Standing Too High Sometimes Makes You Forget What Lies Beneath Your Feet

[Year 5]

On this day, a clear and melodious sword cry suddenly came from the sky.

You were squatting at the alley entrance playing with mud when you heard a sound and looked up to see a Sword Light across the sky.

A white-robed cultivator stood atop it, his robes fluttering in the wind, exactly like the Immortal described by the storyteller.

"Immortal has arrived!"

You threw down the mud in your hand and rushed after the Sword Light.

He ran through the alley, knocked over a bamboo basket, and then ran across three whole streets in one breath. He finally stopped when his foot slipped and he fell into a ditch.

The monk never bowed his head from beginning to end.

The Sword Light quickly disappeared into the depths of the clouds, but you lay prone in the mud, gazing upwards for a long time.

When you got home, you didn't bother to wash off the mud and grime. Instead, you broke off a tree branch, stepped on the water vat in the yard, and stood with your hands behind your back, imitating the monk.

"When I become Immortal, I must go and see the heavens!"

Upon seeing this, Qin Wangchuan's lips curled slightly.

"They can't even stand still, and they're already dreaming of going to heaven."

"That's quite ambitious."

The words sound grand, but the edge of the water vat is narrow and slippery, and when you stand on it, your legs are already trembling uncontrollably.

A little girl with pigtails was perched on the wall, watching the whole scene clearly, and immediately burst into laughter so hard she couldn't stand up straight.

"Going to heaven, huh?"

"Chen Gou'er, don't be too scared to even get off the water tank later."

Enraged, you chased her away with a tree branch.

As a result, he slipped and fell headfirst into the water tank.

[Year 7]

The little girl's name was Liu Tao, and she was the daughter of the owner of the pharmacy next door.

You enjoy playing with her, but you never admit it.

Today she hides her hair tie, tomorrow she stuffs a frog into her medicine basket, causing Liu Tao to chase and beat her all over the street.

One time, a joke went too far and made someone cry.

You squatted outside the door all afternoon, and finally, with a heavy heart, took out the sugar figurine you had saved up for half a month to buy and secretly slipped it through the crack in the window.

The next day when you met, Liu Tao still didn't give you a friendly look.

In his hand, he clutched a sugar figurine like a precious treasure.

[Year 9]

The nearby martial arts sects came to the town to recruit disciples.

You got up before dawn and cleaned the Wooden Sword you had been secretly practicing with for several years.

During the test, the immortal master only placed his hand on your head for a moment before withdrawing it.

"No Spirit Root, next."

You stood there, not quite understanding what was being said.

It wasn't until the impatient people behind you pushed you aside that you finally realized you couldn't be Immortal.

When it was Liu Tao's turn, a faint blue light shone on the spirit-testing Spirit Stone.

The immortal master in charge of accepting disciples looked at it for a moment and said calmly:

"A low-grade Wood Spirit Root; the aptitude isn't good, but it's barely enough to enter the beginner level."

"Go over there to meet up, and follow me later."

Liu Tao's eyes lit up slightly.

But when I turned around, I saw that you had been squeezed into a corner by the crowd, your head down, clutching the Wooden Sword you had brought with you.

The initial joy gradually faded away.

Liu Tao whispered to that immortal master.

I'm not going.

The immortal master was somewhat surprised.

"Although you can only start from the outer sect, it's a destiny that others can only dream of. Are you really not interested?"

Liu Tao glanced back at the figure waiting in the distance and nodded gently.

"No, I don't want it."

Back in town, no matter how much people asked her, she only said that she had no talent for cultivation.

You believed it to be true.

On the way back, neither of them spoke.

Walking up to the water vat where you had once thrown yourself in, you suddenly stopped and said, feigning disdain:

"If you don't want to repair it, then don't. What's so great about Immortal?"

"The swords they use also have to be forged by someone, don't they?"

"Just you wait! I'm going to forge an incredibly powerful divine weapon someday, so that Immortal will line up to beg me for it!"

Liu Tao finally couldn't help but give you a light, disdainful look.

"Boast."

You speak so confidently, as if you truly don't care anymore.

But no one knows that that night, you hugged the Wooden Sword and cried for a long time under the covers.

When you woke up the next day, you didn't throw away the Wooden Sword, but you refused to mention cultivating immortality in front of others anymore.

Everyone thought you had given up.

Only you know that the longing has never disappeared; it has simply been quietly hidden away.

Every night when all is quiet, you would still sneak up the back mountain with your Wooden Sword and sit cross-legged like the Immortal in legends.

There is no cultivation method.

I don't know how to sense Spiritual Qi.

All I could do was close my eyes and sit there from moonrise until dawn.

[Year 10]

That year, a down-on -Rogue Cultivator came to the town.

You hear that the other party has half a scroll of breathing techniques, so you secretly go to their door and do chores like chopping wood, carrying water, and running errands for them.

After three months of hard work, I finally got my hands on that scroll of cultivation techniques.

You hide in the back mountain, practicing meditation and breathing exercises according to the prescribed methods.

Spring came and autumn went, but I never felt the so-called Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

It wasn't until one day when he forcibly activated the magic Method Formula and coughed up a mouthful of blood that he finally gave up hope.

The half-roll of the breathing technique was pressed into the bottom of the box.

But he didn't throw away the Wooden Sword.

[Year 13]

You began learning blacksmithing from your father.

The first time I held the hammer, my arms went numb from the impact, and my thumbs and forefingers bled.

The father stared at the blood-stained hands for a long time, his eyes filled with heartache, but he offered no comfort, only handing over a clean cloth.

"Wrap it tighter."

"Otherwise it will hurt."

You gritted your teeth and persevered.

Months later, you finally created your first finished product all by yourself.

It was a short-bladed knife, slightly smaller than a regular woodcutter's knife. The blade was crooked, and the edge was of uneven thickness. When used to chop wood, the blade bent before it could even split the wood.

Blushing, you wanted to throw it back into the furnace, but your father stopped you and hung it in the most conspicuous place in the blacksmith's shop.

"The first knife was a bit ugly."

"Keep it."

Liu Tao, carrying a medicine basket, passed by the blacksmith's shop, looked at it for a long time, and deliberately dragged out her words:

"Immortal Chen, what brings you to blacksmithing?"

Your face flushed red, and you swung the hammer to chase them away.

She laughed and ran away.

You stared at that retreating figure, grinning foolishly for a long time, until the red-hot iron billet almost cooled down, before you hurriedly came to your senses.

[Year 15]

The father began asking around to find out what the Liu Family thought.

You said you weren't in a hurry, but secretly you used the scraps you had saved up to make a crooked Peach Blossom Hairpin.

Before I could deliver it, it got dark.

But it's daytime now!

You subconsciously look up.

Countless Alien Race warships stretched across the sky, and Black Mist swept in from the horizon, completely obscuring the sky.

A ferocious figure stood atop the clouds, its aura so oppressive that it shook the mountains and rivers.

"Alien Race!"

"The Alien Race has invaded!"

In an instant, the entire town was thrown into chaos.

Some knelt and begged, some fled in panic with their families, and others hastily sealed their doors and windows, hiding in their homes trembling with fear.

You are afraid too.

In the chaos, the old town mayor banged on the gong and shouted repeatedly at the top of his lungs:

"The back mountain!"

"Everyone, head to the Mine Cave in the back mountain!"

That was an abandoned Mine Cave that was dug out in Wutang Town in the early years. Although the entrance was inconspicuous, the inside was extremely deep enough to hide everyone in the town.

Father, gripping the hammer, walked at the back, while Mother held your hand tightly. Liu Tao, carrying her medicine box, followed her family inside.

The cave was crowded and dark.

Everyone held their breath, listening to the warships sailing overhead, and even the cries of children were tightly muffled by the adults.

Fortunately, the Alien Race seemed to be searching for something and didn't notice this ordinary town.

Several days passed, and although the group still dared not leave the Mine Cave, they were all still alive.

[Same year]

On this day, celestial light filled the sky from beyond the realm, tearing apart the Black Mist that had shrouded the Swallowing Cloud Realm for several days.

The reinforcements have finally arrived.

As the leading figures swept past the back mountain, you could see in the distance a golden, ancient character embroidered on their shoulders—

"Qin"

Qin Wangchuan looked at the gilded ancient characters and immediately understood.

What unfolds before my eyes is a decree issued by him, ordering the Qin Clan to come to the aid of the Swallowing Cloud Realm for its future.

No matter how you look at it, this is the safest option.

But for some reason, a sense of foreboding quietly crept into my heart.