The restaurant’s pricing was also not expensive, as it was considered that customers were mostly neighbors or ordinary low-level loose cultivators who were not wealthy. The prices were kept affordable so that everyone could at least afford to eat, aiming for small profits and high volume sales.

The restaurant’s signboard still prominently featured beef. A dish of beef cost two spirit stones, which wasn’t cheap for loose cultivators, but compared to spirit meat or other restaurants selling beef, it was extremely cost-effective.

Beef noodles were a bit cheaper. Plain noodles only cost three fragmented spirit stones, and with added beef, it cost six fragmented spirit stones.

Ordinary Qi refining loose cultivators earned probably only one spirit stone plus a few fragments in a day. A dish of beef would require them to work for two days to afford it. They could occasionally have a taste, but eating it every day was fundamentally impossible.

However, being able to eat meat for two spirit stones was unique in the entire Tongxian City. Even just to satisfy a craving, eating a bowl of beef noodles only required six fragmented spirit stones.

Not many days after opening for business, customers began to increase.

While the loose cultivators nearby couldn’t eat meat every day, there were always some who wanted to have a “tooth festival” and eat a good meal.

Some were Qi refining loose cultivators from relatively affluent families who could eat there every few days. Others were fellow Daoists meeting up who didn’t want to be too extravagant or too simple, so they ordered a dish of beef, added some side dishes, and chatted while drinking.

There were also those whose children had made progress in cultivation, and the parents would bring their children to eat a meal of spicy beef noodles to reward them and satisfy their craving.

Occasionally, some passing peddlers from out of town, tired from their journey, would hear that the restaurant had meat. They wanted to satisfy their craving but were embarrassed by their empty purses, hesitating to order.

Until they heard that a full dish of beef was only two spirit stones, their eyes all widened.

They still had concerns, thinking that selling it so cheaply might mean it wasn’t good to eat.

Then they thought again, the restaurant business was so good, the taste shouldn’t be too bad, so they tried ordering a dish.

As long as they tasted one mouthful, they couldn’t stop.

Thereafter, frequently passing peddlers would stop at the restaurant each time they passed, order a dish of meat, and drink a few cups of wine. Those who previously passed by without stopping now also stopped at the restaurant, ate meat, and chatted.

And some who weren’t originally passing peddlers would even specially change their path to the restaurant just to taste the flavor of this beef and relieve some of their long journey fatigue.

After all, within a hundred Li radius, this was the only place where they could eat such delicious meat at such a cheap price.

Customers gradually increased, and the shop became busy. Da Hu and the other two ran to the restaurant to help. After being busy all day, they ate a large bowl of beef noodles in the evening, then took some beef home, feeling satisfied.

However, Tongxian Gate would soon open for enrollment, and everyone was going to enter the gate to cultivate, so the manpower would still be insufficient.

Mo Hua didn’t want his mother to be too tired, so he suggested hiring someone to help. Mo Shan also considered his wife’s body hadn’t fully recovered and she couldn’t use spirit power, so he agreed with Mo Hua’s idea.

After discussing it with his wife, Mo Shan invited a family member from the demon hunting team to help at the restaurant for thirty spirit stones a month.

The next day, a young woman with a shy expression came to the door, carrying a basket. Inside the basket were some fresh wild vegetables, still with dew, looking like they had just been picked from the mountain that morning.

Mo Hua listened to his parents chatting and learned that the woman’s surname was Jiang and her given name was Yun.

Her husband’s surname was Chu. While demon hunting before, his chest was torn open by a wolf demon’s sharp claws. All their savings were used to treat the injury. Although his life was barely saved, he suffered a heavy injury and couldn’t continue demon hunting. Their home then had no income.

Jiang Yun’s spiritual root wasn’t good. She only cultivated to the fourth layer of Qi refining before leaving the sect. A few years later, she married and had a child. After her husband was heavily injured, she wanted to find a job to supplement their household, but her fourth-layer Qi refining cultivation was too low and she fundamentally couldn’t earn many spirit stones. Doing odd jobs, the spirit stones were meager and very unstable, plus she still had a child several years old to take care of, so their livelihood was very difficult.

Now, having a stable job at the restaurant for thirty spirit stones a month was already very hard to come by.

Jiang Yun was extremely grateful, but she was naturally introverted and not good with words. She wanted to express her thanks but couldn’t find the words, her face turning red from nervousness.

Liu Ru Hua quickly comforted her, telling her not to think too much and just work with peace of mind.

Jiang Yun then relaxed and listened to Liu Ru Hua’s instructions. She was diligent and careful in her work. Although she didn’t learn quickly, she was very serious, and Liu Ru Hua liked her very much.

After closing the shop in the evening, Liu Ru Hua used a food box to pack several bowls of noodles and added more pieces of meat, telling her to take them back.

Jiang Yun quickly declined, her face flushed, saying she didn’t want anything: “Sister Liu, you are good enough to me, I cannot take this.”

Liu Ru Hua urged her to take it, but she still declined.

Liu Ru Hua then said: “Take it back for your child to eat.”

Jiang Yun then had no strength to refuse. Her child hadn’t eaten full for several days, let alone eaten meat. She took the food box, wanting to express her thanks, but her words were clumsy, repeating the same few thank you phrases over and over.

Liu Ru Hua simply comforted her, “No need to think too much. It’s not early, go back and see your child soon.”

Jiang Yun carefully carried the food box and walked towards her home. When she passed a wall corner, she stopped. From behind, she looked like she was sobbing. After a while, she silently wiped away her tears with her sleeve and then continued walking towards home.

Mo Hua stood in the distance looking at her figure, his heart complex.

His family was not wealthy originally, and their life was stretched thin, but in Tongxian City, there were even more difficult and impoverished loose cultivator families than his own.

It would be good if all cultivators in this world were free from livelihood hardships.

Mo Hua silently thought.

Liu Ji Restaurant opened smoothly. Liu Ru Hua was busy with restaurant matters all day. She looked a bit thinner, but her face was rosy and her complexion was better.

Opening a restaurant allowed her to research various meals and also save spirit stones for her son, which would be convenient for his future cultivation and finding a wife. Liu Ru Hua felt very satisfied, and the smiles on her face increased.

Looking at his wife’s appearance now, Mo Shan felt comforted.

And Mo Hua was also happy eating more delicious things.

With the restaurant open, the family’s income from spirit stones also increased. They didn’t need to be as constrained in their eating, wearing, and spending as before. By the time Tongxian Gate opened for enrollment, the restaurant’s total profit was over two hundred spirit stones.

Liu Ru Hua gave all the more than two hundred spirit stones she earned to Mo Hua, telling him to choose a suitable cultivation method in the sect and instructing him not to delay his cultivation.

Mo Hua nodded in agreement.

The next day, the summer break ended. Tongxian Gate opened its mountain gate to welcome disciples.

Mo Hua also waved his hand at the foot of the mountain, said goodbye to Liu Ru Hua who was seeing him off, and then stepped into Tongxian Gate.

As disciples successively enrolled, the originally quiet Tongling Peak gradually became lively.

However, after two whole months of summer break, the hearts of many disciples had become loose, and their cultivation had also wasted quite a bit. Enrolling at this time, their expressions were more or less filled with some unease.

Yan Jiaoxi, in order to gather everyone’s focus, directly announced a temporary array assessment.

The remaining summer heat was thoroughly extinguished by this head-on cold water. Many disciples showed expressions of grief greater than heartbreak.

This time it was an on-site assessment. They couldn’t take it back to do, so making any small moves was impossible.

Mo Hua, however, was fearless.

He could already draw five array patterns and was considered an experienced apprentice. These basic array pattern assessments in the sect were fundamentally not difficult for him.

Moreover, in the last month of the summer break, he also practiced arrays day and night. Each time, he would consume his divine sense to its limit, constantly pushing his divine sense and constantly strengthening it.

For this small matter of assessment, Mo Hua was full of confidence, feeling it was within his grasp.

But when the assessment paper for the array assessment was issued, Mo Hua was somewhat dumbfounded.

He repeatedly confirmed it several times, finally confirming that the assessment was not of separate array patterns, but of a complete array, and it was an array containing six array patterns!