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Chapter 378: The Hardworking Xiao Luan
🕑 Added 2024-10-22 06:42:21 +0000 UTCLiu Yunan often thought to himself, seeing the transformation in his mother. If her family hadn't encountered misfortune back then, perhaps she would have married into a wealthy family or taken charge of a household herself. By now, she would have been this dignified and commanding figure, much like she appeared today. Watching his mother’s changes made him genuinely happy for her.
The Lingxian Sect was truly a blessing.
As for the one with the least change, it would likely be Elder Lin, the head of the spirit fields, and the team working under him. After all, their daily lives hadn't changed much from before. The only difference now was that they had a designated leader, whereas before, they managed things as a group without much structure.
With the kitchen and dining hall on Floating Island fully operational, the members of Lingxian Sect now enjoyed three meals daily, without missing a single one. Jiang Youfu, aside from spending his mornings in the cultivation hall with the others, spent almost all his time in the kitchen. After the recent trip to the cultivation world, he and Lin Xiao had brought back many new and exotic ingredients. Lately, he was enthusiastically experimenting with these new ingredients, exploring new flavor combinations.
Additionally, there was the meat from the beasts in the Beast Garden, an area he hadn’t delved into before. Now, every time he tried to obtain more meat from the Beast Garden, he found himself dealing with Xiao Luan, who always held things up, especially when it came to slower-growing beasts. Xiao Luan guarded them fiercely, refusing to yield no matter how much Jiang Youfu tried to convince it.
It turned out that when you give a seemingly irresponsible child some responsibility, they mature quickly.
Initially, Lin Xiao had been somewhat uneasy about putting Xiao Luan in charge of the Beast Garden. He even thought about taking the title back if it proved too unreliable. Moreover, he had been concerned since Xiao Luan was a beast itself and might develop some negative feelings after witnessing how the sect dealt with other beasts meant for sale or consumption.
Lin Xiao wasn't the only one worried—many within the sect shared similar concerns.
However, the outcome surprised everyone.
Since receiving the title, Xiao Luan seemed like a completely different creature, shedding its previous careless image. The first thing it did was use its identity token to thoroughly research how the Beast Garden functioned, practicing repeatedly until it mastered it. It even started showing up regularly in the cultivation hall, diligently working to absorb the power of the Silver Frost Python's demon core, a stark contrast to its previously lazy attitude toward cultivation.
In just over ten days, Xiao Luan, who had been stuck at the Ninth Level of Qi Opening, formed a tiny demon core the size of a grain of rice and successfully advanced to the Core Formation Stage. It was a far cry from the previous year when, despite having access to the demon core of a Nascent Soul Stage beast and the rich spiritual energy of the cultivation hall, it had only managed to reach the ninth level.
After that, Xiao Luan approached Liu Yunan for a small notebook and charcoal pen, hanging them around its neck. Then, with a proud strut, it ventured into the Beast Garden alone, using the basic arithmetic it had recently learned from Yang Jinshu to create a meticulous yet cryptic system of statistics.
After counting the number of beasts and studying their habits, Xiao Luan began negotiating with Elder Lin, asking him to plant beast fodder. The reason? The naturally grown fodder in the Beast Garden was inconsistent and couldn’t provide the beasts with a stable and nutritious diet.
The scene played out like this:
Xiao Luan arrived before Elder Lin, who, with a kindly gaze, asked in his somewhat rusty Beast Tongue, "Xiao Luan, what brings you here today?"
In response, Xiao Luan pulled a large bag of seedlings from the storage bag Lin Xiao had given it and dropped them before Elder Lin. Then, with eyes gleaming, it clucked rapidly, "Cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck!"
It explained that it wanted Elder Lin to help plant the beast fodder, reasoning that balanced meals would ensure the beasts grew more meat and accumulated more spiritual energy.
Elder Lin was bewildered at first, since he'd never raised beasts before and hadn’t realized Xiao Luan had such expertise. He assumed it was because beasts naturally understood their own kind better, and he thought Lin Xiao had made the right choice in giving Xiao Luan charge of the Beast Garden. He praised Xiao Luan, saying, "Ah, I see. Raising beasts is quite a science, isn’t it? Xiao Luan, you're impressive!"
Hearing this praise, Xiao Luan puffed up with pride, practically lifting its tail in the air. Then it launched into a lengthy explanation, delving into more details about beast raising. The two, man and beast, conversed like old friends.
With the fodder issue settled, Xiao Luan began daily negotiations with the Finance Hall and the sect's kitchen, ensuring no one could easily take a beast from the garden. Perhaps due to this increased communication, or maybe thanks to its advancement to the Core Formation Stage, Xiao Luan's ability to speak fluently had also improved.
It even started studying the sect’s Beast Tongue manual, practicing articulation, and occasionally uttering single syllables from its tiny beak.
In no time, Xiao Luan had become one of the most diligent members of Lingxian Sect, surpassing everyone else in effort.
Everyone was baffled by Xiao Luan's sudden change. What had happened? Had its “chicken soul” been swapped?
It wasn’t until Sun Yigao, head of the Library Pavilion, mentioned that, before the second sect assembly, Xiao Luan had borrowed two books. One was titled "Taming Beasts: Become the Lord of All Monsters!", and the other, "Postpartum Care for Sow Demons".
Sun Yigao only discovered this because Xiao Luan had returned the books the previous day.
After hearing this, everyone’s curiosity about the two books was piqued, so Sun Yigao pulled them out from his robes and passed them around for everyone to see.
Thus, the mystery of Xiao Luan’s transformation was solved.
After learning about this, Da Tao, Xiao Luan’s disciple, silently revered the two books as sacred texts in its heart. It even made a silent vow—to learn how to read and write properly so it could make countless copies of these two books and spread their wisdom far and wide!
And so, the second most diligent member of Lingxian Sect emerged.
That day, while Liao Pantu was at the dinner table, he extended an invitation to everyone. "Tomorrow, would any of you have time to visit the Yao Guang Small World?"
Lin Xiao, who had just picked up a bite of food with his chopsticks, paused and asked, "Is it fully ready? Can we take a look now?"
After speaking, he finally popped the food into his mouth, savoring the flavor.
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