Ah, looking back on the past, the current Bai Sui couldn’t help but feel embarrassed by her state at that time.

Truly a naive and sweet fool.

Ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth.

But it’s undeniable that though the South Dipper Sect was weak, it was the happiest time of Bai Sui’s life.

After being brought back to the mountain gate, Bai Sui bathed and tidied up, then changed into new clothes sent over by Senior Uncle Peng’s orders. She was completely refreshed, looking exactly like a soft and adorable little immortal child.

Because she was too young and didn’t know many characters, she wasn’t arranged to formally become a disciple immediately. Instead, a female cultivator surnamed Jiang in the sect took her in, planning to train her first as a little herb-tending apprentice managing the sect’s medicinal garden.

Once she had learned enough characters and built a certain foundation, then she would gradually be guided into cultivation. It wouldn’t be too late to formally accept her as a mountain sect disciple then.

As for the other four, since they were older and already had some literacy foundation, they were directly taken into the mountain sect as formal disciples and began their cultivation journey the very next day.

This made the young Bai Sui incredibly envious.

Just like that, two years passed in a flash. Bai Sui followed Aunt-Master Jiang in learning how to care for medicinal plants, spending her days shuttling around the herb garden on her short little legs. If everything had gone according to plan, by the time she was ten, the sect leader would personally test her and then assign a master to teach her cultivation.

But, unsurprisingly, an accident happened. The once peaceful sect and pastoral life was suddenly shattered one day. That day, she was in the herb garden watering the young sprouts that had just emerged when suddenly a roar echoed from the mountain. Then heaven and earth shook violently. The sect-protecting grand formation raised a massive transparent hemisphere, but it lasted only a short while before shattering.

Bai Sui looked up and saw two cultivators dressed in black suddenly streak across her field of vision.

After that, the sect fell into chaos. It turned out that the South Dipper Sect had been tracked down by enemies. The two black-clad cultivators were both masters at the late Foundation Establishment stage. They fought with the sect leader, and ultimately proved superior, joining forces to cut down the sect leader Bai Sui was familiar with right under her eyes. Bai Sui and the other disciples watched in shock as their sect leader fell, and then boundless panic surged from within.

Seeing the sect leader perish, several more martial uncles stepped forward to fight fiercely but were slain. After coming to their senses, the disciples hurriedly scattered to flee for their lives.

But how could those two black-clad cultivators not know the principle of “eliminating the roots when cutting the weeds”? In an instant, slaughter erupted everywhere, and disciples of the South Dipper Sect continuously lost their lives.

In the chaos, Bai Sui was forgotten. She also wanted to flee, but didn’t know where to run, and even more so had no senior brothers or sisters to take her… When she came to her senses, Aunt-Master Jiang had appeared from nowhere, stuffed a small bundle of simple clothes into her hands, told her to hurry down the mountain, and then had no further time to care for her.

Looking at Aunt-Master Jiang as she charged into a fierce fight with the enemy, Bai Sui, hugging her little bundle, stood dazed in the wind. Finally, she gritted her teeth, reluctantly left the mountain gate.

Thankfully, the herb garden was in a corner far from the mountain sect’s main hall, so Bai Sui’s escape did not draw the attention of the enemies.

She kept fleeing until night fell, then spent the night in the forest, continuing her escape the next day. At only eight years old, Bai Sui was like a headless fly, running until she reached a place called Spirit Water Village nearby.

This place belonged to the outer area of Jade Pool Market under the jurisdiction of the Crimson Sun Sect.

Because it was the territory of the Crimson Sun Sect and adjacent to the market, ordinary cultivators didn’t dare act recklessly here. Only then did Bai Sui confirm she was safe.

* * *

‘Big sister Nan Xi, second brother Yang Cheng, and little sister Dai Yue, this time it’s truly farewell…’

Reflecting on past experiences, Bai Sui sighed at her own reflection in the lake surface.

Since she was here, she might as well settle. What did it matter if her gender had changed? She didn’t believe she couldn’t live out a brilliant life.

Bitter cold must bring spring warmth, and after bitterness comes sweetness.

Ha, the hardships of the past couldn’t take her life, let alone now when the young body contained no longer her former self.

In days to come, watch how she rises on the wind, embracing stars and chasing the moonlight!

Thinking of this, Bai Sui scooped up a handful of clear lake water and splashed it onto her face.

The icy cool sensation made her exceptionally clear-headed.

She stood up, shook off the water droplets on her hands, and hoisted a bundle of firewood that was even larger than her body onto her back. With a push, the firewood was carried. She then grabbed a basket full of wild mushrooms and headed toward Spirit Water Village at the foot of the mountain.

Along the way, the mountains were high and trees dense, the scenery beautiful. Birds chirped among the treetops, unknown beasts howled in the distance—a primal landscape of blue mountains and green waters, lush vegetation.

But Bai Sui had no leisure to appreciate it.

It was getting late; she had to return to the village before dark, or staying alone in the mountains would be dangerous.

This “Spirit Water Village” was the place she had fled to back then, a small village located beside “Jade Pool Market”.

The entire village, including outsiders like Bai Sui, had a total population of only around six hundred people. It was an extremely typical small village, so small that even the official atlas published by the Crimson Sun Sect might not mark its location.

In contrast, the adjacent “Jade Pool Market” was far more renowned.

It was one of the seven great markets within the territory of “Nanyuan City” under the top-tier sect Crimson Sun Sect. From the limited information Bai Sui had gathered from passing cultivators, she knew that within this Jade Pool Market, excluding mortals, the number of resident cultivators at the first level of Qi Refining or above alone reached an astonishing one hundred thousand.

That matched the scale of a small county town on Earth!

And there were seven markets of the same scale within the single great city of “Nanyuan City” alone.

From this, one could see what a colossal power the Crimson Sun Sect, which controlled several cities including Nanyuan City, was!

They said big cities had expensive housing prices, and this was equally true in the cultivation world!

Reflected in the market where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold, a single residence was scarcely obtainable even with a thousand pieces of gold.

Thus, many cultivators with shallow pockets and no means to establish a foothold within the market had no choice but to settle in peripheral villages like “Spirit Water Village”.

Over time, small villages like “Spirit Water Village” formed a state where cultivators and mortals lived intermixed.

The mortals could provide some essential daily supplies for the cultivators, and in exchange, they obtained small amounts of cultivation-world resources from the cultivators.

Speaking of which, the villagers of Spirit Water Village were all descendants of cultivators by ancestry. They just lacked spirit roots, couldn’t cultivate, and were unwilling to return to the mortal world, so they could only enclose land on the outskirts of the market to settle and propagate there.

Around Jade Pool Market, there were no fewer than a hundred villages in the same situation as Spirit Water Village.

The setting sun cast its dusky glow over the mountain streams and fields.

When Bai Sui returned to the village entrance carrying the firewood, her delicate nose was already beaded with glistening sweat.

“Manager Liu, how much is this bundle of firewood worth?”

Arriving at a simple shed by the village entrance, she placed the firewood on the open ground and asked the man who was purchasing firewood and mountain goods in front of her.

Manager Liu glanced at the thin, small girl before him, then looked at the firewood beside her, and said gently, “One bundle of firewood, quite cleanly processed. I’ll count it as ten wen coins.”

Originally, that bundle would be worth only eight wen at most, but Manager Liu was not doing business with Bai Sui for the first time. Seeing that the little girl had a hard time on her own, and that her fair face held a hint of cuteness, he decided to buy it at the price of ten wen coins.

“I truly thank you, Manager Liu!”

Bai Sui’s face lit up with a happy smile upon hearing this, fully aware that Manager Liu was deliberately looking out for her.

“And this basket of wild mushrooms? I put in a lot of effort to pick them.”

She then cheerfully presented her basket filled to the brim with wild mushrooms.

“This basket… let’s say eight wen.”

Manager Liu was a straightforward man. After a glance, he smiled and handed over eighteen patterned coins.

“Here, take them.”

“Alright!” Bai Sui quickly cupped both hands together to accept the coins.

They were eighteen red, copper-coin-shaped pieces of currency. But unlike the copper plates used in the mortal world, these coins before her were entirely a light red color. Because there was a dark vein-like pattern on each coin, they were also called “patterned coins”—a medium of exchange issued by the great powers of the cultivation world.

Feeling the faint spiritual energy emanating from the patterned coins in her hands, the smile on Bai Sui’s face became even more radiant.

She tucked the money into the pocket of her clothes, once again expressed her thanks to Manager Liu, and then prepared to head home.

“Ah, wait a moment.”

Manager Liu suddenly called out to stop her.

Bai Sui looked back with puzzlement.

Manager Liu said, “Five days from now, disciples from the Crimson Sun Sect will come to the village entrance to test everyone’s spirit roots for free. If you’re lucky, you could even be accepted into the Crimson Sun Sect. You’re just the right age. If you’re inclined toward cultivation, you might as well come and try your luck.”

Hearing this, Bai Sui was momentarily stunned.

“Alright, Manager Liu, I’ll come take a look.”

She waved with a smile, receiving his kind intentions.

“Mm.”

Manager Liu was very busy, so he said no more, turned around, and resumed his own work.

Manager Liu himself was a cultivator at the third level of Qi Refining. However, because he was backed by a cultivator at the seventh level of Qi Refining, he was a person of some standing in Spirit Water Village. He usually ran an inn. He was upright, yet also possessed a shrewd streak, and the inn’s business was quite thriving.

Speaking of which, the small house Bai Sui was currently living in was also rented from Manager Liu.

The monthly rent was one hundred wen—a price that could be considered quite conscientious.