The air here is truly super fresh, much better than outside the valley, and extremely comfortable.
A faint fragrance of flowers drifts over, and they must be nearby.
It really is uninhabited, not even a path to be seen.
"Xingxing, is this the valley entrance? How come there is nothing here, though the trees and grass here seem to grow much better than the ones outside?" Jiang Xia looks at the scene before her and says to Xingxing.
[Indeed, this should be the valley entrance. According to the map, this Immortals' Valley is huge.] As a System, Xingxing is not entirely certain either.
"Do you have a map or something?" Jiang Xia asks again.
[Apologies, Host, my energy is temporarily insufficient. You cannot see it,] Xingxing says apologetically.
"Alright, then let's keep walking inside."
Jiang Xia does not press the matter, nor does she count on it; she had just forgotten that her System is different from others.
Jiang Xia continues walking inside.
After about an hour of walking, Jiang Xia is covered from head to toe in fallen leaves and grass seeds, looking utterly disheveled, just like a refugee.
Her clothes are a complete mess, torn in places by tree branches.
Over the past three days, Jiang Xia's tracksuit has transformed from a youthful and vibrant outfit into something resembling a ragged dishcloth.
With much difficulty, she finally walks out of that vast expanse of trees and brush.
However, the scene before her pleasantly surprises her.
Tonight's moonlight is exceptionally bright and clear.
Before her lies a very large, crystal-clear lake. Viewed through the moonlight, it resembles a silver platter sprinkled with starlight.
All kinds of flowers grow in abundance around the lake—some she has seen, but most she has not, and every single one is breathtakingly pretty.
If, like the special effects in television shows, a multitude of butterflies were to come and dance gracefully above it,
wouldn't that be sheer perfection?
Jiang Xia walks closer to look at the lake.
The lakebed is completely visible, clear down to the bottom at a glance, except there are no fish—what a pity.
The lake connects to a massive waterfall that plunges straight down from the mountain,
merging with the river from the opposite mountain to form the lake before her.
It is truly too beautiful.
Yet Jiang Xia has no time to admire it right now.
Because when she sees her reflection in the water, she realizes just how disheveled she is—it is simply too horrible to look upon.
Jiang Xia never expected she would be in such a wretched state.
Not to mention the dirt on her face, her hair is an absolute disaster filled with leaves, grass seeds, and tangled by tree branches.
Her clothes have suffered the same fate; her jacket and pants are covered in rips. Is the quality of these clothes really this poor?
This outfit is no longer wearable. What a shame for these clothes, which were quite expensive when she bought them, and she hadn't even worn them enough yet.
Jiang Xia finds a large rock by the lakeside and sits down.
Looking around, it truly lives up to the name Immortals' Valley; it is simply too gorgeous.
The System really didn't lie to me.
This place is my territory now, hahaha.
She is beyond happy.
Jiang Xia splashes some water on her face by the lake, then takes out her meals to eat.
After resting a bit, Jiang Xia decides to go to sleep right now.
If the Immortals' Valley is this beautiful at night under the moonlight, wouldn't it be even more stunning during the day?
Since it is already dark anyway, she might as well tidy up her sleeping arrangements.
There are no houses here, so she will definitely be sleeping outside.
Early the next morning, Jiang Xia gets up and finishes breakfast.
She plans to stroll around this true-to-its-name Immortals' Valley.
Who would have thought that she cannot cross this lake to get to the other side?
Jiang Xia observes her surroundings and searches around.
To reach the other side, she can only walk across a bridge, but there is no path available to her—yet where on earth is there a bridge?
There isn't a single person here, the lake seems quite deep, the stream also seems quite deep, and since she doesn't know how to swim, she can really only stare helplessly at the opposite side.
What a huge loss.
Why didn't she learn how to swim?
"Oh no, I can't get across," Jiang Xia feels like crying. "Xingxing, what should I do?"
[This... this, the Host will just have to build a small bridge yourself.] Xingxing doesn't know what to do either; after all, it can't swim and can't get across either.
[Host, you have to believe in yourself, you can do it. The Immortals' Valley now needs your remodeling.]
[Just think about how much more beautiful the Immortals' Valley will be once you've remodeled it, right? Won't everything you need be there by then?]
Xingxing offers words of encouragement to Jiang Xia.
"Hey, where is Jinjin?" Just as Jiang Xia wants to talk and chat with Jinjin, she discovers that Jinjin has unexpectedly vanished.
"Jinjin, Jinjin, where did you go?" Jiang Xia calls out loudly for Jinjin.
"Jinjin, come out quickly."
No sooner has Jiang Xia shouted twice than she sees Jinjin flying over from across the lake at an extreme speed.
A flash of golden light later, Jinjin arrives right in front of Jiang Xia.
"Jinjin, did you go to the other side? What is it like over there? Is it beautiful?" Jiang Xia fires off a series of three questions.
Although she can see what the other side looks like, it is only a partial, one-sided view.
The other side seems much larger than this side.
Jinjin nods, indicating that it did go to the other side, that the other side is very beautiful, and that the spiritual energy is even richer.
Jiang Xia's yearning for the other side of the lake deepens; it is right in front of her eyes yet unreachable, which is truly agonizing.
Watching Jinjin travel back and forth completely unimpeded, she feels immensely envious—she wants to fly too.
Once she learns how to fly, who would need to talk about building bridges? She can just fly straight across and be done with it.
Both Xingxing and Jinjin are now well aware of Jiang Xia's plot.
Lunchtime arrives, and just as Jiang Xia finishes eating, it is time for her daily check-in.
"Start check-in."
[Congratulations to the Host on a successful check-in. This check-in has rewarded you with a set of farming tools.]
Xingxing finds this incredible. What is this? Weren't they supposed to be Cultivation? What kind of trick is this?
"What? A set of farming tools?" Jiang Xia is completely dumbfounded. What is going on here?
When she sees the neatly arranged farming tools laid out before her, Jiang Xia sincerely, truly wants to say 3Q.
Is this supposed to make her work with her own hands to achieve self-sufficiency?
Besides, there aren't even any seeds.
Yet, thinking about how the food she brought won't last them very long, coupled with how remote this place is, how much effort it takes to make a trip outside, and how extremely difficult it is to buy anything—
she might as well do it herself.
Otherwise, there won't be anything to eat when the time comes.
Jiang Xia sighs helplessly.
She looks at the overall layout currently visible to her.
Jiang Xia decides that any houses she builds in the future will also be near the lake.
The environment here is ultra-beautiful, and there are no mosquitoes or similar pests, so she doesn't have to worry about that.
Since she can't get to the other side right now anyway, she can only start cultivating the land on this side.
Extending outward from the lake, step by step.
Jiang Xia picks up the hoe, walks forward, steps past the zone of blooming flowers, and starts working.
She knows she has to till the soil before she can plant anything—at least she knows that much.
As she tills the soil, Jiang Xia ponders what she should plant.
She needs to properly plan out her patch of land.
After all, once planted, it will likely stay that way to save the trouble of moving things around later.
Why not plant vegetables in her current plot? That way, living here, it will be convenient to pick vegetables every day.
Just like that, about an afternoon passes. Jiang Xia wipes the sweat from her face, prepares to take a break, and looks at the fruits of her own labor—not bad.
Yet, did she forget something?
What on earth did she forget?