Xianjian River.
The River Godniang drank a few more glasses of wine, her pretty face flushed. Seated at the table with her were several sisters she had known for hundreds of years. There was the River Godniang of Chengtang River in Yunzhou, and the River Godniang of Lanxi River in Yanzhou. Especially the latter, who had once been a close sister to Lin Xingchu. After the Xia-Shang War, she became the River God of her hometown, Lanxi River.
At this moment, Lin Xingchu's face was flushed with intoxication. This year, she no longer felt that sense of rootlessness. After all, Xiao Zhao had returned and was now stationed at the Snow Region Heavenly Pond. The Lin family... had successors once more!
The thought of Lin Zhao made Lin Xingchu want to drink more. Oh, for the good son of the Lin family, may his future be smooth and free from the suffering of displacement.
"Come, another round?"
She raised her golden wine cup.
"Who's afraid?!"
The River Godniang and the River Godniang slapped the table and laughed ferociously, "No one is leaving here standing tall today!"
...
Fusu Great Wall.
Inside the city, myriad lights flickered.
On the desolate city wall, there were only a few withered yellow grasses and a figure in white as pure as snow. Lin Wanhua held a wine pot in her hand, glanced at the myriad lights within the city, and couldn't help but smile. Celebrating the new year was for everyone else; it had little to do with her, Lin Wanhua. Her parents had died in battle when she was very young, and Lin Wanhua had always been dependent on others. Now, as the master of Fusu Great Wall, home was a concept that held no meaning for her. Or rather, Lin Wanhua considered Fusu Great Wall her home. If she were not there, then the world was her home, as long as her sword was in hand, anywhere could be home.
She pursed her red lips and took a gulp from the wine pot.
This was the Red Bamboo Wine given to her by Lin Zhao. Lin Zhao had given her a jar, but Lin Wanhua drank slowly and usually couldn't bear to drink the Red Bamboo Wine, so more than half remained. Today was New Year's Eve, and Lin Wanhua missed her father and mother, as well as the companions who had died fighting for the human race. Thus, she took out a jar of wine to express her longing.
A mouthful of wine went down, fiery.
She couldn't help but want to laugh. Since when had she become inseparable from a drink of wine?
Hmph, she supposed it was that fellow who had corrupted her. Now, legends of "Lin Jianxian, who never gets drunk" circulated throughout the martial world. Even the great cultivators from the mountains who passed by Fusu Great Wall to visit Lin Wanhua brought "heavy gifts." Undoubtedly, these heavy gifts were fine liquors aged for centuries from various regions, each one looking like they wouldn't leave until they had a drinking contest with Lin Wanhua.
But Lin Wanhua was always unable to hold her liquor. After drinking a jar of wine, her pretty face would turn red, and she would miss him dearly.
...
Danxia Sect.
Xu Mingan guarded a brazier, accompanied by his disciples Xiaoman and Xiaohan, as well as the chief honorary elder of Danxia Sect, Chi Zhongyu. Now, Danxia Sect was prosperous. Under Lin Wanhua's recommendation, two alchemists from Fusu Great Wall had joined Danxia Sect as elders, beginning to take disciples. Xu Mingan, for his part, had no reservations about the cultivators on his sect's genealogy. He imparted all his alchemy recipes and cultivation techniques, allowing everyone to cultivate and refine pills together.
As a result, Danxia Sect's incense and prosperity grew with each passing day. From top to bottom, there were now over thirty people. Xu Mingan, Xiaoman, and Xiaohan belonged to the direct line of Danxia Sect and held the highest status. In addition to the alchemists, they had also taken in many disciples and were dedicated to their training. As for Danxia Sect's greatest reliance, it remained Chi Zhongyu, the extremely powerful Sword Immortal of the eleventh realm.
Xu Mingan took a deep breath, standing guard while contemplating the future development of Danxia Sect. First and foremost, his own cultivation must keep pace. He couldn't remain in the fifth realm forever. As the Sect Master of Danxia Sect, being in the lower five realms was too embarrassing. However, he was truly not skilled in cultivation, so he could only proceed slowly.
He picked up the preserved fruit box beside him. It contained New Year's goods from Shan Dian Bie Yuan. He had also prepared a gift and sent it to Chi Zhongyu. It was all fruits and vegetables grown on Danxia Mountain itself. The gift was modest, but it was what Xu Mingan considered good things. After all, having been hungry since childhood, food remained what he valued most. Lin Zhao was the same; he was always concerned about food, simply because he had been hungry in his childhood.
...
Demon Ancestral Mountain.
At the peak of the Ancestral Mountain, the great demon Yu Zhi, clad in a red long dress, held a pot of good wine and sat on a large rock with a frown. On the rock were several dishes for accompanying the wine, snatched from human villages: thinly sliced beef, pork belly, boiled peanuts, and so on. Yu Zhi was in a good mood today. After snatching them, she didn't kill anyone. She even curtsied to the shopkeeper before turning into a wisp of fiery red smoke and disappearing. The shopkeeper was so frightened that he wet his pants. This year was destined to be a bad one. Da Feng Novel Network.
Yu Zhi narrowed her beautiful eyes and used her thirteenth-realm divine abilities to freely observe the human world. It was filled with myriad lights, with fireworks rising one after another even late at night. When she looked back towards the depths of the demon world, she found it pitch black. Although the demons also celebrated the new year, it seemed they could never compare to the prosperity of the human race.
That world held too many things that demons could only dream of.
Yu Zhi frowned, suddenly feeling that the accompanying dishes she had snatched tasted bland.
Just then, a gentle breeze arrived, transforming into a gray figure, the demon ancestor, dressed in a long gown. The demon ancestor seemed to wear the same clothes year-round, never changing them. He glanced at Yu Zhi, then leaped onto the giant rock, looking towards the human world in the south like Yu Zhi. "Has the discussion with Xu Changyou been settled?"
"Mm."
Yu Zhi nodded and said, "Xu Changyou's attitude is very clear. Colliding with the mountain will inevitably damage his cultivation, and there will be obstruction from the human race. Once he decides to act, he risks falling a realm or even being killed. Therefore, he also hopes that our demon world will show some sincerity to this 'wanderer'."
"What does he want?"
"Fifty thousand gold zizi coins, plus the Golden Cloud Lamp enshrined in the Ancestral Mountain treasury. He wants to refine the Golden Cloud Lamp into his fourth intrinsic object. After that, he will possess the cultivation of a peak thirteenth realm. Even if colliding with the mountain damages his cultivation, it should not cause him to fall a realm."
"Possible."
The Demon Ancestor nodded. "What about the East Sea..."
"It's agreed."
Yu Zhi smiled. "Although the old fellow is greedy, he also knows that once the situation of submergence occurs, the greatest beneficiary will still be the Flood Dragons in the depths of the East Sea. So, after I merely hinted at it, he agreed and is willing to join forces with the Ancestral Mountain. In the end, although he is the ruler of the depths of the East Sea, he is still a member of the demon race."
"Understood."
The Demon Ancestor took a deep breath and said, "You will personally oversee the strategy in Xishu. You can deploy any cultivators above the fifth realm from anywhere on the Ancestral Mountain. Everyone must obey your orders, Yu Zhi. So... go ahead and do it. If there is any movement from the human upper realm, I will act accordingly. You don't need to worry about anything."
He then frowned and said, "Is there movement from the Deer-Seeking Sword? This divine sword, one of the top ten famous swords in the world, is the prelude to the Xishu strategy. But do not let the Deer-Seeking Sword ruin our great undertaking."
"Don't worry."
Yu Zhi said, "The reappearance of the Deer-Seeking Sword in the world is a matter of these few days. The calculations of Lord Nine-Tails will not be wrong."
"That's good. Handle this matter carefully. If the plan is truly successful, our demon race can take the opportunity to move south."
"Yes!"
Yu Zhi nodded, turned to look at the human world to the south, and smiled, "Let the humans enjoy this new year. This might be their last peaceful one."
...
The first day of the first lunar month, predawn.
In the human world, Shuzhou.
When the sky was still pitch black, ten thousand rays of auspicious light suddenly shot up from the depths of the Qinling Mountains in Shuzhou. As cultivators on various famous mountains looked towards that direction, they saw what appeared to be a white deer dharma form rising within the auspicious light, transforming into a faint and ethereal figure, stepping over the peaks of the mountains in the Qinling range and disappearing into the wind at high speed. Although it was fleeting, it seemed to be a manifestation of some great Dao for the entire world.
Morning.
In a small town outside the Qinling Mountains.
A female martial artist in a white short shirt passed through the town. She had tied her hair up at the back, using chopsticks as a hairpin, making her look very capable. Despite her ordinary attire, her eyes held a divine radiance, making her entire demeanor exceptionally extraordinary. No one would have thought she was just a simple traveling woman.
Yu Wanning, once the female martial god of the Ancient Shu Kingdom in the Hundred Flowers Realm, naturally possessed such bearing.
It had been several months since she left the Snow Region Heavenly Pond. Yu Wanning had traveled, stopping and starting, her actions limited to practicing boxing and traveling, gradually increasing her understanding of this human world, and slowly integrating into it. Now, her boxing intent was becoming more and more potent, and her understanding of this world grew, making her a true female martial artist of the Great Shang Dynasty.
Currently, Yu Wanning had passed through the Northern Region, crossed Fusu Great Wall, traveled through Yunzhou and Jizhou, and journeyed south to the legendary Shuzhou. This Shuzhou was once called Xishu, but in fact, Shuzhou was located on the eastern side of the Great Shang Dynasty. It was called Xishu because thousands of years ago, there was an East Shu. Unfortunately, due to some biến cố, East Shu sank into the sea, leaving only West Shu, which had been incorporated into the Great Shang Dynasty's territory.
Today was the first day of the first lunar month, a day for the human world to celebrate the new year.
Yu Wanning rose early from the woodshed of an inn, slipped out through the back window, and then came to the street. She meagerly took out a few copper coins from her travel bag and approached a steamed bun stall. Smiling, she said, "Boss, two baskets of large meat buns, and can I get some free noodle soup?"
"Ah!?"
The boss looked at the beautiful woman with eyes like flowing water outside and couldn't help but frown. Then he smiled and said, "The noodle soup is free. Do you want some, honored guest?"
"Mm, three bowls first, I'll have some with the meat buns."
"???"
The boss looked astonished. Three bowls of noodle soup to "have some"?
However, he still served three bowls of noodle soup and then gave Yu Wanning two baskets of steamed buns.
...
A short while later, this former female martial god of the Ancient Shu Kingdom was feasting, eating meat buns and drinking noodle soup, finding it exceptionally pleasant. After all, it was the new year, and eating a few baskets of meat buns couldn't be too much, right? All the way here, Yu Wanning, despite carrying the hundred gold zizi coins given to her by Lin Zhao, had truly not spent a single one. Since she was traveling the martial world, she would "travel poor." Yu Wanning had seen Lin Zhao's way of doing things; he was often stingy, which she found amusing at times, but she thought it was good. Lin Zhao should be like that.
Yu Wanning highly approved of the ethos of Shan Dian Bie Yuan. In the past few months, she had thought more than once about returning to Shan Dian Bie Yuan and serving under Lin Zhao. But a mere mere realm of stepping into the sea, how could she assist Lin Baiyi of the Snow Region Heavenly Pond? She heard rumors that Chi Zhongyu was already an eleventh-realm Sword Immortal. Then she, Yu Wanning, certainly couldn't fall behind. Therefore, practicing boxing diligently, forging an eleventh-realm martial artist with a deep foundation, and then returning to the Snow Region Heavenly Pond to take orders under Lin Zhao, this was the path she had laid out for herself in the martial world.