"And then you pour it like this..." An said awkwardly.

At the side, Mei nodded as the nun put yellow cubes into a pitcher of hot Purple Blossom tea.

"Honestly, I've always been a little uncomfortable when people watch me while I'm doing something..." An sighed.

"Then I'll watch from further away." Mei took a few steps back.

"It's fine! You'll make me more uneasy that way!"

Hm. So it was as simple as boiling the tea and adding one of those honey cubes? Mei suddenly felt very confident in herself.

If this tea could make her so motivated even she felt the urge to cultivate, maybe with this, she could shock her friends by surpassing their cultivation! She still remembered them "pitying her" in the early days of the sect when her cultivation fell behind. Or had she just imagined the looks?

"Oh, and here's your pay for the day. Good work today!"

Mei couldn't help but grin in anticipation as An reached into her ring... until she saw it was just two small packets. Instantly, her face stiffled.

"W-what? You know, this tea is fairly valuable! For a little farm work, you got a pretty good deal!" An said defensively.

"Hnn..."

Despite the good reasoning, she still felt unjustifiably disappointed.

"Can I switch one of the packets for those honey cubes instead?" Mei asked. "Or you could pay me in your pre-made tea..."

"I'm not even the one in charge of payments... I'm just splitting the share the elders gave." An smiled, but it didn't look very sincere.

"Okay... thank you. Uh, bye..."

Mei quickly left because she was starting to get the feeling she was being a nuisance. Oh wait, why was she walking? She could just teleport.

In a flash, she appeared in the dorms Ding Zhe had shown them to. From how quiet it was, it seemed her friends had yet to return.

Tea pot... tea pot...

Mei rummaged through the main room. Ah, there was a cabinet she didn't see before. She opened it only to find the unfortunate lack of teapots.

Gahhh! Why didn't he have a teapot if the sect paid in tea? This made no sense. Oh, was it because An the one brewing tea for him? Stupid lazy monk...

She went outside and immediately looked for the nearest monk and rushed over.

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The man in question was sitting leisurely at a table, reading a book.

"Hey! Sorry, but do you have a teapot you can lend me?" Mei asked.

"Huh? Alright?" the monk seemed confused, but he still pulled one of his ring and handed it to her.

What the hell... this Buddhist sect was supposed to be "moneyless", so why did all the monks have storage rings? Back in her sect, she'd have to buy one herself! Mei bemoaned the injustices of society, being poorer than literal penniless monks.

"Oh, and you probably need this too." he handed her a weird plate standing on 3 legs, along with a gourd of water.

"What is that?"

"It's a mini stove. You press this, and it lights up."

She watched the monk fiddle with it before the plate grew red hot.

...and they even get fancy artefacts.

Mei begrudgingly ripped open one of the tea packets and poured it into the pot, followed by the gourd water... which overflowed and split onto the plate with a loud sizzle.

"You... why did you add so much water? You're supposed to leave space in the pot so it won't overflow as it boils!" the monk looked horrified.

"Oh..."

"Nevermind, I'll help you brew it!"

Yay. Convenient tea master to help out.

The monk went about brewing, rattling about important things to pay attention to when brewing tea the whole time. Mei nodded the whole time to be polite, but she still wasn't entirely convinced tea was as complicated as he made it out to be.

At last, he poured the finished product into a cup and passed it to her.

"There! I hope you now have a better understanding of the intricacies of brewing." the monk said with a satisfied look.

"Yeah, tea is pretty cool. So, do you have one of those honey cube? Another monk let me try her honey tea and it was great."

"What? The best part about Purple Blossom tea is it's floral notes and delightful aroma! It is already perfect! Don't ruin it by adding sugar to it!" the monk said 'calmly'.

"Okay, okay..."

Being a monk sure must be boring if he had the energy to get mad over literal hot leaf water.

Mei immediately downed the entire cup. Ever since she reached the Foundational stage, she realised she had no reason to be hesitant over hot food or drink ever again.

Mmmm. The bubbling sensation of the tea was strangely satisfying. Who knew one of the best things about being a cultivator was being able to drink literal boiling liquid with no consequences?

"Y-you. Why would you..."

"Huh?"

The monk looked at her as if she had just murdered his whole family.

"Forget it. I'll go back to reading..." the monk said almost tearfully.

Mei looked at him in puzzlement.

The tea was no longer as tasty without the honey cubes, so Mei decided to save time by pouring the boiling tea straight from the pot into her mouth. In seconds, the whole pot of tea was finished.

Mei let out a ghastly burp of hot steam.

Alright, now she was full of motivation! She thanked the agonised monk before teleporting back to the rice fields. After a brief look around to ensure no one was looking, she dived into the waters again.

Earlier, she had a thought while cultivating. Since the water qi here was so absurdly dense... wouldn't this be the perfect spot to cultivate? It was the perfect complement to her wood cultivation!

She shut her eyes, focusing on her pores. Before long, a steady stream of qi swirled around her. Just as she thought, cultivating here with the help of the tea was insanely fast! Maybe even 5 times faster? Mei soon found herself in deep focus, and hours passed before she knew it.

A sudden tug to her robes jolted her back to reality.

Mei opened her eyes, only to see she was surrounded by dozens of the silver fish. Huh? Before she could react, the fish rushed at her, biting her robes! Mei tried to scream in shock but only swallowed a mouthful of water. With insane strength she couldn't resist, the fish rushed upwards, flinging her out of the water!

The waterlogged girl crashed on the grass, dazed.

Still lying on the ground, she glanced at the water. The army of fish were bobbing their heads out of the water, all staring at her. Scary... What the hell was wrong with these fish?

Getting up, she took a cautious step towards them, only to be greeted by a tidal splash of water that sent her flying once again.