Stepping into the east wing, Luo Chen finally realized why his reverse-facing room cost only a dirt-cheap ten spirit stones a month.
While the wing wasn't exceptionally vast, its layout was remarkably well thought out.
Every window occupied an optimal vantage for daylight.
Furthermore, when night fell, it wasn't nearly as cold here.
Compared to this warm, comfortable east wing, his reverse-facing room was practically a warehouse combined with an ice cellar.
After a brief bout of self-pity, Luo Chen contentedly sat down before the dining table.
Feng Xia glanced at him and set down a bowl of spirit rice before him.
"Thank you, Sister Xia!"
Feng Xia replied, "Don't thank me. Xiuxiu is treating."
She was fine until she spoke, but the moment she opened her mouth, a sound like sandpaper rubbing together grated on the ears.
Luo Chen frowned slightly and asked cautiously, "Sister Xia, your voice?"
"It's always been like that. In her earlier years, while testing medicine for Hundred Herbs Hall, Sister Xia accidentally ingested a toxic herb. Though treated, her voice could only recover to this extent."
Bai Meiling took a seat beside them, her tone somewhat subdued.
Only then did Luo Chen learn the reason.
He could only say that working for a large corporation was no easy task!
Hundred Herbs Hall was merely one of the Medicine King Sect's enterprises, yet its positions included no shortage of high-risk labor.
A medicine-tester like Feng Xia was well compensated, but the danger was just as great.
Common spiritual herbs often developed peculiar mutations due to their growing environments and cohabitation with demonic beasts.
When that happened, it was fortunate if standard testing methods detected the differences.
If they couldn't, the only recourse was using a cultivator's physical body for direct trials.
Feng Xia used to do precisely that work.
Things had improved over the past two years; Hundred Herbs Hall in Dahe Market had recruited new medicine-testers, and she had shifted to deep processing tasks for medicinal herbs.
"What are you all talking about? Why is the atmosphere so gloomy?"
Fu Xiuxiu walked over carrying a steaming platter of sliced meat.
"Have a taste. This is shank meat from a camel-scale beast. I brought it back from the Divine Talisman Pavilion for you all to try."
Bai Meiling recounted their conversation, and Fu Xiuxiu couldn't help sighing as well.
"That is the lot of us rogue cultivators: either living hand-to-mouth in the outer city, or being ordered about at someone's beck and call in the inner city. Any job that pays slightly better invariably demands a heavy price."
At those words, Bai Meiling and Feng Xia both looked dejected.
Luo Chen, however, was rather nonchalant about it.
Ordered about at someone's beck and call?
One had to have the capital to be ordered about in the first place.
To say nothing else, places like Spirit Herb Pavilion and Wanbao Pavilion exclusively hired young, beautiful female cultivators to receive guests.
Male cultivators like him didn't even have the chance to be bossed around.
"That's why we need to help each other even more and huddle together for warmth."
Fu Xiuxiu picked up the wine flagon to pour for everyone. When Bai Meiling moved to pour her own, Fu Xiuxiu gently pressed her hand down.
"Being able to live under the same roof means we share an affinity. Whenever difficulties arise in daily life or cultivation, we can lend each other a hand."
"Though you just moved in, Little Luo, Senior Sun personally vouched for you, so your character and temperament are naturally beyond reproach."
"From now on, we can consider ourselves family."
With that, she raised her wine cup.
Bai Meiling and Feng Xia raised theirs at the same time.
Luo Chen was quite astonished.
Ever since transmigrating into this world, all he had witnessed every day was the chaotic slaughter of the outer city and the penny-pinching over cultivation resources in the marketplace.
To be frank, it was brutal.
Yet he had to admit it aligned perfectly with his impression of the cultivation world's tone.
And yet, in this modest courtyard residence, there was actually such a warm, tender side.
What was this—the cultivation world's version of a cozy courtyard sitcom?
Not wanting to spoil the mood, he raised his cup as well.
"Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
The clear, transparent wine slipped down smoothly without any harsh bite, carrying a faint fruit fragrance.
Fu Xiuxiu smiled faintly. "Eat up, don't stand on ceremony."
Bai Meiling was the first to pick up her chopsticks. Once a slice of stir-fried demonic beast meat entered her mouth, her eyes crinkled into crescent moons with delight.
"Sister Xiuxiu's cooking is the absolute best!"
"You flatterer. If it tastes good, eat more. Little Luo, don't hold back either; eat your fill. There's plenty of spirit rice in the pot."
"Mm-hmm!"
A tender chord in Luo Chen's heart seemed to be struck.
Lowering his gaze, he shoveled rice into his mouth noticeably faster.
Seeing this, Fu Xiuxiu placed a piece of meat into his bowl.
"It's a pity the Qin family has gone to the Luoyun Sect. Once they return, I'm afraid we won't be seeing Xiaohu for quite a long time."
"Indeed. That boy Xiaohu possesses dual metal-water spirit roots, is only twelve years old, and comes from a clean background. The major sects favor such disciples most," Bai Meiling remarked.
Having stayed here for several days, Luo Chen had also come to know about the family in the west wing.
Qin Liangchen and Duanmu Qinglian—both husband and wife were at the ninth level of Qi Refinement.
Their son, Xiaohu, formally named Qin Yuanjiang, had been clever and sharp since birth and was meticulously nurtured by the couple from a tender age.
Every month had been lined up with various medicinal baths and spirit herbs.
At eight years old, Xiaohu was discovered to have dual metal-water spirit roots.
They had originally intended to enroll him in the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect, but its next grand gate-opening recruitment drive wouldn't take place for another ten years.
Left with no choice, and unwilling to delay his prime window for cultivation, the couple took him to the Luoyun Sect in the Jade Cauldron Domain to register.
That was also a major sect, and its Supreme Elder, Han Zhan, possessed the potential to attain the Nascent Soul realm.
One could say it was a sect with boundless prospects.
Wanting to join in the conversation, Luo Chen chimed in.
"Sister Caiyi isn't here either. She seems to enjoy good food quite a bit."
Yet as soon as he said that, Fu Xiuxiu's brow visibly furrowed.
She composed herself almost immediately, however, and shook her head.
"Gu Caiyi's schedule is different from ours. We rarely cross paths under normal circumstances."
Luo Chen blinked, nodded, and said nothing further.
Matters between women were always the most troublesome.
After finishing dinner, Fu Xiuxiu brought out some fruit and pastries, taking advantage of the moonlight to hold a little tea gathering in the courtyard.
Everyone spoke freely and chatted about a wide range of topics.
They discussed how the shops of the inner city's six major sects were faring lately, and how miserably the shops belonging to smaller sects across the Jade Cauldron Domain were being suppressed in the market.
At last year's joint auction, a cultivator who had acquired a treasure was reportedly hunted down for an entire year; he had recently returned to Dahe Market and was currently arguing with the organizer, Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion.
He claimed people from the pavilion had leaked his identity, plunging him into grave peril.
Of course, Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion refused to admit it, invoking the prestigious name of the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect to send the complaining cultivator retreating in shame and indignation.
Fu Xiuxiu's promotion to manager at the Divine Talisman Pavilion and her prospects of entering the Divine Talisman Sect's outer sect were also brought up.
Once she succeeded, Fu Xiuxiu would no longer be a rootless, drifting rogue cultivator.
Even if she didn't make a living in Dahe Market down the line, she would have far better footing elsewhere.
This filled everyone else in the courtyard with envy.
Everyone dreamed of joining a major sect; the benefits and compensation once inside were simply too wonderful.
To mention nothing else, dispatched disciples were permitted to return to the sect once every decade to enjoy free cultivation at a second-tier spirit vein for a full year—the single most enticing benefit of all.
The tea gathering didn't last very long.
By the time the moon reached the middle of the sky, everyone returned to their respective rooms to rest.
After all, Bai Meiling and the others had to work tomorrow.
...
"Set it here, set it here."
"Have some water, everyone!"
"Sorry to trouble you, Manager Liu. Here are five spirit stones, please count them..."
Both men chuckled.
What was there to count with five spirit stones? It was plain to see at a glance.
Pocketing the spirit stones and exchanging a few pleasantries with Luo Chen, Manager Liu led the several early-stage Qi Refinement cultivators out of the courtyard.
Luo Chen looked at the hillock of bricks and stone, nodding in satisfaction.
Cloud sand bricks for the walls, superior creek white stone for heat insulation, plus a pile of highly adhesive sulfur clay—construction of his pill refinement room could finally begin.
Without hesitation, Luo Chen rolled up his sleeves and started carrying the materials into his quarters.
By midday, he was already laying the creek white stone across the partitioned clearing inside his reverse-facing room.
Fu Xiuxiu had woken up in the morning and moved a large collection of potted plants out of her room, arranging them where the sun could reach them.
From time to time she trimmed branches, occasionally adding a few packets of spiritual fertilizer.
She saw the busy Luo Chen as well, but after exchanging greetings, she left him undisturbed.
Come noon, Luo Chen looked at the rudimentary pill room with a deep sense of accomplishment.
"I am now an alchemist with my own independent workshop!"
Seeing his pleased and proud expression, Fu Xiuxiu laughed. "Little Luo, you'll surely become a grand master of alchemy renowned across all six domains in the future!"
Luo Chen gave a cheeky grin. "Of course! I'm an alchemy genius, after all!"
"Would you like to have lunch together? There are still leftovers from yesterday."
"Wouldn't that be imposing...? Well then, this younger brother won't refuse your kindness!"
Lunch was shared between the two of them.
Fu Xiuxiu was a gentle woman and widely knowledgeable; whenever Luo Chen voiced doubts regarding cultivation, she could often answer them with ease.
This was a feeling Luo Chen had never experienced with Old Daoist Chen, Wang Yuan, or even Gu Caiyi.
In Fu Xiuxiu's words, she too had once attempted to charge into the Foundation Establishment realm.
Yet without the aid of a Foundation Establishment Pill, a rogue cultivator like her was doomed to fail.
Ever since then, she had harbored no wild ambitions regarding Foundation Establishment.
Even her routine cultivation was merely a habit formed over many years.
"Having eaten two meals of your cooking, Sister Xiuxiu, I really feel a bit embarrassed. Let me wash the dishes!"
Fu Xiuxiu brushed Luo Chen's hand aside. "How could a man do such chores? Let me."
Toothpick in mouth, Luo Chen stood at the kitchen doorway, watching Fu Xiuxiu in her apron washing the bowls and chopsticks by the basin.
For a moment, his eyes grew moist.
In his previous life, as a homegrown Sichuan-Chongqing man, how could he ever have enjoyed such treatment?
The only girlfriend he had ever dated had a favorite catchphrase: *I'll count to three, and you'd better obey!*
"Sister Xiuxiu, do you usually stay over at the Divine Talisman Pavilion?"
"Yes. They provide rooms for managers equipped with small Spirit Gathering Formations, which are suitable for our cultivation."
"I noticed quite a few of your plants are sun-loving varieties. Keeping them hidden indoors with only spiritual fertilizer isn't ideal."
Luo Chen offered a suggestion. "Why not leave them outside? I can look after them for you when I'm free."
He definitely wasn't eyeing that pot of moonlight grass among them for its miraculous mind-calming and soul-soothing effects.
Setting the washed dishes onto the drying rack, Fu Xiuxiu considered it, then nodded.
"Then I'll have to trouble you."
Chapter 39