Ryan grinned and said to Fenrir Howe: "Right now, I'm not much stronger than you two."
"We're all at the first level of Spirit Nurturing. Your experience in battlefield fighting is a hundred times better than mine."
"Shaobai has a family learning background. Many things that he takes for granted are quite enlightening to me and give me a lot of insights."
"Among three people, there must be one who can be my teacher!"
"I can learn a lot from you two."
Fenrir Howe's eyes flickered slightly, and he was a bit distracted: "Perhaps, the future Ryan will change, but the present him..."
"Is really a rather nice person."
With such a big difference in status, Ryan was able to befriend him humbly, talk to him on an equal footing, and give him enough respect.
Being able to do this was actually quite incredible!
Compared with Chu Shaobai's somewhat dismissive attitude towards Fenrir Howe, the contrast was particularly obvious.
That's why Fenrir Howe just used the fist-holding salute commonly seen among martial heroes in the Jianghu, and those words were only for Ryan. He didn't count Chu Shaobai as a "friend".
Chu Shaobai, who was full after eating and drinking, of course also noticed this.
However, Young Master Chu just casually rubbed his stomach and didn't pay much attention.
To be honest, Chu Shaobai didn't think much of Fenrir Howe.
In the mortal dynasty, Fenrir Howe was an outstanding figure. Not to mention himself, even the deputy generals under him were one in ten thousand talents.
Fenrir Howe was even the young Champion Marquis, brave among the troops, forging ahead bravely, achieving great military exploits, expanding the territory, and his reputation shook the dynasty.
However...
The past is the past, and the present is the present.
Since they had come to the cultivation world, all the honors in the mortal world had become fleeting clouds.
Everyone had to start from scratch and strive again. Then it was enough to just consider factors such as background, talent, status, and realm.
What did Fenrir Howe have?
He had no background!
He had no outstanding talent!
He was just a registered disciple, not outstanding at all.
Back then, the King of Shu of the Dayue Dynasty and the Pupil - Doubled Princess of the Blood - Eyed Dynasty, who were casually mentioned by Chu Shaobai together with Fenrir Howe, were now both doing very well and rising rapidly.
According to the information Chu Shaobai had inquired about...
If nothing unexpected happened, those two people could use their respective means to quickly be promoted to the outer disciples of Drunken Immortal Peak in a short time.
Although all the top ten immortal sects had promotion channels, and one could improve one's status from a registered disciple to an outer disciple through hard work, plus a little bit of opportunity and good fortune, but...
Chu Shaobai estimated that with the good luck of "becoming Ryan's friend", it would be the limit for Fenrir Howe to be promoted to an outer disciple by taking advantage of this opportunity.
It was just that Ryan had a good temper and didn't care about other people's opinions.
If any other true disciple from other branches came over, even just talking to Fenrir Howe would make them feel like they were bestowing favors from a superior position.
In this vast cultivation world, the gap between people was even more exaggerated than in the mortal world!
In the mortal world, whether it was the emperor or a beggar, their longest lifespan was no more than a hundred years.
So what if one controlled the lives of a billion people and held power, wealth, status, and military might?
So what if one was as humble as an ant, begging for a living?
After a hundred years, when their lifespan was exhausted, they would all die and part with the world.
But in the cultivation world, it was very different!
When Chu Shaobai was young, he had heard the old ancestor say that a cultivator with a high realm and powerful strength could make a weak and low-level cultivator tremble with fear, lose their soul, and die on the spot just by glancing at them!
The status gap between true disciples and registered disciples was too big!
In this situation, if Fenrir Howe still couldn't figure it out and remained arrogant, he was simply courting death. In the future, he might bring disaster upon himself at any time!
Perhaps Ryan, as a true disciple, wasn't afraid of any backlash, but Chu Shaobai didn't want to cause trouble.
——He didn't plan to have a deep friendship with Fenrir Howe and didn't regard the other person as a friend.
Judging from Fenrir Howe's intention, they hit it off, and the two of them just stayed at the level of "acquaintances" who worked in the fields together and had a meal together.
The three of them had their own thoughts. Anyway, all good things must come to an end.
After eating and drinking their fill, the two of them said goodbye to Ryan at the same time and went back to their respective residences.
Ryan grinned, in a good mood: "The goal has been achieved! Hahaha!"
A string of light blue fluorescent words that only he could see appeared in front of him.
[Become friends with the person endowed with great fortune, the Dream Enterer Fenrir Howe, and form a good karma.]
[The current repayment efficiency for the cause of cultivation has been doubled.]
Ryan carefully pondered the new information provided by the supernatural power of causality: "Dream Enterer."
"These three words have a deep meaning..."
"Probably, getting some benefits through dreaming is Fenrir Howe's opportunity and adventure."
"So..."
"He's not a reincarnated person."
Gathering his thoughts, Ryan stopped thinking about other people's affairs and focused all his energy on his own cultivation debt.
He sat cross-legged on the auxiliary magic weapon, the Bodhi Cushion, took a sip of the Dragon Descendant's Blood Wine, maximizing the two enhancement effects. Combined with the delicious spiritual meals he had eaten before...
Coupled with the effect that seemingly permanently fixed effect of doubling the debt repayment efficiency as [Fenrir Howe's Friend]...
Ryan's debt repayment efficiency skyrocketed to twenty-one times!
This number had exceeded the eighteen times he had initially calculated!
"I won't even need two months to pay off the debt."
"By then, I won't have to worry about my disguise as a celestial prodigy being exposed!"
Thinking like this, Ryan began to calm his mind and immerse himself in cultivation.
As time passed, he gradually digested all kinds of cultivation resources sent by the elders.
Among them, the bottle of [Flawless Marrow-Cleansing Pills] was particularly worth mentioning.
The pills themselves had no taste at all.
Ryan's comment on them was "tasteless as chewing wax".
However, after taking them, Ryan immediately started the process of refining the body and cleansing the marrow.
——For a day or two, the air he exhaled was slightly gray and turbid.
When the effect of the pills was exhausted and Ryan had expelled all the dirty impurities in his body, he just felt that his whole body was much clearer and cleaner.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was "like glass in body and a clear mirror in heart"!
Ryan even felt that his talent and potential had become a bit stronger because of this.
Of course, feelings might be wrong, but the feedback given by the supernatural power of causality would never have any errors.
After taking the Flawless Marrow-Cleansing Pills and completely digesting their effects, the repayment degree of [The Glorious Purple Blood Art] directly increased to seven fortieths.
This showed that the Heavenly Mystery Elder, who he had thought was an enemy rather than a friend at first sight, was really generous and had given him good things.
In the more than a month that followed, Ryan stayed at the foot of Drunken Immortal Peak all the time, and his daily life was the same as that of the outer and registered disciples.
He knew that the activity ranges of the outer and registered disciples were mostly in the vicinity of Drunken Immortal Peak.
They respectively engaged in activities such as cultivating spiritual plants, alchemy, hunting beasts, and mining spiritual mines, each performing their own duties to make a living.
These low-level disciples continuously supplied various raw materials needed for cultivation to Drunken Immortal Peak, obtained sect contributions, and exchanged them for pills and secret manuals to continue their own cultivation paths.
——The immortal sect was not a charity organization and wouldn't give benefits for free and support a bunch of useless people.
How much you pay,how much you got.
This was the essence of the lives of the disciples of Xuanji Cave Heaven.
However, Ryan didn't need to work so hard.
He didn't have to spend a lot of time every day to complete sect tasks, but he could still enjoy all the benefits of the sect.
Because Ryan was the only true disciple of Drunken Immortal Peak and also a celestial prodigy in the eyes of others.
As long as his requests were not too excessive, the sect's seniors were all willing to satisfy them.
Time flies like an arrow, and the sun and the moon shuttle like a shuttle.
In the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed since Ryan left the mountain top of Drunken Immortal Peak.
On this day, when the sun was already high in the sky and the sun was shining brightly.
"Great, really great!"
Ryan in the small bluestone house suddenly opened his eyes, and a knowing smile appeared on his face: "I have completely paid off the cause of cultivation for [The Glorious Purple Blood Art]!"
"During this period of time to come, I don't have to worry about my disguise being exposed."
Debt-free and carefree!
With his mind a little more at ease and his tense nerves getting a chance to relax and rest, Ryan stepped out of the room, planning to give himself half a day off and enjoy his current life.
As a true disciple, his quality of life was quite high.
He didn't need to work or perform risky sect tasks, and he never lacked food, clothing, housing, and transportation.
Like going on an outing, Ryan walked alone, strolling around Drunken Immortal Peak for half a day.
After witnessing the hard lives of many registered and outer disciples, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
"If I hadn't pretended to be a celestial prodigy at the beginning, I guess I would be the same as everyone else now."
"Facing the loess and back to the sky, cultivating the spiritual fields, getting exhausted every day, with my physical strength depleted, spiritual power exhausted, and even my meridians aching faintly. There wouldn't be much time and energy left."
"Under such circumstances, the personal cultivation efficiency is self-evident!"
Only by seeing the hardships can one cherish the beauty of the present.
Ryan immediately began to think about how he should strengthen his persona of a [Celestial Prodigy].
"The improvement of cultivation realm is the most straightforward."
Before, Ryan wanted to reach the second level of Spirit Nurturing by advancing his cultivation results in advance, and it showed that he needed to repay the debt for 39 months.
Now, however, it showed that he only needed to repay the debt for 32 months to make the breakthrough.
——This was the additional effect of the large number of pills, delicious spiritual meals, and Dragon Descendant's Blood Wine given by the elders.
Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps not far away.
Ryan looked up and saw a high-spirited scholar in white, accompanied by many inner and outer disciples, walking quickly towards Drunken Immortal Peak.
When he came closer, the scholar in white said loudly: "You search everywhere but can't find it, yet it comes without any effort! Are you Ryan?"