The moon is bright and the stars are few, and the valley is silent.

The roar of the waterfall supports the sound of the sword, the east turns white unconsciously, and a new day has arrived.

Zuo Lingquan got up early and followed Senior Sister Xiaohua to the living room of Qihuang Valley. He received his clothes and house number and officially became a disciple of Qihuang Valley. Because Wu Qingwan recruited him, he was naturally assigned to the alchemy.

house.

As the name suggests, the alchemy room manages the sect's elixirs and cultivation utensils. Its main responsibilities on weekdays are picking and drying medicines. The senior brothers and sisters who started early are responsible for refining medicines, making utensils, etc.

Zuo Lingquan did not rely on his status as a consort to allow Wu Qingwan to treat him too favorably. He followed the steps of an ordinary disciple, meditating with his brothers and sisters every day, doing simple things, and at the same time having a strong thirst for knowledge to understand the practice.

various doorways.

It was inevitable that Wu Qingwan would have a preference for Zuo Lingquan. She spent her free time studying books, asking her fellow seniors, and answered all of Zuo Lingquan's questions, hoping that Zuo Lingquan would get started smoothly.

Zuo Lingquan is a smart man with a calm personality and great perseverance. He has a photographic memory of Wu Qingwan's narration, and can even draw inferences from one instance and understand the clues and follow-up paths with a little bit of guidance.

But it's a pity that Zuo Lingquan's body is like a walking stone bump. It's obvious that he can learn something, but he can't put it into practice. This makes Wu Qingwan become suspicious, suspecting that Zuo Lingquan is deliberately pretending not to be able to learn.

Play with her.

Fortunately, hard work paid off and things finally turned around.

Seven days later, it was mid-February.

Zuo Lingquan settled in the Alchemy Room, and after seven days he became familiar with the environment of Qihuang Valley and all his senior brothers and sisters.

According to the master's arrangement, the disciples cannot just work behind closed doors in the valley. Every few days, they will follow the deacons or powerful senior brothers in the valley to patrol the depths of the mountains, collect medicinal materials along the way, and drive away ferocious beasts to ensure the safety of the residential areas outside the mountains.

safety.

The Evergreen Mountains span the west side of the Great Dan Dynasty. Disciples with high levels of cultivation early in their journey will patrol the entire Great Dan Dynasty for a few months once they leave. However, those who have just started the journey naturally do not have the ability to run that far and only need to go out for three days.

sky.

Zuo Lingquan had just arrived and had no cultivation at all. He had no chance to patrol the mountains. However, he was no longer a six-year-old boy and had the ability to protect himself. Wu Qingwan said hello and asked him to follow him to practice.

In the early morning, Zuo Lingquan, wearing Qihuang Valley's standard black disciple robe, holding a sword and carrying dry food, came to the central square of Qihuang Valley.

Directly behind the square, there is a main hall, which is the main hall of the sect of Qihuang Valley. It is usually closed all year round, and will only be opened when major events occur.

In the square in front of the temple, there are many teams going out to patrol the mountains. One team of twenty people are waiting to set off in the square outside the main hall. Most of them are young monks at the first and second levels of Qi Refining, with varying ages.

Zuo Lingquan searched in the huge square and came to the team that Wu Qingwan mentioned. The team was led by She Yulong, the deacon of the sword room.

She Yulong is the personal disciple of the great uncle. He is only twenty-four years old and has already passed the seventh level of the twelve levels of "Xuanshu".

A monk with good talent starts practicing at the age of six. He has smooth sailing and never encounters any bottlenecks. He masters one skill in three years and reaches the seventh level at the age of twenty-seven. She Yulong entered the seventh level at the age of twenty-four, which shows that his talent is very good. Therefore,

He is highly valued by his teachers in the valley.

Zuo Lingquan came to the team, and She Yulong, who was carrying a long sword, spoke kindly:

"Ling Quan, this is your first time to go out to patrol the mountains. You don't need to take turns to explore the way like other senior brothers. Just keep up the pace and don't get lost. Otherwise, I won't be able to explain to Senior Sister Jiang."

Although Zuo Lingquan did not deliberately publicize it, his appearance was too outstanding, his status was quite special, and Qihuang Valley was not too big. In just a few days, his personal deeds were widely known by the gossip senior sisters in the alchemy room.

.

Facing She Yulong's ridicule, Zuo Lingquan smiled and stood together with a group of young men and women.

Among the people who went out this time was Wang Rui, whom he met at the gate when he first arrived.

Wang Rui is a disciple of the Discipline Fang. He entered the third level of Qi Refining at the age of eighteen. He is considered to be above average in Qihuang Valley. He is optimistic and outgoing, and has good friendships with his fellow disciples in all the Fangs.

Seeing Zuo Lingquan coming, Wang Rui walked up to him with his sword in hand and joked:

"Junior Brother Zuo, don't worry. There are not many ferocious beasts in the mountain. Even if there are, with Wang Rui here, I will definitely protect Junior Brother Zuo. But as a reward, I will not be able to survive in Qihuang Valley and leave the mountain. Zuo Prince Consort

You have to arrange a good job for me."

"Ha ha……"

All the young men and women chuckled, but they were immediately suppressed by the strict She Yulong.

Zuo Lingquan was definitely not weak in skills. He was a little amused that these little babies were the objects of protection. However, he had no intention of stealing the limelight from his senior brothers and sisters when he first arrived, and he didn't say anything.

After everyone arrived, She Yulong finished counting the roster and set off with a group of twenty people, entering the endless mountains from the exit of the back mountain of Qihuang Valley.

Above the waterfall next to the bamboo forest, Wu Qingwan, wearing a warm yellow dress, was also looking away from the cliff.

It is not 100% safe for disciples in the valley to go out to patrol the mountains, otherwise there would be no need to patrol the mountains.

There are many ferocious beasts in the mountain range. Although most of them will not go to the outside, there are always a few that get lost and wander to the wrong place every year. When disciples patrolling the mountain encounter them, they need to kill or expel them. They cannot be allowed to escape from the mountains and cause harm to the people.

Casualties will inevitably occur during the fight.

Although Wu Qingwan believed in She Yulong's skills, the ferocious beasts would not follow the disciple's fighting strength. If he encountered one that he couldn't deal with, something would definitely happen without the help of his master.

Jiang Yi had just finished choosing her consort. If something happened to Zuo Lingquan, Wu Qingwan would not be able to explain it as an elder. After much hesitation, she turned back to the house, took out her sword, jumped up from the cliff, and followed the team from a distance...

…

——

February is full of spring, and it’s the season of revival for all things.

In the endless Evergreen Mountains, twenty young men and women lined up in a line, walking slowly on the winding road between the mountains.

Although the surrounding area is covered with green trees and long grass, it is located deep in the mountains and old forests, and the tree canopy blocks the sky and the sun, so there is not much scenery to see.

Mountain patrols are very boring. The area Zuo Lingquan patrols is from Qihuang Valley to Heixiazi Ridge a hundred miles away. It is very close to Qihuang Valley. I don’t know how many times I have been stepped on by my brothers and sisters.

Talking about meeting a ferocious beast or even a squirrel, it can make people look at it for a long time.

Most of the twenty disciples accompanying him had tasks assigned by the sect. Whenever they went to a specific place, they would climb up the mountains together and go down to the streams to pick the herbs that had grown. The rest of them would wait to rest where they were; at night

, everyone rested in the camp built by the predecessors, and continued to set off at dawn.

Zuo Lingquan was wary at first, but after walking for a day and night, he gradually realized that this was an ordinary patrol, and he relaxed a little bit of his caution. He kept chatting with Wang Rui who was walking beside him.

By the afternoon of the next day, the sky was covered with dark clouds and it started to rain again.

To be on the safe side, She Yulong did not rush to Heixiazi Ridge and stopped directly in advance at the camp at the foot of Jiguan Ridge.

The camp at Jiguanling is located between the mountains. It is a naturally formed cave. The brothers and sisters who came here before have built earthen stoves outside the cave. Inside the cave, they even used wood and thatch to build temporary beds. Later,

It only needs some maintenance before it can be used.

After walking on the mountain road for nearly two days, most of the young men and women in Qihuang Valley were exhausted. After entering the cave and putting down their belongings, they leaned against the stone wall to rest and eat dry food.

Zuo Lingquan has a strong body and is not tired after running for two days, but he is inevitably disappointed with the daily life of a practitioner.

As a person in two lives, in Zuo Lingquan's imagination, a practitioner should be like a dragon that cannot move but never sees its tail, and magic weapons that fly all over the sky when it moves.

But in his opinion, the practitioners in Qihuang Valley are more like a group of medicine farmers. They can't be said to be wasting their time, but doing these trivial things is indeed a waste of time. If Wu Qingwan hadn't been serious about helping him explore the problems that made him unable to practice, Zuo

I'm afraid Ling Quan has really lost interest in Qihuang Valley and returned to the capital to practice his sword. Quarrel with the eldest princess is better than hiding from the rain here.

It was raining outside the cave. Zuo Lingquan stood at the entrance of the cave, picked up the water bag and took a sip. His mood changed from the joy of entering Qihuang Valley to the confusion of being unable to enter.

Wang Rui stood next to Zuo Lingquan, perhaps sensing his boredom, and said:

"That's how cultivation is. Ninety-nine percent of the time it's boring. If you can't stand it, it'll be the end of the road. When I first came here, I found it boring just like you. But after I got used to it, it felt pretty good. After all, I've been through it for so many years.

Already."

A junior fellow behind him was also patrolling the mountain for the first time. His legs were almost broken. Hearing the words, he complained:

"Senior Brother Wang, how long will this last?"

Wang Rui chuckled and looked up at She Yulong who was carefully patrolling around the camp:

"Practice hard and learn more from Senior Brother She. I heard from my uncles that when we send incense money to Jingtai Terrace next year, we should take Senior Brother She with us. Once we get outside, we will be able to survive."

When the younger brothers and sisters heard this, they all had a look of despair in their eyes. After all, She Yulong's performance in the valley was too good. He was completely focused on his cultivation, like a tireless machine. He had never been lazy since he was a child. Ordinary people would never be lazy.

Fabi.

Zuo Lingquan was also listening. He couldn't practice. He could only enter Qihuang Valley through the back door. He hadn't thought about what was going on outside. Instead, he was more curious about the incense money Wang Rui said:

"We, Qihuang Valley, still have to make offerings to the sects of the Great Yan Dynasty?"

Wang Rui leaned against the stone cave, shook his head and said:

"This can't be said to be an offering. Practitioners who want to worship the nine sects in the south are like crucian carp crossing the river. Even if they enter the outer sect, it will be difficult to reach the sky. They don't lack the incense money of Qihuang Valley. We can give it to them.

Jing Terrace offers incense, and it is for the sake of our ancestor, Shi Chu Jing Terrace, that people reluctantly accept it. Like Fuji Mountain in the north, a wild cultivator with a deviant background cannot find a way out no matter how much money he has from the gods.

deliver."

Zuo Lingquan had heard of the so-called fairy money 'white jade baht', but white jade baht could not be used in the world. He had never seen it even if he had a huge family fortune. He said slightly curiously:

"The fairy money that Senior Brother Wang mentioned is the white jade baht?"

Wang Rui knew that Zuo Lingquan was born in a wealthy family, but he had definitely never seen a white jade baht. There was a bit of embarrassment in his eyes. He turned around and took out one from his arms in front of many junior brothers and sisters.

wooden box:

"Exactly, white jade baht is not an ordinary silver coin. Only the Nine Sects in the South can cast it. If you want to exchange it with secular money, one piece is worth no less than a hundred taels of silver. However, the Great Dan Dynasty does not produce this thing, so generally no one is willing to exchange it.

Most of the ordinary silver coins are exchanged for rare and exotic herbs. I got this coin from a hundred-year-old Ganoderma lucidum I found in the mountains last year, and Master Wu rewarded me with it."

While talking, Wang Rui opened the wooden box - the wooden box was padded with silk and satin, and placed a snow-white coin the size of a copper coin. It was as transparent and crystal clear as nephrite. You could tell it felt great without touching it. There were two words engraved on the front:
To be continued...