Li Yan gazed straight up at the sky. He had only stopped cultivating a short while ago, and now watched clouds gather and scatter as geese and sparrows soared overhead.
Feeling the breeze occasionally sweep across the lake, with the fresh scent of the surrounding grass lingering at his nose, he pictured that pure haven in his heart. He remembered a time long, long ago...
It seemed like a dream, a dream far too distant. When he was still a boy, he would often go with his fourth sister to the hillside outside their village.
When work left him tired, he would lie on the grassy slope just like this, a blade of grass between his lips, gazing at the sky and imagining his future. He, too, would become the village's strongest hunter, just like Uncle Guoxin...
Meanwhile, his fourth sister would hum lovely little folk tunes nearby, cutting grass without pause, as cheerful as a little bird!
From time to time, she would deftly bundle the grass together. At noon or toward evening, Li Yan would carry those bundles home on a shoulder pole.
Along the way, his fourth sister would skip merrily, occasionally waving the sickle in her hand, her two little braids bobbing up and down. Her silvery laughter would ring out between heaven and earth...
Li Yan looked up at the sky. Against its azure expanse, he actually saw several vaguely familiar faces, yet those faces had already begun to blur.
Even though he was a cultivator, some memories were no longer clear, for there were people and events he had deliberately avoided thinking about for a time.
"Fourth Sister, Third Brother, Father... Mother..."
The blade of grass was still between Li Yan's lips, but his eyes gradually misted over. It had been far, far too