Hanging out with beauties always leads to trouble.
He Xiaoyao had originally been a completely ordinary person who lived quietly, kept a low profile, and remained utterly unremarkable—even mixed in a crowd, no one would spare him a second glance.
Now, however, sitting with a beauty had put him directly in the spotlight.
A tall man walked straight toward He Xiaoyao and said in a loud voice, "You shouldn't be sitting here."
He Xiaoyao said nothing and ignored him.
Zhang Susu said angrily, "He's just sitting here eating, what right do you have to chase him away? Is there a rule saying he can't sit here?"
The tall man ignored Zhang Susu, turned his head back to He Xiaoyao, and said, "Get out of here. Go back to the southeast section—that's where you belong."
He Xiaoyao picked up his meal and started to leave, but Zhang Susu pressed her delicate hand down on his shoulder and said, "Don't go. Just sit right here. There's no rule in the cafeteria saying handymen can't sit here. Any seat is fine."
He Xiaoyao froze, not knowing whether to sit back down or get up and leave.
Seeing Zhang Susu patting He Xiaoyao's shoulder in such an intimate manner, the tall man flew into a rage. He reached out and shoved He Xiaoyao's food tray, sending it crashing to the floor, splattering vegetable broth all over the table and He Xiaoyao himself.
With a loud clatter, everyone in the cafeteria turned to look in their direction.
He Xiaoyao felt even more awkward and reached up to scratch his head.
By now, Zhang Susu had also lost her temper. She cried out loudly, "Zhao Mi, what is wrong with you? Acting so unreasonable just to bully a handyman. Did he provoke or offend you?!"
Without finishing her meal, Zhang Susu grabbed He Xiaoyao by the hand and pulled him straight outside. The two of them hurried out.
Zhang Susu said, "I'm sorry. I'm the one who made you sit there and now you didn't even get to eat your fill. Let's go to the market, my treat—I'll buy you some snacks."
And so the two of them went to the market to buy osmanthus cake.
He Xiaoyao had bought osmanthus cake once before. It was quite delicious—sweet, fragrant, and tasting of fresh flowers. But he didn't buy it often, given his limited financial means.
A single portion of osmanthus cake cost three Immortal Coins.
Fortunately, this time a beauty was treating. Yet his spirits were low—very low.
As he ate, the taste left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth, and the osmanthus cake that used to taste so sweet now seemed slightly bitter.
After they finished eating, Zhang Susu returned to the Public Academy to get an umbrella, handed it to He Xiaoyao, and said, "Thank you."
He Xiaoyao said, "Don't mention it, it was no trouble at all."
Zhang Susu said, "I'll treat you to something else next time I see you. I'm leaving now."
He Xiaoyao watched Zhang Susu's retreating figure, feeling a pang of gloom in his heart.
Who knew when they would meet again.
Dragging his tired and lonely figure, He Xiaoyao slowly walked home and sat quietly on a stool, not saying a word.
He was just a handyman. Handymen could never be mentioned in the same breath as cultivating disciples or sit on equal footing with them; they could only sit in the southeast corner, only deserving to sit there, and sitting anywhere else was a luxury.
Although today it seemed only Zhao Mi had gone mad, He Xiaoyao knew very well that the other disciples in the cafeteria were also looking at him with strange expressions. They must have been wondering in their hearts how a mere handyman had managed to sit over there.
People really did have ranks. At least in the minds of many people, that was the case.
Although He Xiaoyao believed in the equality of all living beings—that even immortals and mortals shouldn't be divided into high and low, and that people merely did different things and had different habits, rather than possessing inherent superiority or inferiority—that was, after all, just his own thought. Everyone else thought differently.
Forget it. From now on, he would just go back to his handyman's seat and keep to his place.
Lost in these thoughts, the afternoon arrived, and He Xiaoyao quietly went off to busy himself in the vegetable garden.
The next day, a notice was posted on the bulletin board announcing the punishment for Zhao Mi. It was a notice from the Disciplinary Courtyard: because Zhao Mi's behavior in the cafeteria yesterday lacked decorum, constituted a provocation, and was detrimental to the unity of the Immortal Sect, fifty Immortal Coins were deducted from his monthly stipend. In addition, the cafeteria was to provide He Xiaoyao with five free meal upgrades.
Five free meal upgrades, capped at two Immortal Coins each—the sect had deducted fifty Immortal Coins as a penalty, yet used only ten to compensate. They really knew how to make a profit.
Whatever. If he could get extra dishes, he might as well take them.
When He Xiaoyao passed by the dining hall, he saw Zhao Mi from the previous day glaring at him with hostile eyes.
He Xiaoyao lowered his head, hurried past, collected his meal, and headed toward the southeast section.
Seeing He Xiaoyao, Yu Dongxi patted him on the shoulder and said, "Kid, getting extra dishes again, I see."
He Xiaoyao smiled faintly and didn't answer.
Yu Dongxi continued, "Don't worry about it. Just sit back down here and don't let those people get to you. Isn't life among us handymen pretty good as it is? There's no need to talk about who's high and who's low."
He Xiaoyao nodded and said, "Yes, I know."
Yu Dongxi said, "That Zhao Mi has always been used to acting arrogant and wild. He's the nephew of the Tian'an Hall's vice-hall master."
Yu Dongxi paused, then lowered his voice and said, "I heard he's long had a crush on that Zhang Susu. Yesterday, when he saw you and Zhang Susu chatting and laughing together looking all cozy, he flew into a rage."
Well, well, so he was jealous!
Aunt Deng, sitting nearby, chuckled and said, "Our young lad is quite popular, catching the eye of a beauty. Zhang Susu is truly gorgeous, practically a fairy."
He Xiaoyao looked up at Aunt Deng and said, "Aunt Deng, just eat your food."
Aunt Deng chuckled heartily and said, "Trying to make me eat and shut me up? What's wrong? If the young man fancies her, he should work hard for it! I noticed that young beauty didn't look down on you just for being a handyman."
He Xiaoyao thought to himself: But I look down on myself for being a handyman.
Besides, he had never imagined this could develop into some stirring, earth-shattering romance story; he had merely borrowed an umbrella and sat down for a meal.
If he were to go after her, what were his chances? Probably very slim. There were worldly prejudices to consider, not to mention his own lack of confidence.
She was a great beauty of East Peak, at the Four-Star Stage, with a monthly stipend of five hundred coins.
He was just a newly entered junior handyman with ordinary looks, zero cultivation, and a monthly stipend of one hundred. No matter how you looked at it, they were not in the same league.
It was completely mismatched.
He didn't have that kind of fate.
He had better just obediently be a little handyman!
This meal was quite depressing. Even with the extra dishes, it seemed to have lost its flavor and wasn't as fragrant as before.
He Xiaoyao wasn't just depressed for a day or two; he remained depressed for a full month.
He had never been like this before. What on earth had happened to this easygoing He Xiaoyao?
Could it really be true that freedom from desire brings inner strength? Was it because he now had ambitions that he had become so consumed by gains and losses?
Actually, it wasn't so much about whether he could win over a beauty. It was more about reflecting on his own position in life.
To be precise, he was so insignificant that he had no status to speak of.
Unable to sleep at night, He Xiaoyao went out to sweep around the lake while it was still pitch black.
This time he was a full hour earlier than usual. Coming early wasn't a bad thing; the morning breeze was cool without a trace of stifling heat, making the sweeping go much faster.
Usually, two handymen were assigned to sweep the lakeside, but in the few months since He Xiaoyao had arrived, he had never run into the other one.
Yet today, when he finished sweeping, he actually ran into him. This handyman was a very, very, very old man.
His hair and beard were completely white.
He Xiaoyao had heard Yu Dongxi mention him before: the old man Lin Anzhi was already over a hundred and ninety years old.
The master of Mingyue Pavilion had told him he didn't need to work anymore while keeping his monthly stipend the same. But the old grandfather refused to listen and insisted on working every day, coming to sweep the lakeside every single morning. Because he came earlier than others, they hadn't crossed paths even once over the past few months.
He Xiaoyao proactively stepped forward and greeted him: "Hello, Grandfather. My name is He Xiaoyao, and I'm also a handyman who sweeps the lakeside."
Lin Anzhi waved his hand and said, "Hello, young man. I never imagined the person sharing the lake-sweeping duties with me would be such a young fellow."
He Xiaoyao smiled and said, "Yes, I just came up the mountain."
Lin Anzhi said, "I've heard about you. I heard all about those things you did in the dining hall, hahaha."
He Xiaoyao gave an awkward smile, his face turning red.
Even an old man who swept the grounds knew about it—who didn't?
Lin Anzhi continued, "I occasionally catch sight of Fairy Zhang Susu too; she wanders down to the lakeside from time to time. Not bad-looking, really not bad-looking at all. You've got an eye for beauty, young man, hahaha."
He Xiaoyao felt even more awkward and said, "Grandfather, please don't make fun of me. Her being pretty has nothing to do with me."
Lin Anzhi said, "Oh, nothing to do with you? But right now, the entire Immortal Sect feels it has a great deal to do with you."
Things had developed to this point, which was truly unexpected.
Lin Anzhi said, "Young man, where you sit is really just a superficial matter. A handyman is a handyman, and a cultivator is a cultivator; there is a natural chasm between them. But I don't believe that mortals and immortals are divided by high and low, nor are cultivators and handymen. No one is higher or lower, more important or less important—everyone is just working for the Immortal Sect and contributing their own share of strength. You don't need to take it to heart."
He Xiaoyao didn't speak, and Lin Anzhi went on: "In the eyes of worldly people, there are always divisions of high and low to set people apart. Since we cannot change people's minds, we can only change reality. Since you can't pull those high-and-mighty people down to be our equals, then you, a handyman, must climb up to be their equal, or even stand higher than them."
If you can't pull them down, climb up yourself—and go even higher than them.
He Xiaoyao suddenly felt as if he had been doused with iced water on a hot day, his mind instantly clearing.
Right! If they won't let him sit on equal footing with a handyman, then he wouldn't be a lowly handyman; he was going to be a very, very high-ranking handyman, crawl right up above them, crap all over them, and see what they could do about it. When that time came, he'd make them lift their heads to look up at him.
Lost in these thoughts, he looked up, only to find that Lin Anzhi had already left at some point—he must have been too lost in his own musings.
Truly, those who live long acquire experience; ginger really is spicier the older it gets.
This chance encounter brought about a very important shift in He Xiaoyao's mindset.
He Xiaoyao felt he needed to do something.
To change this world, he first had to change himself, starting with the smallest of things.
That night, He Xiaoyao didn't sleep. Instead, he picked up pen and paper and wrote down his plan, step by step.
He felt no drowsiness at all. Even after finishing writing, he still couldn't sleep, so he sat quietly in meditation to practice his cultivation.
His cultivation still showed no progress, but he didn't stop, practicing with tireless diligence. Starting from this day on, he practiced cultivation for four hours every day.
He hoped that one day, quantitative change would lead to qualitative change.
The fourth meridian still remained unblocked.
Perhaps the same method couldn't be used again.
At dawn, He Xiaoyao looked at the morning sun and smiled, saying, "He Xiaoyao, you can definitely do this."
Today was He Xiaoyao's day off; he didn't have to work.
After finishing his cultivation practice in the morning, he took a hoe and other tools from the utility room and cleared a patch of earth in his courtyard. He planted the medicinal plant seeds he had brought up from the foot of the mountain into the soil and watered them.
After working for half a day, he had only cultivated half an acre of land, leaving two and a half acres untouched.
He wasn't in a hurry. After all, time passed slowly in the mountains, so he would take things one by one, slowly.
It was great to have a long lifespan.
In the afternoon, he took a knife and went out to a small grove nearby to cut several tough branches, used fire to set their shape and bend them into curved arcs. Then he took string from the utility room and wrapped it in several layers around both ends of the curved branches, making three simple bows and arrows.
Next, he used his knife to whittle more than a dozen straight, stiff branch arrows, tying feathers to the tails.
After practicing his archery skills for about an hour, he recovered the state he had been in back when he hunted at the foot of the mountain.
Then he gathered some herbs in the mountains—a specific type of medicinal herb with anesthetic properties.
After pounding them with a stone, he smeared the herbal juice onto the arrowheads.
Slinging the bow and arrows over his back, he went out to hunt in the nearby woods.
There were quite a few animals in the mountain forests, though the ones nearby were relatively gentle creatures. He didn't dare go to Wanxiu Forest; the beasts there were far too dangerous.
Before long, he shot a wild rabbit.
As for small deer or wild boars, he didn't run into a single one.
He Xiaoyao's mood was still pretty good; a wild rabbit wasn't bad either.
As he kept practicing, once his archery and movement technique improved, hunting wild boars and deer wouldn't just be a dream.
After slaughtering the wild rabbit and starting a campfire, it was already night.
The roasted wild rabbit sizzled, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, smelling and tasting simply wonderful.
Looking up at the twinkling stars in the sky, the depression in his heart was completely swept away. Once his mind opened up, the world became vast.
He took out the Immortal Coins from his money pouch, thought for a moment, and counted them.
Although there were only fifty Immortal Coins, this was all the wealth he possessed, and he had to find a way to make it grow.
His money had to be plentiful, his cultivation high, and his reputation good.
He needed to elevate himself in every aspect before he could stand in a high place.
The following morning, He Xiaoyao hung a wooden plaque in front of the gate of his large courtyard, with the words "Qilu Garden" written on it.
The reason he chose this name was because he had caught sight of that little deer when he first arrived.
That probably wasn't an ordinary deer.
Originally, there was also a plaque above the courtyard that read "X-103."
Now it had its own name, "Qilu Garden," which sounded full of character.
He Xiaoyao went off to work early, and after finishing his chores, he went to the Public Academy to attend lectures. After eating, he hurried over to the vegetable garden to work.
Once he was done there, he headed back to the Scripture Pavilion, paying two Immortal Coins to enter the first floor.
The first floor still held many books. There were cultural texts, histories, and foundational cultivation manuals.
The books here could not be borrowed, nor could paper and pen be brought in to copy them; one could only read them inside.
He picked up a copy of the Five Mountains Great Technique and started reading.
In the past, he had occasionally attended lectures at the Public Academy in a piecemeal fashion, but those lessons were fragmented and lacked a systematic, complete structure.
Now he needed to read it completely from the first page.
The cultivation path of the Zhudi Mountain Sect leaned toward the blazing-yang side. However, this Five Mountains Great Technique was balanced and upright, achieving a harmony of yin and yang.
This type of manual was suitable for most people to practice. Entering the path was simple, but reaching a profound level of mastery was actually not easy.
The opening chapter discussed the accumulation of True Qi and the methods of circulating it during practice. It also included simple diagrams of the circulation paths, which were much clearer and simpler than the Zhenxia Mountain One-Yang Technique.
The first part of the opening chapter didn't require too much deep thought; one only needed to follow along and practice.
He Xiaoyao spent two hours committing the first five pages of the opening chapter to memory.
When he returned home, He Xiaoyao silently took out pen and paper and wrote down what he had memorized. A good memory wasn't as reliable as a clumsy pen, and he was afraid he might forget it over time.