Chapter 634

Chapter 634: The Strange Extreme Huan

In the early morning, someone swiftly drew back the curtains, letting sunlight pour onto the man in bed.

“Husband, wake up!”

“Uh, who are you?”

“Oh my goodness! Are you still not back to your senses? I am your wife! Yesterday was our wedding night, and then you went down the well while Big Kui and the others made a scene, leaving me all alone. It was so awkward! When did you come back? How did you make no sound at all?”

“Wife? When did I even have a wife?” Li Hui suddenly woke up, glancing around the room in disbelief. He had never seen such a small space, with everything crammed together. Next to the bed stood a wooden table and chairs, with a round mirror sitting on top, engraved with runes like a starry sky. The talisman roots and talisman base looked very strange, with purposes for teleportation and messaging.

Besides a wooden table and two chairs, a three-foot long, two-foot wide wooden board was nailed to the wall beside the double bed. This board was finely carved with images of a couple showing mutual respect and love, complete with auspicious characters beside them.

Li Hui touched his own face and thought, “An eighteen-year-old young man, sharing my name and resembling me, just died last midnight, leaving only a remnant soul to drift home. To experience this remnant soul, I have become muddled. The number of cultivators on the Extreme Huan Continent is countless. Every day, they toil for a living, and many low-level cultivators do dangerous work, leading to frequent unfortunate deaths. To evade the observation of the Void Riding Cultivators, the Heart Talisman guided me to this place. Only by taking the place of this unfortunate Li Hui can I better blend into the Extreme Huan Continent. Otherwise, navigating here would be incredibly difficult!”

“Wife, I… I had an accident. There was a massive sound nearby, and then I forgot many things.”

The seemingly competent woman gasped, “Ah? How could you be so careless? Was it a time phantom? No, if you encountered a time phantom, you wouldn’t return. I guess it must have been a time storm, right? Husband, you have worked so hard! I know you have been secretly striving to earn enough for my advancement to mid-Gather Spirit! Don’t worry, we are family now, and we should bear the burden together.”

Her eyes turned red as she suddenly flung herself into her husband’s embrace.

“Uh, this…” Li Hui was completely unprepared. He had been tightly hugged by a stranger from three hundred years ago, all while knowing he had to live as this woman’s husband from today onward.

The couple lingered for a moment, mainly because the woman was shy. With a red face, she kissed her husband, leaving Li Hui stiff throughout the entire ordeal.

“Oh no! I’m going to be late for the delivery of spiritual rice! Husband said I had three days off after going down the well; thank goodness the well master has finally shown mercy! I rescheduled two days off, so we can go to Silver Beach to see the scenery tomorrow and the day after.”

The woman, looking blissful, left her husband’s embrace and quickly approached the wooden door. She retrieved a blue bear cub from a bamboo basket by the entrance and slung it on her back. Just before stepping out, she pointed at the cabinet and said, “Remember to eat! I woke up early to cook this morning. If you’re at a loss, you can ask Big Kui, he’s resting today.”

Li Hui nodded goodbye. Once the woman left, he slapped his head hard, and his thoughts expanded. Images began to flood his mind, but they were not coherent enough.

“The Li Hui I replaced was at mid-Gather Spirit, practicing simplified cultivation methods and using simple artifacts. He worked as a miner, earning a meager salary, one of the countless individuals on the Extreme Huan Continent, living at the bottom of society. His father passed away, his mother remarried, and his brothers and sisters couldn’t care for themselves and didn’t attend the wedding.”

“Damn the Extreme Huan Continent! Why does it support such a large population? From the third child onward, one can receive decent rewards; the more children born, the greater the rewards, including doubled salaries and more time off.” Li Hui frowned, sensing something was amiss, a significant issue. Cultivators were developed in the cheapest manner, was it solely to dig in the depths of time and space? No, it surely wasn’t just that.

Unable to grasp the way of the Extreme Huan Continent at the moment, it was understandable that the Nine Maangs Practitioners emphasized their own interests, yet the Extreme Huan Continent’s unique characteristic of encouraging procreation was puzzling.

The problem was that they had too many children—like this Li Hui he replaced, who had over a dozen siblings. Including half-siblings, there were even more.

Many families had over forty children, with some having more than a hundred. It seemed that habit had made it second nature; for the women, not having one or two babies every year would feel uncomfortable.

“If the goal is to cultivate more practitioners, then why teach such inferior cultivation methods? Doing this only blocks the path to advancement for many talented practitioners! It feels… it feels like planting crops. Yet, the Li Hui I replaced firmly believed that the cultivation method he practiced was unparalleled in the world, completely unaware of other continents outside. The primary goal of improving cultivation was to ensure corresponding lifespan and avoid diseases.”

“Hey, did they want to live longer simply to have more children, so they could sleep soundly in their later years? The Li Hui who died in the depths of time and space probably thought the same, with his last remnant soul still blessing his bride to remarry and bear countless descendants.”

“What nonsense are these rules? The Extreme Huan Continent dictates that if the husband dies, the wife must remarry within three months; if she fails to do so, all previous rewards for bearing children will be revoked. Thus, remarrying has become a trend.”

Li Hui shook his head vigorously. What he had seen and heard in such a short time already surpassed his imagination. He had no idea how many more astonishing things awaited him ahead!

Just then, the round mirror on the wooden table flickered with a faint glow.

“This round mirror is an essential item for every household; it allows communication with friends and to enjoy operas and scenic views. The blue glow indicates that friends and family are calling.”

Li Hui lightly tapped the surface of the mirror, and a square face appeared on its surface, shouting, “Damn it! When did you come back? You’ve really worried me! I just heard there was a mining accident on the thirty-eighth level; only a small portion made it back. Thankfully, you were among them.”

“I got hurt.” Li Hui pointed at his head and said, “The impact left me disoriented, and I’ve been muddled ever since, unable to remember some things.”

“Ah! It’s nothing.” The square-faced man laughed, “Hehe, aside from peeking at my thirty-sixth sister taking a bath when I was five, there isn’t much else worth remembering. Look at your pathetic state—didn’t you spend the night with Xiaolu before dawn?”

“Cough, cough, that’s not urgent.” Li Hui almost choked. Whether this body could have children was a question, and even if it could, it would produce strange beings that were not necessarily human.

His thoughts were sidetracked by the square-faced man, called Big Kui, who was somewhat famous at the well for having unearthed mining seedlings three times.

Mining seedlings—this was something Li Hui had never encountered before. On the Extreme Huan Continent, Miao Jade veins were somehow grown, nurtured in the depths of time and space, with seedlings being the source…