“Frozen Pot is great! I heard it’s a newly popular local specialty. Let’s go eat Frozen Pot!”

A group of middle-aged and elderly people quickly reached a consensus, leaving Little Red Riding Hood with no choice. She took a deep breath, then smiled and said, “Shuangxue Tower is fine too. I’ll summon a Zaiyun to take everyone…”

“No need for your family’s Zaiyun.” Mrs. Hill waved her strong arm. “I already checked on Taixu. The scenic spot’s Zaiyun is a total rip-off. It’s much more cost-effective to use Dengdeng Shared Cloud. With so many of us, one big Zaiyun is enough for just three hundred Ling Leaves.”

After saying this, not allowing the girl to argue, Mrs. Hill suddenly rolled her eyes, tilted her head back and shook her body, then wiped her nose and cheerfully said to her companions behind her, “It’ll be here in a moment!”

And it really was just a moment. Not long after she finished speaking, a faint orange cloud descended from the sky, wrapping around the feet of the group like cotton.

Mrs. Hill looked down at the orange cloud and said loudly, “Set off for Shuangxue Tower on Yuexie Street!”

The Zaiyun immediately glowed with a gentle orange light, casting strange and colorful shadows on everyone. Then, the Zaiyun wobbled into the air, lifting off the ground and carrying the group down the mountain, swaying like a bear in labor.

As they were leaving, the aunt suddenly turned back and roared again, “Little girl, remember to refund our meal and Zaiyun fees! Or we’ll file a complaint against you!” Another aunt beside her laughed, “Sister Hill, you really know how to pinch pennies. This whole trip only cost each of us a few dozen Ling Leaves.”

Sister Hill scoffed, “I’m just saving the girl some face. Otherwise, if we really complain and leave some bad reviews at the Wenyou Division’s Zhaotang, she’d have to pay us back even more!”

“Sister Hill, you’re amazing!”

“I’m telling you, when you go out, you have to do your homework in advance. There are so many Qinglu Scholars in the Taixu Illusion teaching people how to eat, drink, and have fun. I learned this from a local Qinglu Scholar in Rongcheng. She once spent a whole day at Lingxi Ancient Town and only spent 20 Ling Leaves!”

As the triumphant voices of the aunts faded into the distance, tranquility returned to Tianzhui Valley, as it had for hundreds or even thousands of years. Even the mountain wind rustling through the branches became silent.

Only Little Red Riding Hood’s sigh echoed through the valley, lingering for a long time.

Just like the sigh in Lucas Warren’s heart.

If Little Red Riding Hood’s first few words were like a fan-made doujin printed by a senior sister, shocking because of the strong first impression, then her lively conversation with the group of elders truly brought the millennium-old apocalyptic setting into reality.

And upon calm reflection, this alternate history actually made sense.

First, it explained the strangeness of the Hundred Halls of Lingshan. Why had the once-immortal Lingshan Hundred Halls become shrouded in mist and deserted?

Because this was already a world a thousand years later—all the people of Lingshan had long since died!

As for why Lucas Warren, a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, could sleep for over a thousand years without exhausting his lifespan and dying on the spot, that was thanks to the Dingling Hall. As the most renowned closed-door cultivation sanctuary in the Nine Provinces, Dingling Hall could perfectly protect the cultivators inside, whether from heavenly tribulations outside or inner demons within, and of course, from lifespan exhaustion.

In theory, hiding in Dingling Hall could indeed prolong one’s life. But this method was even more egregious than stealing fate itself—it was outright robbing fate… The backlash would only outweigh the gains. That’s why, in Lingshan’s ten-thousand-year history, almost no one had ever done it.

But this, in turn, explained Lucas Warren’s current weakness. Before entering the hall, he was absolutely confident in forming his Myriad Marvels Golden Core. So when he woke up and found he had failed… accepting reality was one thing, but the absurdity of it all was no less than Little Red Riding Hood’s thousand-year tale.

Now, the answer seemed simple. Not long after he entered the hall, Lingshan—or rather, the entire Nine Provinces—was struck by a heavenly calamity, and the Dao of Heaven turned to desolation. Thus, his Myriad Marvels Golden Core, which was in perfect harmony with the Dao and aimed at ascension, became a rootless tree, impossible to form.

But the preparations he made for core formation hadn’t disappeared. With Lingshan’s wealth, the materials prepared for Lucas Warren’s core formation would tempt even some Great Ascension cultivators. With these rare treasures and the power of Dingling Hall, keeping a Foundation Establishment junior fresh for a thousand years was truly no big deal.

As the last disciple of the world’s number one at the time, Lucas Warren already had extraordinary talent and constitution, and his lifespan was unlike that of ordinary people.

Before the girl’s second sigh sounded, Lucas Warren had already sorted out his thoughts in his mind, accepted reality, and changed his life’s title from “I’m the only one who didn’t ascend, so I have to take over as Mountain Lord and enjoy a leisurely life” to: Enjoying a solitary life in a different world a thousand years later.

While strolling through the sea of clouds, he would sometimes imagine reuniting with his master and senior sister in the Immortal Realm a hundred years later. But now that his master and senior sister had experienced a wave of mass ascension and the fall of ten thousand immortals, they could only meet in another world…

At this moment, no matter how good he was at accepting reality, the pain in his heart was hard to suppress.

On the other side, after sighing, the girl also took off her red hat, squatted down wearily, and buried her face between her knees. Though she said nothing, her frustration and irritation were written all over her face.