I Thought of Something Funny

"All right, I'll be your teacher in earnest for the next year."

Though Ye Qingzhou disliked working for free and cared about his own interests, he kept his word.

At worst, if Ye Xinlan still wanted to hire him as a private tutor after a year, he could charge her more. For now, he had to do as he had promised.

"All right!" Ye Xinlan clapped her hands and leaned close to Ye Qingzhou's face. "Then, cousin, what fourth-tier medicinal pill do you want?"

"Let me see." Ye Qingzhou rested his chin in his hand and thought for a moment. "I'm not greedy. I'll take a Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill."

Ye Xinlan: ?

The Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill came in one-pattern to three-pattern varieties. The highest-quality, three-pattern pill could raise a Da Dou Shi's cultivation by three stars when swallowed, though it could also cause side effects.

The pill was not very difficult to refine, ranking near the lower end among fourth-tier pills. The difficulty lay in the need to use several kinds of flame.

The Ye Clan did have the recipe for refining this pill, but it had none ready in stock.

"Cousin, and you call that not being greedy?" Ye Qingzhou adjusted his glasses and stood up. "The most I'll give you is one Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill."

A Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill could raise a Da Dou Shi's cultivation by one star, and a Da Dou Shi could take two in a lifetime.

"Deal." Ye Qingzhou readily agreed. This already met his expectations.

Ye Xinlan: !

Oh no, she had offered too high a price.

"Cousin, you really won't take even the slightest loss." Ye Xinlan puffed out her cheeks, then immediately chuckled.

Ye Qingzhou rose with a smile and said, "All right, I'll be a good teacher to you. But before that, shouldn't you bring over the teacher you promised me?"

If a Dou Ling-level expert served as his Dou Technique teacher, his training experience would also accumulate at twice the rate once midnight passed. He would be able to master the Fire Python Heavenly Dance Spear Technique in just a few days.

"I'm here."

Ye Xinlan was about to answer when an aged voice suddenly came from the entrance to Lingxi Courtyard.

Ye Qingzhou turned to look, and his pupils immediately contracted. He could not understand the movement Dou Technique the newcomer was using at all. The newcomer covered a zhang in a single step and arrived before him after just a few strides.

This movement Dou Technique is like a miniature version of shrinking the earth to an inch. I'll have to learn it if I get the chance, Ye Qingzhou noted to himself.

"Greetings, Elder." Ye Qingzhou saluted the newcomer, somewhat puzzled.

He had never seen this old man in the clan, but there was something familiar about his features.

"Grand... Elder, what brings you here?" Looking at Ye Zhong, who had made a simple disguise, Ye Xinlan instinctively started to call him "Grandpa," but he stopped her with a look.

"I heard you discovered a genius in the clan, so I came to see for myself." Ye Zhong clasped his hands behind his back and fixed his gaze on Ye Qingzhou. "Are you Ye Fang's grandson?"

"Yes, Elder," Ye Qingzhou answered.

"Mm." Ye Zhong stroked his beard and nodded. "Then you're my grandnephew."

"Grandnephew, no one in the entire Ye Clan has practiced the Fire Python Heavenly Dance Spear Technique better than I have. How about I teach you myself?" Ye Zhong asked.

"Thank you, Elder. This grandnephew is fortunate indeed." Ye Qingzhou agreed without hesitation.

An elder related to him by blood wanted to offer him a benefit. How could he refuse?

"However, Elder, I promised Cousin Xin Lan that I would guide her in cultivating her cultivation technique for two hours in the morning. I practice Dou Techniques in the afternoon," Ye Qingzhou volunteered.

"I know about that." Approval flashed in Ye Zhong's eyes. He sat down at the stone table and said, "Teach Xin Lan here. I'll listen in and see what insights you have into the Crimson Flame Bodhi Scripture."

"Do you cultivate the Crimson Flame Bodhi Scripture too, Elder?" A thought occurred to Ye Qingzhou, and he saw an opportunity.

If he could receive guidance from this mysterious elder, whose strength was surely above the Dou Ling level, his depth of understanding of the Crimson Flame Bodhi Scripture would surely increase greatly.

The greater his compatibility with the cultivation technique, the faster he would enter a meditative state while cultivating. Eventually, it would become instinctive, and he would be able to circulate it even in battle.

"..." The corner of Ye Zhong's mouth twitched.

If he knew the Crimson Flame Bodhi Scripture, Ye Xinlan would never have needed to get it from the scripture repository, much less ask Ye Qingzhou for guidance. What a foolish boy.

And that girl Xin Lan was no better, her elbow bending outward. She was actually covering her mouth and laughing on the sly.

What was that supposed to mean?

"The cultivation technique I practice is stronger than the Crimson Flame Bodhi Scripture." Ye Zhong's tone was somewhat stiff, but Ye Qingzhou had no doubts. He had already classified Ye Zhong as a mysterious, powerful senior of the Ye Clan.

Still, Ye Zhong was a Dou Zong, so he really was a powerful expert as far as Ye Qingzhou was currently concerned.

"That's true." Ye Qingzhou suspected nothing and offered a smiling compliment. "The cultivation technique you practice must be better than the Crimson Flame Bodhi Scripture, Elder."

Ye Zhong: "..."

The technique he currently practiced was an Intermediate Di Tier cultivation technique. Naturally, the Crimson Flame Bodhi Scripture was better.

But the High Xuan Tier cultivation technique he had switched to back when he was a Da Dou Shi was much worse.

In short, he had failed the soul test on the cultivation technique back then.

"Are you going to teach her or not?" Ye Zhong took out a teapot and teacup and poured himself some tea. "Although I haven't practiced it, I can apply what I know to it and give you a pointer or two. Stop dithering, boy."

"Then please give me your guidance, Elder." Ye Qingzhou immediately sat down on a stone stool and motioned for Ye Xinlan to enter a cultivation state.

Just as he had the day before, he placed his hand under Ye Xinlan's clothes against her lower abdomen and released his soul power to sense what was happening as it circulated through her meridians.

Ye Xinlan had felt nothing out of the ordinary yesterday, but with her grandfather watching from the side today, she blushed for no apparent reason.

The corner of Ye Zhong's eye twitched. "..."

Was this proper cultivation?

"Cousin, hurry and circulate the cultivation technique. We're starting," Ye Qingzhou urged gently, his gaze clear.

Ye Xinlan took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and formed a hand seal, entering a cultivation state.

Sensing the circulation of Dou Qi through her meridians, Ye Qingzhou immediately began giving her guidance.

"This meridian..."

"This acupoint..."

"Too much Dou Qi energy is gathering here. You need to..."

Ye Qingzhou identified Ye Xinlan's shortcomings with great precision and guided her on how to improve.

Ye Zhong listened quietly from the side, inwardly growing astonished. The boy had indeed grasped the basics of the Crimson Flame Bodhi Scripture, and was even approaching minor mastery.

The time when Ye Qingzhou obtained the cultivation technique was recorded in the scripture repository and could not be falsified.

In other words, he had cultivated a High Xuan Tier cultivation technique to minor mastery in less than three days.

His cultivation talent truly was extraordinary.

More than that, he's actually using soul power to observe the circulation of Dou Qi inside Xinlian's body. His soul talent is indeed quite good. A strange glint flashed in Ye Zhong's eyes.

His Soul Realm was even higher than Ye Xinlan's.

Though Ye Qingzhou was two years older, the resources he had received growing up amounted to less than half of what Ye Xinlan had received.

"Very good..." Ye Zhong was thoroughly satisfied.

Time passed unnoticed during cultivation, and in the blink of an eye, half the day was gone.

After they finished lunch together, Ye Zhong said, "Grandnephew Qingzhou, go out into the yard and perform the Fire Python Heavenly Dance Spear Technique once so I can have a look."

As far as cultivation techniques went, he had told a lie in a roundabout way.

But when it came to Dou Techniques, he had spoken the truth.

No one in the entire Ye Clan understood the Fire Python Heavenly Dance Spear Technique better than he did.