It was the spring of the 9,016th year of the New Calendar.
The New Year had only just passed, and traces of winter still lingered across the land, leaving the world looking somewhat bleak and desolate.
Since the beginning of the New Calendar, the Divine Temples had risen to prominence, while the sects that had once flourished under the Old Calendar had gradually declined. The Taiyi Academy, established and supported by the Five Divine Temples, had taken the place once occupied by the sects and become the largest and most complete institution for cultivating young practitioners in the entire cultivation world.
Even if students chose not to participate in the Divine Temples’ selection process after graduating, they would still have no shortage of powerful factions offering them opportunities.
Thus, despite its extremely demanding admission and graduation requirements, Taiyi Academy remained the sacred ground of young cultivators.
The New Year holidays had just ended, and most of the disciples who had gone home for the holiday had yet to return. The academy, usually bustling with activity, was unusually quiet and empty.
The sky was gloomy today, and the early-spring air carried a faint damp chill.
The water-element spiritual energy was especially active, as though rain were about to fall at any moment.
On the empty mountain road, two people who had absolutely nothing to do with Taiyi Academy were diligently making their way uphill.
One was Qi Shu, the young master of the Qi family of Yangzhou. The other was his attendant.
They had come to deliver a gift.
There were always plenty of visits and gift-giving around the New Year. Qi Shu was originally on his way to visit his maternal grandfather’s family and happened to be passing through Qingxi.
For some reason, the head of the Qi family had suddenly remembered that he had an old friend living alone in Taiyi Academy whom he had not seen for many years. So he sent his son to pay the old friend a visit while he was passing by.
Qi Shu hunched his shoulders against the cold. He carried the gift box his father had ordered him to bring in one hand while rubbing his other hand vigorously.
“Brr… Why is it so cold here?”
His attendant looked helpless.
“Because Spirit Cloud Mountain is far from the Fourth Divine Pillar. Naturally, the water-element spiritual energy here is not as warm and abundant as the fire-element spiritual energy in Yangzhou, where the Qi family is located. Of course it’s cold. I reminded you to bring thicker clothes before we left, but apparently you didn’t listen.”
Qi Shu immediately stopped rubbing his hands and stiffened his neck, deliberately changing the subject.
“Where’s the person I asked you to find? Where is he now?”
The attendant reminded him, “Young Master, before we left, the family head specifically instructed us that we’re here to deliver a New Year’s gift, not to pick a fight.”
Qi Shu grabbed him by the neck.
“Where is he?”
The attendant had no choice but to answer.
“According to the Taiyi Academy disciples, the young master of the Shen family is currently in confinement. Palace Master Shen locked him up this morning.”
Qi Shu released his attendant’s neck, looking extremely disappointed.
“What terrible timing. The most talented swordsman since the beginning of the New Calendar… Just thinking about fighting him gets my blood pumping. If I can’t have a match with him, won’t this trip have been a complete waste?”
His imagination began running wild.
“Maybe I can even beat him.”
The young man Qi Shu had been asking about was named Shen Xuan, the eldest son of the current Palace Master of Taiyi Academy.
It was said that Shen Xuan was outstanding in every possible way—appearance, talent, and ability—and had long been regarded as a model among the younger generation of cultivators.
Some idle gossipers had even claimed that, if he continued at this rate, Shen Xuan might become the first cultivator since the beginning of the New Calendar to ascend to godhood.
Ever since the cultivation world had been reshaped under the New Calendar, no one had even touched the threshold of godhood for more than nine thousand years.
Whether gods even existed had become little more than a legend.
For a young man who had only just begun to make a name for himself, such praise was obviously exaggerated.
But even so, it was enough to demonstrate just how terrifying Shen Xuan’s talent was.
The attendant calmly shattered Qi Shu’s fantasy.
“Young Master, the family head also instructed you to avoid making unrealistic assumptions on other people’s territory. If you embarrass yourself, he’ll kick you out of the family. Young Master Shen broke through to the Golden Core Realm last month. You’re only at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.”
Qi Shu had been shut down repeatedly and finally couldn’t take it anymore.
He slowly turned his head, his gaze murderous.
“…Did my father also tell you that after this mission, you’re fired?”
The blunt attendant sighed inwardly at his unreasonable and not particularly intelligent young master.
He could only phrase it more tactfully.
“Young Master, you could certainly defeat him.”
A pause.
“But the chances of you actually defeating him are rather low.”
He was beginning to seriously worry about his career.
Perhaps it really was time to resign.
With a young master like this, the Qi family clearly had no future.
…Should he return to his hometown?
Or perhaps find another job as a bodyguard for another family?
Wait.
If he changed employers, would his years-of-service benefits be reset?
While the attendant was lost in thought, Qi Shu became furious.
Without even remembering that he was carrying something, he jumped up and smacked the attendant on the head.
The attendant suddenly noticed something and cried out between blows.
“Wait… Young Master! The gift!”
—But it was already too late.
The package containing the gift slipped from Qi Shu’s hand and began rolling down the mountain road.
Qi Shu stared at his now-empty hand.
Only one thought remained in his mind.
I’m doomed.
That thing was extremely expensive.
His father was definitely going to kill him.
The package rolled down the mountain path, heading straight toward the mist-shrouded cliff beside the road.
Just then, a streak of spiritual energy shot past the two men at an unbelievable speed.
It firmly caught the package just before it plunged into the abyss, then carried it safely back to its owner.
Qi Shu caught the package.
Both master and servant looked up.
At some point, a young man around Qi Shu’s age had appeared on the mountain road.
He wore Taiyi Academy’s standard white disciple robes with gold trim. A jade belt wrapped around his waist, making his already slender figure look even more tall and graceful.
He withdrew the spiritual energy from his fingertips and smiled at the two of them.
“Please be more careful.”
He had an exceptionally gentle and sweet-looking face. When he smiled, he looked completely harmless—the kind of person who naturally inspired goodwill.
Qi Shu’s gaze fell upon the young man’s face.
His striking appearance stunned him for a moment.
When he came back to his senses, he quickly cupped his fists.
“…Thank you, fellow cultivator.”
The young man smiled warmly.
“According to the academy’s rules, throwing objects from a height is punishable if someone gets injured.”
Qi Shu suddenly felt that something about those words didn’t sound quite right.
“W-What kind of punishment?”
The young man answered gently, as though discussing something completely ordinary.
“It’s simple. If the injured person can’t be saved, the person who threw the object will have to pay with their life.”
Qi Shu and his attendant exchanged a terrified glance.
Had the rules of Taiyi Academy always been this strict?
The young man continued smiling pleasantly and blinked at them.
“I’m joking. Everyone in the academy is a cultivator. No one would be hurt over something like that.”
“You two don’t appear to be disciples of the academy. I hope you enjoy your time here. Perhaps we’ll meet again someday.”
He politely nodded at them, walked past them, and calmly continued down the mountain.
Qi Shu watched his retreating figure.
“Who was that guy? He looks so…”
He desperately searched for the right word.
Unfortunately, his vocabulary was limited.
So he simply gave the most straightforward compliment he could think of.
“Awesome.”
And judging from his strength, he seemed pretty awesome too.
The attendant watched the young man’s back disappear from sight before answering in his usual serious tone.
“Young Master, that was Shen Xuan.”
“You could’ve told me earlier! Now he’s already gone. Does that mean the match is off?”
Qi Shu suddenly remembered the fight he had been looking forward to.
Then he froze.
“Wait. Didn’t you say Shen Xuan was locked up in confinement this morning?”
The attendant remained perfectly calm.
“He was locked up today and released today. That’s perfectly normal.”
Qi Shu stared at his emotionally stable attendant for a while.
Then he suddenly understood.
“Good point.”
The two of them continued carrying the gift uphill.
They had barely taken a few steps when two academy disciples came running down the mountain.
“Quick! Go report to the Palace Master! Junior Brother Shen has escaped from confinement!”
The wind kicked up by their footsteps slapped Qi Shu in the face.
He looked bewildered.
“I heard… Shen Xuan was always extremely disciplined and strict with himself. He was supposed to be someone who followed the rules.”
His attendant didn’t even raise an eyebrow.
“He followed the rules yesterday. Not following them today is perfectly normal.”
Everything in the world was constantly changing.
Qi Shu suddenly understood again.
“Good point.”
The two of them continued uphill with the gift.
……
An hour later, the supposedly rule-abiding young man had already skillfully made his way through the streets and alleys and arrived at the Lan River Ferry.
The Lan River originated from the Water Divine Pillar atop Lan Mountain and flowed through the entire cultivation world.
Countless large and small tributaries branched off from it, creating convenient waterways connecting different regions of the cultivation world.
Shen Xuan had changed out of Taiyi Academy’s conspicuous disciple robes.
Now dressed in ordinary cloth clothing, he blended quietly into the crowd.
At some point, fine droplets had begun falling from the gray-white sky.
They were somewhere between rain and snow, cold and damp against the skin.
The wet weather was just as unpleasant as he remembered.
Shen Xuan looked away expressionlessly and placed the newly purchased bamboo hat over his head.
An idle little boat noticed the lone traveler and slowly approached.
An elderly man with gray-white hair raised his voice.
“Where are you headed, young man?”
Most of the small private boats that operated around the Lan River Ferry were powered by spiritual energy.
They only took short-distance passengers and had no fixed routes.
Their destination depended entirely on where the passengers wanted to go.
Shen Xuan took two or three steps and boarded the boat.
“Pingjiang.”
He suddenly fell silent.
After seriously thinking about it, he changed his answer.
“No. Nanqing.”
Pingjiang and Nanqing were both separated from Qingxi by only one river, but they lay in completely opposite directions.
There was absolutely no way they could be considered along the same route.
The old man looked slightly confused but didn’t question his passenger’s destination.
He warmly invited Shen Xuan inside.
After confirming the destination, the old man waited a little longer and picked up several other passengers heading in the same direction.
Then he activated the formation on the boat.
Spiritual energy broke through the thin layer of ice still floating on the river, sending the boat swiftly downstream.
Two hours passed.
The passengers gradually got off one after another.
The boat slowly became empty.
The old man stood at the front of the boat.
The long journey inevitably made him bored.
He was the kind of person who couldn’t keep his mouth shut for long, so he decided to make some small talk with his remaining passenger.
He looked around.
The young man sitting nearby had gentle, curved eyes and looked particularly approachable.
So the old man struck up a conversation.
“Young man, what are you going to Nanqing for?”
Shen Xuan turned his head and smiled.
“Me? I’m going to find someone.”
The old man continued.
“You look quite happy. You must have a good relationship with the person you’re going to meet, right?”
“No. He’s my enemy.”
Shen Xuan shook his head and explained seriously.
“He killed me once. I was lucky enough to survive. Now that I finally have a chance to take revenge, naturally I’m a little happy. Forgive me for saying so.”
Old Man: “…”
Without making it obvious, he moved a little farther away from Shen Xuan.
Shen Xuan suddenly laughed.
“I was joking. I’m going to find my Dao companion.”
The old man had just breathed a sigh of relief when Shen Xuan continued in a gentle, nostalgic tone.
“We haven’t had a proper conversation in many years. I wonder what that bastard looks like now…”
He paused thoughtfully.
“Maybe he’s already been killed because he made too many enemies.”
Another pause.
“Of course, if he happened to die in some kind of accident that had nothing to do with other people, I wouldn’t exactly complain.”
The old man’s hand trembled.
He accidentally bumped against the formation controlling the boat.
Bang!
The boat slammed hard against the riverbank, sending water splashing everywhere.
They had arrived.
Shen Xuan put his bamboo hat back on and bid the old man farewell.
“I’m here. Have a safe journey.”
The old man watched the young man’s retreating figure as he jumped off the boat and couldn’t help shaking his head.
He was only a teenager.
How could someone that young have a Dao companion he hadn’t spoken to properly in so many years?
Young people these days were really something…
They just loved messing with old people.
The cultivation world was truly getting worse with every generation.