Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
They watched Li Nianfan walk to the backyard with a shovel. Urchin thought of his ancestor in the backyard. His lip twitched and he asked, “Mr. Li, can we follow you?”
Li Nianfan casually replied, “Why not? But the backyard’s just full of dirt and trees. Nothing interesting.”
What a humble statement.
He was secretly proud of his backyard. With his tender care, the backyard was like a fancy back garden. Even the fruit trees were trimmed and planted well. The crops were fabulous and he had a lot of decorative plants, too. It was beautiful.
Urchin and Xiao Chengfeng were energetic because Li Nianfan agreed. They followed him. Daji would naturally follow Li Nianfan, too. It caused everyone to follow suit.
Taoist Xinghe could not just sit there. He followed out of curiosity, too.
Why did it feel like a group trip?
Creak…
The door to the backyard swung open.
Suddenly, everyone was focused. They saw the backyard through the opened door and felt eldritch-era vibes.
The vibes…
Urchin, Xiao Chengfeng, and Taoist Xinghe were stunned. They were the ones who felt it the most. They teared up from reminiscing.
Because… They were people from that era.
The backyard was way different compared to the outside of the four-part architecture. The backyard was pure. Not pure as in naïve, but pure as in clean.
It had no messy substance at all. No Spiritual Qi!
The Eldritch eras had no Spiritual Qi. It was filled with Immortal Qi instead. Insights were everywhere, powers were overwhelming, a lot of strong forces existed, and the sky was full of Immortals. It was glorious. It would make an Immortal feel embarrassed to show up.
Times were different. Cultivators took over and became the elites.
The three of them trembled as they stepped into the backyard with devotion in their hearts.
Then, they all took a deep breath simultaneously.
“Ah—Wonderful!”
They looked over at the bushes of flowers, the green forest, and the flowing river streams. It was a unique sight to behold. It did not look much different from ordinary scenery but it did somehow feel like Heaven.
It was kind of like looking at the same clothes. They look the same but they could tell it was made from different materials.
The materials were too different.
Taoist Xinghe observed closely. He was reminiscing about a previous era, but he was also trying to achieve a mission.
Incredible, the place was incredible.
‘Seventh Princess, you can’t possibly imagine what the place looks like. He’s a massive bigshot.’
He first saw the Five-Color-Sacred Cow who was eating the grass. It wagged its tail and looked at everyone curiously. When the Sacred Cow saw Li Nianfan, it spread its legs like it was ready to be milked.
How self-aware.
Then, he saw the surrounding plants. A lovely fruity scent could be smelled. He did not need to cultivate to feel his powers growing.
He finally knew why that papaya contained the Power of Law. It was because…the papaya was from the backyard. It was filled with Spiritual Plants!
He looked at the tree again. It was full of fruits, glistening and cool. They were all Spiritual Fruits!
When he interned at the Heavenly Palace, he would only have one Spiritual Fruit every 100 years if he was lucky.
He was from the eldritch eras and he survived natural tribulations. He was a man of knowledge and he considered himself a calm person. However, he was still shocked by the backyard.
Incredibly terrifying!
Buzz…
A little bee happily buzzed by in the flowers as it collected honey.
A few curious bees surrounded Taoist Xinghe. It made him stiffen up. He did not dare to move.
Golden Bees.
Those were Golden Bees. Even in eldritch eras, the Heavenly Palace spent a lot of costs to capture it. In the end, they could not even tame a Golden Bee!
Did the Golden Bees settle down in the backyard?
No wonder the expert could simply drink milk from the Five-Color Sacred Cow and eat honey from the Golden Bees. Those were just the tip of the iceberg in his backyard.
Truly the life of a bigshot. Unimaginable happiness.
Li Nianfan noticed that everyone was mesmerized. He laughed and asked, “How is it? Is it nice?”
“Ni—nice. Super nice!”
Urchin and the others nodded. They were beyond shocked. They had lived for a long time and they knew they had a fancy vocabulary. However, they could not think of words to compliment the place. The backyard was indescribable.
“I thought so, too,” laughed Li Nianfan. Then, he said, “Too bad I still have a lot of empty spaces. I worry that my plants are too repetitive. It would affect the look, so I cleaned it out and waited for new things to plant. I’m not sure when I can fill it up.”
He looked excited. As a certified farmer, he wanted his back garden to be perfect. However, he had not found the suitable plants yet.
The Immortal Realm was great, but there was too little variety in plants. It was not interesting enough.
There it was!
The hint of the expert!
Everyone was intrigued. They were not surprised. They were joyous instead.
It was a huge honor to work for the expert.
They looked at the things in the backyard again and suddenly felt stressed.
There were various plants and they were extraordinary species. It seemed like they had to work hard on it.
They all looked at each other. There were sparks in the air as they viewed each other as competition.
Taoist Xinghe hurriedly said, “Mr. Li, I know a few rare species of plants. I’ll take notice of some when I go back.”
Bootlicker!
Xiao Chengfeng and Urchin secretly cursed. They were too late. They hurriedly added on, “Mr. Li, we can do it, too.”
Li Nianfan smiled and said, “Thanks, everyone. It’d be nice if you could, but don’t force yourselves.”
It was so nice to be friends with helpful cultivators.
He continued to walk in the backyard. Soon, they were at the center of the backyard, next to the pond.
Everyone followed as they stepped on the grass. It made small crunchy noises but the sounds hammered on their hearts.
They were stepping on Spiritual Herbs!
They thought to themselves, “Mother, Father, look at me now. I’m stepping on Spiritual Herbs.”
Urchin looked at the nearby pond. He had a complex gaze.
Was his ancestor hidden inside the pond? No wonder he stayed. If he could live in the backyard, he would not want to leave, too!
He thought about it and calmed himself down. He chose to not disturb his ancestor.
Li Nianfan took out the gourd seed. He observed it before roughly digging a hole. He placed it in the hole and stared at it. He fell into deep thought.
Everyone else was silent because Li Nianfan did not say anything. They did not dare to breathe hard.
Daji squatted and helped Li Nianfan up. “Any problems?”
“This seed is eight percent dead. It’s not hard to revive it but it won’t bear fruits for a year or two.”
Li Nianfan frowned. He was relying on the gourd to be a bottle for his wine. A year or two was not much for a cultivator, but for him, it was a long time.
“Seems like I have to rush its growth.” Li Nianfan stood up and said, “Wait for me, I’m going to get some growth serum.”
He walked out from the backyard and ran to the storage room.
Everyone let go of their breaths when Li Nianfan left. They were as stressed as Alexander the Great around the expert.
Urchin looked at Taoist Xinghe. He smiled and said, “Xinghe, who knew you’d still be alive.”
“You’re alive too, right?” laughed Taoist Xinghe. He asked, “You’re the Dragon King now?”
Urchin nodded. “Yeah. How about you? If you’re having a rough time, you can come to my Dragon Palace.”
Taoist Xinghe laughed and said, “I’m working for the Seventh Princess. She gave me the title ‘Xing Guan’ to work amongst the stars. You want to hire me?”
The two looked at each other and smiled. However, they suddenly teared up, feeling bittersweet.
It was a simple conversation but it contained so many unforgettable memories. They could not help but reminisce.
At that time, Urchin was still a rebellious Dragon Prince. Xinghe was a small deity working for the stars. The Heavenly Palace did not get along with the Dragon Palace. So, Urchin would cause trouble during the night. The two of them became close friends over time.
At that time, they had no ambitions. They were the punk duo.
They would never have imagined that the realm would end up like that.
Urchin was a Dragon King, but he was a Dragon King when the Dragons were facing extinction. It was an empty title. Xinghe was known as Xing Guan who lost the Star Realm. He felt like he was nothing.
If they could have it their way, they would rather not have anything. All they wanted was to go back to the eldritch eras.
Urchin said, “At that time, all the elites of my Dragon kind went away. They were on the move. In the end, they had to shut the Dragon Door. I was stuck inside and had no idea what was going on outside. Xinghe, do you know what happened?”
“I luckily survived, too. I only know a bit of it,” Xinghe said and paused. “The natural tribulation was the first sign. It represents the rise of the Demons. Chaos ensued. It annihilated some Buddhism sects. Then, the battle between Buddhists and Demons never stopped. They battled for more than ten thousand years. Humans began to rise. They’re against the Demons. Perhaps they were arrogant, as they chose to battle the Demons. The Above Immortal Realm was more than ridiculous. Some supported the humans, and some supported the Demons. We also fought in the end.”
Urchin said, “I know about that. There were a lot of internal conflicts. They fought their own kind.”
The Fire Phoenix frowned and said, “It’s just meaningless conflict. How did it end up so badly?”
Xinghe helplessly said, “I only know that much. I have no access to the deeper reason.”
Dragin interrupted, “I know. Is the leader of the Demons named Lawless?”
Xinghe was slightly taken aback. “How did you know?”
Dragin smiled and said, “Brother told me so. I also know about the Gautama Buddha and Wukong.”
Xinghe looked serious. He said in a low voice, “You’re talking about ‘Journey to the West’, right? During that era, I wasn’t born yet. But I confirmed it with the Seventh Princess. It seems like the contents of the story is real.”
“Brother’s from the eldritch eras. Those were his personal experiences. It’s real of course.”
Dragin pouted and said, “Sister Nanan knows the goal of the expert.”
Everyone looked at Nanan.
Nanan was slightly surprised. Then, she said in an unsure tone, “I think Brother Nianfan’s going against Fate.”
Everyone raised their eyebrows in shock.
Daji did not look happy at all. “Why so?”
Nanan immediately told them about what happened in the Chuchen Town. Then, she looked angry. She said with determination, “I have to find out who’s behind it and avenge my Master!”
Xiao Chengfeng looked like he realized something. He said, “I see. So, the expert’s going against Fate. That means I have to be his frontline.”
The Fire Phoenix fell into deep thought. She said, “Yes. In a faraway era, humans were considered the elites of the realm. After the big tribulation, humans became incredibly unlucky. It’s the circle of Fate in the realm.”
Daji had sparkles in her eyes. “Master wants to rebuild the eldritch eras. Change the fate of the world. We have to help him!”
Urchin said, “I don’t understand any of it, but I do know how powerful the expert is. I’m going with the expert for sure.”
Everyone was previously troubled because they did not know what the expert was up to. They pieced it together and felt uplifted. It was as if they figured it out, as if they realized their value to the expert.
Blackie quietly laid on a tree. Blackie looked at the bunch who were having a wild discussion, then looked at the sky. Blackie yawned. “Master’s going against Fate? Why don’t I know about it?”
Li Nianfan walked over with a glass container as small as a thumb.
Everyone stopped talking and looked at the small glass container.
It was filled with a translucent liquid, not much different from normal water.
“This is the growth serum. It’s a kind of fertilizer that can speed up the growth of the plant,” explained Li Nianfan while he poured it on the seed.
The liquid was quickly absorbed by the dirt. Then, everyone could feel the rapid growth of the seed. They witnessed the sprout come out from the dirt with a ‘pop’!
Most importantly, the sprout emitted an odd liveliness. It was astounding to look at.
Heavenly Spiritual Plant!
Was the seed a Heavenly Spiritual Plant?
Moreover, was the growth serum so effective? It could speed up the growth of a Heavenly Spiritual Plant?
A Heavenly Spiritual Root was raised by the realm. It would not fully grow unless it has been millions of years.
“This…”
Taoist Xinghe felt his worldview crumble. His mind was buzzing. He could not believe what he was seeing.
It could not be described as legendary. It was completely magical. Not even Fate could do that.
The expert defied the Laws of Nature with the liquid.
“Awesome, right? This stuff is rare and limited. I won’t use it unless I have to,” laughed Li Nianfan. Then, he said, “It can be used to speed up ordinary plants.”
The Heavenly Spiritual Plant was considered an ordinary plant?
Everyone moved their mouths but no words came out.
Urchin twitched. He stiffened and looked at the glass container. He forced a smile and said, “Ha, this growth serum’s truly magical. You should use it sparingly since you only have one container of it.”
Li Nianfan replied, “Oh, I have more. Not a lot though. Just a full bucket .”
