Junior sister, I really need to control you.

Xuanzhen Temple, on the third floor of the Sutra Repository.

Half an hour ago, Prince Mu and his entourage had already left. Mu Xiaoyu was arranged to stay in a relatively intact bedroom in the temple. Before leaving, Li Yinsheng left her two sets of Taoist robes to wear in the temple.

At this moment, he was walking towards the deepest bookshelf on the third floor of the library.

He could teach that Junior Sister Mu her cultivation techniques at any time. As the only person in the Taoist temple with cultivation, the rule that new disciples had to copy scriptures for two or three years to be tested was just a piece of paper to him, and he didn't need to abide by it at all.

Although the purpose of copying scriptures is to enable disciples to understand the alchemical terminology and talismanic script within the cultivation methods through studying the scriptures, but...

Fortunately, the cultivation method he practiced was moderate and balanced, emphasizing a solid foundation and gradual progress. The first level was extremely simple, so simple that no prior knowledge of scriptures was required to cultivate it.

It contains only one set of boxing techniques with twenty-seven movements, used to strengthen vital energy, temper the physical body, and lay a solid foundation for future cultivation.

Therefore, as long as someone teaches you step by step, not only can someone who has never studied the scriptures learn the first level, but even someone who is illiterate can learn it!

Of course, this technique is easy to learn but difficult to master. It only took him two days to learn it, but it took him a full year and a half to progress from the first level to the second level, even with the help of medicines to replenish vital energy.

However, he also took advantage of this period of honing his foundation to make up for his lack of classical studies. During that time, he would read books during his breaks after practicing his skills, making the most of every minute.

Walking up to the bookshelf, Li Yinsheng pulled out a dark blue book. The seal script on the book was ancient and elegant, but the pages were as smooth as new. The cover had only four cloud-shaped seal script characters: "Qingxuan Zhenjing".

When he entered the sect, the Xuanzhen Temple's signature technique, "Xuanzhen Baozhao Xinyin Zhenquan," had already been lost, and "Qingxuan Zhenjing" was already the most advanced technique among the existing ones.

He took the martial arts manual to show Mu Xiaoyu the fist techniques diagrams within. This manual had a total of twelve levels, which he had already memorized word for word.

However, despite his arduous cultivation, he has only reached the fifth level—if he could reach the tenth level, he would be qualified to become the abbot.

……

Outside the meditation room of Xuanzhen Temple.

Mu Xiaoyu had changed out of the gorgeous clothes she had worn when she arrived, and also removed the phoenix-patterned jade pendant from her waist, putting on the same simple Taoist robe as Li Yinsheng.

At this moment, he furtively opened the door of the dining room, then, like a thief with a guilty conscience, bent over and crept into the dining hall, starting to rummage through everything like a big rat.

On the way up the mountain, she had already eaten quite a few snacks in her sedan chair, but unfortunately, she had always been hungry quickly since she was a child, and so she was hungry again now.

Moreover, her father and mother did not allow her to hide snacks in her luggage. Before leaving, they confiscated all the candied fruits, dried meat, and candy she had secretly put in!

She was left hungry in her bedroom with nothing to eat!

After lying in bed for a long time, rubbing her rumbling stomach, Mu Xiaoyu decided to take the risk and sneak out of the bedroom. Ignoring the broken walls and ruins, she tiptoed to this meditation room—

Before she arrived, her father had said that in Taoist temples where immortals cultivate in seclusion, there are usually strict rules and regulations, and one cannot be willful or reckless, otherwise one will easily be punished.

But she was so hungry.

Mu Xiaoyu squatted on the ground, lifted a large porcelain basin, picked up a white steamed bun from it, took a big bite, and looked satisfied with a bit of pride.

"Hehe... These houses all look pretty much the same. Luckily, I could smell the firewood near the door, which is how I recognized this as the meditation room. As expected of me! Hmm... Hmm!"

Mu Xiaoyu's expression suddenly changed, and she reached out and pounded her chest hard, her delicate face turning red.

"Are you choking? Here, have some water." A ladle of water was handed to Mu Xiaoyu from her left.

Mu Xiaoyu quickly grabbed the water ladle in front of her, tilted her head back, and drank deeply. After a long while, she put down the ladle, let out a long breath, and panted, subconsciously looking in the direction from which the ladle had been handed: "Thank you..."

The rest of her words caught in her throat. Mu Xiaoyu's breath hitched, and her face turned deathly pale—before her stood a face with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, but no expression.

It was clearly a very handsome face, but at this moment it was more frightening than a demon or monster in her eyes.

"Senior...Senior Brother?" Mu Xiaoyu gripped the steamed bun tightly with both hands, revealing a smile that looked more like a grimace.

She wasn't sure if sneaking out of her bedroom in the temple would be considered a violation of the precepts, but sneaking into the dining hall to steal food was definitely a violation of the precepts.

Even in her own home, servants who broke into the meditation room to steal things would be whipped, let alone in the temple!

Mu Xiaoyu trembled.

"Junior sister does indeed have a keen sense of smell. To have such a sense of smell without having cultivated is quite a talent. It's a pity that she doesn't quite have the potential yet." Li Yinsheng nodded, his tone completely flat.

"Junior sister, do you know that as long as a cultivator does not become a True Person, he is still a mortal with a physical body, so he still needs to eat. It's just a matter of how much he eats. One of the precepts of Xuanzhen Temple is called 'Do not eat at non-periods,' which means that one can only eat at specific times and should not eat outside of those times."

At this point, Li Yinsheng finally smiled slightly: "Therefore, disciples in the temple who sneak into the dining room to steal food outside of mealtimes will be punished."

"Punishment..." Mu Xiaoyu began to tremble.

"According to the rules, anyone who enters the dining room to steal food at unauthorized times will be whipped on the palm of their hand fifty times. For a first offense, the number of whippings can be reduced by ten, so only forty whippings are required."

Li Yinsheng stood up, his tall figure blocking the sunlight and casting a huge shadow that enveloped the shivering Mu Xiaoyu: "Junior sister, do you have any pain-relieving and bruise-reducing ointment in your luggage?"

Mu Xiaoyu was almost in tears: "No..."

"Then your hand might hurt for ten days to half a month," Li Yinsheng said.

"Ugh..." Mu Xiaoyu, who was squatting on the ground, stared blankly with her mouth slightly open, her eyes filled with despair.

Li Yinsheng felt a pang of conscience for scaring the child.

He didn't expect that, just after leaving the library, he hadn't even taken two steps when he found the door to the meditation room open.

He initially thought he had forgotten to close the door, but upon closer inspection, he realized that it was the newly arrived Junior Sister Mu who was sneaking a bite inside.

He didn't really intend to slap Mu Xiaoyu's hand. Although the sect rules and regulations were real, Xuanzhen Temple was in its current state, so there was no need to follow the old rules word for word.

It is said that this rule was established because the disciples who came to the dining hall to steal food often found the cold rice and dishes unpalatable and wanted to use fire magic to heat them up.

The problem is that those with high cultivation levels eat and drink less, so those who need to steal food are mostly young disciples with low cultivation levels and less sophisticated magic.

If this happens a few more times, it won't be uncommon for the spell to go out of control and set the meditation room on fire.

Even if you don't eat in the dining room, it's still not allowed, because there have been cases where people ate cold food in their bedrooms and tried to heat it up, but accidentally set the bedroom on fire.

Now, only his uncle, himself, and his junior sister Mu remain in the entire Taoist temple. It's unlikely that the meditation room was burned down, so this precept is naturally not applicable under these circumstances.

The main reason he told Mu Xiaoyu all this was naturally because of the task that appeared on the scroll.

"Ahem, although the rules are strict, as the saying goes, rules are rigid, but people are flexible."

Li Yinsheng coughed lightly: "If Junior Sister can demonstrate her ambition and sincerity in cultivation, I might be willing to make an exception..."

Li Yinsheng's words brought Mu Xiaoyu back to her senses, and a spark of hope ignited in her despairing eyes.

"Senior brother! You're such a good person! Sincerity, sincerity... Oh! I understand!"

She quickly stood up, holding the steamed bun in her mouth, and groped around at her waist with her free hands. She pulled out a purse with gold tassels, handed it to Li Yinsheng, and mumbled something while still holding the steamed bun in her mouth.

"I...I have money, how much do you want, senior brother..."

Li Yinsheng stared in disbelief, remaining silent for a long time before delivering a sharp rap on Mu Xiaoyu's head with his other hand, producing a deep, resonant sound like striking a wooden fish.

"You're using this to test your senior brother!" Li Yinsheng looked down at Mu Xiaoyu, who was squatting on the ground with her hands covering her head and tears in her eyes.

I initially thought she was a cute and naive junior sister, but now it seems she's quite cunning.

"Do you think I'm going to use your weaknesses to ask for something in return?" Li Yinsheng said with a dark face.

"Punishment is still necessary, but I feel that whipping your hand with a rattan cane is too harsh, and besides teaching you a lesson, it doesn't benefit your cultivation. How about we change it to a punishment that's more beneficial to your cultivation? Junior Sister, would you like to change it?"

Mu Xiaoyu, who was squatting on the ground with tears in her eyes, looked up at Li Yinsheng and seemed to understand something. She spoke cautiously.

"Then... does that mean if I change the punishment to one that's beneficial to my cultivation, I won't have to have my palm slapped?"

"Not bad." Li Yinsheng nodded.

Mu Xiaoyu stood up, nervously asking, "Then... how does Senior Brother intend to punish me?"

"Don't worry, the new punishment is much gentler than slapping your hand. It won't hurt or harm you; in fact, it'll do you good."

Li Yinsheng comforted him, "Clean up the things you messed up, then come out with me. Oh, and finish that steamed bun too, don't waste food."

Looking at the handsome, sunny smiling face in front of her, Mu Xiaoyu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief—this senior brother is really a good person.

……

The open space outside the meditation room.

Mu Xiaoyu stood somewhat awkwardly in front of Li Yinsheng: "Senior brother? How exactly will the punishment be?"

"The precepts in the temple are either to prevent disciples from falling into demonic ways, or to enable them to concentrate on their cultivation. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to replace punishment with cultivation, which can be considered in line with the original intention of the precepts."

Li Yinsheng took out the book "Qingxuan True Scripture": "As long as Junior Sister can master the basics of this Qingxuan True Scripture today, the punishment will be waived."

"Huh? Cultivation?" Mu Xiaoyu slumped down.

"I understand. It seems that compared to cultivation, Junior Sister prefers having her palm slapped." Li Yinsheng nodded and was about to put the book away.

"I love cultivation!" Mu Xiaoyu quickly took the book. "I love cultivation the most!"

Cultivation may be tiring, but it's still better than getting your hand slapped, right?

Moreover, in the stories about immortals cultivating themselves, they just sit cross-legged on a futon, not like the martial arts masters who guard the house. Apart from their legs going numb easily, they shouldn't be too tired, right?

Mu Xiaoyu thought to herself.

"Not bad, Junior Sister has such enthusiasm and commendable ambition," Li Yinsheng nodded in satisfaction. "Come, open to the first page of the Qingxuan True Scripture, and I'll explain it to you."

"The first level of this technique consists of a set of fist techniques, a set of stance training, and a breathing exercise. Practicing all three together can strengthen one's vital energy and refine one's blood and qi. Once the physical body has a solid foundation, cultivating magical power will come naturally..."

Listening to Li Yinsheng's explanation and looking at the boxing manual with its fluid movements on the pages in her hand, Mu Xiaoyu's eyes widened.

……

For the next three hours, Li Yinsheng's voice, though not loud, was incredibly clear and never stopped.

"Too soft! Although the first level of the Qingxuan True Scripture's fist techniques aren't meant for physical training or combat, your limp form is useless for that! Get serious!"

"No! You use your waist to push the fist out, not just your arm to punch forward. Also, your arm should be straight and steady when you punch! Do it again!"

"Alright, no need to practice the boxing for now... I didn't tell you to sit down and rest. After practicing the boxing, your blood and energy are surging. It's time to use stance training and breathing exercises to gather your blood and energy and strengthen your internal energy. Don't sit on the ground anymore, get up and practice stance training! Breathe! When I tell you to exhale, exhale; when I tell you to inhale, inhale. Breathing exercises are simple, but you can't afford to be distracted."

"Not bad, you're finally getting the hang of it. No need for stance training anymore... I didn't tell you to rest! Time to continue practicing your boxing. This time, just like when you were practicing stance training, maintain the same breathing technique..."

"No!..." "Try again!..." "Again..."

"Junior sister, you're exhausted, aren't you? That's normal, you've been practicing for over an hour. Stop practicing for now, here, take this pill first... How does it feel, do you feel energetic again?"

"This pill is called the 'Nourishing Essence Pill.' Although it's not very useful for cultivators, it's a top-grade tonic for mortals. Just one pill can restore seventy to eighty percent of one's strength without overdrawing the body. When I was practicing the first level, I had to take several pills every day. The only minor drawback of this pill is that it can only restore strength and cannot eliminate fatigue and soreness..."

"Hey, junior sister, why are you running to the bedroom? I didn't give you this pill so you could go back and rest. Now that your strength has recovered, keep practicing! Standing meditation! Breathing exercises!"

"Out of energy again? No problem, just take another Nourishing Essence Pill. There's plenty of pills!"

The sun has already set in the west, and the bright moon shines brightly.

Under the moonlight, Mu Xiaoyu's eyes went from being serious at the beginning to being dazed later, and then to being empty now, as if she had undergone great torment in the short three or four hours.

Indeed, that was pretty much the case. Her limbs started to ache in less than half an hour, and she had a feeling of throbbing pain in her lungs with every breath.

But because Li Yinsheng would give her a "Nourishing Essence Pill" every now and then, she has managed to keep it up until now.

The problem is that although I can regain my strength and continue training after taking the pills each time, the soreness and fatigue will not subside and will continue to accumulate!

To be honest, she had long since thought that being whipped on the palm a couple of times with a rattan cane was no big deal. After all, whipping the palm only hurts the palm. In her current state, she would definitely feel pain all over her body when she woke up tomorrow.

But when she rubbed her aching thighs and said dejectedly to Li Yinsheng that she'd rather have her hand slapped, Li Yinsheng dismissed her thoughts with just one sentence—

"Sure, but you need to know, junior sister, even if you've practiced for almost four hours, as long as you haven't mastered the basics, you won't get one less time to slap your palm. Forty times, no discounts."

Stunned, Mu Xiaoyu could only raise her hand to brush away the long hair stuck to her forehead with sweat, and with her leaden limbs, she once again swung her fist at the air.

Moreover, this time her punches were clearly focused, as if there was an invisible target standing in front of her, and she gritted her teeth as she threw punch after punch, her clear eyes flashing with ferocity.

Li Yinsheng, on the other hand, focused intently on Mu Xiaoyu's every move, providing precise corrections at any time, or thoughtfully offering her a Qi-nourishing pill when she was exhausted.

He spent two days learning the first level of the Qingxuan True Scripture on his own, without any guidance.

However, if you want to get the highest reward, you have to get your junior sister to master the Qingxuan True Scripture within a day.

Fortunately, with ample nourishing pills and his guidance, Li Yinsheng felt that even if Junior Sister Mu lacked innate talent, it shouldn't be difficult for her to master the basics in a day.

As he expected, when the moon rose to its zenith, Mu Xiaoyu, who had been practicing to the point of being in a daze but was still fiercely punching at an unseen target, suddenly paused.

Immediately afterwards, a series of subtle sounds emanated from her spine, from her lumbar sacrum to the back of her neck, as if a string of jade bells had suddenly been rang, the delicate and crisp sounds continuing incessantly.

Li Yinsheng's eyes lit up—the first level of the Qingxuan True Scripture was complete!

He subconsciously opened the scroll and looked at the golden characters on it—the last line, "[Learn the technique within one day, reward with thirty years of cultivation]", suddenly lit up.

Before he could let Mu Xiaoyu stop and rest, everything went black and the world spun around him.

Once his vision cleared again and the feeling of being grounded returned, Li Yinsheng looked around. It seemed as if he had directly entered the landscape within the painting, standing on the white jade platform in the center of the lake.

The full moon hangs in the sky, its light clear and bright. Ripples spread across the lake, and lotus flowers and leaves sway and grow in the moonlight.

Everything was exactly the same as in the painting, except that golden characters appeared on the white jade platform beneath his feet.

The Lord of the Grotto-Heaven has mastered the cultivation technique in a single day, perfectly achieving his cultivation goals! This reward is thirty years of cultivation; please cultivate and claim it yourself.

Li Yinsheng stood there for a long time, opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, closed it again, and finally looked up at the sky, his voice soaring into the heavens.

"No way! What does this mean? Thirty years of cultivation! Am I supposed to cultivate by myself? Right here? For thirty years?! What kind of reward is this?! Where am I?!"

Li Yinsheng's shouts echoed across the calm lake, lingering for a long time.