The little cat was awakened, its eyes still half-closed. It threw a few punches inside its clothes and finally poked its head out from the collar.

After waking up from a nap, everything around had changed, and it found itself in a completely unfamiliar place. It froze for a moment, its two ears perked up.

Lin Zhusheng took the little cat to the last house by the path, raised his hand to brush off the petals that had fallen on the fence, and pushed open the half-height gate.

Behind it was the courtyard he had been thinking about. It was clear that the courtyard had been tidied up before he arrived; it was clean and bare, with no weeds or flowers.

It was even larger than he had imagined. The letter he received earlier mentioned that the place was a bit remote, far from the training grounds and other daily activities. To compensate, the house and courtyard would be slightly larger than the usual disciples’ accommodations, but he didn’t expect it to be this big.

Big enough for him to plant a little bit of every seed he had on him. Standing still to admire and plan his vegetable garden, Lin, who now had his own land, took a good look before moving forward, climbing the steps to stand in front of the door, pulling out the key that was tucked between the sheets of the letter, and unlocking the door.

The door opened with a slight creak.

Unlike the previous places where opening the door meant seeing the layout of the room and windows all at once, here, the first thing that caught his eye was a small cushion placed in the center of a space, followed by a wooden screen that separated it from the back room.

The windows in the room were still wide open, letting in large amounts of sunlight, with tree shadows swaying.

This kind of arrangement was familiar to Lin Zhusheng; according to the game, it should be a meditation room, specifically for sitting in meditation.

The big sect truly lived up to its name; with this layout, disciples could practice swordsmanship all day and then sit in meditation all night, rolling into a cycle of practice.

But he didn’t want to roll, and he felt that the cushion had another great use. He placed the little cat on it and helped it settle down.

Perfect, it fit just right.

The meditation cushion had effortlessly transformed into a cat bed. Twirling the key in his hand, Lin Zhusheng continued into the room.

Inside was a place that looked like someone actually lived there, filled with everyday furniture. A bed with bedding, a tidy desk, and a storage cabinet that was twice as big as the previous one.

In the corner, he found a spot that perfectly fit his two battle-damaged wooden boxes, quickly placing them down to free up two slots in his backpack.

It was a perfect space; everything seemed just right, as if it couldn’t hold anything else. But there was still a cooking station occupying a whole slot in his backpack that he hadn’t dealt with yet.

Not a big deal, because AAA professional space planner Lin had already thought of a place to put this thing.

The cushion that had turned into a cat bed was brought to the bedside in the inner room, and the quiet meditation room welcomed a new good thing—a cooking station that could make anything as long as there was a recipe, transformed into a kitchen.

The cooking station was smoke-free and conveniently located near the outside, with plenty of space beside it. He could find a time to set up a seed cabinet specifically for seeds and growth liquid, so he wouldn’t have to keep taking things in and out of the wooden boxes in the bedroom.

With a wave of his hand, he planned his little kingdom, feeling that his planning was very scientific. Lin Zhusheng gave himself a couple of pats and even had the little cat give him a pat.

“……”

Under the enthusiastic gaze, the little cat, with its two front paws, didn’t know what kind of strength it could muster, so it just stared blankly and gave a couple of light pats.

Receiving positive feedback, Lin Zhusheng nodded in satisfaction, propped up one side of the window, and admired his courtyard, which was bare now but would definitely be filled with things in the future.

He was a bit too ambitious in his outlook, and his eyes slipped over to the neighboring courtyard. Since he was already looking, he took a couple more glances.

It was also a bare patch, not much to see, and the window was closed, as if no one was home. Rubbing the little cat’s head that had come over, he said, “I wonder who lives next door.”

He had quite a few snacks in his pocket; if it was a familiar character, he might even be able to give a small gift to boost his favorability.

“Creak—”

A sound came from the quiet window, and before Lin Zhusheng could pull back his gaze, he watched as the window next door opened.

A head poked out, one hand struggling to hold the window open. The neighbor, who suddenly appeared, met his gaze in mid-air.

It was someone he recognized unexpectedly; it was the blushing guy he had been late with once before. One hand was petting the little cat, and the other waved. His eyes crinkled as he called out, “Zhang Jing.”

As if he hadn’t expected him to know his name, Zhang Jing paused for a moment, then looked left and right, quietly saying, “Hello.”

The person living next door was a fellow disciple, and he looked quite surprised, a bit happy, but mostly at a loss. As he spoke, his face and ears turned red.

Eager to promote neighborly relations, Lin Zhusheng immediately looked down into his pocket, wanting to pull out a suitable snack to give, but regrettably found that the snacks seemed to have been thrown into the wooden box. So he waved his hand and said, “Wait a moment, I’ll go find something.”

The neighbor quickly stopped him. Just before he could bounce off to rummage through the box, Zhang Jing stretched out his hand and raised his voice slightly to remind him, “If you don’t hurry to the training ground, you’ll be late.”

All new outer disciples were required to gather at the training ground at noon, and the fact was that they were already on the edge of being late. After Zhang Jing got here, he only had time to open the window to let some air in; his original plan was to ventilate and then immediately head to the training ground.

Stopping the action of getting the snacks, Lin Zhusheng finally remembered this matter and checked the time.

Great, no joke, he was really about to be late.

Putting aside the snacks, he directly climbed out from the windowsill, closed the door, and then jumped over the fence in quick succession, his clothes flying through the air, making a whooshing sound as he moved too fast.

He leaped out of the small courtyard and dashed down the path. Halfway through, he suddenly hit the brakes and turned back to look at the neighbor still in the room, asking, “Aren’t you coming?”

“……”

With plenty of experience in being late, his series of actions was smooth, natural, and quick, like a conditioned reflex. In the blink of an eye, he had run two miles, while Zhang Jing’s brain was still buffering. He could only watch in astonishment, and after Lin spoke, he finally reacted and opened the room door to run down the path, starting to sprint.

Then he realized he couldn’t keep up with the person in front. The distance kept widening, and he began to pant, while the person ahead was still breathing evenly.

Noticing that the footsteps behind him were growing fainter, Lin, who had developed super endurance from being late so often, slowed down.

In a very humanitarian way, he waited for his good neighbor for a while, and when the other caught up, he patted his shoulder and said solemnly, “You’re still late.”

“?”

Zhang Jing vaguely felt that something was off with this statement, but he couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong. Then he heard Lin continue, “It’s too late now; I’ll take you through a shortcut.”

So the two of them took a temporary turn on the road and headed for the shortcut.

Zhang Jing thought he should have been more alert when he saw the shortcut leading into the woods. By the time he realized what the “shortcut” really was, there was no turning back.

The Tianzong was built in the mountains, and inside were continuous hills, with some areas still undeveloped and rarely visited, the most primitive kind of forest. Then he followed Lin into this completely untraveled forest, his previously decent clothes now snagged by unknown leaves, and his hair a messy tangle.

Everything around seemed the same, and after walking too long in the woods, there was no way back, and it was too late to return. He could only pull off the branches tangled in his hair and follow Lin down the path into the darkness.

In a physical sense of darkness. The forest was too dense for sunlight to penetrate, and Zhang Jing couldn’t figure out how the person in front knew the layout of the outer sect, nor how he could tell direction in such a forest. His mind had stopped considering being late, leaving only one thought: survival.

Survival was definitely possible; Lin, who had run through all the big and small places in the sect countless times, was leading his neighbor to the training ground without being late.

“Rustle—”

As he reached out to push aside the branches blocking the way, a glimmer of white light appeared ahead.

Behind the white light was a vaguely visible carved building and moving figures; that was the training ground—they had arrived.

Emerging from the thicket, Lin Zhusheng stepped onto solid ground, casually brushing off the leaves and twigs from his clothes, placing his hands on his hips, and wiping the sweat off his brow, saying, “We’re here.”

And they weren’t late; the journey that took over an hour was shortened to half an hour, so they even arrived early.

Standing back in the sunlight, Zhang Jing collapsed on the ground, and upon hearing the words next to him, he lifted his head.

Then he met the curious and surprised gazes of people not far away. They appeared here like two wild men mixed into the crowd.

“……”

He quickly stood up, his face turning bright red, turning his back to remove the leaves from his clothes and re-tie his messy hair.

Even with his back turned, he could still feel the burning gazes piercing into him.

One gaze was particularly intense, so much so that it was impossible to ignore. He steeled himself, turned his head, closed his eyes, and opened them again, only to see the person beside him looking at him with eyes full of deep respect.

Zhang Jing: “……”

Zhang Jing: “?”

Looking left and right, confirming that the person was indeed looking at him, he pointed at himself and tentatively asked, “What are you looking at?”

Lin Zhusheng was looking at his hair that had been tied up in just two or three moves, trying to dissect the actions he had just seen in his mind, but failed, feeling increasingly impressed.

Common sense told him that tying hair was the simplest thing everyone could do, but the reality proved that there were indeed exceptions. With his gaze falling on the tangled hair tie and the pair of sincere eyes, Zhang Jing’s mouth twitched, saying, “I’ll teach you when we get back.”

Lin Zhusheng’s face instantly lit up, nodding like a little chick, patting his own hair, and saying, “You’ve saved me.”