A Day of Peaceful Years

The chill deepened by the day. The east wind swept over the courtyard walls, leaving behind a thin veil of white in the rear yard.

Ren Qing sat cross-legged with a smile, eyes closed as he regulated his breath. Three strands of heaven-and-earth aura coiled around him.

Ever since he had focused on cultivation at home, he had not taken a single step beyond the coffin shop for three days. Even the last few Black Rat Dao Children serving as lookouts had been withdrawn to the cave dwelling.

Of course, part of the reason was that the Black Rat Dao Children could not help but be terrified when facing demons.

Rather than risk being noticed by demons, they might as well help tend the fields and dig tunnels.

"Still, it is strange. The tiger-demon prefect should have arrived in Water Mouth City by now."

"Why has he not shown himself? Could something have changed?"

Forget it. Whether it was the imperial court's provincial examination or the Immortal Ascension Sect's Immortal Ascension Assembly, they were all clamor beyond the courtyard walls. What did any of it have to do with this humble Daoist?

Ren Qing intended to remain in this little courtyard and wait until the storm had passed before making further plans.

Even if something unexpected happened, he could retreat through the secret passage at any time.

"To wall in one's door is called entering seclusion; to sit for a hundred days before opening it is called leaving seclusion."

"According to Daoist scriptures, meditating for a hundred days can bring clarity to this humble Daoist's thoughts. I only hope Medicine Dissolution and Staff Dissolution can both proceed smoothly by then."

Ren Qing sank his divine sense into the Imperial Court Scroll and could sense that the Sunrise Diagram had gained a measure of charm.

The previously flamboyant rosy glow was gradually drawing in. The water surface merged with the clouds, faintly beginning to eclipse the radiance. Without realizing it, one-fifth of his middle dantian had been filled.

The Imperial Court Scroll could now continue accommodating new heaven-and-earth aura.

Yet Ren Qing did not dare act rashly, afraid that the slightest misstep would disrupt the Sunrise Diagram's delicate balance. Better to first cultivate the Vapor-Feeding Immortal Art to the perfection of coloring.

He no longer needed to keep his divine sense exposed at all times. With the Imperial Court Scroll, he could likewise influence others' perceptions through their five senses.

"There is still plenty of time. This humble Daoist is in no hurry. It just so happens that I have not undergone a long period of quiet cultivation since ascending to the immortal realm."

"I cannot be too leisurely, though. In my spare time, I can refine some talisman treasures."

Meanwhile.

Plum Blossom Granny hunched as she threaded through the streets, repeatedly pulling her thin cotton-padded jacket tighter around herself. From time to time, she warily scanned her surroundings, muttering something under her breath.

Her steps were hurried. At last, she stopped before a tea stall, her voice carrying an imperceptible tremor.

"Shopkeeper, two bowls of hot tea. Could you give me some dry rations as well?"

The stall owner was a middle-aged man. Seeing Plum Blossom Granny's gaunt frame and cheeks frozen blue, he handed her tea and flatbread together. "Old madam, it's cold out. Fill your stomach a little. No charge."

Plum Blossom Granny hurriedly thanked him, took the flatbread and tucked it into her clothes, then lifted the tea bowl and took a sip.

The instant the tea slid down her throat, her expression changed drastically. Her waxy yellow face instantly swelled into a bluish purple, and a bloody sweetness surged up her throat.

"What's wrong?"

Just as the stall owner was about to support Plum Blossom Granny, she had already lost all concern for anything else. Clutching her chest, she staggered into the narrow alley beside them.

After only a few steps, she could no longer hold herself up.

Pfft!

Blood mixed with fragments of organs sprayed from her mouth, a ghastly sight.

Plum Blossom Granny braced herself against the mottled wall and gasped for breath. From the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a scholar passing through the shadows at the mouth of the alley.

Her divine sense suddenly spread outward—and what scholar was there?

It was clearly a snake demon covered from head to toe in embedded scales, amusement and malice glinting in its vertical pupils.

Plum Blossom Granny had gone three days without food or water. Anything that entered her mouth would be contaminated with deadly poison by the snake demon, leaving her not the slightest moment to catch her breath.

The snake demon had never dealt the killing blow. Clearly, it was waiting for the provincial examination to begin.

The midday sun hung high in the sky. Sunlight filtered through sparse clouds and scattered across the ground in dappled spots. At this time, both cloud aura and water aura were relatively weak.

Ren Qing slowly withdrew his cultivation, ending his meditation. Then he faced east and stretched lazily.

"Haaah~~"

Without realizing it, he began humming the tune of the Pacing the Void Hymn, an ancient and far-reaching melody that Daoists would usually chant during fasting and ritual offerings, carrying a touch of ease.

"The Great Dao is profound and empty; no thought fails to accord with it. Refine the substance and enter immortal truth, thus forging a vajra body..."

Ren Qing came to the medicinal field. After three days of nourishment, the ginseng roots had grown thicker still, while the emerald bamboo leaves gleamed with an oily luster beneath the sunlight.

He brushed over a bamboo leaf. With a shift of thought, water aura spilled from his fingertips, transforming into fine threads of rain.

The four ginseng plants had already grown as thick as a forearm, their roots tangled and intertwined beneath the soil.

Though the emerald bamboo grew slowly, its stalks had become increasingly upright. The patterns around the joints were clear and dense; when tapped lightly, they actually gave off the sound of jade striking jade.

Ren Qing caught a raindrop, feeling that amid the peace of the little courtyard, even time itself flowed with exceptional gentleness.

Meanwhile.

In a stinking drainage ditch on the outskirts of the city, Su Huo curled up in the foul mud, clamping a hand tightly over his mouth and nose as he struggled to breathe. A faint cloudiness had risen in his eyes.

His body was covered in wounds of varying depths. His knees were especially bad—the flesh had long since been ground away, leaving stark white bone exposed.

"That demon has had its eye on me for three days. I can't shake it no matter what."

Cold sweat streamed down Su Huo's forehead. "If it keeps chasing me day and night like this, it'll wear me to death even if it doesn't kill me outright."

Trembling, he pulled the last remaining pill from his robes and swallowed it without hesitation. A faint warm current slowly spread through him, barely suppressing the worsening of his injuries.

He then took several crumpled medicinal herbs from his robes and stuffed them into his mouth, chewing hard.

Years of irritation from the herbs had left his tongue covered in festering sores, yet he seemed wholly unaware. He merely carefully applied the chewed medicinal paste to the wound on his knee.

Suddenly.

Baa.

A strange sheep's bleat came from nearby.

Su Huo's expression abruptly stiffened. Intense dizziness surged through his mind, darkness washing over his vision in waves, yet his spirit became feverishly alert as the medicine forced him to burn through his life force.

He forced himself to raise his head, extending his divine sense with all his might.

A scholar in a green robe stood a hundred meters away.

More precisely, the scholar had a sheep's head, with curved, sharp horns and vertical pupils gleaming with mockery as he regarded Su Huo with keen interest.

"It really came."

Su Huo's heart sank. Even if he wanted to risk his life in a final struggle, he could no longer do so.

As evening approached Water Mouth City, the temperature began to plummet.

Ren Qing had moved a low couch into the backyard. The stove fire burned brightly, and water bubbled away in the copper kettle, mist carrying a faint fragrance of tea.

The two Black Rat Dao Children huddled around the stove, roasting nuts scavenged from who knew where against its walls. Soft crackling sounds rang out from time to time.

The distinctive toasted fragrance of nuts drifted through the air.

Ren Qing held Fish Immortal in his arms as he meditated and regulated his breath, the aura of heaven and earth winding around one immortal and one fish.

"I never expected the incomplete sword-nurturing method from my previous life to have even a faint effect here."

He could sense that Sword Qi seemed on the verge of forming within Fish Immortal's body. At times it was as faint as fireflies; at others, it revealed a trace of sharpness. Yet the Sword Qi remained elusive, flickering in and out of sight, unable to condense.

"If I can find a similar Dao lineage in this world, I'll surely be able to perfect it."

Ren Qing nodded slightly, and the Sparrow Dao Child hurriedly flapped over.

A peeled peanut was tossed precisely into its mouth.

Watching the Dao Children bustle around the stove and listening to the kettle bubbling, Ren Qing's lips curved into a faint smile. "Just as expected—so long as this humble Daoist guards this little patch of ground and never steps beyond his door, there won't be any trouble."

"What a peaceful day!"

The cold wind swept past the window, accompanied now and then by beastlike roars.