Chapter 1992: Lower Earth Mountain

Nobody can blame the female disciple for being confused. Zhao Hai’s selection of jade slips was very mixed. There was earth element, metal element, wind element, water element, and wood element jade slips. Seeing so many elements in a cultivator’s selection, it was normal for anyone to be confused.

Most people in the Tyrant Blade Sect have Earth-grade and Mortal-grade spirit roots. There were almost no Heaven-grade spirit roots. If there were, the sect would certainly train them in secret and they wouldn’t come to the Blade Pavilion. Besides cultivators with Heaven-grade spirit roots, cultivators wouldn’t practice so many elements. However, Zhao Hai strangely bought a mixed bag of jade slips. 

Meanwhile, Zhao Hai didn’t think about it too much. He left the Blade Pavilion with Qiu Tie, paid the parking fee, and then flew towards Lower Earth Mountain.

Lower Earth Mountain was east of the Blade Pavilion. Zhao Hai commanded his winged horses to fly directly to the mountain. Since the Lower Earth Mountain was very far, it took Zhao Hai and Qiu Tie five hours of flying before seeing the mountain.

It didn’t take long for Zhao Hai to see that Lower Earth Mountain wasn’t in a good location. The closer Zhao Hai flew to Lower Earth Mountain, the less people he saw. He even began to see beasts in some places, which surprised him.

Lower Earth Mountain wasn’t very tall. It was only about 20 kilometers above sea level. The mountain was quite steep and it occupied a large area. It was 150 kilometers from north to south and it had 21 peaks in total. There were all kinds of trees growing on the mountain.

Zhao Hai made the winged horses circle around Lower Earth Mountain. The mountain itself was good, but because of how steep it was, there were only two roads leading up to it.

Courtyards were built on the 21 peaks of the mountain. But naturally, most of these courtyards have been abandoned. They were infested with weeds.

When Zhao Hai saw signs of activity on one of the main peaks, he directed his winged horses to fly towards it. At the same time, the people on the mountain could see someone coming. They stood up and looked at Zhao Hai.

Zhao Hai counted and there were 12 individuals. It seems like they are the 12 Eccentrics that Qiu Tie mentioned. At this moment, the winged horses landed on the ground. Zhao Hai took Qiu Tie down from the winged horse and then the two headed towards the 12 individuals.

After arriving with Qiu Tie, Zhao Hai cupped his fist towards the 12 people and said, “Zhao Hai has met Senior Brothers. I was assigned resident complex number 52 of Lower Earth Mountain by the Miscellaneous Hall. I just arrived here, does Senior Brothers know where my residence is?”

As he said that, Zhao Hai inspected the 12 cultivators. These twelve individuals really deserve to be called the 12 Eccentrics. Although they wore cultivator clothing, their clothes were too colorful. It was as if they took different colored robes and then threw them all inside a washing machine. As a result, the colors faded and mixed with every robe, turning the robes into a mess of colors.

The hair of these 12 people were also a mess. Their beards were very long and ungroomed. They looked more like crazy people than cultivators. At the same time, the 12 Eccentrics were also inspecting Zhao Hai. They sized Zhao Hai up with a strange gaze. Their gazes were a bit inquisitive, but it was mostly curiosity.

Seeing that the 12 didn’t respond, Zhao Hai scanned through the area. He discovered that it was a huge architectural complex. Zhao Hai moved towards the front of the gate and saw written on it were three characters for 52(五十二).

When he saw these three characters, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but chuckle. Then he returned to the courtyard and greeted the 12 Eccentrics once more, “I’ve made Senior Brothers laugh. I didn’t know that this was resident complex number 52. May I choose any room here?”

Like before, the 12 Eccentrics didn’t say anything, they just looked at Zhao Hai in silence. After waiting for a while and receiving no reply, Zhao Hai looked around and found the rooms where the twelve lived. Their rooms were right beside each other. They took up an entire courtyard block. However, there were paths leading to other courtyard blocks right beside theirs. It seems like the twelve eccentrics lived in just one courtyard block.

Seeing that there was no response, Zhao Hai shrugged and led Qiu Tie towards the path towards the unoccupied courtyards.

Zhao Hai shoved the gate of one courtyard block open and saw that it was bigger than the previous one. The courtyard had 20 rooms altogether. There was even a training ground. Spread throughout the floor were slates of cyan stones. Since the courtyard hasn’t been used for a long time, weeds have drilled themselves into every crevice. There was a huge locust tree in the center, providing an umbrella to the whole block. On the east side of the courtyard was a well that was constructed from stone. It looks to be the only water source for the residence.

The rooms in the courtyard were made of wood and stone. There should be a layer of red paint on the walls, but it had already fallen off. However, the body of the residence was still complete and strong. But with the fallen leaves and weeds everywhere, it looked very desolate.

Qiu Tie was still a child all things considered, so when he saw this scene, he couldn’t help but move to Zhao Hai’s side in fear. Seeing Qiu Tie’s expression, Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “It’s alright. Don’t be afraid. I’ll have someone clean it up in no time.”

Qiu Tie looked at Zhao  Hai in confusion. He didn’t understand what Zhao Hai was talking about. They didn’t employ anyone from the Miscellaneous Hall, so who was going to clean the courtyard?

Zhao Hai waved his hand and released a group of robots. It must be said that although the True Spirit Realm doesn’t allow beings from the Space to come out, the robots could still appear. Robots have no life in them and could be regarded as tools. They wouldn’t be repelled by the realm’s laws.

But at the same time, Zhao Hai’s robots don’t have any significant strength. They were only strong enough to do menial tasks that Zhao Hai needed to be done, like cleaning and housework. 

Zhao Hai released 30 robots all in all. After all robots appeared, Zhao Hai ordered, “Remove all the weeds in the courtyard and place the furniture inside the residence. Also, listen to what he has to say from now on.” As he said that, Zhao Hai pointed towards Qiu Tie.

Qiu Tie was now very curious about the robots. The robots were fully metallic and weren’t covered by biochemical skin. Because of this, Qiu Tie immediately understood that it was a machine. But this was also the cause for Qiu Tie’s curiosity.

Puppets were also present in the True Spirit Realm. Moreover, it was very common. The Tyrant Blade Sect even has a place specifically for researching puppets. There were also cultivators in the sect that used puppets. Cultivators in the Tyrant Blade Sect used puppets for combat. Nobody would use their puppet to do housework, that was a job for servants. And puppets needed contribution points to buy. Nobody would waste their contribution points just for their puppet to do housework.

A puppet would immediately be snagged the moment they appear on the market. With how rare they were, it was simply impossible for puppets to do housework. Naturally, there were no such things as servant puppets.

The puppets that Qiu Tie had seen before were only battle puppets. He hasn’t seen puppets like the ones Zhao Hai took out. When the robots began to take tools out to do housework under Zhao Hai’s order, Qiu Tie’s attention was immediately captured.

Looking at Qiu Tie’s appearance, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but laugh. Then he took out two chairs and a table. He sat down and he took out a bottle of wine and a bottle of juice. Then he called Qiu Tie over and said, “Come, Little Tie, drink some juice. The robots will take care of the courtyard from now on. If you need something done, you can order them. But I have to remind you that they can only do housework like cleaning and making meals, nothing else.”

Qiu Tie looked at Zhao Hai with a blank expression. He really couldn’t understand what Zhao Hai was saying. He had never seen a cultivator carry these kinds of things with him.

Thinking of this, Qiu Tie turned his head and glanced at his side once again. There were piles of furniture including beds, tables, chairs, carpets, and daily necessities. There were even things that he hadn’t seen before.

Upon hearing that Zhao Hai wanted him to sit down, Qiu Tie bowed and said, “I won’t dare. Young Master, the sect has a rule that a servant cannot sit when the Master is sitting.”

Zhao Hai was stunned, then he asked, “You can’t even sit even if I ask you to?”

Qiu Tie was silent for a moment, then upon thinking for a while, he said, “I haven’t heard that it wasn’t allowed. But Grandfather told me that even if the Young Master asks me to sit, I cannot sit down. Otherwise, there would be no division between master and servant.”

Hearing Qiu Tie, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but think about Qiu Zhen. Recalling Qiu Zhen’s serious expression, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but sigh. He knew that Qiu Tie wouldn’t sit down no matter how much he asked. So he didn’t force Qiu Tie. Instead, he gestured towards the bottle of juice and said, “Then at least take this juice. I took it out for you.”

This time, Qiu Tie didn’t decline. He bowed towards Zhao Hai and said, “Thank you, Young Master.” Then he took the bottle of juice and took a sip. When he tasted the juice, Qiu Tie’s eyes couldn’t help but light up. He didn’t think juice could be this tasty.

The Tyrant Blade Sect also grew fruit trees, so fruits weren’t rare in the sect. With the Qiu Clan being one of the most prominent servant clans in the sect, they naturally have a good amount of resources. Qiu Tie has eaten a lot of fruits in his life, but has never drank fruit juice. Upon tasting fruit juice, the sweet and sour taste immediately captivated Qiu Tie. After all, he was still a child. 

Forgetting about being polite, Qiu Tie focused on drinking the juice.