Demon, come and cultivate for me.

Xu Yao sat down on the stone bench opposite Zhou Chu, picking up only the dishes closest to her.

Take out only a tiny bit each time, and chew it slowly in your mouth.

Xie Ning hadn't eaten a single bite of food since last night and was extremely hungry.

She took a bite of the vegetable ball, then a bite of meat, her cheeks bulging as she ate.

Zhou Chu frowned as he looked on, and couldn't help but speak up:

"Nobody's going to take it from you, don't choke."

Xie Ning glanced at him sideways, mumbling indistinctly, "None of your business."

Lu Meng, sitting opposite Xie Ning, was even more exaggerated than her. In the past, Lu Meng might not have been able to afford to eat this meal during the Chinese New Year.

Now that we can eat as much as we want, we naturally won't hold back.

At first, they used chopsticks to hold the food, but eventually they just grabbed it with their hands, getting oil all over their mouths and hands.

While enjoying the meal, he noticed that his master's wine cup was empty, so he wiped the oil from his hands on his clothes, picked up the wine jar, and poured wine for his master.

Zhou Chu liked Lu Meng's cleverness and quick wit, and he was optimistic about his willingness to work hard, his talent, and his ability to endure hardship.

Even Xu Yuan said that Lu Meng was just like himself when he was a child, a natural talent for martial arts, with unlimited potential in the future.

Therefore, Zhou Chu taught Lu Meng martial arts techniques without reservation.

She would occasionally share her insights and experiences with Lu Meng, even if he didn't need them now, they would definitely be helpful to him in the future.

Right after finishing their meal, Zhou the landlord brought his youngest son, Zhou Yue, to Zhou Chu's house.

Zhou Yue is one year younger than Lu Meng, but due to his wealthy family background, he is taller and fatter than Lu Meng.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, Zhou Yue knelt down and kowtowed three times, just as his father had instructed.

The courtyard gate was some distance from the stone table where Zhou Chu was eating, and it would take Zhou Chu several more steps to help him up.

Unexpectedly, just as Zhou Chu stood up, Zhou Yue also stood up.

Zhou the landlord kicked Zhou Yue in the butt: "Why don't you call for help?"

"Oh, oh." Zhou Yue knelt down again: "Master!"

"No!" Zhou Dahu kicked again.

Zhou Yue quickly corrected himself, "Brother!"

After calling out, he was about to kowtow.

"Alright, get up quickly." Zhou Chu helped him up, then said to Zhou the landlord:

"Uncle, you should go back first. Let him stay here this afternoon. If he is suitable for martial arts, I will teach him the techniques. If not, Uncle, please find someone more capable."

Zhou the landlord said, "This kid is a bit slow, but he's physically strong and can definitely learn martial arts. If there's anything he can't learn, just beat him up. A good beating will definitely open his mind."

Zhou Chu said, "Alright, but don't worry about it, Uncle."

"It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt."

After saying this, Zhou the landlord walked to the stone table, gathered the empty plates into the food box, and carried it away.

Xie Ning wanted to take Xu Yao to the mountains to hunt some wild game so they could roast it and eat it when they got back in the evening.

Unexpectedly, Xu Yao politely declined.

Xu Yao said she also wanted to learn martial arts techniques from Zhou Chu.

Whether you herd one sheep or graze two sheep, it's all the same.

All three of them started learning from the very basics, so Zhou Chu teaching them together didn't take much effort.

So Xie Ning stopped talking about going hunting and simply sat in the rattan chair watching them practice martial arts.

After an afternoon of getting to know each other, Zhou Chu had a general understanding of Zhou Yue and Xu Yao's qualifications.

Zhou Yue's comprehension was somewhat poor; he could only memorize the incantation of the technique after it had been recited several times, and he could only understand it after it had been explained several times.

But his physique and patience were quite good, and he learned the boxing moves quite well.

The first time I practiced standing meditation, I stood for almost half an hour without uttering a sound.

Xu Yao was the opposite of Zhou Yue; she could memorize the techniques and incantations after hearing them only once, but her physical aptitude was rather poor.

The combined strengths of the two individuals are exactly equal to that of Lu Meng.

As evening fell, Xu Yuan rode his horse from Wuyang City, bringing Zhou Chu some good news.

Dozens of martial artists, including Xu Yuan, jointly recommended Zhou Chu to be registered as a martial artist.

Prefect Zou Jin has already sent the registration documents to the capital, and Zhou Chu is awaiting the approval from the capital to become a formally registered martial artist.

What Xu Yuan and Zhou Chu didn't know was that Zou Jin was able to send his citizenship documents to the capital ahead of time entirely because of Xie Ning.

After Xie Ning returned to Wuyang, she first found Zou Jin and asked him to help Zhou Chuqian get registered as a citizen as soon as possible.

After learning of Xie Ning's whereabouts, the Xie family in the capital had Zou Jin keep a close watch on Xie Ning's movements and report back to the capital every day.

Therefore, Zou Jin's naturalization documents, along with his daily private letters to the Xie family, were sent to the capital by fast horse.

Time flies like an arrow; half a month has passed in the blink of an eye.

Lu Meng has already learned most of the techniques taught by Zhou Chu. As for when he can use the guiding technique to draw qi into his body and gather true qi, that depends on Lu Meng's own hard work and cultivation.

The bear spirit in the mountains had disappeared, and the martial artists searched the entire Guniu Mountain but could not find any trace of it.

Under the initiative of the villagers of Baishizhai, the villages raised funds to build the Fox Fairy Temple, inviting the Fox Fairy to reside on Guniu Mountain and protect the area.

Hu Xiaoxian and the fox demon clan were naturally delighted with this.

As for the warriors of Wuyang City, they can also escape as soon as possible and return to the city to claim their rewards.

The villagers were blessed and no longer needed to perform human sacrifices every month as before.

All are happy.

For Zhou Chu, the only drawback is that Fan Li's whereabouts are still unknown, and his fate is uncertain.

After making inquiries from various sources, it was discovered that apart from Fan Li and Daoist Ji Ling, no one else in Wuyang City knew any clues about the human remains in the Baiyue region and the Ten Thousand Mountains.

The plan to travel to Baiyue in search of cultivation techniques must be put on hold for the time being.

That day, Zhou Chu was writing and drawing in the house, while Lu Meng, Zhou Yue, and Xu Yao were practicing standing meditation outside.

Xie Ning and Zhou Chu walked back and forth behind each other, chattering incessantly.

"Now that you're so rich, why don't you tear down this dilapidated house and rebuild it? It doesn't have to be too fancy, just build it like the Golden Palace Tower."

Look at that house, it's so dilapidated, even speaking loudly causes dust to fall.

Zhou Chu killed a pack of wolf demons, more than a dozen of which had demon cores. A few days ago, the government issued the reward, which amounted to tens of thousands of taels of silver.

On the day he received the reward, Xie Ning helped him plan how to spend the money, with rebuilding the house being the most important item.

"Once the house is repaired, we'll hire some servants. We'll use Qi Ren as the housekeeper, because Qi Ren is the most shrewd and meticulous."

The chef must be from Shandong, because Shandong cuisine is the best.

"A maidservant needs to be pretty, sensible, and clean. I think Xu Yao is fine, since she's alone anyway..."

Zhou Chu put down his pen and looked at Xie Ning:

"I see that you meet all the requirements except for being ignorant. Why don't you come and be my maid?"

"Me, serve you? Dream on..."

As Xie Ning was speaking, she suddenly heard a commotion outside.

Lu Meng ran into the house:

"Master, a lot of people have come to the village."

Zhou Chu didn't even look up:

"There are many people, not many demons, so what's the big deal?"

Lu Meng said, "These people are different; they are all wearing iron armor."

"armor?"

Zhou Chu put down his pen, got up, and walked out of the room.

A squad of forty or fifty soldiers had already arrived outside his fence.

The three men at the head rode tall horses. Zhou Chu recognized two of them: Zou Jin, the prefect of Wuyang, and Xu Yuan, whom he saw almost every day.

Between the two of them was a young man who looked to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.

This person was dressed in brocade, with a sword hanging at his waist, and his eyebrows bore a resemblance to Xie Ning.

Zou Jin and Xu Yuan both appeared to be very respectful to the young man.