"I... finally made it out!"
On a mountaintop, Ye Qingyun knelt on the ground and wailed bitterly.
He had been trapped on this mountain for a full ten years.
Ten years ago, Ye Qingyun had time-traveled to this world.
Originally, he thought he had arrived in a world where one could cultivate, that some golden finger would descend upon him, and that he would soar to the pinnacle of his life.
Just as he was full of anticipation, Ye Qingyun discovered that the world he was in was only as big as a single mountaintop.
All around seemed to be an invisible barrier, isolating the mountaintop where Ye Qingyun lived from the outside world.
Fortunately, a Saint-making System really did descend upon him.
Just when Ye Qingyun thought he was truly going to reach the peak of his life, he discovered that this so-called Saint-making System only taught him some bizarre and eccentric things.
Things like the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, physics and chemistry, mechanics and electronics...
Even goddamn cooking and animal husbandry were taught down to the smallest detail.
Over the span of ten years, besides cultivation, Ye Qingyun had mastered everything the system taught him.
He had even earned the title of Omnipotent Saint.
God knows what use this title of Omnipotent Saint had?
If it were in his previous world, mastering these skills would mean Ye Qingyun wouldn't have to worry about a thing; he would undoubtedly become a man among men.
Yet he was trapped on this mountaintop, so no matter how many skills he knew, they were useless.
Just a moment ago, Ye Qingyun woke up to piss and discovered that the barrier around the mountaintop had vanished.
He could finally walk out into the outside world.
Ye Qingyun wept tears of joy, forgetting even to pull up his pants.
Just as Ye Qingyun wanted to head outside and let loose, a completely emotionless voice sounded.
"In view of the host's atrocious behavior of urinating everywhere, the system is deeply infuriated and therefore severs its bond with the host."
"Hoping the host will henceforth conduct himself well and mind his public manners."
"Farewell..."
Ye Qingyun was dumbfounded.
What the fuck...
When I used to pee everywhere in the past, why didn't you sever the bond with me?
Now that I can finally go outside, you pull this kind of stunt on me?
"Don't do this!"
Ye Qingyun hurriedly begged.
Unfortunately, the system really was gone.
"My fucking..."
Ye Qingyun beat his chest and stamped his feet, standing on the mountain cursing for a solid ten minutes.
A large golden retriever walked out of the house with a sleepy-eyed look, staring at Ye Qingyun in some puzzlement.
This large golden retriever was a reward given to him by the system. Ye Qingyun had raised it for ten years and even given it a name: Damao.
After cursing for a while, Ye Qingyun felt it was pointless and composed himself to go down the mountain and see the world.
"Damao, stay here and watch the house. I'll be right back."
Giving instructions to Damao, Ye Qingyun headed down the mountain.
Ten years.
Ye Qingyun had been looking forward to the outside world for a full ten years. Now that he could finally step out, naturally he wanted to take a good look.
Down the mountain, however, two figures were stumbling away in a frantic escape.
Both of these individuals were women, appearing to be mistress and maid.
"Your Ladyship, what should we do?"
The maid in green looked panicked, closely following the young woman in red ahead of her.
The young woman in red had bright eyes and white teeth, and was breathtakingly beautiful, yet at this moment her expression was panicked, her eyes filled with terror, which only made her all the more pitiful.
"To think the Song family would be so brazen as to actually send assassins after me!"
The young woman in red grabbed the green-robed maid and fled all the way.
Not far behind them, dozens of men in black were giving chase, every single one of them wielding sharp blades and radiating killing intent.
"Kill Princess Tianyao! We must not let them escape!"
The leading man in black shouted, urging the others to quicken their pace.
Princess Tianyao suddenly raised her head and looked ahead.
"Eh? Isn't this Fuyun Mountain shrouded in black mist all year round, making it impossible for anyone to approach? Why has the black mist completely dissipated today, and a mystical glow is even emerging?"
Princess Tianyao was filled with doubt.
Yet there was no time to think; she grabbed her maid and fled straight up the mountain.
"Let's hope we can survive this ordeal!"
Reaching the summit and passing through a patch of green trees, a courtyard came into view before the two women.
Both women were utterly shocked.
"Someone actually lives in a place like this?"
"What a peculiar courtyard. It looks fresh and elegant, making one feel relaxed and happy."
Princess Tianyao curiously sized up the courtyard, for a moment forgetting even that someone was pursuing them.
Everything here was completely different from any courtyard she had ever seen before.
It looked utterly ordinary, yet for some reason, everything here appeared so harmonious and complete, blending together perfectly with the surrounding scenery.
It instantly drew one deep into its ambiance.
"Could it be that some reclusive worldly expert lives here?"
Princess Tianyao's eyes lit up.
If a true worldly expert really lived here, perhaps they could save her life.
"Let's go take a look."
The green-robed maid, however, was somewhat worried: "Your Ladyship, could it be dangerous?"
Yet Princess Tianyao stepped directly into the courtyard. What met her eyes was a vegetable garden, a stone table, a few stone stools, and a rattan lounge chair.
It looked no different from an ordinary household.
"Is anyone here, please?"
Princess Tianyao called out.
No one answered.
Only a large golden retriever sauntered lazily out of the house.
"Your Ladyship, there's a dog!"
The green-robed maid shrieked in fright.
Princess Tianyao knitted her delicate brows.
She wasn't afraid of dogs, but this dog clearly looked completely ordinary.
The person living here was probably just an ordinary person as well.
And an ordinary person couldn't possibly save her.
At that very moment, the men in black had already caught up.
"Princess Tianyao, stop running. There's no way out for you here."
The leader of the men in black laughed grimly.
Princess Tianyao's face drained of color.
"If I die, not a single one of you will survive."
The leader of the men in black sneered.
"Once you're dead, the few of us brothers can collect our reward and live a life of carefree pleasure. What can your father do then?"
"You!"
Princess Tianyao's expression turned deathly pale.
At this moment, Damao, who had been lying on the ground looking sleepy-eyed, let out a yawn.
"After them! Grab those two!"
"Let's have a good time with them first, and then send them on their way!"
"Hehe, you got it!"
The men in black rushed forward with strange, eerie laughter.
Both Princess Tianyao and her maid plunged into despair.
Right at that moment, an unusual aura enveloped the surrounding wilderness.
Every single man in black became completely immobilized, each of them as if trapped deep within a quagmire.
"What is going on?"
The leader of the men in black was terrified out of his wits, casting his eyes all around, yet he spotted no one else.
"What mighty expert is here?"
He shouted once more, still receiving no response.
The next moment, Damao stood up and shook the golden fur on its body.
"My master has gone out. Don't fight here; if you mess up the flowers and plants, my master will be displeased."
The dog spoke?
Everyone was startled.
"A Demon Beast?"
The leader of the men in black stared fixedly at Damao, his face full of doubt and apprehension.
"Just a mere Demon Beast, and you dare run wild here?"
The leader of the men in black let out a furious roar as a tyrannical aura erupted from him—he was unmistakably a martial arts expert.
Yet the very next moment, a gigantic golden dog paw descended from the heavens.
BOOM!!!
With a deafening crash, the leader of the men in black, along with more than a dozen other men in black, were all flattened into a bloody paste.
Princess Tianyao and her maid stood frozen in place, feeling as though they were living in a dream.
***
More than a dozen men in black had just been flattened like that?
The two of them rubbed their eyes, utterly unable to believe what they were seeing.
"Your Ladyship, this..."
The green-robed maid opened her mouth, but not a single word came out.
Princess Tianyao abruptly turned her gaze toward the large golden retriever, shock and reverence filling her eyes.
She was a martial artist herself.
And her strength was not insignificant.
Yet compared to that leader of the men in black, there was still quite a considerable gap.
In Princess Tianyao's eyes, that leader of the men in black was already exceedingly strong.
Yet they had been killed in an instant.
This large golden retriever was definitely a Demon Beast of terrifying strength!
As for the master it spoke of, what kind of existence would he be?
Without a doubt, a supreme worldly expert!
"Xiaoqing, we're saved!"
Princess Tianyao grabbed her maid's hand in excitement.
Xiaoqing had not yet recovered from the shock, but at Princess Tianyao's cry, she snapped back to her senses.
"Milady, that was such a huge dog paw just now, and they all got squashed."
Xiaoqing said in a daze.
Suppressing her excitement, Princess Tianyao bowed and cupped her fists toward Damao.
"This... Senior Dog?"
Damao let out a yawn, maintaining its sleepy-eyed appearance.
"My master has always lived a worldly life and dislikes others treating him as a supreme expert. If my master returns, you must treat him as an ordinary person, understand?"
Princess Tianyao started.
Then she nodded repeatedly.
"He truly is a supreme expert; his temperament is indeed this eccentric!"
Damao stuck out its dog tongue and swept it across the corpses of the men in black.
In an instant, all the corpses of the men in black were sucked into Damao's mouth.
With a few chomps, it swallowed them down.
Not even a trace of blood was left on the ground.
It was as if nothing had ever happened.
Right at that moment, a figure walked over from not far away.
Ye Qingyun!
He had returned.
He had originally wanted to go down the mountain to see the world, but just as he reached the foot of the mountain, a second thought hit him: that lousy system hadn't taught him a single thing about cultivation.
I am nothing more than an absolute weakling; if I run into any danger, wouldn't I kick the bucket on the spot?
Forget it, forget it.
The outside world is too dangerous; staying on the mountain is much safer.
And so, Ye Qingyun slunk right back.
"Huh?"
Seeing two women standing outside his courtyard, Ye Qingyun instantly froze.
No way?
My luck is that bad?
Someone found my lair?
These two women didn't look like ordinary folks at all.
Ye Qingyun turned around, wanting to bolt.
However, Princess Tianyao had already spotted him.
"Se—Senior... Young Master, please stay!"
Princess Tianyao had almost called him "senior," but remembering the large golden retriever's warning, she hurriedly corrected herself.
Helpless, Ye Qingyun could only bite the bullet and walk over.
"Uh, I wonder what brings the two of you here?"
Putting on a brave front, Ye Qingyun forced a smile.
Princess Tianyao sensed not the slightest trace of a martial artist's aura from Ye Qingyun, which involuntarily sent a chill through her heart.
"This person's cultivation is unfathomable. I can't sense even the slightest breath from him at all. Too terrifying!"
Princess Tianyao had no idea whatsoever.
The man before her, whom she deemed unfathomable, was actually nothing more than an ordinary person without half an ounce of cultivation.
"Young Master, my maid and I were hunted down by pursuers and inadvertently fled to this place. We hope Young Master will forgive us!"
Princess Tianyao said apologetically.
Upon hearing this, Ye Qingyun thought: hunted down by pursuers?
They aren't going to lead them to my doorstep, are they?
I certainly don't want to die.
Seeming afraid that Ye Qingyun might be displeased, Princess Tianyao quickly spoke up again.
"Young Master, rest assured, our pursuers have already been dealt with."
"Oh, that's good then."
Ye Qingyun breathed a sigh of relief.
At the courtyard gate, Damao also leisurely let out a yawn.
"Has Young Master lived here all this time?"
Princess Tianyao asked out of curiosity.
"Yeah, I've lived here for ten years."
Ten years?
Princess Tianyao recalled the legends of Fuyun Mountain.
The summit of Fuyun Mountain was shrouded in black mist all year round; some said it had been enshrouded for a hundred years, while others claimed it had appeared a thousand years ago.
In short, the black mist on Fuyun Mountain had existed for many, many years—so long that no one could remember clearly anymore.
Yet the person before her claimed he had lived here for ten years?
"Judging by the look of this place, it's definitely been here far longer than ten years. This person has probably lived here for ages, only no one knew about it."
Princess Tianyao surmised inwardly.
"Come inside and sit down."
Ye Qingyun warmly invited the two women.
Over the past ten years, Ye Qingyun had truly been lonely for far too long.
Now that he encountered two living people, and women at that, naturally he wanted to have more interaction.
Princess Tianyao was utterly delighted.
She was just about to go in and take a look.
"Then we will intrude."
"No worries, I'm very hospitable."
Ye Qingyun led the two women into the house.
As soon as Tianyao and Xiaoqing stepped inside, their eyes went straight.
The house was filled with all sorts of things they had never laid eyes on before.
Under the "carrots and sticks" of the system over the past decade, Ye Qingyun had crafted quite a few gadgets.
Among them, the one Ye Qingyun was most proud of was the whole-house smart system.
All the furniture and various furnishings inside the house had been linked together by this whole-house smart system.
Moreover, it could be controlled by voice.
It was extremely convenient.
Even placed in Ye Qingyun's original world, it would be an existence that people could only look up to with despair.
Of course, this so-called whole-house smart system was something people of this world could not possibly comprehend for the time being.
"Xiao'er, turn on the fresh air system."
Ye Qingyun casually called out.
Princess Tianyao and Xiaoqing wore blank expressions.
Xiao'er?
Fresh air system?
What on earth is that?
They didn't understand a single word.
"Understood, Master. The fresh air system has been turned on."
Accompanied by a pleasant female voice, streams of fresh air began to emerge from various corners of the room.
Ye Qingyun was naturally long accustomed to it.
But Princess Tianyao was instantly dumbfounded.
"To think there is such dense and astonishing spiritual energy?"
As a martial artist, Princess Tianyao's perception of spiritual energy was naturally extremely acute.
The moment the fresh air system turned on, billowing spiritual energy surged in from all directions.
Princess Tianyao lost her mind.
The density of spiritual energy here was more than a hundred times stronger than her royal mansion!
"There must be an extremely powerful formation here capable of reversing the heavens and earth, gathering the spiritual energy from a radius of thousands of miles."
Princess Tianyao felt a jolt of shock; the way she looked at Ye Qingyun had completely changed.
This person was definitely a supreme senior expert with Heaven Reaching cultivation.
Such an expert lived in seclusion here, and she had happened to bump right into him.
"This is my destiny!"
"If I can ask this senior expert to help me, the mere Song family can be obliterated with a flick of a finger!"
Princess Tianyao could not help letting her imagination run wild.
Feeling the dense spiritual energy continuously surging around her, Princess Tianyao's cheeks flushed slightly, and her delicate body trembled a little.
Too dense, much too dense.
I can't take it.
I'm going to break through.
The next moment, a brilliant radiance surged forth from Princess Tianyao's body.
Her face relaxed in sheer comfort, beads of sweat glistening on her skin.
She really did break through.
Ye Qingyun, standing to the side, was stunned silly.
Is this what cultivators in this world are like?
Why do they look so weird?
"Many thanks, Young Master. I've broken through my realm."
Princess Tianyao said with some embarrassment, her face flushed red.
Ye Qingyun scratched his head.
What does that have to do with me?
"I'll brew some tea for you."
Ye Qingyun stood up and quickly brewed a pot of tea for Princess Tianyao and her companion.
As the tea was poured into the cups, both Princess Tianyao and Xiaoqing picked up their teacups.
"Huh? This tea..."
Princess Tianyao's expression changed once again.
***
Princess Tianyao stared at the greenish tea water shimmering in her cup, her face losing all color in shock, almost fainting from disbelief.
"What's wrong? Is this tea no good?"
Ye Qingyun was somewhat surprised.
This was tea he had planted with his own hands, and roasted with his own hands.
Back then, the system had even specially bestowed upon him the title of Tea Dao Master.
It had puffed Ye Qingyun's ego up for quite a while.
The method of brewing these two cups of tea had long since been recorded into the whole-house smart system. Although it was brewed by the tea-making machine, it was not the least bit inferior to tea brewed by Ye Qingyun's own hands.
"N-No, it's not!"
Princess Tianyao shook her head repeatedly, terrified of incurring the displeasure of the supreme senior expert before her.
The hand holding the teacup trembled slightly.
It wasn't that the tea was no good.
Rather, inside this teacup was shockingly pure spiritual liquid!
When spiritual energy reached a certain degree of density, it liquefied.
A single drop of spiritual liquid contained a massive amount of spiritual energy.
And this cup of tea contained an amount of spiritual energy that Princess Tianyao couldn't possibly imagine.
She didn't dare drink it at all.
Because once she drank it, her body wouldn't be able to withstand such a massive influx of spiritual energy, causing her to explode on the spot.
Seeing that her mistress wasn't drinking, Xiaoqing naturally didn't dare to drink either.
"Young Master, we... we aren't very accustomed to drinking tea."
Princess Tianyao forced a bitter smile, unable to come up with any other excuse.
"Is that so?"
Ye Qingyun stroked his chin.
"Then let's have some fruit instead."
With that, Ye Qingyun brought over a basket of grapes and placed them before the two women.
"At least there are still some ordinary things here."
Princess Tianyao breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Young Master."
She picked up a grape and placed it into her mouth with utmost elegance.
"Hmm?"
The moment she bit down, a sweet and refreshing juice exploded in her mouth.
Sweet and aromatic!
With an aftertaste that lingered endlessly!
Princess Tianyao had never eaten grapes this delicious in all her life.
Compared to this, the grapes she had eaten in the past were simply inferior by a margin of ten thousand miles.
"This is amazing!"
Princess Tianyao couldn't help crying out in surprise.