Chapter 13

“By the way, in a while, I’ll be going down the mountain. When the time comes, if the elders aren’t reliable, Little Martial Uncle, please bear with it and make sure not to let my Second Junior Sister into the kitchen.”

Mo Lin’s words carried a sense of solemnity, reminiscent of the tragic entrustment of the White Emperor City.

The innocent Little Martial Uncle put down her chopsticks, glanced at the three children across from her, and pointed to herself, “I’m thirteen.”

She then extended her long fingers, palm up, as if introducing them, pointing to the three seated across from her in turn, “Jinxuan is 15, Yuanye is 16, and Yanqing is 17.”

The three of them simultaneously stopped using their chopsticks and looked up with innocent expressions at the two “elders” across from them.

Lin Du took a deep breath, her outstretched right hand freezing in mid-air, her expression one of pure exasperation.

Facing Little Martial Uncle’s starkly sincere gaze, Mo Lin set down his chicken leg, his expression equally resolute.

“Although you’re young, according to seniority, you are our Little Martial Uncle. The children are still too young to cook, the elders are busy with spring farming and collecting cultivation resources, and everyone is eager to ascend. They don’t want to look after the kids, but can you bear to see the seedlings of our Supreme Sect go hungry?”

“Is our Supreme Sect really so short of money that we can’t hire a cook?”

Mo Lin’s eyes instantly took on a weathered look, “You need to understand that behind every rule in our sect is a painful experience that’s not publicly known.”

“In the past, the cook we hired was bribed by other sects. Although they didn’t dare to harm us directly, they secretly drugged our food the day before we went out on a mission. It didn’t show any immediate effects, but as soon as we used spiritual energy, the disciples couldn’t stop passing gas.”

Lin Du looked at the half-finished meal in front of her. The story sounded quite unappetizing.

Such unfair competition—what’s the difference between that and putting nails on each other’s shared bicycle seats?

Do you cultivators use such underhanded tricks too?

“Indeed, it’s tragic. Truly heart-wrenching to hear and tear-inducing.”

After hearing the story, Lin Du lost her appetite and only ate a bowl of rice before stopping.

“Don’t worry, it’s just cooking. I can handle it.”

Some ancient elders spend their days fishing by the glacier without a care, while a thirteen-year-old child is already raising three kids.

She didn’t name names.

“Speaking of going down the mountain, you new disciples haven’t seen what our Supreme Sect’s subordinate, Ding Jiu City, is like, have you? I’ll take you down the mountain to have a look one day.”

Although the Supreme Sect is mostly self-sufficient and appears poor, scraping by in the dirt, in reality, Ding Jiu City is entirely under the Supreme Sect’s control. The income from shop rents and transit fees is all cost-free revenue.

Maintaining the order in Ding Jiu City is the job of the Supreme Sect’s subordinate, Jun Ding House. From top to bottom, they can be considered as named disciples of the Supreme Sect, with talent and skills taking precedence over innate gifts, and practical abilities are emphasized.

Lin Du’s heart stirred.

One of the planned items seemed ready for implementation.

With Yan Ye suppressing her from advancing to Foundation Establishment too quickly, she had been spending her time reading, taking notes, and memorizing. She had plenty of room for maneuver and free time.

So, on this sunny, spring day, the season of burgeoning hearts, it was the perfect time to start writing.

Lin Du rolled up her sleeves, picked up a brush, and wrote with vigor, penning a big title: “The Beauty Found by the Roadside: After a Forced Encounter.”

Very good, very eye-catching—an expert at the edge of scandal. This should definitely be a hit.

After three days of relentless writing, Lin Du looked at the thick manuscript in front of her, smiling slightly. As expected of me, a writing machine, thirty thousand words in three days—who else could do that?

Today was the day Mo Lin took the new disciples down the mountain into the city. Lin Du rubbed her reddened eyes and stepped out of her cave dwelling.

Yan Ye saw Lin Du approaching and was startled by the dark circles under her eyes. “Have you been out stealing at night these past few days? You’re looking more ghostly each day.”

Lin Du lazily replied, “Oh, yeah, I’ve been out stealing people. What’s it to you?”

Yan Ye scoffed, “There are so few people in the Supreme Sect who aren’t in closed-door meditation. Who could you have stolen from?”

“I told you not to read those nonsensical records of the cultivation world’s anecdotes and legends. If you really want to hear heroic tales, just ask the elders at the sect’s entrance. They know far more than those lousy books.”

Lin Du’s eyelid twitched. She hadn’t expected Yan Ye to know that she had been looking through the sect’s library for records about famous figures and their stories (sensationalized history).

“Today, you’re going down the mountain to the city, right? Take some money and buy a few good outfits and shoes. You’re still growing, so remember to get a few sizes bigger.”

Yan Ye then took out a storage bag he had prepared earlier. “I gave you a storage ring before, didn’t I? It only had a box of spirit crystals. This one is full of spirit stones.”

Lin Du knew that in the cultivation world, aside from barter, the primary circulating currency was spirit stones. Due to their natural formation, they created a natural array that trapped spiritual energy, resulting in spirit stone mines. Each piece was cut according to the amount of spiritual energy contained. The age of the spirit stones determined their quality: higher-aged stones had more spiritual energy, categorized into upper, middle, and lower grades, with a hundred-year division.

After mining, high-level array masters would restore the stones, and after sealing the mines for hundreds of years, they could be replenished, making them seemingly inexhaustible.

Spirit crystals, on the other hand, were formed through geological changes and were buried deep underground for thousands of years, resulting in highly concentrated spiritual energy. One spirit crystal was equivalent to a thousand high-grade spirit stones.

Lin Du looked at the bag of spirit stones and couldn’t help but feel a bit emotional, realizing her master was wealthy, though she didn’t know he was this wealthy.

“Ten thousand top-grade spirit stones? Master, are you really this rich?”

Yan Ye couldn’t stand her naive expression. “I’m an array master. Both refining and construction require my expertise, and my appearance fee is quite high. Back at the Array Master’s Association, I was listed at five hundred thousand top-grade spirit stones.”

“Got it, got it. I know you’re worth five hundred thousand.” Lin Du rubbed her chin, finding the term a bit peculiar.

When she reached the sect’s entrance, the excited children were already gathered, eagerly asking the senior brother questions.

Ni Jinxuan was the first to spot Lin Du and started waving from afar, “Little Martial Uncle!”

Lin Du, dressed in blue and standing on a flying spiritual tool that resembled green leaves, had her black hair pinned up with wooden hairpins. Strands of hair floated in the air, shining with a faint golden light under the sun.

Her face was exceptionally delicate and handsome, her pale skin in the sunlight resembling a piece of rice paper, with dark circles under her eyes. She looked somewhat stern but quickly softened into a relaxed smile, her voice casual and carefree.

“Sorry for the wait. I stayed up late reading scripts recently. Today, Lin Du will cover the restaurant expenses.”