A Day of Bountiful Harvests

You brought yourself into peak condition.

You sat cross-legged beneath a peach tree and swiftly entered a cultivation state.

Though you had mentally prepared yourself and knew the ninth condensation would be anything but easy,

once you actually began cultivating, you discovered it was fucking hard!

For an entire half-year, you made no progress whatsoever.

You realized that continuing to cultivate nonstop was meaningless, no different from sitting there like a withered stump.

You began cultivating intermittently.

During the breaks between Condensing True Qi, you began training your movement technique.

One year later.

Year Fifty-Three.

Your Phantom Phoenix Steps reached consummate mastery.

Your speed became absurdly fast.

You had been standing before the doghouse, and without any visible movement, you appeared beside the pigsty the very next instant.

With that teleportation-like move, you had crossed more than two zhang.

Moreover, the afterimage before the doghouse remained for half a breath before slowly fading away.

Phantom Phoenix Steps was merely a top-tier movement martial skill. You did not dare imagine what level a sect-defending movement technique could reach.

"If ninety-eight is already this good, wouldn't three hundred and ninety-eight send me soaring?"

Your eyes shone brightly as you looked forward to finding a sect-defending movement technique to practice someday.

After Phantom Phoenix Steps reached consummation, you continued Condensing True Qi.

Another half-year later.

Your ninth True Qi condensation still had not succeeded.

And another problem arose.

Because you had constantly condensed your True Qi, your Skin Tempering Peak cultivation from the Desolate Heaven Saber Technique was nearly impossible to suppress.

It had already come infinitely close to breaking through into Bone Tempering.

This delightful problem of cultivation automatically leveling up had finally found you.

You gritted your teeth and persevered.

While suppressing your cultivation that was on the verge of breaking through, you worked hard to condense your True Qi.

You regretted rebuilding your cultivation all the way to Skin Tempering Peak back then. Rebuilding only to the late stage would have been enough.

But it was too late to say any of that now. You could only passively take on this edge-stopping challenge.

In Year Fifty-Four, you finally sensed signs that your True Qi had begun to condense for the first time.

You knew that you had finally taken the right path this time.

All that remained was a matter of time.

You cultivated the Ninefold Profound Art even more diligently, condensing your True Qi.

Year Fifty-Five.

This year, you happened to turn seventy.

Though you had passed the age of seventy, your appearance remained youthful, making you look only about twenty.

Your face was full of collagen, and you were still that handsome young man renowned throughout the surrounding villages.

This was one of the benefits brought by cultivating the Martial Path.

One day, you were cultivating in the courtyard.

Suddenly,

something stirred in your heart.

A brilliant light burst forth from your eyes.

The True Qi within your body abruptly compressed and condensed, its form beginning to change.

The wandering True Qi within your body began to merge and gather.

Your gaseous True Qi began transforming toward a liquid state.

Before long, all of your True Qi had converted into liquid.

You had finally completed the ninth True Qi Condensation of the Skin Tempering realm!

"Roar—"

You threw back your head and let out a long howl.

A wild, unrestrained aura surged skyward from your body.

The poultry within the courtyard, along with the birds, ferocious beasts, and wild animals outside it, all prostrated themselves on the ground and trembled.

As if they had encountered the absolute overlord of the forest.

Your liquefied True Qi caused your combat strength to soar.

The amount of True Qi within your body was more than five hundred times that of an ordinary Skin Tempering Peak martial artist!

Even across two entire realms, if you used Skin Tempering Peak cultivation to battle a Marrow Washing Realm Peak martial artist, you had absolute confidence that you could defeat them.

"My True Qi actually liquefied..."

You knew this was a transformation that only occurred in the Essence Refinement Realm.

"Skin Tempering, Bone Tempering, Marrow Washing, Divine Organs, Essence Refinement..."

You had caused your True Qi to liquefy four realms ahead of time.

You found it utterly unbelievable.

After the shock passed, you began cultivating the Desolate Heaven Saber Technique.

But calling it cultivation was not quite right; in truth, you merely stopped suppressing your cultivation.

Your True Qi surged, and the Desolate Heaven Saber Technique directly broke through to the initial stage of Bone Tempering.

Once the Desolate Heaven Saber Technique entered Bone Tempering, the True Qi within your body swelled dozens of times over again.

Moreover, your bones, which had already become half-jade, underwent further tempering.

They needed only a little more to reach the fully jade-like state of late-stage Bone Tempering.

Your combat strength underwent another qualitative transformation.

After rebuilding your cultivation to the initial stage of Bone Tempering, you did not pause in the slightest.

You immediately began condensing True Qi at the Bone Tempering realm.

The Ninefold Profound Art had to be cultivated as early as possible, lest you advance to a major realm before completing all nine condensations.

Year Fifty-Seven.

With the experience of nine extreme condensations during the Skin Tempering stage, you now condensed True Qi much faster.

In less than two years, you had already condensed your True Qi three times. The speed was very nice.

Moreover, you could clearly feel the Ninefold Profound Art improving your Martial Path talent.

To speak objectively, you now counted as a modest Martial Path genius.

Your Martial Path talent had already become about equal to Wang Yuanyi's.

As a seventy-two-year-old little genius, you were very happy.

Because Martial Path talent could also be brought back to reality from the simulator.

The fifteen-year-old you in reality would be a true little genius.

You cultivated continuously for more than a decade.

That day, you decided to go fishing for a while.

You came to the broad river not far from the small courtyard.

The giant gorillas and other wild beasts, such as hippos and elephants, drinking around the river immediately scattered when they saw you carry a bucket to sit by the bank.

Over the past decade or so, they had been frightened senseless by the breakthrough commotions that periodically erupted from your small courtyard.

Their fear of you had long since been carved into their subconscious.

The herd of beasts fled away with a thunderous rumble.

"Good that they ran. At least they won't spook the fishing spot."

You set up your fishing line and began fishing leisurely.

This river had never been fished by humans, so it held many fish. They were enormous and exceptionally plump.

Wild fish were unlike the fish in stocked fishing ponds.

Wild fish had never been caught before. They bit the moment they saw bait, making them very easy to catch.

The fish in stocked ponds, on the other hand, were extremely cunning, every one of them possessed of unique skills.

Their most basic skill was eating the bait without biting the hook.

Their more advanced skill was to tug on the fishing line after finishing the bait, reminding you to hurry up and put on more feed.

Those cheap fish in stocked ponds treated the bait you had carefully mixed like an all-you-can-eat buffet. They had no manners at all.

Compared to them, these little wild fish outside were much more adorable.

In less than an hour, your fish basket was nearly full.

You could not possibly eat so many fish.

You planned to hollow out a large water tank from a huge slab of bluestone and raise the excess fish in it.

You reeled in your line and headed home.

Another day of bountiful harvests.

"Big girl, grab a few, grab a few, grab a few handfuls of melon seeds~"

"Young man, show that black hair, that black hair, those black-haired pants, hey~"

Humming a flamboyant little tune, you walked along the path back to the small courtyard.

Suddenly,

your figure abruptly vanished from where you stood.

Your fishing rod and tackle fell to the ground on their own.

When you appeared again, you were already on the opposite side of the river.

You held an eight- or nine-year-old little girl in your hand.

The little girl wore plain clothes. Her fair, tender face was filled with terror, and tears welled in her big round eyes.

"Who are you? Where did you come from? Where are you going?!"

You directly unleashed the ultimate triple question.

The little girl was clearly terrified.

She could only pout with a tearful voice and repeatedly mumble, "I... My name is Xiao Xuan... Xiao Xuan is my name... Xiao Xuan..."

"Xiao Xuan! Where are you?!"

"Xiao Xuan!"

"Come out, Xiao Xuan!!"