The festive atmosphere in the village celebrating the good news dissipated early due to the absence of the person involved. After the village chief organized a banquet to feed the bailiffs until they were full and satisfied, the bailiffs left under the enthusiastic farewells of the Xiushui Village residents.
For a time, Xiushui Village returned to its usual tranquility.
However, every household could not help but secretly rejoice at night over being exempt from miscellaneous taxes this year.
Recently, Lin Xiao also took the time to mention to Liao Pantu about going to the cultivation world.
Liao Pantu asked him to refine a Soul Nourishing Pendant or a similar easily portable item so his soul could reside within it. Otherwise, if he appeared in the cultivation world in his current state, Lin Xiao's travel experience there would probably not be very pleasant.
Not to mention anything else, just such a large piece of mobile Soul Nourishing Wood would attract many covetous eyes.
Lin Xiao not only talked to Liao Pantu about heading to the cultivation world but also consulted him about the Path of Questioning the Heart.
He had no clue about the Path of Questioning the Heart that the system required him to build.
When Liao Pantu heard that he actually wanted to build the Path of Questioning the Heart, he was a little surprised, but he was very happy to see it happen, so he said to Lin Xiao:
"The so-called Path of Questioning the Heart is naturally to question the true intentions in the hearts of those who pass through it. Almost every sect will have its own Path of Questioning the Heart. This path needs to be paved with Heart Questioning Stones, and as for these stones, they can only be found under the Heart Questioning Cliff in the Divine Hidden Continent of the cultivation world."
Therefore, on this trip to the cultivation world, Lin Xiao not only had to make connections but also had to go to the Heart Questioning Cliff to collect Heart Questioning Stones.
So Lin Xiao was still very busy recently. He had to squeeze in time to cultivate, research and refine the Soul Nourishing Pendant, and figure out more life-saving methods...
Guessing that Sun Yigao should be coming back in the next few days, Lin Xiao quickly found Liu Yunan and handed over the responsibilities of the private school's enrollment and managing various trivial matters of the sect to him.
After all, although Sun Yigao was very smart, he had not handled these miscellaneous affairs much, so regarding the private school enrollment, Lin Xiao planned to let Baldy assist him from the side.
After considering it, he decided to set the departure time for five days later.
It wasn't that Lin Xiao was overestimating his own abilities by wanting to venture into the cultivation world with only a Foundation Establishment cultivation base, but rather because he had his own considerations for the sect's development.
Previously, when they were chatting privately, Mo Yuanjiao had told him about the general situation of the Pusi Country they were currently in.
According to the current development trend of their sect, it was only a matter of time before they were discovered by the other three major sects in Pusi Country that Mo Yuanjiao had mentioned.
And looking at the rivaling stances of the three major sects, it was obvious that they would absolutely not be happy to see another sect pop up on their territory to carve up their original sphere of influence and the already scarce cultivation resources in the mortal realm.
Therefore, Lin Xiao did not want the gap between his sect and the three major sects to be too large when they were discovered, leaving them with no power to resist and unable to make the others wary.
Although he wanted to develop peacefully with everyone, others would not think the same way.
So he thought that just earning money and food was far from enough. Even though the sect's facilities were now complete in every detail, he felt it was best to head to the cultivation world to open up trading and information markets with them. This would be beneficial for the rapid development of their sect.
He had to make sure their Lingxian Sect was strong enough when discovered by the three major sects.
This strength could not just be his alone; it had to be a comprehensive strength of the entire sect.
Obviously, to achieve this, relying solely on the meager quest rewards given by the system and the current state of their sect was far from enough.
So he didn't want to delay the departure time for too long.
Moreover, just yesterday, his cultivation base had successfully advanced to the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.
Since it was impossible for him to advance to the late stage of Foundation Establishment anytime soon, he set the departure time for five days later. Five days should be enough for him to arrange all matters.
Thus, during these five days before departure, Lin Xiao was so busy his feet barely touched the ground.
He didn't even have time to mine, so he handed his small spirit pickaxe to Senior Liao and took him to the spirit stone mine at the bottom of the back mountain to help dig for spirit stones.
Going down into the mine to dig spirit stones for the first time, Liao Pantu felt a bit bewildered holding the small spirit pickaxe.
Several times he wanted to speak up and tell Lin Xiao that although he didn't have a massive stockpile of spirit stones within his soul body, he still had eight to ten thousand of them.
But after thinking for a long time, he ultimately didn't say it.
Forget it, spirit stones were the universal currency in the cultivation world. Who would ever complain about having too much money? Mining it is, then. It just so happened he was quite idle recently with nothing to do.
Anyway, if they really ran out of spirit stones while traveling outside, he could just take them out then.
And thus, Miner Liao was freshly minted.
With the mining issue resolved, Lin Xiao busied himself creating various cultivation techniques and spells.
There was no helping it; as the frequency of using spells increased, he realized that the spells he had created before were neither numerous nor refined enough. As for cultivation techniques, he only had one sword art so far, and he felt this was not very secure.
That was the cultivation world after all. For the sake of his own little life, Lin Xiao adhered to the principle of the more the better, frantically creating various techniques and mental arts whenever he had free time recently.
He also took the time to draw many practical talismans and formations, and refined many healing and recovery pills. The consumption rate of Senior Liao's medicinal field was extremely fast these past few days. Fortunately, he was almost entirely buried in the spirit stone mine digging away and had no time to come out. Otherwise, seeing the rate at which these spirit medicines were consumed, his heart would ache for quite a while.
On the third day of Lin Xiao's busy schedule, Sun Yigao finally returned to the village with his parents.
After receiving congratulations and thanks from the villagers, he went up the mountain and met Lin Xiao, who barely managed to squeeze out some time to host a welcome banquet for him.
The welcome banquet was entirely handled by Chef Jiang.
It was also at this welcome banquet that everyone, except for Liao Pantu and Liu Yunan, learned that Lin Xiao would be heading to the cultivation world—a place full of unknowns to them—in two days.
At the dining table, Lin Dayou sighed silently. He felt that the food made by Xiao Fuzi in his bowl was no longer as appetizing.
Seeing his look of my son is all grown up and hard to manage, Lin Xiao hurriedly said:
"Dad, just rest assured. I promise to guard my little life closely and absolutely won't give anyone the chance to take it away!"
Before Lin Dayou could say anything, Mo Yuanjiao, sitting next to him, spoke up with an excited face:
"Master, Master, if you are worried, let me go with Sect Master Senior Brother!"
Although Lin Xiao had previously clarified his and his father's relationship to him, Mo Yuanjiao still called him Sect Master Senior Brother without changing his tune.
Lin Xiao felt that since his father probably wouldn't take in any more disciples in the future anyway, let him call it whatever he wanted. If the seniority hierarchy was a mess, then so be it. It was only messed up for this group; in the future, if there were newcomers, he would just make sure everyone kept it under control.
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?!
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!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
