70: Chapter 70 Cultivators

The room fell silent in an instant, and everyone's gaze converged on you, filled with anticipation and awe.

"Earthly Immortal?" You shook your head, picked up the coarse tea and took a sip, your tone calm. "During that battle with Wei Feisen back then, I used the Burning Origin Secret Technique. My Dantian was shattered. Although I later managed to barely plug the fissure with True Qi and keep my cultivation from falling, my path of martial arts... ends here."

The air seemed to solidify.

Chen Yue opened his mouth, his expression stiffening. The Junior Sister who had been excitedly gossiping just a moment ago felt her eyes redden and lowered her head.

No wonder.

The Junior Sister looked at you, her voice choked with tears. "No wonder you, Senior Sister Lin Shuang, refused to return to the Sect... How much suffering you must have endured alone here."

Senior Brother Gu Changfeng took a deep breath, forced a smile, and steered the conversation away from this heavy topic. "Rest assured, Junior Sister, the Cangyun Sect is in my hands now. These past few years, I have led the army on campaigns south and north, and the Sect's sphere of influence has expanded more than threefold. Old-established powers like the Qingshuang Sect and Wudang must now detour when they see Disciples of my Cangyun Sect."

Senior Brother Gu Changfeng straightened his back and began to recount how he had devised strategies and cut down generals to capture flags. As he spoke, his gaze drifted toward you from time to time, like a male peacock eager to display its feathers.

You rested your chin on one hand and listened quietly.

Naive man.

You chuckled inwardly; over a decade had passed, but Senior Brother Gu Changfeng's personality truly hadn't changed at all.

"It seems our old Sect Head truly had the Wisdom Eye." You interrupted him at the right moment, a faint smile tugging at the corners of your mouth. "Handing the Cangyun Sect over to you back then was indeed a wise decision. Senior Brother Gu Changfeng, you have worked hard."

This address of "Senior Brother Gu Changfeng" and the perfectly timed affirmation instantly smoothed away all of Senior Brother Gu Changfeng's restlessness. His eyes and brows relaxed, and he waved his hands repeatedly, though his tone could not hide his self-satisfaction. "Not at all, not at all, it is all for the Sect."

The atmosphere became lively again, and everyone began to chat about the specific changes in the Cangyun Sect over the years.

As they chatted, Fang Qingyun frowned slightly and lowered his voice. "However, recently, Crown Prince Xiao Chengyuan's attitude toward us seems to have undergone a subtle shift. Previously, he relied on us, but now... his wariness has increased. There are more and more military supervisors inserted into the army."

Upon hearing this, everyone's faces showed signs of worry.

Senior Brother Gu Changfeng sighed and put down his teacup. "The human heart is hard to fathom. Crown Prince Xiao Chengyuan is a man of extreme duplicity. Sometimes I also wonder if the move to form an alliance with the imperial family was right or wrong. If something goes wrong with the Cangyun Sect under my watch, how will I have the face to meet the past Ancestral Masters in the afterlife?"

"There is no perfect setup in this world." You looked at him, your tone firm. "Since you have chosen, see it through to the end. The Cangyun Sect is powerful now, so it is natural for the imperial family to be wary. As long as your own strength is solid enough, he can only be wary; he will not dare to make a move."

Everyone nodded in agreement and offered a few words of comfort to Senior Brother Gu Changfeng.

The next morning, Senior Brother Gu Changfeng and the others were ready to depart. With official business in the Zhenluan Army, they had to head to the next county.

Outside the courtyard gate, Senior Brother Gu Changfeng looked at you deeply and cupped his hands. "Junior Sister, take care. If you face any difficulties, send word back to the mountain at any time."

"Take care." You nodded slightly.

The sound of hoofbeats faded into the distance. You stood on the courtyard wall, watching as the great flag of the Cangyun Sect, inscribed with the character "Cang," drifted away in the morning breeze until it disappeared at the end of the road.

In the days that followed, the situation in Linyuan City underwent earth-shaking changes.

A month later, of the faction from the city that had previously fled with Zhou Gui, only a sparse dozen or so returned, fleeing like stray dogs. They brought back certain news: Zhou Gui and his group had run into a routed army on their way south and died under a hail of blades.

In less than half a year, the entire Eastern Province was completely taken by the Zhenluan Army.

With the war situation settled, your identity was completely exposed. The news that the "Righteous and Valiant Sword Immortal" Senior Sister Lin Shuang was living in seclusion in Linyuan City spread like wildfire. Coupled with the fact that the Cangyun Sect was now at the height of its power, the attitudes of the surrounding counties' factions—who had originally disregarded the "widow of the Linyuan City bookstore"—did a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn. People bringing gifts, sending invitations, and wanting to build connections came in an endless stream. You treated them all with indifference, neither drawing close to them nor offending them.

Time flew by, and five years passed in the blink of an eye.

The world was finally at peace. Crown Prince Xiao Chengyuan, with the full support of the Cangyun Sect and the Martial Dao Sect, successfully ascended the throne as emperor, reunifying the Great Qing.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Chengyuan did not stage the drama of "killing the hound once the rabbit is caught." He bestowed great honors upon those who had contributed to his success. The Martial Dao Sect was revered as the "Nation-Protecting Divine Sect," and the Cangyun Sect also profited handsomely. Senior Brother Gu Changfeng was even conferred the title of Great Qing Imperial Preceptor, reaching the pinnacle of officialdom.

As the tide rose, the boat floated higher; you, the Senior Sister of the Cangyun Sect, became incomparably transcendent in the Southeast region.

During these five years, Senior Brother Gu Changfeng came to see you twice under the pretext of inspection. Every time he came, he brought a large quantity of rare medicinal herbs, attempting to repair your Dantian, but all returned without success. Seeing how much the Imperial Preceptor valued you, the surrounding powers fawned over you to an extreme degree.

Riding this favorable wind, you established the "Lin Clan Trading Company" three years ago.

Relying on memories from your past life, you introduced rare items that did not exist in this world, such as soap, refined salt, and strong spirits. The trading company was like a massive money-sucking machine, bringing in gold every day. With the towering tree of the Cangyun Sect shielding you, no one in either the underworld or the righteous path dared to target you.

What gratified you even more was that Stone did not waste his talent. At twenty years old, he had already successfully broken through to the Innate Middle Stage.

Another four years passed.

West of Linyuan City, inside the underground secret chamber of the Lin residence.

You sat cross-legged, your entire body's skin vibrating at a high frequency with an extremely minute amplitude.

"Hoo—"

You exhaled a long breath, the airflow like a white sharp sword, directly striking a deep pit into the bluestone wall three feet away.

The Green Vessel Hundred Forging Record, Perfection.

Slowly opening your eyes, you raised your arm. Your skin was fair and looked no different from the ordinary, but as your mind stirred, a faint, metallic luster shimmered beneath your skin. You joined your fingers like a blade and lightly slashed your forearm.

A hard sensation came from your fingertips; your skin didn't even turn red.

Now that this Cultivation Technique had reached Perfection, your body density had reached a terrifying level. You had an intuition that now, even without using a shred of True Qi, if you stood there and let an ordinary Innate Martial Artist hack at you, they wouldn't be able to harm you in the slightest.

If you combined it with the Protective Aura burst of the Great Grandmaster Early Stage, you were fully confident you could fight head-on against a Great Grandmaster Peak expert.

You walked out of the secret chamber and came into the courtyard.

Sunlight spilled onto your face. In the reflection of the water vat, a face in its fifties appeared. Fine lines had already appeared at the corners of your eyes, and your temples were tinged with a few streaks of frost-white. Although your bone structure remained stunningly beautiful, the years had ultimately left their mark on you.

You looked at yourself in the water, your expression calm.

The trajectory of this life was completely different from the previous simulations. The world was at peace; this time, there were no Great Qing iron cavalry knocking at the gates, no devastation of life. The children you had adopted had all grown up. Stone was responsible for managing the trading company's guards, Yaya had become the chief manager of the trading company, and the others were also performing their respective duties in the trading company according to their specialties.

You gave them a stable life, and they gave you a worldly connection.

Just like that, time flowed quietly for another three years.

On this day, you were meditating in the quiet room in the backyard.

"What is that?!"

"Heavens! Someone is flying in the sky!"