"Let my brother escort you down."
The scholar seated cross-legged on the ground spoke softly.
The robust man with a beard standing beside walked directly to the crack on the ground without any hesitation, took a step forward, and soon a thud resounded.
The bearded man, who was, in fact, the scholar's brother, wasn't tall.
About six feet or so.
He could even be described as short, but his stature was excessively robust, and he was adorned with beast armor amidst his hemp clothes, complete with a full-face beard and extremely abundant body hair.
It made one unable to resist calling him a stout man.
Immediately after, the scholar seated at the edge of the cliff gestured with a wave of his hand for Chen Qiu and his companion to come to him, reached out, grasped the corner of their clothes, and in the blink of an eye, he had already brought them to the bottom of the cliff.
...
"..."
Chen Qiu stood still, surveying his surroundings. The valley floor here was hundreds of feet away from the surface, covered in dead grass and grey stones, the bare rock walls on either side marked with trails from the rainwater.
Looking up, the sky appeared extremely narrow.
This part of the valley, with neither end visible, was extremely long yet narrow, barely wide enough for eight people to stand shoulder to shoulder, feeling rather cramped. On both sides of the rock walls, there were honeycomb-like caves.
From time to time, a sound like that of a baby crying could be heard, carried by the wind and drifting deep into the valley.
"We've arrived."
"In an hour, my brother will come down to fetch you."
"Listen for the sound and look up, don't get crushed."
The scholar once again formed that familiar Taoist technique gesture and softly said, "Knock."
A three-foot green blade shot out from his sleeve towards the sky, and soon after, the scholar seated on the rock disappeared from sight, and the bearded robust man beside him vanished just as quickly.
After the two left.
Chen Qiu took a deep breath, his expression somewhat vigilant as he held Huang Shikai's resentful spirit in his left hand, examining his surroundings: "Prepare for the enemy."
His plan was simple.
If killing a demon beast in the Qi Refinement Realm could yield a substantial advancement in Cultivation, why should he waste too much time in the Qi Refinement Stage? Although he didn't have many spirit stones to buy severely injured demon beasts, it would be the same if he killed them himself, just riskier.
Moreover, as long as he broke through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, his Pink Entry would be able to fully utilize its function.
Accelerating his Cultivation to reach Foundation Establishment as soon as possible was the proper path.
"Pretty good."
Fat Long breathed a sigh of relief, taking out his own Lifebound Spirit Treasure, a long saber called 'Dragon Slayer,' and firmly gripped it in his hand, standing behind Chen Qiu ready to face the enemy together.
He and Chen Qiu had known each other for only a day.
But the experiences of this day were more thrilling than the five months since he arrived in this world!
...
Meanwhile, on the cliff above the valley.
The young man dressed as a scholar sat cross-legged in the same spot, looking at the clouds on the horizon with a somewhat absent-minded expression, neither reading nor cracking sunflower seeds, seemingly lost in thought or daydreaming.
"Brother."
At that moment—
The silent bearded robust man suddenly spoke in a deep voice: "He was the first to squat down and speak with you."
"Why not follow him?"
"Him?"
The scholar only then reacted, and after pondering for a while, he couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle: "He won't do, he's too weak, and he has no power. He's of no use to us."
Long ago, he had been searching for an appropriate master.
But he hadn't found a single suitable one yet.
He told his younger brother that he needed his master to respect him, at least to squat down to talk to him when recruiting him, instead of making him look up.
His younger brother, who had always been slow-witted and extremely trusting of him, naturally believed him.
However, none of the forces that came to recruit him did squat down to talk to him; not to mention that none of the Family Heads or Sect Masters came to recruit him personally — it was always their subordinates.
Those Family Heads and even the Great Elders couldn't even be bothered to personally make a trip, as if coming in person for the two brothers would be beneath their dignity.
"But..."
The bearded, muscular man's voice grew weaker, "Brother, you don't have long to live. You once were Da Xia's number one Sword Cultivator, but now your Cultivation has fallen to the third layer of Foundation Establishment. If you don't find a good master, you will die."
"Hmm."
The scholar sitting cross-legged on the ground summoned a miniature version of a three-foot green blade, looking at his Lifebound Spirit Treasure which quivered and seemed to possess a spirit of its own in front of him with a complex expression, silently without speaking.
He started cultivating at the age of thirteen, achieved perfect Foundation Establishment recognized by the Heavenly Dao at fifteen, and stepped into the Golden Core Realm at twenty-four.
The Initial Entry and the entries obtained from subsequent Great Realms were extremely compatible with Sword Cultivators.
He obtained various entries and Cultivation Techniques fit for him in several Secret Realms and Grotto Heavens!
At the age of twenty-seven, he single-handedly battled the top three ranks of the 'Heavenly Pride Leaderboard' of Da Xia, holding his ground and after three hours of fierce fighting, he slew all three and sealed their throats with one sword, thereby making a name for himself throughout the world!
The world called him the number one Sword Cultivator of Da Xia.
They called him a young achiever.
Being successful at a young age, he naturally thought he was as high as the sky. Afterward, his actions became increasingly willful, even believing that a Sword Cultivator ought to act on impulse, and those who hesitated didn't deserve to be called Sword Cultivators!
Eliminate displeasing affairs, kill detestable people.
He believed there was nothing in the world he couldn't settle, no one he couldn't kill.
He offended countless people, yet no one could hold him. The world only knew him as 'Bai Yi,' Da Xia's number one Sword Cultivator, yet no one knew he had a brother, nor did they know about their shared Bloodline Entry.
Wherever he went, his younger brother was always within ten thousand miles waiting for him.
If he met with a mishap, he would immediately Teleport to escape.
Yes, their Bloodline Entry for Teleportation wasn't limited to a hundred miles, but ten thousand miles — as long as he wanted to leave, no one in the world could stop him.
His younger brother was somewhat dim-witted. Whenever he came home and told his younger brother about the glory he had outside, his brother always felt puzzled and uninterested, merely advising him to be cautious.
He didn't know what caution was.
He only knew that he was happy when everyone discussed him when everyone called him the number one Sword Cultivator of Da Xia.
He would even deliberately pause and stealthily listen to those admiring discussions about him.
But later...
Later on, he still fell. There are no eternal legends in Jianghu. His fame in Da Xia was once known to nearly every household, but now no one speaks of him.
As if Da Xia had never had a number one Sword Cultivator.
Or perhaps there was already a new number one Sword Cultivator.
Just four years had passed, and he was dead, dead in the Jianghu.
No one discussed him anymore.
No storyteller spoke with emphasis and modulation about his deeds.
In that battle, he was severely wounded by three late-stage Golden Core experts, escaped death through faking it with his entries, his Cultivation severely declined, and with Bone Devouring Poison planted in his body, he had no choice but to change his appearance and name. Taking his younger brother with him, they hid away in a corner of Fufeng City in Da Xia.
The only condition for recruiting him was to give him a 'Heavenly Dao Jade.'
It cost 3,000 Spirit Stones.
With the Heavenly Dao Jade, he couldn't recover to the Golden Core Stage, but he could resolve the Bone Devouring Poison within him, suffer less daily, not face imminent death, and live a few more decades.
In those decades, he could once again protect his younger brother.
Though not as glorious as in the past,
at least they would not have to worry about food and clothing.
But that price...not a single force could offer it, nor were any willing to, and he certainly couldn't claim his former title as Da Xia's number one Sword Cultivator to justify the price.