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After setting the table and stools, Huo Yan began eating the congee in silence, soon followed by Shui Lian, who had finished bathing. After their simple breakfast, they didn't wait any longer and started sweeping the sect grounds with the brooms they had been given. Although the immortals hadn't given specific instructions, since they had different needs, Huo Yan didn't slack off, aware of their whimsical nature. He and his wife did their best to clean every reachable part of the sect, no matter how small the dust on the buildings or roads seemed.
Even though they had been brought there to serve as a breeding couple like many others, so the immortals could easily search for the seed of immortality among the mortals in their territory, Huo Yan still did his best to fulfill the role assigned to him and his wife—as outer sect disciple servants. Reflecting on how these outer sect disciples, despite their titles, ended up being more like servants than he and his wife, who only had to sweep and relax, Huo Yan couldn't help but shake his head at the irony, fully aware of how hard and busy their lives were.
Especially since they had the same needs as the immortals and fairies with higher cultivation, Huo Yan could imagine how difficult it must be for them. Every second of their lives seemed like they were being chased by demons or something similar. He thought it might have to do with their limited lifespans—ten thousand years for Qi Gathering and hundreds of thousands for Foundation Establishment. Huo Yan and Shui Lian didn't know for sure, but one piece of evidence was the sight of the immortals' outer sect disciples hurriedly hopping from one mountain to another, wearing anxious expressions, as if afraid of being left behind by their peers.
Seeing this powerful figure, they quietly set aside their brooms and began kowtowing, performing the mundane, robotic action required of them, with no reverence or admiration, fully aware of how fragile these immortals' egos were. Even a simple act, like forgetting to bow their heads, could result in the immortals going so far as breaking their limbs or killing them instantly, treating mortals like livestock. After the immortal passed, Huo Yan shook his head, thinking how these so-called immortals were only immortal in terms of lifespan.
In reality, their mentality was so fragile that the smallest nudge could cause them to lose composure and become easily manipulated. It was as if the slightest bruise to their pride turned them into grown-up babies, demanding everything they wanted without question. And because they behaved like babies, letting their emotions and desires control them, Huo Yan and Shui Lian knew exactly how to manipulate and control these fragile minds and egos, as babies were easy to read and shape.
Shaking his head again at these immortals, who lacked the true poise of the legendary beings he had heard about for most of his life, he returned to sweeping, thinking their long lifespans might be the reason their egos had become so fragile.
Surrounded by all kinds of mystical treasures scattered throughout the world, but unable to claim them because of others with higher cultivation, and witnessing mystical arts that performed unimaginable feats, yet unable to replicate them due to lacking the talent of many prodigies, Huo Yan guessed that this envy over others' treasures and talents might have gradually corrupted their minds. Over the years, the confusion from these unfulfilled desires likely made them slaves to their emotions, leaving their minds more rotten with time.
Thus, what remained was merely a shell of their former selves who, if mortals forgot to kowtow, would have their egos bruised, turning them into angry, crying infants who would break things they disliked when they see it, thus confirming his conjecture about their childish behavior. Sighing, aware that he currently maintained higher moral standards because his mind had not yet been corrupted by emotions from a long lifespan, Huo Yan hoped he would not be reduced to a mere grown-up baby himself when he eventually became an immortal.
Not wanting to become immortals simply for the sake of their family in Green Ridge Village—who would all be gone by the time they became cultivators—but because Huo Yan and Shui Lian were driven by their nature to understand these immortals better, with the goal of gaining a clearer perspective on their behavior, and hoping this understanding would help them avoid adopting the flawed behaviors of immortals in the boundless future, he then returned to his current task of cleaning every part of the sect grounds from any speck of dust that might smudge the beautiful view over the entirety of the place.
Returning to sweeping after this brief reflection, he and his wife finished cleaning the area in front of the temple, which was surrounded by many bamboo trees. After lighting the incense and praying silently for their future, Huo Yan completed the task, sweating and breathing heavily from the laborious journey across the extensive sect grounds with its many stairs and uneven terrain. Turning toward his wife, who had become as pale as a sheet, he squatted to offer her his back. "Come… wife," he said, "I will carry you… down from the hill to the… area where our servant's hut is."
Nodding her head, unable to move her body any longer, Shui Lian weakly made her way toward her husband and then plopped onto his back without saying a word, exhausted and unable to comprehend that her husband was enduring the same exhaustion as she was. By the time the sun had set below the horizon once again, she realized that Huo Yan had managed to carry her back as he always did, without grumbling even a little. After kissing her husband on the forehead, who had already fallen asleep from sheer tiredness, Shui Lian prepared their dinner, now including some meat that had been allotted to them for this month's quota.
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