Operating A Stall (6)

Yuan Ling's patience can be described with the word "amazing," based on how she appears while teaching Yuan Long how to circulate and manipulate the Spiritual Essence in his body.

To Long Yuan's surprise, this lass actually had some talent in teaching. Each word of hers and the action compelled one another, making it easy for a complete beginner like him to follow.

Her words and action compensate one another perfectly, making it a complete cycle from feeling, circulating, and manipulating the Spiritual Essence to do her bidding. Even if Yuan Long failed to repeat what he was shown for his first time, Yuan Ling was full of smiles as she repeated the same example for her second, third, and fourth time.

One had to realize that their background was mediocre. It was already a surprise for a pair of orphans to even afford to attend school and read, let alone try to teach someone else. Perhaps less than five people could read and write amongst the hundred households around this area.

"Ah... I finally succeeded." Long Yuan smiled after imbuing the Spiritual Essence around the sickle's blade in his hand. The amount of essence he used was also reduced by half.

"You're a quick learner, Long-Gege." Yuan Ling said while her head tilted slightly with a smile. Her remark might have a hint of sarcasm if it was heard by the others, but to Long Yuan, Yuan Ling's words are like a cheer from a lovely sister to her stupid big brother.

Long Yuan replied to the lass' remark with a smile. At the same time, he tried to grasp the feeling he had earlier to remember how the Spiritual Essence came into his control.

If he had to describe this feeling in words, it was like creating something out of nothing, be it on you, around you, using Spiritual Essence. It would be like turning your fingers into a kitchen mitt to hold a burning pot or sharpening your knife to cut a chestnut apart.

Honestly, Long Yuan can be considered lucky for having a talented sister like Yuan Ling. Their background was mediocre, but her talent itself is shocking. Even to the academy's teacher, teaching someone without a basic like Long Yuan was a notable obstacle.

The minimum requirement for one to qualify as an academy's instructor was to be literate and possess the strength of at least Foundation Realm's fifth stage before turning thirty years old. And even with this qualification, it would still be a challenge to impart the basics of the Spiritual Essence Manipulation Technique to the students.

But over here, Yuan Ling was merely fourteen years old young girl. Perhaps in this village, Yuan Ling was a nobody. But this would be indeed different if she found herself a proper teacher that willingly groomed her into an expert.

By repeating the same cycle of techniques multiple times, Long Yuan was more efficient in handling his Spiritual Essence. The realization also allowed him to notice how crude his method was and why he had to rest multiple times before finishing his works.

This technique could reduce at least a third of the Spiritual Essence Long Yuan needs to swing the sickle in a perfect arch. If the field of golden wheat was just around the corner of his house, Long Yuan would definitely go out to test the changes he had.

But even without making a point here, he knew that his harvest tomorrow would be much faster than before. Of course, as long he could employ the technique perfectly without losing his concentration.

Long Yuan might have no idea how significant it was. Still, as long he masters this technique, it won't be impossible for him to harvest a few meters of wheat in a single swing, repeating what Xiyang Xiao did.

"What a miraculous technique to use here." Long Yuan said and put the sickle aside. Although there's no taboo about playing with a sickle in the middle of the night, the thought itself could still make Long Yuan feel a little uneasy.

It's not like he would have a nightmare for doing so. Still, prevention would be better than regretting it later out of a superstitious mentality.

"What I teach were just a fragment from the Essence Manipulation Art. I'll make a copy of the first chapter to bring back home after the class tomorrow. At that time, I'll follow the book and guide you in how to cultivate." Yuan Ling added.

She was trying hard to hide her yawn while speaking. Obviously, this lass was tired from all the busy activities from morning until now. Furthermore, it was already a little past midnight.

"Let's continue tomorrow after you return from school. Go to sleep." Long Yuan said and gave her head a pat. And when he left Yuan Ling's bed, Long Yuan realized that there's still a roll of bamboo scrolls he's yet to lay his hand on it.

But right now, nothing is more essential than getting a good rest. Even Long Yuan felt fatigued after working from day till night.

About an hour after both of them were deep into slumber, the same body tempering process appeared once again on their body. A cloud of jade verdant was hovering above their physical body and slowly drilled into their pores to remove the impurities.

After all, this was something expected, especially after feasting on the perfectly toasted Mantou with a layer of caramelized fruit compote. The few toasted buns were significantly a more decadent food supplement than the plain counterpart in terms of Spiritual Essence replenishment.

But unfortunately, Long Yuan could barely benefit from this tempering process. Without a proper Spiritual Essence technique to complement the replenishment of Spiritual Essence, it would be akin to letting a nobody digest a table of a meal prepared for the royalties.

It seems that the siblings weren't the only ones blessed with this fortune tonight. Old Wen had the same episode due to the steamed buns this morning inside a house a few units away from the siblings.

This was a rare opportunity for the elder, especially after his cultivation stagnated for so many years.

-----

"Long-Gege! Wake up!" Long Yuan was woken from his slumber as the coquettish voice of his sister came into his ears. Added with her constant hand gesture that shook the world of his dreams, it's impossible to be undisturbed.

The sky outside was still in darkness when he opened his eyes. From its look, this is at least an hour or two earlier than the time they used to sleep until.

Weirdly, even with barely five hours of sleep, Long Yuan felt energetic. This made him wonder if the benefit was from eating more, working more, and cultivating more.

"Seriously, Ling-Er? Don't you think it's a little early?" Long Yuan half-heartedly complained. But it's not like the first time he had to wake up at such a week hour in the morning.

Before coming into this world, he was used to working over twenty hours in the kitchen for the sake of preparing certain vital ingredients for the feast that night. Certain items, such as suckling pigs, boiled sea cucumbers, abalones, and more, must be prepared before sunrises to let the ingredient rest.

"The early bird gets all the worms, Long-Gege. Quickly get ready, and let's go to the Xiyang Pavilion before anyone else. Don't you worry about missing the booth because we get over there later than the others?" Yuan Ling said.

Long Yuan would reply to her but noticed the lass was gone when he opened his eyes. A few minutes later, she returned with a bucket of hot water for Long Yuan to wash up.

Since he had no reason to prepare breakfast before heading to the village, the siblings were ready to go in less than ten minutes. Carrying two containers filled with a little over 7 pounds of refined flour, the siblings made their way to the village in a hurry.

From his estimation, all the flour he brought today would definitely be enough for around seventy steamed buns. And with the Silvergrass Fruit Compote in another container, that should be enough for between ten to fifteen toasted variants.

Depending on the steaming rack provided by the Xiyang Pavilion, he'll likely need a double-tier steamer to get all the buns ready before their opening time. But even if the steaming equipment doesn't go well with his expectation, he could gradually steam the Mantou in a particular order.

Based on the preparation before steaming, he needed about an hour to get the dough ready, from kneading to separating them into individual Mantou before putting them into the steamer. With how early they left the house, there's a little over three hours for them to get ready.

The sky gradually turns brighter on their way to the Sprouting Village. Still, there's nothing much for Long Yuan to see except remembering a few noticeable landmarks that would guide him back home later.

The siblings eventually arrived outside the Sprouting Village's entrance. But to their surprise, they're not the first to arrive. There are over thirty to forty people before them, all queuing for their turn to enter the settlement.

"See? Now you know why we have to wake up this early." there was a smug on Yuan Ling's face as if she was proud that she guessed something correctly.

They followed the others and queued for their turn to enter the village. After inspecting what they were bringing into the settlement, the siblings were eventually allowed to enter without difficulties.

The two quickly made their way towards the Xiyang Pavilion.

To their surprise, over half of the stall was about to open when they arrived outside a tall building three levels tall. There are close to a hundred food booths out here, with an assortment of ingredients on their display.

All the booths were put together with solid planks. Judging from the build quality, all of these were prepared thoughtfully according to Long Yuan's experience handling a kitchen for over twenty years.

"Amazing." Long Yuan couldn't help but let his eyes run wild around this place.