Outside Wu Tan City, in a mangrove forest.
Han Feng and Gu Xun'er had wandered out of Wu Tan City and arrived at this place.
It was late autumn. Han Feng looked at the red maple leaves covering the ground, a faint smile on his lips.
Red leaves are the most sentimental, carrying thoughts of longing in a single word.
Picking a red maple leaf, Han Feng held it between his fingers and studied it for a moment. Then, a gust of wind came, and he gently released his fingers, letting it drift away with the wind.
Gu Xun'er curiously examined the surrounding maple forest, also holding a maple leaf in her small hand.
The evening sun hung on the branches, its lingering glow painting the most beautiful picture. Han Feng took out a memory jade to record this beautiful moment.
In his previous life, he had always liked to carry a memory jade with him. A small piece of jade could record the beautiful little moments of life.
Both Han Feng and Yao Chen liked this kind of plain and simple natural beauty. Others might not understand, but they found joy in it.
"Let's go, Miss Gu, we should be heading back."
Han Feng took the little girl's hand, and they walked step by step towards Wu Tan City.
Ling Ying watched everything from the shadows and sighed softly.
Ever since they had settled in the Xiao family's residence, he had never seen the young mistress as happy as she was today, even though this was just an ordinary wish for a three or four-year-old girl.
Perhaps the Clan Head was truly wrong. Although the young mistress was no ordinary person, she was still a child who hoped to have her family by her side.
The Clan Head had missed the young mistress's childhood. Would he regret it in the future?
Ling Ying did not dare to speculate too much on the Clan Head's thoughts. He continued to follow, silently guarding Gu Xun'er.
Back at the Xiao residence, the little girl pulled Han Feng into the house. Only after they had eaten dinner together would she let him go.
Helpless, Han Feng first accompanied the little girl for a meal, and then was invited by Xiao Zhan to a second banquet.
At night, Han Feng began to do some things of his own.
He had promised to make a gift for Gu Xun'er. He hadn't had any ideas before, but after spending the afternoon with her, he seemed to understand what the little girl wanted.
Han Feng used his soul power to engrave the interesting stories from his past life's memories onto a scroll made of Green Spirit Wood.
This was a special spiritual material that could withstand the carving of soul power. Some precious pill formulas and Dou Skills were recorded on this material using soul power.
Not only could it add detailed insights, but it could also give the viewer an immersive experience.
The disadvantage was that there was a limit to the number of uses. Once exceeded, the soul power carving would dissipate.
Therefore, Han Feng added a setting to the Green Spirit Wood. A new interesting story would be unlocked every once in a while, effectively extending its usage time.
Otherwise, he was worried that Gu Xun'er, this little homebody, would finish reading it all in a few days and nights.
At the same time, on the other side, Gu Xun'er was also making a gift. She was holding a piece of high-quality Red Fragrant Wood and carving it seriously.
One could vaguely see that its shape was a pendant.
"Feng..." Gu Xun'er murmured softly, her face full of concentration.
Although the little princess's craftsmanship was currently lacking, the effort she poured into it was no less than Han Feng's.
Just like that, Gu Xun'er worked on her craft until late at night, only falling into a deep sleep when she couldn't stay awake any longer.
After Han Feng finished making the memoir of interesting stories, he felt a bit emotional. His experiences in his past life were truly bizarre.
For the rest of the time, Han Feng sat in meditation and entered a state of cultivation. His seven-star Dou Emperor realm was not the best, but it was better than most.
With this body's aptitude, it would take about three to four years of normal cultivation to reach the nine-star Dou Emperor realm.
This body had already taken the Emperor Extremity Pill, which was the mainstream breakthrough-type pill on the continent, so it could not be taken again.
The hope of advancing quickly in a short period of time was slim.
In the cultivation world, there weren't actually that many shortcuts. The cultivation of most cultivators needed to be accumulated step by step.
Even the Han Feng of his previous life at most had a smooth journey with few bottlenecks, and his breakthrough times were just faster than others.
There had never been a sudden surge of several stars at once.
No one's journey was easy; everyone had their own difficulties.
Of course, although the current Han Feng's cultivation was not as high as in his previous life, the confident and calm demeanor ingrained in his bones could not be erased. The speed of his progress at the moment could not determine his final achievement. He believed that he could once again stand at the pinnacle of the world.
The night was long. After cultivating Dou Qi for two hours, Han Feng began to circulate the "Taiyi Soul Mantra" to cultivate his soul power.
On the Dou Qi Continent, ordinary cultivators had no access to soul cultivation techniques at all, nor did they place importance on soul power.
However, for alchemists, the cultivation of soul power was essential.
After any alchemist advanced to the seventh grade, if they wanted to step into the eighth grade, they had to raise their soul power to the Spirit Realm.
The division of soul realms on the Dou Qi Continent.
It was mainly divided into four major realms.
Mortal, Spirit, Heaven, and Emperor.
For ninety-nine percent of cultivators, their soul power would remain in the Mortal Realm for their entire lives.
Eighth-grade alchemists, however, were all in the Spirit Realm and could refine pills with innate spirituality.
If one could cross the Spirit Realm and reach the Heaven Realm, that meant they had the qualifications to become a ninth-grade alchemist.
As for the Emperor Realm, that was not something ordinary people could play with.
The number of people the Hall of Souls had killed over the past thousand years, and the number of soul bodies they had collected, was countless!
But even so, it was only enough to supply the Nihility Devouring Flame alone to advance to the Emperor Realm soul.
Without massive resources and background, relying on personal cultivation alone, one could never hope to advance to the Emperor Realm in a lifetime.
Han Feng's current soul power realm was barely at the peak of the Mortal Realm.
Combined with his soul skills, he could fight against a Dou Ancestor.
If he could further break through to the Spirit Realm, then he could even fight a Dou Venerate expert.
This was his confidence.
Therefore, Han Feng himself was not worried about the progress of his cultivation. He just needed to take it one step at a time.
A night passed, and Han Feng was still refreshed.
The benefits of cultivating the soul mantra were demonstrated at this moment.
It greatly reduced the time needed for sleep and increased the efficiency of cultivation.
A servant delivered breakfast on time. It was different from yesterday's variety and tasted quite good.
Xiao Zhan had not spread the news about Han Feng. He had done a good job of keeping it secret. The servants only thought of him as an old friend of Xiao Zhan's and were very respectful to him.
When they met this morning, Han Feng saw that Xiao Zhan was beaming with joy.
"Clan Head Xiao, what happened today that makes you so happy?"
Xiao Zhan walked over with a cheerful grin, not hiding anything.
"An invitation from our in-laws, inviting us to visit the imperial capital."
He had also just received the letter and was now holding it in his hand, passing it to Han Feng to see.
"Nalan?"
Han Feng saw the family crest on the envelope, and a trivial memory flashed through his mind.
"Whose wedding is it?"
"Yan'er's. A childhood engagement," Xiao Zhan said, sharing the happy news.
Originally, he thought that with the Xiao family's decline, this marriage might have come to nothing.
But he didn't expect the Nalan family to take the initiative to invite them, which meant that they didn't look down on the current Xiao family!
Han Feng's face showed surprise.
Another new piece of information. Xiao Yan hadn't mentioned this in his previous life either.
It seemed this kid was hiding quite a few things.
Han Feng smiled and congratulated him, but he didn't delve into the matter.