Shock! A Miracle That Makes Dreams Come True

The system's cold, mechanical voice rang in his ears once more: "Does the host wish to claim the reward now?"

"Claim!"

Lin Xiaoyao did not hesitate.

Hum...

The moment the word left his lips, a sound like a great bell tolling exploded in his ears, and suddenly, a wealth of memories flooded his mind.

Memories of the Word of Law!

Lin Xiaoyao seemed to be completely immersed in them.

The entire process lasted for nearly the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Only then did he reopen his eyes.

Lin Xiaoyao gently clenched his fist.

He then raised his head and gazed into the distance.

It was still the height of winter, and the weather was biting cold. Although the Feathering Sect sat atop a sprawling spiritual vein that turned these hundred miles into a blessed land of immortals, the Heavenly Dao had its own rules. Even in such a place rich with spiritual energy, aside from a few areas like the medicinal herb gardens—which remained lush and green thanks to special protective formations—the rest of the sect was withered and dormant in the winter chill.

In a corner quite some distance from the Founder's Shrine, there was a patch of open ground.

Yet, at some point, it had been planted full of trees.

They were not the common pines or cypresses found in the mountains, but pear trees.

Perhaps due to the nourishment of the spiritual energy, these pear trees were exceptionally tall compared to those in the mortal world.

Unfortunately, in the dead of winter, let alone blooming or bearing fruit, most of the leaves on these trees had withered and fallen, leaving them looking bare and skeletal.

At this moment, beneath one of the tall pear trees stood two figures, one tall and one short.

The taller one was a young girl in a yellow dress, in the bloom of her youth, with a slender frame and hair reaching her waist.

Her right hand held that of a child, no more than eight or nine years old.

Judging by their appearance, they were likely a pair of siblings.

"Sister, I miss home."

"I do too."

"I wonder when we'll be able to go back?" The little boy's brows furrowed, his face full of distress.

"Master said that once we successfully reach the Foundation Establishment stage, we can travel down the mountain, and then we can go home to see Mom and Dad."

"But Foundation Establishment is so hard..."

Listening to their conversation, it was clear these two were newly recruited disciples of the sect.

Cultivation in the mountains was arduous, and being so young, it was inevitable that the siblings would feel homesick.

Lin Xiaoyao had overheard their conversation by chance.

"Sister, wouldn't it be nice if the pear trees were blooming? We have a pear grove just like this behind our house."

Hearing her brother's naive words, the girl in yellow felt both a pang of heartache and a touch of amusement. She gently patted him on the head. "Silly boy, it's the middle of winter; how could pear trees possibly bloom? Don't tell me you're still craving pears..."

"Mm."

The little boy nodded very solemnly.

The girl was just about to scold him further.

But before she could speak, her mouth fell wide open.

Her beautiful, large eyes widened into perfect circles.

It was just like the first time she had seen their Master, when the old man had descended before them on a white cloud, leaving them so shocked they thought they were looking at a deity.

"Sister, what's wrong?"

The little boy looked up in surprise, followed her gaze, and then his own mouth fell open involuntarily.

He saw that the pear trees, which had been shivering in the cold wind just a moment ago, were now sprouting tender buds.

Leaves of vibrant green emerged upon the branches.

The branches that had been bare only an instant before were now cloaked in green.

And it didn't end there.

A fragrance drifted to their noses.

It was the scent of pear blossoms, a smell the siblings had been familiar with since they were small.

They watched, wide-eyed, as the branches became covered in snow-white pear blossoms.

Each one was as large as a bowl.

The exotic fragrance was intoxicating.

The siblings took a single breath, and they felt a sense of comfort wash over their entire bodies.

"Sister, I think I can sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth that Master spoke of."

"I feel it too."

The young girl's voice was equally filled with surprise.

They had been on the mountain for over half a month.

Their master had once said that both of them, brother and sister, possessed decent aptitude.

Yet for some reason—perhaps because they were too young, perhaps because they were too homesick, or perhaps it was just the irony of fate—this pair, who had been taken as personal disciples by a Golden Core deacon the moment they arrived and were the envy of all other disciples, could not even manage the first step of cultivation: sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

One had to understand that so-called Qi Refining was the process of guiding spiritual energy into the body to cleanse the marrow, temper the bones, and improve one's physical constitution.

To achieve this, the first thing one naturally had to do was sense the omnipresent spiritual energy between heaven and earth.

Usually, the better one's spiritual roots, the easier this process became.

The two siblings before us were not world-shaking geniuses like Su Zhiyan, but their aptitude for cultivation was far superior to that of the other disciples who had entered the sect at the same time.

Unexpectedly, while the others had already begun their journey, this pair with the highest talent had inexplicably become stuck at a bottleneck that shouldn't have existed.

Until this moment...

Upon smelling the fragrance of the pear blossoms.

It was as if they had suddenly been enlightened, and both of them sensed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

At that moment, they did not even need to sit cross-legged in meditation like ordinary Qi Refining disciples; the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the vicinity was already entering their meridians through their breathing and the pores of their skin.

The bottleneck was broken!

The brother and sister had both become first-level Qi Refining cultivators.

Such a speed of cultivation was truly shocking.

One must know that cultivation is not easy; even for those with decent spiritual roots, the process from sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and guiding it into the body to reaching the first level of Qi Refining required at least a month of diligent effort.

Yet the two before us seemed to have both achieved sudden enlightenment in an instant.

However, being young, they had not yet realized what had actually happened to them.

It was not until a voice awakened them.

"Qin'er, Xin'er, why did you come here alone without telling your master?"

As that deep voice reached their ears, a middle-aged cultivator in his forties walked toward them.

He wore a Daoist robe and had an ordinary appearance, but his eyes were bright and piercing...

This was their master, and because his secular surname was Shi, he was known as Daoist Shi.

Although the siblings had been slow to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, Daoist Shi had never shown the slightest disdain, treating them with great kindness and concern. Seeing that they had gone out without telling him, he had come out to look for them, and upon finding them, he couldn't help but want to scold them a little.

But soon, his words stuck in his throat.

He looked ahead at the pear orchard, which should have been desolate, but was now in full bloom...

"How is this possible?"

Unlike the ignorant siblings, Daoist Shi, as a Golden Core cultivator, naturally understood that heaven and earth had their own laws of operation. Who could have such ability to ignore the winter and defy the heavens?

In the distance, at the Founder's Shrine, Lin Xiaoyao looked at his hands and nodded with satisfaction.

"So this is the Word of Law. Making pear trees bloom out of season is nothing more than a thought of my own."

As for violating the laws of heaven and earth or the infinite rules?

Wrong!

My words are the law.