Junior sister, I really need to control you.

On Zhulin Peak, halfway up the mountain.

A small team of four people was traveling through the forest.

Apart from the thousands of tiny spiritual eyes on which each planted a single Suyun bamboo, the rest of the mountain was still a forest.

In reality, the entire mountain area is covered by the root system of tens of thousands of Suyun bamboo, so the rest of the vegetation in the forest is extremely short and sparse.

Outside the mountains, trees are often over ten feet tall, while on the mountain, there aren't many trees that can exceed five or six feet, and the wild grass is even shorter than the instep.

This actually made things easier for the disciples on patrol.

Even without using magic like the Armored Horse Technique, traveling through such deep mountains and forests wouldn't be too inconvenient.

"Junior brothers and sisters, it's almost noon."

The leader of the four was a young man from Huangzhu Temple who looked to be in his early twenties. Holding a compass, he led the way and said, "After this patrol is over, let's all rest here for a bit."

Huangzhu Temple arranges all patrol teams to be in groups of four, with each group led by a Huangzhu Temple disciple who is familiar with the mountain's terrain.

Of course, the purpose of "leading" is also to prevent these other Taoist disciples who have been recruited from slacking off or even learning from demons to steal food and practice their skills.

Upon hearing that they needed to rest, Mu Xiaoyu and two other patrolling disciples, a man and a woman, nodded in agreement, standing behind the young man from Huangzhu Temple who was leading the group.

The other two disciples wore different robes. The male cultivator wore a brown robe, had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and dark skin. Compared to a cultivator, he looked more like an ordinary martial artist.

The female cultivator wore a moon-white Taoist robe embroidered with a bright moon surrounded by auspicious clouds resembling pine branches.

When they were divided into teams in the early morning, the three of them had already informed each other of their names and backgrounds.

The male cultivator's name was Lu Kuan. He came from a Taoist temple called Yuanya Temple, which was ranked in the middle among all the temples and was not famous. It was only slightly better than Huanghe Temple.

The female cultivator's name was Wu Mingke. She came from a decent Taoist temple called Songyue Temple. Moreover, she hadn't just met Mu Xiaoyu that morning; she was Mu Xiaoyu's roommate, so the two of them had naturally met the night before.

If Li Yinsheng were here, he would have some impression of this Taoist temple, because the Master Yuehe, who had previously extended an olive branch to him and wanted to invite him to be a "Taoist partner," was the patriarch of Songyue Temple.

Unlike Huanghe Temple, which only has one patriarch, Songyue Temple once had three patriarchs at its peak. Although it is no longer what it once was, it still has two patriarchs in charge.

However, Mu Xiaoyu didn't know much about Taoist temples. To her, both Yuanya Temple and Songyue Temple were just "other Taoist temples".

Of course, Lu Kuan and Wu Mingke knew even less about the Xuanzhen Temple from which Mu Xiaoyu came from.

The two were only two or three years older than Mu Xiaoyu; they weren't even born when Xuanzhen Temple declined.

Wu Mingke walked side by side with Mu Xiaoyu and whispered, "Xiaoyu, I heard from others that when you came yesterday evening, you were personally escorted here by a highly skilled and handsome senior from your Taoist temple?"

"Sister Wu, you've asked this several times already," Mu Xiaoyu said helplessly, "My senior brother brought me here."

"Just how handsome is your senior brother?" Wu Mingke pressed.

Yesterday, Li Yinsheng was patrolling the area where the disciples lived. Although Fu He was a bit flamboyant, he had come from nowhere and left quickly, so not many people actually saw him.

The rumors that Wu Mingke just mentioned are spreading very quickly.

"Senior brother, you are indeed quite handsome," Mu Xiaoyu said, pouting, "but you're a bit too strict."

"Strictness is good," Lu Kuan said from not far away. "A strict teacher produces outstanding students. Ordinary disciples like us are not qualified to be apprenticed to the temple's stewards as masters, so we can only cultivate with our senior brothers and sisters."

"It would be good for our cultivation to be disciplined and taught by strict senior brothers and sisters." He walked along, waving a wooden stick as if he were practicing some kind of mundane stick technique.

"That makes sense. Your sternness shows that your senior brother cares about you."

Wu Mingke nodded in agreement: "If I had a senior brother who was handsome, highly skilled, and cared about me a lot, I would definitely stick to him every step of the way."

As she said this, a blush crept onto her cheeks: "As for being strict... sometimes it's a good thing, hehehe."

"Yes!" Lu Kuan nodded in agreement, "Keep pestering him, ask him about cultivation every day! The stricter the better!"

Wu Mingke rolled her eyes—you can't reason with someone like you.

Mu Xiaoyu felt a little insecure after being talked about by the two of them.

So, do fellow Taoists from other temples think that being strictly disciplined is a good thing?

Is it normal for my senior brother to be so strict with me?

Could it be that the cultivators in other Taoist temples are like me, getting up at dawn every day and practicing cultivation, swordsmanship, and studying scriptures until midnight?

"Little Fish, I'm two years older than you and have cultivated for two more years. I'm going to say something you might not like to hear."

Wu Mingke took Mu Xiaoyu's hand and said earnestly, "You should cherish the senior brothers who are strict with you. Those senior brothers and sisters who call you by your name after adulthood may not be good people, but the senior brothers who force you to cultivate every day are definitely good to you."

"After all, no matter how hard you cultivate, your cultivation level won't go to him; it's all yours. His strictness towards you is definitely for your own good."

"That's right!" Lu Kuan agreed. "Most of the senior brothers and sisters in my sect with high cultivation levels are busy with their own cultivation and earning money for talismans. How can they have time to take care of junior brothers and sisters who are not related to them?"

"It's the same everywhere. Which Taoist temple isn't like this? People have limited energy, so it's best to focus it all on their own cultivation," Wu Mingke said.

Mu Xiaoyu nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

So her senior brother really did treat her very well.

"Over the years, I have been cultivating diligently day and night, hoping to have the opportunity to become a disciple of a deacon. No matter which deacon it is, with a master to guide me, my cultivation will be much faster."

Lu Kuan looked at Mu Xiaoyu with some envy: "Someone like you has half a master, which gives you a lot of advantages compared to other disciples."

"Yes," Wu Mingke said with a hint of envy, "I also dare not relax all day long, for fear that my cultivation will not keep up and I will lose the opportunity to become a disciple of the steward."

"So everyone's cultivation is this hard..." Mu Xiaoyu felt a little better and casually asked, "How long do you cultivate each day?"

"I spend three hours practicing my skills and one hour refining my techniques every day. Among the disciples of my generation in the temple, there are very few who work harder than me," Wu Mingke said earnestly.

"Hmph, I only practice my martial arts for two and a half hours a day, but I spend a full two hours cultivating my techniques. In total, I have half an hour more than you!" Lu Kuan's tone revealed a hint of smugness that said, "I won."

Wu Mingke rolled her eyes at him again: "Nobody's comparing themselves to you in this way, how childish!"

"If you really don't care, why did you say that?" Lu Kuan asked with a smile.

"You!" Wu Mingke raised an eyebrow and pointed a finger. "What's the use of practicing many techniques? I've cultivated for longer than you, and my cultivation level is higher!"

"Your slight advantage in cultivation level has long been wiped out by the difference in cultivation techniques!" Lu Kuan retorted defiantly.

The two argued more and more fiercely, and in just a few words, it seemed that their verbal battle was about to escalate into a martial arts duel.

Unaware that Mu Xiaoyu, standing to the side, suddenly had a complicated expression and fell silent.

So, do you two only spend this much time cultivating each day?

"Alright, junior brothers and sisters, stop arguing," the leading young man from Huangzhu Temple said, turning his head. "Let's rest here after we've finished our rounds."

Wu Mingke and Lu Kuan each snorted coldly, then separated and found two trees, sitting cross-legged under their shade to meditate.

"Unfortunately, we haven't been very lucky. We haven't encountered any monsters all day." The young man from Huangzhu Temple looked at the compass in his hand and frowned slightly.

Hearing this, Mu Xiaoyu couldn't help but say, "It's a good thing we didn't encounter any monsters. Fighting monsters is so dangerous."

She recalled being led by her senior brother to fight a giant black python. Although she wasn't seriously injured in that battle, she had exhausted her magic power in the end, making it extremely dangerous.

"How dangerous could it be for the four of us to swarm an ordinary monster?"

The young man from Huangzhu Temple shook his head and laughed, "Besides, fortune favors the bold. Every monster has valuable parts. Once we hunt a monster, the materials from its body are ours. Even if we split it among four people, each of us will get a considerable amount of talisman money."

"Talisman money?" Mu Xiaoyu asked curiously, "How much talisman money can one usually earn?"

"There's no fixed answer. The type and cultivation level of the monster greatly affect the value of the materials it carries," the young man said, shaking his head. "But even the smallest ones are generally worth one or two hundred talismans, and we can each get forty or fifty."

"If we find something valuable, we might be able to exchange it for several hundred talismans, and each of us could get two or three hundred."

"I've even heard of people hunting down monsters with low cultivation levels that are worth thousands of talismans... It's truly enviable."

"Oh." Mu Xiaoyu nodded without any change in expression.

Is that all there is?

Seeing that Mu Xiaoyu didn't seem to react much to the number, the young man's expression shifted slightly.

He naturally knew that Mu Xiaoyu had been sent here directly by a senior with profound cultivation.

Given her special status, it's normal for her to be wealthier than ordinary cultivators.

Thinking of this, he said, "Could it be... that Junior Sister Mu is quite wealthy?"

A sense of unease crept into Mu Xiaoyu's heart, and she immediately shook her head.

My parents always said that when you're away from home, you shouldn't flaunt your wealth.

"Haha, Junior Sister Mu, don't worry about it," the young man laughed. "I just wanted to say that every year during the Refining Fruit harvest, the temple sells a limited amount of Refining Fruit to fellow Daoists who come to patrol or exorcise demons each day."

"If Junior Sister Mu has enough money, she can buy one or two to try after today's patrol."

"For sale?" Mu Xiaoyu asked, puzzled. "Why?"

"Of course, some fellow Daoists who come to patrol or exorcise demons are curious about the taste or effects of the Refined Fruit. If we don't sell any, overly curious fellow Daoists might risk stealing and eating them."

The young man explained, "On the other hand, we sell a limited number of practice items each day. Curious fellow cultivators can buy one to try for just a hundred or two hundred talismans, so there's no need for them to take the risk."

"The saying 'it's better to guide than to block' applies here."

He paused for a moment, then explained, "However, before the Refining Fruits are harvested, the orders have already been divided up by the major Dharma lineages, so the amount of Refining Fruits sold each day is not much, and they are snapped up as soon as they are released."

"If Junior Sister Mu is interested, you'd better buy it as soon as possible, or it will be gone."

"So... is Lian Shi delicious?" Mu Xiaoyu asked.

"Sweet and refreshing, with a lingering fragrance, it surpasses all ordinary fruits and vegetables!" the young man said without hesitation.

Mu Xiaoyu's eyes lit up.

But then he was immediately caught in a dilemma.

It sounded so delicious that she really wanted to try it.

But one hundred coins per talisman is a bit too expensive; it could fill two Qiankun bags with snacks.

My senior colleague once said that if I wanted to buy anything other than snacks, I had to ask him first.

But my senior brother lives on the mountaintop... If I want to ask him, wouldn't I have to climb to the mountaintop first?

Is it worth climbing a mountain for a fruit that sounds delicious?

Mu Xiaoyu looked conflicted.

When the young cultivators of Huangzhu Temple saw Mu Xiaoyu's hesitation, they assumed that although she had some family wealth, she wasn't wealthy enough to casually spend a hundred talismans just to try something new.

After all, young disciples working in ordinary Taoist temples only earn five or six hundred coins a month.

Even if Mu Xiaoyu is rich, she wouldn't just casually spend a hundred talismans just to try something new, would she?

However, he didn't really care. He wouldn't get a share of the money from selling the training materials anyway. He was just mentioning it casually. Whether Mu Xiaoyu bought it or not was none of his business.

Just as he was about to find a shady spot to meditate for a while, Mu Xiaoyu in front of him raised her eyebrows, took out a gleaming magic sword from her Qiankun bag, and unleashed a sword strike, sending ten sword lights rushing towards him!

The young man was startled, but in the blink of an eye, ten sword lights swept past him and disappeared into the canopy of a large tree a few feet away.

With a few muffled sounds, the treetops shook, and a dark green figure fell to the ground.

There's a monster!

The young man immediately realized what was happening and turned to face the dark green monster that had been knocked down.

It was a five- or six-foot-tall ape with dark green fur and eyes, except for its protruding fangs, which were white with mottled yellow spots.

"A green-furred monkey?" The young man was puzzled.

The color of the fur of this demon is closely related to its cultivation level; the more powerful the Azure Velvet Monkey, the greener its fur.

Judging from its color, it probably has been cultivating for twenty or thirty years, hiding in the tree canopy and even knowing how to conceal its aura.

"Junior Sister Mu is so vigilant!"

The young man glanced at Mu Xiaoyu with some gratitude.

Don't be fooled by the fact that this monkey is only five feet tall. In terms of cultivation, he is no match for this monkey. If he were to be ambushed by it, he would probably have to immediately send out a distress call.

The training has only been in place for one day, and there aren't many demons attracted yet. These demons, which are twenty or thirty years old, are probably the most powerful in the mountains right now.

Most of the time, they would encounter demons with only ten or so years of cultivation, or even less.

Moreover, logically speaking, he possesses a compass for locating demons. Although a demon with thirty years of cultivation is very dangerous, it shouldn't be able to avoid the compass.

Without time to think it through, he took out a magic weapon from his Qiankun bag, intending to seize the opportunity when the green-furred monkey revealed a weakness, but then he realized that something seemed wrong.

The nimble blue monkey, which should have been known for its agility, didn't get up after falling; it just lay there, and a large pool of blood quickly spread out.

The monkey had five or six transparent holes pierced through its body by the sword light, and it was clearly barely breathing.

He looked at Mu Xiaoyu with a face full of horror.

Junior Sister Mu killed a demon with thirty years of cultivation with a single sword strike?!

Wu Mingke and Lu Kuan, who rushed over from under the shade of the tree, failed to recognize the cultivation level of the Green Velvet Monkey. They only saw Mu Xiaoyu suddenly draw her sword not far away. Where the sword light struck, a demon fell down, already half dead.

"Junior Sister Mu is amazing!" Wu Mingke exclaimed.

"What a fine sword technique!" Lu Kuan was also quite surprised.

Facing the three people's gazes, some surprised and some admiring, Mu Xiaoyu showed no smugness. She took a deep breath and shouted, "Senior—brother—was it you?!"

Just as the other three were completely baffled, a figure dressed in a black Taoist robe appeared beside the already cold corpse of the Green Velvet Monkey, as if a ripple of water had spread out.

"Oh? Junior sister, how did you sense me?" Li Yinsheng didn't even look at the monkey, and walked towards Mu Xiaoyu with a smile.

Although he had only just mastered this Shadow Concealment Formation, it shouldn't be easily seen through, right?

"Intuition!" Mu Xiaoyu sheathed her Cold Bright Sword, puffing out her cheeks. "Senior Brother, this isn't the first time you've used a demon to trick me!"

Li Yinsheng remained unfazed: "That was to hone your combat skills last time."

"And what about this time?" Mu Xiaoyu asked.

"This time it really was just to tease you," Li Yinsheng said.

Mu Xiaoyu's cheeks puffed out even more as she looked up and glared at him.

"Alright, alright," he patted Mu Xiaoyu's head and laughed, "This monkey has thirty years of cultivation. If you really encounter it, you might not even be able to escape with your life."

Of course, under normal circumstances, Mu Xiaoyu would not have encountered a monkey.

The monkey itself wasn't even in Bamboo Forest Peak; it was just waiting for an opportunity near the peak.

It's probably because, as a demon formed from an ape, it already possesses some intelligence and wants to wait for more and more powerful demons to arrive in the next few days before sneaking in to fish in troubled waters.

When Li Yinsheng descended the mountain, he scanned it with his divine sense and found that there were no other demons with higher cultivation levels around. He then easily captured it, beat it half to death, and hung it on a tree.

Therefore, my junior sister's sword light easily pierced through the monster's body.

Under normal circumstances, this monkey has a body protected by demonic power, and unless the junior sister uses the Xuan Sha Xiong Xiang Sword, she will almost never be able to break through its defenses.

but……

After glancing at the monkey, who had lost too much blood and was now cold, Li Yinsheng focused his attention on the slightly changed gold characters.

In the last line, the reward for transcending tribulation, which previously displayed "Current spell training time: None", has now changed to "Current spell training time: Ten days".

No...is that right?

The good news is that there are indeed rewards for slaying monsters.

The bad news is, the reward is too small.

Even if you don't give me ten years to cultivate my magic after killing a demon that has been around for thirty years, you can't just give me ten days, right?

What? Are you saying that killing a hundred-year-old demon only gives you three months to practice your magic?

Li Yinsheng was very dissatisfied with the evaluation criteria for Dongtian.

Could it be that because he had already beaten the monkey to the point of near death, and his junior sister was just picking up the kills, he was only given such a small reward?

Why should I? Isn't taking kills a skill in itself?

My junior sister earned her kills through her own skill, so why should the grotto-heaven only give her this meager reward!