New Year's Winter Snow, Bloodlight Pierced the Sky

"Fellow Daoists, happy New Year! May you have a good harvest in the year ahead!"

Li Ye raised his wine cup and clinked it against those of the many friends before him, his wishes and joy for the new year mingling with the wine.

Outside the restaurant, the crackle of firecrackers drifted faintly through the air, lending the scene a festive air.

The Huan Kingdom's cultivation world was relatively lacking in resources and was not particularly advanced. A Golden Core sect like the Purple Profound Sect was already a hegemon, while markets across the kingdom were populated almost entirely by Qi Refining cultivators. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators were exceedingly rare.

The lifespans of most cultivators still fell within the normal range.

As such, many customs from the mortal kingdoms were also preserved in these cultivation markets.

Looking out the window at the snow drifting over streets hung with lanterns and decorations, bright and bustling with celebration, Li Ye could not help but feel dazed for a moment.

All of this... looks so familiar!

Even with Zhang Liangfu and his many other friends gathered before him amid all the lively celebration, an indescribable feeling still welled up in his heart at that moment.

This is my first New Year in this world...

He thought silently and drained the wine in his cup.

After the New Year, he returned to the sect.

All at once, the bustling market before him gave way to those cold, mist-shrouded mountains once more.

The frozen landscape beneath a sky full of snow also became green mountains and clear waters wreathed in clouds and mist.

He looked at the orb of light radiating warmth in the sky and felt the mild climate, springlike all year round and utterly different from the world outside.

An emotional expression crossed Li Ye's face.

"It separates the inside from the outside, forming a self-contained whole to a certain extent. It can control the weather and maintain the optimal environment, allowing Spirit Plants to grow year-round without being affected by the climate outside... As expected of a third-tier grand formation!"

"By comparison, the market's formation is only first-tier. It can't completely eliminate the effects of the weather outside, so everything is still covered in ice and snow..."

Yet even a first-tier formation like that was powerful enough to safeguard a region and maintain order in the market!

"Unfortunately, an inheritance of the formation arts can only be chanced upon, not sought. Neither sects nor Aristocratic Clans are willing to let such things fall into outside hands easily. Even with my current wealth, I have no way to buy one. I can only wait for an opportunity..."

Whenever he recalled the smiles freezing on the faces of Yue Quan and the other shopkeepers when he had asked to purchase an inheritance of the formation arts, Li Ye could not help shaking his head.

He had also asked about the seedlings or seeds of a Spirit Root of heaven and earth that he had once fantasized about.

Such things were much the same as inheritances of the formation arts. If they really managed to find any, the powers behind those shops would naturally keep them for themselves. How could they possibly put them up for sale?

There was no point dwelling on those either!

Still, there was no hurry for any of this.

He had now achieved minor success in body refinement and had repaired the Blackwood Sword not long ago, preserving most of its power. His earlier attempts to use Blazing Sun Spirit Essence in the art of talismans had also borne some fruit, giving him another trump card.

He was no longer short of means to defend himself!

He was also steadily accumulating Spirit Stones by selling pills, so he could take his time pursuing both of those things.

Traveling among the many peaks, Li Ye thought over various matters, gradually calming the emotions this special day had stirred in him.

As usual, he came to Elder Ji's cave abode.

After exchanging New Year's greetings with the boy, giving him a red envelope as a small token of goodwill, and asking him to pass his New Year's greetings on to Elder Ji, Li Ye went straight to the Spirit Fields on the back mountain.

Several months had passed, and all four mu of Blood Li Rice were now growing vigorously.

The densely packed plants formed a sea of crimson. Every day, as Li Ye worked in the fields, he smelled the rice's peculiar fragrance, bloody yet fresh. Afterward, when he cultivated, his Blood Qi became somewhat more active!

The Blazing Sun Flower seedlings in the second-tier Spirit Field had also sent up shoots, and the buds on their verdant stems were swelling day by day.

After a brief inspection, Li Ye rolled up his sleeves and pant legs and began the day's tending.

He had now brought all one thousand Blazing Sun Flowers to the same condition. He had collected the experience-point feedback and Blazing Sun Spirit Essence from the remaining seven hundred and fifty flowers some time ago, giving him ten complete strands of Blazing Sun Spirit Essence in total, including those from before.

He had used some of it, however.

Perhaps he could collect another round when they bloomed...

And even in the years after that, as their medicinal potency grew each year, there would be no shortage of corresponding feedback.

The Blood Li Rice's condition had also reached a threshold, and it should grant him experience points again within the next few days.

And this would most likely be the last time before it fully matured!

Once he obtained them, Li Ye could improve his various skills once more.

Otherwise, during a New Year's celebration like this, why would he work so diligently instead of going to the Spring Night Garden to relax?

A few days later.

At the patriarch's cave abode on the Purple Profound Sect's third-tier Spirit Vein.

Cai Shiwei and a handsome middle-aged man of impressive bearing, dressed in moon-white robes, descended on a cloud atop the sect's highest peak.

The presence he gave off revealed that he had successfully reached Foundation Establishment!

From the time he had been at the seventh layer of Qi Refining to when he later encountered a Devil Cultivator in his predecessor's cave abode and awakened his Blood Soul Spirit Body in a bloody battle, only a little over a year had passed.

Even though he had gone out to fight on many occasions, received gifts from the sect, and encountered numerous fortuitous opportunities,

such a rate of advancement was far too outrageous. His aptitude seemed to surpass even a High-Grade Spirit Root by a considerable margin!

This immediately aroused the suspicions of his master, Jiao Jinhan-

He suspected that the Spirit Body Cai Shiwei had awakened was not merely a Blood Soul Spirit Body, but very likely a more advanced special physique!

As a result, even the Golden Core patriarch, who remained in seclusion, was surprised upon hearing of it and personally summoned Cai Shiwei, wanting to see what was so special about him.

"Shiwei, the patriarch's summons is a blessing. Although the patriarch accepted only Li Qiushuang as a personal disciple back then, he also mentioned you and had words of praise for you..."

"If you can win the patriarch's favor this time and receive even a small gift, it will be a heaven-sent opportunity. You must be sure to make the most of it!"

Jiao Jinhan instructed Cai Shiwei, his expression earnest and expectant.

"Your disciple will remember Master's instructions!"

Cai Shiwei's face was solemn, a flicker of nervousness... and impatience dancing in his eyes.

As they spoke, the two arrived outside an ancient, unadorned palace. Pure Spiritual Qi far surpassing the second tier surged around the mountaintop like waves, but most of it was firmly restrained by a formation, with only a portion able to spread outside.

The palace doors stood open, and a female cultivator walked slowly out. Her bearing was ethereal and aloof, like a cloud at the edge of the sky.

Cai Shiwei and Jiao Jinhan knew at a glance that she was Li Qiushuang, who possessed a High-Grade Wind Spirit Root!

The woman said indifferently,

"The patriarch summons Cai Shiwei inside!"

"Go on. I'll wait for you here."

Jiao Jinhan gestured with his eyes.

"Then I'll go, Master..."

Smiling, Cai Shiwei bowed to him again, then strode decisively up the steps toward the palace.

"You vile beast, how dare you!"

Without warning, an aged roar, full of shock and fury and laced with pain, suddenly rang out across the Purple Profound Sect.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-

A fierce wind howled outward from the sect's highest peak, becoming a heaven-shaking Divine Ability.

Even so, amid faint, unbridled laughter, a streak of bloodlight abruptly broke through every blockade and fled at an unimaginable speed.

The many disciples of the Purple Profound Sect looked up at the sky in alarm and uncertainty, and saw a sight they would never forget.

The entire sect's grand formation activated in an instant!

Winds rose and clouds surged as the surrounding space was sealed off. Boundless wind and clouds, accompanied by rosy light, surrounded the bloodlight from every direction, intent on crushing it to dust.

But just then, a talisman covered in intricate, shifting seal script flew out from within the bloodlight. As it activated, a multitude of formation restrictions instantly failed.

It had forcibly punched a gap in the spatial blockade formed by the grand formation!

The bloodlight suddenly accelerated, shot through the gap, and vanished.

After a moment of silence, the aged, furious voice rang out again.

"From this day forth, place the highest bounty our sect offers on Cai Shiwei..."

"Whoever takes his life, I shall accept as a personal disciple and reward handsomely!"