Chapter 149: Chores
Chapter 149: Chores
After Han Li heard these words, he naturally kept them in mind.
“Since you’ve received everything, come with me to see the cultivation guidance disciple!” After Martial Uncle Wang said this, he brought Han Li to the flying magic tool and flew.
On this flight, the distance they traveled was far shorter. In a blink of an eye, they arrived at the foot of the mountain. There was a huge stone building built into the mountain. The stone sign on the front of the building had the words “Cultivation Guidance Pavilion” written in golden characters. It was quite busy with a few young disciples nearby, entering and exiting.
Martial Uncle Wang did not say anything this time and just walked in, taking the lead. Han Li closely followed behind. It was clear that a few disciples recognized this Martial Uncle Wang; they had continuously saluted and greeted him. Martial Uncle smiled with a nod. It seemed that his reputation in Yellow Maple Valley was truly quite good.
After entering the stone building, Han Li unexpectedly discovered that the back half of the Cultivation Guidance Pavilion actually extended into the depths of the mountain. Its interior was extremely vast and had rows of stone doors standing side by side with disciples both entering and exiting through them.
Just as Han Li thought to take a good look, Martial Uncle Wang pushed open the third room door on the right side and walked in heedlessly. This caused Han Li to hesitate somewhat; he did not know whether he should follow closely behind him.
“Come in!” Martial Uncle Wang did not have Han Li wait long. After a moment, he emerged from the doorway and called out to Han Li.
There weren’t many people in the room. Inside, there was a black-clothed disciple about thirty years old. He deferentially stood to the side of Martial Uncle Wang. After he saw Han Li enter, he kindly smiled toward him.
“This is Wu Feng; he is responsible for the cultivation techniques of new disciples. If you have any questions with regards to cultivation techniques in the future, you can ask him for guidance. With regards to understanding elementary cultivation techniques, Wu Feng is of the top ten!” Martial Uncle Wang’s words held great admiration toward this fellow.
“I request Senior Martial Brother Wu to give me much guidance in the future!” Han Li respectfully saluted. He clearly understood that this person would be his cultivation technique master in the future. How could he slight him!?
“Hehe! Martial Uncle praises me too much! In truth, I merely have a superficial, incomplete knowledge of cultivation techniques. I can exchange pointers with Junior Martial Han to gain understanding!” This Senior Brother Wu politely added.
“Martial Nephew Wu, I clearly understand your knowledge on cultivation techniques. There is no need to be too modest! I will hand over the matter of Martial Nephew Han’s cultivation technique to you. Currently, I simply brought him so the two of you can be acquainted. After that, I still have to bring him to other places to introduce him. He will not be present here for long!”
Martial Uncle Wang was quite straightforward. After he said those words, Elder Martial Brother Wu respectfully sent them off. They promptly departed from the room.
Next, this Martial Uncle Wang responsibly and diligently brought Han Li to several other essential places and introduced him to many Honored Disciples. Furthermore, he gave him an explanation of a few everyday matters to take notice of before returning him to the gray-clothed old man’s stone house. He had Han Li choose a stone room to live in before leaving Han Li and returning alone.
Han Li stood in front of the stone room he chose and sized up the simple and crude residence with a bitter smile.
At this moment, he already knew that so long as he trained his foundation cultivation technique to the tenth layer, he would be able to leave and move to a residence in a place called the Mysterious Earth Mountain. The disciples there would have much more freedom! Not only could they establish their own residence on the mountain, but there were also no restrictions on the style and dimensions of the houses. Han Li could not help but look forward to this.
Although his cultivation technique had yet to reach the tenth layer, Han Li did not intend to stay at this stone house for long.
Afterwards, he lightly smiled and suddenly took out the flight Azure Leaf Magic Tool from his storage pouch. Then he poured magic power into the magic tool and tossed himself to the sky.
Initially, Han Li was unfamiliar with this object, and he flew abruptly from left to right, high to low. It wasn’t smooth in the least. However, not long after, he easily mastered it and could fly similarly to Martial Uncle Wang, confidently and freely with his hands behind his back..
Although this magic tool was easy to master and simple to control, it was obvious that it wasn’t very fast. It was only a bit faster than a steed. This was not surprising as the disciples in the valley only had so much power. Although the Azure Leaf Magic Tool was a bit lacking, it was still Han Li’s first time flying. Hence, he exhilaratingly amused himself for quite a while.
“Hehe!” After a hearty laugh, Han Li satisfied his craving for flight and directed the magic tool toward a certain direction.
On the way, he brushed past several other disciples who were similarly flying. Perhaps it was because Han Li’s face was quite unfamiliar, but the majority of these people looked at Han Li with several gazes of curiosity. However, when they saw that his cultivation technique was merely of the ninth layer, they disdainfully kept away.
Although Han Li saw these people’s actions, he did not show anything in his face. Even so, he inwardly released a bitter laugh several times. It seemed that these so-called great sect cultivators were not any different from mortals of the secular world. They were just as snobbish!
Just as this thought passed through Han Li’s mind, he arrived in front of a large building complex. Then, with large strides, he walked into a large hall with a sign that hung “Hundred Opportunities Hall”.
Inside the hall was a middle-aged Honored Disciple. When he saw Han Li enter, he was somewhat surprised. He could not help but ask, “Junior Martial Brother Han, how did you return so quickly? What about Martial Uncle Wang?”
This was a place Martial Uncle Wang had just had hurriedly visited with Han Li. This was an Honored Disciple Han Li had just met. That was why when he saw Han Li return, he was greatly surprised.
“Senior Martial Brother Yu, when I arrived here a moment ago, I heard this was the place where one could receive chores work, right?”
“That’s right! Could it be that Junior Martial Brother wants to receive an assignment so quickly? Junior Martial Brother Han is a new disciple. According to the rules, you can first familiarize yourself with the circumstances within the sect for a month before you receive a task. There is no need to feel so anxious!” The Honored Disciple spoke in astonishment.
“Hehe! That’s no issue! I currently want to find something to do. Are there any plant-growing jobs that currently lack manpower?” Han Li faintly smiled.
“That is not how it works. All the missions that disciples receive are randomly distributed. Regardless of what you’re up to, no one is allowed to select their duties! Only if they can prove that they truly have some respective ability in the field would they be given consideration!” This Honored Disciple replied, embarrassed.
When Han Li heard this, he creased his brow. Could it be he truly had to find Martial Uncle Ye?
“It doesn’t matter. Have Martial Nephew Han choose as he wishes!”A somewhat familiar voice came from behind Han Li, slightly frightening him. He turned his head to look. It was unexpectedly that Old Man Ye; he did not know when he had stood behind him. He was smiling toward Han Li.
“Hall Master has returned!” When the middle-aged Honored Disciple saw the old man, he immediately greeted him.
“En, I have returned!” The old man flippantly said.
“Martial Uncle Ye!” Han Li immediately greeted him with respect.
“Hehe, Martial Nephew Han came here quite quickly! I returned here to give my subordinates an explanation to let Martial Nephew Han select his tasks at will!” He half-jokingly mentioned. It seemed that this Martial Uncle Ye’s mood was pretty good.
“I am thankful for Martial Uncle’s concern! I also came to take a look. Could I inconvenience Martial Uncle to find a suitable task?” Han Li asked, apparently bashful.
“I am the one in charge here. What inconvenience is there? Honored Disciple Yu, take out all the plant-growing tasks and let Han Li choose as he wishes!” The old man magnanimously waved his hand, signalling his subordinate to follow his orders.
This Honored Disciple Yu was dumbstruck by those words. After he took a deep glance toward Han Li, he hurriedly looked for the scrolls that recorded the chore tasks. In his mind, he could not help but think that he had some sort of relationship with his superior.
“The plant-growing tasks are all listed here. Take a careful look, Junior Martial Brother Han!” Honored Disciple Yu offered him the azure jade slips he returned with.
Han Li said a word of thanks and took the slips. He earnestly looked through them.
“Look after the thirteen Five Flower Trees. Every year, each of them produces two white fruits.”
“With great care, take care of the 300 year-old Fire Cloud Ginseng. Ensure that its spiritual nature is not lost.”
“Grow a field of Moon Plum Grass. Hand over a hundred jin of its hay every season.”
(TL: Jin 斤 = .5kg)
“Look after the Yellow Jade Bamboo Forest,….”
…………
The slips had all kinds of plant-growing work. There was truly a great amount! However, there were still a few that had yet to be read by Han Li. When he rummaged through the rest of the slips, a task much to Han Li’s satisfaction was found.
(TL: The 坤 Kun in 玄坤山 Mysterious Earth Mountain is one of the Eight Trigrams ☷, it representing Earth. )