Gu Xing'er Who Can't Grow Tall

Five years later.

The sunlight was perfect, and the breeze was gentle.

Gu Changyuan was still lying on his designated rattan chair, his hands resting behind his head and his eyes closed, looking completely at ease.

Over the past five years, life had been peaceful and fulfilling.

The Star Dome Tribe had fully integrated into the system of the Celestial Holy Land.

Every so often, Xing Wuzhan and Xing Qianchen would bring several batches of their tribesmen over, either to cultivate or to simply look around. This finally allowed the tribesmen, who had been sealed away in the secret realm for a thousand years, to come into contact with the outside world.

After all, during that millennium of isolation, the people of the Star Dome Tribe had essentially never left the secret realm, staying inside to live and multiply.

For many children born in the secret realm, their understanding of the outside world was limited to the oral stories of their elders and the records in ancient texts.

Now that they had the opportunity to go out, these people were naturally full of excitement.

However, their range of activity was restricted to the Celestial Holy Land and Celestial City; they would not wander too far.

Unless there were specific outdoor missions arranged by the Holy Land, only then would Star Tribe elders lead a team of tribesmen outside the Holy Land to see the true Nine Heavens Realm, undergo trials, and accumulate actual combat experience.

Gu Changyuan also had Xing Wuzhan and Xing Qianchen distribute identity tokens representing the Falling Star Pavilion to each tribesman, modeled after the disciple tokens of the Celestial Holy Land, to facilitate their movement within the Holy Land.

With these tokens, they could freely enter and exit most areas of the Holy Land and use its various cultivation facilities.

Over five years of testing, all the members of the Star Dome Tribe, nearly three thousand people, had been fully incorporated into the cultivation feedback system.

Three thousand people.

This was not a small number.

Gu Changyuan could clearly feel that every single day, a steady stream of cultivation base was fed back to him from the Star Dome Tribe.

Although each individual did not contribute much, the combined total of three thousand people formed a force that could not be ignored.

Since the experiment with the Star Dome Tribe was successful, Gu Changyuan's gaze naturally turned toward the Five Great Families of the Central Continent.

Currently, the Five Great Immortal Families of the Upper Realm were all in hiding, not daring to easily expose their whereabouts.

Once discovered by the informants of the Imperial Court, they would face frantic encirclement and suppression by the Imperial Court.

Although these Immortal Families had profound foundations and could quickly relocate their strongholds using various secret arts to avoid massive casualties.

But living a life of hiding and constant anxiety was undoubtedly a torment for the proud cultivators of the Immortal Families, and naturally, it was hard to endure.

Therefore, Gu Changyuan's target was not only the Five Great Families of the Central Continent in the Lower Realm but also those hidden Immortal Family forces in the Upper Realm.

As for exactly how to win them over and have them join the cultivation feedback system, that would have to wait until he went to the Upper Realm.

Right now, his understanding of the Wanluo Immortal Realm was limited to hearsay; acting rashly would only backfire.

What he needed to do now was wait.

Wait for the system to fully recover.

The system had said that once its energy was fully restored, it would be able to scout the situation ahead of time before Gu Changyuan went to the Upper Realm, and then select the location for his ascension.

However, that was still a matter for nearly two hundred years later.

There was no rush.

Gu Changyuan withdrew his thoughts and continued to enjoy this rare leisure time.

"Brother—"

A crisp voice came from afar.

Gu Changyuan did not open his eyes, but the corners of his mouth had already curled up slightly.

Footsteps approached from a distance, brisk and joyful.

Then, a sweet fragrance drifted into his nose.

Only then did Gu Changyuan open his eyes, his gaze falling on the stone table beside him.

A plate of exquisite pastries was neatly arranged on a white jade dish.

The pastries were crescent-shaped, with crystal-clear outer skins through which the filling could vaguely be seen.

The filling was light purple, emitting a faint starlight luster, and sprinkled with a few fine bits of stardust that shimmered slightly in the sunlight.

"New pastries from the Cloud Flavor Pavilion?"

Gu Changyuan asked.

Gu Xing'er stood by the stone table, her hands behind her back, wearing a smile on her small face as if claiming credit:

"Mhm! Cloud Flavor Pavilion has a new pastry called 'Star Moon Cake'. I brought some for you."

Gu Changyuan looked at the little girl before him, his eyes full of smiles.

Five years.

Gu Xing'er was already sixteen years old this year.

In five years, Gu Xing'er's cultivation had progressed at a god-like speed, and she had now reached the early stage of the Soul Formation realm.

This speed was at the absolute pinnacle in the entire Nine Heavens Realm.

Strangely, however, her height had hardly grown at all.

It wasn't that she hadn't grown completely; she had grown just a little bit, reaching Gu Changyuan's waist three years ago.

But for the three years after that, Gu Xing'er's height seemed to have been pressed with a pause button, never growing taller again.

Now sixteen, she was still a tiny little thing.

The childish innocence between her brows had faded, replaced by a bit of charming prettiness, but her figure remained petite, making her look like a little girl just over ten years old.

Looking at her, Gu Changyuan couldn't hide the smile on his face no matter what.

Gu Xing'er immediately saw the meaning behind Gu Changyuan's smiling eyes and instantly pouted her small mouth, looking puffed up with anger:

"You're not allowed to make fun of me for being short! I don't know why either, my cultivation grows so fast, but my height doesn't grow at all!"

Gu Changyuan smiled and sat up straight, reaching out to pull Gu Xing'er onto his lap. He rubbed her small head and spoke in a doting tone:

"Who's making fun of you? Besides, what's wrong with not being tall? Small and soft, how cute."

Held in his arms, Gu Xing'er's little face turned slightly red. She bumped her head against Gu Changyuan's chin and twisted left and right, trying to break free:

"Being too short is too inconvenient! Also, I'm already sixteen, you're not allowed to pat my head like this!"

If these words were heard by Gu Xing'er's Eldest Senior Sister, Third Senior Sister, and the others, they would probably all collectively explode in jealousy.

For them, being able to be hugged by their Master now was considered a luxury. After growing up, they were simply too embarrassed to take the initiative to ask their Master to rub their heads, and could only wait for their Master to do it himself.

However, it seemed that because they had grown up, their Master rarely comforted them by patting their heads anymore.

For Gu Xing'er to actually complain about it, she simply didn't know how blessed she was!