This is a bizarre rule, isn't it? It's supposed to grant me many children and good fortune

"The storage room next to the stairwell on the first floor contains brooms, shovels, ash buckets, and brushes."

After Leng Meng finished speaking, she stepped aside to clear the corridor.

"The inspection will be conducted at noon sharp. If the cleanup is not completed, lunch will be canceled."

Thirty-one people sprang into action, rushing headlong into the storage room in the stairwell.

The storage room door was pushed open, and brooms, shovels, ash buckets, and brushes were neatly stacked on the shelves.

Lin Feng took a step forward, turned around to face the crowd, and pressed his palm down:

"Don't crowd. We have six dorm rooms, so we'll divide them into six groups."

"Each group has two brooms, two shovels, two ash buckets, and four brushes."

No one objected.

Then, the six groups of people stepped forward one by one and took the corresponding tools from the shelf in an orderly manner.

Once everyone had their tools in place, Lin Feng reached into his pocket and pulled out the location list that Leng Meng had given him.

The paper was neatly arranged, clearly listing the locations of the twelve fireplaces in the castle that needed to be cleaned.

Lin Feng's gaze swept across the paper line by line, his finger tapping on the paper as he announced the allocation:

"One group: the restaurant and the west wing reading room."

"Group Two, Victor's Study and Victor's Bedroom."

"Group Three..."

After arranging the six groups, he folded the paper, stuffed it back into his pocket, and tilted his head slightly towards his own five family members.

"We're in charge of the fireplaces on the east and west sides of the main hall. Let's get the east side done first."

Six people carrying tools walked quickly through the corridor and turned into the main hall.

The old-fashioned stone fireplace on the east side stands in the corner of the wall. The firebox is deep and wide, and the dark opening is like a silent mouth. A thick layer of ash has accumulated at the bottom, and the edges are covered with dry, cracked, charred grease. Cobwebs hang down from the eaves.

Lin Feng put the iron bucket on the ground, put on a mask and gloves, and without saying a word bent down and crawled into the furnace.

With a forceful pry, the shovel was inserted into the bottom of the ash layer, and the entire ash shell shattered and rolled into the iron bucket.

Tasia followed behind him, squeezing in sideways. She scraped back and forth along the inner wall with a brush, peeling off the charred soot piece by piece to reveal the yellowed stone surface.

Evelyn picked up the iron bucket full of ash and went outside to the main hall, dumping the ashes onto a pile of scrap in the corner.

Wasim squatted outside the furnace opening, using a brush to clean the grease buildup on the furnace door frame and the outer edge of the stonework.

August went around to the side of the fireplace and swept away the dust on both sides, tearing off the cobwebs that were tangled in the brush bristles bit by bit.

Park Tae-rang picked up a broom and gathered the dust and debris that the six people had been trampling underfoot into one place.

Dust rose and swirled in the light streaming in from the high windows.

None of the six people spoke; only the dull thud of shovels scraping against stone, the rustling of brushes rubbing against soot, and the muffled thud of ash rolling into iron buckets filled the empty main hall.

The six people worked together quite well, and it took them about half an hour to clean the fireplace thoroughly.

Lin Feng straightened up, took off his mask to catch his breath, and nodded in satisfaction as he looked at the bluish-gray raw stone that had reappeared on the wall.

"Next one, let's go."

The six people had just turned around and taken two steps when a muffled "whoosh" sound came from behind them, as if someone had suddenly blew a breath into the chimney.

Lin Feng stopped and looked back.

A whirlwind suddenly rose from inside the furnace, and brownish-gray dust poured down from the flue, swirling with cobwebs and debris, and fell back onto the newly polished fireplace walls.

In just a few seconds, everything returned to normal, exactly the same as before it was cleaned.

The six people stood frozen in place, looking at each other in bewilderment.

The silence lasted less than half a minute before hurried footsteps came from the other end of the corridor.

Kana Kazuko jogged over, panting heavily, and pointed in the direction she was in charge of, saying:

"We just swept the fireplace clean, and then a gust of wind suddenly blew in, and... and it got all dirty..."

Next, the other groups also gathered around, and the air was filled with the fatigue and anxiety of having failed to achieve their goal.

"Don't rush." ​​Lin Feng leaned the brush against the wall, pinched his chin, and said, "There's definitely a trick to it."

"The fact that the fireplace is drafty and dirty again indicates that the problem isn't with the ash itself, but rather with something inside the fireplace causing the problem."

"Then let's add some dog blood!" Cai Na, a melon farmer from the White Elephant Kingdom, quickly suggested.

"Evil spirits are afraid of this!"

"Once we clean the fireplace and sprinkle some dog blood in, it'll definitely scare away all the filth in here!"

Wasim rolled his eyes and turned to look at him:

"Where are you going to get dog blood?"

"There are twelve fireplaces. How many dogs would you need to fill that space?"

Caina opened his mouth, but choked.

Lin Feng lowered his eyes slightly, several thoughts racing through his mind.

After a moment, he looked up: "Physical methods are no match for magic—"

He paused for a moment, then a smile suddenly appeared on his lips:

"Then let magic defeat magic."

As he spoke, he raised his hands and formed a strange hand seal in front of his chest.

Wild Summoning, activated.

The next second, the air in front of Lin Feng began to distort violently.

A furry orange paw emerged from the spatial rift, followed by a round, orange figure squeezing out—

Gold ingot.

After landing, Yuanbao let out a long yawn, revealing its pink tongue and two sharp canine teeth. It glanced at Lin Feng sideways, its face saying, "Why are you calling me so early in the morning?"

When someone recognized it, their eyes immediately showed a hint of awe.

Several newcomers who hadn't watched the live stream exchanged bewildered glances, one of them muttering, "A cat can—"

Before he could finish speaking, his mouth was covered by someone next to him.

"Are you out of your mind?!" the man said in a low voice, his face turning pale.

"That orange cat is SS-rank; one fart from it could kill you!"

The person who had been muttering suddenly widened their eyes, their Adam's apple bobbing up and down, and they dared not utter another word.

Lin Feng briefly explained how the fireplace had become dirty.

Yuanbao listened intently with one ear, then wagged its tail and strolled lazily to the fireplace. It poked its round head close to the hearth and sniffed it, then circled the outside of the fireplace twice.

After about several tens of seconds, Yuanbao looked at Lin Feng and said, "There's nothing strange inside."

"Nothing strange?" Lin Feng frowned. "Then what's with the wind?"

"A magic array." Yuanbao patted the furnace wall with its paw. "This gust of wind is the feedback mechanism that the magic array automatically triggers."

"The fireplace itself is a node. Every time you clean one, it's like temporarily cutting off the energy supply to that node."

"When the magic array detects a gap, it will pump energy back into the chimney to fill the filth back in and restore balance."

"A magic circle..." Lin Feng pondered for a moment, then took out the piece of paper with the location of the fireplace written on it from his pocket and spread it on the ground.

Then he took out a pen from the space and, based on his memory of the castle's general layout, drew a simple floor plan, marking the locations of the twelve fireplaces.

After finishing the drawing, he paused for a moment with the tip of his pen, and then connected all the points into a line.

August leaned closer, adjusted his glasses, his gaze fell on the blueprints, his pupils contracted sharply, and he blurted out:

"This is... a six-pointed star pattern!"