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Chapter 24 Mountain Climbing

"Ah! This is so troublesome." Wang Li frowned. She was very indignant when she heard that a maid in the manor had obtained a rare and precious object. Why did the rare and precious object choose a maid as its master when there were so many people in the manor and the school?

To answer her inner doubts, Wang Li found out which carriage the maid who obtained the spiritual treasure was in, and then got into that carriage to see what made the maid so special.

The little girl in front of me had changed out of her maid's clothes and put on cotton clothes and stockings; her hair was still tied in two buns with a red ribbon; her slender, drooping eyes made people subconsciously ignore her after just one glance.

"Can't you let that spirit creature come out and let me see it? Aren't you its master?" Wang Li was puzzled. She was just an inconspicuous maid, neither pretty nor powerful. How could this spirit creature have taken a liking to such a maid?

Caihua touched the lotus spirit Xiaobai in her sleeve and said to the Third Miss Wang Li, "The immortal told me that spirits have thoughts just like humans. Please let me ask her first, Miss."

Xiaobai felt Caihua's touch and thought Caihua wanted to play with him, so he happily poked his head out, only to hear a gasp.

Then Xiaobai saw a girl about the same age as Caihua, wearing a peach-colored, high-waisted ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), with her hair styled in a double bun, adorned with a gold-threaded red agate plum blossom hairpin, and a gold-inlaid jade peace lock with a large "Fu" (good fortune) character written on it, staring at her with wide amber almond-shaped eyes. The girl had a round face and looked like she had been well-cared for at home.

When Wang Li saw the celestial being emerge, she straightened her back even more—she had to figure out why this celestial being had chosen such a maid instead of someone else.

"I'm far superior to this maid in front of me," Wang Li thought to herself. "I have a top-grade golden spiritual root; no matter what, this rare and precious creature will definitely take a second look at me."

Xiao Bai glanced at the person in front of her, not understanding why Caihua had asked her to come out but wouldn't play with her. She glanced around listlessly, then burrowed into Caihua's sleeve and went back to sleep.

There was a moment of silence in the air. Ayaka silently looked at the bewildered and confused Third Miss in front of her, praying in her heart that the Third Miss would not cause her any trouble later.

The coachman's slightly accented voice came from outside the carriage: "Sit tight, we're about to set off!" This broke the awkward silence inside the carriage.

The young students whispered to Caihua and Wang Li for a while, but were soon drawn to the view outside the window.

Wang Li sat opposite Caihua, still unable to understand what abilities this maid had to collect such a rare and precious object.

Wang Li stared intently at Caihua, trying to find something about Caihua that made her different from others—otherwise, it would be difficult to resolve the doubts in her heart and maintain the pride that she had always been the best among her peers since childhood.

The maid was remarkably calm. She didn't panic when the young lady questioned her. Could it be that some celestial being had taken a liking to her skill? Wang Li wondered, "If I were even calmer than her, would that celestial being choose me?"

Maybe that's true. I've been watching her for so long, and she hasn't even glanced at me once. If it were anyone else around me, they would have already come over and asked me what I needed. Her character is truly admirable.

Wang Li convinced herself and secretly resolved to be calmer than Caihua.

In reality, she just couldn't figure out the Third Miss's habits, so she could only lower her head and hope that the Third Miss wouldn't pay attention to her. Caihua was quietly feeling the flow of spiritual energy in her body, and she was trying to make the spiritual energy seed in her body grow a little more.

Ayaka closed her eyes, thinking that she needed to see the spiritual root. Then she saw a tree with black and green intersecting.

There should actually be two trees, but they are twisted together like hemp rope, with their branches and leaves growing separately. The black and green leaves are intertwined, making it difficult to tell that they are two trees.

Caihua slowly walked to the two trees that were growing together, reached out to touch them, and began to mobilize all her spiritual power to help them grow.

On the other side, Lu Renkui and the system WQBYRZM watched the progress bar surge and were overjoyed.

"It's rising so fast! Yesterday it was only 6%, and today it's already 30%!" Lu Renkui said excitedly.

System WQBYRZM was also extremely excited: "At this rate, we'll soon be able to get it to 60% and then leave this world to do the next mission."

System WQBYRZM had never been so excited. She and her host were both very lucky to have encountered a reliable original owner. For the first time, she was experiencing the exhilarating feeling of being carried by the original owner. Which other system had ever received such treatment before?!

"Speaking of which, didn't it all increase little by little before? Caihua only increased by 1% after burying the spiritual power seed in her body, but it increased to 30% after joining Huaiyu Sect. Isn't that a bit too big of a difference?" After being happy, Lu Renkui felt that the progress bar of this task was growing too fast, so fast that she was a little scared.

The system WQBYRZM waved its hand dismissively and said, "The progress bar for extra tasks increases based on whether or not key plot points have been found, and then the percentage increase is determined by the importance of those key plot points."

"Huaiyu Sect is an important node in the original text. The male protagonist, Jing'an, not only became famous there, but also obtained most of his harem and most of his treasures from Huaiyu Sect. It can be said that by entering Huaiyu Sect, we have taken another step closer to the original plot."

Lu Renkui nodded to indicate that he understood.

System 0814 was roaring in Wang Fenglang's consciousness space: "This is impossible! This is absolutely impossible!! The rate of increase is too fast. Yesterday it was 6%, how did it become 30% this morning?! What is 0733 doing?!?!"

Cheng Menqin clicked his tongue as he looked at the panel in front of him. He was currently ranked second at 10%—because yesterday, Huaiyu Sect came to select people, and they only selected children and not the students who were already adults. Mo Xing had previously received the secret manual from Cheng Menqin, and after looking at it, he had attained enlightenment and had already gone into seclusion. This is why Cheng Menqin was only ranked 10%.

Cheng Menqin looked at the top 30% on the leaderboard, then at his own 10%, and felt that the difference was too great—he wasn't that much behind Melissa.

"It seems that after Melissa dug up the entire lotus pond, she developed other uses for it." Cheng Menqin rubbed his forehead. There were no people in the entire Blowing Sheep City with exceptionally fast cultivation speeds—this was the result his subordinates told him.

Since he wasn't in Yangcheng, he must be in a nearby city, Cheng Menqin thought. He had already sent his men to other cities but hadn't yet told him this information.

If we find him, we must quickly cripple that person's cultivation, and then check which of the three major sects in the Spirit Realm can still allow Mo Xing to enter, and see if we can squeeze him in. Cheng Menqin thought to herself.

As for the remaining one, Cheng Menqin narrowed her eyes and thought for a moment. It shouldn't pose a threat, so she decided to let it go.

"I'm already looking for the nearest plot point, host!!! We can't lose to those two guys, 0733 and Melissa!!!" System 0814 was severely stimulated by this 30% and began frantically searching for the location of the plot point closest to Blowing Sheep City.

Meanwhile, in the Demon Realm, Melissa stared in disbelief at the number one 30%: "What kind of thing did Cheng Menqin pick up? His growth rate is terrifying."

System 0733 shrieked as it looked at the rankings: "Did 0814 use an item on his host? The main system said that if we come to this world to cultivate a protagonist, we can't use items that can disrupt this world. The fact that this world has cultivation manuals from other worlds is already the biggest concession. No way, I'm going to report this to the main system!"

“Calm down,” Melissa called out to System 0733. “The reason the main system warned us not to use the items we obtained from other worlds or the points shop on the people of this world is because the Heavenly Dao of this world does not allow it. If Cheng Menqin really used some unbalanced item to make his protagonist’s strength increase so quickly, then the Heavenly Dao of this world would definitely not allow them to exist here for so long.”

"That means they found a crucial plot point." System 0733 quickly began searching for the key plot points of the male protagonist, Jing'an, in the Demon Realm.

"Should we spare some effort to find a third person?" System 0733 asked.

“It’s useless, it probably won’t amount to anything.” Melissa picked up some rouge and applied it to her lips. “This last place was just an accident. I was only 0.01% away from surpassing that guy.”

"Now I'm tied for second place with that new guy again?" Melissa smiled as she watched her name appear alongside the asterisk that ranked second. A little while later, she surpassed the original asterisk that ranked second and became second herself.

Melissa watched her extra progress steadily increase, reaching 11% before stopping. At this rate, she should be close to 30%.

Lu Renkui, who is ranked first on the leaderboard, and her system WQBYRZM are now discussing whether to give Ayaka a compulsory education. After all, she has already reached 30%, and since they are idle anyway, and Ayaka's literacy rate is low, they might as well let Ayaka learn more characters before leaving. After all, intellectuals are still highly respected in agrarian society. If Ayaka learns more characters, she will be able to understand agreements and other things, and prevent herself from being scammed.

Without further ado, Lu Renkui and the system WQBYRZM found suitable teaching materials for Ayaka to learn to read, and then told Ayaka when she came to the consciousness space that they were going to teach her to read.

Caihua looked pleasantly surprised, and Lu Renkui and the system WQBYRZM became even more certain that intellectuals were highly respected in this society—at least their status was definitely higher than that of ordinary people.

“Today, let’s learn about ‘heaven’.” Lu Renkui took out a book and began to teach Caihua in the same way he taught his younger siblings when he was a child.

And so, on the way from Chuiyang City to Huaiyu Sect, Caihua absorbed spiritual energy to cultivate every day when she was awake, and listened to Lu Renkui's lectures when she was asleep. When Xiaobai was bored, she would play with him.

When the others saw Ayaka acting like this, they ignored her even more.

Wang Li did try to attract Xiao Bai and Cai Hua's attention a few times, but Cai Hua only responded politely, and Xiao Bai didn't like the smell on Wang Li that much. Usually, she would hide in Cai Hua's sleeve and not come out.

Wang Li couldn't and didn't dare to directly lift Caihua's clothes and pull out Xiaobai—the immortal who brought them here, named Xinping, had once asked Caihua to raise her arms so he could try to pull Xiaobai out with two branches. Then Xiaobai beat him up with its tail. In the end, Caihua held down Xiaobai's head, which prevented Xinping from being whipped into a pig's head by Xiaobai.

After traveling by carriage for thirtieth day, the group finally arrived at Huaiyu Sect. Caihua looked at the majestic green mountains in front of her and began to think about how long it would take to reach the sect.

Someone looked at the high mountain and asked in confusion, "Immortal, do we really have to climb such a high mountain?"

Before they could even offer their explanations, another child blurted out, "How could they really make us climb such a high mountain? We'd die from climbing it. They must have used some kind of teleportation array to get us up there."

Hearing what the child behind him said, Xinhe shook his head and said, "You have to go up."

"Huh?!" The children exclaimed in varying degrees.

Xinhe had anticipated this, and he calmly said, "Don't worry, there are no wild animals on the mountain, and the sect will provide you with food regularly. Climbing the mountain will temper your will, and a firm will is of utmost importance in cultivating immortality."

"The hike didn't take long, only three days in total."

"Three days later, the few people closest to the foot of the mountain will be eliminated." Xinhe said, then turned around and followed her master and senior brother back to the sect on their swords, without even looking back at the group of children.

The children stood at the foot of the mountain, each carrying their own bundle, their clothes disheveled in the wind.

The group of children looked at each other. In the end, they still carried their packs and went up the mountain—there was no other way, after all, they had come all this way, and they had to learn something before going back, otherwise it would be too embarrassing.

After walking for a while, some people couldn't take it anymore, put down their packs, sat down, and complained, "Isn't cultivating immortality all about magic? Why do we have to climb mountains? It's so tiring."

This resonated with some of the children, who put down their bags and sat down, seemingly with no intention of going up again.

Caihua decided to rest for a while before leaving, so she sat down near the group of children, quietly listening to them talk, and took out some food from her bag to share with Xiaobai.

As a group of children sat together complaining, a little boy next to them, with a bamboo-green headband embroidered with endless wavy lines, sneered: "If you're so afraid of getting tired, you might as well give up on cultivating immortality and just sit here for the remaining three days."

The other children turned to look at the little boy, puzzled. Some of them reacted quickly, realizing the boy was implying they were useless, and angrily retorted, "You think you're so great? Go climb such a high mountain! Three days, three days! We probably won't even make it to the first platform. What's wrong with sitting here and complaining a bit?"

The little boy with the forehead ribbon said sarcastically, "That's you, not me. It's only three days. I will definitely surpass all of you and become the first person to reach Huaiyu Sect."

Caihua, who had watched the whole thing from the sidelines, was a little puzzled. Had the boy not heard the immortal's instructions clearly? He had been told that he only needed to climb quickly, so why did the boy insist on climbing all the way to the sect's entrance?

Following the principle of asking the immortals when you don't understand anything, Ayaka immediately ran into the consciousness space to ask Lu Renkui and the system WQBYRZM.

Having seen everything through Ayaka's eyes, Lu Renkui thought for a while and came up with a reasonable explanation that Ayaka could understand. He said, "It's okay that he has high standards for himself. But it's not right for him to have such high standards for everyone. You can't do that, okay?"

Ayaka nodded to indicate that she understood.