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Chapter 21 Ascension to Immortality

Looking through Caihua's eyes, Lu Renkui saw that the spirit stone Xinhe had given him was quite worthwhile.

Little White saw the greenish-blue spirit stone, stuck its head over, sniffed it, its eyes lit up, and then it took two bites of the spirit stone.

This startled Caihua: "Xiaobai! This isn't Xiaobai for eating!" Then, with great effort, she pried Xiaobai's mouth off the spirit stone and held the candied hawthorn to Xiaobai's mouth, letting Xiaobai bite the candied hawthorn.

Little White looked reluctantly at the spirit stone that it had nibbled on twice, which now had two teeth marks. It glanced at Caihua's face and noticed her displeasure. It could only watch as the spirit stone licked the candied hawthorn.

After licking the candied hawthorn for a while, Caihua saw Granny Huang come out of the jewelry store. Caihua quickly let Xiaobai crawl into her sleeve, and then followed Granny Huang back to the palace.

Caihua, carrying the things that Granny Li wanted to buy, went straight to the kitchen to find Granny Li. Granny Li told Caihua to put the things back in their room.

Ayaka did as she was told. On her way from her room to the kitchen, she saw a furtive figure standing at the kitchen window, looking into the kitchen.

"Young master over there, what are you doing standing at the door?" Caihua saw that the suspicious figure was wearing the children's clothes of the Wang Family School and knew that he was not an outsider.

Nolan, who had sneaked out hoping to grab a bite to eat, was startled by Ayaka's voice. He turned around and saw a little girl even younger than himself. Relieved, he said, "Little sister, you work in this kitchen, right? I saw you outside last time."

Caihua finally remembered who the person in front of her was—the one who had rushed over when she heard her mother say dinner was ready while she was out, only to be dragged back and scolded by the teacher.

"What brings you here, young master?" Caihua asked, thinking to herself: Is he here to beg for food?

Nolan looked left and right, then smelled the aroma of meat soup wafting from the kitchen. He grinned and took out a copper coin from his purse, saying to Ayaka, "Could you please get me a bowl of meat soup, little sister? It doesn't have to be a bowl of soup, just a piece of meat in it will do."

Ayaka glanced at the copper coin that had been shoved into her hand and expressionlessly stuffed it back into her hand—they would have their monthly pay deducted if they were to serve the students meals early without permission—and said to Nolan, “The household rules state that we cannot serve meals to the students early. If we violate this rule, we will also be punished.”

"This, this, you, don't be so stubborn! Look around, there's no one here, right? If you don't say anything and I don't say anything, only heaven, earth, you, and I know. As long as the two of us don't say anything, who will know that there's a piece of meat missing from the soup?" Nolan was a little anxious. He had secretly slipped out behind the teacher's back to get some food in advance, but who would have thought that this little maid was so timid and dared not take out any food.

Caihua stopped arguing with Nolan and called out to Granny Li in the kitchen, "Mother, someone wants to drink meat soup."

Everyone in the kitchen turned their heads to look out the window. Granny Li, who was standing in front of the pot cooking meat soup, heard Caihua say that someone wanted to drink meat soup. She immediately came out with an iron ladle and saw a child dressed in school clothes. She lowered her voice and said to him, "Young master, it's not time yet. We will bring the food over when it's served. You can go back now."

Nolan saw that Granny Li wasn't going to give him any food, so he blinked, trying to gain her sympathy by acting pitiful. But instead, a familiar, angry roar came from behind him: "Nolan! What are you doing hiding here instead of studying?!"

Nolan was startled; without turning around, he knew it was Zhongfuzi who had come to arrest him.

Master Zhong strode over, grabbed Nolan by the back of his collar, lifted him up, then turned and dragged him toward the school, saying, "You brat, go back and copy the Heart Sutra ten times! If you do it again, you'll copy it twenty times! And I'll give you ten slaps on the hand. Go test your spiritual roots first!"

Nolan wailed inwardly.

Caihua watched the two figures disappear into the distance, shook her head, and followed Granny Li into the kitchen to distribute all the food for everyone in the palace, and then have their maids and servants take it away.

As the last maid carried the food away, the maids and servants working in the kitchen gathered together and began to chat and eat.

"Have you heard? Master had a friend visiting today." Granny Zhang said, taking a bite of her rice.

“Ah! I know that friend. I just met him today. He said they were from one of the three major sects in the center of the spirit world, that… Pregnancy Sect! The younger one got lost when they first entered the palace and came to me for directions,” said Granny Li, adding some more food to Caihua’s bowl.

"Don't talk nonsense, he's an immortal! Why would he ask you for directions? Can't he just fly there himself?" Granny Zhang didn't seem to believe it, and the other nannies and maids didn't seem to believe it either.

"Sigh, people have the leisure to come here just to take a walk and enjoy the scenery. Once they fly away, they won't be able to see us." Granny Li said with an attitude that said, "Believe it or not, it's up to you."

"But what's wrong with these people from the spirit world? Why do they name themselves 'Pregnancy Sect'?" another nanny asked.

"Maybe their disciples were all born from the sect leader's pregnancy," a maid joked.

"What nonsense are you talking about! The sect leader is supposed to be a man. How can a man have children?" someone retorted immediately.

The maid continued, "You're underestimating things. The Spirit Realm has no shortage of cultivators. They have long lifespans and great abilities, so why can't they research a way to impregnate a man?"

After hearing what the maid said, everyone burst into laughter.

On the other side, Nolan, who had failed to steal a bite and was instead discovered by Zhongfuzi, was standing at the very end of the line with a long face.

Nolan is a new student at the school this year. He usually eats whenever he's hungry at home.

When he arrived at the school, mealtimes were fixed, which meant he had to attend classes on an empty stomach. Could he tolerate that? No, he couldn't.

However, fearing the authority of the Master, Nolan only dared to sneak out into the kitchen when he had the chance.

He finally succeeded, but because the people in the kitchen didn't allow him to steal food, he was discovered by Master Zhong.

They're now strictly forbidden from eating until their spiritual roots are tested. Nolan rubbed his empty stomach, frowning, thinking: "I should never have gone! Why are those people in the kitchen so stubborn?! I'm so hungry! When will these people from the spirit world finish testing my spiritual roots?!"

Just as Nolan was mentally singing "What to do when you're hungry," Xinping walked up to him with a smile, holding the Spirit Root Testing Stone, and asked him to place his hand on it.

Nolan absentmindedly placed his hand on Xinping's hand, and the spiritual root tester instantly burst out with a fiery red light.

Upon seeing the fiery red light, Xinping's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed tremblingly, "Fire Spirit Root! A top-grade single fire spirit root! Truly remarkable, truly remarkable!"

Nolan was momentarily blinded by the glaring red light, then heard the adult in front of him burst into laughter. Although he didn't know what the man was laughing about, his expression confirmed it was definitely a good thing.

Nolan didn't know what a top-grade single fire elemental root meant to him at the moment, because what was more important to him right now was eating.

Nolan touched her stomach, glanced at the man in front of her, and hoped that he would finish testing her spiritual roots quickly so that she could go eat.

Nolan watched expectantly as the man who came to test his spiritual roots spoke to Master Zhong first, and then led him away. The man led him on a journey until they reached an elder with an air of otherworldly wisdom.

After hearing the man's words, the elder smiled and turned to Nolan, saying:

"Your talent is excellent. Once you join the sect, just let us know if you need anything. Don't worry about causing us any trouble. Even though Huaiyu Sect is currently the weakest of the three major sects, it still has a very substantial foundation..."

Nolan stood there obediently, listening to Chongxiang tell him how wonderful Huaiyu Sect was, how he would definitely not suffer if he went there, and so on. He didn't want to hear a single word; all he wanted to do was eat. He really wanted a sip of the meat soup that the kitchen had prepared for lunch.

Finally, Chongxiang's mouth was dry from talking. He picked up the cup on the table, took a sip of water, and looked at Nolan, this promising talent, as if he were looking at a treasure.

"Do you seem to have something to say? Do you have any requests? Huaiyu Sect will definitely fulfill them for you."

Nolan looked at Chongxiang's gentle face, swallowed hard, and said with difficulty, "Can I go eat now? I'm really hungry."

After Nolan finished speaking, the remaining people in the room fell silent.