Huang Rong from The Return of the Condor Heroes: Brother Jing, let's get a divorce.

early morning.

When Yang Guo returned to Chongyang Palace from the Ancient Tomb, it was just dawn.

He walked very fast. Last night, on the jade bed, he opened up four extraordinary meridians in one go, and his internal energy was as abundant as ever. His footsteps were light on the bluestone pavement, and the soles of his shoes barely touched the ground.

Push open the gate to the sect leader's courtyard.

There are people in the yard.

Lu Wushuang squatted beside the water vat. In front of her was a copper basin filled with steaming hot water. Neatly placed beside her were a white face towel, a piece of soap, and a wooden comb.

Yang Guo stood at the door and blinked.

This girl usually sleeps in like a log. Every day, Yang Guo comes back from his sword practice while she's still curled up on the bed, snoring. Today she's actually up earlier than him? And she even brought hot water for him?

Lu Wushuang heard footsteps and stood up.

She changed her clothes. Instead of the loose-fitting old gray Taoist robe, she wore a white undergarment. Although she still wore a Taoist robe over it, it was clearly cinched at the waist, making her look much more neat and efficient.

Her hair had been combed and tied up with a wooden hairpin, revealing her clean forehead and neck.

Yang Guo noticed that she had a red string tied around her left wrist. A jade pendant of emerald green hung from the red string.

That was something Huang Rong gave her last night.

"The water's ready. Wash your face," Lu Wushuang said, head bowed.

Her voice was much lower than usual, lacking that harsh edge.

Yang Guo didn't move. He crossed his arms, leaned against the door frame, and looked Lu Wushuang up and down.

This girl is acting strange today.

This is very unusual.

Normally, if he asked Lu Wushuang to bring him a cup of tea, she would roll her eyes three times and grumble for a long time before finally moving. Why was she so proactive in boiling water, preparing a basin, and getting a face towel ready this morning?

A thought immediately flashed through Yang Guo's mind—what exactly did Huang Rong say to her last night?

"Are you sure you didn't take the wrong medicine?" Yang Guo asked deliberately.

Lu Wushuang raised her head and glared at him. A hint of fierceness flashed through her eyes, but she forcefully suppressed it.

"Are you going to wash it or not? If not, I'll throw it away." Lu Wushuang's words were still harsh, but her tone had softened considerably.

Yang Guo smiled. He strode over and sat down on the stone bench next to the copper basin.

He leaned back, placing his hands naturally on his knees, his eyes fixed on Lu Wushuang.

"Wash me. Help me wash." Yang Guo leaned his face forward.

Lu Wushuang bit her lip. She hesitated for two seconds.

Before yesterday, she would have simply picked up the copper basin and placed it on Yang Guo's head.

But Huang Rong's words from last night were still echoing in her ears.

"If you continue to have only a master-servant relationship with him, then you will always be an outsider on this mountain."

And there's my cousin's jade pendant. It's warm to the touch, pressed against my wrist.

Lu Wushuang took a deep breath.

She picked up a towel, soaked it in hot water, and wrung it out until it was half-dry. Then she squatted down, held the towel in both hands, and wiped Yang Guo's face.

Her movements were stiff. Her fingers were exerting force, making Yang Guo's face sting.

It's less like wiping his face and more like sanding Yang Guo's face with sandpaper.

"Gently! Are you washing my face or peeling my skin?" Yang Guo grimaced.

Lu Wushou loosened her grip a little. But she squatted down in front of Yang Guo, her head lowered, her ears bright red.

She had never wiped a man's face.

At this position, at this distance, she could smell the faint scent of soap on Yang Guo. And the warmth of his breath on the back of her hand.

Lu Wushuang's heart raced. She wished she could bury her face in the copper basin.

Yang Guo's eyes were half-closed. He was enjoying the feel of the face towel wiping his face. It was warm and comfortable.

He secretly glanced at Lu Wushuang's expression out of the corner of his eye.

The girl blushed, lowered her head, and bit her lip. She looked like she was about to kill him, yet she obediently squatted there wiping his face.

Good guy.

What kind of bewitching potion did Huang Rong give her?

Yesterday's porcupine, baring its fangs and claws, has all its quills retracted today. Although it still rolls its eyes, it hasn't neglected any of its chores.

Yang Guo was overjoyed inside, but he didn't show it on his face at all. He even deliberately tilted his head.

"I didn't wipe my left cheek."

Lu Wushuang gritted her teeth and moved the face mask to the left.

"jaw."

Lu Wushuang wiped her chin.

"The back of the neck."

"That's enough!" Lu Wushuang finally couldn't hold back anymore and slammed her face towel into the copper basin, splashing water everywhere.

She stood up, grabbed a dry towel from the stone bench, and slapped it onto Yang Guo's chest.

"Wipe it yourself on the back of your neck!"

Yang Guo laughed heartily. He picked up a towel, wiped his face, and stood up. He felt extremely pleased with himself.

This feeling is even better than having your meridians opened up.

A woman who would normally want to stab you is now obediently kneeling in front of you and wiping your face. This sense of conquest is priceless.

Yang Guo draped the towel over his shoulder. He walked up to Lu Wushuang, reached out, and patted her head twice.

"Good job. Keep it up tomorrow."

Lu Wushuang clenched her fists. She felt like her teeth were about to break.

But she held back.

She touched the jade pendant on her wrist. It belonged to her cousin. She couldn't act impulsively.

Yang Guo stopped laughing. He straightened his clothes and walked out of the courtyard.

"Have breakfast first. I have something to take care of in the main hall. Come back before noon and tidy up the study. The inkstone on the table broke last night; ask the steward for a new one."

Yang Guo walked out of the courtyard gate.

Lu Wushuang stood beside the water vat, watching his back.

She bent down and poured the dirty water from the copper basin into the drainage ditch in the corner of the yard.

The movement was very forceful.

She cursed Yang Guo a hundred times in her heart, but she didn't neglect her work at all.

The main hall of Chongyang Palace.

Yang Guo sat on the headmaster's chair.

Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi, Hao Datong, and Sun Bu'er had all arrived. In front of them was a stack of booklets, which contained their work reports for the past few days.

Qiu Chuji was the first to stand up.

"Sect Leader, the assessment standards for both inner and outer disciples have been drafted." Qiu Chuji handed a thick book to the steward, who then presented it to Yang Guo.

Yang Guo took it and flipped through it. Qiu Chuji was very efficient. The booklet clearly divided the assessment items—internal strength test, sparring practice of moves, character assessment, and contribution points table, leaving nothing out.

"Let's refine the testing standards. Internal strength can't just be determined by the master's touch. Get a few stone locks of different weights, and whoever can lift the heaviest gets the points. Don't make the moves fancy either. Have the examiners wear heavy armor, and the disciples should actually strike them, to see how much damage they can cause," Yang Guo suggested.

Qiu Chuji nodded repeatedly. This method was more than ten times better than the old way of judging based on experience.

It was Hao Datong's turn to report on the progress of the Sutra Repository.

"Sect Leader, the old Daoist has selected twelve disciples from the third generation to enter the Scripture Pavilion. He has already begun to classify and organize the existing cultivation techniques. However..." Hao Datong hesitated for a moment.

"explain."

"Several ancient books are so old that the pages are badly damaged. They would fall apart at the slightest touch. We need to buy high-quality Xuan paper to recopy them. We also need a lot of good ink and new bookshelves. All of this will cost money," Hao Datong reported truthfully.

Yang Guo waved his hand. "Spend it if you need to. Take my note and go to the treasury to withdraw the money."

"Yes."

Sun Bu'er reported on the situation with the female disciples. There weren't many female disciples in the Quanzhen Sect, only about thirty or forty in total. Sun Bu'er reorganized them and assigned them a training plan.

Finally, there was Wang Chuyi.

Wang Chuyi stood up. He looked somewhat embarrassed.

"Sect Leader, I have something to say about the Alchemy Hall."

Yang Guo looked at him. "You speak."

Wang Chuyi stroked his beard. "As instructed by the sect leader, I went to the storeroom to withdraw silver. I planned to go down the mountain first to purchase a batch of medicinal herbs and an alchemy furnace. But..."

Wang Chuyi paused for a moment.

"The storeroom manager showed the account books to the old Taoist priest. Sect Leader, our Quanzhen Sect's treasury... is almost empty."

The hall was silent for a few seconds.

Yang Guo sat up straight. "It's empty?"

Wang Chuyi said with a bitter face, "For the past hundred years, the Quanzhen Sect has not accepted incense money. We have a few farms and shops at the foot of the mountain, and the annual income is barely enough to support the food, drink and daily expenses of several thousand people. Last year, we suffered two droughts in a row, and there was little harvest in the fields, and business in the shops was also slow. There are currently less than three hundred taels of silver left in the warehouse."

Three hundred taels.

Yang Guo did the math in his head. Three hundred taels of silver, in this era, was only enough for a wealthy family to eat and drink for a year. In the hands of the several thousand members of the Quanzhen Sect, it wouldn't even be enough to fill a tooth gap.

He wanted to build an alchemy hall, so he needed to buy medicinal herbs and an alchemy furnace. Just the most common medicinal herbs would cost at least several hundred taels of silver per trip. A better alchemy furnace would cost at least a thousand taels.

There's also the need to buy Xuan paper and good ink for the Scripture Pavilion, and to acquire weapons for the Martial Arts Hall. The disciples' meals, daily maintenance, and all sorts of other expenses add up to a lot.

Looking at Yang Guo's expression, Wang Chuyi added, "It's not that I don't want to do it. It's just that even a skilled cook can't cook without rice. No matter how good the sect leader's plan is, without money, even half of it won't come to fruition."

Qiu Chuji nodded in agreement: "This is indeed a difficult problem. The founder set a rule that the Quanzhen School does not accept offerings or incense money. Disciples take the cultivation of the Tao as their foundation and do not get involved in the filth of money. This rule has been passed down for a hundred years, and no one can easily change it."

Yang Guo leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers on the armrest.

He cursed inwardly.

Wang Chongyang, you're really something. Cultivating Tao is one thing, and being detached from worldly affairs is another, but at least leave something for future generations!

Thousands of disciples are waiting to be fed, yet you set strict rules, forbidding them from accepting money and not teaching them how to make money.

So, while you were alive, you were famous and prestigious, with heroes from all over the world offering you gifts. Now that you're gone, your descendants are left to starve.

But in front of his elders, he couldn't show the slightest sign of panic.

Yang Guo stopped pointing. He glanced at the four people in the hall.

"I'll figure out a way to get the money."

Yang Guo stood up. He walked to the entrance of the main hall with his hands behind his back. Sunlight shone on his face.

"Dear masters, please continue with your current tasks. I will conjure up some silver for you within three days."

The four elders exchanged glances. Seeing Yang Guo's confident demeanor, although they were unsure themselves, they refrained from asking further questions.

After the meeting ended, Yang Guo stood alone on the steps of the main hall.

He gazed at the distant Zhongnan Mountains. The continuous mountain range appeared and disappeared in the morning mist.

Three hundred taels of silver.

Fuck it.

The Quanzhen Sect was a large and powerful organization, yet it was so poor that it couldn't even afford a cauldron for alchemy. His position as sect leader was truly frustrating.

But Yang Guo wasn't without options.

He clenched his fist.

Inside the ancient tomb, there were several large chests left behind by Xiaolongnu's ancestral master. They were filled with gold bars and jewels.

Little Dragon Girl said yesterday that all the money in the ancient tomb is for him to spend.

Yang Guo's lips curled slightly.

The benefits of being with a rich woman are now becoming apparent.

Most importantly, she's a beautiful, fragrant, and wealthy young woman.