Uncertain year or month.
Uncertain realm or place.
Uncertain truth or illusion.
Layers of self-luminous white clouds drifted in the dark void.
Parting the clouds to reveal the sun.
There was a floating mountain amid the clouds, wreathed in clear mist with flocks of flying cranes.
The mountain was neither large nor tall.
At the foot of the mountain flowed babbling water past neat crop fields, while the peak featured green bamboo and ancient pines twisted like coiling dragons.
At the mountain summit sat a rustic quadrangle Daoist temple, with a dying peach tree of unknown age planted in the center.
Peach blossoms kept falling, yet they never seemed to finish falling.
The young girl counting the peach blossoms was only at her cardamom years, possessing an immortal appearance of peerless beauty and crystal-clear purity, her slender, upright figure brimming with the allure of a mature woman.
"Passing through a myriad of flowers without a single leaf touching my body. Mother, my romantic luck has been too overwhelming lately, and I don't know which one to pick."
Her clear, proud voice echoed within the courtyard.
"Silence!"
A profound, ancient female voice came from the clouds.
"The tidal physique must never be with a man."
The young girl pouted, raising her head in proud grievance.
"But I have too many romantic encounters, and I can't cut them off no matter what!"
"If you insist on yearning for the mortal world, then be with a woman."
"I don't want a woman, I like cute boys!"
"Liked men are fine too. If you are fortunate enough to encounter a man who can let you peer into the Heavenly Dao, you may stay with him for the rest of your life."
"Mother is lying again! We stand on the opposite side of the Heavenly Dao. Aside from gods, where is there any man who can let me peer into the Heavenly Dao?"
"What you said is right. In this world, only gods are qualified to tame you, so don't cheapen yourself!"
Sword-Wielding Mountain.
Lingzhou Yue abruptly opened her eyes.
Golden afterglow fell into the grass-framed window, illuminating her pure and untainted appearance no matter how much dust settled upon her.
Heh, even the immortals were all dead, let alone gods!
Weren't girls wonderful?
Dispelling the annoying dream-sounds, she raised her arm and took a gulp of wine.
Her pristine body lazily rolled over, stirring up sweet, mellow wine aromas like flowing waves of surf.
The immortal wind was intoxicating, the sunset tipsy.
Xiao Ran's maiden flight after transmigrating was dedicated to a paper kite.
Much like his maiden flight before transmigrating, which was dedicated to paper.
History always shockingly repeated itself.
In the center of the giant paper kite.
Xiao Ran sat cross-legged on the front steps of the double-layered disciple quarters.
Opening his eyes slightly, everywhere he looked—all directions and the vast universe above and below within his field of vision—were mountain peaks of various sizes piercing through the layers of clouds.
Spiritual energy, thin mists, beast cries, and bell tolls fused together, filling heaven and earth with a grand and ethereal atmosphere that felt unlike the mortal realm.
It contrasted sharply with the decayed scenery outside the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array, as if he had transmigrated a second time and found himself in another world.
Pity that Xiao Ran had no blessing to enjoy this immortal land's magnificent scenery.
He kept his brows slightly furrowed, concentrating on sensing his bloodline power.
After all, it was a maiden flight; thrilling as it was, tension was inevitable.
Whenever a gale wind blew past or an immortal crane flew by, the paper kite would totter and shake unceasingly.
The mere ten-odd miles of distance took a full quarter of an hour to fly.
Finally, in the afterglow, he flew to the airspace above Sword-Wielding Mountain.
Locating his spot, he gradually bled off his momentum and landed steadily.
Xiao Ran let out a long sigh of relief.
Tonight was all set!
The new disciple quarters sat at the southeast side of the thatched cottage, at a forty-five-degree angle, three zhang away.
In terms of drawing upon the feng shui spiritual meridian, this was the second golden spot on Sword-Wielding Mountain outside of the thatched cottage.
Xiao Ran walked into the house.
The bamboo bed, wardrobe, long desk... all sorts of furniture were arranged very neatly.
The kitchen had complete cookware and flint, while the small storeroom was stocked with various farming tools.
As expected of Lin Yunzi, who commanded the outer sect disciples, he understood the daily needs of mortals who hadn't yet reached Qi Refining...
Before showing filial piety to his master, Xiao Ran still had two things to do.
First, firmly anchor the foundation.
Xiao Ran fetched a cloth-wrapped heavy hammer from the storeroom, along with eight huge telescopic wooden wedges equipped with mechanisms.
He inserted the eight wooden wedges into the indoor floor pits he had prepared in advance, using the cloth-wrapped hammer to pound them one by one into the foundation.
These wooden wedges telescopically folded and extended vertically, reaching ten zhang deep underground.
Then, triggering the mechanisms, eight sets of underground stabilizing rods extended horizontally.
Sixty-four stabilizing rods in total provided bidirectional fixation both vertically and horizontally.
They formed a three-dimensional grid beneath the foundation, steadily anchoring the double-layered pavilion to withstand up to a category nine gale!
Moreover, the placement positions of the eight wooden wedges were also quite special.
Though they looked like a Bagua diagram, the sequence of the trigrams differed from ordinary Bagua diagrams, representing a version better suited for the Dharma Ending Era.
Qian() Kun() Gen() Zhen() Xun() Li() Dui() Kan(). After all, in the Dharma Ending Era with its abnormal spiritual meridians, one had to take unorthodox paths to draw upon the heaven and earth spiritual energy more efficiently.
Without considering restrictive barriers, such a pseudo-Bagua arrangement would possess a much more direct spiritual-gathering effect than the thatched cottage.
Because he used a cloth-wrapped hammer and the wooden wedges were indoors, Master was still sleeping soundly after Xiao Ran secured the foundation.
By this time, it was already dark.
The stars were just rising, the moon hung in the starry river, and starlight blended with the bright moonlight, spilling together onto the roof of the brand-new disciple quarters.
All was dead silence, save for the chirping of crickets.
The second thing Xiao Ran needed to do was to build a complete drainage system for the kitchen and bathroom.
Especially the excretion issue, which was something he hadn't... anticipated beforehand.
Who could have imagined that an inner sect disciple—no, a direct disciple—would still need to shit? All of us immortals sitting here didn't eat the food of mortals, dining on spiritual energy and drinking immortal dew; if you shit, you had no qualifications to cultivate this immortality.
What gave Xiao Ran even more a headache was that since Master was a female Daoist, him eating, drinking, and excreting right next door was truly lacking in decorum.
Yet this matter was extremely urgent! Qi Refining and passing grain wasn't accomplished overnight, so he had to fix the drainage and excretion system of the disciple quarters immediately, or else tonight he really wouldn't be able to hold it.
Taking a shovel from the storeroom, Xiao Ran dragged his exhausted body to start digging a pit, splicing bamboo pipes together one by one and placing them inside the trench.
Both the thatched cottage and the disciple quarters faced east, so the drainage direction could only be west.
Halfway through digging the trench toward the west, he actually dug up warm underground water.
At a thousand-zhang-high mountain summit, there was unexpectedly underground water, and it was even warm!
You could never judge a mountain by its cover.
The underground water was warm, smooth, and clear, exuding a refreshing coolness akin to melting ice and snow, while mingling with a faint scent of sulfur.
With warm underground water, Xiao Ran could not only solve his domestic water needs, but even build a hot spring! Xiao Ran loved soaking in hot springs the most; soaking in a hot spring in the immortal realm... simply wonderful! That was a matter for the future.
Continuing to dredge the channel westward.
Xiao Ran dug the trench along the water vein all the way to the cliff edge.
Here lay some cluttered bizarre rocks and thorny bushes.
Domestic wastewater flowed through the underground pipes, discharging from this point to seep into the mountain's earth, rocks, and thorns, nourishing all living things.
Suddenly, Xiao Ran smelled a strange, wine-like aroma.
Following the scent, he saw large patches of wine stains in the bushes.
Wait, this faint starry musk...
Xiao Ran frowned, realizing the matter was not so simple.
Suddenly, an unreasonable premonition surged like a drizzle into his heart.
He squatted on the ground, gave a jolt, and turned around—
Meeting his immortal master face-to-face as she coldly looked down upon him from above.
"What are you doing?"
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