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

Chapter 5 Where is the rope?

While Chang Ping'an was studying the "Elementary Qi Refining Book," Zhang Chengdao was searching for ramie all over the mountains.

The workbench is quite simple; it only takes 12 units of wood to make it.

Moreover, the workbench, which was built using only wood, was filled with metal tools, including a plane and a hammer!

With the [Crafting Table], you can process materials, and the crafting of materials such as hemp rope, planks, and stones is unlocked.

Of course, the tools on the workbench were just for decoration for Zhang Chengdao; he still relied on the crafting button on the panel to synthesize items.

For example, a thatched hut requires 80 units of weeds, 5 planks, and 3 hemp ropes.

Planks are easy to craft. Once you build a [Crafting Table], you can combine ordinary wood. Four units of wood can be combined to make one plank, and five planks will appear in your inventory in just three seconds. It's convenient and quick.

But the hemp rope is where things get complicated.

The synthetic material for hemp rope is ramie.

Such things were indeed quite common in ancient times, after all, ordinary people couldn't afford silk clothing during that period. In an era without cotton, the clothing of the lower classes relied on hemp cloth and ramie cloth, the former being woven from ramie fibers.

In addition, ramie also has certain medicinal value, and its leaves are edible. In ancient times, it was a highly valued economic crop.

Even within the game's mechanics, it's crucial because harvesting ramie has a chance to yield centella asiatica, cattail, and straw grass—all essential and fundamental materials. For instance, centella asiatica and cattail are used to craft basic medicines, while straw grass can be combined to create raincoats, essentially ancient versions of raincoats.

The key problem is that Zhang Chengdao doesn't recognize ramie!

Asking a modern person who can barely distinguish between the five grains to identify ramie... that's really asking too much of him!
And even if you could recognize them, in this freezing weather, with snow knee-deep, how could there possibly be ramie that hasn't withered?

Is this cheat code going to be stuck on a mere rope?!
Zhang Chengdao was utterly helpless.

After wandering around for a while, Zhang Chengdao only collected a pile of withered grass—which could be classified as "weeds" as long as it was thrown into his backpack, and was one of the main materials for building the [thatched hut].

He had gathered 80 units of weeds and 5 units of planks, but he was still at a loss when it came to the 3 hemp ropes. For a time, Zhang Chengdao was very discouraged.

After a while, Zhang Chengdao, who had rubbed dozens more wooden boards, finally thought that if all else failed, he could ask his cheap apprentice to take him to town to buy some hemp rope, which might work. He didn't necessarily have to stubbornly rely on the board to synthesize it. So, he returned to the location of the campfire with some trepidation.

When Zhang Chengdao returned, Chang Ping'an was meditating.

Zhang Chengdao, who had already reached the first level of Qi Refining, could clearly feel the surrounding spiritual energy swirling and drilling into Chang Ping'an's body.

But for some unknown reason, Chang Ping'an's body seemed to be leaking air, unable to retain that spiritual energy at all.

Judging from his appearance, he is still a long way from achieving the goal of inducing Qi into his body.

Perhaps sensing Zhang Chengdao's return, Chang Ping'an stopped meditating, stood up, and respectfully bowed to Zhang Chengdao: "Master."

Zhang Chengdao nodded and asked, "Hmm, how is it? Could it be that you've sensed Qi?"

"Sensing Qi" is a concept mentioned in the "Elementary Qi Refining Book". As the name suggests, it means being able to sense spiritual energy and guide it into the meridians of one's body. Only after repeatedly cleansing the meridians and being able to retain it in the body can it be considered "guiding Qi into the body", and only then can one proceed to "refining Qi".

"I can sense Qi..." Chang Ping'an looked somewhat ashamed. He lowered his head and said, "However, when I meditate, although I can draw in spiritual energy, it is quite different from the feeling described in the book, and I cannot create a vortex of spiritual energy. It seems... it seems that the concentration of spiritual energy here is a bit too low..."

After saying that, he hurriedly added, "Perhaps it is because the disciple's aptitude is too poor and his comprehension is insufficient that he is unable to appreciate the wonders described in the book..." Zhang Chengdao was stunned for a moment, and then he remembered that according to the "Elementary Qi Refining Book", when Qi is normally drawn into the body, the drawn spiritual energy should indeed form a very obvious spiritual energy vortex, thereby reducing the difficulty of drawing Qi and indirectly increasing the probability of drawing Qi into the body.

He himself didn't seem to experience this during his morning cultivation, and his spiritual energy vortex was even weaker than the one Chang Ping'an had just created. However, since he easily drew the energy into his body, he didn't think much of it. Now, hearing Chang Ping'an mention it, according to the book, it seemed that this situation was caused by the low concentration of spiritual energy.

Actually, it makes sense if you think about it. This is just a martial arts cultivation world. The existence of spiritual energy is already quite exaggerated. How could the concentration of spiritual energy be so high?

If the concentration of spiritual energy were sufficient, everyone would have already upgraded and switched from martial arts to immortal cultivation. If people could play with spiritual energy, who would still play with true energy?

But it's too late now...

Let's deal with the rope first!

Zhang Chengdao, obsessed with upgrading his cheat ability, casually comforted him with "The spiritual energy here is indeed insufficient, it's not your fault," before getting down to business: "Disciple, how far is the nearest village or town? I'm short of hemp rope, I'm afraid I'll have to go buy some..."

But before he could finish speaking, he saw his cheap apprentice pull out a bunch of hemp ropes from his bundle.

There were three bundles in total, one bundle was loose, and the other two bundles were neatly packed together.

Although it looks old, it should be hemp rope.

Zhang Chengdao didn't even bother to manage his expression, and couldn't help but show a look of shock.

If he had known he had a cheap apprentice, why was he worrying about it all this time?!
Chang Ping'an explained embarrassedly, "I came to Baishi Mountain to mine the precious minerals on the cliff face, so in addition to the hemp rope, I also brought a copper chisel and a copper hammer..."

"Hmm, hmm... very good, I only need a little hemp rope."

As Zhang Chengdao spoke, he tossed the loose bundle of hemp rope whole into his backpack.

As expected, in the materials required for the [thatched hut], the hemp rope column suddenly changed from 0/3 to 13/3. Such a small pile of hemp rope can actually be counted as 13 units!
Finally, I can build a thatched hut and upgrade my cheat codes!

Zhang Chengdao happily built a thatched hut on the cleared ground next to the campfire, completely forgetting his earlier plan not to build a thatched hut in front of his apprentice.

A strange clanging sound rang out, and in a dozen seconds, a thatched hut appeared on the ground, just like the campfire before, appearing out of thin air, startling Chang Ping'an.

"Master, this is..."

Zhang Chengdao frowned in annoyance, but since he had already made it, he couldn't bear to take it apart immediately. So he deliberately said, "Oh, I was worried that it would snow again, so I built a simple thatched shed to store some odds and ends."

As he spoke, he added, "Don't worry, it's not for you to stay here!"

Chang Ping'an wanted to say that having a thatched hut in the snowy mountains was already a blessing, but glancing at his master's furrowed brows and unfathomable expression, he swallowed his words and asked, "Yes... is there anything else this disciple needs to do?"

"Um……"

Zhang Chengdao originally wanted his cheap apprentice, who had the protagonist template, to focus on his cultivation. However, after looking around at the current simple and harsh living conditions, he decided to have his apprentice gather materials first so that he could build the [thatched house].

We need to find a place to sleep before the sun goes down!
Please add this to your favorites, give it a monthly pass, and keep reading!! I really crave braised pork and chicken legs every day, please, my loyal readers!!! This is so important during the new book period, waaaaaah!!!

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(End of this chapter)