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Xia Jin watched blankly as Xu Jinghuai’s figure vanished before her eyes.

It wasn’t until a cool night breeze brushed past, sending a reflexive shiver through her body, that she finally snapped back to reality.

The Immortal Master was gone…

So, he didn’t actually want to try her cooking…

With her expectations deflated, Xia Jin felt a tiny pang of disappointment.

However, she quickly brightened up. Her father had said that the Immortal Master dealt with ten thousand matters a day and was very busy; he must have gone off to handle important business…

‘I can’t be willful; I can’t disturb the Immortal Master!’

Another gust of cold wind blew, making Xia Jin shiver again. Realizing she couldn’t stay outside any longer, she clutched the heavy ingredients in her arms and hurried back into the safety of the pavilion.

The pavilion was grand and multi-storied, but Xia Jin didn’t venture upstairs.

She picked a room on the first floor that had a bed, deciding that this would be her living quarters from now on.

There were three independent rooms on the first floor. Only the one she chose had a bed.

Of the other two, one featured a wooden tub, towels, and incense—clearly a bathroom—while the remaining room contained a stove, cabinets, and a variety of pots and pans. This was the kitchen.

Xia Jin had no idea that Xu Jinghuai had specifically requested this arrangement from Old He; from her perspective as a commoner, it didn’t seem strange at all.

However, upon entering the kitchen, a crystal on the ceiling automatically lit up, giving Xia Jin quite a fright.

She fled back to the doorway like a startled rabbit, peeking half her head out, her lively eyes darting around as she cautiously observed the crystal.

As Xia Jin moved away, the crystal seemed to sense her departure and dimmed once more, plunging the room back into darkness.

Once the crystal was completely dark, Xia Jin breathed a sigh of relief. She tentatively stepped back into the kitchen, her eyes fixed on the crystal the entire time.

The moment her foot crossed the threshold, the dim crystal flared to life again, casting a soft glow.

Having prepared herself this time, Xia Jin wasn’t scared, but she still pulled her foot back and stood outside the door.

Seeing the crystal dim again, Xia Jin thought for a moment and tentatively extended her foot once more.

The crystal lit up again.

At this point, Xia Jin finally understood—it was for lighting!

‘How amazing!’

Xia Jin’s eyes sparkled as if she had discovered an incredible treasure.

Suddenly remembering something, she looked down at her waist, where a candle was tucked. Since her hands were full of food, she hadn’t been able to carry it.

She had planned to light it as soon as she entered the kitchen, but now it seemed unnecessary.

Entering the kitchen fully, she saw that nothing else changed as the crystal glowed.

Feeling completely bold now, Xia Jin walked to the table, piled the ingredients on it, and looked up to properly examine the crystal above.

“Is this the Immortal Master’s magic? So powerful… much more convenient than the candles in the mortal world!”

After marveling, she murmured softly, “Come to think of it, I think I saw a crystal like this in the bedroom earlier.”

But at that time, it hadn’t been completely dark yet, and she had carried a lit candle inside, so she hadn’t noticed if the crystal was glowing or not.

She would have to take a good look when she went back to her room!

Shaking off her excited curiosity, little Xia Jin began selecting ingredients to cook tonight’s dinner.

Meanwhile, in Xu Jinghuai’s little hut.

Having been busy all day, Master Xu returned home and took out an array disk from his person.

“Go!”

With a surge of immortal power, an invisible ripple flowed through the entire hut.

After setting up a soundproofing formation, Xu Jinghuai flashed to a spot outside his hut.

After confirming three times that no sound from inside could be heard outside, he finally walked back into his small home with peace of mind.

“You’re back?”

Just as Xu Jinghuai closed the door, a familiar, lazy male voice drifted from the bed inside the room.

Looking toward the source of the sound in the dim room, there was actually another person present!

And upon seeing the face of the voice’s owner, an even more incredible fact was revealed.

The man lying on the bed with his legs crossed, intently playing Tetris…

Had a face identical to the Xu Jinghuai at the door!

Even that familiar, lazy aura was exactly the same!

“Yeah, I’m back.”

However, the Xu Jinghuai at the door didn’t seem surprised. He simply nodded, then let out a breath as if his soul were escaping. He walked straight to the bed and collapsed onto it, burying his face in the blankets with an incredibly satisfied groan.

“I’m absolutely exhausted…”

The “Xu Jinghuai” on the bed took a moment from his busy schedule to glance at the newcomer and scoffed.

“Hey now, isn’t that a bit much? It’s just a recruitment ceremony. It’s the same every year—just take a nap and it’s over.”

“Even if the Sect Master held you back for ‘detention,’ it’s just a bit more sleep time.”

At the mention of this, the Xu Jinghuai on the bed couldn’t take it anymore. He looked up like a resentful wife and started pouring out his grievances.

“Damn it, Main Body, you have the nerve to say that?”

“You learned that Out-of-Body Incarnation technique and created me just so I could deal with every recruitment ceremony while you stay home and play games!”

“What about me?? I was stared at by those immortal sprouts like a zoo animal, and I had to stay alert so the Sect Master wouldn’t catch me slacking. I’m a total scapegoat!”

The “Xu Jinghuai” lying on the bed spread his hands. “Can’t be helped. The world is treacherous; one must have a life-saving trump card.”

“If something happens and you die, I can just create you again. If I’m gone, everything’s gone.”

“You are me, and I am you. Our thoughts are the same. If our positions were swapped, you’d make the same choice.”

This time, the incarnation Xu Jinghuai fell silent.

Sure enough, the person who understood him best was himself. If their identities were reversed, he would definitely do the same.

There was nothing more to say.

Valuing one’s life wasn’t shameful.

Who told him to be just a clone?

Still, as long as the Main Body was fine and didn’t die, it was actually quite nice. Although he only had 70% of the Main Body’s power, it was enough for him to mess around as he pleased.

“Alright, let’s drop it. What actually happened at the ceremony to make you this dog-tired?”

Getting back on track, the incarnation Xu Jinghuai’s face fell again. “It’s a long story. To put it simply: the Sect Master lost his mind this year and insisted we take a disciple.”

“Uh… I thought it was something serious. So what? If we don’t take one, we don’t take one. What can the Sect Master do to me?” The Main Body on the bed stared with dead-fish eyes, looking like a dead pig that didn’t fear boiling water.

Incarnation Xu Jinghuai was still miserable. “This year is different. The Sect Master found a way to deal with me.”

“Sigh… forget it. For the specifics, Main Body, just look at my memories. I’m exhausted; let me go back and sleep for a bit.”

Seeing this, the Main Body didn’t say much more and nodded. “…Fine.”

He put down the Oracle Network token, opened his palm, and pressed it against the incarnation’s forehead.

Instantly, the incarnation turned into a streak of light, surging into the Main Body’s brow and vanishing without a trace.

After the Main Body accepted all the memories, he fell into deep thought. Finally, he closed his eyes and murmured.

“A female disciple… an unactivated Refined Water Spirit Immortal Body…”

“Golden Core in sixty years…”

“A bit of a hassle…”

“Relying purely on the immortal body’s adaptability to let Xia Jin level up while ‘AFK’ would take at least eighty years. Definitely won’t make it in time.”

“And I can’t use pills…”

“Sect Master, it seems you’ve seen through Xia Jin’s constitution as well… Sigh, you really know how to give me a hard time,” Xu Jinghuai sighed, shaking his head.

He set the Oracle Network token aside. Tetris could be paused; he could play later.

Now, he began to concentrate on whether there was any way to let Xia Jin increase her cultivation without him having to put in much effort.

However, after thinking for a long time, Xu Jinghuai still couldn’t come up with a solution.

It felt like even demonic arts couldn’t find a manual for “lying down and growing cultivation.”

No, one should say that in this world, aside from an Immortal Body, there was nothing that allowed one to level up while slacking off.

Xu Jinghuai rubbed his temples. “Does this mean I have to split my focus and carry her through the leveling process…?”

The reason he was so reluctant to teach Xia Jin, aside from being lazy, was that if he had to actively train her, the incarnation wouldn’t be much help. He would have to do it personally.

The incarnation was, after all, a clone. His magical abilities were inherited from the Main Body, but he didn’t understand how to teach.

To put it another way, the incarnation took exams by closing his eyes and copying the answers; if you asked him to explain the problem-solving process afterward, he wouldn’t know the first thing about it.

Furthermore, as the incarnation knew, he himself had never led a disciple before. Being a master and teaching someone to cultivate was a first for him too.

In the end, Xu Jinghuai let out a long sigh:

“What a hassle…”