"During your holiday break, do not slack off. Morning and evening lessons must not be neglected, and I will test you on the memorization and recitation of the Spiritual Plant course when school resumes."
The white-haired Elder Wang took a gentle sip from his teacup, the steam rising from the rim of the cyan porcelain blurring the wrinkles between his brows.
"A reminder once more: if you encounter any unusual fluctuations in the surrounding Spiritual Power..."
The old Taoist suddenly raised his voice, his knuckles rapping sharply against the paperweight on his desk.
"Run! Run and don't look back!"
"By the time you can actually sense the changes in Spiritual Power, whatever is causing it is already very close to you!"
Glancing at the whispering students below the platform, the old elder could not help adding a few more words: "Curiosity doesn't just kill the cat; it can kill people! Your cultivation is low right now, so your top priority is..."
Before the old elder could finish, a student below chimed in with a cheeky grin: "To study hard and bring glory to the sect! Don't worry, Elder, we understand!"
"Understand? I think you understand how to slack off!" Elder Wang blew into his beard and glared, opening his mouth to scold them further, when right on cue, the bell signaling the end of school rang leisurely.
"Goodbye, Elder!" Before the echoes of the words had faded, figures were already darting around the classroom. The youths dashed out like wild horses let loose from their reins, laughing and scrambling away in a flurry, terrified that if they were a step too slow, the elder would keep them behind for extra lessons.
...
"Pingyi, when you go home, pass a message to my mom for me. Tell her I'm going over to Fatty's place to play tonight and won't be coming back."
"Pingyi, will you come catch fish with me? I heard there are tons of fish in the river behind the Market Town."
"Pingyi, want to go check out the newly opened talisman shop? I heard it's a branch of the Heavenly Talisman Sect, and they give away a free 1st-grade Fireball Spirit Talisman just for walking through the door."
"Not taking it, not going, not interested."
The youth's cool voice carried a hint of unquestionable nonchalance. With his hands resting behind his head, he strolled at a leisurely pace, maintaining a wide gap between himself and the flock of classmates who had just scattered in all directions.
He was around fourteen or fifteen years old. Dressed in a simple student robe, he managed to carry an air of otherworldly detachment.
His pale face was dominated by a pair of half-closed eyes, with thick, heavy eyelashes drooping low like a well-rested cat. Though he seemed entirely indifferent to everything around him, the occasional flash of sharp light in his gaze felt capable of seeing right through people's hearts.
If you broke down his facial features individually, none of them were particularly breathtaking, but combined, they possessed a unique charm that made him unforgettable.
His name was Li Pingyi, and he had transmigrated to this immortal cultivation world fifteen years ago.
In his past life, he was an orphan who grew up in a welfare home. After entering society as an adult, he had struggled and fought his way through the bustling mortal world, experiencing all the fickleness of human nature before finally starting from scratch and building a decent fortune of his own.
He was wealthy, had plenty of leisure time, was single, and was still an orphan—so naturally, Li Pingyi started getting a bit full of himself.
That night, just after finishing a business dinner and feeling the alcohol going to his head, he had been thinking about finding a tutor to help him brush up on his English.
Who would have guessed that the blinding headlights of a mud-truck rushing out from an alleyway would flash before his eyes, plunging him into total darkness as he lost consciousness.
When he opened his eyes again, he was a wailing infant, with his entire name and surname intact in this brand-new shell.
Yes, he had been named Li Pingyi all over again.
Fifteen years had passed, and by now he could no longer tell what was real and what was fake; perhaps his previous life had simply been a dream.
Zhuang Zhou dreaming of the butterfly—it was not just Zhuang Zhou dreaming of the butterfly, but also the butterfly dreaming of Zhuang Zhou.
Long accustomed to this place, Li Pingyi genuinely felt that this immortal cultivation world called the Canglan Continent was actually quite wonderful.
The world he inhabited was almost identical to ancient China.
Cats and dogs darted and played through the alleys, New Year traditions were lively and bustling, the concepts of the Great Dao and Heavenly Dao were deeply rooted in people's awareness, and even the twelve months and twenty-four solar terms of the year were no different from what he remembered.
The only difference was that the historical trajectory here was completely unfamiliar and vastly different from his original world.
Li Pingyi privately guessed that perhaps the existence of immortal cultivation had rewritten the developmental path of this realm.
If not for the fact that the geography of this world was unimaginably vast, he really would have thought he had transmigrated back to ancient times.
However, none of that mattered anymore.
What made him most grateful was that here, he had a mother and father who had loved and doted on him in every possible way since childhood. This warmth was enough to ward off all the unease brought by unfamiliarity.
Li Pingyi walked home at a leisurely pace, his thoughts drifting.
"It feels really good to have a home."
...
"Big Brother Pingyi, you're not even going to take five free Spirit Stones?" asked the chubby little boy walking ahead, turning his head.
Li Pingyi sneered inwardly; he was far too familiar with this routine.
He lifted his chin, signaling toward the intersection ahead: "Didn't you see the person holding the sign standing at the corner? Are free Spirit Talismans really that easy to get?"
Those street tricks from his past life—like "scan the code to get free eggs" or "share and collect likes for a small gift"—when brought to this immortal cultivation world, simply swapped eggs for low-grade Spirit Talismans and WeChat shares for street-corner shouting with a placard.
Whether the talismans from the Heavenly Talisman Sect were any good remained to be seen, but their marketing tactics were completely unique to Sifang Market.
The chubby boy came to an abrupt halt, his mouth forming an "O" shape and his round eyes widening: "We have to stand on the street and promote it? Then I'm not going! I just wanted to check the quality of their 1st-grade Fireball talismans, know the enemy and know yourself... Oh well, whatever, my dad's feather duster is no joke."
Muttering under his breath, he shook his head helplessly. "As expected, there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world."
This chubby boy was named Jingui, and his family also ran a talisman-making business. If he were caught holding a sign promoting someone else's talismans, a severe beating when he got home would be the least of his worries.
Li Pingyi glanced at him sideways, finding it amusing in his heart.
Ha!
Who was it just now that used his chubby body to twist through countless high-difficulty maneuvers and was the very first to wriggle out of the classroom? He'd even resorted to casting a Gale Spell and Flowing Cloud Steps.
Don't bother explaining, fatty; big bro saw right through you ages ago.
"Look, there's a Spirit Stone on the ground."
"Where? Where?"
The chubby boy abruptly lowered his head, his eyes darting dartingly everywhere while his feet were already glowing with a layer of verdant Spiritual Qi.
"Crap! Your Gale Spell is actually instantaneous?" Seeing this, Li Pingyi couldn't help but widen his eyes in utter disbelief.
"Big Brother Pingyi, you're teasing me again." Jingui's chubby face instantly turned bright red.
"Look at that, isn't your spell-casting getting smoother? Big bro is just helping you practice. Didn't you hear what the Elder said? Even on holiday, you must diligently practice..."
Before Li Pingyi could finish speaking, his gaze suddenly locked and narrowed sharply at the ground beneath his feet.
Without warning, a massive verdant rune array appeared on the ground, and immediately following it, a huge verdant door slowly rose from the center of the array.
"Fall back!" Terrified, Li Pingyi roared at the top of his lungs. Spiritual Qi instantly surged into his legs as he tried to leap backward, while reaching out to shove Jingui away from arm's reach.
However, an irresistible suction force abruptly erupted from the verdant door. He felt his body grow weightless, as if grabbed by an invisible giant hand, leaving him completely powerless to resist!
In the next instant, his vision was swallowed entirely by an endless expanse of verdant green.
"Damn it!"
That was Li Pingyi's final thought before losing consciousness.
At the same time, a streak of light shot into the sky from Sifang Market like lightning, and within mere seconds, it landed steadily just outside the rune array.
The newcomer was a middle-aged cultivator wearing the standard robes of the Qingxuan Sect, the threads on his garments shimmering faintly in the sunlight.
He wore a Daoist crown, possessed a refined and lean visage, and his eyes radiated an imposing authority that demanded respect.
Shortly after, several other figures rapidly flew through the air toward the scene.
The middle-aged cultivator stared at the verdant door and slowly spoke, "This is a Qi Condensation Stage Grotto-Heaven. Secure the perimeter first, and go back to notify the Outer Sect. Find out whose turn it is on the roster and summon them here."
With that, his gaze swept over several market stalls and corners of buildings that had been grazed by the spiritual light at the edge of the array, and his brow furrowed slightly: "This place has become a Grotto-Heaven entrance. All obstructions within three zhang of the array must be demolished immediately to avoid interfering with subsequent defense deployment and Spiritual Qi channeling."
"Hmph! These unauthorized structures already disrupt the order of the Market Town on ordinary days, and now they're simply getting in the way!"
"Understood, Elder Meng." The two middle-aged men standing beside Daoist Meng acknowledged the order and instantly took flight, heading toward the mountain gate behind the Market Town.
"Elder Meng, Li Pingyi and Jingui have been sucked inside!" shouted a cultivator who had tumbled to the edge of the array, panic etched across his face.
Hearing this, Elder Meng furrowed his brow slightly.
"Quickly go notify the Li family first, and stop by the Jingui's family on the way... Never mind, Youdao might not be at home, I'll go myself..."
Before his words had fully settled, a male and a female cultivator descended from the sky. With anxious expressions and hurried steps, they rushed rapidly toward Elder Meng.
The arrivals were none other than Li Pingyi's parents—Li Youdao and Liu Yaqin.
"My Pingyi is only at the Qi Condensation 4th Layer! Damn this accursed Grotto-Heaven... Dear, go quickly... Go rally people, rally people! If anything happens to Pingyi, I won't live either..." Before the middle-aged female cultivator Liu Yaqin, dressed in simple Daoist robes, had even steadied her heels, she was already sobbing uncontrollably.
She only had this one precious son in her entire life; on ordinary days, even a scratched knee would ache her heart for half a day, let alone getting pulled into such a perilous disaster.
"What are you crying for! Pingyi is blessed with great fortune; he's just entered a Qi Condensation Grotto-Heaven, not a dragon's pool or tiger's den!" Li Youdao barked in a deep voice to stop her.
He was of medium height, slightly lean, with a pair of triangular eyes whose outer corners slanted upward in a cunning curve. His gaze was gloomy, and beneath thick, disorderly brows, an dark-red, centipede-like scar snaked across his face, adding an extra layer of ferocity to an already fierce countenance.
Though his tone was stern, his slightly trembling hands betrayed the anxiety churning within his heart.
He clumsily used his rough sleeve to wipe away his wife's tears, his fierce-looking face—ordinarily made harsh by his triangular eyes and gruesome scar—now filled with a rare and vulnerable panic and worry.
"Forgive this unseemly display, Elder Meng. My wife is frantic out of love for our son and has lost her composure."
Elder Meng's eye twitched slightly as he spoke softly to the couple: "It's merely a Qi Condensation Stage Grotto-Heaven. As long as they don't run around blindly, they'll come out after a day. As a couple, you both know the Spiritual Qi inside a Grotto-Heaven is far more abundant than outside; people would pay to get in if they could. Consider it a stroke of good fortune for the boy; don't let worry cloud your judgment."
Having said that, he cleared his throat and announced in a ringing voice, "Because a disciple from the Qingxuan Sect Outer Sect school has accidentally stumbled inside, this Qi Condensation Grotto-Heaven will not be open to the public this time. Please understand."
Hearing this, the surrounding loose cultivators who had rushed over upon hearing the news erupted in uproar, voices of dissatisfaction ringing out one after another.
"Not open to the public? How can that be... Doesn't this cut off our path as loose cultivators?"
"That's right! Is the Qingxuan Sect going to be this domineering? Do we loose cultivators have any way to survive?"
"Exactly, exactly..."
...
"What are you bickering about? If you have any complaints, go file a complaint against me—and by the way, I might as well tell you that the Elder of the Outer Sect Law Enforcement Hall is my senior brother."
With that, Elder Meng flicked his long sleeve, releasing the overwhelming might of a Golden Core stage cultivator. The crowd of cultivators instantly scattered in all directions to retreat.
"Hear my command: Sifang Market is closed for the day, and unauthorized personnel are forbidden from wandering within.
Notify the Outer Sect disciples whose turn it is to enter the Grotto-Heaven via the roster, and order them to ensure the safety of Li Pingyi and Jingui if they encounter them.
Have the sect's Law Enforcement Department step up perimeter patrols and place a five-li lockdown around Sifang Market. Anyone refusing to leave is to be arrested on the spot."
Having issued all his instructions, Elder Meng nodded to the two people standing nearby, then transformed into a streak of light and flew toward the center of the Market Town.
Watching Elder Meng depart, Li Youdao turned to Liu Yaqin and asked, "He has all his gear on him, right?"
"He has all of it. Every time he leaves the house, I make sure he brings everything," Liu Yaqin nodded affirmatively, her tone carrying a note of certainty.
"Then he should be fine. That boy Pingyi has been sharp since he was little; nothing major will happen. Once the Grotto-Heaven closes in a day, the people inside will appear randomly within a one-li radius of the entrance. There's no point in us waiting here. Let's go to the Outer Sect first to rally some people, and have them send a few Qi Condensation Late Stage disciples inside to search."
With that, he grabbed Liu Yaqin's hand, took to the air, and flew straight toward the Outer Sect.