Time ticked by, bit by bit. The girl’s pretty face slowly turned pale, not a trace of color left in her cheeks.

The Desolate Continent lay in dead silence. Many people were deeply wary of that presence spreading out from the Six Domains. The Central Plains and Xizhou were a little better—people there couldn’t sense that Chi that towered above heaven and earth. That thick, overwhelming aura had plunged the whole continent into howling wind and driving snow.

“Tu Shan…”

The girl suddenly opened her eyes and murmured under her breath.

…

“Huh?” Long Wuxian sounded surprised. “It’s only been a few months. Why’s it snowing already?”

“Master, you’re not joking, right?”

Yuanhui rushed to the window in shock. His expression turned as serious as Long Wuxian’s.

“Looks like we’ll have to delay your training…”

“Of course. Your body absolutely can’t join any kind of battle right now. As for cultivating…” Long Wuxian looked him over and said, “I think even your Chi training needs to stop. No more meditation either, not until you enter Refining Immortal.”

Long Wuxian knew very clearly that the Chi Yuanhui was bearing now had already far surpassed his limit. It was just temporarily being stored inside the dragon pearl he’d refined.

“So boring…”

“…”

Yuanhui let out a small snort, his expression turning gloomy again.

“…Fine, all right!” Long Wuxian looked like he’d finally made up his mind. He scampered over to Yuanhui and said, “Didn’t you want to hear my story? I’ll tell it to you. That was back when you… ai, anyway, it’s better you’ve forgotten. Don’t blame this old man if you feel embarrassed when I bring it up!”

Once upon a time…

A kid who didn’t even come up to the young boy’s chest was cautiously asking him a question.

“Hahahahaha, what a load of crap!”

The tender-faced boy clutched his stomach, laughing so hard tears almost came out. “If he really sneezed, our Imperial Cultivation City wouldn’t even have a weed left, right? Hahaha…”

The boy, who looked not even ten, was laughing so hard he looked about ready to roll around in the muddy grass.

On the lawn by a cliffside pool, a bunch of seven- or eight‑year‑old kids had gathered around this boy, all here just to listen to this well‑dressed little brat “spout nonsense.”

“Ah… believe it or don’t. A frog at the bottom of a well like you could never dream of soaring in the sky.”

The kid in golden clothes beside him sighed. To be honest, his outfit made him look exactly like the pampered young master of some big clan.

The sky gradually darkened. Kids from all the surrounding great families started heading home one after another.

When that boy was about to go home too, he suddenly noticed that one child ahead of him was still standing there, not moving. All alone.

What’s he even doing? So weird. Come to think of it, I see this little brat here every time I come… talk about bad luck… Hmph, don’t go pitying him. Look at those clothes. He’s probably some rich clan’s young master.

With that thought, the boy decided to ignore him and leave.

However…

People’s hearts are soft, after all. When the boy felt the light drizzle starting to fall from the sky, he turned back to look for that kid.

The mountain path wasn’t easy to walk. It was full of pits and bumps—one careless step and you’d tumble like a rolling pig. Luckily, he was more agile than most adults. Before long, he reached the poolside. And sure enough…

The moment he got close, he saw the kid was completely ignoring the raindrops falling on him. He still stood there stubbornly, staring up at the sky, as if some dazzling treasure in the stars was calling to him.

At that point, the boy finally couldn’t take it. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Hey—! Are! You! Not! Going! Home—?!”

“…”

The child didn’t answer. He just kept staring blankly at the sky, like he hadn’t heard a thing.

“Hmph, the Desolate Immortal, huh?”

The kid hesitated for a moment, then lifted his head to the falling rain and muttered, “I’ve doubted he exists too. But look… at these mountains… this land… this—”

“That’s enough! You little brat, are you done yet?!”

The boy’s harsh scolding cut the raving child off in an instant. The kid looked about eight, but the vacant look on his face made the boy feel like he was talking to some ninety‑year‑old elder—impossible to read, impossible to grasp.

Luckily, that one shout finally shut the brat up. In its place, a pair of oversized hands gently brushed across the boy’s cheeks.

“Little kid.”

And it was exactly because of moments like this that, on this Desolate Continent, the thick Chi made countless people throw themselves into cultivation day and night, even risking their lives for the gift heaven and earth had given them.

“From that moment on, that’s when you and I first met. That’s the first place we ever saw each other,” Long Wuxian said with emotion.

“…Hoo…”

“…”

Long Wuxian hadn’t even been talking long before the brat was already snoring away. He was just about to smack Yuanhui on the butt when a strange feeling surged through him, and his body started changing at a shocking pace again.

“He’s actually absorbing heaven and earth’s Chi?!” Long Wuxian gasped.

But this absorption only lasted for about half an hour. Then he sensed that the Chi mass inside the nebula had once again been filled to the brim. He had no choice but to stop that greedy devouring and start circulating the three Chi pellets instead, making that Chi cluster grow closer and closer to true substance.

The speed of this refinement didn’t satisfy Long Wuxian. But there was nothing he could do. Yuanhui was still just a snot‑nosed kid. Being able to do this much was already his limit.

Seeing this, Long Wuxian could only let out a quiet sigh. Then he very carefully pulled a quilt over Yuanhui.

“Long Wuxian, Long Wuxian, how’d you end up taking in such a foolish disciple?” he muttered, shaking his head, his voice full of doting helplessness.

…

Over the next few days, Yuanhui’s star‑nebula stayed much quieter. He spent most of his time immersed in absorption. With those pills in hand, his spiritual root had steadied a lot. He could feel it—right now, with a wave of his hand, he could erase a genuine peak Boundless‑realm expert.

All he needed to do was wait for the day he advanced to Refining Immortal.

“Refining Immortal, huh…” Yuanhui murmured to himself. “At this pace, it shouldn’t be too far away.”