Exploring Immortality Cultivation-Chapter 192 - 152 New Year’s Eve [2nd Update]

Immortal Alliance Dao Calendar, the two thousand, one hundred and fourteenth year, New Year’s Eve.

That night, Xinyue was engulfed in heavy snow.

The snowfall on this page of the calendar was unusually heavy. Xinyue, situated inland, enjoyed moderate weather because Mountain River City channeled the water flow and Liuyun Sect regulated the climate. But fundamentally, this region still had a continental climate with little natural precipitation. Xinyue’s snow in previous years was at best worthy of the description "like salt flung into the air," far from a likeness to "catkins." However, this year was an exception, with snowflakes as big as goose feathers clumping together in the air, hurtling down on people with the north wind.

Yet in such weather, Wang Qi wasn’t staying at the Xinyue Immortal Institute; instead, he was sitting in a restaurant in the Outer City of Xinyue.

Time is meaningless in the mountains, the cold passes without notice of the years. Cultivators on Xin Mountain did not celebrate festivals, and mortals at the foot of the mountain regarded "years" and "festivals" lightly compared to people elsewhere. Nevertheless, mortals were still mortals after all, and most would gather with their families on New Year’s Eve. That Wang Qi could find a restaurant open on New Year’s Eve in the Outer City was indeed a miracle.

The restaurant wasn’t large, but it had high standards. At this time, there was only one person managing the entire establishment. The middle-aged proprietor had no parents left and his children were out making their own way in the world, so he wasn’t in a rush to get home. He intended to enjoy a few cups of yellow wine after sending away his last server, then head home later. But unexpectedly, Wang Qi arrived, asking for a bowl of noodles for dinner.

Close to where cultivators congregated, the owner was skilled at reading people. Seeing Wang Qi’s extraordinary comportment and the fact that his body wasn’t touched by a single snowflake despite walking in heavy snow, he knew Wang Qi was a cultivator from the mountain, and dared not neglect him. Therefore, he willingly stayed open, keeping his restaurant running until New Year’s Eve night.

In the large restaurant with himself as the only customer, Wang Qi felt waiting would make the surroundings seem too empty, so he only lit one lamp in front of him. The small flame flickered, casting a slightly yellow hue over the white and plain noodles in front of him. The restaurant’s cook had gone home for New Year, so this bowl of noodles was the owner’s makeshift effort. The only side dish was a plate of vinegar and garlic.

Without Spiritual Energy, without any medicinal ingredients, it was a common meal far removed from the culinary experiences within the Immortal Institute.

Wang Qi was somewhat distracted as he looked at the bowl of plain noodles. Dabai Village, located at the junction of Central Earth and the southeast, was geographically closer to the southern parts of Shenzhou. On New Year’s Eve, it was traditional to eat noodles rather than dumplings. In his childhood, every New Year, there would also be a bowl of noodles in front of him...

Oh, that’s not right; in the very first years when he was still a young child, he used to just push the bowl of noodles aside.

He didn’t want to assimilate into this world, didn’t want to follow any of its customs.

Then, at some point, that man... his father stopped preparing noodles for him on New Year’s Eve. However, if he was hungry, he could still find a cold bowl of noodles in the kitchen on the first day of the new year.

But to say "at some point," it was actually only a few years, wasn’t it?

Haha, "transmigration" was a disaster for that researcher from Earth, but wasn’t it equally so for the Wang Family of Shenzhou?

A few more years passed, and his father died unexpectedly.

Then finally, the fool sitting here learned his lesson. He knew to sit down every New Year’s Eve and face his grandfather, sharing a bowl of noodles.

As Wang Qi reflected on this, he finally picked up his chopsticks.

The noodles were a bit cold and had become somewhat mushy. But now the one sitting here eating noodles was no longer the young child who resented the world. Wang Qi activated the mana from the Heavenly Entropy Technique, reheating the noodles and accelerating the movement of water molecules within them to evaporate. Very soon, the bowl of noodles was as if it had just come out of the pot.

To speak of it, Wang Qi once found the mental method of the Heavenly Entropy Technique somewhat irrational. In his recollection, Entropy Increase was inevitable, an unavoidable truth determined by the second law of thermodynamics. That iron-clad rule established the one-directional flow of time; nobody could swim upstream in the River of Time.

Although the flow of Spiritual Energy didn’t follow this law, being the only exception in this Cosmic reality, Entropy Increase still seemed insurmountable. The Heavenly Entropy Technique could control Entropy on a small scale, but it couldn’t combat the force of universal Entropy Increase that swept along the entire cosmos of Time.

This also meant that some past events could not be amended. Even though it was only a few years, just a few.

Those few years were trivial compared to the hundreds and thousands of years he was to live. Yet, they were the starting point of his new Life. He could never erase the marks of those few years from this lifetime.

At least, it would take many years to step out of this Heart Demon.

As Wang Qi was nearly finished with his noodles, his recollections also came to an end.

That was an elder lying on a sickbed. Old Man Wang used the last bit of strength he had in this life to extend a hand towards his special grandson...

"Child... you must be happy..."

Wang Qi suddenly felt a bit dizzy.

Thoughts can affect the soul, and the soul is closely related to mana. When one’s mental state undergoes a change, if one is not focused on the weary cultivation technique, the soul’s ability to control mana diminishes, and it may even conflict with the mana. Throughout the eighty thousand years of Ancient Method history, countless practitioners have perished from losing their mental equilibrium and deviating into madness.

And in Wang Qi’s mental state, there was a massive flaw.

The acute pain came on suddenly. Wang Qi grunted softly, forcefully placed the bowl on the table, and then carelessly threw down a piece of silver, quickly leaving the restaurant.

In the heavy snow, Wang Qi struggled to swallow the blood that surged to his lips, and mockingly said to himself, "A naturally cold-hearted person deserves such a fate."

On New Year’s Eve, if he wasn’t happy, there was no need to spoil the mood for others.

Large chunks of snow striking his face made it hard for Wang Qi to open his eyes, but the icy sensation also somewhat sobered him up. Strong material waves emanated from his Shenzhou, dispelling the snowflakes from the sky.

"Quite quick," Zhen Chan suddenly spoke from the ring on Wang Qi’s hand.

Wang Qi was a bit puzzled, "Quite quick? Quick at what?"

"At this time in the past, you would have been crying in a heap," Zhen Chan laughed. "You’re still a child after all."

"Ptui."

Wang Qi immediately objected to the comment, for coupled together, his two lifetimes would make him old enough to be a middle-aged man, how could he accept being called a "child"?

"Besides... this year, you didn’t throw the ring aside. That’s rare."

Wang Qi rolled his eyes dismissively, "Alright already. You’ve seen me at my most embarrassing before, this time isn’t any different."

"See, I’m right. The more hardships one endures, the stronger one’s mental state naturally becomes."

Wang Qi shook his head, "To be honest, I don’t feel it."

"What did that Wu boy remind you of that day?"

Zhen Chan suddenly grew curious about another matter. Wang Qi had made his decision to visit Xinyue shortly after tossing him into the Storage Bag, undoubtedly thanks to Wu Fan.

How did he manage that?

"Nothing much." Wang Qi watched the snowy night and sighed again, "I suddenly seem to understand what I was missing."

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