Once Luo Chen entered the east wing room, he finally realized why his backroom only cost the cheapest rate of ten spirit stones per month.

Although the east wing room wasn’t very spacious, the layout was incredibly well-designed. Each window was positioned at the optimal lighting angles. Moreover, it wasn’t that cold at night here. Compared to the warm and cozy east wing room, his backroom felt like a warehouse combined with an ice cellar.

Luo Chen wallowed in a moment of self-pity before cheerfully settling at the dining table.

Feng Xia glanced at him and placed a bowl of spirit rice in front of him.

"Thank you, Sister Xia!"

Feng Xia replied, "No need to thank me; it’s Xiuxiu who’s hosting."

It was fine when she didn’t speak, but as soon as she did, her voice sounded like sandpaper scraping together.

Luo Chen furrowed his brows and cautiously asked, "Sister Xia, what happened to your voice?"

Bai Meiling sat down beside him, her tone somewhat melancholic. "It’s always been like this. Back in the day, Sister Xia tested medicines for Hall of Hundred Herbs and accidentally ingested a toxic herb. Although she was treated, her voice could only recover to this extent."

Only then did Luo Chen learn the backstory. It had to be said, working for a big sect wasn’t easy!

Hall of Hundred Herbs was merely one of the Medicine King Sect’s businesses, yet its jobs were often highly perilous.

Take Feng Xia’s job as a medicine tester, for instance, the pay was high, but so were the risks.

Common herbs often underwent mutations, due to their growth environment and coexistence with demonic beasts. At such times, it was fine if conventional methods could detect these differences. If not, cultivators had to rely on their bodies to conduct live testing.

That was exactly what Feng Xia’s job entailed.

Things have improved in recent years. Hall of Hundred Herbs in Dahe Market hired new testers, allowing her to shift to processing medicinal ingredients instead.

"What are you guys talking about? The atmosphere feels so heavy."

Fu Xiuxiu approached with a steaming plate of sliced meat.

"Try this, braised ribs of the scaled beast, I brought it back from the Divine Talisman Pavilion, have a taste."

After Bai Meiling recounted their earlier conversation, Fu Xiuxiu couldn’t help but sigh and say, "That’s how it is for us rogue cultivators, either we scrape by precariously in the outer city, or we’re at the mercy of others in the inner city. Any job with slightly better pay always comes with enormous costs."

Hearing this, Bai Meiling and Feng Xia’s faces turned somber.

Luo Chen, however, remained rather carefree.

At someone else’s beck and call? You’d need to have the qualifications to even be ordered around.

Take Spirit Herb Pavilion or Treasure Pavilion, for example. All their receptionists were young, attractive female cultivators.

For male cultivators, they didn’t even get the chance to be bossed around.

"That’s why we must help one another and band together for warmth."

Fu Xiuxiu picked up the wine jug and poured it for everyone. When Bai Meiling tried to do it herself, Fu Xiuxiu gently pushed her hand away.

"The fact that we all stayed here means we’re fated to meet. In the future, if anyone has difficulties in life or cultivation, let’s lend a hand whenever possible.

"Little Luo, even though you just moved in, since Senior Sun vouched for you, your character and temperament are surely fine.

"From now on, we’re practically family."

As she finished speaking, she raised her glass.

Bai Meiling and Feng Xia also lifted their glasses at the same time.

Luo Chen, however, was quite surprised.

After transmigrating to this world, all he had seen every day was the chaos and slaughter in the outer district or the cultivators in the marketplace nitpicking over cultivation resources.

To be honest, it was a bit brutal. But he had to admit, it fit his expectations of the cultivation world’s harsh reality. Yet here, in this little courtyard, there was such a heartwarming side to life.

What is this "Courtyard of Affection," cultivation world edition?

Not wanting to ruin the moment, Luo Chen raised his glass as well.

"Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

The crystal-clear liquor was smooth and mild, with a faint fruity aroma.

Fu Xiuxiu smiled faintly. "Eat up, don’t just hold your bowls."

Bai Meiling was the first to pick up her chopsticks. After tasting a piece of stir-fried demonic beast meat, her eyes curved into crescent moons as she smiled.

"Sister Xiuxiu’s cooking is the best!"

"You, eat as much as you like if it’s good. Little Luo, don’t hold back either. There’s plenty of spirit rice in the pot," replied Fu Xiuxiu.

A soft spot in Luo Chen’s heart seemed to be touched as he responded, "Mm, okay!"

He lowered his gaze, and his speed at shoveling rice into his mouth unconsciously quickened.

Seeing this, Fu Xiuxiu picked up a piece of meat and placed it on his plate.

"It’s a pity the Qin family has gone to the Luoyun Sect. It’ll probably be a long time before we see Xiaohu again."

"Yeah, that kid Xiaohu has dual gold and water spirit roots. He's only twelve and has a clean background. Big sects love disciples like that," Bai Meiling said.

After living here for a few days, Luo Chen had come to know the family in the west wing room.

Qin Liangchen and Duanmu Qinglian, the husband and wife, were both at the ninth stage of Qi-Refining.

Their son, Xiaohu, whose full name was Qin Yuanjiang, was born smart and intelligent, and had been meticulously cared for by his parents since childhood. Medicinal baths and spirit medicines were arranged for him every month.

At the age of eight, Xiaohu was found to have dual gold and water spirit roots.

They had originally planned to enroll him in the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect, but its next recruitment was still ten years away. Helpless, and unwilling to delay his optimal cultivation time, Qin Liangchen and his wife took him to enroll in the Luoyun Sect in the Jade Cauldron Domain.

The Luoyun Sect was also a major sect, and its Supreme Elder, Han Zhan, was known to have the potential to reach the Nascent Soul stage. It could be said that this was a sect with boundless prospects.

Wanting to join the conversation, Luo Chen interjected, "Sister Caiyi isn’t here either. She really enjoys good food."

However, after he said that, Fu Xiuxiu visibly furrowed her brows. She quickly smoothed her expression and shook her head as she said, "Gu Caiyi’s schedule is different from ours, so we don’t often run into her."

Luo Chen blinked and nodded, choosing not to press further.

Matters between women were always the trickiest.

After dinner, Fu Xiuxiu brought out some fruits and pastries and set up a tea gathering in the courtyard under the moonlight.

Everyone spoke freely, covering different topics.

They discussed how the shops of the six major sects in the inner city were doing lately, and how some smaller sects’ shops in the marketplace were being ruthlessly suppressed.

They also talked about last year’s joint auction, where a treasure-winning cultivator was hunted for a year and had only recently returned to Dahe Market to argue with the organizers, the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion.

He claimed that someone from the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion had leaked his information, putting him in danger.

The people from the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion naturally denied it, using the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect’s name to force the complaining cultivator to retreat in shame.

Fu Xiuxiu becoming a manager at the Divine Talisman Pavilion and having the chance to join the outer disciples of the Divine Talisman Sect was also brought up. If Fu Xiuxiu successfully joined, she would no longer be a rootless rogue cultivator. Even if she stopped making a living in Dahe Market, she would have better opportunities to establish herself elsewhere.

This news made the other residents in the courtyard quite envious.

Everyone wanted to join a major sect, the benefits and treatment were simply too good.

For example, one of the most anticipated benefits was that outer disciples could return to the sect every ten years and enjoy a year of cultivation on a second-tier spirit vein for free.

The tea party didn’t last long. By the time the moon was at its zenith, everyone had gone back to their rooms to rest.

After all, Bai Meiling and the others still had work tomorrow.

***

"Put it here, put it here.

"Everyone, have some water! Manager Liu, I’ll trouble you with this. Here are five spirit stones; please count them...." both of the men said as they laughed.

What’s there to count with five spirit stones? It was obvious at a glance.

After keeping the spirit stones and chatting briefly with Luo Chen, Manager Liu left the courtyard with a few early-stage Qi-Refining cultivators.

Luo Chen looked at the pile of bricks and stones stacked like a small mountain and nodded with satisfaction.

With cloud-sand bricks for the walls, heat-insulating premium creek-white stones, and a pile of highly adhesive sulfuric soil, he could finally start building his alchemy room.

Without hesitation, Luo Chen rolled up his sleeves and began moving bricks into his house.

By noon, he had started laying creek-white stones on a cleared space in his rented room.

Fu Xiuxiu had woken up in the morning and moved a bunch of potted plants from her room to a sunny spot. From time to time, she pruned branches and added some spirit fertilizer.

She noticed the busy Luo Chen, greeted him, and then left him undisturbed.

By noon, Luo Chen looked at his nearly complete alchemy room with a sense of accomplishment.

"I’m officially an alchemist with my own independent workspace now!"

Seeing Luo Chen’s satisfied expression, Fu Xiuxiu chuckled and said, "Little Luo, you’ll definitely become a renowned alchemy master across the six domains in the future!"

Luo Chen chuckled smugly. "Of course! I’m a natural-born alchemy genius!"

"Want to have lunch together? We still have some leftovers from yesterday."

"That doesn’t seem right… Well, then I’ll accept your generous offer!"

Lunch was shared between just the two of them.

Fu Xiuxiu was a gentle woman with a wealth of knowledge and often easily answered Luo Chen’s cultivation doubts. This was something Luo Chen hadn’t experienced with Old Man Chen, Wang Yuan, or even Gu Caiyi.

According to Fu Xiuxiu, she had also once tried to break into the Foundation Establishment Realm. But without the assistance of a Foundation Establishment pill, a rogue cultivator like her could only face failure.

Since then, she had harbored no extravagant dreams of reaching Foundation Establishment. Even her regular cultivation now was more out of habit than ambition.

"After having two meals cooked by Sister Xiuxiu, I’m starting to feel guilty. Let me wash the dishes!"

Fu Xiuxiu brushed Luo Chen’s hand aside. "How can a man do such tasks? Let me handle it!"

Luo Chen picked his teeth while standing at the kitchen door, watching Fu Xiuxiu, apron-clad, wash dishes at the sink.

For a moment, his eyes filled with tears.

In his past life, as a native Sichuan-Chongqing man, he could never have dreamed of enjoying such treatment. The only girlfriend he had ever dated always used the phrase, "I’m the boss, don’t mess with me."

"Sister Xiuxiu, do you usually live over at the Divine Talisman Pavilion?"

"Yes, they provide managers with rooms equipped with small spirit-gathering formations, suitable for our cultivation."

"I noticed many of your plants are sun-loving. Just using spirit fertilizer and keeping them inside isn’t ideal."

Luo Chen offered a suggestion. "Why not place them outside? I can help look after them when I’m free."

He definitely wasn’t eyeing that pot of Moonlight Herb for its calming and soul-stabilizing properties.

After placing the dishes on the rack, Fu Xiuxiu thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Then I’ll trouble you with this."