The sunlight shone through the windows of the room, directly landing on Lin Xuanhao who was sitting cross-legged on his bed.
He had woken up a couple of hours ago and had been cultivating since then, on the verge of breaking through to the Third Stage of Body Forging Realm.
A couple more hours passed, and with a cracking sound spreading throughout his body, he entered the Third Stage of Body Forging Realm.
Feeling refreshed, he stood up straight and stretched again before opening the door and heading out of the room. This entire mansion like house had no one besides Lin Xuanhao residing in it, mainly because Village Head Liu didn't want to disturb him and thus he didn't tell anyone to tend to him.
As soon as he stepped out of the house, his gaze landed on the villagers doing their own things and children running around in the rising sun.
He couldn't help but feel a deep sense of nostalgia from this scene.
The next moment, all the people who saw him hurriedly paid their respects.
Almost all the villagers since last night knew that an Immortal had arrived in their village and would stay here for a few days.
They did not doubt the existence of Immortals, specially because the Village Head Liu had said so himself.
Lin Xuanhao smiled warmly at them before sitting down on a wooden stool, watching a group of children playing and the adults going about their own way.
Even with an Immortal in their village, their daily lives would go on as usual, specially those who were the only ones working with a large family.
Soon enough, Lin Xuanhao was surrounded by a bunch of kids aged from 3 to 14, as they listened to the various tales of Immortals that he narrated.
In reality, they were all stories he had personally witnessed as he was the main character in most of them.
He wasn't showing off as he didn't tell them that, but he felt like it was good to relax like this after years of bitter cultivation.
After some time, his gaze landed on the kid from yesterday who he had met at the entrance of the village. He was the grandson of Village Head Liu, Liu Chenfeng.
His mother was a daughter of Village Head Liu while his father was the part of an escort agency who had unfortunately died in a bandit attack a few years ago.
Right now, Liu Chenfeng was only 9 years old.
Remembering that he had promised Village Head Liu to impart cultivation techniques, Lin Xuanhao beckoned for all the kids to sit around him in a lotus position and began to impart a very basic cultivation technique he knew. However, this technique alone could easily allow one to become an Immortal at the very least and ascend to the Immortal World.
Even though he wasn't obliged to do this, specially since Village Head Liu wouldn't dare to say anything to him, he felt like he had taken upon a responsibility and should fulfill his part.
During the imparting process, most kids were confused and could not even remember the contents of the technique, and Lin Xuanhao couldn't care less about if they understood or not.
Doing too much for someone would eventually harm themselves.
But surprisingly, Liu Chenfeng could not only remember the content of the technique, he could even vaguely understand some concepts of it.
Lin Xuanhao had heard that Liu Chenfeng was a genius from other villagers, and he also believed it as he saw that Liu Chenfeng had a special fate and extraordinary Providence.
Which was why he gave attention to him the most.
At this point, Lin Xuanhao was explaining the beginner cultivation realms, which drew the attention of not just the kids, but also the nearby villagers and Village Head Liu even came out himself to sit on the ground to listen to him speak.
"The first realm of Immortal Cultivation is the Body Forging Realm, and although the lifespan of Body Forging Realm cultivators is still mortal, they hold immense power and can break encirclements of hundreds of normal mortal soldiers..."
As all of them listened attentively, they realized that even the Immortals weren't really immortal and had a limited lifespan as well.
It was just that the higher one's cultivation base, the higher their lifespan.
"Deity, what comes after the Body Forging Realm?"
Village Head Liu couldn't help but ask.
"After the Body Forging Realm is the Meridian Connecting Realm. An average Meridian Connecting Realm cultivator can live for a hundred years at the very least without any serious injuries or extraordinary illnesses. This realm is when one has truly stepped onto the path of becoming extraordinary."
As he explained, the villagers' eyes widened in shock.
A hundred years!
In the ancient times where commoners did not know much prosperity and even nobles barely lived past the age of 70, a minimum of a hundred years of lifespan was what every Emperor chased after!
And now, they, who did not even belong to the Heavenly Capital, were listening to the preaching of a young Immortal about things that countless royals of the past yearned for...
Village Head Liu couldn't help but think of what good deeds he had done to deserve this.
As he thought of this, Village Head Liu suddenly came to a realization.
"The current Emperor is already past the age of a hundred years...could he secretly be a Meridian Connecting Realm persona? Since even the National Dynasty is connected to the Immortal Sect."
He muttered to himself, but his voice did not escape Lin Xuanhao's ears.
"It's possible that the emperors are all disciples of the Immortal Sect behind the scenes."
He said slowly, his tone of voice calm, as if he was talking about a trivial matter.
He had seen too many such scenarios in the past where the Emperors of mortal dynasties were puppet disciples of a cultivation faction which used them to control the secular world.
Such a sect...there must be at least a Vibrant Core Realm cultivator protecting it.
Lin Xuanhao thought silently, deducing various things.
Right now, without getting his hands on another Dao Fragment, he could only recover to the peak of Foundation Building Realm.
Despite that, it won't be difficult for him to face not just the Vibrant Core Realm but even against the Profound Soul Realm, he may stand a chance with his true strength.
However, he still had to search for the other Dao Fragments as quickly as possible to recover his full cultivation base and Providence.
Let's think about all this later on. I still have time.
It's not like there's anything important I'll have to do.
Those two old fellows will handle everything in my stead.
Thinking of this, he continued to chat and listen to the many tales of the villagers.
"The emperors of the past are all connected to the Immortal Sect...if I may ask, deity, what is your stance on this?"
Village Head Liu asked cautiously, not wanting to accidentally offend the young Immortal before him.
"I have no stance whatsoever. I'm going to leave after some time, after all."
Lin Xuanhao replied, and Village Head Liu nodded respectfully.
"You all can try cultivating with the techniques I've imparted. I'm going back."
Saying that, he slowly stood up and walked towards the house he was staying in as the villagers wished him a good rest.
It was already noon now, and he had already eaten breakfast when he was out right now.
Now was the time to cultivate again and breakthrough to the Fourth Stage of Body Forging Realm!
Lin Xuanhao sat down cross-legged on the bed as the Dao Fragment within him quickly dispersed and merged into his very being, advancing his cultivation.
...
Meanwhile, on the mountain path where Lin Xuanhao had come from.
An old man leaned down to touch a rock with blood stains as multiple people behind him dragged horrendous and indistinguishable corpses onto small, wooden carriages, throwing one corpse on top of another.
Many of these corpses were missing a head or had holes through their chests, while a few were even eaten by wild beasts around here.
"The blood stains have dried up, which means this happened quite some time ago, possibly yesterday. But the concerning fact is that all of them were killed off by a single attack through their vital parts such as the head or the chest. It was not done by a normal human."
The old man slowly stood up and said without turning around as he stroked his beard, a solemn expression on his face.
"Old Huang died a horrible death, indeed."
A 7 feet tall middle aged man sat on a clean stone, his sharp eyes looking over at the old man as he let out a heavy sigh.
"It seems that whoever did this left for the Liu Family Village ahead. It's been quite a while since I've been there."
The tall middle aged man stood up slowly, a saber in his hands as he looked towards the direction of the Liu Family Village.
"I guess it's time to pay them a visit."