On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Li Xiang went to his maternal grandparents’ house to visit. However, his aunt and uncle had taken Shen Wenqian and Shen Zimo to visit *their* maternal grandmother.

The second day of the New Year is traditionally when a wife visits her own family, and his aunt was no exception. So, Li Xiang spent some time there, having a drink with his maternal grandfather. After lunch, he chatted with his grandmother for a while and asked his grandfather for some tips on playing the erhu before heading back at around two in the afternoon.

When he was little, he would come with his mother to his grandparents’ house and stay for days at a time. But now that he was older, he couldn’t do that. His mother was gone, and his grandparents were getting old. If he stayed over, they would have to wash his bedding and go to all the trouble of preparing good food and drinks for him. He couldn’t bear to make the two elders work so hard.

He wasn’t actually very interested in the erhu. With only two strings, most of the music it produced sounded too sorrowful; he preferred instruments with more strings. He only asked his grandfather for advice to make the old man happy.

Jiang Cai’Er had also gone with her parents to her maternal grandmother’s home, a traditional Miao Village filled with ancient Miao architecture. It was especially lively during the New Year, with song and dance performances by Miao women, and she took many photos to share with him.

In the past, Miao women rarely married outside their community. But times had changed, and now, it was actually quite common.

One of Jiang Cai’Er’s cousins, also a Miao girl, had not only married someone from out of town after college but had also bought a house and settled down in a big city. Since this was her first year as a newlywed and the journey back was long, she stayed with her husband’s family for the holiday. Plus, she could collect a lot of red envelopes from visiting his relatives, so she didn’t go back to her parents’ home.

As for his paternal grandmother’s family home, Granny Li Xiang was getting old and it was far away, so she rarely returned. After her brother—Li Xiang’s great-uncle—passed away a few years ago, she had even less reason to go back.

The relatives on that side of the family had grown distant, only showing up for major events and rarely making contact otherwise. He figured that once his grandmother passed away in a few years, the connection would likely be severed completely.

But Granny Li Xiang had daughters of her own, and all three of them returned to their family home today to visit their elderly mother. However, the second aunt had married far away and had to rush back in the afternoon. She mentioned a banquet she had to attend that evening and a list of things to do the next day. Being very busy, she left in a hurry right after lunch.

Once the second aunt was gone, the eldest aunt didn’t sit for much longer before she left as well. Only the Little Aunt stayed behind to keep their old mother company.

Li Xiang returned a bit too late to see his eldest and second aunts. He planned to visit the homes of his eldest aunt and Little Aunt the next day to pay his New Year’s respects. As for his second aunt’s house, it was too far and he didn’t have a car, so he decided against it. He just gave her a call to wish her a happy new year and they chatted for a while.

With nothing else to do, Li Xiang went to inspect his "territory." He had already planned everything out and even had a rough design ready. He was just waiting for the New Year festivities to end before starting the official procedures and hiring a construction crew.

It included a large portion of the backyard, as well as two nearby hills. For now, the hill where he had previously mined the Chicken Blood Stone was not part of the plan.

He returned to the cave to expand it further, drink Spirit Wine, and cultivate.

There, he found a large, handsome piece of stone with a beautiful grain. He cut it out with the White Fang Dagger and placed it in his system’s inventory, planning to take it home and craft it into a tea table. He could carve it with a winding stream design and indentations for tea pets.

The White Fang Dagger sliced through the hard stone as if it were modeling clay. Combined with his immense strength, carving it would be quite easy. He wouldn’t have to be like other artisans who use power tools, which send dust flying everywhere and create an ear-piercing racket.

On the afternoon of the third day of the New Year, Jiang Cai’Er came over to Li Xiang’s house to study. As always, they gathered around the stove to brew tea. Li Xiang had prepared a bowl of Spirit Medicine Soup for her, stewed with seven or eight different Tier Two and Tier Three Spiritual Medicines. The only problem was the taste. Despite adding rock sugar, it was still intensely bitter.

It couldn’t be helped. They had already eaten all the tasty ingredients, leaving only the bitter ones. He still had a few non-bitter Spirit Fruits left, which he planned to give her as snacks.

In truth, Li Xiang’s Spirit Wine was also bitter and harsh. But he quite liked the taste. If you took a sip and savored it, you could notice a sweet aftertaste. Gulping it down nonstop, however, was almost unbearable.

It was like coffee—also bitter, yet some people are addicted to drinking it black, needing a cup every day without any sugar or milk.

"It’s a little bitter, but the effects are powerful. Here, Dalang, drink your medicine!" Li Xiang said jokingly, handing her the bowl of lukewarm Spirit Medicine Soup.

"Oh, shut up. I’m not the ugly Wu Dalang, I’m..." Jiang Cai’Er pouted. She had wanted to say she was the beautiful Golden Lotus, but thought better of it. Instead, she shot Li Xiang a glare, picked up the bowl of medicine, pinched her nose, and downed it in one gulp.

"So bitter!" But she could also feel the potent medicinal properties spreading through her body, already beginning to seep into her very flesh and blood. She estimated it would take a few days to fully ’digest’ it all.

"Quick, eat a piece of chocolate to kill the taste!" Li Xiang quickly unwrapped a chocolate and popped it into her mouth.

"Thank you, Brother Xiang." The sweet taste spreading across her taste buds made Jiang Cai’Er flash Li Xiang a dazzling smile.

"Take these fruits to school and eat one every morning." Li Xiang then took out six Tier Three Mutated Phoenix Blood Multi-Lotus Spirit Fruits. He had sealed each one individually in plastic wrap and then placed them in small Ziploc bags. These were the "snacks" he had prepared for her.

They were the last ones he had, as this particular type of lotus fruit had a pleasant texture—juicy, sweet, and perfect for eating raw.

"Okay."

"Don’t eat them for the next few days. Wait until the medicinal energy from the soup is fully refined within your body."

...

Happy times are always fleeting. By the fifth day of the New Year, the young people began to depart one by one, and the rare liveliness that had filled Li Family Village faded away, leaving it quiet once more.

On the afternoon of the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, Jiang Cai’Er also left for school, suitcase in tow. Classes officially began on the seventh.

People in the cities also generally returned to work on the same day.

Back in the village, some of the remaining elders took the opportunity to visit relatives and friends, but with the young people gone, even the sound of fireworks dwindled. The spirit of the New Year felt faint, very faint indeed.

...

On the morning of the eighth day of the New Year, the sun rose, bathing the world in golden light. On the athletic field of Jiang Cai’Er’s high school, the entire student body lined up in formation, spreading out to begin their morning exercises.

As she went through the motions, Jiang Cai’Er secretly activated the Breathing Technique Li Xiang had taught her, matching her unique breathing rhythm to the movements. Since the standardized exercises didn’t align with the specific postures of her technique, her movements looked a little odd.

It didn’t hinder her Cultivation, however.

A supervising teacher noticed her incorrect posture and was about to walk over to correct her, but suddenly, the teacher froze.

Because Jiang Cai’Er had suddenly become imbued with a divine radiance. Her whole being seemed to glow, transforming her into something like a celestial Divine Maiden, possessing an incomparable elegance and beauty.

It wasn’t just the teacher who noticed; many of the students around her felt it too.

"Oh my god, Jiang Cai’Er is stunning!"

"She’s suddenly glowing. Did she just think of something happy?"

There were quite a few boys who had a crush on Jiang Cai’Er. Right now, for instance, one of them was staring at her, completely transfixed. ’The charm of the Miao Clan Saintess is truly on another level,’ he thought. ’Is my case of lovesickness getting worse? Why does it feel like I was just hallucinating?’

When the student asked his classmates about it later, they all said they saw it too.

And so, the story of Jiang Cai’Er suddenly starting to glow during morning exercises began to spread, quickly becoming the stuff of legend. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The boys, in particular, told some wildly exaggerated versions.

Many students who hadn’t witnessed it firsthand scoffed at the rumors. They thought, ’Sure, Goddess Jiang gets good grades and is pretty, but there’s no need to be such suck-ups.’

Some of the girls were jealous. ’These guys are so gross!’ they thought. ’Glowing? More like you’ve got water on the brain!’

Jiang Cai’Er herself was surprised by what had happened, but more than that, she was thrilled. She finally understood why Brother Xiang’s skin was so perfect and why he often seemed so handsome that he practically glowed.

Indeed, at this moment, her own skin was fair and rosy, as vibrant as a peach blossom. A soft radiance seemed to emanate from within her, making her look like a glowing angel. Thankfully, she managed to quickly reactivate her Breathing Technique and suppress the effect just a little.

Even so, she was still breathtakingly beautiful—at least ten times more so than usual!

She had condensed her first Spiritual Power Vortex, officially becoming an Extraordinary Being.

Furthermore, she had awakened her first Superpower: Memory Palace, granting her perfect recall.

A magnificent, sacred palace had appeared in her mind. Inside, all of her past memories were sorted and neatly organized by category. And she could keep adding new ones.

For example, if she took a new book she had never read before, she only needed to flip through it once to "scan" and "store" its contents in her Memory Palace. Whenever she needed the information, it would appear in her mind with a single thought.

’My god,’ she thought, ’with an ability this powerful, getting into Qingbei will be a cakewalk!’

Jiang Cai’Er was absolutely ecstatic. Her learning ability and efficiency would increase a thousandfold, if not more!