The early spring breeze carried a trace of cold.
A figure in blue robes walked slowly along a mountain path, an old hoe over his shoulder, making his leisurely way forward.
Chen Xia had finally found the way of life that suited him best.
Farming.
He did not eat the crops. Simply watching them ripen and the fruit trees grow gave him a deeper understanding of time.
At least he would not emerge from a dozen years of seclusion without knowing what had happened, as he had before.
Besides, farming was not boring. Chen Xia was already researching how to graft watermelon and garlic together, so he could eat garlic-flavored watermelon without even using a kitchen knife.
If he succeeded, it would probably rank among the most useless inventions, but who knew? Someone might have a taste for it.
Chen Xia set down the old hoe on his shoulder and sat at the entrance to the little house he had built, watching the various crops across the stretching fields.
The little tree outside had grown this year, putting out fresh buds and tender leaves. Fruit grew slowly on its branches, gradually hanging down.
Chen Xia came back to his senses.
The sky had long since darkened.
Many days had already passed.
This happened to him often now. Watching plants grow, he would become absorbed and forget the passage of time. When he woke, he no longer knew how long it had been.
Half-grown fruit hung from the little tree, weighing down its branches.
Chen Xia shook his head, picked up his hoe, and headed inside.
Over these past few decades, he had made a rather outrageous decision.
He had put all his points into luck.
As a result, his luck had reached forty, higher even than his strength, and he had even unlocked an achievement.
Lucky One.
[Lucky One: You are one in a million. In major matters, you receive a luck boost. In minor matters, you possess absolute luck!]
After a little experimentation, Chen Xia understood how it worked.
The less something affected him, the luckier he was. For things that affected him greatly, he received a luck boost.
For instance, Chen Xia sometimes dug up gold while tilling the soil. But gold was useless to him, so this was absolute luck in a minor matter.
As for the luck boost in major matters, Chen Xia thought it over and decided it might be equivalent to a critical hit.
For instance, if he fought an evenly matched opponent one-on-one, a blow that should have delivered only his full strength might instead deliver twice that strength.
That was a luck boost.
So when Chen Xia added points to luck now, he also had some thought of stacking critical hits.
As long as he stacked his luck high enough and the trigger rate was reliable enough, critical hits would be part of his strength!
Chen Xia stretched, sat on his bed, drew a breath, settled his mind, and began cultivating the Mystic Primordial Dao Chapters.
In its early stages, this method required him to condense Mystic Primordial Qi. Only then could he inscribe Dao chapters within his body, each representing a spell.
They fell into two categories: the five elements, and yin and yang.
There was little to say about the five elements. They were commonplace.
Yin and yang, however, were interesting. Yin was illusory, while yang was substantial.
Among the illusory yin Dao chapters, one interested Chen Xia. It was called the Netherworld Deadly Realm.
Its effect was to drag a cultivator below Mahayana inside and force a one-on-one battle. Once cast, it would only end when one of the two died.
Chen Xia called it "getting a room" for short.
And this seemingly fair spell had an extremely unfair feature.
The room's owner received a boost equal to thirty percent of the other party's strength.
Its defining point was: not only am I getting a room, I'm stealing someone too.
It was indeed a powerful Dao chapter, and well suited to someone like Chen Xia, who was fierce in one-on-one combat.
But inscribing this Dao chapter within his body was extremely difficult. It required three thousand strands of Mystic Primordial Qi, and no mistakes were allowed. He had to engrave it inside his body stroke by stroke, perfectly neat, without the slightest deviation.
Only then would this Dao chapter be complete.
Chen Xia had only condensed thirty strands of Mystic Primordial Qi so far, far short of the three thousand needed to inscribe it.
But he was not in a hurry. He was already growing stronger very quickly, far outstripping everyone else.
Now, apart from the old immortal still in seclusion, no one in the world merited Chen Xia's attention.
In truth, though, he did not need to pay the old immortal much attention either. Given how quickly Chen Xia grew stronger, even Upper Realm cultivators could not match him, let alone this old immortal.
When the Upper Realm cultivators descended last time, they had said that cultivators in this world reached Foundation Establishment at most.
That proved the old immortal was actually in the Foundation Establishment Realm as well.
A cultivator who had not reached Golden Core in over two hundred years really was not worth much worry.
His Great Turtle Breathing Technique was already nearing major accomplishment. He was at most thirty years away from Golden Core. Once he formed his Golden Core, who in this world could defeat him?
Still, Chen Xia had no particular desire to dominate the world. He was too laid-back and only wanted to live his own life well. Everything else could wait.
Besides, he truly had never entered the martial world. He had always lived alone in seclusion, with no one coming into these remote mountains and old forests to disturb him. It suited quiet cultivation.
Chen Xia sat calmly, scratched his cheek, and began circulating the Great Turtle Breathing Technique. These techniques all required time to accumulate and comprehend, and a single circulation took days.
Fortunately, time was something Chen Xia had in abundance.
The fruit trees yielded a fine harvest this year, but Chen Xia did not pick it. He felt it was better left hanging there.
After this year, Chen Xia would stop adding points to luck and continue boosting his strength. As for Law Power, there was no hurry. Once he had enough strength later, he could add points to Law Power.
A man who shouldered responsibility ought to be strong.
He exhaled a turbid breath and carried his rust-enchanted hoe leisurely out of the house, thinking he would tend to the uncultivated land.
But just as he stepped outside, Chen Xia began looking at the heavy fruit on the tree.
The vivid, translucent fruit hung there, displaying the strength of new life.
Without his noticing, the sun and moon took turns.
The first day passed.
The fruit remained unchanged, still hanging from the branches and weighing down the entire bough.
On the second day, there was light rain.
Rainwater coated the fruit, making it even more crystalline and translucent, like a person's finest years at eighteen.
The fifth day.
The fruit ripened completely, as rosy as rouge, strikingly bright amid the green foliage.
The fifteenth day.
Wrinkles began appearing on the fruit's skin. Its color was no longer as vivid, and it swayed on the verge of falling.
The thirtieth day.
The fruit hit the ground, its skin and flesh breaking, sinking deep into the soil. Its surface had lost its former crimson, becoming an aged wine red.
The ninetieth day.
The fruit was gone. Only freshly turned soil remained.
This was two months' time.
Chen Xia still stood in place without moving, his expression vacant, as though thinking about something.
The seventh month.
The little tree's leaves turned yellow and fell one after another, soon piling into a broad carpet on the ground.
The third year.
The little tree had grown, no smaller than any of the surrounding trees, though certainly not much greater either.
The house where Chen Xia stood had begun showing signs of rot. Ants crawled out between the wooden boards from time to time.
These were the traces of passing years.
The tenth year.
The little tree had become a large tree. It had borne fruit countless times and was in its prime.
At this moment, time wielded its power, invisibly changing everything.
Twenty years.
The wooden house collapsed completely. Chen Xia stood amid the ruins, still staring at the tree, but his expression was no longer bewildered.
He knew perfectly well what he was doing. He simply did not want to move.
Perhaps he had become obsessed.
But he wanted to watch to the end.
To watch the tree's entire life, to see the power of time, which was so unfamiliar to him.
Chen Xia's lifespan was infinite, with no end in sight, so he had never understood what it felt like for time to flow.
Watching the tree now, he sensed time for the first time.
The thirtieth year.
The great tree's growth rings began spreading as it formally entered its long life cycle.
Forty years.
The great tree finally became an old tree, its roots firmly entrenched in the forest.
Fifty years.
The old tree flowered.
Fifty-one years.
The tree was cut down.
Chen Xia stared blankly at the woodcutter before him, not knowing what to say.
The woodcutter noticed him too, scratched his head, and smiled honestly.
"I've had my eye on this tree for years. It's good for timber, so I waited specifically until it flowered to come cut it down. If you want some too, young fellow, I can share it with you."
Chen Xia was silent for a while. He could tell the woodcutter truly was an honest man, so he did not blame him. He shook his head.
"No need. Take it."
The woodcutter smiled, then added, "Your face looks unfamiliar, young fellow. You're not from around here, are you?"
Chen Xia nodded. "I'm from the south."
"That's a fair distance, then. Though an old man like me has never been far, either. Haha." Holding his axe, the woodcutter glanced at the sinking sun and reminded Chen Xia.
"You should get out of here soon, young fellow. These woods are too deserted. There are bound to be fierce beasts at night. If you like, you can come down the mountain with me."
"No need." Chen Xia shook his head. "I've learned some martial arts. People call me Great Wu Song. I'm not afraid of fierce beasts."
Hearing this, the woodcutter did not press him further. He shouldered the split timber and descended the mountain with heavy steps.
Looking at the old tree, now reduced to a stump, Chen Xia gained another insight beyond time.
However long your lifespan, you would still die if you were killed.
He sighed, walked up to the stump, and looked at its growth rings, just about to voice his feelings.
[Luck effect: You have comprehended time and gained elementary time comprehension.]
The brief notification sounded in Chen Xia's mind. A trace of transparent white flashed through his eyes, representing his comprehension of time.
Chen Xia frowned. The notification in his mind told him he had comprehended time, but he did not feel that he had understood anything at all.
What had he comprehended?
That you died when you were killed?
Chen Xia shook his head, feeling that probably was not it. In his confusion, he glanced aside and saw a flower whose bud had begun opening.
He suddenly had an idea, and transparent light shone in his eyes again.
Everything around him seemed to slow.
Birds stopped moving, and falling leaves hung in the air.
Only the flower bud began moving at tremendous speed.
Blooming, shedding pollen, withering, falling.
The course of the flower's entire life unfolded rapidly within a mere thirty breaths.
The transparent color in Chen Xia's eyes vanished.
He still did not understand time.
But he could use it.
That was enough.
Perhaps it was luck at work, strengthening his comprehension.
So much so that Chen Xia himself did not know what he had comprehended, yet he could use it.
Chen Xia stopped dwelling on it, patted his blue robes, and strolled toward the edge of the mountain forest.
His house was gone, and the tree he had been contemplating had been cut down. He could only descend the mountain.
Still, Chen Xia felt that even if the woodcutter had not felled the tree, his contemplation probably would have ended soon anyway.
His current cultivation realm could support at most fifty or sixty years of contemplation. Any more would be beyond his ability to digest and would instead affect him.
It was like a child who could only eat so much. Eating just enough helped the body grow; eating too much bloated the stomach.
Chen Xia had more or less eaten until he was eighty percent full.
That was enough.
Some things did not need to be pursued to excessive perfection. Otherwise, one was only tormenting oneself.
He walked leisurely down the mountain, casually putting all his points into strength.
His original strength of 35 instantly reached 85.
It had more than doubled.
So much so that Chen Xia could not control it very well for a while. Every step sank into the ground as easily as stepping into snow.
Fortunately, he adjusted quickly. After trampling just three mountains into collapse, he had it under control.
Truly cause for celebration.
Winter had just passed and early spring had arrived. The weather was still somewhat cold, and frost coated the trees.
Only once the frost disappeared would warm spring truly arrive.
The snow in the imperial city had only just finished melting, and it was a rare clear day.
Huang Qingyue had changed out of her padded jacket and was wearing a pale yellow skirt, pruning the flowers she had planted outside.
Actually, they were not flowers, but a miniature peach tree planted in a flowerpot, waiting to bloom.
Huang Qingyue carefully cleared the snow off the peach tree, then slowly watered it.
Her temperament had grown laid-back too. Whatever she did, she was neither hurried nor anxious.
Perhaps she had been influenced by a certain someone?
Huang Qingyue herself was not sure. She frowned and loosened the soil around the peach tree to encourage its growth.
She stretched, yawned, and stood before the peach tree, lost in thought.
By an ordinary person's lifespan, she would already count as a grandmother, wouldn't she?
Yet she showed no signs of aging at all, still as young as a girl in her twenties.
This was undoubtedly thanks to the Mystic Primordial Dao Chapters. She had now condensed fifty wisps of Mystic Primordial Qi, greatly extending her lifespan.
However, since she still could not inscribe Dao chapters, she was not particularly powerful.
Her current strength should put her among the supreme masters of the martial world, such as Zuo Feiyang and Nine Thousand Years.
She was still lost in thought.
The peach tree before her suddenly sprouted branches, its buds opening into vivid peach blossoms.
"What are you thinking about?"
The question came with a hint of laughter.
Huang Qingyue froze. Hearing that familiar voice, tears instantly welled in her eyes, and she hurriedly turned to look.
A figure in blue robes crouched atop the wall and smiled at her again.
"Long time no see."
Huang Qingyue could no longer hold back the tears in her eyes. They fell drop by drop as she gazed at the figure before her through blurred eyes and asked the question she had always wanted to ask.
"Why didn't you take me with you?"
Still smiling, Chen Xia replied, "Because I said we would meet again."
Huang Qingyue kept wiping her tears with her sleeve, but they kept flowing, so she could never wipe them all away. Sounding aggrieved, she complained a little.
"But I didn't think it would take this long."
Crouching atop the wall with his head propped on one hand, Chen Xia comforted her with a soft laugh.
"But you're still young, aren't you?"
Huang Qingyue's lips turned down, and she muttered, "I'm already a grandmother."
"In my eyes, you're still that same young girl from back then," Chen Xia replied, a smile on his lips.
Huang Qingyue began to smile too, looking comical as she laughed and cried at the same time.
The peach blossoms behind her bloomed even more vividly.
At that moment, Huang Qingyue suddenly understood.
It was not that Chen Xia would return after the flowers bloomed, but that the flowers would bloom when Chen Xia returned.
Not just the peach blossoms.
But the blossoms in her heart as well.