Year after year, day after day,
Within a hundred-mile radius, who knew how many people had sent matchmakers to propose marriage.
Every single one was chased away by Xiao Xiao with a beating.
At first, the hunter couple had watched with amusement, thinking those rough young men were unworthy of their girl and deserved the thrashing.
However, as Xiao Xiao continued to age, the couple couldn't help but grow somewhat worried.
When they had found Xiao Xiao in the mountains all those years ago, the hunter couple had already been past forty. For the first decade after bringing her home, Xiao Xiao had never grown at all. It wasn't until she entered Shuiyue Manor to cultivate that she came back looking transformed.
Now Xiao Xiao appeared to be in her early twenties, yet nearly thirty years had passed since the hunter had brought her home.
The hunter couple was already approaching seventy.
At that age, they were no longer young by any standard. Though on the Void Continent, even ordinary people without cultivation could easily live past a hundred, there would always come the day they had to leave.
If they were gone, Xiao Xiao would be all alone — with no one to rely on, wouldn't that be lonely?
So despite their reluctance, the hunter couple still hoped Xiao Xiao would settle down soon. They had brought it up to her several times, but she would always just laugh it off, saying she had no such plans and only wished to stay by her parents' side until they grew old.
Though their hearts were somewhat eased, the couple never raised the subject again.
Though Xiao Xiao had never displayed any cultivator's abilities in front of them, the couple both knew that since her return from Shuiyue Manor, she was no longer an ordinary person. Their daughter had climbed to the highest bough and transformed into a phoenix.
How could those rough mountain boys dare aspire to her hand? If their daughter were to find a husband, only a peerless hero who was also a cultivator would be worthy of her.
At the mountain school, students came and went in waves, but the teacher remained ever the same.
Xiao Xiao visited him often, bringing him good things to eat. She had never forgotten that when she was young, the teacher had seemed like a magician, always producing delicacies she had never seen or heard of to give her.
Now that she possessed powerful cultivation and could soar through the skies, it was only right that she repay the teacher's kindness.
However, one thing had always puzzled Xiao Xiao.
After all these years, the teacher seemed to have changed remarkably little. He still looked exactly the same as when he had first arrived in the village thirty years ago.
Xiao Xiao had once suspected he might be a cultivator as well. After secretly probing him, she found nothing, which left her thoroughly baffled. She could only guess that he was simply someone who aged slowly.
Her adoptive parents, on the other hand, had grown steadily older with each passing year.
She had tried every means to find nourishing medicines, hoping to extend their lifespan. But she knew that as mortals, they would one day reach the end. So she treasured every moment she could spend with them, living each day with joy.
The Old Ancestor's incarnation, Xiao Xiao, had embarked on the path of cultivation, yet never forgot the hunter couple who had raised her. She had schemed to leave Shuiyue Manor and cast off its bonds, all so she could return to their side.
Very few warriors could manage such a thing.
For warriors, once they walked the path of cultivation, ascending to greater heights of the martial way became their greatest pursuit. Family, friendship, love — all came second.
Xiao Xiao was different. The simple word "family" had always been her foremost priority, and she had unwaveringly lived by that principle from the very beginning.
The technique for concealing her cultivation that she had "accidentally" discovered at Shuiyue Manor had, of course, been placed there by Yang Kai. The technique itself was not particularly powerful, but with Yang Kai's covert interference, keeping the people at Shuiyue Manor from noticing any changes in Xiao Xiao's cultivation had been trivially easy.
He did not lightly interfere with Xiao Xiao's growth. But since she had shown certain inclinations, it was only natural for him to grant her wishes.
Facts had proven that after returning to the mountain village from Shuiyue Manor, Xiao Xiao's growth had accelerated. This meant the Old Ancestor's injuries were recovering.
Xiao Xiao was now a grown woman. In terms of outward appearance, she was indistinguishable from the Old Ancestor — only her temperament differed.
Xiao Xiao within the Small World appeared more youthful and tender, bearing none of the marks left by countless storms.
This was likely the original intention behind the Old Ancestor's self-imposed memory seal.
Such an experience of life would greatly accelerate her healing.
While the Old Ancestor's recovery was proceeding smoothly, the Eastern and Western Armies' assault on the Royal City in the outside world was equally uneventful.
More than half a year ago, the Eastern and Western Armies had launched their third assault on the
After years of accumulation, they had amassed considerable supplies. But before Liu Zhiping could even warm her hands on them,
This time, the Eastern and Western Armies deployed a full dozen Grand Worlds, completely exhausting years' worth of accumulated resources.
Liu Zhiping was utterly speechless. She had come to realize that Xiang Shan had absolutely no concept of resource quantities. The only thing in his eyes was the Ink Clan's Royal City. No matter how many resources fell into his hands, he could squander them all in short order.
Had she not secretly set aside a batch of supplies in advance, after that battle, the soldiers of the Eastern and Western Armies would probably have been unable to sustain even their daily cultivation.