When you are down on your luck, even drinking cold water can choke you to death.
Hu Dan had roamed the world for so many years, so he naturally understood this. Therefore, he did not rail against the heavens or curse fate; anyway, as long as he didn't die right away, there would always be opportunities in the future. The only thing that worried him was Xiao Jiu.
The girl's temper grew more stubborn the older she got, and her thoughts were also hard to fathom.
Take her initiation into the Tianfa Ling Sect back then, for instance. Although the Tianfa Ling Sect was an unorthodox school of the southern lands, and its foundational cultivation method was somewhat compatible with the vital breath of life and death that the Wanling Sect excelled in, it still lagged considerably behind the Li Chen Sect, the colossus of the central-southern region. From Shi Song downward, not a single person in the Wanling Sect had been willing, yet they simply couldn't withstand the young girl's obstinate temper, and in the end they had reluctantly agreed.
Ever since then, Xiao Jiu had parted ways with her family, and years might pass without even a single meeting.
Yet strangely enough, Xiao Jiu, who had only displayed upper-middle innate talent within the Wanling Sect, broke through a succession of bottlenecks with a jaw-dropping speed after an initial few years of deep submersion and accumulated strength. At age twenty-two she anchored the cardinal pivots, and a mere three years later achieved the Jade Liquid Core Formation, catching up to her grandfather Shi Song's cultivation in one fell swoop. Not to mention within her family, even the Tianfa Ling Sect was shaken from top to bottom, hailing her as one of the most promising fourth-generation disciples.
However, what shocked