Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

The next morning.

Qiu Changtian slowly woke up from his meditative concentration and saw Xu Yinglian sitting in front of the dressing table, gracefully combing her hair.

Junior Sister Xu usually didn't wear a pearl hairpin, just casually tying her hair with a green ribbon. Now without the green ribbon, allowing her hair to fall freely and loosely, combined with her already slender body curves, she exuded a mix of three parts laziness, four parts purity, and three parts charm—she was very enticing.

With a flicker of thought, Qiu Changtian hugged Xu Yinglian from behind, his hands resting on her waist.

Well, this plumpness, a bit more voluptuous and a bit less slender, could be said to be just right.

"What are you doing!" Junior Sister Xu hummed from her nose, complaining in a reproachful tone.

Although she didn't whine, the crisp voice and the long, lilting intonation at the end sounded less like anger or protest, and more like a playful whine.

"What? Can't a husband embrace his wife?" Qiu Changtian protested first, questioning her.

"Embracing is fine, but no wandering hands," Xu Yinglian said in a languid tone.

Upon hearing that, Qiu Changtian instantly regretted it.

Had he known that Junior Sister had become so tender, he should have hugged her more.

As for deeper acts of intimacy, he'd wait until he resumed his identity as Chen Guanshui before continuing with her, lest, in the final step, Junior Sister still thought she was marrying Qiu Changtian—that wouldn't be quite so wonderful.

Wait a second, if he were to resume his identity as Chen Guanshui, it was uncertain how Junior Sister would view him!

Forget it; that's a matter for later.

Qiu Changtian helped Junior Sister comb her hair and asked gently,

"Are there any other clues regarding Xu Zhi?"

"Mmm, no more," Xu Yinglian sighed, "After all, it's too far removed from now, and it seems that the family didn't want to reveal the specific reasons for Xu Zhi's betrayal of the clan."

"However, I do have some clues about the secret realm around Xiang River," she said.

She stood up, took a bamboo slip out of her storage bag, and placed it on the table.

It was actually a bamboo slip... Qiu Changtian picked up the bamboo slip and quickly scanned through it.

It said that there was a loyal official in the ancient state of Xiang Chu, and just as all tragedies predict, he was not trusted by his sovereign.

In the end, the official was banished to this place by the king; in his anger and sorrow, he drowned himself in the river's waters.

After his death, a hint of his spirit did not dissipate but made its way to an immortal realm.

The two ladies who ruled over the immortal realm, calling themselves "the Goddesses of Xiang River," awaited their husband "Lord Xiang" to return.

After hearing of the official's deeds, they allowed him to live within the immortal realm to await the ultimate fate of his former country.

Reading this, Qiu Changtian also became pensive.

As is commonly known, descriptions of "mortals encountering immortals" in these extraordinary stories are often metaphors for some secret realms.

The person who writes the story, on one hand, wants to prevent the loss of information about the entrance to the secret realm, so they stuff a bunch of hints into the content.

On the other hand, to prevent discovery by unrelated and miscellaneous people, they intentionally write in a roundabout way, refusing to be straightforward.

Thus, the common people regard them all as fabricated folktales while cultivators know that may not be the case. Some might be real... Even if past explorations yielded nothing, one cannot confirm whether the stories were made up or whether they simply didn't find the real entrance.

"Drowned in the river and then went to the secret realm, huh." Qiu Changtian mused, "So, the entrance to the secret realm could likely be beneath the riverbed?"

"Guess where I found this?" Xu Yinglian spoke indifferently, "In the family library. There was a borrowing record with Xu Zhi's name on it—dated right before he defected."

"Brilliant!" Qiu Changtian exclaimed.

Stories and random talks like this might contain clues to secret realms, but most are genuine folktales, so sifting through them is quite inefficient, which is why few are inclined to read them specifically.

Yet, Xu Yinglian had always enjoyed reading and had browsed through the family collection since childhood, so finding this bamboo slip wasn't surprising at all.

"If that's the case, let's call Senior Sister Luo and go investigate the Xiang River riverbed," said Qiu Changtian with a smile.

They left their inn room, descended the stairs, and saw Luo Baiyuan sitting at a second-floor table facing the river, eating a milky white river fish with a bamboo clip.

Seeing her junior brother and sister suddenly approach, Senior Sister Luo felt somewhat embarrassed and hurriedly said:

"Qiong Ying, Changgeng, I wasn't secretly indulging here! The host insisted on recommending it so emphatically that I reluctantly gave it a try..."

"Senior Sister certainly has elegant tastes," Qiu Changtian chuckled, interrupting her defense, and then spoke to the innkeeper beside them, "Bring us another river fish and two pairs of bamboo chopsticks."

"I'll pass," Xu Yinglian demurely declined, only for Qiu Changtian to forcefully place the chopsticks in her hand:

"After your fasting, Junior Sister, you've abstained from worldly foods—this isn't good."

"What's wrong with that?" Xu Yinglian raised an eyebrow, "After all, it's all just turbidity."

"Every worldly thing has its own flavor," Qiu Changtian replied as he picked up a piece of fish with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth, "Trying different tastes can be very beneficial to one's mindset."

"Really?" Xu Yinglian replied, somewhat surprised.

If anyone else had said such things, she would have mocked them with a cold laugh, but her senior brother was a person of Daoist Heart Clarity—could eating truly benefit one's mindset?

With this in mind, Junior Sister Xu also stretched out her chopsticks to taste the fish on the plate, and her eyebrows soon relaxed.

Delicious.

Luo Baiyuan watched enviously from the side, swallowing down her small protest of "This is the fish I ordered" that had risen to her throat.

...Oh well, when their ordered fish arrives, they might share a bite with me, right?

The river fish had a distinct muddy taste, but the restaurant was generous with scallions, ginger, and garlic, which had effectively subdued the fishy flavor, making the milky white soup exceptionally tasty.

Qiu Changtian relished his meal, thinking that even though Junior Sister Xu might decline, it would be good to have Miss Shi come to study the restaurant's recipes and improve her culinary skills... Tsk, even when enjoying a tasty treat, I don't forget about Liuli; I truly am too kind-hearted.

After finishing the river fish, the three set out on their journey.

Their destination this time was the riverbed, so instead of continuing by boat, they used Water Element Techniques and stepped into the riverbed.

The South was abundant with trees, and the water was clearer than in the North, teeming with dense schools of fish and some river dolphins swimming near the aquatic plants.

With their Divine Sense scanning through the surrounding water plants and heaps of rocks, they continued forward.

Of course, the efficiency of scanning while moving was extremely low, since the river was wide and the range of the Divine Sense scan was limited, giving the feeling of looking for a needle in a haystack.

Left with no other choice, Qiu Changtian had to rely on the Kunlun Mirror to help scan, to prevent missing the entrance to the secret realm.

About two hours later, Qiu Changtian sharply sensed something flash atop a hill on the riverbed in front of them.

It looked like... a water snake?

"Found it," the Kunlun Mirror suddenly announced, "I've captured the spatial fluctuations of the entrance to the secret realm!"

"Where is it?" Qiu Changtian asked eagerly.

"Right behind that hill," the Kunlun Mirror answered.