The Dreams of the Past Shattered; This Life Was Priceless

Soon, three days passed.

Over those three days, Chen Xiao's cultivation realm did not improve at all. He was still at the early stage of the Red Cloud Realm First Turn, with the cultivation of Qi Refining Third Layer. Yet the density of his true essence even surpassed that of Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators.

In truth, this was because Chen Xiao could suppress it. As a Tribulation Transcendence Realm expert reborn into this life, although neither his previous cultivation nor spiritual power had come with him, his experience in cultivation remained extraordinarily abundant.

He was only at Qi Refining Third Layer now, and his foundation was extremely unstable. Cultivating the Nine Heavens Thunder Virtue Universal Transformation Art at this time was precisely the perfect opportunity to consolidate his foundation.

Slowly, Chen Xiao opened his eyes. Two streaks of violet lightning flashed through them, and an expression like the Eye of Heavenly Punishment gazing down upon all living things flickered past his eyes.

Chen Xiao rose to his feet and stretched hard. His bones crackled and popped all over his body.

"It still won't do. Although my aptitude is exceptional, I missed the best time for cultivation. Too much medicinal residue has also accumulated in my body. It may greatly benefit my cultivation progress in the short term, but in the long run, it will inevitably leave my foundation unstable."

Chen Xiao muttered to himself, and then a gleam flashed through his eyes.

"I wonder whether that old man with the roadside stall has come..."

Chen Xiao's heart stirred slightly. He had recalled that in his previous life, the reason he had been able to advance from Qi Refining Third Layer to the late Tribulation Transcendence Realm within fifty years was a jade talisman he had obtained from an old man running a street stall in Moon-Gazing City.

At the time, the reason he had bought—or rather, snatched—that jade talisman was simply to spite Nangong Wenyang, a disciple of the Nangong Clan. Afterward, he had merely tossed it into his Storage Ring.

Who would have thought that later, he would rely on that jade talisman to open the treasure left behind after the fall of the famed Golden Immortal Talisman Treasure immortal in Glazed Heaven, allowing him to soar to the heavens in a single step.

According to the normal course of events, his injuries would heal half a month later. He would continue wreaking havoc in Moon-Gazing City, clash with the Nangong Clan again, and that innocent old man would be implicated by the Nangong Clan before Chen Xiao robbed him clean.

Thinking of all he had done in the past, Chen Xiao's face began to burn slightly. After all, he had struggled and fought for over fifty years in the Immortal World in his previous life, and he understood just how bastardly and ruinous his former actions had been.

"Sigh... It's not too late for a prodigal son to turn back."

Chen Xiao shook his head. He walked to the door and opened it, only to see his father sitting cross-legged on the ground with his back to the door. He froze for a moment, then understood what had happened.

"You're awake?"

Before Chen Xiao could speak, Chen Tiannan had already sensed him emerging. He stood up and said calmly.

Seeing the faintly unnatural pallor on Chen Tiannan's face, Chen Xiao had a thousand words in his heart, yet they all caught in his throat at this moment. In an instant, waves of warmth surged up from his heart. To have a father and mother who loved him... how wonderful!

Only after losing everything in his previous life had Chen Xiao understood. Now that his father stood before him, Chen Xiao was unwilling to lose this most precious wealth in life a second time.

Chen Xiao's throat moved slightly, and he nodded.

"Mhm. My injuries have completely healed. Thank you for worrying about me, Father."

Chen Tiannan glanced at Chen Xiao, then nodded. "It's good that you're fine."

Then, without looking back, he turned and left.

In his previous life, Chen Xiao had found the healing process of the Three-Star Pill too painful. Before he had even absorbed half its medicinal power, he had forcibly expelled that Three-Star Pill, which carried such deep fatherly love, from his body. That was why his injuries had dragged on for a full half month before healing.

To the current Chen Xiao, his actions back then had been utterly outrageous.

Chen Xiao watched Chen Tiannan's slightly trembling back. His nose stung, and in the end, he could not hold back. Tears had already blurred his vision.

Boom!

In a daze, Chen Xiao seemed to hear a heaven-shaking roar in his mind. Scenes from his past kept passing through his thoughts, and amid those memories, his past life and present life truly began to merge into one.

The dreams of the past had shattered; this life... was priceless.

Without realizing it, Chen Xiao's state of mind had risen. His spiritual cultivation, which had originally been only at the Qi Refining stage, had unknowingly reached the standard of the Golden Core Realm.

Slowly, Chen Xiao exhaled a breath of turbid air, and his mind settled into stillness.

"Young Master, what's wrong?"

At that moment, a crisp and pleasant voice rang out. Chen Xiao turned his head and saw Mengmeng, the maid dressed in green, holding a tray and looking at him cautiously.

Mengmeng was an orphan girl whom Chen Xiao's mother had adopted when Chen Xiao was young. She was three years older than him, and the two had practically grown up together. Although Chen Xiao possessed extraordinary talent, he never cultivated diligently and was still only at Qi Refining Third Layer. Miaomiao, however, was different. Though her aptitude could not compare with Chen Xiao's, her innate constitution was still excellent. Added to her usual diligence, she had already reached the Golden Core Realm.

One had to know that this was the Immortal World. The spiritual energy pervading heaven and earth was immortal spiritual energy, and the conditions for cultivation were uniquely blessed by heaven. Even ordinary people who never entered the path of cultivation could live for one or two hundred years.

As for cultivators, among the descendants of the great cultivation clans, those with slightly better aptitude had already reached Foundation Establishment at Chen Xiao's age. Mengmeng's aptitude was also excellent, and as the Chen Clan was the ruler of Moon-Gazing City, they naturally lacked no cultivation resources. As the young master's personal maid, she naturally received extensive training as well.

Mengmeng had reached the Golden Core Realm at nineteen. Though somewhat exaggerated, it was still within what the world could accept. Nangong Wenyue, hailed as the foremost genius among Moon-Gazing City's younger generation, was only thirty and had already formed a Nascent Soul.

Yet Chen Xiao, a youth with outstanding aptitude, was only at Qi Refining Third Layer at sixteen. That was already considered truly abysmal. Even ordinary cultivators without any backing could reach the seventh or eighth layer of Qi Refining by sixteen.

As for Mengmeng, although she was Chen Xiao's maid and her cultivation was not low, the Chen Xiao of the past had loathed her. The main reason was a dark bluish-black birthmark, three inches square, on her left cheek. It turned a little beauty who should have been breathtakingly lovely into someone who looked like a savage demon, and that was why she had once been abandoned.

With Chen Xiao's former temperament, he would have wanted to beat her every time he saw her. If not for his mother Su Mulan's insistence, he would have driven Mengmeng away long ago.

But now, when Chen Xiao saw Mengmeng, waves of pity rose in his heart. He still remembered how, at the final moment in his previous life, Mengmeng had charged forward without hesitation and detonated her Golden Core to block three Nangong Clan experts pursuing him, giving him the chance to escape. That night, that tragic and beautiful figure had been branded deeply into Chen Xiao's heart.

Mengmeng's life could be called incomparably bleak. She had been abandoned by her family from childhood. Though later adopted by the Chen Clan, Chen Xiao had tormented her in every possible way and never treated her as a person. In the end, she had detonated her Golden Core to protect Chen Xiao, her soul scattering and her spirit vanishing.

"Sister Mengmeng, thank you for your hard work." Chen Xiao took the tray from Mengmeng's hands and said with a smile.

Since he had been reborn, what he needed to do was not merely scheme and seek revenge. He also had to cherish every person worth cherishing and every thing worth cherishing around him.