The Simplified Cultivation Manual
Hmm, he would stop thinking about that for now. If he had a chance to synthesize a crude, inferior cultivation manual later, he could take a look and find out.
The problem now was that he didn't have five Spirit Stones.
He had just used one Spirit Stone for idle cultivation, leaving only four in his private storage.
Lin Xiao suddenly remembered that there was a reward he hadn't checked yet.
He exited the shop and immediately opened his private storage.
There, he found a sect uniform synthesis blueprint ×1 and Mist Spring Grass seeds ×5. The number of Spirit Stones had also risen from four to nine.
Without hesitation, Lin Xiao went straight back into the shop and bought the simplifier.
[Would you like to synthesize the simplified version of the Peach Blossom Spring Myriad Void Instruction?]
Lin Xiao chose yes.
Another familiar row of glowing slots appeared before him.
Unlike when he had synthesized the cultivation manual earlier, there were only two slots this time. One was labeled [Paper material], and the other [Ink].
In a corner of the grass hut at the base, there was still a pile of excess paper mulberry bark Lin Xiao had stripped earlier.
Lin Xiao smiled at Jiang Youfu.
"Your simplified cultivation manual will be ready in a moment. Just wait."
With that, Lin Xiao got up to fetch the paper mulberry bark.
Jiang Youfu watched him pick up the bark from the ground and place it in front of him. The bark suddenly vanished in midair.
Right afterward, he saw Lin Xiao take something else in his hand and place it in midair in front of him.
Before long, a book suddenly appeared in Lin Xiao's hand.
Lin Xiao handed the book to Jiang Youfu, took back the earlier one, and put it in his private storage.
"Fuzi, even though this one has been simplified, you still need to learn to read. Even if it weren't for cultivating immortality, it wouldn't hurt for us to learn some characters."
"Yes, yes, yes." Jiang Youfu nodded repeatedly.
Lin Xiao smiled. "Look at the pictures first. In a bit, I'll start by teaching you the characters on the first page. We'll learn a few each day and cultivate slowly. There's no rush."
For the rest of the time, Lin Xiao didn't rush to study the newly acquired sect uniform synthesis blueprint or Mist Spring Grass seeds.
He wanted to teach Fuzi how to read this cultivation manual first.
So the two sat in the grass hut and began studying the simplified Peach Blossom Spring Myriad Void Instruction, which was filled with pictures and text. Lin Xiao taught Jiang Youfu character by character, while Jiang Youfu held a twig, looking and listening as he wrote and drew on the ground, doing his best to remember and understand.
It had to be said, this also let Lin Xiao settle down and take in the cultivation manual.
Though he had the idle cultivation function and didn't need to study it himself at all.
Spring had just begun, and the days were growing longer.
As dinnertime approached, the two studying diligently in the grass hut remained completely unaware.
"Erlang, Erlang! Huh, where did this peach tree come from?"
The voice of Lin Xiao's older brother, Lin Yun, suddenly rang out from outside, rousing the two from their studies.
Then they heard a bang outside, as though something had fallen to the ground.
At the same time, a system notification sounded in Lin Xiao's mind.
[Ding-congratulations to the host on successfully advancing to Qi Refining First Layer]
Lin Xiao thought that the person outside seemed to be his brother, and that, damn it, he had forgotten to grant his family access to the base. At the same time, he wondered whether understanding the cultivation manual himself might speed up the improvement of his cultivation.
Outside the grass hut, Lin Yun was sitting on the ground, clutching his forehead with a bewildered look on his face.
No one knew what he thought of, but his expression suddenly changed, and he called out in great alarm:
"Erlang! Erlang! Are you in there? Erlang-"
The grass hut's curtain was suddenly flung open, and Lin Xiao walked out.
Seeing Lin Yun's bright red forehead, he rubbed his nose, a little embarrassed.
"Brother, are you all right?"
Seeing Lin Xiao standing safely in front of him, Lin Yun hurried over and felt him all over. Only after confirming that he really was unharmed did he ask in confusion:
"What's going on here? There was clearly nothing there, but I ran smack into it."
Jiang Youfu glanced at Lin Xiao. Seeing that he had no intention of speaking, he tactfully kept his mouth shut.
Lin Xiao couldn't explain it all in a moment, so he stepped forward and hooked an arm around his eldest brother's shoulders-or rather, he half dangled from him, since he was more than half a head shorter than Lin Yun.
"Brother, what did you come looking for me for?"
Lin Xiao led Lin Yun around and started down the path off the mountain with him.
"It's all because of you. It's already dinnertime, and you still haven't come home. Dad sent me to call you back to eat."
"Ah, right. Look at my memory. I was having so much fun I forgot. Brother, what's for dinner today?"
"What else? Pickles and steamed buns. I caught a fish in the river this afternoon and made a soup with wild greens."
"Oh, you actually caught a fish, Brother! Let's go catch some shrimp together another day..."
Jiang Youfu watched Lin Xiao talk Lin Yun into leaving, then tactfully shouldered the machete, shovel, and other tools lying outside the grass hut and followed the Lin brothers down the mountain.
When they reached the village, Lin Xiao took the tools from Jiang Youfu. They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways home.
The dining table had already been set up in the Lin family courtyard.
On it sat a small bowl of pickles, a large bowl of fish soup, and a small basket of steamed buns, only seven in all.
Lin Dayou had clearly been waiting at the table for quite a while.
When he saw Lin Yun bring Lin Xiao home, he picked up his rice bowl.
"All you do is stay out and play all day. Hurry up and wash your hands. I'm not waiting for you."
Lin Xiao lowered his head, nearly laughing out loud.
His dad was so adorable, insisting on waiting until he came home to eat, then saying he wouldn't wait for him.
Beside the water jar, Lin Yun ladled out some water, and he and Lin Xiao washed their hands clean before joining the table and starting to eat.
At the table, after giving Lin Yun a few instructions about what he was to do the next day, Lin Dayou paid Lin Xiao no mind and began eating in great mouthfuls.
Holding a steamed bun, Lin Yun seemed to suddenly recall the strangeness at the grass hut earlier. He looked at Lin Xiao, then at Lin Dayou, but didn't ask.
Lin Xiao was also turning the matter over in his mind.
After thinking for a long time, he couldn't come up with a good excuse.
Besides, they were his own family, his own father and elder brother. He didn't think there was any need to hide it from them.
He simply slapped down his bowl and chopsticks and laid his cards on the table.
"Actually, I have a sect now, one for cultivating immortality. I'm the sect master."
Lin Dayou chewed his steamed bun and pickles as he looked at his youngest son, who had suddenly gone off the rails.
"Cultivating immortality? A sect? What's all that?"
Lin Yun wore the exact same expression as Lin Dayou. I just wanted to ask whether you'd run into a ghost, so why are you telling me things I can't understand?
Lin Xiao looked at the two of them, picked up his bowl, and reached out to ladle himself some fish soup.
He brought the bowl to his mouth, blew on it, then lowered his head and slowly took a sip.
Mm, delicious!
Lin Dayou couldn't hold back any longer. "Boy, if you dawdle one more second, I'll thrash you!"
So Lin Xiao repeated to Lin Dayou and Lin Yun what he had told Jiang Youfu.
An old immortal, a fortuitous opportunity bestowed in a dream, cultivating immortality, founding a sect, seeking the Dao and eternal life...
When he finished, Lin Xiao ignored the dumbstruck father and son and rewarded himself with another sip of fish soup.
Then he said to Lin Yun:
"Brother, that invisible thing you ran into on the mountain earlier was actually the defensive formation around my sect's base. You can think of it as an invisible but extremely sturdy cover that surrounds the area near my grass hut. No one can get in without my permission."