Intimidated by its tyrannical presence, the three wild pheasants didn't dare to resist. Although they had zero interest in the things on the ground, they obediently picked up the rock-hard fragments in their beaks.
Little Luan then urged them to swallow the pieces down.
The three wild pheasants' little beaks couldn't crack these hard fragments at all, but fortunately, Little Luan had broken them down small enough just beforehand. So, the three wild pheasants raised their heads and swallowed the small fragments whole.
When the fragments first entered their stomachs, the three birds didn't feel anything. They continued clucking and strolling in circles inside the thatched shed.
However, gradually, their footsteps slowed down little by little, and their clucking sounds faded away.
Suddenly, one of them plopped down and collapsed onto the ground.
This was immediately followed by the second, and then the third.
Watching from the side, Little Luan was dumbfounded.
What was going on?
Didn't they usually sleep sitting up in their nests? Why were they lying down like humans today?
Little Luan walked up and lightly kicked each of them with its little claws. Seeing no reaction, it didn't pay it any more mind. Feeling a bit sleepy itself, it yawned, walked over to its own straw mat, nestled down, and fell asleep.
Over at the Formation Hall, after Lin Xiao accompanied Mo Yuanjiao and Mo Que in practicing the inscription of the Minor Cooling Formation once more, he went down the mountain to head home for dinner.
By now, the sky was dark, but Mo Yuanjiao was still in the Formation Hall, holding the Encyclopedia of Basic Formation Inscription that Lin Xiao had left him, reading it with great relish.
Mo Que took out a candlestick from their luggage, lit it, and placed it on the ground beside him.
Then he quietly sat off to the side to meditate.
During his second attempt at inscribing the formation diagram, Mo Yuanjiao's fluency had improved greatly. It didn't take long for him to complete a full Minor Cooling Formation, and this time, he still had a little spiritual energy left in his body, avoiding complete exhaustion.
Moreover, after Lin Xiao inspected it, he confirmed that this formation diagram could be directly copied for normal use, and its effects would not be compromised at all.
Having received this validation, Mo Yuanjiao burst with immense enthusiasm for inscribing formation diagrams. He completely forgot about the seedlings he had been carefully tending to in the fields over the past few days.
Seeing that he was so talented and had such a strong desire to learn, Lin Xiao left the Encyclopedia of Basic Formation Inscription with him.
Before leaving, he also instructed him to keep it safe.
Thus, Mo Yuanjiao stayed in the Formation Hall, completely engrossed in turning every page of the Encyclopedia of Basic Formation Inscription under the dim candlelight.
It wasn't until his stomach let out a loud rumble that he suddenly snapped out of his trance and looked up at the sky outside.
Outside the Formation Hall, a bright moon was already hanging high in the pitch-black night sky.
Early the next morning, as soon as Lin Xiao woke up, he felt that the surrounding air was a bit damp.
Looking outside, even though it was early morning, the sky was very dim, heavily obscured by dark clouds.
It looked like it was going to rain.
And judging by the thickness of the dark clouds, it probably wouldn't be a light shower.
Today was Xiaoman, the exact time for the crops to fill out. A bit of rain was just what was needed, saving the villagers the trouble of watering their fields.
When Lin Dayou got up and saw the dark clouds overhead, he was very delighted.
After eating breakfast, the three men of the Lin family went out together. Nearby villagers who were familiar with Lin Dayou greeted him one after another.
An old man from a family a short distance away, carrying a hoe out of his house, saw the three of them walking empty-handed towards the North Mountain. He frowned and said disapprovingly to Lin Dayou:
Dayou, you shouldn't spoil your children like this. It's one thing to not let these two kids help you in the fields at a time like this, but why have you been taking them up the mountain recently? I see you're not even as diligent going to the fields as you usually are.
Hearing this, Lin Dayou smiled at him and greeted:
Morning, Third Master Qin. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. It won't delay the farm work.
The old man called Third Master Qin was just saying a few words in passing because he saw them. Seeing Lin Dayou's nonchalant attitude, he didn't press the matter further.
Anyway, the Lin family still had Old Man Lin keeping an eye on things.
Old Man Lin was a reasonable person. If he saw his second son's family starting to slack off, he would surely teach them a lesson.
So, he shook his head and took his own children and grandchildren down to the fields.
Along the way, all the villagers the three Lin family members met were beaming with joy.
Everyone was looking forward to this rain to help the crops fill out. Perhaps, relying on the extra grain brought by this rainwater, they could enjoy a very prosperous New Year this year.
Lin Dayou and his two sons, however, remained unwavering. They went up the mountain and began today's cultivation.
However, by noon, after everyone in the Lingxian Sect had finished their cultivation and began their free time, the rain was still holding back in the sky without the slightest movement.
When the time came, Lin Dayou, Lin Yun, and Lin Lei went down the mountain to work.
Yang Jinshu handed several spell booklets she had stayed up late copying to Lin Xiao, and Lin Xiao placed them together on the small bookshelf behind the cultivation room.
Having not written for a long time, her hands were itching for more, so she asked Lin Xiao if there was anything else that needed transcribing.
Lin Xiao then took out the Encyclopedia of Basic Pill Recipes, the Encyclopedia of Basic Talisman Drawing, and the Encyclopedia of Basic Artifact Forging Techniques from his private vault for her to copy.
Tietou took the two little girls of the Lingxian Sect to dig up flowers all over the mountain again.
Every day, they would dig up many flowers and plants by the roots and bring them back to plant everywhere around the sect.
Meanwhile, Little Luan and its three disciples were nowhere to be seen.
Lin Xiao guessed that Little Luan had taken them somewhere to forage again. Of course, they might also just be hiding in the thatched shed, sleeping soundly.
Only Liu Yunan, Jiang Youfu, Mo Yuanjiao, and Mo Que were still beside Lin Xiao.
Lin Xiao then asked Liu Yunan and Jiang Youfu:
Do you two want to go learn how to inscribe formations together?
How could the two refuse Lin Xiao's proposal? They immediately nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice.
Thus, the Formation Hall study group gained two more members.
Probably because their cultivation bases were relatively high, they learned basic formations quite quickly, basically able to inscribe them quite well after two or three attempts.
But when Lin Xiao started teaching them the Insect Killing Formation, it completely stumped them.
The Insect Killing Formation was slightly more difficult than the previous Minor Cooling Formation and the like. The complexity of the formation diagram was a bit higher, and there were many more spiritual energy turning nodes.
Jiang Youfu and Liu Yunan clearly were not particularly talented in the Dao of Formations. After inscribing it several times, they still couldn't produce a usable one.
Lin Xiao also wanted Mo Yuanjiao to try, but his Qi Condensation First Layer cultivation was just enough to inscribe the most basic formations; it was not quite enough to handle this slightly more advanced Insect Killing Formation.
However, Lin Xiao wasn't disappointed. Having Mo Yuanjiao as a talent for inscribing formations was already enough to satisfy him.
Oh wait, not just one, there was also himself.
Although Fuzi and Baldy didn't have much talent in the Dao of Formations, he believed there must be other skills that were much more suitable for them.
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?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
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.
