Around 5 o'clock in the afternoon, Qin Ran finally brought his new disciple back to Dan Peak where he lived.
After walking for a while on the stone path in the quiet forest, suddenly there was light ahead. Li Shiyin's spirit was aroused and she quickened her pace to move forward, arriving at the exit of the forest. Looking ahead, it suddenly opened up!
The vast grassland, the vast sky, and the gentle breeze lightly stroking the green grass. In the bright sunshine, the green grass seemed to reflect light. To the left front was a cliff, with a small waterfall flowing down the cliff, the splashing waterfall spraying pearl-like water drops, with a small rainbow in mid-air. A small river meandered through the grassland, disappearing into the forest on the right.
By the cliff, next to the river, there were two buildings, one a two-story wooden structure, the other a five-story brick and stone structure.
Li Shiyin panted for breath, standing at the exit of the forest looking at this place, couldn't help but be stunned. This was a world of paintings, a dreamlike scene!
"Let's go!" Qin Ran said, and continued walking forward, into this painting-like world.
Li Shiyin watched from behind as Master's thin figure entered this fairyland-like world, and finally looked harmonious...
She followed forward along the path towards the houses. They arrived in front of the two-story wooden house.
This wooden house had a tiled roof structure. Although the structure still had a mundane feel, the materials used were extraordinary. The roof tiles were translucent, the eaves were flying, and there was a mysterious and ethereal aura.
The material was probably some kind of spiritual wood, Li Shiyin secretly guessed. Looking at it brought pleasure, and faintly smelled a delicate fragrance, with a hint of aura swirling about, it was indeed like a blessed land of paradise.
On the left was a tall tree, right next to the house, with dense branches swaying in the wind, covering half of the roof. To the right was open space, with only a few plants planted on the riverbank. The plants were short, with lush green leaves and branches, but Li Shiyin had never seen them before.
On the other side of the riverbank was a five-story tall strange building, forming a right angle with the house in front. That building, made of a material like stone, had square rooms like boxes, giving a strange aesthetic feel. Li Shiyin had never seen that kind of architectural structure before.
Seeing Li Shiyin looking at the building across the way, Qin Ran spoke up to introduce it: "That is the research building, hmm, the alchemy chamber. Alchemy practice will take place over there in the future. This in front is called the living quarters, where eating, sleeping, and entertainment are done daily. This tree is a sophora tree. It looks ordinary, but is actually a spiritual tree. It is said to be planted by an ancestor of Dan Peak, and must be thousands of years old."
After a simple introduction, he motioned for Li Shiyin to go inside, "Here in front is the living room, well, not really a living room since there are rarely guests, just a place to spend time daily. To the left is the kitchen, to the right is the storage room where ordinary garbage is placed. Upstairs there are bedrooms, a study, and an exercise room that we'll look at later."
Li Shiyin followed Qin Ran into the living room. She saw it was spotless and extremely tidy. Against the left wall was a row of soft, fluffy-looking seats, in front of which was a table with some food on it. The right wall was very clean with nothing on it.
The layout of this living room was also very strange to her, she had never seen anything like it before.
"Make yourself at home," Qin Ran casually took off his black robe, only wearing a white undershirt. He hung the robe on a rack by the door, indicating for Li Shiyin to relax, while he himself went through the living room into the so-called kitchen.
Li Shiyin did not sit down. She walked around the living room, touching here and looking there. Everything made her feel novelty. But this novelty was not an ethereal feeling towards immortals, it was a kind of, hmm, very strange novelty that she could not describe.
She came to the window and looked outside through the transparent glass. Outside was a large and spacious grassland, with green grass swaying in the wind. Surrounding the grassland was a very tall and lush forest, and the golden sunshine penetrated through the forest. They had just passed through that forest to get here.
"Is this fairyland?" she marveled to herself, then smiled, for wasn't this exactly fairyland! This was a utopia, a paradise, this was where she would live from now on.
"Anyway, the scenery here is quite nice, right?" Master's voice came from behind. She turned to see Master holding two transparent cups, with some kind of strange black-brown liquid inside. Master handed her one cup, smiling, "Try it, it's very delicious."
She took it. The cup felt ice-cold, the liquid inside was bubbling, looking rather toxic, so she didn't dare drink it at first.
Seeing his disciple's manner, Qin Ran smiled and took a sip from his own cup, saying, "There's no soda in this world, this took me several years to formulate. This is the only place you can get it, nowhere else!"
Li Shiyin thought about it. If he had any malicious intentions after building his foundation, Master Qin Ran would not resort to such vulgar tricks either. So she raised the cup and took a light sip.
The ice-cold sweet liquid flowed into her mouth, and countless bubbles instantly burst on her tongue. This feeling... she instantly widened her eyes, how could it feel so comfortable?!
She couldn't help taking a big gulp from the cup. Then the icy liquid passed down her throat into her stomach, the bubbles exploding in her stomach, instantly making her feel refreshed throughout her body, almost making her unable to keep from moaning...
But she endured it. Very soon, a burst of air surged up from her stomach, and she, she seemed about to burp!
She quickly covered her mouth, forcibly suppressing it. The air did not come out of her mouth, but from her nose instead.
"Hahaha..." Li Shiyin's actions made Qin Ran laugh. He took a big gulp from his cup, came to the window, looked at the beautiful scenery outside, and let out a loud belch that ruined the atmosphere, laughing again, "Refreshing!"
"What...what is this?" Li Shiyin asked.
"Hmm..." Qin Ran glanced at Li Shiyin and smiled, "Let's call it soda for now."
"Soda?" Li Shiyin smacked her lips and couldn't help drinking another sip.
"I'll teach you how to make it later," Qin Ran said to Li Shiyin while drinking soda, "Actually, this place used to be a large forest too. I cleared those trees earlier this year...and made this clearing. In the future we can grow some things, grains, herbs and the like."
He pointed back and continued, "Actually, the caves of Dan Peak are generally on the cliffs in the back. But I don't like living in caves, so I built houses here. Yeah, I built both of these. If you prefer caves, you can also live in the back later. All the same."
Li Shiyin did not respond. She slowly drank the soda. She had some expectations about the life of cultivation, good and bad, strange encounters, survival of the fittest, she had thought of them all. But...so far, this was not what she had imagined. It was not the same as what she had thought.
After drinking the soda and quietly looking at the scenery for a while, Qin Ran said to Li Shiyin, "Keep sitting for a while, or look around. I'll go make dinner."
"Do immortals need to eat too?" Li Shiyin finally asked.
"Hmm..." Qin Ran felt this question was quite serious. He pondered for a while before replying, "Cultivation, is actually a process of improving oneself. From my research, essentially the foundation building stage is a process of enhancing one's physical fitness, to enable the body to withstand the golden core. And the golden core, essentially is an egg that incubates the infant spirit, the infant spirit is..."
As he spoke, he suddenly saw the confused look in Li Shiyin's eyes and quickly stopped, smiling, "So, the foundation building stage is a process of enhancing physical fitness, and the best way to enhance physical fitness is to eat well."
Li Shiyin did not understand, and did not dare to ask further. She just nodded blankly.
"I'll go make dinner," Qin Ran said, leaving her with that, and turned to go into the kitchen. Soon, cooking smoke rose from the kitchen.
Li Shiyin walked out from the living room and stood at the door. She looked at the lawn in front of her, the nearby forest, and the setting sun in the distance. A light evening breeze blew by, gently swaying the grass and leaves. The golden sunlight danced in the rising cooking smoke. She spread her arms and looked up to the sky, taking a deep breath. The air was fresh and moist, the sky a bright, vivid blue. She suddenly felt this was what her cultivation life should be like. She looked forward to the future again.