When Henry Carter arrived at the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall to check in, Steward Reed and the others were already waiting there. Seeing Henry Carter approach, they noticed he looked quite well, and after sizing him up, they were all a bit surprised. Steward Reed, somewhat curious, said, “Oh? If I’m not mistaken... your aura has grown much stronger. It seems you’ve made progress overnight?”

“That’s right. I practiced last night, had a sudden insight, and managed to break through another bottleneck by luck…”

Henry Carter smiled, answering with some satisfaction.

“Sigh, Junior Brother Carter truly is no ordinary person. If you keep up this momentum, you might really make it into the inner sect one day!”

The other odd-job workers couldn’t help but click their tongues in amazement.

At their level, they couldn’t clearly see Henry Carter’s cultivation, but they had all noticed his diligence in practice.

Moreover, Henry Carter’s aura had indeed grown much stronger, so they didn’t mind praising him a bit.

“Hmph, if getting into the inner sect were that easy, there wouldn’t be any odd-job workers left in the sect!”

Amidst the praise, one of the workers spoke coldly.

He was a burly, imposing man of about thirty, at the second level of Qi Refining. Henry Carter didn’t mind his words; he knew this man, named George Stone, was a bully among the odd-job disciples. It was said he had some distant connection to a sect steward, so even Steward Reed preferred not to cross him. As for Henry Carter, he always kept his distance from such people!

“Haha, Junior Brother Carter’s diligence in cultivation is a good thing. If he really does make it into the inner sect one day, it’ll bring honor to our Odd-Job Division as well. Alright, enough talk—let’s get going. The sooner we finish tidying up the Sutra Hall, the sooner we can relax!”

With a few words, Steward Reed defused the situation and led everyone onto the wooden kite, soaring toward Little Bamboo Peak.

“Hey you, I hear you’re quite hardworking. Then tidy up my row of bookshelves as well…”

This time, Steward Reed assigned the tasks very carefully. He had seen the others slacking off yesterday, with only Henry Carter working diligently, so this time he gave everyone their own section to prevent laziness. The others just sighed and went to their work, but George Stone took advantage of Steward Reed’s inattention to boss Henry Carter around quite rudely.

“All right, then!”

Henry Carter hesitated for a moment, then agreed.

This George Stone was a notorious bully among the odd-job workers, and newcomers rarely escaped his grasp. But Henry Carter was different from the others. First, he had been personally brought into the sect by Uncle Miller, a steward, and after joining, he had always stayed close to Steward Reed. Because of this, George Stone hadn’t bothered him before.

But now, it seemed that Henry Carter’s diligence in cultivation had, in some way, displeased this bully, and he was clearly looking for trouble. Henry Carter was not one to seek conflict, but he didn’t want to make a scene either!

“Hmph!”

Seeing Henry Carter comply so easily, George Stone seemed a bit dissatisfied, twisted his neck, and stomped off fiercely.

“I’m an honest man; I don’t compete with these people in bravado or aggression…”

Henry Carter mused to himself as he walked into the Sutra Hall with his hands behind his back.

He didn’t mind doing a bit more work in the Sutra Hall.

As long as he could spend more time with these cultivation texts, he’d be happy to live there if he could.

In fact, he was already tempted—wondering if he should someday slip Steward Reed a little something to get himself assigned as the Sutra Hall’s caretaker. Ten years of hard study had given him a love of reading; a day without books felt like a year without women to a lecher. The Sutra Hall’s collection was vast and varied, truly a feast for the eyes…

And so, as he tidied up, he casually flipped through the books in his hands, letting the time drift by.

“Junior Brother Carter, take a break!”

It wasn’t until noon, when Steward Reed sent someone to call Henry Carter for lunch, that he was still happily engrossed in a book.

Normally, Henry Carter and the other odd-job disciples would eat at the Spirit Meal Hall by the Odd-Job Division, but since the work in the Sutra Hall wasn’t finished, it would be troublesome to go back and forth. So they all stayed on Little Bamboo Peak. Steward Reed had food brought over, and they sat around a large green stone in the bamboo grove, eating a simple meal before returning to the Sutra Hall to continue their work.

Thinking of the fine volumes he’d browsed that morning, Henry Carter was in a great mood and even ate an extra bowl of rice.

“Oh, isn’t this Henry Carter—Senior Brother Carter?”

Just as he was finishing his meal, a laugh suddenly sounded right beside him.

Henry Carter turned his head in surprise and saw, by the pavilion not far away, several men and women had appeared. The men were handsome, the women charming, and judging by their attire, all were disciples of the sect. The speaker stood beside the group, dressed in a red robe with an ancient sword on his back, exuding an air of refinement. Wasn’t this his old classmate from Taiyue City, William Clark?

Seeing him, Henry Carter was momentarily stunned and put down his bowl and chopsticks.

He had seen William Clark on this peak just yesterday and had hoped to avoid him, but unexpectedly, they had run into each other!