Shuling Mountain was a continuous range of mountains, with a total of only about a hundred disciples. As the founding ancestor and currently the only true immortal in the cultivation world, LingZhao Immortal had thirty-six disciples. Now, half of them were traveling and cultivating elsewhere, making the mountain even less populated.
This time, LingZhao Immortal had summoned nine mortals to the mountain. All the disciples and their juniors on the mountain immediately learned of this news. The younger ones rushed to join the excitement, while the elders were more reserved, still observing from afar.
Shentu Yu, as one of LingZhao Immortal's most favored disciples and one of the few who had never taken on an apprentice, was different from his fellow disciples. His appearance was unusual, and he had never thought about taking on disciples. He lived alone on Secluded Bamboo Mountain, immersed in the art of artifact forging, rarely appearing before others.
Not only was it rare for the dozens of junior disciples to see him, but even his peers - fellow senior and junior brothers and sisters - seldom caught a glimpse of him.
This time, his appearance at the Cloud Pavilion was solely due to his master, LingZhao Immortal.
For several hundred years, LingZhao Immortal had been observing heaven and earth from the Heavenly Observation Platform. Shentu Yu hadn't seen him in many years. For immortal cultivators, time was meaningless, and a hundred years could pass in the blink of an eye. Suddenly receiving a spiritual message from his master surprised Shentu Yu.
"Among the nine who have come to Shuling Mountain, one has a karmic connection with you from a past life."
It was because of this single sentence from LingZhao Immortal that Shentu Yu decided to make an appearance. LingZhao Immortal had already become a true immortal and could see the causes and effects of heaven and earth. For him to specifically mention this, there must be a deeper meaning. Shentu Yu thought that perhaps his master was hinting that he should take on a disciple.
Each disciple on Shuling Mountain had their own strengths. For Shentu Yu, his greatest skill was artifact forging. Therefore, on this trip to the Cloud Pavilion to see the new disciples, he casually brought a simple welcoming gift.
He said he would take a look, and indeed, he only glanced briefly, clearly seeing the nine young human children before promptly leaving. He didn't dwell on figuring out which one was destined to be connected to him. Whatever the karmic connection might be, it would become clear in due time. There was no rush.
His sudden appearance, driven by a whim, caused quite a stir among his fellow disciples. Not long after Shentu Yu left, several of his junior brothers and sisters hurried to the Cloud Pavilion to assess the situation.
The masters of Cai Xing and Yu Feng had arrived, so they had to make way, allowing the elders to sit by the large jade basin for a casual chat.
"It's truly rare for our Senior Brother Shentu to come by. The last time I saw him was over thirty years ago when I asked him to forge a magical treasure for me," said Cai Xing's master, Li Ming Immortal, who also had squinty eyes and wore an enigmatic smile regardless of what he said.
A beautiful Taoist priestess with her long hair tied in a bun glanced at the children in the World in a Basin. "Perhaps Senior Brother Shentu is also thinking of taking on a disciple. To be honest, even I'm considering it. My cultivation has stagnated lately, and solitary practice seems futile. Teaching a disciple might be a good way to pass the time."
"Oh? Which one has caught your eye, Junior Sister Hui Xiang?"
"I find that one-armed boy quite interesting... but never mind, let's wait for Senior Brother Shentu to choose first, then I'll consider it."
The children in the basin world were unaware of the group of future senior brothers, sisters, masters, and uncles - all at least a hundred years old, with no upper limit - watching them. They had finally reached the shore smoothly and were all cheering.
"We've finally reached land!"
"What should we do next?"
Everyone instinctively looked to Xin Xiu. She examined the smooth, mountain-like rocks before them and the towering trees whose tops were out of sight, pondering, "There should be some instructions. Let's look around."
"Over there! There are words on that rock, but what do they say? I can't read."
Xin Xiu glanced over. This was troublesome; she couldn't recognize the writing of this world either.
Fortunately, someone could read it. The Young Master and the aloof and cool young girl said simultaneously: "It says we need to build our own houses." "We must construct our own dwellings."
Xin Xiu: "Build houses?" So they weren't here to cultivate immortality, but to survive in the wilderness? Surely they wouldn't have to farm for self-sufficiency after building the houses?
As they were discussing this, suddenly a black dot appeared in the sky, falling like a shooting star. It floated in front of Xin Xiu, resembling a large lotus seed. Everyone was startled, like chicks spotting an eagle, and they all hid behind Xin Xiu. The Second didn't hide and tried to touch the black seed, but Xin Xiu pulled him back.
She stepped forward herself and reached out to touch the seed floating in the air. The next moment, the seed emitted a soft white light and suddenly blossomed, expanding from beneath Xin Xiu's feet outward. In about ten seconds, the "seed" had transformed into a beautiful large house with dozens of rooms, complete with winding corridors and bridges.
The group stood on the smooth floor, rubbing their shoe soles against it in disbelief.
"This... this is immortal magic! Such a large house, appearing in the blink of an eye!"
"This house is so beautiful, look at the flowers on the pillars, and there's even a courtyard! With chairs and tables!"
Xin Xiu looked at her empty palm and slapped her forehead. Goodness, this really was immortal cultivation! One-click house building was just too cool!
"How did you do that, Big Sis? Was it that thing that turned into the house?" After the excitement died down, the aloof young girl, the Third, asked puzzledly, "Didn't the stone say we had to build our own houses? How did we suddenly get a house?"
They didn't know that this was a small gift Shentu Yu had left when he came to check on them. For a renowned artifact forging master in the immortal cultivation world, creating such a small house was a trivial matter.
Xin Xiu: "Who cares? Now that we have a house, we don't need to build one ourselves. Children, go find rooms you like."
The group watching outside the World in a Basin clapped their hands. "This must be one of Senior Brother Shentu's little creations, only fit to be a toy in the World in a Basin. I was looking forward to seeing what kind of houses these little ones would build. I remember my disciple didn't build a house at all and slept in the open for a whole year."
"Haha, Senior Brother Mu doesn't care about material possessions. I only built a grass hut back then."
"Although the housing issue is solved, there are still many challenges ahead. Let's just watch."
A slightly plump man took out a stack of booklets from his sleeve, making them fly into the large jade basin like scattered flower petals. "Next, let's see which of the Five Elements these children belong to."
...
Xin Xiu had just chosen her room when she happened to look up and saw more objects falling from the sky. "Everyone, come out quickly."
The shower of light dots fell slowly. Xin Xiu reached out to catch them, but the green light dots nimbly avoided her hand and flew into the hands of the Little Beggar behind her, turning into a thin booklet.
The others also caught different light dots, or rather, the light dots seemed to choose them. Two light dots, one gold and one red, fell into Xin Xiu's hands, becoming two booklets.
The others had similar experiences, with some receiving one book, others two or three.
Xin Xiu narrowed her eyes, not immediately looking at the books in her hands, but thoughtfully raising her head to the sky. Earlier, Senior Brother Cai Xing had flown up into the sky and disappeared. Then the large seed that turned into a house had fallen from the sky, and now these booklets had come from above as well.
She had previously thought this place was the Shuling Mountain that Senior Brother Cai Xing mentioned, but now it seemed that, like Alice in Wonderland, this might just be a miniature scene, with someone watching them from "above."
Senior Brother Cai Xing had said that staying here for a year was a kind of test. So, would they have a chance to "ascend" and take a look first?
After pondering for a moment, she looked down at the books. Opening them, she found they were blank. Upon closer inspection, a voice suddenly emanated from one book: "This is Metal Element Magic. To cultivate Metal Element Magic, one must first learn forging and tempering." The other book with the red cover produced a different voice: "This is Fire Element Magic. To cultivate Fire Element Magic, one must first learn cooking."
Xin Xiu: "???" She had misunderstood earlier. It seemed they weren't here to farm, but to become blacksmiths or chefs.
Looking at the others, everyone wore expressions of bewilderment. The arrogant Young Master held his book in a daze: "This book is telling me to... play with mud?"
"He wants me to plant trees," the Little Beggar whispered.
The aloof and cool young girl's face turned green, "He wants me to swim around the lake every day."
There were five tasks in total, and the people alternated tasks according to the books they received. The ones who got the golden book with Xin Xiu included the Golden Boy and Jade Girl. The Little Beggar and the Little Village Girl got the green book together. The Second probably had it worst, as he alone got five books, having a part in every task.
"Do we really have to do this?" someone asked.
Xin Xiu made the final decision: "Yes, we do!"
"Then where should we go to do these things?"
Xin Xiu replied, "Let's search. We're surely not the first ones to come here, and these tasks have definitely been done before. If we look around, we'll find some clues."
She felt like she was playing a puzzle-solving, construction, and upgrade game. Compared to these local children who truly knew nothing, her reactions were much quicker.
The advantage children have over adults is that they can accept new things faster, and as long as someone leads them and does things with them, they will follow.
Although Xin Xiu was an adult, as a mature internet-addicted girl, she adapted to the new world quite quickly. It was just cultivation, after all. She used to "cultivate" often before, staying up late to "cultivate" - in modern times, nine out of ten young people "cultivate," and she particularly suspected that she might have been transported here to do real cultivation because she had "cultivated" too much.
They left the house and wandered around the lotus pond. Sure enough, they soon discovered a large orchard. In this world where everything was generally enlarged, the fruit trees here were of normal size compared to them. Here, being normal was abnormal.
"Those who need to plant trees should probably do it here."
They also found a thatched hut nearby, with a stove on the left and a rusty broken furnace on the right.
"Is this for blacksmithing and cooking?" Xin Xiu touched the furnace, her hand covered in rust.
The Little Village Girl asked a soul-searching question: "How can we cook without a pot?"
Xin Xiu replied, "I guess we need to forge a pot first, then cook."
"Pfft." The Second laughed, seemingly forgetting that he also had to do blacksmithing.
"Is that where I'm supposed to play with mud?" The Young Master pointed tremblingly at a pile of mud, looking desperate. "So much! We can't possibly use it all, right?"
The Second put his arm around his neck, "Isn't more better? I'll play with you."
The nine of them fumbled around for a while, completely clueless about how to complete the tasks, so they returned to the house to rest. Before going back, they picked a large variety of fruits from the orchard. Although Xin Xiu didn't know what these fruits were, they were certainly edible and looked delicious.
"This is what they call 'the predecessors plant trees, the successors enjoy the shade.'"
"No, it's 'the predecessors plant fruits, the successors eat fruits.'"
Everyone returned with pockets full of fruit, at least filling their stomachs. The house could shelter them from wind and rain and was clean, a world apart from the dilapidated house Xin Xiu had lived in for half a month before. So she comfortably lay on the bed and quickly fell asleep.
After she fell asleep, the two books she had placed beside her bed turned into two points of light and entered her forehead.
In her dream, Xin Xiu saw two figures with blurred outlines, one golden and one red, standing on her left and right, reciting some mysterious phrases to her. One voice entered her left ear, the other her right, filling her entire mind.
In the morning, as Xin Xiu got up from bed, she shook her head and unconsciously muttered something, then suddenly clasped her hand over her mouth.
Wait, what did I just say?
When everyone gathered, they found out they all had the same experience last night, as if they had attended a class in their dreams all night long.
The Young Master pressed his head with lifeless eyes, "I can't remember anything I heard last night."
The Little Beggar weakly said, "I remember half of it."
Everyone stared at him, and Xin Xiu was particularly interested, "Then recite what you remember for us to hear?"
The Little Beggar obediently began to recite. Although he stumbled, he managed to recite quite a bit of the difficult pronunciations and complex, lengthy phrases.
"Impressive, impressive!" Xin Xiu led the applause, giving him a thumbs up.
As he recited, everyone saw faint little points of light floating into his body.
"Hey! What was that just now?" the two chubby kids shouted.
The Little Beggar was startled and stopped, "What?"
The others quickly urged him, "Keep reciting, keep reciting!"
But this time they didn't see anything unusual. The Little Beggar, being touched and prodded all over by this group of people big and small, had his face turning red, and now he really couldn't say anything.
Xin Xiu recalled what she heard last night and recited the few sentences she remembered over and over, but felt nothing.
"Remember to listen carefully to the lessons in your dreams at night. In the future, we'll teach each other what we remember every day. This way, we can learn everything as quickly as possible," Xin Xiu pointed at each of the kids one by one.
...
"Incredible, this Wood Element child could gather spiritual energy in just one day. His aptitude must be excellent," sighed a middle-aged man with a beautiful beard, looking at the jade basin. "It's a pity he's not an Earth Element, otherwise I would definitely take him as my disciple."
The beautiful Taoist nun pondered, "The one-armed boy actually has All Five Elements. With All Five Elements, one either blends in with the crowd or stands out exceptionally. I wonder which type he is."
Another who had no intention of taking disciples was more interested in Xin Xiu, "This little girl has a Metal-Fire Spirit Root, which would be suitable for Senior Brother Shentu's disciple. Why don't we guess if she's the one Senior Brother Shentu has his eye on?"
