Cultivation Online

Each water pot could hold up to 50 gallons of water, and the buckets provided to the servants had a capacity of just one gallon each. Since every servant was required to fill two water pots, they needed to haul a total of 100 gallons of water each week.

Yuan carried two buckets to the river at a time, meaning it took 50 trips to completely fill both pots. With each trip taking roughly 15 minutes, he spent a little over half a day completing his assigned quota.

After dinner, Yuan returned home to cultivate.

The following day, Yuan met up with Lan Yingying again.

“How was it?” he asked her.

“I am making progress, albeit extremely slowly. At this rate, it’ll probably take me around three months to completely memorize the technique,” she sighed.

“As long as you’re making progress.”

“But it’s too slow.” Lan Yingying shook her head. “Although we have four years to complete this task, I don’t want to spend so much time here. Also, I doubt we’ll be finished after this trial.”

Yuan lifted his head to gaze at the blue sky and said, “Four years is definitely a long time, but there’s nothing we can do. Even if we want to leave this place, I don’t know if we can without failing the trial.”

Sometime later, Lan Yingying, who decided to start working on her quota, followed Yuan to the training hall to acquire some tools.

Once they started chopping the bamboo, it was clear that Lan Yingying was quite experienced with chopping, something Yuan hadn’t expected.

“You’re quite good at this. You have the perfect posture and motion, just like an expert.” Yuan remarked after seeing her work.

“Besides my cleaning duty, I chopped trees often in the Mystic Realm,” she said as she swung her axe.

“By the way, why are you using a sword? It’d be more efficient to use an axe,” she then asked.

Yuan smiled and said, “It feels more comfortable in my hands. Moreover, this is training.”

“Is that so…”

Once they chopped down their first bamboo of the day, Yuan repeated what he had done yesterday and began cultivating with some of the bamboo in his mouth.

Lan Yingying raised an eyebrow at his actions.

“What are you doing?” she couldn’t keep her curiosity contained.

“These bamboo contain spiritual energy, so it speeds up my cultivation progress.”

“I see…”

Since she couldn’t cultivate, Lan Yingying sat down on the ground and took out her cultivation technique, using the time to study it while she rested and waited for Yuan.

Once Yuan emerged from his cultivation about half an hour later, they delivered the chopped bamboo before returning to the forest. They repeated this routine until it was almost time for dinner, ending the day with five bamboos chopped.

“I haven’t felt this type of exhaustion in a long time…” Lan Yingying muttered as she grabbed her dinner, barely able to hold her plate up from exhaustion.

She looked around the dinner area and continued, “Judging by everyone’s appearance, very few have started working on their quota.”

“I have a feeling many people will miss their quota this week,” Yuan said with a slight smile.

“What do you think the punishment will be for them?”

Yuan shrugged, “Who knows? Back then, those who missed their quotas would not be allowed to eat and get beaten. If you miss enough quotas, you’ll no longer be able to become a disciple. However, they won’t just send you back home, either. Instead, you’ll be forced to work as a servant for the rest of your life.”

“That said, very few people have actually missed enough quotas to receive such punishment. During my several years in the Bamboo Garden, only one individual suffered such a fate.”

“Since this is a trial, I’m sure things will be a lot worse,” Lan Yingying muttered.

Yuan nodded, “That’s why we need to make sure we don’t miss our quotas.”

After dinner, Yuan and Lan Yingying returned to their living quarters.

For the next two days, they resumed their routine of chopping bamboo together.

“And with that, I am finished with my quota for this week,” said Yuan as he chopped his final bamboo.

“I still need five more bamboos, as well as two water pots,” Lan Yingying sighed. “We only have two days left, too. If I had skipped another day, I probably would’ve struggled to finish the quota.”

“I’ll help you out with your quota,” Yuan suddenly said.

“No, it’s okay. I don’t want to become a burden this early on. You should focus on becoming a cultivator as soon as possible. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be able to manage myself.”

Yuan nodded and said, “Alright. However, if you need help, come to me. This is an order.”

Lan Yingying acknowledged with a smile, “Yes, Young Master.”

For the last two days of the week, besides going to the cafeteria, Yuan spent all of his time cultivating inside his room. As for Lan Yingying, she finished her quotas without any issues.

Once the first week ended and they began their second week, Senior Zhou gathered everyone at sunrise.

“Your first week in the Bamboo Garden has ended. I knew this was inevitable, but I didn’t think so many of you would miss your quotas.”

Senior Zhou pulled out a storage pouch and retrieved a scroll from within. As he unrolled it, he revealed its contents to everyone—a long list of numbers neatly written across the scroll.

“This scroll contains a list of your house numbers and the names of those who failed to meet their quotas,” Senior Zhou announced in a stern tone. “There are eight hundred and fifteen of you on this list, so the majority of you here have failed to fulfill your quota.”

“Do you think this is a joke? That there are no consequences to your actions? Not only does this look bad on me, your supervisor, but it also affects the Immortal Monastery.”

“Since my earlier warning was ignored,” Senior Zhou said, his tone growing colder, “I will now inform you of the punishment for failing to meet your quotas.”

The atmosphere grew heavy, and many nervous gulps could be heard from the crowd.