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nTranslator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

nIt would take a lot of effort to turn a useless person to a normal man.

nLiu Shisui sat in the waterlogged field, pondering.

nHis father didn’t pay attention to his fall. He planted the seedlings silently, his back bent very low.

n“Why are you still sitting here?!”

nHis mother pulled him up from the watery field and hit him twice, tears welling in her eyes.

nThe fourth day, Liu Shisui didn’t go out.

nHe woke up before dawn. After briefly washing and brushing his teeth, he started practicing the lunge step.

nThis was an entry level method of the Green Mountain Sect.

nHe knew he couldn’t use this practice to get back on the path of Cultivation, but he thought this might be able to help him recover his strength.

nSoon his forehead was covered in drops of sweat the size of peas.

nHe knew he was still quite weak, so he shouldn’t push himself too hard. He decided to take a break.

nHe cleaned the courtyard during his rest time.

nThe fifth day, Liu Shisui resumed practicing the lunge step. He felt quite pleasant after wetting his clothes with sweat.

nDuring the intervals of rest, he went to the backyard, picked some peppers and cabbages and washed them clean.

nHis mother came back to cook the meal and rubbed her eyes when she saw the clean kitchen and the vegetables on the table.

nThe sixth day, Liu Shisui started practicing boxing, along with the lunge step. Unlike when he was at the South Pine Pavilion, he thrust his fists forth without any sound, very quietly.

nHe went to the vegetable garden and picked a handful of daylilies. When he came back to the kitchen, he saw a slice of pork, and chopped it to a size suitable for cooking.

nHe had seldom visited his family in the last seven years that he was on the Green Mountains. But he listened to Jing Jiu and often sent money to his family, so his family led a relatively easy life.

nHis mother got home and saw the steam coming out from the steaming pot. After being briefly dazed, she yelled through the window. “You will cook from tomorrow on, so I can help your father do some more field work.”

nThe seventh day, alongside practicing lunges and boxing, he started running. In the backyard, he discovered the eaves of the roof had been damaged by the last year’s heavy rains.

nAfter having cooked rice and fish, and adding some pickles, the meal was done. He dragged a ladder to the backyard and spent the entire afternoon there fixing the eaves.

nThe eighth day, along with all those things he had done the previous day, Liu Shisui chopped some firewood, and piled it in a nice-looking pile, like he had done when he was a small kid.

nThe ninth day, he went to the field. The sowing season was almost over. If he didn’t go now, it would be too late to offer any help.

nHis father didn’t say anything, and simply handed him a towel, motioning for him to wear it on his neck. He wasn’t sure whether it was to guard against the wind or the insects in the field.

nLiu Shisui started working the field with his head lowered, quite focused on his task.

nThe blue sky and white clouds reflected on the watery surface of the field had been replaced by the sunset. Liu Shisui lifted his head, feeling pain in his shoulders and back. Looking to one side, he found he had merely done one-fifth of what his father did.

nHe wasn’t worried about his slow work pace. It was better to take it easy at first. And he was satisfied with his planting work, as all the planted seedlings were in a straight line.

n“Why did you plant them so straight? Looking pretty doesn’t help produce more rice.”

nHis father commented as he walked past.

nLiu Shisui laughed. Was the guy born so beautiful that he was the only one who could pursue perfection?

nHe looked unthinkingly at the mountain path on the outskirts of the village. There was nobody there.

nIn the following days, Liu Shisui worked the fields just like the other young men in the village, and his physical strength gradually recovered, and his face turned a healthy darker color once more.

nIn the first few days, he would stand up in the field and look at the entrance of the village once in a while. Nobody appeared there.

nAfter that, he didn’t look at the entrance of the village again.

nFollowing the spring sowing season was the summer harvesting season. The unbearable winter followed the storage season of the autumn. It was truly boring to stay in the village all the time in the winter, so Liu Shisui went hunting in the mountains with some friends.

nHis parents had accepted the reality, and the laughter returned to his family. The villagers acknowledged him as their own now. Some even wanted to introduce him to a future wife, but he refused.

nLiu Shisui almost forgot all the events of the past. The Cultivation in the Green Mountains was like a surreal dream.

nAs he walked amid the mountains and forests, he could occasionally see flashes of sword light in the sky.

nAt that moment he would stop walking and look at the sky silently until the sword light disappeared. No one could tell what was on his mind.

nThe spring arrived again after the winter. One year had passed.

nThe fields were irrigated again. The blue sky and white clouds reflected in the waterlogged fields again. The villagers had to work the hardest during this season.

nBy dusk, Liu Shisui used his hoe to gather a pile of dirt by the gap, ready to close the gap when the irrigation was done.

nLooking at the water in the field and rubbing his sore back, he grew ambitious.

nLiu Shisui thought he would do more work than his father tomorrow, and plant the seedlings even straighter than him.

n“Once you were a natural who knew the Dao. Now you’re breaking your back to become a farmer. What a pity.”

nA gloomy and hostile voice came from behind.

nLiu Shisui turned his head and saw a man standing in a tree.

nThe man wore black clothes and a strange looking hat. Though he looked ordinary, he emitted a very gloomy air.

nLiu Shisui didn’t pay him any further attention, and returned to his work.

n“You are indeed a disciple of the Green Mountain Sect. Still so proud and arrogant under such pitiful conditions. You don’t even bother asking where I’m from?!”

n“I’m from the Mysterious Dark Sect,” said the man in black.

nHaving heard this, Liu Shisui gripped the hoe a bit tighter.

nThe Mysterious Dark Sect was a famous deviant sect. It had a confrontational relationship with orthodox sects like the Green Mountain Sect.

nBack when he was in the Green Mountains, Liu Shisui would pull out his sword without any hesitation if a disciple of the Mysterious Dark Sect suddenly appeared before him.

nHowever, he didn’t have a sword in his hand, but a hoe. So he didn’t do anything, and instead continued to work the field.

nThe messenger of the Mysterious Dark Sect found this interesting.

nThis exiled disciple of the Green Mountain didn’t try to pitifully escape, or bravely mount an attack. Instead, it seemed as if nothing had happened at all in his eyes.

n“I like you, so I want to help you.”

nThe messenger of the Mysterious Dark Sect flew down from the tree. “Though your meridian has been cut off and your Sword Pill has been destroyed, it’s not a big deal as long as you are still alive,” he said. “If you’re willing to come with me, I will help you recover your power. There is no need to collect your stuff. We have everything you need in the Cold Mountains. As it’s too close to the Green Mountains, I don’t want to be discovered by your former colleagues.”

nThe Cold Mountain was a general name for the snowy plateau and mountain range in northwest of Chaotian Land, including the Kunlun Mountain, the Sky Mountain, and the Crow Mountain, where the headquarters of the Mysterious Dark Sect was located.

nLiu Shisui still didn’t pay much attention to him.

nThe expression on this messenger’s face turned slightly cold. “If you still refuse, I will kill you.”

nLiu Shisui knew what he said was true. Killing a man was an easy and simple thing for the disciples of the deviant sects.

n“I know that the Devil Fire can’t be put out. ‘Devil Fire Forever’, as they say.”

nLiu Shisui put down the hoe. “If I wanted to continue Cultivation this way, I can do it myself,” Liu Shisui said, looking at him.

nThe messenger of the Mysterious Dark Sect was startled.

nHe was certain that there was a method to help Liu recover and to continue his Cultivation. Otherwise the sect wouldn’t have sent him here to observe Liu for a year.

nYet he didn’t expect Liu Shisui to know the words “Devil Fire Forever”, which was the key for recovery.

n“Since you already knew it, why haven’t you done so?”

nHe thought it was unbelievable.

nFor a deposed talent with natural Dao qualities, wouldn’t the most important thing be to resume his Cultivation path? Any other practitioner in Liu’s situation would take the opportunity at any cost. Many people would even kill their parents if necessary to gain such an opportunity.

nWhy did Liu Shisui seem so unconcerned about it? He spent a whole year working in the field in this small village, and never even gave it a try!

n“Because that is a method of the deviant sects.”

nLiu Shisui said it as if he was talking about the most ordinary thing in the world.

nHow could a disciple of the orthodox sect practice the method of the deviant sects?

nWell, he wasn’t a disciple of the Green Mountain Sect anymore, not even a Cultivation practitioner, but he would still insist on doing so.

nA former practitioner should also follow the correct path.

nThe messenger of the Mysterious Dark Sect stared at him for a long time. “Are you stupid?” he asked.

nAfter some thought, Liu Shisui responded. “Maybe a little bit.”

n“I’ve been always afraid of dealing with your kind my whole life. It’s damned annoying.”

nThe messenger of the Mysterious Dark Sect left after this remark.

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