Braised Dragon with Soy Sauce

Plans can never keep up with changes.

What followed was completely beyond Mo Yuming's control; to be precise, he and his companions were directly excluded.

After all, the disparity of seventy to two was simply incomparable. Mo Yuming never expected that, just because of refined salt, those old people would so democratically strip them of their "administrative power," and from then on, they would lose their right to "freedom of action."

In addition to being accompanied by five elderly people every day, they also had to pay their respects to the eldest brother, Dugu, every day, and were even deprived of their right to appeal.

The reason why things turned out this way can be traced back to a few days ago.

After the people Zhang the blacksmith had called to help tasted the dishes cooked by Sister Huang on the first day, they all unanimously chose to move their homes here.

Shi Potian acted the fastest. After helping Zhang the blacksmith build the house, he immediately set about choosing a site to build his own house and got to work with great enthusiasm. Even though it was late, he didn't go back but instead went to sleep in the "workshop" that Mo Yuming had built.

The next day, before dawn, he started working again.

The others, though not as reckless as him, were still quite fast. A domed thatched hut could be built in a day or two.

This is mainly because collecting cattail leaves in Ramu Valley took up most of the time; otherwise, the process would have been much faster.

Compared to the nearly one month that Mo Yuming and his partner took to build that "studio," it was many times faster.

Later, as more and more people moved in, someone suggested that everyone divide the work: some people were responsible for collecting cattail leaves, and others were responsible for selecting sites and building outhouses.

As a result, the construction speed became even faster.

Sister Huang never went back after being invited by Zhang the blacksmith that day. She and her assistant, Old Lady Li, temporarily stayed at Mo Yuming's house, sharing a room with Xinlan.

However, everyone had already designed a place for her to live, right next to the "studio" built by Mo Yuming, right next to that small pond.

Furthermore, a vacant lot the size of a football field was reserved in front of the small pond to build a public dining hall, known as the "Big Canteen," as well as a place for rest and gatherings.

This large-scale building was first proposed by Shi Potian. After everyone discussed and agreed, they invited Li Mubai, who lived at the end of Yishi Valley, to oversee the construction.

As for whether he himself will move in and live with everyone, no one knows for sure. Because he, like the place where he currently lives, is unique and otherworldly.

Just as others were dejected and frustrated after falling into the canyon and couldn't get over it for a long time, he was able to remain composed and without any resentment.

The name "Yishi Valley" was chosen by him after he had toured the entire canyon.

Although old man Li Mubai has an eccentric personality, he is not arrogant and belongs to the type who is strict with himself and lenient with others.

He is extremely careful about his words and actions, but he would never use his own standards to judge others, nor would he look down on or distance himself from others because of it.

Because he was considered a highly educated individual in the canyon, although his profound martial arts skills were not low, people preferred to regard him as an old scholar from the countryside and treated him with great respect.

He was jokingly referred to by Shi Potian as "Boss Wen" in the canyon.

This "Boss Wen" readily agreed to everyone's request and came to conduct an on-site inspection the next day, claiming that he would give everyone a result after studying it for two or three days.

On the third day, the people in the canyon began to move about.

The second and third generations of elderly people, who are usually nowhere to be seen, all gathered together at this moment. Zhang the blacksmith even specially made a razor so that these local old rascals could shave their messy hair neatly.

The elderly women even pitched in, using animal hides and woven linen to sew a set of clothes for each of them. After washing and dressing them up, they at least looked like normal people.

With the guidance of Li Mubai, Shi Potian, and others, these old people became the most obedient helpers.

They are like tireless bees, busy running around the construction site all day long, rushing to do all kinds of work.

The construction of the outhouses reached its climax. One after another, round thatched houses sprang up like mushrooms after the rain, forming a cluster with the three outhouses where Mo Yuming lived.

People didn't have high requirements for housing; they just needed a place to shelter from the wind and rain, eat, and sleep. Therefore, the construction progressed very quickly.

That noon, the eldest brother of the Dugu family, who lived at the end of Ruimu Valley, also moved in.

Unlike everyone else, he didn't choose to build a thatched house under the tall spruce trees. Instead, he dug a hole in a boulder some distance from the others' homes in the direction of Ramu Valley, hollowing out the inside of the boulder to use as his dwelling.

Mo Yuming happened to be strolling around when he stumbled upon this scene.

Seeing the old man with a white beard and a skeletal frame splitting and digging rocks with his bare hands, Mo Yuming was amazed and excited by the sight.

The lead-black rock, as hard as steel, was sliced ​​open like tender tofu under his swift, powerful palm strikes.

Amidst the flying stone chips, the stones were cut off piece by piece and thrown to the ground.

In less than an hour, a simple stone chamber, more than ten feet in length, width and height, was excavated. It was square, flat and smooth.

While excavating the stone chamber, the old man Dugu even dug out a stone bed, a stone table, and four stone stools for sitting.

"You've been watching the performance from outside for ages, don't you want to come in and take a look?"

The old man Dugu stood in front of his newly built stone chamber and spoke in an extremely calm tone to Mo Yuming, who was standing in front of him dumbfounded.

The sound wasn't loud, yet every word and every note pierced Mo Yuming's body like a sharp sword, causing a powerful shock within him.

It was as if a series of tangible iron hammers were striking Mo Yuming's mind, making his head spin and his blood surge.

Fortunately, the old man Dugu had no hostility towards him; he just wanted to show off and shock him. He controlled his strength very precisely and did not cause any harm to Mo Yuming.

If Old Man Dugu wanted to kill him, Mo Yuming was absolutely certain that he could kill him several times over based on just one sentence he had just uttered.

After waiting for a long time, Mo Yuming finally came to his senses from the shock and followed the old man Dugu into the stone chamber, where he sat down on a stone stool.

"The light seems a bit dim!"

Mo Yuming looked up and around before speaking.

"That's easy!"

The old man walked to the stone wall near the door, stretched out his palm about a foot above the door, joined his five fingers together, and began to carve on the stone wall with his palm as a knife.

With a few quick "whoosh" sounds, a window hole about a foot long and two feet wide was dug out. The rubble and dust were forced out of the window by the powerful spiritual energy, and not a single speck fell into the room.

Old Man Dugu turned around and sat across the stone table from Mo Yuming, looking at him with a smile.

"Not bad courage. You weren't frightened by my Soul-Shaking Mystic Art just now, and you even had the composure to offer your opinions on my stone chamber. To be so calm at such a young age, you are indeed a promising talent!"

"Grandpa, you flatter me. Yu Ming knows that Grandpa would never hurt Yu Ming, so I am not afraid."

However, the skill Grandpa just demonstrated—making sound material and chopping stone with his hands—was truly impressive, giving Yu Ming a huge fright; he simply couldn't believe it.

Mo Yuming said respectfully.

"How is your breath absorption technique progressing? Have you managed to condense your own spiritual energy vortex in your dantian?"

"After nearly two months of practice, it seems that there is a trace of spiritual energy in my dantian."

Mo Yuming hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Oh, it's good that you have dantian qi. This means you're someone who can cultivate. Do you want to have skills like Grandpa's? Grandpa can teach you!"

The old man nodded and said.

"Thank you, Grandpa. Yu Ming may not have that kind of talent. He's over seven years old now and has only managed to condense a tiny bit of spiritual power within his body. He hasn't even formed a qi vortex yet. He's far inferior to Sister Xin Lan."

She's younger than me, but her spiritual power is already very strong. It seems she'll soon condense her first wisp of energy and awaken her spiritual root.

My aptitude is far too lacking. If I don't learn well, it will not only delay my grandfather's cultivation but also waste his hard work. That would be Yu Ming's fault.

Besides, with so many grandparents here to take care of him, even if Yu Ming doesn't have any profound martial arts cultivation, he won't be harmed. Grandpa, why don't you teach Xinlan instead? She's much stronger than me!

Mo Yuming had long heard that Old Man Dugu was a cultivation fanatic who did nothing but cultivate all day long.

If he were to be targeted by him, Mo Yuming would be in for a rough time. Having been free-spirited since childhood, how could he possibly accept being controlled after transmigrating?

Furthermore, being in this secluded canyon, with no end in sight, spending countless hours desperately cultivating was not his choice.

What's the point of desperately improving your cultivation level? It's better to think of ways to leave the valley as soon as possible.

He didn't want to be like those old men, forever locked up in this isolated prison.

Through this period of time, Mo Yuming has gained a basic understanding of the situation of practitioners of profound arts on this continent.

Over thousands of years, based on the experience of countless cultivators, it has been concluded that at least half of the people on the Tianxuan Continent cannot sense spiritual energy. These people are considered to be without spiritual roots and destined to be ordinary people for life.

Those who can sense the existence of spiritual elemental bodies and condense spiritual power within their bodies through cultivating the basic techniques of the Absorption and Exhalation Technique are called people with spiritual roots.

However, after continuously cultivating and absorbing spiritual energy, less than half of these people with spiritual roots are able to condense a spiritual energy vortex and awaken their spiritual roots.

In other words, less than 20% of the population on the entire continent can become practitioners of profound arts.

Only those who have condensed a vortex of spiritual energy within their bodies and successfully awakened their spiritual roots can be called cultivators of profound arts.

Human infants typically learn the art of breathing techniques around the age of three to four under the guidance of adults.

Through continuous practice, they gradually became aware of the spiritual energy they inhaled, and through repeated attempts, they were able to incorporate the inhaled spiritual energy into their meridians to achieve the effect of strengthening their muscles and bones.

If a child has good aptitude, that is, a child with spiritual roots, they will sense the existence of spiritual elemental bodies during this process, and absorb these elemental bodies into their body to condense spiritual power and store it in their dantian.

Over time, the spiritual energy in the dantian will accumulate more and more, eventually condensing into a vortex of spiritual energy. Once the vortex of spiritual energy is formed, it signifies the awakening of the spiritual root, truly stepping into the path of profound cultivation, and reaching the lowest level of the profound cultivation level classification—the initial stage of the human realm.

This process varies from person to person. Those with good aptitude can achieve it in one or two years, forming a spiritual energy vortex to awaken their spiritual roots and stepping into the threshold of a profound cultivation practitioner.

Those with slightly lower aptitude may awaken their spiritual roots after three to five years; as for those with even lower aptitude, it may take decades before they can awaken their spiritual roots.

This process may seem simple, but it requires long-term, arduous practice from anyone to achieve. Undoubtedly, it involves a great deal of hardship and demands unwavering perseverance.

However, based on the experience accumulated over thousands of years, those with excellent aptitude usually awaken their spiritual roots between the ages of five and six and enter the ranks of those who cultivate profound arts.

Those with average aptitude will awaken their spiritual roots before the age of ten. As for those who awaken their spiritual roots after the age of ten, they are basically those with extremely poor aptitude.

Because Mo Yuming lost the memories of the previous owner of this body, he did not know whether his predecessor had cultivated any basic profound techniques.

If he has cultivated before, it means that his body is not considered a genius with good aptitude, since anyone with slightly better aptitude may have already awakened their spiritual root.

Unless he had never cultivated at all. But judging from the fervor with which people in this world cultivate profound arts, the possibility that his predecessor had never cultivated basic profound arts techniques is almost zero.

Fortunately, after the last Maple Leaf Fruit incident, Mo Yuming learned that he was a person with spiritual roots, but his aptitude was probably not very good. He was the kind of person who was likely to awaken his spiritual roots.

Therefore, although Mo Yuming still insists on practicing the basic techniques of Xuan Gong every night to gather spiritual power, his enthusiasm for Xuan Gong cultivation is not very high.

The previous Maple Leaf Fruit incident left Mo Yuming with a lingering fear of spiritual energy infusion.

The memory of that pain is still vivid. I fear that I will suffer that inhuman torment again during the cultivation of the profound arts.

Therefore, I have a slight resistance to reckless and desperate cultivation. I just want to practice casually to improve my health. I never thought about self-torture or pursuing supreme profound skills.

This time it was Old Man Dugu's turn to be shocked. He stared at Mo Yuming as if he were looking at a monster, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

There are actually people in the world who don't want to become his disciples and cultivate profound skills! Others, even without the necessary conditions, still squeeze out time to learn, and without a teacher, they rack their brains to practice diligently.

You're something else! A high-level expert at the Heavenly Rank is offering to teach you, and you're still making excuses and refusing to learn! You're not naturally gifted, don't you know that hard work can make up for lack of talent?

"you……"

Old Man Dugu was almost driven to his death by Mo Yuming. He was in a good mood and was just waiting for Mo Yuming to come and happily become his apprentice. Who would have thought that Mo Yuming would say such a thing?

He was so angry that he trembled and couldn't even speak. He had lived for over two hundred years and had never taken on a disciple. He found this kid pleasing to the eye and for the first time considered taking him on as his last disciple. He never expected him to be such a degenerate fellow.

The more the old man Dugu thought about it, the angrier he became. How could his luck be so bad? He found someone who was probably the only person on the entire continent who didn't want to cultivate profound skills. This must be the first person like him before and after!

He was seething with anger, unable to vent it for a long time. His once youthful appearance and white hair turned purple, like Guan Yu with his hair standing on end in fury. He stood there frozen like a statue, not moving an inch for a long time.

Seeing this, Mo Yuming realized he had made a huge mistake and quickly took the opportunity to slip away.

He ran quickly to his room, hid, and didn't show himself again until dinner.

Fortunately, Old Man Dugu didn't come looking for him again. Mo Yuming even secretly looked around, but didn't see Old Man Dugu appear. He guessed that Old Man Dugu was quite angry with him.