One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

But it was completely different from the Leshan Giant Buddha in his memory.

There are no reinforced concrete viewing platforms, no stainless steel railings, and no throngs of tourists taking photos with their phones. The Buddha statue is covered in deep green ivy and lichen, and the rocks, weathered and cracked by thousands of years of wind and rain, reveal a deeper bluish-gray interior. At the foot of the Buddha, the riverbank is a pristine rocky beach and a dense, sunless primeval forest. In the distance, the mountains rise in dark, layered formations, with no trace of modern architecture in sight.

This is... an undeveloped, untamed, primitive, and wild Leshan Giant Buddha.

"I really..." Nie Lingfeng murmured to himself, his voice broken by the river wind, "Not on Earth anymore? Or... have I traveled through time?"

He stood on the edge of the Buddha's Palm cliff, just half a step ahead was a sheer drop of tens of meters. Below, the Minjiang River surged mightily, crashing against the rocks and exploding into snow-white spray, its roar like muffled thunder. The river wind was fierce, whipping his long hair into a wild dance, his tattered clothes billowing like flags, and raising a fine layer of goosebumps on his exposed skin.

The repression of ten years of seclusion, the loneliness of ten years of solitude, and the hardship of ten years of arduous cultivation—all of these transformed into a scorching stream of energy that surged from the dantian straight to the crown of the head at this moment.

Nie Lingfeng closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He focused his energy in his dantian and circulated the Xuanwu True Scripture throughout his body. When he opened his eyes again, a sharp light flashed in them.

Then--

"ha--!!!"

A long howl rose!

At first, it was like the first cry of a fledgling phoenix, clear and stirring; then it was like a mighty dragon emerging from the sea, majestic and boundless; finally, it was like thunder crashing down from the heavens, rolling and resounding, shaking the entire landscape! The roar was infused with the immense internal power of the Xuanwu True Scripture, the sound waves spreading outwards in concentric circles as if they were tangible! Countless concentric ripples spread across the river's surface, startled birds took flight from the forest, their fluttering wings blotting out the sun; and a rumbling echo reverberated from the distant mountains, lingering for a long time!

The whistling sound lasted for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

As the last syllable gradually faded into the mountains, Nie Lingfeng slowly stopped singing. He felt as if the pent-up emotions of the past ten years had been swept away, and every one of his 84,000 pores felt refreshed and clear. He wished he could roar to the sky three hundred more times.

But he ultimately held back.

"Calm down, calm down." He patted his face, and the Ice Heart Technique flowed naturally, calming his boiling blood. "If I flaunt myself right after leaving seclusion, what if it attracts trouble... Although I may not be afraid now, it's better to be cautious since I'm new here."

He looked down and estimated the height.

The Buddha's palm is at least thirty feet above the ground. In my previous life, when I visited, there was a smooth cement plaza and railings at the foot of the Buddha, teeming with tourists. Now... below are jagged black reefs and rushing river water, and not a soul can be seen.

"How do we get down?" Nie Lingfeng stroked his newly grown mustache. "Climbing down is too uncouth. Jumping... with my current lightness skill and physique, I shouldn't die from the fall, but what if my posture is awkward? Wouldn't that be a waste of all these skills?"

His eyes suddenly lit up.

Take ten steps back, run up, accelerate, and leap off the edge of the Buddha's palm!

The moment his body plummeted into the void, he unleashed the full power of the Wind God Leg technique—Catching the Wind and Shadows! Strong Grass in the Wind! A torrential downpour and raging storm! Three consecutive leg techniques were unleashed in mid-air!

It's not about stomping downwards, but kicking at the invisible air.

With each kick, the air in front of his toes suddenly solidified and compressed, then exploded with a muffled "bang"! Using this recoil, he slowed his descent, his entire body tracing a graceful parabola in the air, gliding like an eagle, circling like a swallow!

Even more amazingly, the rapidly kicking leg whipped up the water vapor from the river below, condensing it in the air into a spinning tornado about ten feet in diameter and three feet high. Nie Lingfeng was enveloped in the eye of this tornado, his long hair and clothes dancing wildly in the vortex, sunlight refracting through the water vapor to create tiny rainbows, making him look like an immortal descending to earth.

With a light touch of her toes, she landed silently on a flat rock by the river.

The tornado slowly dissipated, and the water vapor turned into a light drizzle, which reflected a small, colorful rainbow in the setting sun.

Nie Lingfeng steadied himself, standing with his hands behind his back (although the Snow Drinking Blade wrapped in tattered cloth on his back made the posture slightly odd), gazing at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, and slowly said in what he thought was a profound tone:

"Ten years have passed since I honed this sword, its sharp edge yet to be tested. Today I emerge from the mountains, and who will not recognize me?"

After saying that, he couldn't hold back anymore and burst out laughing: "What a pretentious poem... But that move was really cool, it's a pity no one witnessed it."

He shook his head, walked to the riverbank, and squatted down.

The river water was crystal clear, revealing smooth pebbles and darting silver fish. Nie Lingfeng leaned down to look at his reflection in the water.

Then he froze.

The reflection in the water showed the face of a boy who looked about seventeen or eighteen years old. His features were sharply defined, with arched eyebrows that slanted upwards, deep-set eyes, a straight nose, and lips that were habitually pursed into a resolute line due to years of silence. His skin was a healthy light tan, without the pallor that comes from years of lack of sunlight—this was probably thanks to the daily exposure to the luminous moss that contained special energy.

But these are not the main points.

The focus is on her long hair—uncut for ten years, now reaching her waist, black and glossy like the finest silk. Although it's a bit frizzy from being tied up with vines for so long, it has a wild and unrestrained chivalrous air when it flies in the river breeze.

A thin layer of short mustache grew on his chin and lips, its color slightly lighter than his hair, making him look five or six years older than his actual age, adding a touch of weathered ruggedness.

As for the clothes they wore... they were truly a pitiful sight.

The original pure cotton T-shirt, worn down over ten years by martial arts training and fishing, had long since turned into shredded strips, barely covering his chest and revealing his sculpted eight-pack abs and the lifelike dark red Qilin tattoo on his chest—a mark that naturally emerged after merging with Qilin marrow, its scales clearly defined and its eyes like flames. His jeans had been reduced to "denim shorts," the legs torn to the upper thighs, the edges jagged like dog teeth, the vital areas barely covered by tanned fish skin and tough vines—a level of fabric that would absolutely warrant an arrest for indecent assault in civilized society.

Nie Lingfeng looked at himself in the water from left to right, bent his arm to show off the smooth lines of his biceps, and then touched the well-defined contours of his abdominal muscles.

"This physique... in my old gym, he'd definitely be the star attraction." He muttered to himself, then touched his face. "It's just that his beard and hair are a bit wild. But that's alright, at least he won't be looked down upon as a greenhorn."

He stood up and turned around. The setting sun cast a long shadow of him, and even though the Snow Drinking Blade on his back was wrapped in tattered cloth, it still emitted a faint, icy blue light.

Dressed in tattered clothes, with long hair and a bushy beard, carrying a long sword on his back, he stood alone by the desolate river.

At first glance, he may seem like a wild man, but upon closer inspection, he possesses a calm and composed demeanor, as well as a restrained sharpness that comes from having experienced the vicissitudes of life and returning to simplicity.

"The look is barely acceptable," Nie Lingfeng nodded. "But the primary task is to get a decent outfit. Looking like this, he'll be mistaken for a mountain demon wherever he goes."

He gazed into the distance.

The riverbanks stretch to the east and west, with steep cliffs on one side and a deep, boundless primeval forest on the other. There are no woodcutting paths, no fields, no cooking smoke, and not even any human sound except for the wind, the water, and the birds.

"So where exactly is this?" Nie Lingfeng frowned deeply. "Ancient times? But even in the most primitive ancient times, there should be villages around such a magnificent site as the Leshan Giant Buddha. Another world? Then why is there a Buddha statue exactly like the one on Earth? A parallel universe? Or... am I still dreaming?"

After pondering for a long time, I came up with no result.

"Alright, let's find some people first." He made up his mind. "Once we find living people, everything will be clear. At least we need to change our clothes, have a good meal, and then find out what dynasty and what territory this is."

He chose the direction of the forest—normally, vegetation in populated areas would be cleared, but this forest, with its towering ancient trees and intertwined vines, was clearly an undeveloped, pristine landscape, and the opposite direction might be closer to civilization.

After walking a few steps, he stopped and looked back.

The colossal Buddha sits majestically on the mountainside, its edges gilded by the setting sun. Its eyes are lowered, its gaze seemingly transcending a thousand years, quietly settling on its silhouette.

Nie Lingfeng straightened his tattered clothes, solemnly clasped his hands in a fist salute to the Buddha, and bowed deeply.

"A decade's worth of acquaintance ends today. Regardless of what era we live in, all that I have learned originated from this cave. Thank you."

He straightened up, grinned, and patted the Snow Drinking Blade on his back.

"If this is truly a martial world..." A burning light ignited in his eyes, "then I, Nie Lingfeng, must make a good foray into it."

After saying that, he turned around and stepped into the forest.

The setting sun cast dappled light and shadow on him through layers of leaves. The sound of the river gradually faded behind him, becoming an eternal background sound in the world.

Ten years have passed like a fleeting dream, and I am unaware that I am but a guest in a foreign land.

Today, I enter the world of martial arts.