The bright red sun rises from the eastern horizon, little by little, over the treetops, and slowly rises towards the zenith.

Wu Xie sat on the roof of Zhifeizhai and watched the rising sun. The gradually dazzling sunlight did not make him uncomfortable, but made his heart warm.

As soon as he thought of what he was going to do today, he felt warm from the bottom of his heart.

Today is his 100th birthday, and because of the advice of his friends, he decided to hold a small party in Zhifei Zhai to entertain his friends and celebrate himself.

And...... After the birthday party, there is one more important thing to do

Wu Xie took a deep breath and smiled towards the sun.

"Master, why are you smiling at the sun early in the morning?" Lin Xiao, who was wearing a chef's white coat, passed by the courtyard and asked curiously, "I've seen you like this several times when I passed by, it's been almost half an hour......

Wu Xie lowered his head and saw that he was plain, without the slightest hint of rebelliousness and fierceness, but naturally exuded an easy-going atmosphere and was approachable. Just looking at the appearance, it is no longer obvious that it is Lin Xiao, the terrifying "blood sword" in the past, but just a handsome young chef.

So he couldn't help but laugh again.

"You look good now, much better than before"

Lin Xiao was stunned for a moment, looked at himself, and suddenly realized.

"yes, I've changed a lot in the last six years." He showed a look of nostalgia, "From the bitterness and hardship at the beginning, to the mastery later, I gradually got used to the life of an ordinary person, and I really understood what it means to be a 'human'. ”

"I used to think that as long as I insisted that I was human, then I was. But now I understand that 'human beings are not only a title, but also a set of habits of behavior, a set of thoughts that come from the heart. In the past, even though I never wanted to show my true form in front of others, I was actually just a monster. ”

"Oh? It seems that you have really comprehended" Wu Xie smiled and nodded, "These six years have been well spent." You have truly embarked on the right path, and you can be called a person on the right path."

"Alas," Lin Xiao sighed, "I often reminisce about the past...... At that time, I was young and ignorant, and I always liked to have the upper hand, and I took it for granted that my words hurt others, and I became angry when I was hurt by others...... If it weren't for the fact that there is usually a senior brother in charge, and he rarely goes out, I'm afraid that he would have caused countless disasters a long time ago......"

"Looks like you really know what's wrong with you."

"yes, it took a lot of time." Lin Xiao's expression was very self-reproachful: "When I first opened the store, I thought that I was wrong because I couldn't distinguish the situation and lacked experience in fighting people. Later, after getting along with the people for a long time, I understood...... I'm fundamentally wrong as an immortal cultivator, except for the principle of right and wrong, I shouldn't fight with others at all."

"How long is the road to immortality, how can it be smooth sailing along the way, a person who will only keep fighting, and does not know how to back down and compromise, cannot go too far"

"Rigidity is easy to break, even if it is steel, it must be tempered repeatedly to become a good knife."

"Yes, a person who can't bow his head and doesn't know how to back down has no future at all." Lin Xiao bowed deeply to Wu Jie, "Master's painstaking efforts, I finally understand now"

Wu Xie nodded with satisfaction, but he couldn't help but think of Lin Lushan and his wife, and sighed: "If only they could see you now...... How nice that would be."

At the mention of his parents, Lin Xiao suddenly gloomed: "I think if they see me before, they will be disappointed and sad...... When I think about the mistakes I've made, I don't feel like I have the face to face them......"

Wu Xie was stunned: "How can you have such an idea?" There is no parent in the world who will not forgive a child who has lost his way. ”

"But I can't forgive myself," Lin Xiao lowered his head, his face full of pain, "Many of the mistakes I made cannot be forgiven, if even such mistakes can be forgiven, then where is there fairness in the world?"

Wu Jie's face gradually became serious, he found that he had not thought it through before, and there were still some problems with Lin Xiao's teaching.

"Ah Xiao, I thought you had fully comprehended the truth of being a man, but now it seems that ...... You're only halfway there," he said in a deep voice, "You've jumped from one extreme to the other, whether it's the extreme left or the extreme right, it's not right."

Lin Xiao raised his head suspiciously, not understanding what he meant.

"That's it, don't open a hotel, go to the Western Qin Kingdom to be a dart master for a while." Wu explained, "The rebellious spirit that you shouldn't have in your heart has been worn away, but the sharpness you should have has also been worn away...... It's not okay, you go and hang out with those Jianghu people for a while and have a good experience of their lives. This will definitely help you."

Lin Xiao nodded, but suddenly thought of his hotel, and hurriedly asked, "Then what about my store?" It's a shame to turn it off, but it's hard to gradually gain popularity......"

"You should have some savings in the past few years, expand the store, hire a buddy, a chef, and then an account, and you can concentrate on being the boss...... Isn't that enough? ”

Lin Xiao suddenly frowned: "The people of Nanping County are simple, there are not many business contacts, and the people don't often come to the hotel to eat. Even if you come to eat, most of them are a pot of rice wine and two side dishes...... I don't make a lot of money."

“…… Why are you starting to cry poor again? ”

"I really didn't cry poor," Lin Xiao said with a wry smile, "When I first opened the store, my craftsmanship was not good, and the dishes I cooked not only tasted bad, but even looked bad...... During that time, if I hadn't survived just by basking in the sun and drinking water, I was afraid that I would have gotten mixed up to the point of begging on the streets......"

Wu Xie suddenly remembered the dishes that Lin Xiao had made when he brought Qin Jing back, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help twitching twice.

"To be honest, I thought it was scary when you cooked food...... I've never seen a stir-fried greens glowing green in my life, or a grilled pork that keeps squirming on a plate...... It's a shame that those diners dare to eat."

"Yes, when I recall it now, I always feel that it is really not easy to eat people's lives" Lin Xiao couldn't help blushing a little, "At that time, I was too poor to afford the materials, and because I didn't have cultivation, I couldn't hunt by myself, so the ingredients I used were all cut from my own body...... Anyway, as long as I take root in the earth, I can become a big tree in a while, and picking some leaves and cutting some shoots is nothing......"

Only then did Wu Xie understand that the things he ate at the beginning tasted so strange - Lin Xiao's mother was a peony flower, and he himself was a monster like flowers and trees, so those dishes - to put it bluntly, they were petals, flowers, leaves, stems and buds or something, and they were plucked from a monster.

It's no wonder that many people in this town are overfit...... It turned out that it was because of the credit of eating the treasure of heaven and earth

No... As the saying goes, "Void is not replenished", and it is really a miracle that mortals eat this kind of thing and don't eat a few deaths

Wu Xie couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, and asked worriedly, "Then how is your current craftsmanship?" Don't make such a terrible dish again, today is my master's birthday, you serve dark food...... Then I'm so pitiful......"

Lin Xiao smiled suddenly, he touched the tip of his nose with his thumb, and his face was full of confidence: "Master, don't worry, my skills have been honed, and today you will wait to see my skills."

Speaking of this, he suddenly remembered something and asked: "By the way, I found that many raw materials today are very special, some are particularly long, and some are particularly hot...... Master, you haven't been collecting ingredients all these years, right? Otherwise, where did you get so many good things......"

Wu Xie smiled mysteriously and did not answer.

As the chef of today's birthday banquet, Lin Xiao is very busy. After only a short delay, someone from the kitchen called him. He had no choice but to confess his guilt and hurried over.

Looking at his appearance, Wu Xie nodded, still quite satisfied in his heart.

Although this apprentice has been overcorrected, he has finally embarked on the right path, and even if he soars in the future, he can no longer take care of him, and I believe that he can take care of himself.

Lin Xiao is a tree demon with a long life. But correspondingly, his growth rate will be slower. The reason why he is a young talent is only because of the rich foundation left by his parents. Now that he is in the middle stage of refining, the legacy left to him by his parents has almost been consumed, and then he can probably only spend a long time building up his strength like Lao Rong Weng and Song Baisheng, and finally challenge the last step of the cultivators.

Wu Xie is a human being, no matter how long his lifespan is, it is impossible to compare with the Dryad. What's more, his cultivation has reached the peak of Ning Yuan, and when he cultivates recently, he often feels that his mind is slightly vibrating, presumably he is about to realize his true heart and step into the realm of Jindan.

Once the Jindan is achieved, it must not take many years to soar, and when the time comes, it will ...... The inheritance and development of Zhifeizhai can only rely on Qin Jing and Lin Xiao.

After all, Qin Jing still lacks some key inspiration in cultivation, and there is no problem in enlightening and cultivating truth, but many dexterous and profound subtleties cannot be comprehended - he is like Guo Jing in Jin Yong's novel, although he is a good apprentice who is diligent and hardworking, he can't be a good teacher. If he is allowed to take charge of the Zhifei Zhai lineage, I am afraid that he will mislead people's children

As for the four apprentices, Xiang Xuehai...... Thinking of this guy, Wu Xie couldn't help but sigh.

Although this guy's cultivation is high, the way he thinks about problems is very bad, he can not cause trouble for his senior brothers, Wu Xie is thankful, expecting him to carry forward the Taoism he has passed down? It might be more realistic to hope that the other factions can't find good apprentices

Therefore, after Wu Xie ascended, the Taoist system of knowing the non-Zhai lineage could probably only be inherited by Lin Xiao after all. Wu Xie now cultivates him, and he also has the intention of cultivating an heir.

Qiao Feng saw this very clearly, he met with Wu Xie privately yesterday, and suggested that the master take advantage of his 100th birthday to officially list the list of disciples in Zhifei Zhai, and determine Lin Xiao's identity in a clear form.

"I have withdrawn from the path, after all, the second junior brother lacks qualifications, and the Taoist system passed down by you, master, can only be carried forward by the third junior brother."

Looking at the increasing gray hair on the head of the big apprentice, Wu Xie couldn't help but sigh deeply.

I took this apprentice in, but I just taught him to practice and gave him some magic elixirs, and I didn't do anything for him otherwise. On the contrary, he has been guarding his family for so many years and has done a lot of things for himself...... But in the end, he couldn't even give him an immortal fate......

Looking at the master's guilty eyes, Qiao Feng still didn't understand Wu Jie's thoughts, and immediately smiled and said: "I can go through so many things, go through the rise and fall of a country, and at the end of the year, I can still act chivalrous and chase the dreams of my youth...... This is all thanks to you, Master. You have given me too much, even if the disciple is broken, it is difficult to repay me for being very satisfied with my current life, please don't be sad anymore."

Wu Xie raised his head and looked at the red sun slowly walking towards the zenith, and couldn't help but feel emotional.

Time passes little by little, time passes and never stops. Although his appearance has never seen age, the people around him are constantly coming and going...... The life of apprentice Qiao Feng is a mirror, reflecting the vicissitudes of his prosperity in the past hundred years.

The same mirror, and this Nanping County. When he first came out of the rivers and lakes, he became famous as a teenager because of the transportation of grain to Nanping County for disaster relief. In the decades since, countless things have happened, and even the Great Chu State has perished, but this Nanping County is still Nanping County.

He leaped into the sky, looking down from the clouds at the vast expanse between the mountains.

The great power of moving mountains and seas back then was already a mythical miracle in the eyes of the monks, but for Nanping County, it was actually just a dozen more towns, and it didn't change much.

If you want to talk about change, the biggest change may still be the elephant mountain, right?

Turning his head, the temple at the foot of Xiangshan is filled with incense, and there is an endless stream of worshippers. There are also some devout believers who slowly climb up the winding mountain ladder to climb to the top of the mountain to worship at the top of the elephant mountain – oh, it should be said, to worship the elephant god closest to the sky.

Wu Xie didn't inquire about the origin of this tradition, but he didn't reject this kind of thing.

In his eyes, the wisps of faith are constantly seeping into the Elephant Mountain. Although the number is not very large, but it is accumulated day by day and year by year, it may have turned into a towering mountain moving elephant, and there will be a day when it will be canonized as a god because of faith and reappear in the world

Though...... Maybe he couldn't see it that long......

Wu Xie stood in the clouds and sighed for a long time, seeing that the time was almost noon, he fell from the clouds and returned to Zhifeizhai.

Zhifei Zhai is still located in the Wuhou Mansion in the county of Anfeng County, today's Wuhou Mansion is particularly lively, although there is no deliberate lantern decoration, but there are also many guests, beaming.

They are celebrating Wu Jie's birthday, or rather, celebrating the "Wuhou Festival".

According to the tradition of Anfeng County, today is the first day of the Wuhou Festival. People with status and prestige in this county will be invited to Wuhou Mansion for dinner, and the square in front of the mansion has been set up with flowing water seats, and anyone passing by can have a meal - it is true that there will be no delicacies from the mountains and seas, but the dishes are meat and vegetarian matching, hot and fragrant, and with this lunch time now, it is inevitable that everyone who passes by will be moved by it.

Most people in Anfeng County will come to eat this meal, and many people will even come from afar. It's not greedy or greedy, but for the sake of a joy. After this meal, people will form a long procession under the leadership of the county elders and go to the Wuhou Cemetery for large-scale worship.

After the worship, a blessing ceremony is held, and it is said that there are people who receive good fortune during the ceremony

Of course, Wu Xie would not specifically cast spells in response to the blessing ceremony, but people's beliefs were originally a powerful force. One or two lucky people got the benefits, and rightfully so.

He used a blindfold to cover his image, walked all the way through the lively streets, walked into the Wuhou Mansion, passed through several formations shrouded in the mansion, and came to Zhifeizhai in the backyard.

There is a cave heaven circle around Zhifeizhai, and many houses are scattered in a small space. When Wu Xie arranged it like this, he just thought that he would pass on this cave to his apprentices in the future, so that he could decorate the façade. Now it seems that it was a wise move

Many of the guests had already arrived, some of them of a quiet nature, and they were living in their houses; Some people like to join in the fun, so they run everywhere to help. As for the commander in charge of the overall situation, it is naturally none other than the third sister Du Ruodu

"I will preside over the 100th birthday of the fourth child, do you have any opinions?" When talking about the birthday in Qingyang Mountain, Du Ruo suddenly came to the spirit, saying that it was most appropriate for him to preside over the celebration of the entire birthday. At that time, some people naturally raised objections - although the patriarchal customs in Kyushu were not very serious, it was rare for women to preside over such major celebrations

It is important to know that the 100th birthday is a very important celebration. If it is a mortal's 100th birthday, the emperor of the country will send a messenger to congratulate the birthday, and often give a plaque written by his own hand and a dragon head cane that could only be used by the royal family to show respect for the elders.

Although the monks live a long life, there is a limit to how long they can be. Even if it is a real person, it generally only has a lifespan of 1,000 years. A hundred years is almost a tenth of a year for them - mortals will also celebrate their birthdays on the tenth year, which is definitely not a trivial matter.

Not to mention, for the monks who occupy the main body of the human monks, the 100th birthday is almost the end of most of their lives, so how can they do it if they don't celebrate it well

"So you should be serious......" An Ziqing muttered.

Du Ruoliu's eyebrows fell, and the coercion of the Jindan realm was completely released, and he immediately blocked the rest of his words.

And so it was settled.

Thinking of this, Wu Xie couldn't help but smile.

Not far ahead, Du Ruo was crossing his hands on his hips, directing a group of immortals, monsters and mortals to be busy with this and that, majestic