CHAPTER 136: CHAPTER 136: WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU READING?

Now it’s too late to say anything; for his own selfish reasons, Eagle Twenty-One ended up getting all his subordinates killed. Even the loyal Eagle Fifty-Third and others were randomly teleported who knows where, and who knows if they’ll ever meet again in this lifetime.

"But the book you’re reading..." Bai Yunqi still found it quite strange.

He had a feeling that the book in Yun Mo’s wing was different from the usual ones, so he almost leaned his whole body out of the cherry tree, craning his neck and tilting his head to observe.

Yun Mo seemed a bit embarrassed and only unfolded the book after a moment of silence.

Jiang Yuan also took the opportunity to glance over and immediately was dumbfounded.

Bai Yunqi was stunned for a few seconds and couldn’t help but raise his voice a couple of notches, "No way, are you reading a picture book?"

It was a picture book sketched in simple lines featuring various characters. Occasionally, there were one or two simple words, but the scenes and meanings had to be guessed from the illustrations.

"So you can’t read either?" Bai Yunqi glanced at the Venerable Family, thinking to himself, what kind of thing did you bring back? At least finding a pretty girl would be pleasing to the eye.

He turned around, plucked a branch from the cherry tree, and handed it over, "Take this."

"What do I do with a branch?" Yun Mo was puzzled but obediently grabbed it with his wing.

Bai Yunqi’s lazy voice came from the tree, "Tomorrow you can learn to write with Wan Mingchuan and me. Not being able to transform or read—it’s shameful for the Venerable Family to have you as a mount and take you out."

Yun Mo flushed red instantly, but without the strength to fight and lacking justification to argue, he held back for a while before saying irritably, "To learn you need brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, right? What’s the use of a branch?"

"Tsk tsk, you’re not even as sensible as a child. Wan Mingchuan knows to worry about wasting paper; you don’t even earn money for the Venerable Family. Start by scribbling on the ground with the branch; learn with that before using proper writing tools." After saying this, he coiled up and closed his eyes to sleep.

Jiang Yuan handed Yun Mo half a roast chicken, "Eat well and get a good night’s rest. Your book is right—where there’s life, there’s hope. Healing your wounds is more important than anything."

Feeling both sour and grateful, he gained a wave of favor with Jiang Yuan. After eating the roast chicken, he covered himself with his wings and rested too.

"Finally, they’re all asleep. I can build the Alchemy Room now, hehe!" Jiang Yuan only started clicking and dragging to build new structures after confirming they were asleep.

The building process was overly data-driven and completely unorthodox. To avoid an eagle and a snake asking endless questions, he chose to quietly build it so they could see the results directly.

[Mission 5 completed; reward has been issued]

[Main quest: Build Level Two Homeland completed; reward has been issued]

[Main quest: Build Level Three Homeland. Reward: Spirit Gathering Pill Formula]

[New area unlocked, to be officially incorporated into protection range after Wilderness Ascension]

No subsequent mission was issued, so it seems he’ll have to wait until he pioneers new territory to trigger it. Jiang Yuan rushed a glance and eagerly entered the Alchemy Room. As always, it was simple to the point of being a bit shabby, with a very ancient-looking alchemy furnace at the center.

Click to use the Foundation Establishment Pill formula. After the progress bar completed, clicking the alchemy furnace brought up a message. Currently, he could and could only refine Foundation Establishment Pills. Other grayed-out buttons like Qi Replenishing Pill and Rejuvenation Pill indicated he’d need pill formulas to activate them.

"So many spirit medicines just for a Foundation Establishment Pill?" Jiang Yuan clicked to view. Everything else was more or less recent stock from purchasing at Kun Dao’s place, so he could gather the materials for Foundation Establishment Pills.

However, he only had two Three Pristine Ones Grass, which meant he could currently only refine two Foundation Establishment Pills.

He began the refining process, and the ancient alchemy furnace immediately went into operation, showing a countdown of 24 hours before the pill would be finished.

Looking at a pill yet to be formed spinning around, he pondered that such a costly pill should sell for a better price. It may be better to save both for his apprentice; what if it has a stacking effect, making Foundation Establishment easier the more you take?

Moreover, since Three Pristine Ones Grass is hard to find, it’ll definitely be needed for other pills in the future, so saving is essential.

The night quickly passed, and Wilderness Ascension occurred.

The next morning, Wan Mingchuan walked out of the thatched house and saw a new building in the yard, but he was used to it; he didn’t even glance twice and went to wash up, "practice boxing," and prepare to help Master water the fields and draw water.

Bai Yunqi, after shaking the cherry tree, also saw it. He was sure he hadn’t heard any noise during the night. He wanted to ask but felt it unbecoming to ask simple things, so he suppressed his curiosity.

Yun Mo rubbed his eyes and recalled carefully; he was sure there was no such small house before he went to sleep last night. How could such a huge thing appear without making any noise?

He wanted to ask, but seeing Wan Mingchuan and Bai Yunqi both ignoring it, he thought it best not to say much since he was living under someone else’s roof.

"Mingchuan, I’ll teach you a new set of punches first." Jiang Yuan didn’t have time to harvest crops, urgently interrupting his apprentice practicing calisthenics.

Upon hearing that the Venerable Family was going to teach a body technique, Bai Yunqi folded his arms and leaned against the cherry tree to watch.

Jiang Yuan had practiced a lot to learn this set of military-style punches, yet when teaching it personally, he realized one shouldn’t compare oneself to others. He had stumbled through two days of learning, but his apprentice just had to watch once and learned most of it.

After viewing it a second time, Wan Mingchuan was already executing it fluidly and forcefully in the yard.

"This set of punches is indeed great, easy to learn and understand, and the moves are refined and practical for punching, kicking, and seizing, much better than the previous one. To be honest, that previous set you practiced couldn’t even kill anyone," Bai Yunqi gave a very fair evaluation.

Jiang Yuan thought to himself, only an idiot would think calisthenics could kill anyone!

After the third run, he let his disciple practice on his own. As the master, he’d spent several days learning those military-style punches but wasn’t as proficient as his student, which was somewhat embarrassing.

In the morning, after neatly tidying the fields in the yard and gathering around the table for breakfast, Jiang Yuan handed an axe to Bai Yunqi; a pickaxe to his apprentice. Seeing the gluttonous Yun Mo extend his wings asking for tools too, "I’m feeling much better now; I can’t just laze around forever; I should help out with some work."

Chopping trees was definitely the task for the strongest, Little Bai;

Cultivating would involve dealing with many rocks, which went to the disciple, balancing work and cultivation;

He thought for a moment and gave the sickle to Yun Mo, reminding him, "You’re not fully recovered; help clear the path occasionally, but rest when you’re tired."

Jiang Yuan carried a shovel himself, brimming with vigor as he crossed the old wooden bridge to the other side, ready for exploration!

After upgrading the Level Two yard, a small gear icon appeared on all buildings from the entrance bridge to the thatched house, Floating Market, Melting Workshop, etc., indicating that they could all be upgraded to Level Two.

But it would require a great deal of basic building materials, so in the coming period, besides clearing dungeons, collecting materials should also be a priority.

"Strange, it was blocked only yesterday, so why can we enter today?" Bai Yunqi was utterly puzzled.

He was curious from the first day he moved in why there was so much wasteland and forest around, yet the Venerable Family preferred to plant fields inside the yard. Upon investigating, he found a mysterious force restricting him, unable even to touch a single weed in the wasteland.

Today, early in the morning, the Venerable Family announced an expedition to explore, and they easily walked right in, which was bizarre indeed!

With so many unsettling questions spinning around in his mind, Bai Yunqi unknowingly added 20 favor points to him.

Jiang Yuan looked at the system prompt, full of question marks, thinking, how come you gain favor when I assign you the most exhausting physical task? What’s this snake thinking? His thought process is hard to fathom.