Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 133 Zhong Hui's Little Secret (2.5-in-1 Super Large Chapter)

Of course, a low-level Qiankun Bag is definitely not worth 500 guan.

The reason why the price is so high now is simply because it is rare.

It's conceivable that if this thing becomes as ubiquitous as in cultivation novels, it might only cost a few strings of cash or even a few hundred coins.

Since these new disciples had only just entered the sect and had only the spirit stones they had just been given, they just strolled around the market casually and didn't dare to spend money recklessly.

In the afternoon, it was everyone's turn for their first class, a Qi Sensing course taught by Chang Ping'an.

More than fifty people were crammed outside the [bookstore]. Although it wasn't crowded, there were still heads everywhere you looked.

The disciples were seated in pairs at a table, on which were placed two Immortal Peaches. These peaches were sold for five catties for one low-grade spirit stone in the teahouse, which was very cheap. Therefore, no one showed any greed, but they were all very curious about the Immortal Peaches on the table.

In order to properly teach his junior brothers and sisters how to cultivate, Chang Ping'an consulted Xu Wen and prepared for several months. He filled several volumes with his various cultivation experiences. Now, looking at his junior brothers and sisters, most of whom were much older than him, he was a little nervous but not intimidated.

"...At the beginning, sensing the Qi is the most difficult. If you really don't understand it, you junior brothers and sisters can eat a fairy peach to experience it."

"After eating, there will be a kind of 'qi' in your body, which is spiritual energy. If you have cultivated martial arts, you will feel it more clearly."

"...Sense Qi means to concentrate in meditation, and through breathing exercises, to feel the spiritual energy around you until you absorb it into your body. This is called 'Sense Qi'."

"The process of controlling the spiritual energy to remain within the body is called 'guiding the energy into the body'..."

As Chang Ping'an explained, many people began to eat the "Immortal Peach," and some who were more confident or had some insights immediately sat down to meditate.

"I am of average talent and it took me three days to draw Qi into my body. Your second senior sister has the best talent and drew Qi into her body in one night."

"However, everyone's cultivation is different. Some are slow, some are fast, and it doesn't really matter. Being able to draw qi into the body only means that one can cultivate immortality, and it has little to do with how fast one's cultivation will be later."

After reassuring everyone beforehand, Chang Ping'an explained in detail: "The path to immortality is long. After drawing qi into the body, one enters the Qi Refining stage, becoming a Qi Refining cultivator. There are nine levels in the Qi Refining stage, and each level is a threshold to overcome. Once all nine levels are crossed, one is considered to have established a foundation."

"The Foundation Establishment stage also has nine levels. After the ninth level comes Core Formation. Only when you achieve Core Formation can you be considered to be truly walking the path of immortality."

"The Core Formation stage is extremely crucial, requiring cultivators to condense an inner core in order to break through, hence the name 'Core Formation'."

"There are many types of inner cores, the best of which is the 'Golden Core,' the darker the color, the better the quality. However, even if the inner core is not a Golden Core when it is formed, it doesn't matter. Whether it is a Golden Core or not only means the strength of the spiritual power in the cultivator's body, and has no direct relationship with subsequent breakthroughs."

"Beyond the Core Formation is the Nascent Soul, beyond the Nascent Soul is the Out-of-Body Transformation, beyond the Out-of-Body Transformation is the Spirit Transformation, beyond the Body Transformation is the Integration, beyond the Integration is the Void Penetration, beyond the Void Penetration is the Great Ascension, beyond the Great Ascension is Ascension, which is the true attainment of an immortal body..."

After a class, apart from Huang Wu who was the fastest at sensing Qi, almost no one else was able to sense Qi – if they couldn't even sense Qi, they naturally had no way to guide Qi into their bodies.

That evening, after finishing their scripture study class, all the disciples obediently practiced in their own rooms.

Those who can pass the three rounds of trials and join the White Stone Immortal Sect are all people with excellent character and firm will. Therefore, they are all very ambitious. Some even study hard after hearing that their senior brother and second senior sister often stay up all night to cultivate.

So, in just one night, the next morning, three people successively guided Qi into their bodies and became cultivators at the first level of Qi Refining.

Therefore, when Chang Ping'an gave another cultivation lesson in the afternoon, he also shared a lot of his insights on Qi Refining stage cultivation with these disciples.

After dinner that evening, Zhong Hui was whispering and plotting with a disciple named Ye Hanxing at the courtyard gate.

Ye Hanxing was born into the Ye family in Jiangnan. She met Zhong Hui because they were both women and ended up living in the same courtyard.

As one of the earliest disciples to achieve Qi Induction, Zhong Hui was the center of attention all day. When Ye Hanxing privately inquired about how Zhong Hui had achieved Qi Induction so quickly, Zhong Hui could no longer contain himself and pulled the other party aside, urging, "Come with me to Spirit Medicine Peak, and I guarantee you'll be able to achieve Qi Induction very soon too!"

Ye Hanxing hesitated for a moment: "I... I'm a disciple of the Spirit Cultivation Peak. It's... it's not appropriate for me to go to the Spirit Medicine Peak, is it?"

Zhong Hui took Ye Hanxing's hand and said, "What are you afraid of! If all else fails, just say you're doing a commission! Just register it with the manager!"

Ye Hanxing's eyes widened: "Spirit Medicine Peak also has commissions?"

Zhong Hui nodded vigorously: "Yes! I went to learn how to process medicinal herbs yesterday. The warehouse over there is already a huge stockpile of herbs, but they don't have enough manpower. I remember there are even notices posted on the bulletin board for those who need help! It's just that the job is a bit troublesome and the pay is low, so no one has gone yet. Come with me in a bit, and you'll find out when we get there!"

"This...this really will work?"

Ye Hanxing was still a little hesitant, so Zhong Hui simply pulled her towards the Internal Affairs Hall where Steward Xu was located—as long as she registered her commission at the Internal Affairs Hall, she could start working.

The two of them pushed and shoved each other as they arrived at the Inner Affairs Hall, only to find it empty because it was so late.

However, the registration book was lying on the table, and a new page showed the disciples' self-registration requests.

Ye Hanxing couldn't refuse Zhong Hui, so she had no choice but to register it in the register.

So, late at night, the two of them, wrapped in fur coats, walked one after the other across the suspension bridge to Lingyao Peak.

"what?"

As soon as Ye Hanxing entered the Spirit Medicine Peak, he sensed that something was wrong.

"How is it? Can you feel the spiritual energy here just by breathing?"

Zhong Hui boasted smugly, "Yesterday I visited every main peak, and apart from Peach Garden, our Spirit Medicine Peak has the most abundant spiritual energy!"

As she spoke, she pulled Ye Hanxing along and led her to the Crane Pond Reflecting the Moon Lamp. Of course, the name of this small pond should now be "Ling Shu Pond," a name that Zhang Chengdao had racked his brains to come up with.

The spiritual energy around the Ling Shu Pool is so abundant that you can inhale spiritual energy with almost every breath, so there is no need to deliberately "sense the energy"!
It's easy to imagine that training here would be much easier than training elsewhere!

Ye Hanxing exclaimed in shock, "This... then won't everyone be scrambling to do the commissions from Spirit Medicine Peak in the future?"

"That will be a few days later! Don't forget, I'm the only one who signed up for Spirit Medicine Peak right now! As long as I don't say anything, they definitely won't know. And as long as they don't go inside Spirit Medicine Peak, even if they feel something's wrong, they won't think too much about it!"

Zhong Hui grinned, her dimples making her even more adorable. Even though there were only the two of them around, she lowered her voice mysteriously and said, "Han Xing, let me tell you, I did two commissions yesterday! Anyway, apart from Peach Garden, none of the main peaks I passed by were as good as Spirit Medicine Peak! According to Senior Brother, this is what... spiritual energy concentration!"

She nodded emphatically, saying, "Yes, yes, it's about the concentration of spiritual energy! Didn't Senior Brother say that we're in a period of 'spiritual energy revival,' where the concentration of spiritual energy in the world is relatively low, making cultivation more difficult? If you cultivate with me on Spirit Medicine Peak, you'll definitely progress much faster! Oh, and why don't you just ask the steward to let us switch from Spirit Cultivation Peak to Spirit Medicine Peak so we can keep each other company?"

"Is this appropriate...?"

Zhong Hui's suggestion actually made Ye Hanxing somewhat interested.

However, because it was too late, the two did not rush to bother Manager Xu of the sect to change the main peak. Instead, after cultivating all night, they waited until after the morning class the next day before Ye Hanxing, encouraged by Zhong Hui, brought up the matter with Xu Ying.

Xu Ying pondered for a moment, then readily nodded: "Alright, Spirit Medicine Peak is indeed always short-handed. The sect leader has many affairs to attend to and holds several peak master positions, so he can't manage everything. If you are willing to transfer to Spirit Medicine Peak, I will change your file now. However, once you transfer there, you can't transfer back for a while."

Originally, Lingyao Peak was completely unattended. When Zhong Hui first became a disciple, An Che Huaishan only gave her some guidance once, telling her what to do, and then checked on her occasionally. In reality, Lingyao Peak was practically deserted except for Zhong Hui!

So when Xu Ying heard that Ye Hanxing also wanted to transfer to Lingyao Peak, he was actually happy to see it happen.

The reason for this instruction was simply to prevent these outer disciples from arbitrarily switching to the main peak. "I know that you new disciples are unfamiliar with the various main peaks, so you may make the wrong choice or find that your choice is not suitable. Therefore, if you want to change your main peak within the first month of your entry, it is still acceptable. But if it has been a long time and you want to change it without a reason, that will not be allowed."

Zhong Hui smiled sweetly: "Thank you, Steward Xu! I knew you were the best!"

Ye Hanxing kept thanking him—he had cultivated all night yesterday, and although he hadn't succeeded in drawing qi into his body like Zhong Hui, the effect of his cultivation was indeed much better than when he was in his room.

She even had a vague feeling that if she continued to cultivate like this, she would probably be able to draw qi into her body in no more than half a month!

Upon comparison, Ye Hanxing couldn't help but exclaim, "Miss Zhong, your aptitude is so outstanding that you can even guide your Qi into your body faster than Senior Brother! I'm so envious!"

"It's because Spirit Medicine Peak is special!" Zhong Hui waved his hand and said, "Besides, I always feel that Senior Brother's words are exaggerated. He is the disciple with the highest cultivation in our sect! And I heard that he was only accepted as a disciple by the sect leader for half a year! He reached the Foundation Establishment stage a few months ago!"

As the two were talking, He Shilie, who was passing by, suddenly interrupted, "Senior Brother is just being modest. I saw him defeat Senior Mu Feng in one move back then, and it was truly amazing."

Zhong Hui was a lively person by nature. Hearing someone interrupt, he didn't feel offended at all. Instead, he asked with great interest, "Senior brother, senior brother, you know about that incident too? I was there too! But I didn't go up to the stage to compete because my martial arts skills aren't good enough. My senior sister—that senior sister from the Jade Void Sect before—did go up, and the eldest senior brother broke her natal sword with a tree branch. She was so angry that she almost cried!"

He Shilie, suddenly displaying his forthright nature, immediately replied, "Junior Sister is referring to Peach Blossom Swordswoman Yan Wuqi, right? At such a young age, she has already reached the sixth rank of cultivation. Given time, it's not impossible for her to reach the Grandmaster realm."

"Ugh……"

Ye Hanxing sighed, "It's a pity that after Immortal Baishi descended to the mortal realm, the immortal path will flourish while the martial path will decline. Even if one cultivates to become a Grandmaster or Great Grandmaster, what good will it do? Senior Brother is only at the Foundation Establishment stage. Even a Grandmaster like Senior Mu Feng, who has been famous for a long time, is no match for him. Alas..."

Upon hearing this, both Zhong Hui and He Shilie fell silent.

Zhong Hui thought of the Jade Void Sect.

As a renowned sect in the martial arts world, with Grandmaster Xuan Yangzi in charge, the Jade Void Sect is clearly destined to decline if the immortal path prospers. However, as Ye Hanxing said, even a Grandmaster's cultivation level is no match for a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Suddenly, He Shilie thought of his father, He Shilie Renxian.

As a confidant of the Emperor of Xiao Kingdom and one of the most important military generals in the court, he was renowned throughout the world for his cultivation as a fourth-rank Acquired Celestial Venerable and for his self-created twelve martial arts formations. But if the senior brother, who was merely at the Foundation Establishment stage, could contend with a martial artist at the Grandmaster level, what was his father's mere fourth-rank cultivation, which he had acquired through tireless practice year-round?

After a moment of silence, He Shilie suddenly composed himself and casually asked, "Didn't Heroine Yan Wuqi participate in the Immortal Destiny Assembly?"

"Senior Sister Wuqi was furious at the time, saying she would diligently cultivate the Jade Void Sect's techniques and one day defeat Senior Brother in the name of the Jade Void Sect... um..."

The more Zhong Hui talked, the more guilty he felt.

In the past, such words would have been praised as ambitious, but now, especially after everyone understands what the path of immortality is all about, such words sound somewhat presumptuous.

Upon hearing this, He Shilie coughed lightly and abruptly changed the subject: "Um... well, when I was registering my commission just now, I think I heard you two were planning to go to the main peak?"

Ye Hanxing nervously explained, "It's like this, I... I was originally from the Spirit Cultivation Peak, but just now I... I went to ask Steward Xu to transfer me to the Spirit Medicine Peak..."

"It's just to keep me company! I'm the only disciple on Spirit Medicine Peak right now, it's really pathetic! That's why I begged Hanxing to come to Spirit Medicine Peak with me!"

At this point, Zhong Hui's eyes darted around, and he suddenly lowered his voice with a grin, saying to He Shilie, "Hey, senior brother, why don't you come too? There are few people on our Spirit Medicine Peak, the work is easy, and you get paid... If you're interested, why don't you register for a commission from Spirit Medicine Peak tonight, and then I'll take you to a feng shui treasure land, and then you'll know what's going on!"

"Haha, what a coincidence! The commission I just registered is from Spirit Medicine Peak!"

He Shilie suddenly laughed and added, "I was just planning to take on all the commissions these next few days to try them out. Yesterday I went to the Mulberry Garden and Spirit Mine Peak, and today I was thinking of trying out Spirit Medicine Peak... Oh right, I just saw in that book that there seem to be other people who have also registered commissions for Spirit Medicine Peak!"

Upon hearing this, Zhong Hui's eyes widened in disbelief.

Then she suddenly turned her head and looked at Ye Hanxing.

Ye Hanxing hurriedly waved her hands, protesting, "I didn't say that! I've been with you the whole time!"

"hateful!"

After a moment's thought, Zhong Hui realized that it couldn't be Ye Hanxing. But yesterday she had confidently said that no one knew about this, and today she had been completely exposed. She was immediately annoyed, stomped her foot hard, and then dragged Ye Hanxing towards the Spirit Medicine Peak.

As he ran, he suddenly shouted to He Shilie, "Senior brother, hurry up and come with us! If we're late, we won't even get to drink the meat soup!"

Although He Shilie was confused, he still followed the two to Lingyao Peak, since he had originally planned to go there to make a request.

New disciples are free after their morning lessons. Until late afternoon, they can either go to their respective main peaks to work or cultivate on their own. However, many also choose to do some commissions to earn spirit stones so they can go to the market to buy what they want.

Of course, people like Zhong Hui, who already have too much work to do on the main peak, won't take on any more commissions. Only disciples on Lingxiu Peak, who don't have fixed jobs or salaries, have to take on commissions to earn money—if they don't take on commissions, they'll only get the most basic disciple allowance each month!

When Zhong Hui and Ye Hanxing arrived at Lingyao Peak, panting, they found, as expected, that two people were already sitting around Lingshu Pool, which was originally their "secret base."

Although Zhong Hui was annoyed that her little secret had been discovered, she knew that she couldn't monopolize the sect's resources, so she was only a little disappointed.

However, when she approached the Ling Shu Pool and took a closer look, she was startled.

The two people meditating and cultivating by the Ling Shu Pool were actually the eldest brother Chang Ping'an and the third brother Ye Shuyun!
"Huh? You guys know about this place too?"

Ye Shuyun was the first to hear the three people rushing over, and opened her eyes.

"Eldest brother, third brother..."

Ye Hanxing was terrified. Even though she had already transferred to the Spirit Medicine Peak, she still felt ashamed that she had been caught cheating.

Zhong Hui found it quite novel, and she asked directly, "Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother! You cultivate here too?"

Ye Shuyun nodded slightly and said, "Yes, the spiritual energy around the Ling Shu Pool is abundant, making it the most suitable place for cultivation. But you don't need to worry, your master is preparing to dig a large lake and build a waterfall. When that happens, the concentration of spiritual energy around the waterfall and the lake will be high, and all the disciples in the sect can go there to cultivate in the future."

"Dig...dig a huge lake!?"

Zhong Hui couldn't help but raise his voice, somewhat dumbfounded.

"Was the lake... dug out...?"

Having visited various royal gardens and heard countless absurd stories about the late emperor's palace construction since childhood, Heshilie suddenly offered an explanation for Ye Shuyun: "That's possible, but a lake dug out normally is stagnant water, difficult to manage, and would require thousands of people and several years. But if it's the sect leader, it's probably a different story..."

(End of this chapter)