An Honest Man Came to Deer Island

The wheel spun backward, reached the midway point, and slowly stopped.

This was a new anchor point.

[Hundred-Life Reincarnation]

[Fourth Life: lifespan, twenty-four years]

[Inscription: blazing were the blossoms, their falling shadows like swords. Vast were the azure seas, their rising and falling like fate.]

[Available talent: Azure Sea Tidebirth]

"Blazing were the blossoms, their falling shadows like swords..."

In his previous life, Meng Yuan had walked out of the Peach Blossom Grove, then lost his life in the Peach Blossom Grove. His connection with peach blossoms truly ran deep.

At the same time, apart from his First Life, his Fourth Life had been his shortest, yet it still yielded a talent.

With a touch of his mind, he understood what Azure Sea Tidebirth meant: even the boundless azure sea had rising and falling tides, just as peach blossoms bloomed and fell and the moon waxed and waned. These served as warnings.

This talent could foresee certain life-threatening killing moves.

"So, in my last life, rallying the fishermen was like the rising tide. By the time I destroyed the four families, the tide had reached its peak, which was also the beginning of its ebb. Because my little sister-in-law came to turn the tide back."

Before opening his eyes, Meng Yuan smelled the salty tang of the sea.

"In this life, I absolutely won't rely on women again!" Meng Yuan heard his own resounding declaration.

This time, his starting point was before he landed on Deer Island. This was a new anchor point.

"Big sister!" He met an old acquaintance again at Old Turtle Pit.

After the beating he had taken in his previous life, Meng Yuan had learned to behave.

This cultivation world was different from his homeland. Strength truly reigned supreme.

Moreover, Meng Yuan had discovered that immortals could kill mortals more easily than dogs. With the slightest pull, they could suppress you instantly, however profound your internal cultivation.

Back home, no matter how much trouble he stirred up, he would be fine. Here was different, because enemies could come from the sky.

This place had no soil in which mortal rebellion could take root. With mighty power concentrated in one person, greater numbers did not necessarily mean greater strength.

In his second life, Meng Yuan had achieved nothing in either martial or scholarly pursuits, yet he had still laughed and chatted freely with Lü Yinglong and comfortably served as a chancellor second only to the sovereign.

But things were different here. A deep gulf lay between mortals and cultivators.

Meng Yuan had done well on Deer Island in his previous life, even laughing and chatting freely with the Thirteen Families, but he could never get anywhere near cultivators. He could only deal with mortals.

In truth, Meng Yuan had understood this long ago. That was why he had overturned the table in his previous life: he wanted to enter the ranks of cultivators sooner.

But he had never expected Du Xingyi to return, much less that Du Yueyi would be so decisive, promptly using her younger sister's hand to snuff him out.

"If you can't beat them, join them!" Meng Yuan bore the sisters no resentment whatsoever, and already had a plan.

"I'm innocent! The fairy never forced herself into my arms! Stop spreading rumors! Damn it, the fairy only took a fancy to me because I could turn the wheel! What? Got a problem with that?"

"You have no parents or brothers. From now on, I'm your own big brother. If you have any difficulties, make sure you tell me. If anyone bullies you, you must tell me! Go on, eat. I'm not hungry. I really am not hungry. Fine, half each."

"We're family!"

A month passed, and Meng Yuan became the leader of Old Turtle Pit.

"You're frail, so all the more reason to move around. How about this? Let's plant some peach trees beside Old Turtle Pit. Then we can see peach blossoms every spring, and have some peaches to eat too." Meng Yuan approached a youth.

The youth was sixteen, named Li Nineteen. He was extremely skinny and so withdrawn that even a slap would not knock a fart out of him.

In his previous life, a year after Meng Yuan landed on the island, an old cultivator had taken a fancy to Li Nineteen and said he wanted to take him as a disciple.

This was Li Nineteen's opportunity. Meng Yuan would not stand in his way, only help him succeed.

Of course, Meng Yuan had also asked around about many matters concerning cultivators in his previous life.

But he had never actually interacted with cultivators. Those he chatted and associated with were all local mortals and seafaring merchants from other islands.

At most, they told tales of some great Golden Core cultivator being hunted down, eating food from some household in his panicked hunger, and recovering all his power; some woman going into the mountains to pick mushrooms and conceiving the child of some mighty figure; some fairy bathing in a stream and having her clothes stolen by some man, and so on.

Such stories were only good for a laugh. Back home, Meng Yuan could make up eighty or a hundred a day to amuse Yang Dayong!

"Please find me a job, big sister. If I could have a boat to take out to sea, that would be even better."

"If I hear you gossiping about Du Erniang again, I'll stab my own ears deaf!"

"Thirty percent will do. Without you, big sister, we would have been homeless wanderers long ago. When drinking water, we must remember its source..."

"Visiting other households is all social obligations. Only coming here to you feels like coming home, big sister."

"I happened upon this while out at sea..."

During his first year on the island, Meng Yuan relied on the records of water conditions, typhoons, and catches he had memorized in his previous life, and reaped enormous hauls every time he went to sea.

He caught plenty of qiangjia fish of various kinds, and once even came across a bed of pearl-bearing clams. Meng Yuan kept none for himself, giving everything to his dear big sister.

Thus, things went ever more smoothly for him. He did even better than in his previous life, and his relationship with Du Yueyi grew closer too.

By now, whenever Meng Yuan wished, he could ascend to the moon.

That spring, scattered blossoms opened on the newly planted peach trees.

"Old Turtle Pit's waters run a thousand feet deep, yet cannot match the bond between us brothers." When the old cultivator came again to fetch Li Nineteen, Meng Yuan held Li Nineteen's hand, loath to part.

This time, he recited his poem without pausing, though its imagery was hardly lofty, and was even somewhat low.

"Is Old Turtle Pit really that deep? I remember it only coming up to the waist at most." Meng Yuan visited Du Yueyi again. Bringing up his farewell poem, Du Yueyi gestured at her waist.

"That's called exaggeration..." Meng Yuan sighed. "That little brother of mine has been taken away by an old immortal master, and your younger sister was once led away by an immortal master too. We're a lonely pair of siblings, big sister, fellow sufferers pitying each other."

His words stirred Du Yueyi's feelings. "You're different. You haven't married yet, and you have a long life ahead. I'm a widow. I can see the end of my days at a glance..."

"Remaining chaste? Actually, I don't care that much about chastity. You don't understand a widow's suffering..."

"You... you really do understand? Yes, outsiders see me looking radiant and ordering people about, and think everything goes my way. But when I wake in the middle of the night, who knows the bitterness within? You're right. I was only a weak woman who wanted a carefree life. But my elder brother died young, and my little sister went far away. With such a large household, I could only grit my teeth and hold it together..."

Things had gone smoothly for Du Yueyi over the years, and she had rarely encountered difficulties. She considered herself capable and well versed in human relations.

Previously, she had merely thought this young man sensible. In truth, she had only regarded him as a sensible child, and had merely been curious about the assets that had won him a fairy's favor.

Yet now, as she unwittingly spoke of her private troubles, she actually began to feel that he was something of a kindred spirit.

Even this young man's eagerness to curry favor became diligence and competence.

Du Yueyi smiled and poured him wine, and kept pouring.

"Start a family? I haven't thought about it."

"The girl from the Li Household? Ah, I don't actually want to associate with her. It's only because of business that I can't turn her away. How could she compare to you, big sister? Heh, honestly, in my heart, you're like peach blossoms in spring, while she's like seaweed that still hasn't dried after days in the sun... I'm not someone who speaks ill of people behind their backs. I'm only speaking freely because you're no outsider, big sister..."

"Having seen the vast sea, no other water will do. There's no need to mention it again, big sister. Huh? I really am not pining for Fairy Xin Li... I still remember when I first arrived on Deer Island and saw you from afar... Big sister, do you know why I planted peach trees at Old Turtle Pit?"

"Are you drunk, big sister? You can't even hold your chopsticks steady... Your shoes are lovely, big sister."

"You're drunk, big sister. I'll take you... This is your bedchamber? It really is elegant and distinctive. Huh? It used to be your younger sister's bedchamber? Right here? No! No! No!!!"

"I'm not scared. I'm just afraid of being too forward with you, big sister... Let's go somewhere else, please."

"Here, lean against the pillow. I'll help you undo it."

"What do you want me to do? Hmm? I can't hear you."

Du Yueyi found her pleasure. She discovered that a fairy was a fairy after all, with a keen eye for judging people and putting them to use.

Moreover, this young man had many other merits: he was not clingy, asked for no gifts, made no demands, wanted no formal status, and had not the slightest thought of personal gain. He was thoroughly honest.

In Meng Yuan's second year on Deer Island, the peach trees at Old Turtle Pit pushed out flower buds.