v7c1: A Week Of Celebration

I couldn’t help the small smile that came to my face as I beheld the rolling green hills of my farm. They stretched out and over the horizon, meeting the beautiful blue sky that was dotted with fluffy clouds.

The winter had been long and hard. And while winter had its own charms… this time it had gone on for long enough.

My family had endured an attack from a Demonic cultivator army, a battle that had scarred the land for kilometers around us. The damage done by the Demonic cultivators had been extensive. Entire swathes of forest had been knocked over, burned, or poisoned and turned to sludge. We’d worked around the clock to repair it… but the wounds had been obvious, preserved by the quiet cold. The winter had stilled the world outside, practically frozen it in time.

Spring, however, was the complete opposite.

Spring, loud, bold, brash and unrepentantly alive, was here. A riot of motion and growth stirred.

You could smell it. The blooming wildflowers, the damp earth, and the fresh shoots of springtime grasses. It made the air sweet with its scent, a natural perfume that never got old. It was carried on the breeze from the south, the warming air only adding to its strength.

You could hear it. The chorus of a hundred thousand birds in the forests and frogs in the river singing their little hearts out. They were joined by millions of insects: crickets chirped, flies buzzed, and the army of bees we hosted droned without ceasing, flinging themselves out into the warm air to gather their bounty. I could even hear the soft chewing sound of caterpillars, working hard to become butterflies and moths. Fish breached the surface of the river, leaping for the abundance above it. Deer called in the forest beyond.

You could see it. The growth. The life. A vast green army was on the march, reclaiming the earth from winter’s grasp. It surged forth, tenacious, bold in its movement, and coated everything it could in its colours.

My eyes roved over the uneven horizon. The gaps in the forest, the new hills and valleys. It was changed forever—but the destruction had paved the way for new life.

The wounds upon my home were scarring over. Where once was poisoned land, new saplings breached the dark soil. On the dead hulks of the trees, mushrooms erupted along with creeping vines. Bushes and other fast growing soft woods claimed the space where they had once resided.

I saw the flash of a family of foxes, kits gamboling through the meadow. A hawk gazed down from above, lazily tilting its wings and locking onto mice using the vast downed trees as cover. In the distance, far, far away, I even saw a bear climb out of his den, looking around quite confused at the shape of the landscape… before deciding it wasn’t his problem and trundling off in search of food.

I experienced it all; the warm wind caressing my face, the song of life that settled into my beating heart.

“Now that’s a beautiful sight,” I said aloud, reaching for the teacup beside me and taking a sip.

“It is indeed, Master,” a deep, smooth voice said from my shoulder.

I glanced up at the rooster sitting there. Big D was still wearing his ragged fox fur vest; his favourite garment had taken a beating, but he still loved wearing it—like a shirt that was more hole than fabric, but was just so comfortable you kept wearing it.

His own eyes were fixed on the horizon, a small smile on his beak. It was nice to just sit with him like this, and take it all in.

I set my teacup down and closed my eyes. It was almost unconscious, to push the Qi from my body and grant it to the world, saturating everything I could reach. I felt the vibrant pulse of the earth’s heartbeat, and a song drifted up from deep, deep below.

Tianlan, the Spirit of the Azure Hills, was humming to herself, and I could feel the cheerful preoccupation she had while nudging the land’s dragon veins back into their proper places. The battle on the solstice against the Demons had hurt her. We had been very worried when she had woken up again… but instead of being weak, or in obvious pain, there was a fire lit inside her, and a simple joyful happiness that we had all been okay.

Our Qi touched and mingled as it always did, and she took some of it, patching over another broken part deep in the earth like a tiny yet vast plumber.

She was clearly in the zone, so I left her to it.

I took a breath in and out. For several minutes, I just savoured the sensations.

But all things must end. When I opened my eyes again, the sun was higher in the sky and I could hear annoyed babbling sounds from the house below us.

My son, Zhuye, was awake and wondering why the sun was up when he hadn’t yet heard the morning crow.

I smirked.

“I think we’ve given them enough of a sleep in, eh?” I asked Big D, before standing up and leaning over the edge of the roof. “What do you think, Meimei?”

My call reached my wife’s ears and a hand stuck out from the kitchen window, giving me a thumbs up.

“Make it loud, Bi De!” she asked.

The rooster on my shoulder chuckled. “I shall endeavor to give it my all, My Lady.”

I turned back to look behind me and towards what I called my “front yard”.

A front yard that was filled with tents, tables, and the detritus that came with several hundred people having a party in it.

Gou Ren and Yun Ren’s wedding celebration had just passed the seven day mark. We had eventually ended up migrating the whole party over here from Hong Yaowu, simply to save on trips of me bringing over food and booze.

Gotta be right next to the source.

And truthfully, I was grateful. I had way more than I needed, and we were finally making a dent in the storage.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“I do believe you are correct, Master,” Big D said, stroking his wattles. A mischievous gleam entered his eye, which was fixed on the quiet tents—their occupants all likely to be rather hung over.

“Then please, my disciple. Do the honours,” I commanded.

My first disciple sucked in a breath, his chest swelling. I braced for impact.

A truly glorious cock-a-doodle-doo ripped across the hills, his voice a demand to wake up and greet the sun. It was melodious, invigorating, and impossible to ignore.