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65.83% Learning To Live As A Cultivator / Chapter 212: Chapter Twelve - I’m back behind a cauldron

Chapter 212: Chapter Twelve - I’m back behind a cauldron

As generous as it had sounded once offered by the matriarch, a courtyard was not going to be completely ready for guests to rest in so soon, especially not now as the sun had long since sunk beyond the horizon due to the shortened winter day. Leon and Jin Li would still need to sleep in Sun's study for at least this one night. So after the patriarch and matriarch retired for the evening, everyone else then to followed suit, heading this way and that, and Sun, who was a little more cheerful having escaped the confines of the Hall lead his friends back through the extensive gardens towards his place.

In the dark of the overcast night, the gardens took on a new look and while it couldn't be said to be romantic, due to most of the trees being without their coats and swaying in the cold breeze eerily, there was still a different sort of charm to it. Currently, the paths had been lined with small mage lights and decorative lanterns hung from hooks in choice places. Tiny night pearls hung as beads from trees near ponds and etched into fake mountains, giving an appearance of wasteful extravagance. Sun's personal servant held a lamp in front to further light their way.

Leon shivered slightly as a cool breeze took him by surprise and he clutched his coat together nearer the neck, the fur soft against his skin. A source of warmth leaned closer to him and he looked up to see Jin Li walking so close that their arms brushed together, but still looking nonchalantly ahead as if it was of no moment. Leon bent his fingers in Jin Li's direction, which then became entwined with the other's and this also added another type of charm to the night.

The following morning, after a large breakfast with varying dishes, Sun excused himself; he had to go pay his respects of his relatives. He was not looking forward to it, but his grandparents were liberal for the most part and didn't expect them to pay obeisance every day, just once every week unless otherwise summoned. Leon likened it as the elders reminding the younger generations just who is in charge in the palace, the C.E.O's holding a meeting with their employees. Jin Li was feeling antsy; it had been many days since he had practiced his martial arts and so he moved into the courtyard to stretch and dance in deadly yet somehow graceful motions.

Therefore, Leon was left to his own devices. He decided to create some pills while he had the chance.

Plying his own trade in the cold courtyard was not something he wished to do, he could only enquire whether there was a free side room with nothing valuable there in, just in case of accidents. The servants had already been informed that the youth was an apprentice alchemist and so he was lead to a room that was currently empty, only holding a plain single bed (it had once expected to have a tongfang room here, but that never occurred in this courtyard). Satisfied, Leon withdrew the valuable, portable stove the Headmaster had gifted him as a core student and looked through his interspacial bag to see what herbs he had available for use.

Recently, he'd been trying to perfect a new type of cultivation pill, however it was not for humans, but for beasts; the Earth Qi Pill. Tor had attempted to explain it, that beasts had a natural instinct to gather spiritual energy from the surrounding atmosphere and it would aid the beast in its growth to adulthood and into its elder years. An Earth Qi Pill was formed from draining the spiritual energy from plants and turning into a Pill. However, it wasn't something humans could digest into their systems, to dangerous to their innersea and meridians, thus humans could only rely on spiritual pills improving their general cultivation. Just like with humans, however, the Earth Qi Pills would only satisfy beasts of a certain level before they needed pills with stronger spiritual essence.

Earth Qi Pills required a series of different grasses and each grass required a different heat, a different length of time dissolving in the cauldron and one grass was too resilient, requiring the only non-grass ingredient to begin the reaction; Verdant Holly sap. Leon had only managed to produce a few Earth Qi Pills so far, usually due to external distractions and once as one of the grasses had unnoticeable problems. But so long as he had a good three hours without interruption, he should managed to produce a pill or two from the numerous ingredients in front of him.

One by one, the grasses were placed into the cauldron. Leon's spiritual energy was split in two then four as he prevented certain grasses from over heating, while drawing extra heat to others. The stove's flames tipped askew as they greedily drank energy from the mage stones within and heated the cauldron on top. Beads of perspiration began to form upon his forehead as the heat from the fire and the strength of concentration began to wear him down.

Two hours later, the grasses were mush in the base of the cauldron and the flames were lowered and spread more evenly. Leon withdrew part of his spiritual energy, leaving just enough to stir the compound within the cauldron and encourage it to take shape. Not a drop could be left to stick upon the metal frame to burn or the whole contents could be lost. Just as the third hour ticked past, Leon successfully formed the pills. Three were decent, two were trash and could only be binned. Satisfied, Leon popped them into a jade bottle and stretched his spine to ease the ache.

A face appeared above him.

"You have the gall to abandon this Lord and make Pills for those two beasts?" Jin Li sneered.

Leon simply offered a smile. "You l-look very d-d-dashing when p-practicing," he complimented, "b-but it's c-cold outside. I c-couldn't stay t-too long." Jin Li's eyes softened ever so slightly, but Leon could tell he wasn't quite ready to forgive. "Why d-d-don't we g-go for a walk, see the C-coeurl for a b-bit?" It had been a while since he'd made Earth Qi Pills and both the Coeurl were usually very attentive when they realised that he'd brought them treats.

"See, already you place those beasts above me," Jin Li complained, but continued to follow Leon into the study where his hands roamed freely as his small lover changed and wiped away the sweat from his body before adorning clean robes. It took quite sometime in the end and the small slaps that Jin Li endured were but mere tickles causing a slight itch. Very good. It was well that they would be changing courtyards this afternoon. It seemed his small alchemist needed a fresh lesson or two...


Chapter 213: Chapter Thirteen - I hit a girl!

The guest courtyard, that became available to them that afternoon, was not large.  It was comparable with the basic courtyard home that the pair shared in the Ascending Mountain Institute. Just that the side rooms were meant for close servants or young children and there was no small kitchen. The contents of the room were far more luxurious than their own home, even though they were generally simple in terms of ornamentation. The curtains were made of brocade, the sheets upon the beds were silk with heavier blankets placed on top that had been embroidered with simple, but elegant patterns. The chest and vanity tables were not ornate, but made of high quality wood and finished superbly.

They'd been guided by servants to separate bedrooms within the building, to which Leon was too shy to amend and Jin Li was too lazy. They reunited in the common room located inbetween the two bedrooms, where Jin Li requested a servant to bring a kettle of hot water. This servant and several others had been assigned to serve them during their stay, but they also found that these unusual masters did not want their close attentions; meaning their usual aid during grooming, nightly duties nor even the simple matter of pouring tea. Some of these duties actually fell upon the smaller youth's shoulders, which confused them for even though he was a commoner, his manner was not actually like a servant, born in house or otherwise! Not even a favoured servant would dare bicker so openly with their Master nor would a favoured servant be given their own bedroom in the main living area, but rather still be shown a side room. Plus... there was something ambiguous about their relationship...

They couldn't evaluate it overly for they were shooed out of the courtyard with the exception of just two, who were told just to remain in the servants rooms in the front of the courtyard until they were needed, as 'cultivation required an environment that was unhindered by external factors.' What did mortals understand that while this sentence was actually true, they were simply considered nuisances by a certain Martial Artist who didn't want his small alchemist worried that their interactions would be heard by servants guarding their bedroom doors waiting to attend them at immediate notice.

That done and tea consumed, Jin Li tugged his small alchemist's wrist, the heat in his eyes no longer hidden. Leon blushed and made some excuses about cleaning up before coming to his room tonight then fled to his own room. There, Leon washed his face and took care of a little personal business before slipping into his night robes. Feeling a little more settled, he didn't delay any longer less his impatient gong decide to come seeking him, however he had barely made a move towards the door when he heard a feminine scream, the source of which was down the hall of this courtyard!

Rushing into his lover's bedroom, he came upon an unexpected scene; a girl of about sixteen years crumpled upon the floor with the silk sheet of Jin Li's bed wrapped about her otherwise naked form. Tears streamed down the girl's face, while Jin Li stood a few paces away, looking down at her with sparks of angry lightning in his black eyes. Leon could only stand and stare, his mind a blanket of nothing due to shock. Less than half a minute later and the two servants that had been allowed to stay in the guest courtyard arrived and stood behind Leon, surprise also evident upon their faces.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Jin Li's crisp tone was heavy with anger as he pointed at the girl who had crawled into his bed. It was not as if he hadn't experienced this sort of thing before; his Uncle had tried once to gift him with a tong fang (bed servant) and there had been a couple of servant girls with their heads more in the clouds wishing to experience the dreams of a Phoenix, however that sort of thing had been nipped in the bud in an extremely swift and once bloody manner. None had bothered to attempt to actually climb into his bed since he was fourteen, too fearful of his and the Madam's (his mother's) reactions. Definitely wasn't expecting that sort of thing to occur in the guest courtyard of someone else's palace!

"Honoured sir," one of the servants stammered, "this..."

"Our Master certainly would never approve of this sort of thing!" The other servant was much more certain of this matter than the former and looked coldly at the girl, who shuddered beneath his icy stare.

It should be mentioned, that Mond had assigned them male servants. For one, although he, himself, had a couple of female servants, they were older women that had been with him for years, not tong fang. He'd once had a tong fang, but once his engagement was set to a young girl of another military family, he felt that it would be an insult to her if he accidentally brought a shu child into the world before she had even been carried through the gates. Thus, his tong fang had been assigned elsewhere.

Mond also understood his brother's nature; Sun did not like women attending him. Even his old wet nurse was retired when he was assigned his own courtyard and he chased away the girls their mother had given him as potential tong fang. His innocent, bright natured mother didn't know it, but those same girls had once been amongst those who had mocked and ridiculed his little brother for his poor performance as a Martial Artist and Cultivator. Although they were cautious with their words, they still relished a Master's misfortune, who would want them?!

So it had not occurred to Mond to assign Leon and Jin Li women to serve them in the guest courtyard. And even if he had, they would not be given to them to attend to their sexual needs!

The girl reached for Jin Li's robe. "M-Master..." her fingers stretched to him, the gamble she had made while thinking she had excellent odds in her favour becoming shockingly unrealised.

She was pretty, she had many of the servant boys dancing in the palm of her hands, though she kept them all at arms length, hoping for more. Then this guest of the family had caught her eye. He was incomparably handsome with a cold yet noble temperament. Even the Matriarch seemed to approve of him, so while his background wasn't clear, if he was a noble as assumed, she had a chance of becoming his Concubine, while if he was not, it would still not be so bad to become his wife!

She had definitely not expected any virile youth to be able to resist her unleashed charms! Panicked, for she only now thought about the consequences of her actions if she failed to capture this man, she could only beg him to accept her. "This lowly one is pure and has now been seen by you.. this slave dares not dream any longer unattainable dreams, just wishes to serve you wholly!"

Her head suddenly and sharply swung to one side as the sound of a slap echoed through the room. Jin Li sneered at the girl, but his heart felt incomparably full. He tugged his incensed alchemist to his side and unfurled the youth's reddened hand. "Does it hurt?" He asked Leon who trembled with both anger and the shock of what he had just done. He'd hit a girl! Perhaps it was a good job his mother wasn't in this world, wouldn't she berate him for doing so? But he had been so angry that this girl not only crawled into his man's bed, but propositioned Jin Li so openly in front of him and now that Jin Li mentioned it, he realised that his hand did sting a bit from smacking that woman's thick face.

"En," Leon lowered his head before his man, not daring to look at the feverish eyes staring intently at him. He tried to tug his hand free as he suddenly recalled that they had an audience, but Jin Li would not let go.

"Tch," Jin Li glanced over his shoulder at his messy bed. "This Lord's bed has been defiled and now stinks of perfume. We will retire to your bedroom." Leon blush deepened. Turning to the two Male servants, Jin Li added; "I trust that this Lord does not need to tell you to clean up here."

All three servants felt as if their three views had been turned upside down, but while the girl paled white, her longing expression morphing into disgust and the nervous man, froze completely out of his depth, the other man nodded as if he hadn't been unmoved at all. "Yes, honourable guest. This humble servant will indeed, clean up here. I hope both sirs have an otherwise pleasant night." Not only would he clean up, but would assure that talk of what occurred here was minimal.

Jin Li gave no more attention to the girl upon the floor nor the two male servants as he too wished to explore what would make his night more pleasant and dragged Leon away to the other room by his wrist.

The following day, the girl servant was dismissed by the angered Matriarch and thrown out of the palace gates. Details of what had happened were originally kept under wraps, but no matter, there was still a tiny leak voicing a little of the girl's deed and intent. Thus other servants and young women of the palace began to gossip in corners, their disdain about this former servant clear. How dare she think she can rise through another's household and shed her status as a servant. What a slut! One young woman with sultry eyes, who was glad to finally get rid of that eyesore voiced; "What did she expect? That man is clearly refined and would not fall for such a cheap thing. The place by his side is only worthy of one who is incomparable to others, with talent, poise and grace. One who is raised noble and has a strong family background."

"Such as yourself?"

The young woman just smiled.


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