Summer Valley, Yan Shouzhuo

Leaving behind a promise, Granny Blue, her hair silver-white, turned and departed.

After she left, the atmosphere in the room remained somewhat strange.

"Thank you. Thank you for staying in Four Seasons Valley." Xia He was the first to speak. Her voice was thick with sobs, tears glimmering in her eyes as she looked at Jiang Xuan, yet they brimmed with absolute trust.

That scene instead made Jiang Xuan feel a little embarrassed.

"Ahem, I already said it. A large part of why I'm staying here is for the resources. If you let me go hungry, I'll run off without hesitation."

"Pfft..." Xia He burst out laughing at that, yet the trust and gratitude in her gaze toward Jiang Xuan did not diminish in the slightest.

Clearly, she did not believe Jiang Xuan had stayed entirely for the resources.

Beside them, Zhou Qing immediately patted his chest and promised, "Junior Brother, don't worry about that. As long as I, Zhou Qing, am here, you definitely won't go hungry."

After him, Meng Yingyue too gave Jiang Xuan a promise with shining eyes.

After some teasing, the atmosphere in the room finally improved somewhat. Taking the opportunity, Jiang Xuan asked about Granny Blue.

"What is the story with that senior? I always feel that she bears a deep grudge against the Four Seasons Reincarnation Art. And isn't she one of Four Seasons Valley's senior elders? How is she connected to the Evolving Immortal Sky Pool?"

"Granny Blue was originally a disciple of the Evolving Immortal Sky Pool..." As Xia He slowly recounted the story, Jiang Xuan gradually understood the whole sequence of events.

More than a hundred years ago, she had been an Inner Disciple of the Evolving Immortal Sky Pool. The reason she had remained in Four Seasons Valley was that she and the previous Valley Master of Four Seasons Valley had been Dao companions.

The reason she held such objections toward the Four Seasons Reincarnation Art was that too many of her loved ones had died because of this cultivation art.

The previous Valley Master had completed one full Four Seasons Cycle and survived the first death tribulation, but unlike the patriarch of Four Seasons Valley, he had failed to transform the Spirit Seed within his body into a Divine Wood Seed.

Naturally, he could no longer contend with the Upper Branch.

Unwilling to accept this, he began his second Four Seasons Cycle.

But a withered tree sprouting anew in spring was inherently an act of defiance against heaven. During the first cycle, a young cultivator's abundant vitality still gave them a seventy percent chance of success; but the second cycle was a true nine deaths for every one chance at life.

The previous Valley Master perished during his second Four Seasons Cycle.

Then came the Valley Master and Granny Blue's son. In order to inherit his father's legacy, he too embarked upon the path of the Four Seasons Cycle. His fate was even worse—he failed during the very first cycle.

Before his death, however, he left behind a son and a daughter.

Then Granny Blue's eldest grandson also died because of it—though this was not because he had inherited his father's trade.

With her Dao companion dead and her son having met such a tragic end, Granny Blue had strictly forbidden her grandson and granddaughter from cultivating the Four Seasons Reincarnation Art.

Her granddaughter was all right. Her talent was exceptional, and even without cultivating the Four Seasons Reincarnation Art, she had a good path ahead of her.

But her eldest grandson was different. Like Jiang Xuan, his talent was only at the Profound rank. Within the Divine Firmament Sect, that was utterly mediocre, even lowly.

Even with Granny Blue doing everything she could to nurture him, he could not enter an upper peak. Even getting into a middle peak was extremely difficult.

If he had been someone without ambition, perhaps he could have muddled through life under Granny Blue's protection.

But once one had glimpsed the wonders of the Dao, who would be willing to remain trapped in the mundane world for a lifetime? Not to mention that one's cultivation was intimately tied to the length of one's lifespan.

That young man had some ambition, but his mediocre talent made it impossible for him to soar. In those circumstances, he set his sights on Four Seasons Valley's Four Seasons Reincarnation Art, hoping to transform and ascend through the Four Seasons Cycle. In the end, he too sank into eternal darkness amid endless Winter.

"..."

After hearing everything, Jiang Xuan understood why Granny Blue resented the Four Seasons Reincarnation Art so deeply.

After being ground down like this, if it had been him, he too would have come to resent that cultivation art.

Listening to Granny Blue's story did not take Jiang Xuan much time. Soon, supported by Xia He, he rose to his feet and performed the Feast Ritual. Then he began eating the vegetables and fruits Meng Yingyue and Zhou Qing had brought.

What left Jiang Xuan at a loss for words was that, in order to keep the cold qi in his body from dissipating, all the food they had brought him possessed yin-cold properties.

The fruits Zhou Qing had brought included Ice Spirit Fruits, Ghostface Spirit Mushrooms, and Mysterious Frost Grapes.

The spirit rice Meng Yingyue had brought was primarily Blood Crystal Rice. This spirit rice, nourished by Killing Intent, was the best at stirring up murderous intent. If ordinary people ate too much of it, killing intent would rush to their heads, making them violent and irritable.

For ordinary cultivators, this rice had some side effects. But for Jiang Xuan, who cultivated Winter Solstice, that fierce murderous intent was precisely what he needed—he wanted to fuse killing intent with the intent of icy cold, so that before his sword was even drawn, his enemies would feel endless killing intent and the deathly intent of Winter.

The only thing troubling Jiang Xuan was that after finishing all this yin-aspected food, his already frigid body became several degrees colder, and even his fingertips took on a frosty pallor.

Fortunately, now that he had left the ice lake, Jiang Xuan's spiritual power could barely begin circulating again.

Seeing this, Jiang Xuan greeted Xia He and the others, then closed his eyes and seized the time to comprehend Winter's cold qi.

As for cultivation, due to the Cosmic Cycle Circulation, he did not need to worry about it at all.

"Whew..."

Thus, as Jiang Xuan closed his eyes, his entire mind immersed itself in comprehending the intent of icy Winter.

While Jiang Xuan cultivated with single-minded focus, Di Chuan was gritting his teeth and struggling to endure in the depths of Winter Valley's ice lake.

Jiang Xuan's progress that day had greatly provoked him. Refusing to admit defeat, he too was cultivating with all his strength.

"I won't lose to anyone!"

Elsewhere, within the core hall of Summer Valley.

Wu Shan stood before his master—Yan Shouzhuo, the Valley Master of Summer Valley.

The old man too had a head of snow-white hair, his face carved full of the marks of time.

Yet after hearing Wu Shan's excited account, Yan Shouzhuo fell into thought rather than immediately setting out to meet Jiang Xuan.

That made Wu Shan anxious. "Master, I really wasn't lying to you. Junior Brother Jiang Xuan is truly powerful. His talent would be of great use to our Summer Valley..."

"I know." Before Wu Shan could finish, Yan Shouzhuo sighed, his tone filled with helplessness. "But precisely because his talent is so good, we cannot invite him over."

"With his outstanding comprehension, he will either learn the Four Seasons Reincarnation Art or leave Four Seasons Valley to cultivate under another lineage."

The current situation was also the shared predicament of most lower-grade cultivation lineages.

Because their core cultivation arts were not good enough, they lacked competitiveness and could not attract disciples with exceptional talent.

Without peerless geniuses, it was difficult for them to optimize their lineage's cultivation arts and raise their grade.

It was almost a dead cycle.

A large part of the reason Jiang Xuan had come to Four Seasons Valley was the burden of his Spirit Root talent... If his Spirit Root had been even slightly better, then even if Xie Hanyan, who had brought him into the peak, had clashed with someone else, the others would not have fanned the flames, much less driven him away.

"..." Having understood everything, Wu Shan fell silent as well, his expression turning somewhat dejected. "There's no way to invite him... I understand."

Just as he sighed and prepared to leave, Yan Shouzhuo suddenly stopped him. "Wait. Inviting Jiang Xuan to our Summer Valley may not work, but if he truly has the extraordinary talent you described, then it is still necessary to build a good relationship with him."

"Our Summer Valley is, after all, part of Four Seasons Valley. Once he grows up in the future, if we ask him to help optimize our cultivation art, surely he will not refuse."

As he spoke of this, Yan Shouzhuo recalled Autumn Valley.

Within Four Seasons Valley, their lineage's Autumn Equinox Sword was clearly a cut above the other cultivation lineages, whether in the might of its swordsmanship or the loftiness of its conception. Calling it a middle-grade cultivation lineage would not be an exaggeration.

The reason for this was that one of Autumn Valley's former Valley Masters had been intimate Dao companions with a peerless swordsman.

Yan Shouzhuo intended to follow that example and draw closer to Jiang Xuan.

Unfortunately, this generation of Summer Valley had no female disciples worthy of note, so he could only think of another way.

"You, wait..." He had just been about to give an order, but after looking at Wu Shan, he shook his head. He understood his disciple's temperament too well, so he simply gave up on the idea. "Forget it. You needn't concern yourself with anything else. If Jiang Xuan comes to you for food in the future, just give it everything you have and cook with care."

"I will make arrangements for the rest."

"Yes, Master!"

A task that required no thinking was naturally to Wu Shan's liking, and he happily withdrew.

Only Yan Shouzhuo remained in the hall, his gaze deep.

"To comprehend Dao resonance from food... Interesting. It seems this old man must personally take up the kitchen knife and show him a thing or two. But if I truly want to shock him and make him feel grateful, I must first prepare some good things."