The rain started falling from the day Long Qiqi planned to cut down the Demonic Weeping Willow, and it kept falling without stopping, falling and falling, and the temperature kept dropping. The last few days there were some ice crystals floating in the air, and today, floating all over, it finally started snowing.
Long Qiqi barely went out anymore, going from wrapping herself in blankets to wrapping herself in quilts. She was always drowsy and couldn't stay fully awake. She still held books to read, but looked the same as when Li Shiyin read books.
In fact, whether it was the little wooden house or their bedroom, Qin Ran had set up formations so it was very warm inside.
But Long Qiqi was acting like she was about to hibernate.
"You said this place was a Cave Paradise, but there are still winter cold and summer heat." Long Qiqi complained while curling up in a wooden chair.
"The four seasons cycling is the natural way of Heaven, all things revive in spring, grow in summer, ripen in autumn, and perish in winter, this is the Dao."
Qin Ran was reading medical books, researching immortality, and he smiled at Long Qiqi's words, "A Cave Paradise is a suitable place for cultivation. Dan Peak has abundant spiritual qi, four seasons cycling, this kind of suitable place for cultivation, what if not a Cave Paradise?"
"Yes, yes, you and your convoluted logic!" Long Qiqi weakly retorted.
Qin Ran looked up towards the window, pointed, and said to Long Qiqi: "Look at Chasing the Wind over there!"
Without looking she knew what the situation outside was like, Long Qiqi was too lazy to look.
Don't be fooled by Chasing the Wind's large size, he's actually the youngest. He's still a few months shy of being one year old!
So he had never seen snow before.
This was the first time in his life seeing snow.
Chasing the Wind was picked up on a rainy night by Li Shiyin, he knew that rain fell from the sky; but he didn't know that this kind of thing, like willow catkins, would fall from the sky.
Snowflakes, they were extremely beautiful. Not willow catkins.
So Chasing the Wind madly frolicked in the snow, his silly wind-like figure could be seen all over Dan Peak...he was truly too happy.
The snow was heavy, like willow catkins, like tufts of cotton, falling down from the sky in clumps, hitting people with a clear feeling.
Li Shiyin danced with her sword in the snow.
Every move, very slowly, not like her usual fierce swordsmanship, like an elderly person's fitness swordplay.
Snow fell on her, in her hair, clothes, dancing sword; her hair seemed white, her clothes seemed embroidered with snowflakes, her sword seemed to have snow patterns. She danced with her sword, watching the snow, watching the footprints in the snow, and thought of her grandfather.
Last year, when the first snow fell, she watched her grandfather dance the Big Shovel Spear in the snow, her grandfather wielded the spear, keeping the snowflakes away; this year, the first snow fell, she danced alone with her sword, snowflakes covered her whole body.
Qin Ran opened the door and leaned against a pillar under the eaves, watching Li Shiyin dance with her sword in the snow.
His foolish disciple was very beautiful, her posture was also very good, developed over the past half year, curvy front and perky long legs, words that could now be used to describe her. So she danced gracefully in the snow, sleeves billowing, sword dance transcendent, extremely pleasing to the eye.
Truly a masterpiece, a fairy that graces the mundane world.
He watched, enraptured.
After a good while, even Chasing the Wind who was like a Samoyed had ran by several times, Li Shiyin finally sheathed her sword. She stood in the snow, the gentle breeze blowing her clothes, her aura was as cold as the snow, gazing into the distance, lost in memories, and also sorrowful.
So-called transcending the mundane world, feathers scattering as she ascends to immortality. In this moment, Li Shiyin was even better than Tushan Youyou.
Qin Ran walked out from under the eaves, standing in the snow, coming to Li Shiyin's side.
He tilted his head to look, his disciple was as tall as him now, he asked: "Missing home?"
"Mm." Li Shiyin nodded, "I miss Grandfather."
Qin Ran stretched out his hand to catch a snowflake, using magic to prevent it from melting. He looked at this untouched natural work of art, and said to Li Shiyin: "As long as you still remember your grandfather, he will never truly die. He will forever live on in your heart.
"So you must live healthily and happily, because your grandfather will always be with you."
Li Shiyin looked at Qin Ran, took the snowflake from his hand, she thought for a bit, but still asked: "Master, is the elixir of immortality really so hard to refine?"
"The physiology of the human body determines humanity's lifespan limit, the maximum human lifespan being 180 years old. Because of illness, injury and other reasons, most die by 100 years old.
"Talk of increasing lifespan and longevity in ordinary times means healthy diet, healthy habits, taking fortifying medicine, appropriate exercise. It's increasing lifespan within the limit, not expanding the lifespan limit itself.
"Cultivation can change a person's physique, especially at the Golden Core stage, the lifespan limit of a Golden Core cultivator would be 800 years, so after reaching the Golden Core stage, one can no longer be considered human. And if not cultivating, the human lifespan limit is 180 years, basically unable to exceed. Meanwhile, because the physique is still within human limits in the Foundation Establishment stage, the lifespan limit of Foundation Establishment is 180 years.
Qin Ran really had no sense of romance, a standard science man. He earnestly explained to Li Shiyin the deeper reasons why the elixir of immortality was so hard to refine,
"So, to increase a human's lifespan, in the end it still requires changing the human physique, only by changing the physique can the limit of 180 years be extended. But to accomplish this with a single medicinal pill, the difficulty is no less than turning an ordinary person into a Golden Core cultivator overnight."
Li Shiyin was silent, she crushed the snowflake in her hand, lowered her head, only looking at the white snow on the ground.
"Master will definitely refine the elixir of immortality." Seeing Li Shiyin's mood, Qin Ran consoled.
"Mm." Li Shiyin responded dispiritedly.
"You believe in master..." Qin Ran asked.
But before he could ask "right?", he was interrupted from behind by Chasing the Wind shouting loudly:
"Dad! Take my Barbarian King Headbutt!!!"
Qin Ran's expression greatly changed. Looking back, he only saw a white shadow flying over following the sound in the distance, moving extremely fast. He didn't even have time to move his body technique before being collided into by that large white blur, then sent flying...
Chasing the Wind had headbutted right into Qin Ran's lower abdomen, directly knocking Qin Ran back over ten meters!
Li Shiyin beside him was badly startled when her master suddenly disappeared, crying out loudly: "Master!!" Then flying over.
Qin Ran flew dozens of meters in the air, then slid another dozen meters in the snow, from in front of the little wooden house, headbutted all the way to Sword Washing Lake.
Fortunately his physique was Golden Core, if his body was a bit weaker, he certainly wouldn't be well off today.
Li Shiyin pulled him up from the ground, he sat in the snow, clutching his abdomen that was hit by Chasing the Wind, temporarily unable to stand. His stomach really hurt, he felt a bit like throwing up.
He looked towards Chasing the Wind, Chasing the Wind was there watching his sorry state and laughing loudly. To Chasing the Wind, him flying out dozens of meters and rolling in the snow was an extremely amusing thing.
Qin Ran's face was completely black, this fool Chasing the Wind truly thought it was fun, completely unaware that his weight was nearly 1000 jin!
He endured for a bit, forcing himself to stand. Just as he was about to teach Chasing the Wind a lesson, at this time, someone outside the protective mountain formation sought an audience.
"Phew!" He had no choice but to let Chasing the Wind go for now, opening the protective mountain formation to let the person outside come in.
The person coming in was Tian Wenjin, dressed in plain white clothes, carrying a blue-black longsword on her back. She slowly walked over in the heavy snow.
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【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
g Yu was preparing for retirement when her organization decided to eliminate her. She transmigrated to a zombie apocalypse world. However, a tiny unexpected situation occurred: She somehow transformed into an adorable little girl?!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
