Daoist Zhang took a sip of spirits and began Li Qiuchen's first lesson.
"The Elixir Viscera is a supplentary cultivation thod that the Emperor developed in his ti. It involves growing a new organ within the body, one that wasn't originally there, to serve as a substitute for the dantian, which doesn't exist in reality."
"Under normal procedure, you would invite a specialized physician to transplant an Elixir Viscera seed issued by the authorities into your body, and then slowly cultivate it yourself."
"But your family has produced cultivators before, and the lineage gap isn't too distant. In theory, you shouldn't need a physician. You can cultivate your own Elixir Viscera from within."
"The latter is naturally more effective than the forr. However you look at it, sothing that grows from within your own body won't face rejection."
"So how do I go about cultivating it?"
"No rush on that. Eat first. Once your energy and spirit are fully restored, I'll take you to the Hongwen Hall... actually, speaking of which, have you received a blessing?"
"Pardon?"
Daoist Zhang said with impatience, "I'm asking whether you've received the dicine Master's blessing."
"Ah... yes, I have."
"Show your master a demonstration!"
"How would I demonstrate it?"
Daoist Zhang looked around, grabbed a short kang-sweeping broom from behind him. "Use this. Give
everything you have. My Daoist na may be Shouzhu, aning 'hold back,' but you don't need to hold back in front of your master. Don't be shy."
Li Qiuchen thought to himself that he had nothing to be shy about. After getting to know Senior Brother Yang, his general sense of composure had improved considerably.
He gripped the broom and slowly channeled the blessing energy within him into it.
The broom began to take on a faint green shimr, and with visible speed, tender young leaves grew from it, followed by roots and new shoots.
Within a few breaths, what had been a broom had beco, in Li Qiuchen's hands, a thriving sapling nearly three feet tall.
Daoist Zhang's eyes grew wider and wider.
"Master, is this sufficient?"
"Is this your limit? Keep going!"
Since he said so, Li Qiuchen had no choice but to continue.
The sapling grew increasingly robust, extending up to the ceiling beams. Roots sank deep into the kang. A faint floral fragrance drifted through the air. Daoist Zhang quickly called a halt.
"All right, all right, that's enough. I understand."
One more mont and his small room would have been dismantled around him.
"Master, your opinion..."
"Not bad!"
Daoist Zhang raised his wine cup and nearly poured it into his own nose, then quickly shoved a peanut into his mouth to cover the mont.
"Your talent is quite good, but don't let it go to your head. There are always greater heights and greater people beyond what you can see. You have a gift for study, so study well. Don't follow your ancestor's example, unable to understand the books and instead of examining himself, concluding the books were wrong and dropping out to make things up on his own."
"Think about it. He didn't even finish the academy. What separates what he wrote from the novels sold at the market?"
"Also, rember this. When anyone outside asks, say you're ten!"
Li Qiuchen said, perplexed, "Master, why exactly?"
Daoist Zhang peered out the window, leaned close to Li Qiuchen, and dropped his voice. "I'll be taking you to pay respects to certain elders later on. Red envelopes will be involved."
"That still doesn't..."
"Red envelopes for children under ten are especially large!"
"Master makes an excellent point. I am ten years old this year."
Li Qiuchen thought to himself that it wasn't really about the money. He was just genuinely curious how large these large red envelopes actually were.
From the brief exchange so far, he had ford an impression of his master as a straightforward sort.
"When you were young, did you also... collect a large one?"
Daoist Zhang's expression grew solemn. He nodded slowly. "More than one."
That sounded truly painful.
"Right, enough of that. Tomorrow I'll take you to choose a cultivation thod and guide you through cultivating your Elixir Viscera. Give
your token."
Li Qiuchen passed over his identity token. Daoist Zhang tapped it twice and returned it. "I've activated your access permissions. From now on you can enter and exit the Hongwen Hall and the Langhuan Pavilion freely. The rules are different in each place. Go and learn them yourself. I won't go through them with you."
"Where was I? Right, pill masters! We don't produce many pill masters here in Yun County. In the inner hall right now there's Yang Wenping, Kong Zhenzhen, and Li Hui. Why am I directing you toward pill arts? Aside from your personal talent, there's one other important reason."
"From the mont you formally set foot on the cultivation path, the inner hall will provide you with cultivation resources. But in turn, you'll need to complete tasks for the inner hall to offset the cost of those resources. If it's only outgoing with nothing coming in, even a mountain of gold would eventually run dry. And the area with the greatest current shortage in our inner hall is dicinal herbs and pills."
Well that made sense. Basically a faction contribution system.
Li Qiuchen nodded. "Your student will give full effort."
"All right. That's the gist of it. Everything else can wait for later. Get those chopsticks moving. This gets unpleasant once it cools down."
Daoist Zhang pointed at the braised offcuts on the table. "Try the at. This beef is exceptional, I tell you. It's not from local cattle. You won't find this at any market."
Li Qiuchen put a piece in his mouth, and his eyes lit up imdiately.
"Master, what did you put in this?"
Daoist Zhang said with a satisfied smile, "This is a secret passed down through the sect lineage. I can't tell you yet."
"You used grape wine, didn't you?"
"What? How do you have that kind of discerning palate? You actually tasted that?"
Daoist Zhang laughed. "Zijiang Red from Anhua County. Unremarkable as a drinking wine, but absolutely exceptional for braising beef. You must never tell a soul about this. Lives are at stake if word gets out."
Is it really that serious?
Li Qiuchen nodded again and asked, "Master, I know about the Hongwen Hall, but what is the Langhuan Pavilion for?"
Daoist Zhang waved a hand. "That belongs to the divine path tradition. It isn't right for you. Go in, broaden your horizons a little, understand what it's about, and then don't waste your ti there."
"The divine path?"
Daoist Zhang pointed upward, without elaborating.
The Heavenly Court system?
This world had a Heavenly Court governed by the Heavenly Emperor.
Acting mountain gods, earth shrine deities, river lords, the City God Office, Li Qiuchen had had various degrees of contact with these departnts under the Heavenly Court's jurisdiction.
But his understanding remained shallow.
Since his master said it wasn't right for him, he would leave it at that.
As they said, learning had no limits.
The Hongwen Hall alone had six thousand volus of collected texts. Having a master to point him in the right direction was better than he could have asked for.
When he had first co down from the mountains, finding a single partial fragnt of a cultivation thod had felt like a treasure.
But tis were different now.
The granaries were overflowing with grain, more than he could eat through.
After a satisfying al, Li Qiuchen moved to clear the table, wash the bowls, and clean the pot.
He felt that as a student, handling these tasks was simply part of his role.
He had barely started when Daoist Zhang drove him away and told him to go ho and rest.
Not all students were the sa.
Daoist Zhang told him seriously that from now on his energy needed to go into studying. Stop wasting it on things that didn't matter.
You are the top student.
Straighten up your attitude. Know your position.
At this point Daoist Zhang still didn't know that Li Qiuchen also had two young misses to look after at ho. If he had known...
It was probably best he didn't find out. Li Qiuchen genuinely feared he might march to the Tang household ready to vanquish demons.
By the ti he got ho the sky was dark.
Tang Xiaoxue and Hu Caiyi had already gone to sleep. Li Qiuchen returned to his own room and walked in to find his godmother Liu Po and Governess Zhang sitting on the kang cracking sunflower seeds and chatting away rrily.
When Li Qiuchen walked in, a flicker of sothing passed through Governess Zhang's eyes.
"Steward Li... no, young master actually returned this quickly? Could it be that..."
Li Qiuchen nodded with a smile.
"Congratulations, young master! My deepest congratulations!"
Governess Zhang rose and gave Li Qiuchen a solemn bow, then turned back to Liu Po. "Didn't I say as much just now? At this rate it's our young miss who won't be worthy of the young master."
Liu Po said in astonishnt, "So... so little Qiuchen is going to beco an immortal?"
Li Qiuchen quickly clarified, "Not beco an immortal. I've simply been permitted to begin formal cultivation."
"Isn't that the sa thing? Oh my, how did this old woman manage to adopt a godson who's beco a divine being."
Liu Po slapped her knee and burst out laughing. "This calls for a celebration! A proper celebration!"
"Godmother, I still have to go to the county school tomorrow."
"It doesn't matter! Pick a day when you're free and godmother will take you out for a proper al at a restaurant!"
Liu Po swept up the sunflower shell scraps from the table while pulling Governess Zhang toward the door. "Let's stop nattering here and let little Qiuchen have a proper rest!"
Once she had ushered Governess Zhang out, Liu Po crept quietly back in and looked Li Qiuchen over from head to toe with careful eyes.
"Tsk tsk. I always said this child would go far."
Li Qiuchen smiled. "Godmother, was Governess Zhang talking to you about the young miss?"
Liu Po waved a hand. "Don't you mind what she says. The Tang family has shown kindness to all of us, and the young miss is a good child. Your godmother knows that. But gratitude isn't repaid that way. If that day ever truly ca, your godmother would go out and shalessly make a scene in the streets before she let that little girl go hungry. You have a bright future ahead of you. Focus on your studies, and stop worrying yourself over all this dostic fussing."
Li Qiuchen nodded and said nothing more.
Tang Xiaoxue's aptitude was genuinely good. Barring unexpected complications, she should be able to clear the third round of trials before too long.
Governess Zhang ant well, and so did Liu Po.
But both of them had overlooked one thing. A child raised in the border wilds didn't necessarily need the degree of careful nurturing they were trying to provide.
"Godmother should also get so rest. As for the young miss's matters, once Boss Tang returns, I'll speak with him myself."
Liu Po smiled. "Exactly right. There's still a father in the picture. No point fretting about it before he's even back... oh, actually, there's sothing I've been aning to ntion but kept holding back because I didn't want to distract you from your studies."
"Your sister-in-law is expecting!"
Li Qiuchen was genuinely delighted. "When did this happen? My brother didn't let slip even the slightest hint."
"Two months along. Your brother is out entertaining clients every day. When would he have had the chance to tell you? You two barely see each other as it is."
Liu Po looked toward the window and lowered her voice. "Keep it to yourself for now. Good news like this is fine to share among family, but there's no need to announce it to the world."
In tis like these, any piece of good fortune attracted envious eyes.
The bandit raid over the previous year's end was still fresh enough in Liu Po's mind to give her a chill. Back then, with no one to hold the household together, she had thrown herself in front of every threat with shaless bluster and sheer stubbornness. Now that good things were coming in from all directions, she had quietly beco cautious and understated.
Such was human nature.
[NEXT CHAPTER]
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