Fleeting Days, Hurrying Hundred Years

Lin Che lightly tapped the table with his fingers. According to the original plot, the Xuan Dao Sect should have destroyed the Heng Yue Sect. But with his appearance, the male lead, Wang Lin, presumably would not leave the Heng Yue Sect and would continue cultivating here.

The Wang Family Village and the Teng Family should not enter a cycle of Karma either, nor would the subsequent plot involving Extreme Realm Divine Sense and the Ancient God's Land take place.

Only after leaving the Heng Yue Sect's main hall did everyone finally breathe a sigh of relief. Yet they soon began blaming Teng Huayuan, with some even hating that the person kneeling on the ground earlier had not been themselves.

The opportunity to receive guidance toward Spirit Severing was something that came once in a thousand years, potentially sparing one a hundred years of detours. Yet they had unexpectedly missed it today.

"I say, Teng Huayuan, you really are a fence-sitter. Not long ago, you swore loyalty to Envoy Lin Yi, and now you've turned around and pledged loyalty to Nascent Soul Transformation stage Lin Che. If the envoy learns of this, let's see how you explain yourself."

Chen Huan, the sect master of the Joyous Union Sect, stopped Teng Huayuan and said sarcastically.

"Hmph."

Teng Huayuan snorted disdainfully and said smugly, "So what? I, Teng Huayuan, obtained this opportunity after all. You people could not even obtain an opportunity, so stop putting on airs before me."

"You!"

Chen Huan was furious. Had Teng Huayuan not spoken first and declared his loyalty, the opportunity to receive guidance toward Spirit Severing would have belonged to them instead.

Inside the magnificent hall, the Heng Yue Sect's experts clapped and cheered excitedly.

The Zhao Kingdom was filled with sects, and cultivation families were even more numerous. If every sect contributed thirty percent of its resources, then in a hundred years, the Heng Yue Sect would surely produce many more Nascent Soul Stage patriarchs.

Liu Wenju stroked his pale goatee, his smile brilliant as he said, "If not for Senior Lin Che, our Heng Yue Sect would likely have long been annexed by other sects."

Lin Che did not care much about the Zhao Kingdom's resources. After all, the Zhao Kingdom was only a Third-Grade Cultivation Nation. Its strongest cultivators were merely at the Spirit Severing Stage, practically as fragile as scraps before a Nascent Soul Transformation stage cultivator.

He vaguely remembered that several hundred years ago, all twenty-three Nascent Soul Stage experts in the Zhao Kingdom had been forced by the pressure of a Four-Grade Cultivation Nation to enter the Extraterrestrial Battlefield.

Yet apart from Pu Nanzi, every other Nascent Soul Stage cultivator had fallen in the Extraterrestrial Battlefield. That was why Pu Nanzi had dared to attack the Heng Yue Sect when he returned to the Zhao Kingdom.

Without the support of Nascent Soul Stage cultivators, a sect could only become a lamb for slaughter, eventually vanishing into the river of history.

Lin Che looked at Li Muwan beside him. With a slight movement of his fingers, several copied Elixir Recipes appeared before her.

"I obtained these Elixir Recipes in the Ancient God's Land. I have not used them yet, so I will give them all to you."

Li Muwan covered her mouth and chuckled. When she took them and looked them over, she immediately said in delight, "Recipes for Grade Five spirit pills? These are all extremely valuable."

Lin Che nodded. "For now, these are the only recipes I have obtained. If you like them, I will find other recipes for you later."

"Thank you, Senior Brother~"

Li Muwan had always loved refining pills. She had even been able to refine Grade Five pills while only at the Core Formation stage. If properly nurtured in the future, refining Ninth Grade Elixirs would be more than within her reach.

Lin Che himself was currently a Grade Six alchemist, but pill refinement had only ever been a casual interest to him. If he had truly wanted to study it, he would have been able to refine Grade Seven Pills long ago.

After leaving the hall, Lin Che brought Li Muwan back to his room. His residence was located in the bamboo forest behind the Heng Yue Sect.

Because he preferred peace and quiet, his master, Huang Long Zhenren, had arranged for the area to be filled with bamboo many years ago and had personally dug out a lakeside to nourish the place.

Now that he had not returned for a hundred years, the scenery remained exactly as it had been before—vibrant with life and refreshed by the autumn breeze.

"Time flies. A hundred years have passed, yet this place is still so full of life."

Lin Che stood beside Azure Mountain Lakeside, gazing at the shimmering surface of the lake with countless emotions stirring in his heart.

A hundred years might be a lifetime to mortals, but to cultivators, it was no more than the flick of a finger.

Yet during those hundred years, he had experienced far too much. He had grown from a minor Foundation Establishment stage cultivator into a powerful Nascent Soul Transformation stage expert, even capable of influencing the fate of a Third-Grade Cultivation Nation.

"Do you plan to remain in the Heng Yue Sect from now on?"

Lin Che turned around, looked at Li Muwan, and slowly asked.

Li Muwan pursed her youthful lips and used her small hand to tidy the strands of dark hair by her ear. She answered gently, "I have never forgotten that Senior Brother saved my life back then. If Senior Brother finds Wan'er too noisy, Wan'er... can leave at any time."

"That is not what I meant." Lin Che shook his head. "If you like it here, then stay and cultivate. If I leave, you will leave with me."

"Mm!" Li Muwan revealed a happy smile.

Seeing Li Muwan's smile gave Lin Che an unfamiliar feeling. In the original story, Li Muwan had sacrificed her own lifespan to create Jade Slips for Wang Lin.

She had originally possessed the potential to form a Nascent Soul and reach a higher realm, but the excessive depletion of her lifespan had damaged her foundation, making her future path of cultivation far more difficult.

Although Li Muwan had achieved extraordinary accomplishments in pill refinement, she had encountered tremendous challenges on the path of cultivation.

With her late Core Formation cultivation, she had repeatedly attempted to break through to the Nascent Soul Stage, but every attempt had ended in failure.

Each failure severely damaged her body and further shortened her lifespan.

Within her limited five hundred years of life, she continuously challenged herself, only to ultimately fall when her lifespan was exhausted.

Now that she was by his side, Li Muwan presumably would not fall again, nor would she perish like a fading flower when her lifespan neared its end.

Night fell. Li Muwan lay on Lin Che's lap and slept deeply, while Lin Che raised his head to look at the bright moon and stars in the sky, a different expression appearing in his eyes.

"I left in too much of a hurry back then, and it was also a crucial time for my breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Transformation stage. That was why I did not search for the Inheritance of Memories. It seems I really need to return to that damned place, the Ancient God's Land, when I have the time."

Lin Che raised an eyebrow, then looked at Li Muwan beneath the moonlight.

There were countless powerful experts within the Ancient God's Land. Back then, Do Mu and the others had pursued him relentlessly. Had he not relied on a Peak Stage magic treasure he had once obtained and used thirty percent of its lifespan to block them, he would likely have fallen long ago.

If he obtained the Inheritance of Memories within the Ancient God's Land, then given Tuosen's temperament, he would absolutely hunt him down after breaking the seal.

"It seems I need to raise my cultivation as quickly as possible. If I can reach the Soul Transformation Stage, my chances of success in the Ancient God's Land will increase considerably."