Chapter 95: Such a Vegetable Patch

What an extraordinary stroke of destiny this was!

Had Heaven finally understood the bitterness he had endured all these years?

For a long moment, Long Ruxuan truly found himself lost in thought.

"All right, come and sit down. There is no need for us to be so tense," Zhu Xiaoyuan said with a smile, seeing how each of them stood there in such a state.

The two of them immediately gathered themselves as instructed, then came over to Zhu Xiaoyuan and sat beside him.

Ruofeng brought over a kettle and poured each of them a cup of tea.

"You have both come all this way with great hardship, so you must be tired. Have a cup of tea first," Zhu Xiaoyuan said, handing the tea to them.

They accepted it with utmost respect.

As soon as Long Ruxuan took a sip, his eyes widened in shock.

It was as if the tea contained some immense force; he only felt a rare clarity sweep through his mind.

It was as though every trace of spiritual energy in his body had been stirred into motion.

The dragon soul within him, which had long shown no sign of healing, actually seemed to begin slowly recovering.

And after only that one sip, Long Ruxuan felt that his senses had sharpened as well.

His awareness of the pool in Zhu Xiaoyuan's little courtyard grew even stronger.

He even felt it within his own body: the cultivation he had been unable to advance for so long seemed to leap over some great barrier, surging upward in an instant until it reached the Nascent Soul realm!

But he had been stuck at the Golden Core stage for many years, unable to break through no matter what he tried. Yet after only a sip of tea, he had advanced two entire realms?

For an instant, Zhu Xiaoyuan felt as though he were dreaming.

Luan Ran drank the tea as well, and at that moment his perception also became markedly stronger.

He could even sense the peach tree swaying in the courtyard with the wind, surrounded by tens of thousands of glimmering lights...

"My heavens, how on earth did Senior manage to grow this?" Luan Ran exclaimed.

Even as he marveled, his cultivation also rose with astonishing momentum.

He even leapt directly from the Foundation Establishment realm to the Golden Core realm.

Clearly, if his cultivation had not been so low to begin with, it might well have continued climbing still higher.

"I heard you speaking just now. Luan Ran, you want to learn the art of cultivation, is that right?" Zhu Xiaoyuan asked.

Luan Ran immediately nodded, again and again.

"Master! I want to learn the art of cultivation. It's my passion! I am willing to devote my entire life to studying it!"

Devote his whole life to being a farmer?

Zhu Xiaoyuan was genuinely taken aback by that.

He did not even know how to judge such an idea.

Still, since the man had said it himself, it would not be right for him to discourage him.

After all, being a farmer was hardly a bad thing. Besides, Zhu Xiaoyuan might not know much, but he did have some skill in farming.

If Luan Ran had asked for something else, Zhu Xiaoyuan might not have been able to teach him at all.

"Good. From now on, you will follow me and learn the art of cultivation!" Zhu Xiaoyuan declared, slapping his hand down decisively as he happily agreed.

In any case, the disciples had already been taken in. They could learn whatever they wished.

With the world in such chaos outside, staying in the little mountain village and farming did not seem so bad. At the very least, they would not lose their lives!

At that, Luan Ran instantly grew excited.

Ever since he had arrived in this courtyard, his emotions had been in a constant state of excitement, with no end to it in sight.

"Master! Thank you, Master!"

If not for standing before Zhu Xiaoyuan, Luan Ran would likely have jumped straight into the air.

This truly was the right place to come.

The more fiercely he had cursed the elders who had sent him here to die, the more grateful he now felt toward them.

He wanted nothing more than to rush up to them and thank them properly.

Zhu Xiaoyuan turned his head toward Long Ruxuan.

"Ruxuan, what would you like to learn?"

Long Ruxuan had been staring at the pond all along. Now, hearing Zhu Xiaoyuan ask him directly, he simply spoke his mind.

"Master, I want to go to the pond."

Zhu Xiaoyuan immediately clapped his hands and made the decision.

"That works too. I can teach you how to care for it!"

He was very satisfied with the arrangement.

One would farm, the other would raise fish. Perfect!

Hearing this, Long Ruxuan rose at once and bowed deeply to Zhu Xiaoyuan.

"Thank you for your guidance, Master. Your disciple will surely study diligently from now on!"

"Good!"

"Then both of you come with me now. I will teach you one by one!"

Zhu Xiaoyuan stood up.

The two newly accepted disciples followed closely behind him.

"Ruofeng, go and fetch my trusty hoe for me," Zhu Xiaoyuan instructed.

Ruofeng hurried into the house and brought out a hoe.

The moment Long Ruxuan and Luan Ran saw the hoe in Ruofeng's hands, their eyes practically shone.

The crimson handle and the sturdy blade came together so naturally. There was actually a rhythm of the Dao flowing through it, and merely looking at it for a few moments left them nearly unable to bear the pressure.

"This seems to exceed even the level of an immortal artifact!" Long Ruxuan said in shock.

This hoe before them was more formidable than any treasure he had seen elsewhere that day.

"Let's go," Zhu Xiaoyuan said, lifting the hoe onto his shoulder.

"First, I'll teach Luan Ran how to farm."

With that, the group headed toward the vegetable patch.

Ruofeng, Huanyue, and the others followed Zhu Xiaoyuan as well.

They had never seen their master farm before.

All this time, they had watched him play the zither and paint, and they wondered what it would be like when he worked the earth.

Long Ruxuan and Luan Ran reached the edge of the vegetable patch.

The moment they looked, they could not help drawing in a sharp breath.

Their master actually called this place a vegetable patch?

It was not that they were ignorant or inexperienced.

After all, they did know what a vegetable patch was.

Yet the vegetables growing here—cabbages, tomatoes, and all manner of others—were anything but ordinary.

Each and every one of them was suffused with the Dao and overflowing with spiritual energy.

Even the slightest unfurling of a cabbage leaf seemed to reveal a tiny world within.

As for the tomatoes, they were bright and vivid red, and merely standing there seemed to radiate a power so great that one could scarcely bear to look directly at them.

Long Ruxuan and Luan Ran were truly stunned.

"So it turns out we've really taken an extraordinary master. This is nothing like the sort of world I used to know," Long Ruxuan whispered.

One had to know that if any of these vegetables in the so-called patch were taken to the Heavenly Martial Realm, they would be fought over in an instant.

"I feel like I'm going to die! From happiness!" Luan Ran stared at the vegetable patch before him, his eyes utterly fixed.