First Meeting with Na'er

They arrived in Notting City.

Huang Tian had thought they would first need to find some unscrupulous treasurer and forcibly borrow a little money to get settled.

After all, Mr. Silver Dragon King was so loaded that his entire fortune consisted of a mountain range of Gold of Life, and he had no idea what Gold Soul Coins were. He probably didn't even have half a coin.

Surely they couldn't make a dignified God King go get a job and earn money? That would be way too low.

Unexpectedly, after entering the city, the other party went straight to a luxurious manor whose front wall alone stretched four or five hundred meters.

A small stream flowed past the entrance, and several hills thick with trees rose behind it. Only a handful of other manors were scattered nearby; most of the area was taken up by flower gardens.

As they neared the entrance, a remarkably handsome middle-aged man came out to greet them. His black robe was embroidered with golden patterns, and the fabric was clearly of extremely high quality.

He stood over two meters tall, with broad shoulders and a thick head of black hair. A strand of gold ran through it at the crown, making him look quite distinctive. His thick, long eyebrows were black, dense, and glossy.

But what drew the most attention was his pair of black eyes. Unlike ordinary people's eyes, which were called black but were really just dark brown, his were a pure, absolute black, like black holes that reflected no light at all.

If you had to describe him in two words, they would be cold and cool—cold to the extreme, and cool to the extreme.

"Sect Master!"

The black-clad man gave a slight nod in greeting. Gu Yue'er introduced him:

"Your master here established a small sect called the Peace Sect. His name is Di Tian. He serves as deputy sect master and Protector Elder, and he'll be teaching you too.

"Xiao Tian, call him Uncle-Master."

"Peace Sect? That name comes from the Way of Great Peace, right?"

"'The blue heaven is dead; the yellow heaven shall rise'?"

"Interesting."

As thoughts flickered through his mind, Huang Tian bowed obediently.

"Hello, Uncle-Master. Thanks for your hard work."

"Second Young Master, there's no need to be so polite."

A trace of benevolent warmth appeared on Di Tian's face, thoroughly undermining his cold demeanor.

Yet hidden in that smile was a hint of helplessness.

The three of them entered together.

The manor had clearly been cleaned up already. It wasn't newly built, but it was very neat and tidy, with signs of repairs and renovations still visible in places.

The Silver Dragon King had only regained her past-life memories the night before. The fact that she'd managed to get the place into this state overnight showed how much effort and thought she'd put into it.

They passed through another gate. The second courtyard was much larger than the first. Three-story buildings stood on three sides, and the middle had been paved entirely with blue stone to make a small training ground.

"Na'er?"

At Gu Yue's call,

a little girl, as exquisite as a carved doll, instantly came running out of the building on the left.

She looked about five or six years old. Her silver hair fell from the back of her head all the way to her calves, gleaming like crystal. When she moved, it seemed as though ripples of water flowed across it.

Her face was just a little chubby, and her skin was as tender as the softest tofu pudding, white as cream and dewy to the eye.

Her purple eyes were clear and limpid, more flawless than the rarest gemstones. Even the slightest hint of a smile in them could instantly brighten everyone around her.

The moment he heard the name Na'er, Huang Tian knew his earlier guess had been right: Gu Na'er had indeed already been separated out and created by the Silver Dragon King.

When he saw the real girl, his eyes immediately lit up. Before Gu Yue'er could introduce them, he ran over on his own.

"Hello, little Na'er! I'm Huang Tian.

"Do you like playing games? How about I teach you to play Gomoku?"

The Silver Dragon King, who had been about to introduce them, froze on the spot.

Especially when, a moment later, his little sister looked merely bewildered, unsure how to respond, but Huang Tian took it as eager anticipation. He happily took her hand and started looking for something to draw a game board on the ground.

Gu Yue pressed a hand to her forehead, her brow twitching wildly.

She knew it: someone's passive trait had probably activated. Whenever he saw a pretty girl, he couldn't help trying to bring her home.

There had been plenty of such scenes in her memories of her past life, but they had all come from what her other selves had witnessed. Experiencing it herself still left her feeling a little scrambled.

It wasn't just that it felt like some blond punk was making off with her daughter right in front of her; she also felt like she had green hair.

"Damn it, she's six. You're freaking six years old yourself!"

"Already this outrageous at six, with the signs just starting to show. What's going to happen when you're grown? Will you fly to the heavens?"

"Fine. He really did fly to the heavens."

His playtime with Na'er didn't last long. At noon, after they'd finished their meal, Gu Yue pinned down the boy who was about to keep working on raising his affection score.

Through gritted teeth, she said fiercely:

"At your age, you should be focusing on cultivation. Understand? Lessons start now, and you're not allowed to leave until dark."

In response, Huang Tian dragged over two little stools, sat side by side with Na'er, their arms linked, and looked up at her with an innocent, guileless face as if waiting for her to continue.

Gu Yue: "..."

The first day's lesson was simple: the Meditation Method. More precisely, it was a divine-level Meditation Method created by the Goddess of Life.

In ancient times, the Goddess of Life and the God of Life—who was also the God King of Life—had not been the same person. The Goddess of Life had been a Second-Level God, and she had fallen during the Dragon God's rebellion.

Later, only one god with the attribute of life remained. Since the God of Life was also female, some people called her the Goddess of Life.

The reason for choosing the Goddess of Life was simple. Not only was she skilled in the life attribute, she was also one of the few human gods in the primordial Divine Realm, so Huang Tian's cultivation would suit her method particularly well.

Using an illusion, Gu Yue projected a model of the human body into Huang Tian's spiritual world, complete with bones, muscles, internal organs, and meridians.

She explained the positions and functions of each meridian one by one, how to find them, and the tricks and taboos to keep in mind during cultivation.

Take the Meditation Method that Yu Xiaogang gave Tang San in the original story, for example.

Top-tier, specialized Meditation Methods already involved the circulation of some meridians and were compatible with the cultivator's Martial Soul attributes and abilities. They didn't quite reach the level of a mid-level martial world, but they were considered fairly advanced in a low-level martial world.

The Goddess of Life Meditation Method was no exception. Compared to Yu Xiaogang's supposedly top-tier mortal method—which he'd either plagiarized from Spirit Hall or the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and which was the sort of thing where a man could sell his father's land without a second thought—it was more than one level above it.

With Huang Tian's intelligence, even after studying it repeatedly, he still needed five days to understand all the intricacies and commit it to memory before he dared try it himself.

Sitting cross-legged on a soft cushion, he emptied his mind for several minutes, banishing every distracting thought.

Following the Meditation Method's route to the letter, he released his Martial Soul and used his Blue Silver Saint Emperor as a guide, drawing in the energy of heaven and earth to circulate through his body and digest it until it was assimilated, indistinguishable from his own Soul Power and as easy to command as his own limbs.

The whole process was simpler than he'd imagined. It came naturally, without a single hitch.

He succeeded on his first try, but Huang Tian didn't wake up. Instead, he struck while the iron was hot and continued cultivating through a second cycle.

Nearby, the tension in Gu Yue's expression abruptly eased. Common Meditation Methods involved few meridians and posed little danger,

but while advanced Meditation Methods were powerful, even the slightest misstep could lead to unforeseeable consequences.

Then a hint of admiration appeared on her face.

She didn't know how quickly other geniuses learned the secret Meditation Methods tailored to their Martial Souls, or how long it took them, but five days was definitely an exceptionally impressive figure.