Chen Shaojie and Wu Fulai chatted as they walked. When the large door of the lower court's main hall came into view, Wu Fulai suddenly said, "Brother Chen, for some reason, you seem a little different in the last few days."
Our dear protagonist panicked a little when he heard that. He was worried that someone might have realized he was a transmigrator. He forced himself to calm down and ask, "How am I different, Brother Wu?"
"You don't talk this much in the past. Before, you might not even say one word to ten of mine. I realize that you've been talking a lot more lately, and you've become more cheerful too."
"Oh, so that's what you're referring to..."
Our dear protagonist racked his brains to come up with an emergency excuse.
From the memories left behind by the original owner of the body, he knew that the original Chen Shaojie was a quiet person.
He was the quiet, cool type of guy. He had quite the personality.
And that was why he was not well liked in the lower court.
There were only a few people that he got along with, such as Wu Fulai. He did not have much interaction with the other servant disciples.
Of course, this was good news for Chen Shaojie because he would not have to worry about being discovered.
If a lot of people were close to the original Chen Shaojie like Wu Fulai was, they would surely notice his changes after exchanging a few words with him. If that were to happen, not only would he be exposed, he would have no secrets left.
After contemplating a little, Chen Shaojie explained in a sincere tone, "I've been at the lower court for a year now. After getting whipped for being late not that long ago, I feel like I can't keep muddling through life like before. I've decided to make some changes to my attitude."
"So that's how it is."
"Brother Wu... What do you think of the new me?"
"It's great. Of course it's great."
"I'm relieved to hear that. I look forward to receiving more guidance from you in the future."
Chen Shaojie secretly wiped away his cold sweat. He had dealt with the crisis.
This excuse seemed to work very well. He now had an excuse prepared in case someone were to see through his charade.
The two of them kept chatting after they entered the lower court, and only stopped when the third bell rang.
After all the servant disciples had entered the main hall, they began their morning cultivation.
The daily routine of the servant disciples consisted of morning cultivation followed by work.
Based on Chen Shaojie's observation, if the Qingyu Immortal Sect was a company, the servant disciples would be the lowest level salarymen, aka. the company's slaves.
The only way out was to get promoted to an upper court disciple through successful cultivation.
However, not only did the servant disciples had low amount of talent, they also had less time for daily cultivation. It was rare for someone to succeed.
In the past, the original owner of the body was not that interested in morning cultivation, mainly because his talent was too poor so his cultivation showed little effect.
But the situation was different now.
Soon after morning cultivation started, Chen Shaojie already had his eyes on one of the servant disciples.
That person was called Meng Tiancheng. He was a "genius" among the servant disciples.
All of them were practicing the "Qing Yu Body Forging Technique", the most basic of the Qing Yu Immortal Sect techniques. Meng Tiancheng's progress was the fastest among them. Rumor had it that his body forging would complete in six months and he would be promoted to the upper court.
Chen Shaojie decided to freeload off him.
There were so many servant disciples that he could not check everyone's "glow" to see whose glow would allow him to cultivate the fastest.
But he could certainly do worse than going with the most powerful one!
Meng Tiancheng was sitting alone in a corner of the main hall. He sat cross-legged as he adjusted his breathing, his face rigid.
Because he had the best chance of entering the upper court, the others were wary of him and did not dare to get close to his corner.
Therefore, he occupied his own personal territory like the king of the jungle. Other beasts dared not intrude upon his turf.
"I'll just freeload a bit. I won't step foot in his territory..."
Chen Shaojie moved sneakily towards Meng Tiancheng, preparing to stop as soon as the system notified that he was connected.
One step, two steps, three steps...
Finally--
*Crunch*
[A friendly reminder from the Bask-in-the-Glow System: Meng Tiancheng's body contains a grade-3 Golden Spiritual Root. When you are close to him, your cultivation speed can become 8 times as fast. Would you like to bask in his glow? (Yes/No)]
As expected of a genius. His glow could multiply Chen Shaojie's cultivation speed by 8 -- truly remarkable.
Chen Shaojie gave him a thumbs up while sitting down, ready for his cultivation.
But Meng Tiancheng suddenly opened his eyes, turned to Chen Shaojie sharply, and said, "When I cultivate, I don't like having anyone near me. Stay away!"
Are you kidding me...
I'm still five steps away...
Chen Shaojie and Meng Tiancheng stared at each other. Chen Shaojie was indignant, but under the fierce gaze of the "genius", he eventually backed down for the sake of his wellbeing. He silently walked away.
Some of the servant disciples nearby saw this and had mocking looks on their faces.
Chen Shaojie did not know if they were mocking his overconfidence or his stupidity.
Well, there was nothing to be done about it. He just had to move on to the next target.
Chen Shaojie did not hesitate to move towards another corner in the main hall.
If Meng Tiancheng was considered the #1 "genius" among the lower court servant disciples, then the #2 was no doubt Li Xuejiao.
Although Li Xuejiao was a girl, her speed in cultivating the "Qing Yu Body Forging Technique" was second only to Meng Tiancheng. It was said that she also had a chance to complete the body forging and be promoted to the upper court within half a year.
She also occupied a corner by herself and was quietly cultivating there.
As far as girls go, Li Xuejiao would not be considered very pretty.
But her body was the bomb. Her twin snow peaks stood proud and high like the Chogolisa. They were real killers.
Chen Shaojie repeated the same strategy as before. He inched closer to his target.
This time, his movements were lighter and stealthier... at least it felt that way to him.
*Crunch*
[A friendly reminder from the Bask-in-the-Glow System: Li Xuejiao's body contains a grade-3 Wooden Spiritual Root. When you are close to her, your cultivation speed can become 10 times as fast. Would you like to bask in her glow? (Yes/No)]
He had successfully detected her signal. Chen Shaojie sat down and chose "yes".
He was still feeling a little apprehensive after sitting down. He secretly observed Li Xuejiao's reaction.
Sure enough, Li Xuejiao sensed his presence almost immediately. She opened her eyes.
She looked like she was going to say something, but when she saw Chen Shaojie's face, she was visibly stunned. Her eyes wandered around Chen Shaojie's face. Finally, she closed her eyes again without saying anything.
Chen Shaojie secretly heaved a sigh of relief.
At the same time, he was also a little confused.
Why did she stop talking as soon as she saw my face?
Could it be...
Chen Shaojie touched his face. It was pretty smooth... Oh, he suddenly understood.
It seemed like this time, he had actually managed to freeload thanks to his face.
Pushing the feeling of vanity (which was unhealthy and ignoble btw) to the back of his mind, Chen Shaojie brought out the system interface again and fell into deep thought.
Meng Tiancheng had a grade-3 Golden Spiritual Root and Li Xuejiao had a grade-3 Wooden Spiritual Root. Why did Meng Tiancheng's glow only multiplied his cultivation speed by 8 while Li Xuejiao's glow multiplied it by 10?
This matter was worth investigating. They were both grade-3 Spiritual Roots, so what was the difference?
Perhaps...
He's more compatible with a Wooden Spiritual Root?
Chen Shaojie thought it was a possible explanation.
After all, there was the old saying: "the best choice does not exist, only the most suitable".
Chen Shaojie pondered for a long time but could not figure it out. When his gaze traveled to Li Xuejiao's proud bosom, he was suddenly hit with a tight sense of urgency. Really, really tight.
Time was precious. Since he could not figure it out, wondering about it would do him no good. He would just freeload off whoever had the strongest signal.