Opening his eyes again, a familiar scene came into view.

Dragon Shadow Pool.

Back to square one.

He and Yu Nuo had entered the residence from beneath the pool, thereby traveling to 60,000 years ago, personally witnessing that magnificent and thrilling era.

Zhou Yin circulated his spiritual energy to assess his condition. He discovered that not only had his previous injuries healed, but he had also unknowingly advanced smoothly to the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.

Originally, he had already reached the peak of early Foundation Establishment. He just needed to enter closed-door cultivation to successfully break through. But unexpectedly, that experience had tempered both his state of mind and cultivation, allowing him to naturally advance to the next stage.

Waking up, it felt like a lifetime had passed. Only the Heaven Washing Brush in his Sumeru Ring could prove that he had truly encountered those people and events.

Holding the Heaven Washing Brush in his hand, Zhou Yin discovered fine engravings on the pen's body, but they were too small to decipher clearly.

Fei Lan's words still echoed in his ears. Although the Heaven Washing Brush was precious, it was not a heaven-defying magic treasure that could summon the wind and rain. On the contrary, its power was determined by the cultivation level of the user.

In other words, the higher Zhou Yin's cultivation, the greater the effect this magic treasure could exert. If a Qi Refining stage cultivator possessed it now, it would only be able to exert the power equivalent to the Qi Refining stage.

Of course, if Zhou Yin could successfully break through to the Foundation Establishment or even the Nascent Soul stage, the usefulness of this magic treasure would also increase accordingly. But in the end, it could only be an appendage to human power, not above it.

This was good.

Zhou Yin did not feel disappointed. He had never placed his hopes for survival on an external object. The most reliable thing in this world was none other than oneself.

At that time, Fei Lan had hoped that Zhou Yin would eventually find the demon beast clan and return this token to them. Zhou Yin also had no interest in taking someone else's belongings as his own. But there was a difference between 60,000 years ago and 60,000 years later. Most of the demon beast cultivators nowadays had gone into hiding, their whereabouts unknown, and it was not easy to find even one.

And the only one...

He lowered his head.

Zhou Chen looked back innocently.

"Mummy... kiss, kiss..." Fawning and flattering, the vocabulary he could say finally expanded beyond one word.

"Your education should be put on the agenda," Zhou Yin said expressionlessly.

Zhou Chen stared at him blankly, thunderstruck.

Why, why...

Why did he go from looking at that pen to the issue of its education?

Obviously two completely unrelated things...

It's all the fault of that hateful pen!!!

He returned to the Ji Residence, where the Ji family was overjoyed to see him.

Only then did Zhou Yin learn that more than three years had passed since he last left and went underwater with Yu Nuo.

Ji Rong had been worried about him the whole time. Now seeing him, the stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.

After not seeing her for three years, Ji Zhenlian had grown even more beautiful and had reached the age for marriage discussions. Her parents had chosen a well-off family in the county for her. The man's character was said to be good, and it should have been a perfect match.

But there was always a hint of lingering resentment between her brows, making her look displeased. When her mother Madam Cao asked, she refused to say anything. They could only assume it was some trivial thoughts a young lady had before marriage that were not fit to be shared with outsiders.

Because he had Zhou Chen with him, Zhou Yin did not want to return to the sect so quickly. At the very least, he had to wait until Zhou Chen learned some spiritual arts and had the ability to protect himself before considering it.

If it were in his previous life, with his abilities, he could have easily ensured Zhou Chen's safety. But now the situation was different. His current cultivation level was really not high, and there were always areas he could not take care of.

If Zhou Chen remained as muddled as he was now, he would inevitably encounter danger sooner or later.

He proposed staying at the Ji Residence for a period of time, which Uncle Ji Rong naturally agreed to with great joy.

On the side of the Pingnan Army, General Hui, due to his relationship with Zhou Yin, also instructed the county magistrate to take extra care of the Ji family. With someone in the court who was good at getting things done, and with the government as a backer, business at Ji Rong's shop became even better.

On the contrary, the opponent who had framed him back then had long since fallen into poverty and ruin due to poor management, with his family broken and members dead.

Because of this, the Ji Rong family treated Zhou Yin with affection mixed with a layer of reverence. The status of cultivators was inherently more transcendent than ordinary people.

So in Ji Rong's eyes, his nephew was equally all-powerful and could bring blessings to the Ji family. For this reason, he specially set aside a small courtyard in his own residence for Zhou Yin to live in, and instructed the servants not to disturb his secluded cultivation.

Zhou Yin once again returned to a peaceful and regular life. Every day, besides cultivating, he taught Zhou Chen.

The most pressing matter was to teach it the most basic invisibility technique.

This small magic art did not require the user to have deep cultivation. As long as one chanted incantations or wrote talismans, the effect of invisibility could be achieved.

Of course, this kind of invisibility technique was just a low-level illusion. For high-level cultivators, it was no different from showing off one's meager skills.

But at present, there was no spiritual energy in Zhou Yin's Sumeru Ring space. It could only store some items and could not accommodate living beings. If he wanted to take it to the Mirror Sea Sword Sect, he would have to learn this small magic art to avoid causing unnecessary trouble.

Zhou Chen's spiritual intelligence had not fully awakened. It could not transform, and its tongue was not even straight, let alone write or draw talismans. After much thought, Zhou Yin only had one method.

But at this moment, he had not yet realized that this would be an even more arduous project.

He used a brush dipped in clear water to draw a talisman on Zhou Chen's head, then silently recited the incantation to fix the talisman in place.

"Now, as long as you silently imagine something in your mind, like flowers, grass, trees, etc., you can naturally transform into the appearance you want."

Zhou Chen looked at him with wet eyes, a hint of confusion.

Zhou Yin said, "It's not limited to plants. It can also be something you like in your heart."

Something it liked...

Zhou Chen tilted its head, thinking very seriously.

Its head gradually changed. Eyes, nose, mouth, vaguely discernible as a human form. Upon closer inspection, it could be seen as a miniature version of Zhou Yin, but the bottom was still covered in fluff, thoroughly neither fish nor fowl.

The corner of Zhou Yin's mouth twitched.

"Change into something simple."

Zhou Chen pondered hard, its little eyebrows almost furrowing up to its eyelids before changing into something else.

A piece of snow-white plum blossom cake.

Exactly the same as the plate Madam Cao had someone bring over, still sitting on the table.

Zhou Yin silently, soundlessly sighed.

"Alright, change back."

The plum blossom cake jumped twice.

And jumped twice more.

"Mummy, change, change~~~?!?!"

Oh no, it couldn't remember what it originally looked like and couldn't change back!

Zhou Yin: "..."

Time flowed by day after day, and another two years passed.

Since parting in the cave that day, Yu Nuo had never appeared again. Zhou Yin also did not deliberately inquire about him. He and this person were just chance acquaintances and did not have a deep friendship.

Moreover, everyone had their own fate. Since Yu Nuo had chosen his own path, he had to face it himself.

General Hui would still send someone over from time to time to pay respects. Zhou Yin would occasionally accept invitations to sit for a while at the Pingnan Army camp. Although General Hui was a mortal, he was extremely experienced and had a forthright personality. Zhou Yin could chat with him for a bit, although most of the time it was him talking and Zhou Yin listening.

But the last time he sent someone over, it was not to invite Zhou Yin to reminisce about old times, but to bring a letter.

The letter said that Anyang had basically surrendered, and the Pingnan Army, under the Emperor's orders, would soon break camp and return to the Dongyue capital of Shangjing.

Knowing that Zhou Yin disliked mundane rituals, he would not personally bid him farewell. It was uncertain when they would meet again after this departure. He wished him success in his cultivation and to take good care of himself.

After reading it, Zhou Yin said to the messenger, "I once gave your master three Sound Transmission Talismans and told him to keep them safe. If there is an urgent matter, he can summon me through the talismans."

The messenger thanked him respectfully, "On behalf of my master, I express gratitude. My master also asked me to convey that he will continue to investigate the mysterious cultivators related to the Zhou Village for you, sir, and will immediately inform you if there are any results."

Zhou Yin replied, "Understood."

With his current abilities, even if he knew the origins of those cultivators, he might not be able to deal with them. But time was on his side, so he would put this debt on record for now and settle it someday.

The other party bid farewell and left. Zhou Yin turned to return to the residence and ran into Ji Zhenlian who was walking towards him.

"I heard from Father that Cousin is returning to the sect?"

Zhou Yin grunted in affirmation.

Ji Zhenlian hesitated for a while before mustering up the courage to say, "Cousin, can you take me back with you? I also want to cultivate immortality!"

"No." Zhou Yin refused without a second thought.

"Why?" Ji Zhenlian didn't expect his immediate refusal.

"Cultivation is not a path you can walk."

"Big Cousin and Second Cousin can both cultivate, why can't I?" The usually gentle and weak Ji Zhenlian rarely showed stubbornness, intending to argue with him. "Does Cousin look down on women?"

Zhou Yin said indifferently, "Cultivators need to be single-minded, as stable as a rock, unmoved by any external forces. For what purpose do you want to cultivate?"

Ji Zhenlian was at a loss for words.

Zhou Yin didn't say anything more and walked past her to go inside.

Ji Zhenlian watched his back, biting her lower lip. The little courage she had just mustered up disappeared in an instant, and she didn't dare to call out to him again.

Two years had allowed Zhou Chen to slowly grow in intelligence and gradually understand some worldly matters, though still half-comprehending. However, demon beasts' perception of emotions was inherently more acute than humans'.

Seeing Ji Zhenlian devastated by Zhou Yin's words, it felt inexplicably happy and smug for some reason, rolling around in Zhou Yin's arms.

So pitiful, but this embrace belongs to it alone, no one is allowed to snatch it away!

"What are you fidgeting for? Go look in the mirror, do you think you're not fat enough?"

Zhou Yin had always been able to use the simplest language to say the most hurtful words.

The furball immediately deflated.

Having been away for five years, the elixirs originally brought from the sect were nearly exhausted. Zhou Yin estimated the timing and knew it was time to return. He chose a day to bid farewell to Ji Rong's family, took Zhou Chen along, and returned to the Mirror Sea Sword Sect.

Five years was but a drop in the ocean for cultivators. Most of the faces encountered along the way were familiar, and it seemed the sect hadn't accepted new disciples in recent years. However, everyone was in a hurry, looking alarmed. Even the disciple on duty only glanced at his sect token perfunctorily.

Huang Wenjun and the others were overjoyed to see Zhou Yin's return, but worry was evident between their brows.

"You've finally returned, a major incident has occurred."

Zhou Yin: "??"

Huang Wenjun couldn't hold back, "Sect Leader Zou has fallen!"