Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Three months later.
‘Finally!’
Jiang Ming shook his head helplessly whenever he thought about the changes he experienced over the past three months.
He had always wanted to attain power and longevity. Ever since he started cultivating, he had never wasted a single minute. It was unfortunate that his hard work was only met with limited success.
However, currently, he only needed to carry out menial tasks on the mountain, and his cultivation base would increase on its own. Who would work hard if they were given such an advantage?
“This is the life!” Jiang Ming exclaimed.
‘This is f*cking awesome!’
He received two notifications from the system; one in the middle of the night, and one shortly after he woke up.
[Ding! Congratulations on living on Chuyang Peak for three consecutive months while completing at least one menial task each day. Reward: 10 years’ worth of cultivation and the low-grade item, Noble Robe]
[Ding! Congratulations on having a good night’s sleep. It does wonders to your complexion and health. Reward: Three days’ worth of cultivation]
“Cool!” Jiang Ming grinned.
Jiang Ming used his senses to probe his Little Junior Sister, Zi Ling Long, and discovered that she was still asleep. It seemed like she would be asleep for quite a while.
With that, Jiang Ming closed the windows and sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, he began to cultivate. Since he had the concealing ability, there would not be any strange phenomena or leakage of auras. In just an instant, he felt a torrential surge of extremely pure power inside his Dantian.
Following that, Jiang Ming circulated the Grand Path Almighty Method Sutra. There was a slight pause as the power pushed against the bottleneck of the Perfect Stage Foundation Establishment Realm before he broke through and entered a new realm.
There were 10 cultivation realms, but three of the final realms were not known. Not even the Jiuyang Sect had records of them. The seven realms were Qi Cultivation Realm, the Foundation Establishment Realm, the Core Formation Realm, the Purple Mansion Realm, the Dao Seed Realm, the Nascent Soul Realm, and the Primal Spirit Realm.
The Core Formation Realm was divided into three stages: the False Core, the Real Core, and the Golden Core stages.
Inside Jiang Ming’s vast Dantian, his liquified mana churned at a blinding speed. A small liquid sphere could be seen in the center; this was the False Core.
The sphere continued to absorb the power in its surroundings in a frenzy. It compressed and refined it until it transformed into a grey solid sphere; this was the Real Core.
Just like that, he had used up 10 years’ worth of cultivation.
“In just three months, I went from the 9th Stage of the?Qi Cultivation Realm to the Core Formation Realm. This is truly amazing!”
Jiang Ming stood up and tidied his clothes. His cultivation session did not take up too much time as usual. However, his cultivation base had risen tremendously, and he did not feel any undesirable effects.
He brought out the Noble Robe, which was given to him by the system. After he dripped a drop of blood on it to make it acknowledge him as its owner, he could change its form according to his will. He draped the robe across his body, and it turned into an ordinary long white robe with just a thought.
Items were divided into Weapons and Artifacts. Then, they were categorized into low, middle, high, and top grades.
Usually, only Purple Mansion experts would possess Artifacts.
“I don’t have to worry about anyone below the Purple Mansion Realm!” Jiang Ming was satisfied and happy with this. Based on his knowledge, even a genius needed to cultivate for decades before reaching the Core Formation Realm. In remote places, a cultivator with a Real Core could even establish a clan or become a leader of a village.
Jiang Ming opened his windows again, letting the sunlight stream into his room.
“It’s time to cook!”
As he was making his way downstairs, he did not hear any movements from the other place so he knew that Linglong must still be sleeping. He made his way to the kitchen and began preparing breakfast.
In another two-story pavilion, a girl who was around 10 years old lay on a bed. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open, and a biting chill instantly permeated the air. Her domineering and condescending aura seemed to have caused the temperature to drop.
After a moment, the coldness slowly receded.
“I can’t believe I’ve been reborn!”
The girl leaped off the bed and opened her windows. She quickly surveyed the area and saw Jiang Ming busying himself in the kitchen. When her eyes lingered on him for a moment, they softened slightly. Her past and present memories had merged completely at this moment.
“It’s so good to see you again, Senior Brother!” Tears brimmed in Zi Linglong’s eyes as she looked at Jiang Ming. “You protected me my whole life; now it’s my turn to protect you. If anyone dares to…”
She suddenly looked up and grabbed at thin air. A cold and cruel expression appeared on her tiny face as she moved to sit in front of the simple dressing table. She ran her fingers along the table as she looked at the young face reflected in the mirror. Her vision blurred as a scene of bloody carnage from her memories replayed before her eyes.
She inhaled deeply to calm down. Her eyes flashed coldly as she murmured to herself, “Now that I’ve been reborn, I’ll deal with this lifetime’s troubles so that Senior Brother can lead a carefree life…”
Her expression was one of determination as she spoke to herself.
After a moment, she took a deep breath again to get into character. The cold light glinting in her eyes vanished and was replaced with naivete. Then, she rose to her feet and left her room.
Zi Linglong walked into the courtyard and surveyed her surroundings.
Trees and flowers dotted the courtyard where three pavilions stood. The main pavilion was flanked by two pavilions, and each pavilion had three stories. Two kitchens were built at the southeastern corner.
In one of the kitchens.
Jiang Ming dumped two handfuls of rice into the pot before washing and rinsing them. Following that, he poured spiritual water into the pot and added eight purple cloud dates and eight longans before closing the lid.
He added a few chopped rosin wood planks to the fire and ignited them with his mana. The wood burst into flames without releasing any smoke. Instead, a faint fragrance began to permeate the air. This was one of the benefits of using rosin wood; there was no pollution.
At this time, he suddenly felt something and instinctively turned to look at Zi Linglong’s room. There was a slight look of confusion on his face, but he did not dwell on it. He returned to the task at hand and began to peel several stalks of spring onions and wash them. Then, he diced the tofu until they were the size of fingernails. All he needed to do now was to add a little fragrant oil before steaming the tofu and the spring onion.
He thought about it for a moment before he brought eight pheasant eggs out and made omelets. After he was done, he brought some pheasant meat and stir-fried them.
All these were simple dishes that only needed a short time to prepare.
At this time, Jiang Jin felt a familiar aura. When he turned around, he saw Zi Linglong.
Zi Linglong dove into arms as tears glistened in her eyes. She inhaled deeply before rubbing her face against his robe like a cat. “Senior Brother!”
“What is it, girl? Did you have a nightmare?” Jiang Ming asked as he patted her head.
“I did! Senior Brother, I dreamt about a place called Mingyu Mountain. Do you know where it is?” Zi Linglong asked as she looked at him expectantly.
“Mingyu Mountain?” Jiang Ming thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. “I have no idea where it is. Is that somewhere you’ve been to in the past?”
Zi Linglong lowered her head and rubbed her face against his robes again.
“Don’t worry. I’m here. Everything will be alright,” Jiang Ming consoled her. Then, he said, “Go wash up. Breakfast will be ready in a minute.”
“Okay, Senior Brother!” Linglong rubbed her face against his robe one final time before she reluctantly left.
“This girl…” Jiang Ming smiled helplessly before he continued preparing breakfast.
He made a few pancakes and cooked congee as well.
When he was done, he brought all the dishes out and placed them on a stone table in the courtyard.
“They smell great!” Zi Linglong inhaled deeply. Her eyes reddened again as she spoke.
“That’s a matter of course! I was the one who cooked them, after all!” Jiang Jin said, pleased with himself. Then, he patted her head and said, “Eat up. You’re as skinny as a bean sprout.”
“I won’t look good if I’m fat!” Linglong protested.
“You’re just a brat! Why do you care so much about your appearance?”
Just as Jiang Ming took a seat, he received a system notification.
[Ding! Cooked delicious breakfast. Reward: Five days’ worth of cultivation]
After the notification ended, his mana increased slightly, but he did not pay much attention to it. Since this happened several times a day, he had gotten used to it.
“I’m still a girl no matter what!” Zi Linglong picked up her chopsticks and eagerly ate a piece of the omelets. She closed her eyes and chewed on it, savoring its taste.. Then, tears began to stream down her face again.