Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge.
Winter, heavy snow.
"Time passes so quickly..." Chu Xingchen stood in the corridor, gazing at the fluttering snowflakes falling from above.
Although the entire Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge was now blanketed in white, the flowers here would not wither despite the heavy snow.
Brush aside the snow layer, and you could still see vibrant blossoms beneath.
This was not the result of spiritual energy irrigation.
According to San Dong, this was a characteristic of Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge—from the day it gained consciousness, it had always been this way.
This naturally went against the common sense in Chu Xingchen's mind.
But this world couldn't be judged entirely by common sense.
Chu Xingchen was curious about this matter, but he was too lazy to investigate personally. Besides, Cui Hao had been rather active lately, so he handed this task over to him.
He was told to look into this matter when he had nothing better to do during breaks from cultivation.
However, this matter made Chu Xingchen realize something—not the truth about flowers blooming in winter at Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge.
Rather, it was that apart from cultivation, Cui Hao basically had nothing proper to do.
Either he was out gathering information, or he was digging around everywhere.
It was just that Cui Hao's progress was still acceptable; he was still dedicated to cultivation, so Chu Xingchen didn't say much.
But compared to other disciples acknowledged by the system, Cui Hao's progress was still quite a bit slower.
Lin Luoyu had already reached Foundation Establishment Peak, ready to break through to Golden Core at any time.
Cui Hao, on the other hand, was still struggling to break through to Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.
The spiritual energy content in the sect had increased significantly compared to before, and the gap in talent would be widened further under these conditions.
Li Yingling and Li Xingtian were both cultivating diligently.
However, after reaching Golden Core, even Li Yingling, who possessed the [Cultivation Genius] attribute, couldn't be said to be progressing rapidly.
Li Yingling was now working hard to break through to Golden Core Late Stage.
This time, the effort was genuine—it could practically be considered seclusion-level cultivation.
Perhaps Li Xingtian had also applied pressure on this Eldest Senior Sister in terms of cultivation.
After all, if her cultivation was surpassed by her somewhat foolish Second Junior Brother, where would the face of this self-proclaimed genius Eldest Senior Sister go?
Li Xingtian's cultivation was truly desperate—he was almost at the point of not even coming out for air.
Actually, the main reason was that Li Xingtian possessed experience that Li Yingling lacked.
He had genuinely cultivated to the Nascent Soul Realm before, and his understanding of the Nascent Soul Realm was something Li Yingling didn't have.
Li Xingtian just needed to cultivate hard; Li Yingling still needed to comprehend the Nascent Soul Realm itself.
However, once reaching the Nascent Soul Realm and Li Xingtian's advantage was completely exhausted, it would probably be difficult to catch up to Li Yingling again.
Actually, for cultivation, besides having good spiritual energy supply.
Occasionally taking a few pills to assist cultivation was also excellent.
Especially when one's own master was a pill refining master—wouldn't not taking them be a waste of resources?
The terrible taste wasn't really an issue, and as for side effects, couldn't those be considered training too!
This proposal from Chu Xingchen was immediately and firmly rejected by Li Yingling.
Li Yingling declared—she would rather swallow spirit stones raw than eat pills refined by her master.
However...
Li Xingtian, after deep consideration, then firmly stated—he could try.
Chu Xingchen remembered Li Xingtian's determined expression vividly. Truly a tough guy, the second disciple—it had to be him!
Of course, what was even more unforgettable was Li Yingling's expression upon hearing this.
Li Yingling was first shocked, then gave a look that said "has your brain been damaged by eating master's pills?"
Are master's pills something to be tried?!
Li Yingling left behind a single sentence—"Junior Brother, Eldest Senior Sister underestimated you"—then turned and left without hesitation.
Aside from his personal disciples.
The sect's mountain-protecting divine beast, the Green Snake, had also broken through from Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment.
It also received a divine ability distributed by the system.
Its combat power had achieved a qualitative leap—from being evenly matched with the sect mascot San Dong to being able to thoroughly beat San Dong.
Combat power had increased several times over—truly something to celebrate.
Xie Lingyu also didn't stay in the sect for long; most of the time, she returned to Tian Yan Sect to cultivate.
Either Chu Xingchen would invite her, or only after a long time would she occasionally come for a visit.
However, Xie Lingyu had mentioned that Bai Xuanling seemed to have gone on a sect mission.
Since that day, she hadn't returned.
Xie Lingyu had also asked Lv Xuan about the situation, but the answer was that it was classified information, and all news was currently confidential.
However, Bai Xuanling was doing well and had sent letters back.
Thinking about her own master's cultivation level, she probably couldn't do much even if she went.
Xie Lingyu could only entrust the Sect Master to send a letter to Bai Xuanling, hoping she would be careful in all things.
Many things seemed to have happened, but without personally experiencing them, there was a somewhat dreamlike sense of detachment.
Not to mention that cultivation knows no passage of time.
It seemed like just a blink, and the scorching sun had transformed into heavy snow.
"Boiling tea in winter, waiting for next year's spring tea."
Chen Baiqing stood beside Chu Xingchen, watching the stone chair she used to sit on now covered in wind and snow.
She continued, "Master, would you like some winter tea?"
Chu Xingchen turned his head and looked at Chen Baiqing. Perhaps she had reached the age to grow taller.
Although they saw each other every day, he could keenly sense that Chen Baiqing had grown taller.
From his waist, she had grown to his chest.
Chu Xingchen didn't answer the previous question, but smiled and said:
"I can't call you Little Baiqing anymore."
Chen Baiqing looked at her master with a puzzled expression.
Chu Xingchen smiled and pinched Chen Baiqing's little face:
"You'll grow as tall as your senior sister soon. You've grown up, so I can't call you Little Baiqing anymore."
"Master can call me whatever you want. Baiqing will always be Master's Little Baiqing."
Chu Xingchen smiled and nodded, then said:
"Call Cui Hao and Luoyu over. If Miaoyu is free, invite her for tea too. If others are free, call them as well. On a snowy day, let's not go to the poolside—staying in the corridor is nice too."
Chen Baiqing nodded gently and replied, "Then please wait a moment, Master."
"Mm." Chu Xingchen nodded lightly.
Chen Baiqing turned and left.
Listening to Chen Baiqing's footsteps gradually fading away, Chu Xingchen's gaze returned to the falling snow.
The Shattered Spirit Jade Butterfly rewarded by the system—Chu Xingchen had studied that thing for a long time.
Whether injecting spiritual energy or trying various methods, that Shattered Spirit Jade Plate remained as unresponsive as a jade platter.
The system gave no additional usage instructions, and Chu Xingchen didn't dare be too aggressive, fearing he might shatter that jade platter.
After all, that thing was already full of cracks, as if it would fall apart with the slightest force.
Li Yingling drew a crude conclusion—Master picked up this junk from somewhere; this thing could at most only be used as a dinner plate.
Such a brainless conclusion naturally didn't bother Chu Xingchen.
The system gave this thing such an impressive name—surely it couldn't really be used as a dinner plate?
What if gathering three plates would synthesize an invincible plate?
This was currently just a fragment—wouldn't it have great uses in the future?
What if it could only be used as a dinner plate for now?
However... for some reason.
Chu Xingchen always felt things were too calm, with a hint of storm approaching.
He only hoped... it was just his imagination.
"Black-hearted kid, long time no see!"
Qing He walked through the heavy snow, horns on her head, draped in a white scarf, smiling and waving as she ran over.
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