Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 86 Expanding the Scale
In the afternoon, before the start of the Confucian classics class, Ye Shuyun specifically sought out Murong Ruyan and asked, "Senior Sister, I haven't had a chance to thank you for your help yet. I heard from Xiao Ba that you want the Ye family to do something. I wonder what it is?"

Upon hearing this, Murong Ruyan felt guilty for a moment, but then quickly regained her confidence.

It was she who told the Ye family to come to the White Stone Immortal Sect to find her, which led to everything that followed. As a transaction, it was only reasonable for her to help with a "small favor"!
Besides, my mother once said that everyone in the world is driven by profit, and as long as there is something to gain, it is a win-win situation!
So she raised her chin slightly and said, "It's nothing major. I just heard that the Ye family also has businesses in Bohai Kingdom, so I wanted to ask the Ye family to expand their businesses and help keep an eye out for some information!"

Ye Shuyun tilted her head, seemingly quite surprised by Murong Ruyan's request.

"Senior Sister, your surname is Murong. If I'm not mistaken, you should be from the royal family of Xiao Kingdom. Why then do you..." Ye Shuyun stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing, "Could it be that Senior Sister is a descendant of the Da clan of Bohai Kingdom who was sent to marry Xiao Kingdom back then?!"

Murong Ruyan's expression suddenly changed, and she pressed, "The Ye family even knows this?"

Ye Shuyun replied, "Bohai Kingdom is currently in turmoil and has been unstable. For the sake of convenience, the Ye family inquired a bit more... Besides, this matter is not a secret."

Although Murong Ruyan had some doubts about Ye Shuyun's answer, it wasn't entirely unreasonable.

The reason for the internal strife in Bohai was partly because the late emperor had not yet left a will. In terms of seniority, it should have been Murong Ruyan's mother who ascended the throne.

At that time, military power was divided between Da Ku Shuo Rong Zheng and Da Yu Lou Chang Yi. Murong Ru Yan's mother, Da Qi Qi Hua Yu, was unable to resist the two's alliance, so she had no choice but to be "exiled" to Xiao State for a marriage alliance.

In addition, the late emperor did leave a will, but it was destroyed by Hua Yu, the great beggar who was by his side at the time—how could the children of the imperial family not have ambitions?

Unfortunately, Lou Changyi of the Great Yu Kingdom, who was supposed to support Da Qiqi Huayu, betrayed her at the last minute, causing Da Qiqi Huayu to be detained in the princess's residence by her younger brother, Da Kushuo Rongzheng, before she could even hold her enthronement ceremony. It wasn't until Da Kushuo Rongzheng ascended the throne that an imperial edict sent her to the Xiao Kingdom for a marriage alliance...

This incident caused quite a stir at the time, because later Da Ku said that Rong Zheng and Dayu Lou Changyi had fought each other in the palace for several days, but the latter failed and lost his head.

In comparison, the beggar Hua Yu actually saved her life...

Murong Ruyan did not deny it, but took out a few sheets of paper from her sleeve and instructed, "I have a few lists here, which may be useful for contacting some people. However, given time, I will personally return to Bohai Kingdom to take over these matters. Can the Ye family handle this?"

Without the slightest hesitation, Ye Shuyun took the paper and nodded readily: "This is not difficult. The Ye family has always intended to expand its business in Bohai Kingdom. Senior Sister's list has come at just the right time. By the time Senior Sister goes down the mountain, the Ye family will surely have everything ready in Bohai Kingdom, waiting for Senior Sister's command."

Before long, Murong Ruyan and Ye Shuyun had reached an agreement on the terms.

At the same time, it was also the time for Xu Wen to lecture on Confucian classics.

However, Ye Shuyun's scholarship was no less than Xu Wen's, so she was granted an "exemption" and did not have to attend classes with him.

To pass the time, Ye Shuyun took out a chessboard and started playing chess with Ye Chengyu. It wasn't until evening, when Chang Ping'an finally had some free time, that Ye Shuyun truly began to inquire about the content of cultivating immortality.

The main reason is that there are only two copies of the "Elementary Qi Refining Book" in the entire sect.

One copy was Xu Ying's handwritten copy, which he kept himself. The other original copy was temporarily being looked after by Chang Ping'an and was currently in Murong Ruyan's possession. If Ye Shuyun weren't blind, Murong Ruyan would have been happy to lend the book to this "junior brother" who was several years older than her, but since he couldn't see, it would be somewhat foolish of her to offer him the book.

Fortunately, Chang Ping'an took into consideration that his "new junior brother" was born blind, and explained in detail how he sensed qi and how to guide qi into his body, so Ye Shuyun had no doubts.

Unfortunately, that evening, Murong Ruyan, unwilling to give up, specifically asked her master for a bowl of kudzu root soup and forced it down Ye Shuyun's throat.

Just as Zhang Chengdao had said, it had no effect.

Murong Ruyan finally gave up.

After the White Stone Martial Arts Tournament ended, even more people came to visit the White Stone Immortal Sect.

Zhang Chengdao had to work from dawn till dusk, roughly delineating an area for the entire sect, and then gradually splitting open cracks to completely turn the entire mountain range into an isolated island.

It took four or five days in total to split and push the crack to a width of nearly five zhang (approximately 10 meters).

This width is difficult for even martial artists below the eighth rank to cross, unless they are extremely skilled in lightness skills, in addition to ordinary people.

In the past few days, Zhang Chengdao has also left four blue names and one purple name among the people who have come to join the sect, which can be considered as expanding the sect's scale.

That's right, it wasn't until he saw the purple name that Zhang Chengdao realized there was a purple color between blue and gold!

Why is purple even rarer than gold? Is that true?
Zhang Chengdao hesitated for a long time but still did not accept the person with the purple name as his disciple.

After all, he didn't know if there was a limit to the number of apprentices he could take on with his cheat system. If there was a limit, then it would be a waste to use a spot to recruit a purple card.

So, after thinking for a long time, Zhang Chengdao decided to throw Zika into the group of outer disciples and let him look after the mulberry forest alone, and be responsible for shaking the trees every day.

Of the four new blue-card members, one was assigned to mine stones, and another to mine iron ore; both were assigned as disciples of the Spirit Mine Peak. The other two went to the Spirit Cultivation Peak, where they were responsible for planting, harvesting, and maintaining over a hundred plots of farmland.

These disciples work in the morning, have lunch at the thatched hut courtyard, and then attend classes in the adjacent study room in the afternoon—so many people squeezed in that the small study room was almost overflowing with tables and chairs!
Jiang Xinghe, who had been assigned to the bamboo forest, was also asked to take charge of those rosewood saplings because Zhang Chengdao had bought several more from the mall and planted them behind the bamboo forest.

The Huanghuali tree sapling is a newly unlocked tree species in the shop. The items, seedlings, and animals unlocked in the shop are gradually unlocked based on the total level of the cheat. Although the Huanghuali tree is called a "pear tree", it is actually a type of sandalwood. Its main function is to produce hardwood, and it does not bear pears.

Hardwood is a necessary material for upgrading buildings. Based on the growth rate in the original game, it will take at least six days before logging can begin and hardwood materials can be produced.

For a time, Zhang Chengdao, who had nothing to do and no time to play, had no choice but to cultivate day and night.

Oh no, the plane is going to crash. The data has been terrible these past two days. I feel like there's no hope for Sanjiang. Sigh _(:з」∠)_
Well, if it doesn't make it onto the Sanjiang list, it'll probably be available for purchase soon.


(End of this chapter)