Gou Zai Qingluo Cave Heaven Cultivation

This Golden Spirit Honey is no ordinary item; it was a special spirit candy that Little Fatty's family bought for him. Zhou Baoqing had tried it once before, and although it wasn't as good as the spirit cake made by Sister Lian, it was much more nourishing than the Azure Water Spirit Egg.

In the past, when I was young and ignorant, I could shamelessly take advantage of others. Now, I can't accept something for nothing, and I don't want Zhou Changping's family to find out and make me unhappy.

Children's friendships are pure, while adults' are much more complicated.

Therefore, Zhou Baoqing did not answer, but instead asked, "How confident are you about the small test next month?"

Zhou Changping's smile froze instantly, his round face scrunching into a bitter expression.

"You annoying jerk, why did you have to bring that up!"

He muttered, "You know how badly I've learned. Even if the symbols in the textbook recognize me, I don't recognize them!"

Zhou Baoqing patted him on the shoulder, acting like a good older brother: "Don't panic. I've had some epiphanies while I was recuperating these past few days. I'll give you extra lessons later and make sure you escape the 'bottom' evaluation."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Changping was taken aback at first, then burst into loud laughter without any attempt to hide his laughter.

"You? Hahaha, come on!"

The chubby boy laughed so hard he almost fell over, his belly jiggling. "Your grades are worse than mine, you came in last place twice in a row, and you're giving me tutoring? That's outrageous!"

Zhou Baoqing wasn't annoyed. He put his hands behind his back, slightly raised his chin, and made a mysterious and inscrutable appearance.

"How can a sparrow know the ambition of a swan? I didn't want to learn before, I just did it half-heartedly. But if I wanted to learn, I could easily master it with a little effort."

"Goose, goose, goose!"

Zhou Changping winked and looked incredulous, his voice, which was going through puberty, chuckled like a goose.

The two argued for a while.

Zhou Changping added, "Speaking of which, during the three days you were unconscious, Zhou Xuezheng asked you about it twice."

Zhou Baoqing paused for a moment.

The image of Zhou Xuezheng and Zhou Yanqing flashed through his mind.

This person is both the academic director and the head of the school, responsible for maintaining school rules and examining students' academic progress, similar to a homeroom teacher in my previous life, and also teaches.

He was around fifty years old, always wearing a blue cloth robe. When lecturing, he held a ruler in one hand and put the other behind his back, and he rarely smiled.

Given his previous poor grades, Zhou Xuezheng's question was probably not out of consideration for him, but rather to persuade him to drop out of school.

Hiss, a sense of urgency arises, like a thorn in my back.

"Who else mentioned me?"

"Master Wenxi once said that if you don't go back soon, he'll be short of weeders in his herb garden."

"..."

"Master Gan also said that his talisman-making desk was missing someone to grind ink."

"..."

"Oh right, Master Li, the weapon refiner, said his blast furnace is missing a bellows."

Zhou Baoqing's lips twitched.

"Zhou Changping," he said, somewhat displeased, "are you sure these teachers are reciting my name, and not some donkey from the clan school?"

"Hehe, how would I know?"

Zhou Changping scratched the back of his head. "Anyway, everyone keeps mentioning 'Zhou Baoqing' on their lips."

Zhou Baoqing sighed deeply.

Famous, indeed famous, but as for his reputation... well, that's hard to say.

As they walked and talked, he asked about the spirit fish fry he had been longing for. Unexpectedly, Zhou Changping said that even the cheapest semi-spirit fish fry, the green-skinned fish, cost 120 spirit crystals each. If you include fish food, the cost would be at least 200 spirit crystals. The allowance he received from his family was enough to eat lunch for half a month. Even if he went hungry every day, it wouldn't be enough to cover the cost of the fish fry. He could only sigh repeatedly.

The grand fish-raising project in the cave collapsed due to a lack of funds at the outset.

We'll have to leave that aside for now.

People come and go on the bridge.

The water murmured beneath the bridge.

After crossing the bridge, the water flow changes direction, and a wide pool of water suddenly comes into view.

Mirror Pool.

All around were dark blue old rocks, with vines hanging from the rocks to the water's surface, their surface rippling as the water flowed, creating fine wrinkles.

A jade-green islet juts out from the center of the pool, upon which stands a high-roofed academy, surrounded by water on three sides and connected to the shore on one side.

Connecting to the shore is a stone bridge, said to be a ritual implement made by the clan school. Seven water-stabilizing beads are embedded in the bottom of the bridge, so no matter how high the water level rises, it will not overflow the bridge surface.

Zhou Baoqing looked into the water and saw seven water-stabilizing beads shining brightly, exuding an ethereal aura.

It's so enviable, I wish I could take it all to my own little world.

Looking further ahead, there is a main hall in the center, with green tiles and white walls, and the plaque above it bears the three characters "Qingjin Hall" in a simple and ancient style.

In the East Courtyard, at the alchemy platform, a furnace of green flames burned day and night, emitting a faint medicinal fragrance.

Zhou Baoqing slowed his pace.

For the first time, he saw all of this with such clear and lucid eyes.

The feelings that welled up in my heart were quite different from what I remembered.

In Zhou Baoqing's childlike eyes, the Zhou clan school was nothing more than a place where he was punished every day. The teachers were rigid, the lessons were tedious, and it was like a cage with no fun at all.

Of the twelve clans in the Zhonghu water system, the Zhou clan has been able to stand firm in Qinglin Bay for three hundred years, not because any generation produced a cultivator with extraordinary talent.

Instead, it was the patriarch Zhou Ziyuan who used water-based refining techniques to create elixirs and establish his foundation.

Over the past three hundred years, the main lineage has flourished, with numerous branches scattered like stars across the various bays of the central and southern branches of the lake, passing down the art of refining elixirs through water from generation to generation.

Clan schools are an important place for this inheritance.

Outside the Qingjin Hall, groups of students gathered at the foot of the steps, engaged in lively discussions.

Upon seeing Zhou Baoqing approaching, everyone spontaneously dispersed slightly.

No one made any sarcastic remarks, but the avoidance in their eyes clearly showed that they regarded him as a troublemaker.

Only Wang Gou'er in the crowd saw him and gave a heavy, cold snort.

Before Zhou Baoqing could say anything, Zhou Changping, who was standing next to him, couldn't stand it anymore.

The chubby boy took a deep breath and responded with a loud, cold snort in Wang Gou'er's direction.

Seeing this, Wang Gou'er's eyes reddened again, and he became fierce, desperately letting out a loud groan.

For a moment, "humming" sounds rose and fell.

Although it was very unkind, Zhou Baoqing couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of the squealing piglets in the sty.

After humming for a while, perhaps finding it too childish, Wang Gou'er's face darkened, and he turned and left.

Zhou Changping turned around, beaming like a victorious rooster, and declared, "The victor is none other than this Fighting Immortal!"

Zhou Baoqing gave a thumbs-up: "Great!"

"Thump."

A long, drawn-out sound of a wooden fish drum rang out.

The students immediately fell silent and filed in, taking their seats at their respective desks in the hall.

The school was filled with a faint scent of pine soot and ink, and the blue brick floor exuded a slight coolness of spring.

Zhou Baoqing walked to his seat, which was in the last row by the window—clearly the main seat.

Then he put down the book box and arranged the paper and pens one by one.

A short while later, Zhou Xuezheng walked onto the podium with his hands behind his back.

He wore straw sandals and a blue cloth robe with a water ripple pattern painted on it, which was the clan emblem of the Zhou family.

"This morning, we'll be telling stories."

He stood with his hands behind his back, and as the hem of his green robe moved, ripples spread across the water.

"what?"

A suppressed sigh came from the audience.

Zhou Baoqing took out a copy of "The Record of Ancient Immortals" from his book box.

The cover was curled at the corners and had several water stains, traces left from when I used to doze off on the table and drool.

Opening to a random page, Volume Three, "Nuwa Mending the Sky," there are color pages where the sacred Nuwa has been altered into a body-refining cultivator with "big muscles."

His lips twitched involuntarily.

The Records of Ancient Immortals tells the tales of ancient immortals, compiled by scholars throughout history. It gathers stories of gods and extraordinary people, serving both to enlighten the reader and to cultivate their desire to follow the Dao.

This was a course that Zhou Baoqing had always been least interested in.

When telling stories, there's no testing of talismans or formations, and no daily assessments; it's just a casual, perfunctory affair.

Looking around, everyone else seemed indifferent.