having encountered an immortal, do I realize that this treasure should be entrusted to the immortal, so as not to be a waste of its precious gem.