Returning Home

In the Hidden Valley, Ying Wuchou, who had been asleep for many years, slowly opened his eyes. He didn’t get up immediately but took a moment to recall this familiar yet unfamiliar environment.

Beneath him was the vine bed he disliked the most, covered with a bamboo mat that was icy cold regardless of the season. He remembered that this bamboo mat was made from Xuan Yu bamboo, snatched by his third disciple Luo Qingyu from the territory of the mythical beast Teng Jiao after a bloody battle.

The Teng Jiao clan had exceptional talent, born with strength comparable to a nascent soul stage cultivator, and their bodies were extremely tough, making them hard to match for ordinary cultivators.

Fortunately, this clan was naturally lazy and rarely interacted with the outside world, occupying a single area where they cultivated and slept, striving for their entire lives to transform into dragons. Despite their natural advantages, their powerful strength made it difficult for them to have offspring, with only one born every few hundred years.

The young Teng Jiao loved to eat Xuan Yu bamboo shoots and had a huge appetite, so their territory was filled with Xuan Yu bamboo to provide enough food for the newborns.

Ying Wuchou had once told his disciples stories about the Teng Jiao clan and expressed some longing for the place where they lived. Unexpectedly, his impulsive third disciple misunderstood and thought Ying Wuchou liked Xuan Yu bamboo, so he rushed to the Teng Jiao clan to snatch treasures, causing chaos in their territory.

It was said that a female Teng snake left the territory to chase Luo Qingyu but got lost and wreaked havoc across the cultivation world. All of this was just to make a bamboo mat for him. Naughty disciples really need a good beating…

Ying Wuchou raised his hand, pressing his brow in frustration. As he moved, a piece of emerald green jade slip slipped from his wide sleeve, landing on the bamboo mat cold enough to preserve a corpse. What was this?

Ying Wuchou remembered that before he used the turtle breathing technique to sleep, he had disposed of all his magical treasures, spirit stones, and jade slips. At that time, he knew his life was nearing its end, so why would he keep these worldly possessions?

He had passed on everything he could to his disciples, and the rest was stored in some treasure in the cultivation world, waiting for someone destined to take it. How could there be an extra jade slip?

Before he could pick up the jade slip to examine it, it emitted a harsh green light, forming a line of words in the air:

[Scanning the world’s text, scan successful; converting font, conversion successful.]

Seeing this line, Ying Wuchou understood the origin of the jade slip. Although it seemed he was using the turtle breathing technique to fight off a chronic illness, his soul had actually been taken to one fantastical world after another by some unknown force. He was bound to a system that issued tasks in each world, requiring him to complete them to accumulate points. Once the points reached a certain value, he could return to his original body, and it would help heal his existing injuries.

Ying Wuchou wasn’t initially interested in completing these tasks. He had long accepted his fate, viewing life and death with a smile. Using the turtle breathing technique to sleep wasn’t to extend his life but to give his group of naughty disciples the impression that “Master is still alive” and “someone is still watching over them,” so they wouldn’t go wild upon his departure from the world.

However, the protagonists of those tasks were increasingly unbearable for Ying Wuchou.

Ying Wuchou was inherently patient and loved teaching, otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken in seven hopelessly naughty children as disciples. Seeing the so-called “quick transmigration world” protagonists complaining about life and being cynical, Ying Wuchou couldn’t help but intervene and teach them.

After teaching in over a dozen worlds, the system suddenly issued a notification:

[The protagonist’s fate line is disrupted, the main god space is overwhelmed, please return to the original world immediately.]

How was it “overwhelmed”? He was clearly completing the tasks seriously. Ying Wuchou was a laid-back person, so since they wanted him to return, he did. Just in time, the accumulated points were enough to heal his chronic illness, allowing him to return to his original world.

He didn’t expect the “system” to follow him back in the form of a jade slip.

In the green light emitted by the jade slip, several lines of text appeared again:

[Scanning item]

[Name: Xuan Yu Bamboo Mat]

[Source: Teng Jiao Territory]

[Creator: Third disciple Luo Qingyu]

[Owner: Ying Wuchou]

[Note: Ying Wuchou doesn’t like this bamboo mat that can help cultivators concentrate and dispel inner demons. The reason he told his disciples about Xuan Yu bamboo was that he liked the cold, hard scales of the Teng Jiao. The thought of a young Teng Jiao happily eating bamboo shoots made him itch to bring back a Teng Jiao egg to raise. Ying Wuchou is a transfor…]

“Mm?” Seeing the text gradually appear, Ying Wuchou frowned slightly, making a questioning sound as he placed his hand over the jade slip.

The jade slip trembled violently, and the green text in the air grew dimmer. The words after “Note” seemed to melt into liquid, slowly sliding down until they disappeared, and new notes appeared in the air:

[Note: Ying Wuchou is grateful for the filial piety of his third disciple Luo Qingyu but felt that such actions were against nature. He sternly taught Luo Qingyu, making him understand his master’s good intentions.]

“This is more like it.” Ying Wuchou showed a satisfied smile, pressing his finger against the jade slip. The jade slip, which seemed to be trembling all over, instantly calmed down, behaving like a lifeless stone.

Ying Wuchou sat up, picked up the jade slip, and the emerald green jade lay in his slightly pale palm due to years of not seeing sunlight, timidly moving back a little under Ying Wuchou’s gaze.

“Fine, I’ll keep you.” His long fingers curled, holding the jade slip in his palm.

Having experienced over a dozen worlds, he didn’t know how many years had passed in the original world. It might have been a thousand years, with seas turning into mulberry fields. The system at least had a search and description function, keeping it would help Ying Wuchou quickly get into the swing of things.

He casually tossed the jade slip into his wide sleeve, using the sleeve universe technique to create a small storage space within his sleeve, and the jade slip disappeared as it entered the sleeve.

With this use of magic, Ying Wuchou realized his body was indeed healed. His true essence flowed smoothly within, his broken meridians were restored, and his damaged dantian was as good as new.

Although he had long placed life and death aside, since he was still in the world, living comfortably was always better than living in pain.

Ying Wuchou got out of bed, his movements light and swift, all in one go, no longer gasping for breath with every slight movement. In the past, simply getting up and standing would lead to unstoppable coughing if he moved too quickly, sometimes even coughing up blood.

With his body comfortable, Ying Wuchou felt refreshed and was in the mood to inspect the Hidden Valley. After all, he had been away for many years and didn’t know what changes had occurred in the valley.

A wanderer returning home, even someone as calm and self-controlled as Ying Wuchou couldn’t help but feel excited. He thought about the various arrangements in the valley, joyfully pushing open the door, momentarily forgetting that he was barefoot.

Fortunately, once a cultivator reached a certain level, the true essence circulating around them naturally kept off dust, so even stepping on soil left them spotless.

As he opened the door, he was greeted by a brilliant ray of sunlight.

The Hidden Valley was a place Ying Wuchou had carefully chosen for his sleep. Although it was a valley, it wasn’t lacking in sunlight, and the flowers, grass, and trees grew well. It was quiet and peaceful here, a paradise away from the world.

Ying Wuchou had intended to name this valley “Parting Valley,” hinting that he would take his leave from the world here. Who would have thought his disciples would arrive first, setting up the valley, building a thatched cottage, and naming it “Hidden Present,” implying “hiding the present” and “preserving beautiful moments.” They hoped Ying Wuchou’s health would improve here and that he wouldn’t sleep forever.

“Having too many disciples is really troublesome,” Ying Wuchou sighed, looking up at the words “Hidden Present” carved on the cliff above the valley. Who told him he couldn’t resist the urge to teach when he saw naughty children, wanting to guide them openly as an elder?

“I am someone who was supposed to leave this world. Returning now is truly fortunate. But I shouldn’t leave too many karmic ties in the world, so I won’t take any more disciples in the future.”

Ying Wuchou silently made a vow. He no longer looked at the cliff, instead letting his gaze fall on the plants in the valley. He saw that it was full of lush bamboo and orchids, bamboo and orchids, bamboo and orchids…

Before he slept, he had planted countless flower seeds collected from various places, hoping to see a valley full of colorful blossoms. But upon waking, all he saw was a sea of green, with no trace of red, pink, purple, blue, yellow, or orange.

It seemed his disciples had put in a lot of effort after he fell asleep, uprooting all kinds of flowers and replacing them with bamboo and orchids.

Unintentionally, Ying Wuchou clenched his fist, feeling an itch in his teeth. Without giving his disciples a good beating, this itch wouldn’t go away.

With anger building in his chest, Ying Wuchou walked slowly forward, along the moss-covered stone path, to a clear pond.

The pond was home to hundreds of golden koi, swimming freely and happily, their colorful tails swaying. Seeing this splash of color, Ying Wuchou’s anger subsided a little. At least they left him a pond of koi.

Ying Wuchou raised his hand slightly, and a water ball containing the fattest, largest-tailed, most beautiful koi rose into the air, floating above his palm.

He reached out a finger, touching the koi’s scales through the water ball. The cold, hard sensation brought a hint of color to Ying Wuchou’s pale face, and the corners of his lips lifted slightly.

At this moment, the jade slip in his sleeve emitted a timely green light, and several lines of text appeared in the air:

[Scanning life form]

[Name: Five-Color Koi]

[Source: Fish fry bought by Ying Wuchou at a high price, bred for several generations in a spirit-rich valley]

[Note: Has the scales Ying Wuchou likes most, but still too small. Ying Wuchou likes large scales that can’t be fully covered by a palm. Once, in a Western fantasy world, Ying Wuchou liberated a group of enslaved lizardmen, just to make their scales hard and shiny. Unfortunately, before he could secretly touch the scales on the largest lizardman’s head, the task was completed. Ying Wuchou was forced to switch to the next world, and he regrets not being able to touch the scales to this day.]

Before Ying Wuchou’s expression could change, the green words after “Note” melted into a puddle of green liquid, gradually disappearing. This retracting note was the jade slip’s final stubbornness.

Since the jade slip knew how to hold back, Ying Wuchou didn’t bother with it anymore.

He reached into the water ball, carefully inspecting the koi’s scales, concluding that the koi in the Hidden Valley lived happily. Unfortunately, koi were just koi. Even with abundant spiritual energy, their scales were only the size of a fingernail.

After a thorough examination, slightly disappointed, he released the koi.

Once the largest koi gained freedom, it trembled all over, its tail shaking fearfully in the pond, quickly disappearing into the cracks between the stones.

The koi seemed quite intelligent, capable of passing information to each other. As soon as the five-color koi was released, all the koi in the pond avoided Ying Wuchou, and soon not a single scale was visible in the clear pond.

Ying Wuchou snorted coldly, shaking his sleeve, not bothering with these mindless koi, and turned to walk toward the part of the valley where sunlight was scarce.

There, he had raised a nest of green snakes. He wondered if, after years of spiritual nourishment, any of them had cultivated into pythons.

To provide spiritual energy to the green snakes, he had even transplanted some Xuan Yu bamboo there. Surely some of them must have achieved enlightenment, right?

Full of anticipation, Ying Wuchou arrived at the bamboo grove, his bare feet stepping on the grass as a thumb-thick green snake happily slithered past him.

With a slight hook of his finger, the green snake rose into the air, hanging on his palm, startled and standing upright, its tail tightly coiled around his wrist, spitting its tongue at Ying Wuchou, revealing sharp teeth.

But how could a little green snake escape Ying Wuchou’s grasp?

He carefully examined the snake’s scales, shaking his head in disappointment. “Too thin, too fragmented, too fragile.”

Ying Wuchou’s hand dropped, and the little green snake quickly escaped, disappearing into the grass, never to be found again.

It seemed the entire bamboo grove of snakes had received the message, hiding wherever they could, and no snake appeared before him again.

Ying Wuchou couldn’t be bothered to search.

The grass in the bamboo grove was no more than two or three inches high, and the bamboo no thicker than a palm. If they could hide in such a place, it meant this nest of green snakes was no thicker than a palm. How could such small snakes grow the scales he liked?

After inspecting the valley, Ying Wuchou was greatly disappointed. The only thing worth anticipating was the egg he had brought back before he slept.

To prevent his disciples from seeing the egg as an anomaly and destroying it, Ying Wuchou, dragging his sickly body, laid a concealment array, hiding the egg in a spirit-rich bamboo grove, leaving plenty of fresh bamboo shoots within the array, hoping the spirit beast inside the egg would grow well after hatching.

The array was deep in the bamboo grove, and as Ying Wuchou approached, accompanied by the rustling sound of snakes avoiding him, he reached the array.

However, the array had long since disappeared, and what greeted his eyes was a pile of black, fossilized eggshell fragments.

Ying Wuchou bent down to pick up the eggshells, feeling a pang of heartache. Everything he had loved before he slept had failed to grow as he wished. Nothing was left.

Fortunately, Ying Wuchou was naturally optimistic, and after a moment of heartache, he noticed that the bamboo shoots within the array were also gone, with bite marks on the roots, as if some creature had eaten all the surrounding bamboo shoots before leaving.

Ying Wuchou immediately took out the jade slip, commanding it to scan the eggshell fragments.

The jade slip trembled, displaying information about the eggshells:

[Name: Eggshell Fragments]

[Source: Hatched Teng Jiao]

[Background: A female Teng Jiao left the territory to chase Luo Qingyu, lost her way, and caused some trouble in the cultivation world. Ying Wuchou (to see a Teng Jiao’s scales) personally went out to find the Teng Jiao, escorting it back to its territory. During this time, the female Teng Jiao left an egg with an external creature, not a pureblood Teng Jiao. The female Teng Jiao abandoned the egg, and Ying Wuchou (excitedly) took pity on it, bringing it back to the valley, deciding to take responsibility and raise it.]

Ying Wuchou’s brow furrowed slightly, and the words in parentheses quickly melted away, leaving no trace.

The jade slip continued:

[Whereabouts: Due to mixed bloodlines, the newborn Teng Jiao is somewhat weak. It left the valley on its own. With its strength, it shouldn’t have gone far.]

“Perhaps it’s nearby,” Ying Wuchou said. “But without a medium, it’s hard to find.”

As he pondered, the sun rose higher, and a ray of sunlight reached the depths of the bamboo grove, reflecting a faint light from something among the eggshell fragments.

Ying Wuchou didn’t miss this light.

He bent down to pick up the item, finding it to be a nearly transparent scale the size of a scallop.

The scale was extremely thin, as if it would shatter with a slight force. But when Ying Wuchou gently applied pressure, the scale displayed unexpected toughness, not breaking under the pressure.

Young Teng Jiao are blue, and they mature after three moltings, with their scales darkening each time until they turn pure black as adults. The hatchling from the eggshell had transparent scales, indicating its impure bloodline, no wonder the Teng Jiao abandoned it back then.

“I must find it,” Ying Wuchou sighed softly.

After all, it was an incident caused by the stories he told, and he was the one who brought the egg back to the valley but couldn’t take care of it due to his declining health.

He needed to take responsibility. He had to bring the young Teng Jiao back to the valley, raising it to be plump and healthy, with scales tough as can be.

Ying Wuchou took a thin thread from his belt, pierced a hole in the scale, tied it with the thread, and hung it at his waist.

He cast a spell, transforming into a breeze, leaving the valley.

⸻

Not long after Ying Wuchou left, a sword light descended into the Hidden Valley.

The sword light transformed into a handsome man, his black eyes deep like ink stones, exuding a faint aura of blood. He was Ying Wuchou’s third disciple, Luo Qingyu.

“Master is kind-hearted, I can’t let him detect the bloody aura on me.”

He cast a spell, and with a flash of water light, the bloody aura disappeared.

Luo Qingyu then changed out of his blood-stained black clothes, putting on a simple gray robe, neatly tying his messy hair into a Daoist bun, and wrapping it with a square scarf. This transformed him from a god of slaughter into a quiet scholar.

After dressing up, Luo Qingyu took out the immortal herb he had seized to heal meridians, respectfully entering the thatched cottage where Ying Wuchou had slept.

Moments later, countless sword qi burst forth, and the cottage was instantly torn to shreds.

Luo Qingyu’s eyes turned red, and the scarf wrapping his bun turned to powder due to the overflowing sword qi.

“Mas-ter, where?” he gritted out word by word.

Whoever intruded into my Hidden Valley, whoever harmed my master, cannot be tolerated!

Luo Qingyu transformed into a sword light, circling the valley once, but found no intruders or trace of his master.

Furious, he left.

He didn’t know any searching techniques, so he had to find his fifth junior brother, who was skilled in divination, to discover who had taken his master.

Although Luo Qingyu detested his fellow disciples, he had no choice but to team up with his fifth junior brother to find his master.

Once he discovered his master’s whereabouts… no mercy!

⸻

Author’s Note:

Luo Qingyu: Master!!! I’m here to save you!

Ying Wuchou: Searching for the egg, do not disturb.

Egg: Yes, that’s right, I’m the shou.