Wild Dogs

Behind the Dan Hall was a row of wooden houses. As soon as Senior Brother Chen landed, a short, stout middle-aged man ran out.

"Senior Brother Chen, I was wondering why there were magpies chirping all day. It turns out it's because Senior Brother Chen has graced us with his presence."

The short, stout middle-aged man greeted them with a fawning expression.

"Alright, Chief Zhou, I've brought someone for you."

As he spoke, Senior Brother Chen pushed Yang Fan forward.

"Your menial service team is short-handed, so Uncle Wang from the menial service hall asked him to come over."

"I already asked him before he came; he does know a bit about medicinal herbs. You can make the arrangements."

"Now that you've come to the Pill Hall, just focus on your work. The Pill Hall will not treat you unfairly."

Senior Brother Chen smiled and nodded at Yang Fan before gracefully departing.

"Respectfully seeing off my senior brother!"

Zhou Bantou bowed respectfully in the direction where Uncle Cheng had gone.

After Senior Brother Chen left, Head Squad Leader Zhou straightened his back and looked at Yang Fan coldly.

"Follow me!"

Zhou, the head of the squad, led Yang Fan to a fairly spacious wooden house. Zhou sat down in a grand chair and looked at Yang Fan with a cold gaze.

"What's your name?"

"Yang Fan!"

How old are you this year?

.......

After asking about Yang Fan's basic information, Zhou Bantou nodded.

"Now that you've become a handyman, you have to follow my instructions. There are several vacancies in our handyman platoon recently."

"The herb field needs someone to grow herbs, and the front hall needs a servant to deliver medicine..."

As Zhou, the squad leader, spoke, he straightened up and leaned closer.

He chuckled, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

"Tell me, which job do you want to do?"

Yang Fan was immediately overjoyed.

"Chief Zhou, I want to grow medicinal herbs."

"Growing medicinal herbs is great. Although tending to the herbs every day is hard work, you don't have to worry about life or death."

Zhou, the foreman, stared at Yang Fan with a smile and reached out his hand.

"Foreman, what's this...?"

Yang Fan looked at Zhou Bantou blankly.

"Don't you understand? Didn't your family tell you not to come empty-handed? You didn't even prepare a gift."

"When I came up the mountain, I was just a beggar with nothing."

Yang Fan lowered his head.

He had already given all the medicinal herbs he had to the old man surnamed Wang, so he had nothing left to give to this Zhou Ban Tou.

"Really not?"

Zhou Bantou was somewhat skeptical, but Yang Fan simply shook his head.

"Since you have nothing, starting today, you will go to the front hall and serve those immortals in refining pills. After they finish refining the pills, clean the alchemy furnace thoroughly."

Seeing that he couldn't squeeze anything out of Yang Fan, Zhou Bantou took Yang Fan directly to the front hall.

Upon hearing that it was the front hall, Yang Fan's heart skipped a beat.

He remembered that when he went up the mountain, his senior brother Chen had said that a servant had been killed by someone with a single palm strike because he delivered the wrong medicinal herbs.

That place is far too dangerous.

"Zhou, can I go farm? I've been doing farm work since I was a child..."

"Stop talking nonsense, just go when I tell you to!"

Zhou, the squad leader, glared at him with a fierce look in his eyes.

He then tossed Yang Fan a waist tag and two booklets.

"This waist tag will be your pass for entering and leaving the Pill Hall. The booklet contains the rules of the Pill Hall and Qingyun Temple."

"The other booklet contains some fire-making techniques. Learn them carefully, and be careful not to burn the immortal's elixir."

"There are plenty of empty wooden houses over there. Pick one yourself and wait at the front hall first thing tomorrow morning."

After saying that, Zhou Ban Tou closed his eyes and lazily waved his hand, signaling Yang Fan to leave.

Left with no other choice, Yang Fan could only take these things and leave the wooden house.

After Yang Fan left, Zhou Bantou opened his eyes and spat.

"Pah! Where did this beggar come from? He won't even give a small gift, yet he expects a cushy job? Dream on!"

After leaving the wooden house, Yang Fan looked at the two rows of wooden houses and finally chose the one in the far corner.

"Creak!"

Pushing open the door, a cloud of dust billowed out.

It seems this wooden house has been uninhabited for a long time.

The cabin wasn't big; it contained only a bed, a table, and a chair.

There wasn't even any bedding; it looked completely empty.

Fortunately, although it was winter, once inside Qingyun Temple, it felt like spring all year round.

Yang Fan sat in the chair and carefully released Xiao Hei from his arms.

Although it looks rather shabby, it's still much better than the old woodshed.

Therefore, Xiao Hei ran around happily.

After looking around to make sure no one was there, Yang Fan took out the small cauldron, took out the last steamed bun, and shared it with his dog.

Although the journey was arduous, at least we have now entered Qingyun Temple.

But when he thought of what the old Taoist priest had said, Yang Fan couldn't help but touch his stomach.

"Is what the old Taoist priest said true? Could there really be Gu worms crawling out of my stomach?"

The old Taoist gave him a month, but he wasn't even a formal disciple of Qingyun Temple yet; he was just a lowly servant.

"How can we get that jade pendant and find that wooden sword?"

More importantly, even if he finds those things, will the old Taoist really let him go?

After thinking for a long time, Yang Fan still had no clue.

He could only open the two booklets that Zhou Ban Tou had given him.

Let's check the situation at Qingyun Temple first.

He frowned after just one glance.

In good years, he also attended a private school for a few years and learned some characters.

The booklet was clearly handwritten; the characters were crooked and illegible, and it took Yang Fan a great deal of effort to barely make out the words.

The first booklet contained some rules about Qingyun Temple, including which places you could go and which places you couldn't go.

After reading it once, Yang Fan had a basic understanding of Qingyun Temple.

Qingyun Temple is divided into five peaks: Red Lotus Peak, Green Bamboo Peak, Black Jade Peak, Red Sun Peak, and Purple Luo Peak.

Red Lotus Peak is the main peak where all female cultivators reside. The rules are very strict, and male disciples are not allowed to go up the mountain easily.

Green Bamboo Peak is where male cultivators live, and there are far fewer rules there.

Chiyang Peak is the mountain where the Pill Hall is located, while Moyu Peak is the main peak where the sect's Scripture Pavilion is located.

Whenever the sect has a mission, they go to Moyu Peak.

As for Zilu Peak, it is a mountain where the sect's elders and sect leader reside.

Besides these five peaks, Qingyun Temple also has some miscellaneous places such as talisman halls and mission halls.

Yang Fan didn't care about other places; he searched around impatiently.

We finally found the location of the Sword Tomb.

"There is a sword mound in Sword Forging Valley, where the sect's sword cultivators go to select weapons."

Yang Fan's heart skipped a beat.

I finally know where the Sword Tomb is.

Although we are still far from finding the wooden sword, we now know the location of the sword tomb, which at least gives us a clue.

However, that place was obviously not easy to go to, so Yang Fan could only focus his attention on Red Lotus Peak for the time being.

"The female cultivators are all on Red Lotus Peak, so I suppose the eldest daughter of the Xu family is there."

Yang Fan gave a wry smile.

Honglian Peak has many rules, making it difficult for even men to climb the mountain.

Getting close to Xu Longyue and obtaining the jade pendant would be even more difficult than climbing to the sky.

"Forget it, let's just take it one step at a time. At worst, we can explain the situation to that old Taoist priest in a month."

"I'm already inside Qingyun Temple, he can't possibly kill me, can he?"

After putting down the booklet, Yang Fan started reading another booklet.

The other booklet was also handwritten, but the handwriting was much neater. However, judging from the dirty cover, this booklet must have been used by many people.

[Tips on starting a fire]

After glancing at the words on the cover, Yang Fan knew that this thing had nothing to do with immortals.

Sure enough, after opening the contents, Yang Fan felt helpless.

This booklet describes how the alchemist's apprentice should fan the flames and tend the fire when the immortals are refining elixirs.

"No wonder it's called 'Fire-Making Tips,' it's all about how to start a fire and what to be careful about."

Yang Fan glanced at it briefly, then put the booklet away in disappointment.

Even though he had become a menial servant, Yang Fan still hoped that there might be some immortal techniques in the booklet.

But now it seems that it's impossible to get any immortal techniques from the servants.

"That's true. According to what Senior Brother Mo Wen said, I have a hidden spiritual root, and my cultivation speed is extremely slow, which is equivalent to a useless spiritual root."

Although he didn't know much about spiritual roots, Yang Fan had a general idea that spiritual roots probably meant aptitude.

My own qualifications are probably not very good.

Just as Yang Fan was pondering, a shout came from outside the door.

"Yang Fan, come with me. I'll take you to the front hall. We'll be helping out at the front tomorrow, so don't get lost."

Yang Fan hurriedly put away the small cauldron, responded, and went out.

Outside the door, Zhou, the foreman, nodded his chin at him, signaling Yang Fan to follow.

As they walked, Zhou, the squad leader, gave him instructions.

"From now on, you'll go help out in the main hall every morning. Don't sleep in. If you're late one day, I won't let you off the hook!"

Zhou Bantou led Yang Fan to the front hall.

The front hall of the Dan Hall is quite spacious.

At the very center was a two-person-high alchemy furnace, and on both sides of the hall were two rows of wooden shelves filled with various medicinal herbs.

"This is where our Pill Refining Hall is located. Under normal circumstances, it is our Pill Refining Hall's Grandmaster Qingyang who refines pills here."

"Of course, other grandmasters occasionally come here as well."

As Zhou Bantou was showing Yang Fan the alchemy furnace, a man with dark circles under his eyes and a pockmarked face ran over from the side.

"Zhou, the squad leader."

The servant bowed and scraped to Zhou Ban.

"Wang Mazi, aren't you short-handed? I've brought someone over for you."

Zhou Bantou pointed at Yang Fan.

"He will work for you from now on. You'll entrust him with delivering medicinal herbs and handling furnace ash."

After making the arrangements, Zhou, the foreman, left with his pregnant belly.

"Thank you, foreman."

Wang Mazi nodded and bowed to Zhou Bantou excitedly. After Zhou Bantou left, he glanced at Yang Fan.

"Kid, did you offend Chief Zhou? Why did he send you here?"

Yang Fan shook his head.

"No, I was very polite to him and didn't offend him at all."

"Did you give him a gift when you came here?"

Yang Fan fell silent, realizing that he had really offended Zhou Bantou.

"It seems you really don't have any backing at all."

Wang Mazi looked at Yang Fan with a hint of schadenfreude.

"But you don't need to rush. In a few months, when new people arrive, you'll be able to give them orders."

"Come on, let me show you where they work first."