Chapter 45: The Ancients

"Splash!"

A ramie-woven fishing net spun as it was cast onto the water. The stream's current crowded and splashed through the rope meshes, sending ripples across the blue waves. Chen Xuan's reflection had already vanished.

"Slippery little modern mortal..."

The old fisherman sneered, holding a fish spear as he leaned his upper body out of the small, black-canopied boat. Beneath his rain hat, his gloomy eyes scanned the deep, emerald-green stream, but he could see nothing.

The small boat gently rocked.

Chen Xuan reached out with both hands to grab the gunwale, moving with such light and cautious grace that he hoisted himself aboard from the opposite side without making a sound.

"Humph!"

The old fisherman let out a cold grunt, as if he had grown an eye in the back of his head. Reversing the sharp fish spear in his hands, he thrust it fiercely backward.

"Whoosh!"

Chen Xuan tilted his head with extreme speed. The razor-sharp fish spear grazed closely past his cheek, cutting a thin line of blood from which a single droplet trickled down. In that split second, he grabbed the shaft of the fish spear, used its momentum to leap onto the boat, and lunged forward.

"You really thought I wouldn't hear you climbing aboard!"

The old fisherman spun around, his face resembling that of a furious lion. The fish spear in his hands swept outward like a streak of black lightning, the piercing whistle of broken air exploding right beside Chen Xuan's ears and making his hair stand on end instantly.

The speed was too fast!
The strength was too savage!

"Bang! Bang!"

Chen Xuan gritted his teeth, barely managing to wrap his arm in a layer of white *qi* and raise it to block. The shaft of the fish spear slammed into him, directly shearing away the upper canopy of the wooden boat. Wood splinters flew everywhere, and blood sprayed into the air.

"Third-level Apotheosis..."

Chen Xuan crashed onto the stern of the boat, dropping to one knee to steady himself. One of his arms, coated in white *qi*, hung broken and limp, while his waist and abdomen, battered by immense force, throbbed with agonizing pain.

The explosive force unleashed from that fish spear just now was close to thirty thousand catties of boundless might!

One had to know that Chen Xuan's innate talent and constitution were a once-in-a-century rarity in Red Crow City, yet a single Apotheosis granted him only eight thousand catties of strength. Even if he eventually reached the absolute peak of the Apotheosis Realm, his physical might would cap out at twenty-four thousand catties.

Yet at this moment, an ordinary old fisherman encountered inside the Peach Blossom Spring possessed nearly thirty thousand catties of brute strength.

Such natural talent, let alone within the territory of Red Crow City, could scarcely be found anywhere in the entire ancient state of Chu!

"Apotheosis? Ha, a minor path practiced only by degenerate humans."

The old fisherman sneered, his words dripping with disdain and contempt for Qi practitioners.

He leaned on his fish spear as he stood, dressed in ancient hemp clothing and straw sandals. Though clearly aged to the point of frailty and decay, with his spine bent by years, a surging and turbulent vitality churned within his body, resembling a continuously burning furnace.

"An ancient person, you are a person of antiquity!"

A sharp cry rang out from the chaotic cabin, coming from a fiery-red fox bound hand and foot in thick hemp ropes.

The fox was over a meter long, its fur as smooth and radiant as dancing flames. Currently tied up like a festive rice dumpling, it lifted its slender head with horror-struck eyes—it was precisely the same fox Chen Xuan had encountered before entering the Peach Blossom Spring.

"During the primeval Mountain and Sea era, a faction of strong ancients parted ways with the archaic Qi practitioners, walking a completely opposite path. They do not practice Qi; relying purely on their physical bodies, they possess thirty thousand catties of strength upon reaching adulthood."

The fiery-red fox, a spirit named Chimei, shrieked in warning, kindly reminding Chen Xuan that he was no match for an ancient and urging him to flee quickly. Once captured, the consequences would be dire—he would be permanently trapped within the Peach Blossom Spring.

"Archaic Qi practitioners? Back then, they were nothing more than weak and degenerate scum we kept in pens to toil like oxen and horses."

The old fisherman laughed mockingly, then suddenly kicked the chattering red fox. "Shut your trap, you little demon, forgetting your ancestors! Have you forgotten that the blood of the ancient mountain gods flows through your veins?"

"Cough, cough!"

The fiery-red fox doubled over from the brutal strike, coughing up mouthfuls of blood. "The ancient mountain gods died out long ago. The times have changed..."

The old fisherman roared, "Changed for the better! Qi practitioners make much better beasts of burden for plowing fields and turning millstones; they get a lot more work done."

"Old fisherman, talking so much—I sense deep hatred in your heart?"

Chen Xuan stood up from the ground and shook his arm. Azure *qi* had already straightened his fractured bone, reshaping his sinews and muscles.

"What hatred?"

The old fisherman's eyes turned sinister as he tightened his grip on the fish spear, spitting out a few cold, harsh words.

"Hatred that you yourself cannot practice Qi!"

Before his voice finished fading, Chen Xuan had already lunged forward. Wherever his feet touched, the wooden floorboards shattered completely. His wide sleeves billowed backward, and his scattered long hair danced wildly in the fierce wind, droplets of water flowing backward along the tips of his strands.

Azure-gold immortal *qi* spread across the surface of his body, sketching out a rapidly darting golden outline. His robes fluttered, overflowing with brilliant radiance.

The Dream of Yellow Millet *Qi*!

"You—you're courting death!"

Flying into a rage, the old fisherman charged forward with heavy strides, raising his fish spear to thrust fiercely. Suddenly, his gaze glazed over, and he stumbled heavily forward.

His nose seemed to catch the fresh fragrance of grain ears. Boundless golden rice seedlings stood full and ripe, and as the autumn wind blew, it was the perfect time for sleep.

In a trance, the old fisherman saw his younger self running through the fields, sitting alone before his ancestors to listen to scriptures, and his youthful self catching fish in the river, capturing modern mortals who strayed into the Peach Blossom Spring to keep them as livestock—the men as beasts of burden, the female cultivators for breeding—and his elderly self...

The rolling waves of the past rushed into his mind, half a lifetime of experiences surging together...

"Hum!"

Chen Xuan grabbed the old fisherman by the face and pulled him down, driving a fierce knee strike that propelled the iron-tough body into mid-air. Raising his other hand, the immortal *qi* lingering on his skin converged into his fist print like millions of azure-gold silk threads, forming a massive vortex.

"Bang! Bang!"

A flurry of consecutive punches tore the old fisherman's chest to shreds, snapping every bone and sinew. He flew backward upside down, crashing against the edge of the bow.

"Cough, cough!"

jolted violently awake from the excruciating pain, he vomited blood and shrieked in terror, "What kind of immortal *qi* is this? I have never seen it before!"

Over the decades, the Peach Blossom Spring had opened more than once. He was intimately familiar with the immortal *qi* of the cultivators who entered and had long been on guard against it. Yet what appeared before him now was a special immortal *qi* he had never witnessed, impossible to guard against and chillingly bizarre.

With even the slightest contact, the old fisherman's soul instantly sank into the quagmire of his past memories, unable to extricate itself!

"Whoosh!"

Without answering, Chen Xuan flicked his toe to kick up the fallen fish spear. Wielding it in a sharp, swirling arc, he hurled it forward with immense force. It pierced through layers of deck boards and pinned the dying old fisherman firmly to the boat.

"What kind of immortal *qi* it is—what business is that of a dead man?"

Chen Xuan gave a cold snort, then quickly searched the entire dilapidated boat as well as the old fisherman's body.

The old fisherman had gone out fishing, so he carried no treasures on him. Only his fish spear was forged from something other than ordinary iron; it felt very heavy in the hand and was dozens of times tougher than the weapons of the ancient state of Chu. Considering it useful as a makeshift weapon, Chen Xuan stowed it away.

"That fish spear is an ancient artifact. Once you take it out of the Peach Blossom Spring, the dust will fade away, and it will become a peerless weapon."

The fiery-red fox scampered out of the cabin, having already chewed through her hemp ropes herself. Exhibiting exquisite manners akin to an educated human scholar, she cupped her paws and bowed twice to Chen Xuan, saying:

"Thank you, Qi cultivator, for saving my life. This little fox's name is Bai Zi, and I will repay your grace..."

Chen Xuan looked down at the fiery-red fox. The creature was exceptionally lively, with a damp, perky little nose, intelligent obsidian eyes, blush-like markings on both cheeks, and smooth, well-groomed fur—clearly a very clean little fox.

The red fox scampered to the edge of the boat, scooped up the fishing net with her small paws, carefully folded it, and presented it like a treasure at Chen Xuan's feet, chirping happily:

"Qi cultivator, this is also a precious ancient artifact! This little fox has tidied it up for you!"

Chen Xuan stared at the fawning little fox, amused and exasperated. He knew the little creature was terrified in her heart, fearing he might kill her on a whim, which was why she kept displaying such docile and obedient behavior.

"Can you row a boat?"

"Ah, well, um... this little fox is very smart and can learn it right away!"

The fiery-red fox hurriedly picked up the oar from the ground. The oar was half a head taller than she was, but she wobbled over to the stern and began to row, her fox face filled with an earnest and cheerful expression.

Water rippled as the small boat slowly moved forward.

...

In the open fields on both sides of the stream, farmland stretched in an intricate grid.

"Bang!"

An ancient farmer with a ferocious expression swung his hoe, smashing a Qi cultivator to the ground with a massive cave in his skull, red and white fluids spilling across the earth.

"Men and women into two lines, follow me... The men will be beasts of burden, the women our brides. Our ancestors will surely produce a seed of Qi cultivation this year!"

A goshawk soared across the sky. An ancient hunter blew a whistle, then drew his bowstring to a full moon, loosing an arrow with the momentum of a rainbow toward the distant crowd.

"The gaze of our ancestors has watched over this ancient land for millions of years..."

"..."

Countless ant-like figures, whether willingly or by force, marched steadily forward.

On the distant mountains, endless pink peach blossoms bloomed, and smoke curled up from the village chimneys as if it were a scene painted within a scroll.