Chapter 1: I. A man must be able to endure loneliness

I. A man must be able to endure loneliness.

Although it is already autumn, the weather remains very hot.

Luzhou Railway Station.

Qin Yuan, a small-town test-taker, drags his heavy suitcase and walks outward, following the tidal flow of people.

"Time really flies! In the blink of an eye, so many years have passed."

Qin Yuan sighs in his heart.

Qin Yuan is not from this world.

To be precise, Qin Yuan is a reborn person, reborn into the past.

Uh, saying "the past" is not quite accurate.

This world is vastly different from the previous one; there are many spatial rifts between Earth and the otherworld.

Thinking of the spatial rifts, Qin Yuan frowns slightly.

There is a question that has always lingered in his heart.

Who created the spatial rifts?

And what is the purpose?

Will the sky collapse and the earth crack, with the universe turned upside down, on some day in the future?

Feeling a wave of heat on his body, Qin Yuan looks up; he has unknowingly walked out of the cool railway station.

The ground is covered in dense array patterns, created during the era of the Great War to guard against attacks from otherworld creatures.

Whether touched by a body or by spiritual sense, the array patterns will be activated.

Like an ordinary person, Qin Yuan follows the signs, keeps his distance from the array patterns, and walks outward carefully.

At this moment, an ordinary sedan is parked on the roadside diagonally across from the railway station.

Two figures stand in front of the car.

One is a middle-aged man, tall and sturdy with thick eyebrows and large eyes, full of masculine vigor; the girl standing beside him is very beautiful—not the traditional kind of beauty, but the kind of seductive beauty, and her figure is beyond reproach.

Coupled with the athletic shorts she is wearing, which reveal her snow-white long legs, the tight white outfit perfectly outlines her exquisite and full curves.

The girl cranes her neck to look around, looking impatient.

The middle-aged man laughs: "Don't be anxious, you'll see A-Yuan very soon."

"Who's anxious?"

The girl retorts with a face as red as if her bottom were on fire.

The smile on the middle-aged man's face grows even wider.

The next moment, his gaze shifts to one spot.

Standing there is a young man of about eighteen.

It is precisely Qin Yuan, who has just come out of the railway station.

Qin Yuan's appearance makes the two of them pause.

His hair is long and messy like a bird's nest, he has dark circles under his eyes, there is eye discharge in his eyes, his clothes are wrinkled and look like they haven't been washed in days, and the smell of sweat on him can be detected from far away.

Seeing Shen Yaoqiao standing beside his godfather who came to pick him up, Qin Yuan feels secretly pleased in his heart.

With me looking so slovenly, Shen Yaoqiao will surely have a lower opinion of me.

Shen Yaoqiao, Qin Yuan's childhood sweetheart, is three years older than Qin Yuan.

She is as beautiful as a flower, has a killer figure, and is the center of attention wherever she goes.

If I want to develop in obscurity without anyone noticing, I must keep a certain distance from Shen Yaoqiao.

The next moment, Shen Yaoqiao rushes toward Qin Yuan like a young swallow returning to the woods.

She really is both "shaking" and "curvy."

As a young man with surging male hormones, Qin Yuan's gaze instinctively lingers for a moment before he quickly shifts it away.

Arriving at Qin Yuan's side, Shen Yaoqiao suddenly brakes, stares at Qin Yuan for two seconds, then bursts into a laugh: "How did you get yourself into such a state?"

After saying this, she playfully pokes Qin Yuan's bird's-nest hair with her hand.

Qin Yuan, who didn't see a hint of disgust in Shen Yaoqiao's eyes, opens his mouth, and the breath he had been holding for a long time escapes.

Only then does Shen Yaoqiao take a step back.

However, there is still no expression of disgust on her face.

Instead, her eyes show a bit of heartache.

Qin Yuan thinks to himself, it seems the path of making Shen Yaoqiao dislike me won't work.

A man will meet many women in his life.

Some need to provide emotional value.

Some need to provide money.

Some need to provide physical beauty.

Some have no major requirements.

Shen Yaoqiao is the last type.

She is also the hardest to deal with; she wants nothing, or perhaps she wants everything.

"Qiaoqiao, look at A-Yuan, then look at yourself; you're dressed up to the nines all day long, you don't look like a cultivator at all. I think it won't be long before A-Yuan surpasses you."

The middle-aged man who followed over shows his appreciation for Qin Yuan without any concealment.

In the path of cultivation, the most important thing is to be single-minded; Qin Yuan's appearance clearly shows he is single-minded and devoted entirely to cultivation.

Qin Yuan: "..."

Can it be interpreted that way?

"This is Teacher Shen Zhilu, he will be your teacher from now on."

Shen Yaoqiao introduces him with a joking smile.

"Teacher Shen."

Qin Yuan calls out solemnly.

"We aren't at the academy, call me Dad."

Shen Zhilu says with a beaming smile.

The Qin and Shen families are family friends.

Shen Yaoqiao's grandfather and Qin Yuan's grandfather were fellow villagers; in order to change their fate of being beasts of burden for generations, they went to the otherworld together to seek their fortunes.

Unfortunately, their ambitions were high but their lives were thin as paper; not only did they fail to achieve much, but they also died in a foreign land together.

By the generation of Shen Yaoqiao's father and Qin Yuan's father, they shone brightly; one became an idol of the younger generation, and the other became a "nauseating idol" of the younger generation.

The fate of the "nauseating idol" goes without saying.

Qin Yuan had recognized Shen Zhilu as his godfather a long time ago.

Shen Zhilu felt "godfather" wasn't intimate enough and always demanded that Qin Yuan call him "Dad."

"Dad."

Qin Yuan says this with great emotion.

Shen Zhilu has indeed been good to him.

Over the years, he has never stopped looking out for him.

The reason Qin Yuan came to Luzhou Academy is also due to his repeated requests.

Suddenly, Qin Yuan thinks of another reason to keep his distance from Shen Yaoqiao.

In a sense, Shen Yaoqiao is his older sister; how can one have improper thoughts about an older sister?

Hahahaha, I am truly a genius.

"Put the luggage in the trunk and get in the car."

"A new energy vehicle."

Qin Yuan only just notices the new energy vehicle Shen's father is driving.

In recent years, this type of car has become increasingly popular.

"I originally wanted to buy that most popular foreign model, but I heard I'd have to retake the driver's test, so I didn't buy it."

Shen Zhilu explains.

"It's not about retaking the driver's test, it's that the car salesman wants to educate the consumers."

Shen Yaoqiao says huffily.

"The car salesman dares to educate the consumers now?"

"The ones selling kitchen knives and the ones selling literature all dare to, why wouldn't the ones selling cars?"

"Selling literature?"

A question mark seems to appear on Shen Zhilu's forehead.

"Web novel authors; before you're popular, you're their grandfather, but once you're popular, you become their grandson."

"What kind of nonsense is that?"

Shen Zhilu, who never reads web novels, finishes saying this with a laugh and gets into the car parked on the side.

He opens the trunk latch.

After Qin Yuan puts the luggage in, he gets in the car and sits directly against the edge.

Shen Yaoqiao, who enters last, slides directly to Qin Yuan's side.

Suddenly, a bulging backpack blocked the two of them.

Qin Yuan gave Shen Yaoqiao a gentle and polite smile.

In other words, please do not come over, thank you.

Shen Yaoqiao was taken aback, then her bright red little mouth pouted, and immediately after, she quietly reached out and pinched Qin Yuan’s leg hard.

Qin Yuan did not react at all.

It was as if she had pinched someone else.

Clatter, the bag was knocked off, and Shen Yaoqiao was just about to lift her bottom to lean over.

Qin Yuan took the bag back again.

This time it was not a polite smile, but a very serious glare at Shen Yaoqiao.

Shen Yaoqiao withdrew the hand that intended to remove the bag again, angrily shifted her bottom to the other side, and looked out the car window.

Shen Zhilu, who saw the little interaction between Qin Yuan and Shen Yaoqiao through the rearview mirror, was even more satisfied with Qin Yuan in his heart.

Only those who can resist the temptation of beauty and endure loneliness can go further.

He had previously taught a male student who had top-tier talent and originally had a bright future, but because he was addicted to being a playboy, his life became a mess, and in the end, he was tragically killed by a jealous lover.