The Cold and Aloof Palace Master's Daily Demon-Slaying Life

"It's not quite the same." Zuo Qingqiu withdrew her hand, picked up the celadon teacup on the coffee table, and took a sip.

The tea was warm, and wisps of white steam rose, spreading across her face. "There are countless large sects in the Central Plains with hundreds of thousands of years of history. Those old monsters who are old but not dead occupy a lot of resources and refuse to move up, causing the entire Central Plains to fall into a stagnant situation where the old are unwilling to step down and the young cannot rise up. In addition, the landlord economic model is too rigid, so most sects are lifeless."

"The situation is different in the East. Although there are many sects there, most of them are small sects with only a few thousand years of history. Sects with ten thousand years of history are already enormous in the East, and there are only a few of them."

She paused, seemingly recalling what was written in the book: "Because there are fewer old monsters occupying top-tier resources, and with the replenishment of resources from the East Sea Treasure Vault, the involution in the East is not as intense as in the Central Plains, and the atmosphere in the cultivation world is more easygoing. The atmosphere there is more in line with the Taoist principle of following the natural way."

"Jingguang Sanren wrote in the book that there were even some Taoist temple cultivators there who did not rely on cultivation resources, but purely cultivated by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, pursuing a purer form of longevity rather than killing and supernatural powers."

"Wow..." Xiaobai's eyes widened. "There are actually immortals like that? But if they don't cultivate martial arts, what will they do when they need to fight?"

Zuo Qingqiu said, "Why do you always think about fighting? Taoist cultivation has four essentials: Dharma, Companion, Wealth, and Place, but there are different paths to it."

"The longevity 'Taoist temples' of the East and the immortal cultivation 'sects' of our Central Plains are two completely different organizations. Sects focus on passing down the Taoist tradition and accumulating power; while Taoist temples place more emphasis on individual cultivation and emphasize following the natural way."

"As for what to do if a fight is needed? It's simple. Although they don't cultivate killing techniques, most of them are very proficient in escape techniques. If danger arises, all they need to do is run fast enough."

"Their philosophy is that there's no need to engage in conflict with others; as long as I run fast enough, danger can't catch me. This can be considered an alternative path to immortality."

Little White nodded, seemingly understanding, then suddenly her eyes lit up: "Sister, sister~ What's the point of reading? When are we going to the Eastern Land for a trip? Take me with you!"

She grabbed Zuo Qingqiu's sleeve and shook it, "With your Golden Core True Monarch level cultivation, if you enter the void and fly at full speed, you should be able to arrive in a few days, right?"

"You..." Zuo Qingqiu stretched out her index finger and gently tapped Xiaobai's nose. The fingertip was slightly cool and carried a faint scent of ink.

"All you do is play all day. Reading ten thousand books and traveling ten thousand miles are complementary and indispensable. Books contain the wisdom and experiences of our predecessors, which can broaden our horizons and help us understand cause and effect; personal travel is a process of verifying what we know and experiencing the will of Heaven. As for going to the East..."

She deliberately dragged out her words, looking into Xiaobai's expectant eyes, before slowly saying, "We'll talk about it when you break through to the Purple Mansion realm."

"Ah—" Xiaobai's face instantly fell. "When will I break through to the Purple Mansion realm...? I'm only at the peak of the late Foundation Establishment stage right now. Dragon cultivation is inherently slow. Even with the Earth Vein Dragon Pearl accelerating cultivation, it will still take at least several decades to break through to the Purple Mansion realm..."

However, she was quickly frustrated, but she recovered just as quickly.

Knowing that a trip to the Eastern Lands was impossible in the short term, she decisively changed her strategy. She reached out her little hand, grabbed Zuo Qingqiu's sleeve, and gently shook it, her voice soft and sweet, full of coquettishness: "Sister~ Good sister~ Look how thick the snow is outside, so white and soft! Let's stop reading and go out to build a snowman, okay? Just the two of us!"

She knows her sister too well.

If it were any other Golden Core True Lord, upon hearing such a childish request, they would most likely rebuke it as "nonsense." How could the dignity of a True Lord be desecrated?

But my sister is different—she never cared about these formalities, and often did things that others thought were "unbecoming of a true lord."

It's just building a snowman, it won't interfere with my cultivation, there's no reason for my sister to refuse.

Sure enough, Zuo Qingqiu pondered for a moment, then a faint smile appeared on her lips: "Alright. After reading all morning, it's time to stretch my legs."

She put the book back on the shelf.

The bookshelf was towering, but she only raised her hand and pressed down, and the books flew up on their own, landing steadily in a gap in a row.

Then, she took Xiaobai's hand.

Xiao Bai's hands were warm, while Zuo Qingqiu's hands were slightly cool, with delicate, jade-like skin and long, slender fingers. Holding them gave a reassuring feeling.

The two walked side by side toward the exit of the cave.

-

As I pushed open the cave door, a biting wind, carrying snowflakes, rushed towards me.

Little White ran out with a "whoosh," leaving a trail of footprints in the thick snow.

The snow in front of the cave entrance was now half a foot deep.

Looking out, the entire Zixu Peak is covered in silver, with distant mountains and nearby trees all resembling jade branches and leaves. Sunlight shines on the snow, reflecting tiny, diamond-like sparkles.

"So clean..." Xiaobai murmured.

A vast expanse of white stretched before my eyes, obscuring all the chaos, filth, and even color, leaving only the most primitive black, white, and gray.

The mountains are silhouettes of bluish-gray, the sky is a pale blue dome, and the snow is pure white without any impurities.

Zuo Qingqiu walked slowly to her side, her clear, cold eyes reflecting the snow.

She didn't speak, but just quietly watched the scene before her. The white breath she exhaled condensed into a thin mist in the air, which quickly dissipated.

Having cultivated to such a level, she had seen countless mountains, rivers, snow, and moon, yet each time she observed them with a calm mind, she could still feel the wonder and tranquil beauty of the creation of heaven and earth.

"This will do." She finally chose a relatively open and flat snowfield in front of the cave entrance.

Building a snowman is an incredibly simple task for cultivators. As long as their cultivation level is above the tenth level of Qi Refining, they can use their internal mana to shape a large amount of snow into any desired shape in an instant, and it will be lifelike and perfectly accurate.

But then you lose the joy of "piling" snow. Just like a delicacy cooked in an instant by magic versus a home-cooked meal made by an ordinary couple after half a day of hard work at the stove, the former may taste better, but the emotions and process involved are completely different.

What they wanted was the process of personally gathering, shaping, and giving life to the scattered snowflakes.

Zuo Qingqiu squatted down, without using any immortal energy to protect herself, letting the cold snow soak the hem of her gorgeous dress.

She stretched out her hands, scooped up a handful of fluffy, clean new snow, gently gathered it up, and then placed it on the ground, where it began to slowly roll.

Her movements were unhurried and rhythmic, as if she were not playing around, but performing some kind of elegant ritual.

As the snowball rolled, it gradually grew larger, absorbing snow along its path and becoming increasingly compact and round.

Xiaobai, on the other hand, has a completely different style.

With a "whoosh," she plunged into the thick snowdrift, rolled around happily, and then used her hands and feet to haphazardly shovel the snow into the middle, trying to create a shape.

However, she didn't control her strength well, and often a piece would collapse halfway through the pile, or the snowballs would not be compact and would be loose and shaky.

Undeterred, she giggled and continued tinkering, her red cotton-padded coat standing out starkly against the snow like a leaping flame.

Before long, Zuo Qingqiu had rolled two snowballs of different sizes, the larger one for the body and the smaller one for the head.

She carefully placed the small snowball on top of the large snowball, then took out a few small items from her storage bag—two obsidian stones for eyes and a slender red coral for a nose.

Although simple, it is quite lively.

She even broke off two thin branches from a nearby dwarf pine tree covered in snow and stuck them on either side of the snowman's head as "hair buns".

And so, a snowman resembling an adorable and somewhat playful little girl was born.

"Wow! Sister, you're amazing!" Little Bai had long since given up on her own shapeless pile of snow and came over to circle around Zuo Qingqiu's snowman, her eyes full of admiration. "You can make something so beautiful without using magic! It looks just like a real little person!"

Zuo Qingqiu smiled slightly and looked at Xiaobai's "work." It was barely recognizable as a snowdrift, with a few withered branches haphazardly stuck on top as arms, and two unevenly sized black pebbles crookedly embedded in the face as eyes, with a wavy line drawn below as a mouth...

Well, all I can say is that it "has begun to take on a human form".

"Yours... is also quite unique." Zuo Qingqiu carefully considered her words.

Xiao Bai looked at her crooked snowdrift, then at Zuo Qingqiu's exquisite and adorable snowman, her face flushed slightly, but she quickly regained her composure and declared, "This is... impressionistic! Yes, impressionistic style! Haha~"

Zuo Qingqiu couldn't help but chuckle, raising her hand to brush away the snowflakes clinging to the ends of her hair with her fingertips.

After running around the two snowmen twice, Xiaobai suddenly remembered something, looked up and asked, "Sister, I heard that some very powerful immortals can make snowmen move, talk, and walk. Is that true? Sister, do you have such supernatural powers?"