The system's cold, mechanical voice sounded in his ears once more. "Host, would you like to claim your reward now?"
"Claim it!"
Lin Xiaoyao did not hesitate.
Buzz...
The moment the words left his mouth, a sound like a great bell tolling exploded beside his ears. In an instant, a wealth of memories appeared in his mind.
Memories of Word of Law!
Lin Xiaoyao seemed to lose himself in them.
The whole process lasted nearly the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
Only then did he open his eyes again...
Lin Xiaoyao gently clenched his fist.
Then he raised his head and gazed into the distance.
It was still the depths of winter. The weather was cold. Though a spiritual vein coiled beneath Feathering Sect, turning the land within a hundred li into a blessed paradise, the laws of Heaven still held sway. Even in a place so rich in spiritual energy, only a few areas, such as the medicinal fields, remained lush and green, their spirit herbs flourishing thanks to special protective formations. Everywhere else in the sect, all things still withered in the depths of winter.
In a corner far from the Founder's Shrine lay an empty lot.
Yet at some point, someone had filled it with trees.
They were not the pines and cypresses commonly found in the mountains, but pear trees.
Perhaps thanks to the nourishment of spiritual energy, these pear trees were especially tall compared with the ordinary ones found in the mortal world.
Unfortunately, it was the depths of winter. Forget flowers or fruit—even most of the leaves on these pear trees had turned yellow and fallen, leaving them bare.
Beneath one of the tall pear trees stood two figures, one tall and one short.
The taller one was a young woman in a yellow dress, just at the age of bloom, with a slender figure and long hair falling to her waist.
Her right hand held that of a child of eight or nine.
From the looks of them, they seemed to be siblings.
"Big sister, I miss home."
"Me too."
"I wonder when we'll be able to go back?" The little boy furrowed his brows, looking troubled.
"Master said that once we've succeeded in Foundation Establishment, we'll be allowed to travel down the mountain. Then we can go home and see Father and Mother."
"But Foundation Establishment is so hard..."
From their conversation, it seemed the siblings were newly accepted disciples of the sect.
Life in the mountains was harsh, and the siblings were young. It was only natural that they missed home.
Lin Xiaoyao happened to overhear their conversation.
"Big sister, wouldn't it be wonderful if the pear trees were blooming? There's a whole grove of pear trees as big as this behind our house, too."
Hearing her little brother's innocent words, the young woman in yellow felt both tenderhearted and amused. She gently tapped him with her hand. "Silly thing. How could pear trees bloom in the middle of winter? Don't tell me you want to eat pears, too..."
"Mm."
The little boy nodded solemnly.
The young woman was about to scold him again—
But before she could speak, her mouth fell open.
Her beautiful eyes grew round as saucers.
It was just like the first time they had seen their master. The old immortal had descended before the siblings astride a white cloud, leaving them so astonished that they thought they were looking at a deity.
"Big sister, what's wrong?"
The little boy looked up in confusion and followed his sister's gaze. Then his mouth fell open, too.
The pear trees, which had been shivering in the cold wind just moments ago, had suddenly sprouted tender buds.
Pale green leaves appeared along the branches.
The limbs had been bare just a moment ago, but in the blink of an eye, they had put on a coat of green.
And that was not all.
Next, fragrance drifted into their noses.
It was the familiar scent of pear blossoms, one the siblings had known since childhood.
They watched as every branch filled with pure white pear blossoms.
Each one was as big as a bowl.
Their fragrance filled the air.
Just one breath of it left the siblings feeling wonderfully refreshed.
"Big sister, I think I can sense the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth that Master told us about."
"I can feel it, too."
The young woman's voice was filled with delight as well.
They had been on the mountain for more than half a month.
Their master had once told them that both siblings had good aptitude.
Yet for some reason—perhaps because they were so young, perhaps because they missed home too much, or perhaps because fate had played a cruel trick on them—these siblings had been taken as personal disciples by a Golden Core Realm steward as soon as they arrived at the sect, making everyone envious. And yet they could not even take the first step in cultivation: sensing the vital energy of Heaven and Earth.
As everyone knew, Qi Refining meant guiding spiritual energy into the body to cleanse the marrow, strengthen the bones, and improve one's constitution.
To accomplish that, the first thing one had to do was sense the spiritual energy that existed everywhere between Heaven and Earth.
Generally speaking, the better one's spiritual roots, the easier this process was.
The siblings before him were no prodigies like Su Zhiyan, but their aptitude for cultivation was still far superior to that of the other disciples who had joined the sect alongside them.
Who could have guessed that while those other disciples had already begun their cultivation, these siblings—whose talent was the greatest of all—would inexplicably get stuck at a bottleneck that should not have existed?
Until this very moment...
When they smelled the fragrance of the pear blossoms.
It was as if a door had opened in their minds. Both of them sensed the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth.
At that moment, they did not sit cross-legged to meditate like ordinary Qi Refining disciples. Even so, the vital energy in the area entered their bodies through their breathing and the pores of their skin, flowing into their meridians.
The bottleneck broke!
Both siblings became first-layer Qi Refining cultivators.
Such speed was astonishing.
Cultivation was difficult, after all. Even for those with decent spiritual roots, it took at least a month of diligent effort to sense the vital energy of Heaven and Earth, guide spiritual energy into their bodies, and reach the first layer of Qi Refining.
Yet the two before him seemed to have both reached enlightenment in an instant.
But they were young and had yet to realize what had happened to them.
Until a voice called them back to their senses.
"Qin'er, Xin'er, why didn't you tell me you were coming out here? You came all this way on your own?"
As the deep voice reached their ears, a middle-aged cultivator of around forty approached.
He wore a Daoist robe and had an ordinary appearance, but his eyes shone with bright light...
This was the siblings' master. Since his lay surname was Shi, he was also known as Daoist Shi.
Though the siblings had been unable to sense the vital energy of Heaven and Earth for some time, Daoist Shi had never looked down on them in the slightest. He had always treated them with warmth and care. Seeing them venture outside without telling him, he had come to look for them; now that he had found them, he couldn't help wanting to chide them.
But his words quickly caught in his throat.
Before him, the pear grove that should have been withered now stood in full bloom...
"How is this possible?"
Unlike the two bewildered children, Daoist Shi was a Golden Core cultivator. He knew that Heaven and Earth followed their own laws of operation. Who could possess such power as to disregard winter and defy the natural order?
Far away, in the Founder's Shrine, Lin Xiaoyao looked at his hand and nodded with satisfaction.
"So this is Word of Law. Though pear trees shouldn't bloom in this season, making them bloom is only a matter of a single thought."
As for violating the laws of Heaven and the countless rules of nature?
Wrong!
My words are the laws.
Before you continue