Chapter 48: Spirit Silkworms and Magic Apparels
Chen Jingzhai believed that he was an open-minded person in both his lives.
However, he noticed that he now had a particular prejudice toward the disciples of Handy Peak, and it shocked him a lot.
Now that he had become a Master-Uncle in the Luo Sheng Sword School, he started to feel as if he was better than other people.
He knew it was something that he shouldn’t have done and started to reflect on himself.
It only took a while for a relaxed expression to return to his face.
Mrs. Yang had been studying his expression for a while and couldn’t stop nodding after seeing the changes in his eyes.
She learned that although her junior brother was still a kid, he was able to accept other people’s teachings and suggestions, both of which Su Qinghuang lacked.
“Thank you for making me notice my mistake, senior sister.” Chen Jingzhai bowed.
“You don’t have to thank me. It’s good that you realized your mistake.” Mrs. Yang patted the boy’s head. “You are my only junior brother. So it’s natural for me to wish the best for you so that you can one day bring glory to Hongluan Peak.
“But, I’m part of Daoxuan Peak now.” Chen Jingzhai smiled.
“Just in name,” Mrs. Yang scoffed. “Everyone in the entire clan, including Daoxuan Peak, has accepted you as the true disciple of Hongluan Peak.”
The first peak that Chen Jingzhai had joined was Hongluan Peak. The only reason he had become part of Daoxuan Peak was that Hongluan Peak was a hidden branch.
It was against the clan’s rule. But, instead, he was obeying it.
Even though he might represent Daoxuan Peak outside of the clan, inside, everyone would treat him as the true disciple of Hongluan Peak.
A disciple would always belong to the peak they joined first—such was the rule of the Luo Sheng Sword School.
“No matter which peak I’m in, I’m still a disciple of the Luo Sheng Sword School,” Chen Jingzhai said with a smile.
“Well said.” Mrs. Yang nodded.
She didn’t stay long after that. Once they finished the pot of spirit tea, she gave the boy another two servings and left.
Even Mrs. Yang could not give Chen Jingzhai too many tea leaves as they were hard to come by.
It wasn’t as if the tea was a treasure to her, but she didn’t want to upset her husband. However, it wasn’t as if he would mind it either.
In the end, she still knew how to hold back.
After half an hour, she sent Zeng Wangbei to the Tianyahai Pavilion again, this time with many gifts.
All of them were daily necessities that Chen Jingzhai would need to live in the pavilion. They were either furniture or decorations.
She also prepared a few things for the four female servants.
Also, there were things to help Chen Jingzhai with his cultivation, like spirit herbs and spirit silkworms.
Zeng Wangbei couldn’t avert his gaze from those items, but there was nothing he could do. If he were to ask his Master Wife for some of them, he would get punished.
Chen Jingzhai wasn’t in a hurry to go into Seclusion training. However, after a talk with Zeng Wangbei, he managed to learn a lot of things.
Other than a Peak Master, a few other elders were on Daoxuan Peak.
However, the elders were in Seclusion Training most of the time, and they rarely handled the peak’s affairs.
However, these elders had direct disciples as well, and they enjoyed the same benefits as Zeng Wangbei, who was a direct disciple of the Peak Master.
They received much more wages than inner disciples, and they received it directly from the Peak Master or the elders.
Yet, it didn’t mean that the Peak Master and the elders would give their direct disciples a lot either.
All the direct disciples received 30 spirit stones a year.
Although it might seem little since they pay the wages from their own pocket, it would still cost them a lot if they had a lot of direct disciples.
It didn’t cause any discomfort with the inner disciples either. All they could say was that the direct disciples were lucky to find a better master.
Other than that, Peak Master Yang was a genius himself too.
He was on par with Su Qinghuang when he was in his Golden Core stage and was well-known for that.
However, according to Zeng Wangbei, his master was actually stronger than Su Qinghuang, which Chen Jingzhai decided not to comment on.
Ever after marriage, Peak Master Yang and his wife did not bear a child, and he only had a few direct disciples under him.
His eldest disciple had already gathered his core and was out exploring the world.
His second eldest disciple had left for Pulao Kingdom on a mission while looking for an opportunity to gather his core.
Zeng Wangbei was the Peak Master’s third and youngest disciple.
He was only 12 years older than Chen Jingzhai and had yet to celebrate his 27th birthday.
Upon mention of his age, Zeng Wangbei frowned a little.
It reminded him that Chen Jingzhai was only a 15-year-old kid, but the boy had already reached the Foundation Establishment Plane.
Any peak would’ve welcomed Chen Jingzhai as a true disciple.
Zeng Wangbei used to brag about his achievements at such a young age a lot until he met his Master-Uncle. He had lost all rights to brag the moment he met Chen Jingzhai.
Since it was a depressing topic to talk about, Zeng Wangbei decided to leave first.
The moment his disciple nephew was gone, the atmosphere turned awkward for Chen Jingzhai again.
It was his first time living in the Tianyahai Pavilion. Not only that, but he also had four female servants serving him.
All of them were older than Chen Jingzhai and had amazing figures. It was hard for the boy not to feel anything.
After a short hesitation, he decided to summon all four of them.
“Young Master,” they greeted with a hint of shyness on their faces.
“Hmm…” Chen Jingzhai scanned through all of them before he said, “Since you are all working for me now, you’ll have to follow the rules of the clan. But, although the path of Taoism might be hard, I’ll still give all of you the chance to walk it when the timing is right.”
“Thank you, young master!” the four ladies exclaimed.
Being born a woman in the mortal world was the worst, as they were treated less than livestock.
They were fortunate enough to have talents.
Even if their talents weren’t as good, it was still better than living in the mortal world.
They were even more lucky to meet a master who had promised to help them walk the path of Taoism.
Seeing how happy they were, Chen Jingzhai couldn’t help but smile.
He wasn’t going to go back on his promise to them. With the White Crane Cloud Tree Celestial Cauldron in his hands and the fact that he could quickly understand the contents of the Pill Extraction and Purification Scripture, it meant that he had already established the basics of elixir alchemy.
He was able to further his proficiency with the flaws.
With that, not only could he help his four servants, but he could also bring glory back to Hongluan Peak once again.
After a short chat with the ladies, he learned that all four had their own unique skillset.
For example, one had knowledge of spirit plants and knew how to plant spiritual herbs and raise spirit silkworms.
According to them, other than the basic training, mastering their skillsets was the most important thing for them at Handy Peak.
That was why the best of Handy Peak would definitely benefit their masters a lot.
That was their way of life.
The moment the four ladies swore to serve under Chen Jingzhai, he was bound to get help from them with his growth.
The boy finally understood the real gift his senior sister had given him.
It explained why she personally headed to Handy Peak and why she would give him things like the spirit silkworms.
It was all because the four ladies would be able to assist him.
Chen Jingzhai smiled warmly.
After a short while, he started giving all four of his servants their jobs.
One was assigned to grow silkworms while another would build an herb garden.
With that, he would be able to provide for himself after a while.
“We would be able to proceed even faster if we had some spirit stones,” Hong Xiu said. “The spirit silkworm has a slow growth rate, but they like to consume spirit mulberry. So with that and the energy from the spirit stones, we can increase their growth rate.”
Chen Jingzhai looked at the baby silkworms before him, and his interest was piqued.
“How long can one spirit stone last?”
“About seven days. But, since we have a lot of silkworms, we’ll need at least three per session, which can last about ten days. Ten stones will be enough for them to mature, and they will be able to produce silk then.”
The spirit silk that the spirit silkworms produced was the ingredient for creating magic apparel. Although magic apparels were only magical items, the demand for them was still high as there were still a lot of cultivators in the Meditation Plane in the clan.
He would be able to profit a lot if he sold one for a spirit stone.