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

Chapter 64 Two Laborers
30 coins is indeed a lot for two children.

The brother and sister were named Anche Huaishan and Anche Hexiang.

Their father was a medicinal herb merchant who died in an accident while trading years ago. Not long after, their mother also passed away from illness, and the two siblings were raised almost entirely on the charity of others.

Fortunately, Anche Huaishan came from a family with a long tradition of learning medicine and knew how to identify medicinal herbs and process them. This allowed him to work at Fusheng Pharmacy in the county, where he could earn two qian (a unit of weight) per month.

My younger sister, Anche Hexiang, is still too young and can only help out. She doesn't get paid, but the herb garden provides them with a meal each, which is enough for them to make ends meet.

Anche is a surname of the Mohe people, and they are registered as regular households. Daxiao is a state established by the Mohe people, and all Mohe people are registered as regular households. Although the poll tax and tax of regular households are equivalent to those of households subject to corvée labor, they are exempt from corvée labor, thus saving a large amount of money on exemption from corvée labor.

Therefore, the brother and sister did not pay much tax each year, as they could afford it by working in the pharmacy.

Even so, the daily wage of 30 coins far exceeded the wages paid by the pharmacy. Upon hearing this, Anche Huaishan was overjoyed and knelt down to kowtow repeatedly.

"Thank you so much for your grace, Immortal Lord! Thank you so much for your grace, Immortal Lord!"

Zhang Chengdao sighed, said nothing, but waved his hand at Xu Ying and said helplessly, "Why don't you explain the rules to them and let them take charge of the herb garden first?"

He was truly at his wit's end.

Kneeling, an outdated form of etiquette, represents looking down upon others, superiors addressing inferiors, and the noble over the lowly. Ultimately, it is a form of judgment by those in power over those in power, a means for slave owners to establish authority over their slaves, and a manifestation of the right to redistribute resources in a society of scarcity. It is neither reasonable nor fair.

But if I explain it to Anche's two children, they won't understand. It's like being forced to read Lu Xun during my school days; I always skimmed through it without really understanding it, and only much later, when I looked back, did I suddenly realize how insightful it was.

Therefore, it's impossible to explain profound principles now. We can only set some basic rules and gradually influence our two disciples and the people in the sect, thus rebuilding their self-esteem.

Even if they are two temporary workers, they are the same kind of people.

After Xu Ying left with the two children, they suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves in the distance.

After a while, a minor official came up from the foot of the mountain. He was wearing a black robe in the style of the Military Affairs Commissioner, and his appearance was somewhat familiar.

"Master Zhang!"

The clerk shouted loudly, pulled on the reins, and slowed the horse down.

"Uu——"

A few breaths later, the minor official reined in his horse and stopped in front of the thatched cottage.

He then dismounted, carefully took out a letter from his robes, held it high above his head, and respectfully presented it to Zhang Chengdao, saying, "Immortal Zhang, the Martial Envoy has arrived in Feihu County and has specially sent me to deliver this letter. If you are free tomorrow, the Martial Envoy will personally visit the White Stone Immortal Sect to determine your rank!"

Zhang Chengdao then remembered that it had been over a month, and he had promised to invite a Grandmaster-level martial artist to determine his rank; it was indeed time for them to come. "Tomorrow? What time is tomorrow?"

The minor official bowed respectfully and said, "That depends on when you, Immortal Zhang, will have some free time!"

After thinking for a moment, considering that he didn't want to miss the excitement of the martial arts tournament these few days, Zhang Chengdao replied, "Tomorrow morning then!"

The clerk readily nodded: "Very well, I will report back to the Military Commissioner immediately. I will definitely arrive at your sect before 11:00 AM tomorrow!"

After agreeing on a time, the clerk hurriedly left.

Zhang Chengdao glanced at the sun, then at the time remaining before his breakthrough, gritted his teeth, and returned to his room.

There are still 11 hours left. If I start cultivating now and don't sleep all night, I might actually be able to break through to the sixth level of Foundation Establishment!
The reason I say "possibly" is because spiritual practice is really hard to stick to.

If it weren't for the fact that during cultivation, controlling the absorbed spiritual energy to circulate and impact the acupoints within his body felt like playing a combination of Zuma, Bubble Bobble, and Snake, he really wouldn't have been able to persevere!

Even so, who can play Snake continuously for more than ten hours straight?!
Regardless, the ranking will be determined tomorrow. Even if the cultivation system can crush the cultivation system, Zhang Chengdao is not confident that he can defeat any grandmaster. Real combat and cultivation are two different things, and he really has no concept of the strength of high-ranking martial artists in this martial arts cultivation world!

Even if we extrapolate based on the level of my cheap apprentice Chang Ping'an, who knows if a Qi Refining stage cultivator can defeat a sixth-grade martial artist, can a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator defeat a second-grade grandmaster?
Staying up all night to break through to the sixth level of Foundation Establishment will at least increase my chances of winning...

Originally, it would have taken Zhang Chengdao 84 hours to break through from the fifth to the sixth level of Foundation Establishment—even if he didn't sleep or eat or drink, it would still take four days to break through!

However, after using the [Fairy Dew], it only takes about fifty hours, which is only two days.

These days, Zhang Chengdao has been collecting materials, cultivating various seedlings from the mall, and modifying the layout and buildings of the main peaks, which has significantly reduced his cultivation time.

Of course, the compression was voluntary; beating ashes was much more interesting than cultivation.

Therefore, during this period, he only broke through to the fifth level of Foundation Establishment. Once he breaks through to the sixth level, the next cultivation manual he can refer to is the "Advanced Foundation Establishment Manual." However, once he breaks through to the ninth level of Foundation Establishment and transcends the tribulation to reach the Core Formation stage, there will be no more cultivation manuals to refer to. This is one of the reasons why Zhang Chengdao is not in a hurry to cultivate.

In the evening, seeing that Zhang Chengdao was meditating, Xu Ying took over the task of feeding everyone in the sect.

This had happened before. The sect leader was still busy cleaning up dust at mealtimes... cough, busy. Chang Ping'an and the others would take food from the warehouse and cook for themselves. Although they didn't dare to disturb Zhang Chengdao, they would always leave a meal for him.

Over such a long period of time, the sect has accumulated a considerable amount of grain and meat. The several hundred plots of farmland on Linggeng Peak are used to grow various crops, including wheat, rice, pumpkins, and radishes. After each harvest, most of the produce is sold in the market, while a small portion is stored in the sect's warehouse for unforeseen needs.

Fortunately, there was a newly upgraded kitchen in the courtyard of the thatched cottage, which was fully equipped with all kinds of kitchen utensils. The group got used to using the stove in the kitchen to cook.

Murong Ruyan couldn't cook, so she could only help out by peeling the pumpkin, cutting it into small pieces, and placing them on a bamboo mat for later use...

Chang Ping'an, the only one skilled in cooking, said he was going to make pumpkin porridge. This was a dish he had learned after the others had eaten the pumpkin porridge that Zhang Chengdao had fed them... Before this, none of the three had ever seen a "pumpkin"!
However, today was a little different from the past, because the new Anche siblings volunteered, especially the twelve-year-old sister, who confidently said that she used to cook for ten or so people every day when she worked in the county's pharmacy!
(End of this chapter)