If Kunlun was famous for its sorcery, Huashan for its plum blossom sword, Shaolin for its unbreakable formation, from hundreds of years ago, Qingcheng Sect was always famous for its arrays. Whether it was sealing arrays, defensive arrays, illusion arrays or the others... They were all famous for their effectiveness.

Not many people dared to face Qingcheng Sect's disciples head on, lest they would be the one to fall first.

In his prime of his previous life, Chu Yanling was one of the most powerful array masters to ever exist in the history of Qingcheng Sect.

And, now... Why did Chu Yanling want to go to the book storage which only have the basics of the most basics arrays in the sect?

The reason is simple. 

There were three types of tests that his master might give him. The first one was obviously knowledge, second was swordplay and last but not least, was drawing arrays. For the first and second part, Chu Yanling didn't really need to care so much, but the third part was necessary. 

Chu Yanling wanted to review all the things he had learned in his previous life and possibly research it. In fact, Chu Yanling's ultimate move was something he developed from just a basic sealing array. This was why he was so eager to go over to the book storage. 

He believed that there were more of what one's eyes could see. There must be something hidden within those arrays. As someone with experience, Chu Yanling strongly believed this theory.

Currently, Chu Yanling was looking through tens of books when he suddenly saw someone walk past him. Seeing that she also recognized him, Chu Yanking waved his hand and called that person over.

"Shijie!"

The person he called Shijie flinched then looked around before walking over to him. She then inspected Chu Yanling's face and asked with concern, "Chu-shidi? What... what happened to your face?"

Chu Yanling smiled and answered proudly while pointing his finger at his face, "This? It's from shizun!"

"F-from Chu-shibo¹martial uncle (the senior brother of one's master)?"

Chu Yanling nodded then asked her, "Liu-shijie, do you have some salve?"

"For your face?", Chu Yanling nodded again.

Though he didn't really need salve to heal his bruises, he was still uncomfortable to read in this state. And with his shijie's talent in making medicine, it was guaranteed that his bruises would heal within a few hours. It was a pity that she was extremely introverted, otherwise the other disciples would know her medicine making talent by now.

Truly a shame for this kind of person to be hidden away...

Thinking about the burned down medicine hall²changing medicine house to medicine hall, he became upset all over again. Chu Yanling shook his head and erased that scene from his mind.

Liu-shijie opened her small bag on her side then found something to give to Chu Yanling.

"Is... Is this enough?"

"Yup, thank you! Right, shijie, what are you doing here?"

"I'm in charge of teaching the new disciples and... I need some books for references."

Chu Yanling nodded in understanding. It was around this time that the sect went to accept some new disciples and coincidentally, one of his shidis who he got along with, was among them. 

Chu Yanling was naturally lazy and uncooperative when it comes to his new shidis and shimei³junior sisters that he didn't take teaching them seriously. It was also because of this that his shizun went to scold him earlier. He literally went off to skip the classes he was supposed to teach. But now, Chu Yanling wondered if he was really so unreliable to his master...

Chu Yanling sighed internally. His younger self really was... A troublemaker. What a shameful past. He wanted to sigh again.

"T-then, if there's nothing else, I'll leave."

"Alright, good luck!"

After seeing his shijie's back slowly disappearing from his sight, Chu Yanling got back on reading the book in his hand. It was not until sun had long set that he realized just how long he had stayed inside the book storage.  He was so immersed reading that he didn't even notice that his stomach had been growling loudly for the past hour. He was only out of his immersion when the bell rang, informing all residences in Qingcheng Sect that it was time for dinner.

"Ah... I've been here for more than three shichens⁴one shichen equals to 2 hours. You do the math lol already."

Chu Yanling felt that it was slightly regrettable that he lost his previous body's great endurance. Well, he had been starving when he was locked up in the underground prison, no surprises there. 

 Before, he could go on without food for at least a few days but now - in this young and soft body - he couldn't handle hunger for over half a day. This is really unfortunate.

Chu Yanling also could feel his legs being numb for sitting in lotus position for so long. He slowly got up and began to ease the numbness on his legs by massaging his calves. After a while, he bent down to pick up a few books he didn't manage to read before, intending to bring them back to his room.

Chu Yanling was walking out from the book storage when he saw many young disciples ran quickly to the dining hall. He let out an 'ah' before finally catching up with other disciples. Chu Yanling couldn't believe that he almost forgot about one of the most important thing in Qingcheng Sect. He wanted to slap himself in the face if he could. 

"Dinner!"

"Today's menu is meat!"

"Meat!"

"I must get it first!"

"No, I'll get it first!"

Almost all disciples, driven by madness, rushed to the dining hall as if they hadn't eaten for a long time. Many of them even shoved one another in order to get inside first. 

Seeing this scene, Chu Yanling couldn't help but be a bit melancholic. He missed this ruckus over dinner... 

However, he didn't intend to slow down at all. Even if his other competitors had already learned neigong, he wouldn't lose in terms of physical strength and swiftness. He got past through a bunch of young disciples who were yelling 'meat!' quite easily as he avoided the places where there were fights breaking out.

Finally, he arrived at the very front of the lady who provided the whole sect with meals. Even the sect leader and elders would have to go here to earn their portion of food. 

The lady in front of him narrowed her eyes and looked at Chu Yanling from head to toe. 

"Ai, Ling-er⁵ when someone calls another by (name)-er, it means that they're particularly close to each other... You got beaten up again?"

"Ah heheh..."

Chu Yanling could only laugh helplessly as he watch the lady scoop a bowl of rice, a bowl of warm soup and a lot of braised meat as the side dish. Chu Yanling brightened at the amount of meat he got.

"Tsk tsk... Here's some additional meat. Senior Chu really should go easy on you."

"A-yi⁶Auntie Chen, Thank you!"

A-yi Chen flashed him a smile and shooed him away. Chu Yanling happily sat on the corner of the dining hall and silently stared at the steaming hot rice.

How long had it been since he enjoyed some warm, hearty meal? 

Chu Yanling grasped the chopsticks in his hands firmly, albeit trembling. He had long lost the feeling of chopsticks. 

He slowly put a mouthful of rice and braised meat into his mouth, savoring them. Chu Yanling felt his eyes growing hotter every second.

While eating, he could only hold back his tears - which was obviously unsuccessful.

It was warm and delicious... Although the meat was a little rubbery, Chu Yanling felt that it was the most delicious food he had ever eaten.

Chu Yifei (shizun) who just walked into the dining hall: "..." What's up with that kid recently?