chapter 1 Change of heart in an instant

"The vast horizon is my love, and the flowers are blooming at the foot of the rolling green mountains..."

A familiar but long-forgotten ringtone of a knockoff mobile phone suddenly echoed in Andrew Qi's ears, causing him to jolt up from his seat on the bus with a face of astonishment and confusion. He looked around in disbelief at his surroundings, still clutching his pet Brazilian turtle in his hands.

"Young man, you seem quite obedient," a middle-aged woman dressed in Tai Chi attire remarked as she gracefully took a seat next to Andrew, as if returning home like a swallow.

"Auntie... Where is this bus heading?" Andrew asked tentatively, still struggling to accept the sudden turn of events.

"It's the No. 13 bus, from the Flower and Bird Market to Southwest Associated University. Young man, judging by your surprised expression, I hope you haven't boarded the wrong bus," the woman said with a smile.

"The bus is correct... It's probably the timing that's wrong..." Andrew muttered to himself, wearing a face full of incredulity.

In one moment, Andrew was being beaten by a group of immortals, and in the next moment, he found himself back on the bus, seemingly transported back to the year before he embarked on the path of cultivation.

In that year, Andrew had just turned eighteen and was admitted to the Chinese Literature program at Southwest Associated University. It was the same year when his father was transferred to the position of Deputy Chief of Xia Yang City Police Bureau, in charge of criminal investigation, and his mother's financial company was thriving. It was also the year when he met Florence Xia, the pride of the Xia family in Jincheng...

That year seemed to be the most brilliant and yet the most unfortunate year of Andrew's life. Shortly after he started dating Florence, his father was framed and died in prison, his mother's company went bankrupt, and Andrew was forced to drop out of school. The girl he had feelings for became engaged to someone else, and he had lost almost everything.

"The peak of success brings decline, and extreme joy begets sorrow" was exemplified most vividly in Andrew's life.

Afterwards, with nothing left, Andrew returned to his rural hometown, only to have a real "encounter." He obtained an ancestral teleportation charm and a book on cultivation techniques from an ancient well in front of his ancestral house. He was then transported to a strange world of cultivation, where he underwent eight hundred years of brutal training, battling and sweeping across the heavens, eventually earning the title of "Xuanfu Celestial Lord" before being besieged and perishing at the hands of immortals.

Rebirth?

Parallel universe?

Seeing the future?

Or is it just a dream?

Or schizophrenia?

Andrew himself couldn't figure it out.

The memories of cultivation in his mind were becoming increasingly clear and real, almost as if etched into his mind.

What was even more bizarre was that just moments ago, he had planned to give this pet turtle to his childhood sweetheart tomorrow night to win her heart, but now, he had already "changed his mind."

In the sudden influx of memories spanning hundreds of years, he had encountered countless ethereal fairies, enchanting beauties, and heavenly maidens, yet there was only one woman lingering in his heart—Florence Xia.

In these additional "memories," although he had obtained the "Dao," he had lost her!
But would the heavens grant him these hundreds of years of cultivation memories just to make up for the regrets of his life and cultivation?

Heavenly deities, when did you become so merciful?

Andrew Qi, despite returning to his youth, had a vastly different state of mind. He was no longer the green youth he once was, but more like the "True Rune Celestial Lord" sweeping through the heavens.

Or rather, he preferred to become the cultivating Andrew Qi.

"Young man, did you get off at Southwest Associated University?" a nearby middle-aged woman's remark pulled Andrew Qi out of his 'memories'.

"Yes, I'm heading to Southwest Associated University," Andrew Qi replied absentmindedly.

"Oh? Then you've missed your stop," the middle-aged woman said casually, instantly dealing dozens of damage points to this "True Rune Celestial Lord."

At this time, in September, even though it was dusk, Xia Yang City's "Autumn Tiger" weather was still oppressively hot.
Having walked an extra stop, Andrew Qi arrived at the school gate in a daze, drenched in sweat. At this moment, there was only one thought in his mind――

This body is so weak!

Is the way of moving freely through the wind and traversing space, as remembered by the "other Andrew Qi," better? But is all of that real, or just a fleeting dream?

"Right, there's a way to verify!"

Andrew Qi's heart leaped with joy. The image of the ancient well beneath the Qingtai Mountain, which had brought him a remarkable encounter, floated into his mind.
Without further hesitation, he drew a graceful parabola with the turtle in his hand, and it landed in the fountain pool. Andrew Qi hailed a taxi.

"Student, are you going to Qingtai Mountain? That place hasn't been developed, there's not much to see," the taxi driver, an old hand, opened the conversation as soon as Andrew Qi got in.

"But, I heard there's an ancient well at the foot of Qingtai Mountain that's quite famous, and a bit miraculous too."

"Oh, what's so miraculous about it?"

"I heard that this ancient well, located beneath the Juelong Ridge of Qingtai Mountain, is only three to four square meters in area and less than two meters deep. Yet, within a radius of a hundred miles, almost everyone knows about it. This well is quite efficacious. Over the centuries, there have been dozens of severe droughts, some even leading to rivers drying up and vast expanses turning barren. But this Volong Well has never run dry. It's truly a miracle that guarantees good harvests in times of drought and floods."

"And there's an even more miraculous story. It's said that during the peach blossom season each year, the spring in the well will spout out shoals of small fish, so numerous that they can be caught continuously for half a month. The villagers call these small fish 'Blessed Dragon Fish' and believe that they celebrate the birthday of the Dragon King in the well... Isn't it miraculous? Don't you believe it?" The old taxi driver was truly a garrulous one.

"I believe it, because that well belongs to my family," Andrew Qi said calmly.

"Hey~ You can spin a yarn even better than me!" The old taxi driver clearly didn't believe him.

An hour later, Andrew Qi was already at the foot of Qingtai Mountain.

Beneath the setting sun, Qingtai Mountain's immense, winding silhouette resembled a green dragon lying flat on the plain.

The height of a mountain doesn't determine its fame; it's the presence of immortals. The depth of a well doesn't determine its significance; it's the presence of a dragon.

The reason why the Volong Well beneath the Juelong Ridge of Qingtai Mountain remained efficacious for centuries was not just due to its well-chosen location and auspicious feng shui. Andrew Qi knew that over centuries, even the most impeccable feng shui layout could be affected by geological changes, weather disasters, and human interference. Once any part of the feng shui arrangement deviated, the whole pattern would break, and it would no longer be "efficacious."

The "efficacy" of the Volong Well ultimately stemmed from the fact that there was a "dragon" within it, and there was a "True Rune" called the "Well Dwelling Dragon Charm."

A True Rune, like a Daoist "Transcendent Being," had a spiritual presence seated within, with power far surpassing that of spirit charms, easily by a factor of a hundred or more! As far as Andrew Qi knew, nowadays, there were very few spirit charms on Earth, let alone True Runes or Fairy Runes.

The Well Dwelling Dragon Charm contained the spiritual presence of a dragon, a truly precious item!

According to the "alternate memories," Andrew Qi had been pushed into the well by the village bully, and after his blood mixed with the well water, he fortuitously gained the residual divine consciousness of his ancestors, a manual of rune-based cultivation techniques, and a teleportation charm. However, he inadvertently triggered the teleportation charm, and in a daze, he was transported to a world of cultivation. Unfortunately, he missed out on the most valuable Well Dwelling Dragon Charm within the Volong Well. But this time would be different.

This time, Andrew Qi intended to utilize the power of this True Rune to swiftly complete the body tempering process and step into the Qi Cultivation stage.

Of course, the prerequisite was that the memories he knew were not just a pipe dream.

Otherwise, Andrew Qi would have to voluntarily check into the psychiatric hospital and experience the various forms of electroshock therapy inside.