Shuihengyuan
This is the small courtyard with three entrances where Zhao Yueer lives. It is not known why the courtyard was named "Shuiheng", nor is it known which senior scholar of the Zhao family named it. This name is very popular with my wife. It is said that it is because of the word "water". Therefore, this became Zhao Yue'er's residence.
When Yang Zhen woke up, it was still dark outside the window. There was an autumn rain last night, the courtyard was damp, and the air was filled with the fragrance of the clean rainwater.
Holding the candlestick in his hand, he walked along the corridor and passed through two corridors before arriving at the innermost room.
The door to the west wing was ajar. After knocking several times, a girl's voice quickly came from inside: "Hey, I understand."
After a rustling sound, the door opened and a girl in a green gauze skirt came out.
"Little Shitou, you got up so early!" the girl greeted with a bright smile.
"Good morning, Sister Caiyun, go and call the lady, I'm going back."
"Okay. I'm going to be scolded by the lady again." The girl covered her mouth slightly, feeling helpless.
…
It has been a month since Yang Zhen came to Zhao Mansion.
After giving the exercises to his grandmother for detailed reference that day, she quickly helped him draw up a new recipe list. Afterwards, he received the spirit stones in batches from Caiyan.
With the spirit stone, he soon became a frequent visitor to the market, especially the butcher shops that sold the flesh and blood of various monsters. He would go there to purchase them every ten days. Although I didn’t buy much each time, because of my young age, I easily left an impression on the stall owners.
According to the requirements of the physical exercise method, after eating monster meat, you need to perform physical exercises twice, one in the evening after a full meal, and the other in the early morning of the next day.
Since then, Yang Zhen has developed a habit of getting up early every day.
He gets up at 9 o'clock every day (five o'clock in the morning), jogs all the way from Shuihengyuan to the back mountainside, finds a flat land, and then practices gymnastics, performing the first seven postures from beginning to end, and then goes down the mountain to start his day.
His habit was soon known to his wife. Since that conversation with grandma, Madam changed her past doting on Zhao Yue'er and began to let her learn to endure some hardships without fear of her falling and getting hurt. Therefore, this poor little girl was forced by her mother to get up at the same time as Yang Zhen every day and exercise together.
Yue'er was naturally very dissatisfied, but could her little arms twist over her thighs? Naturally, he obeyed obediently.
In this way, every morning, Yang Zhen would wake up Caiyun first, and then Caiyun would wake up Zhao Yue'er.
Soon, the back room heard the little girl lying in bed acting coquettishly and throwing tantrums, as well as Caiyun's gentle persuasion and threats. Yang Zhen sounded amused and did not stay here to watch the fun. He returned the same way and called Caisi who lived next door.
Caisi is still nominally Zhao Yue'er's maid, under Caiyun's management, but now all her work is for Yang Zhen. She got up now to boil hot water for Yang Zhen. Every time after practicing the exercises, Yang Zhen's body would be sweaty and smelly, so she would naturally have to take a shower when she came back.
Not long after, I saw a little girl wearing white silk clothes, still yawning and rubbing her eyes, walking out of the yard. When she saw Yang Zhen, she also greeted Yang Zhen feebly:
"Brother Shitou, good morning!"
This little girl is naturally Zhao Yue'er. Since Yang Zhen became her companion, the two have fought many times in the martial arts arena, and Yang Zhen has never won. So now that she calls Yang Zhen brother, Yang Zhen can only accept it honestly. She is not as skilled as others, so she will not engage in verbal disputes. Only if you win the fight in the future can you get this place back.
Yang Zhen smiled, pointed to the mountain in the distance and said, "It's the same as before, let's see who gets there first."
"Okay!" When the game came up, Yue'er was no longer sleepy and hurriedly came to Yang Zhen's side, pretending to be ready to go.
Following Yang Zhen's command, the two of them rushed out together.
"It rained last night, be careful of slippery roads..." Caiyun shouted from far behind.
…
Zhao Yue'er's pace on the martial arts field was erratic and changeable, but that was not the case in a race like this on a mountain road. Yang Zhen quickly left her behind and reached the finish line first.
A moment later, Zhao Yue'er also arrived. She was a little unhappy because she couldn't get ahead. According to the agreement, since she lost, she could not call Yang Zhen brother on this day.
Yang Zhen ignored her and started doing gymnastics on her own.
He has become very proficient in the three exercises added in the second stage these days. At this time, proceed step by step, starting from the first posture. Zhao Yue'er was practicing a newly learned sword technique not far away. The two of them did not interfere with each other and concentrated on practicing. After a while, Caiyun also climbed up.
The movements of the gymnastics should be performed from slow to fast, gradually spreading the blood and spiritual power in the monster to all parts of the body. After Yang Zhen performed the first move, her muscles and meridians all over her body felt slightly warm. This was the best state for her body to absorb the energy of animal meat.
He immediately began to perform the second and third forms, and the speed gradually increased, and by the seventh form it had doubled. The whole body felt like it was being burned by fire. It felt warm at first, but then it became hotter and hotter. A stream of heat washed and moisturized every muscle and joint in the body, with a hot and tingling feeling. As the waves washed away, his muscles and joints seemed to be filled with these pervasive heat flows, and a large amount of energy circulated in his body. His face was red from holding back, like a drunkard who had drunk too much, and his body was slightly uncomfortable.
"This is because the fire spirit beast has reached its saturation point, and this cycle is about to end." He thought to himself.
In the second stage, there are three training sessions, each with five small cycles, each lasting about ten days. According to the order of water, wood, fire, earth, and metal, monsters with different attributes are eaten in different cycles. He is currently in the cycle of fire monsters, and what he is eating is the Fire Rock Rabbit mentioned before.
"As long as the Fire Rock Rabbit's ears don't have yellow ear rings, it's not an earth variant. You can choose it with confidence." This is what Mammy told him after reading the classics. She didn't know this identification method before.
According to his performance in practicing just now, he can no longer eat fire rock rabbits, and it is time to look for earth-type monsters as the main food for the next cycle.
It's still early, just in time to go to the market.
He cleaned up, said hello to Caiyun, and left first.
Zhao Yue'er saw it over there and shouted angrily: "I want to go to Fangshi too!". She had already figured out the rules and knew that today was the day for Yang Zhen to go to Fangshi.
Yang Zhen ignored her.
This time is when the monks are practicing. At this time, the grandmother and the wife are practicing. No one is accompanying them. How can they let her follow?
Yang Zhen returned to the room, and Cai Si had already boiled the water. Yang Zhen quickly finished taking a bath and looked at the sky. Before midnight, he called Caisi, took the spiritual stone he received from Caiyan yesterday, and they walked towards Fangshi together.
Fangshi is not far from Zhao Mansion, so the two of them spent most of their time walking through the manor. When we arrived at Fangshi, it was already white in the east and there were already many people in Fangshi.
The two of them first came to Zhao's herb shop. This shop just changed its shopkeeper not long ago. The new one heard some gossip from somewhere and was very respectful to Yang Zhen. Yang Zhen would personally receive her every time she came to the store, which he was not used to.
Fortunately, the shopkeeper was usually not around at this time, and the door of the shop had just opened. After Yang Zhen entered, she greeted the waiter and took three candied haws from him.
The candied haws seller usually only comes in the morning and goes back in the evening. Yang Zhen's time does not overlap with his, so she asks him to deliver the candied haws to the store, and Yang Zhen comes to pick it up the next day. This thing won't go bad if you leave it for a day or two.
Caisi took the two candied haws with a smile, took out one and ate it. Just for this candied haws, which costs only one silver coin, this girl follows Yang Zhen to the market every time.
Caisi walked in front, and Yang Zhen followed behind. When she wasn't paying attention, she stuffed the candied haws into her arms, and then... the candied haws disappeared.
Where have you gone? Naturally, it is in the stone space.
This was the last time when he and Cai Si went to the market. At that time, each of them had one candied haws. Yang Zhen kept hers and planned to bring it to Zhao Yue'er.
But he thought it was inconvenient to hold it in his hand, so he wrapped it in paper and stuffed it into his pocket - this pocket was specially made by Caiyun. It was on the inside of the clothes and could not be seen from the outside.
Then the candied haws disappeared. He fell on the road at that time, and he and Caisi went back and forth to look for it for a long time. After all, it was a silver coin! But it was nowhere to be found.
It wasn't until he entered the stone space that night and saw the empty candy wrapper next to the grass and a slender bamboo stick that he naturally understood everything.
He always thought that this stone would only absorb spiritual stones, and other things would need to be brought in by himself. This was the first time he discovered that the stone could absorb other things on its own.
This discovery surprised and delighted him, as it meant he could store items more conveniently. Sure enough, from then on, as long as he put something not far from the stone and expressed his intention to put it in, the thing would automatically disappear and appear in the stone space.
As for whether he can take things out of the space during the day, he has not yet succeeded.
Another discovery he made was that Xiaocao didn't just eat spiritual stones and water. She also liked many good things, such as these candied haws, and the spiritual liquid sold in the market. A barrel of spiritual energy was equivalent to one spiritual stone. Yang Zhen once bought a small cup and secretly fed it to Xiaocao. The little thing immediately expressed satisfaction to him.
There are also spiritual wine, spiritual honey, elixirs... there are many good things.
…
The two of them were familiar with the road and soon arrived at the meat shop. The place was filled with a smell of odor. Yang Zhen left the colored silk outside and went in to purchase it herself.
"Sister-in-law Gu, how can you sell this mountain rat like you?"
"Each live one will be given to you with spiritual stones, including the iron cage; if you just buy meat, it will be ten pounds of spiritual stones." A woman with a big body and a round waist replied.
The flesh and blood of monster beasts in this meat shop generally come from two sources. One is raised by some cultivating families themselves, who are specially raised to be sold and exchanged for spiritual stones. For example, the fire rock rabbit that Yang Zhen just ate came from this way.
There are also alliances formed by some casual cultivators, who often form teams to go deep into the wilderness to hunt monsters. Like this mountain rat, it is good at digging holes and can easily run away if kept in captivity, so it is usually hunted in the wild. The price of such monster meat is naturally a bit more expensive than domesticated meat.
This Sister-in-law Gu is a casual cultivator. When encountering such casual cultivators who fight with their lives in exchange for resources, Yang Zhen usually does not bargain much. He quickly selected two, handed over two spiritual stones, and carried Two iron cages came out.
An adult mountain rat weighs more than 20 pounds. Of course, it is more cost-effective to buy it alive. This monster's only ability is in making holes, and it has no other means of attack, so Yang Zhen is not afraid of any danger if she carries it in her hand.
In addition to the Mountain Rat, you also need to buy some meat from other Five Elements Spirit Beasts. Yang Zhen then went to the place where the giant fish was sold. This fish is exactly the strange man-eating fish that Yang Zhen saw on the first day she came to this world. It looks very ferocious, but in fact it is just a semi-advanced monster, and its five-element attribute is water.
"Six pounds of fish, one spirit drop per pound, six spirit drops in total." This fish is really cheap.
"Uncle, I only have silver coins here. I'll give you six silver coins." Most of these fish come from the family's spiritual pond, so Yang Zhen naturally has to bargain hard, and try not to use spiritual stones if she can use silver coins.
"You little kid, it's like this every time. This time, I want some spirit drops!" the fish seller said with a smile.
Yang Zhen knew that he was teasing her and was ready to talk more, but she heard a voice from behind:
"Six spirit drops, I'll give them for this little friend."
PS: It feels good to write it like this now.
