Turning around, I left the Green Water Pavilion and headed towards my father’s study.

...

"Brother... Brother... Brother!"

Suddenly, the little girl woke up, her face covered in fine beads of sweat.

Granny Lin gently wiped the sweat from her face with a handkerchief.

Zhou Qingyu fearfully clutched the old woman’s hand, "Granny, where’s my brother?"

"Don’t be afraid, he’s here."

"I want to see my brother!"

"But..."

"I want to see him, wah wah wah..."

Saying this, Zhou Qingyu burst into tears.

Granny Lin, helpless, dressed the little girl in thick clothes and then carried her out of the room.

After questioning the servants, Granny Lin showed a look of confusion on her face, but under the urging of the little girl, she still went to where Zhou Fuqiu was.

Soon, Granny Lin arrived at a study.

Unlike the poetic atmosphere of the Green Water Pavilion, this study was predominantly red and black, quite solemn.

On the desk, a young boy was flipping through a roll of bamboo slips.

"Young master, Miss Qingyu is awake."

Zhou Fuqiu suddenly came to his senses and then took the flailing little girl from Granny Lin’s hands.

"Mao Mao..."

Cuddled in her brother’s arms, the little girl smiled, as if nothing had happened yesterday.

Granny Lin looked affectionately at the siblings, her peripheral vision catching sight of the bamboo slip on the desk.

"Sea Returning Scripture"

Granny Lin’s face changed drastically, "Young Master Fuqiu! How can you disregard the warnings of Master and Madam, and come into contact with Qi Refinement Techniques before reaching age?"

Zhou Fuqiu, holding his sister, responded calmly, "I haven’t started cultivation, I’m just taking a look."

Granny Lin sighed with relief, but her face remained stern.

"Young master, in our cultivation, we must consider the Spirit Root, talent, and even age. Without a Spirit Root, one cannot cultivate; lacking physical talent, cultivation can harm the body, and all this must be established at the appropriate age."

"You’re not even twelve yet, your body isn’t fully developed, and your Meridians and Acupoints haven’t taken shape. It’s not even clear if you have a Spirit Root, so you must not cultivate early."

"Otherwise, at best, it’ll affect The Great Dao Path in the future; at worst, it could cost you your life on the spot."

Zhou Fuqiu raised an eyebrow, realizing the gravity in the old woman’s words.

The lightest consequence affecting The Great Dao Path already highlighted the harms of early cultivation. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

He reassured, "Don’t worry, Granny, I’m just passing the time by reading Martial Arts Scripture and Wind and Earth Chronicles."

Granny Lin scrutinized the young boy, still feeling uneasy.

In the end, she advised, "Early cultivation brings endless troubles; remember that!"

Zhou Fuqiu smiled and offered a few more comforting words, finally putting Granny Lin at ease.

Then Zhou Fuqiu spent some time playing with his sister. The little girl, just recovering from a mild illness, soon became tired, and Zhou Fuqiu had Granny Lin take her back.

Before leaving, Granny Lin reminded, "Young master, you’ve been tired for a whole day and night, I’ll have the servants prepare food and hot water; eat something and get some rest early."

"Alright, sorry for making you worry, Granny."

Zhou Fuqiu did not go against Granny Lin’s arrangements. She was a close attendant to his mother and had watched both siblings grow up.

In name, she was merely a servant, but she was not much different from an elder.

After eating steaming food and doing a simple wash, Zhou Fuqiu took a proper rest.

But upon waking, he stepped once more into his father’s study.

From the bookshelf, he took down the "Sea Returning Scripture" he hadn’t finished reading yesterday.

This was the Zhou Clan’s Qi Refinement Stage beginner cultivation technique, long-lasting and widely available even in the North Sea Cultivation World.

Further up should be the Foundation Establishment Stage’s "Ten Thousand Rivers Scripture," followed by the Golden Core Period’s "Canglang Scripture," and finally, the Nascent Soul Stage’s "Infinite Scripture."

In fact, these are all part of a single cultivation technique, only divided into four Chapters artificially by the ancestors to prevent the leakage of high-level techniques, each corresponding to a different realm, and only taught to family members of the corresponding realm.

Together, they signify the idea of Ten Thousand Rivers Returning to the Sea, Boundless as the Canglang.

The ancestors themselves cultivated this set of techniques, with the advantage of powerful Qi Power at the same order, like an ocean, vast and boundless, but the disadvantage of slow advancement and difficult breakthrough.

For Zhou Fuqiu, just reading the Qi Refinement Stage’s "Sea Returning Scripture" was already somewhat challenging.

But merely challenging!

At two, he learned to read and write, articulate, and eloquent; at three, he was already familiar with poetry and song.

At four, he was no longer satisfied with ordinary literary works and began to delve into Martial Arts Scripture related to cultivation.

Now, with half a year to go before turning six, he could already be called "well-read in Taoist scriptures"!

With such a literary foundation, coupled with the influence of witnessing the cultivation practices of his parents, both Foundation Establishment Cultivators, he indeed could, without anyone teaching him, painstakingly read through the beginner Qi Refinement Stage techniques.

However, recalling Granny Lin’s warning from yesterday, he forcibly suppressed the restless thoughts within his heart.

During his rest, Zhou Fuqiu’s gaze fell on the bookshelf.

On it, there were not only ordinary books issued by the Zhou family, but also those collected by his father, along with some brought over by his mother from the Lin family. Mother Lin Jingshu belonged to the Han Gate family of the Tianyuan Daoist Sect, and the cultivation techniques she practiced were from the orthodox Daoist sect, making these brought-over books even more extraordinary.

If not for the current need of the Tianyuan Daoist Sect to absorb the former Guest Elder of Star Gate, they probably wouldn’t have relaxed their restrictions in this area.

"So many books, let’s read and learn as much as possible!"

The young boy murmured to himself, neither anxious nor impatient.

Outside the study, rain pounded the forest leaves, pit-a-pat.

...

Since the incident of Zhou Qingyu "not being able to handle nourishment and fainting," it seemed as if time had slowed down.