After obtaining a portion of Shen Nong's legacy, Lin Xiao Tian left Shen Nong Jia.
Based on past experience, the remaining legacy of Shen Nong would require the stone tablet kept by the Lin family for further guidance.
Lin Xiao Tian approached the stone tablet and observed it with his consciousness, finding that it remained unresponsive.
Upon closer inspection, he noticed the stone tablet was absorbing energy from its surroundings.
It seemed he would have to wait until the stone tablet finished absorbing energy for new prompts. However, Lin Xiao Tian was unwilling to wait. Since the stone tablet was absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth anyway, he decided to provide it with spiritual energy himself.
The next moment, spiritual energy began to flow into the stone tablet.
Accompanied by a flash of golden light, Lin Xiao Tian once again received new guidance.
"As expected, it's still within a forbidden zone!"
The location of the new legacy was a forbidden zone located abroad.
Lin Xiao Tian had previously learned about this forbidden zone. It was a tropical rainforest, and there had been no reports of demonic beasts appearing. The primary threat was the abundance of poisonous insects, which was precisely why the area within a few kilometers surrounding the forbidden zone was a no-man's-land.
No one was willing to approach this forbidden zone, and naturally, no family was willing to take responsibility for it. This place was essentially ownerless.
Lin Xiao Tian proceeded there without any hesitation.
The rainforest was on the opposite side of the globe from Shen Zhou, yet Lin Xiao Tian reached it in less than ten minutes.
The outskirts of the rainforest were swarmed by a multitude of flying insects, resembling a black mist.
These flying insects were highly aggressive, and nearly ninety percent of them carried potent venom.
Fortunately, they only frequented the vicinity of the rainforest and did not venture into human settlements. Thus, the local government had never bothered to deal with them.
As soon as Lin Xiao Tian stepped into the rainforest, the flying insects swarmed towards him.
With such a dense insect tide, even cultivators at the Qi Refining stage wouldn't survive for more than a minute.
However, Lin Xiao Tian possessed a domain. As the insects approached him, they were repelled and kept at bay by the domain.
The air carried a pungent odor, and the flying insects released a considerable amount of toxic gas. Ordinary humans who inhaled this gas would fall into a coma without realizing it.
Walking further into the rainforest, he found that besides plants, only insects remained.
Upon reaching his destination, Lin Xiao Tian noticed the appearance of several larger insects around him.
Among them, Lin Xiao Tian spotted a few familiar demonic beasts.
Green Venom Spiders!
He had even been kidnapped by one of them in Kunlun before.
These demonic beasts were numerous within the rainforest, and the dark environment of the forest was incredibly convenient for them, allowing them to attack or escape with ease.
But this was when facing opponents of similar power.
Now, they were facing a Nascent Soul stage cultivator.
A single glance from Lin Xiao Tian terrified them into immobility.
The surrounding flying insects were bewildered as to why these demonic beasts were suddenly so timid. Why weren't they feasting on the readily available flesh? Or perhaps they were intelligent enough to know that trying would be futile, even if it yielded no results.
After obtaining the legacy, Lin Xiao Tian rapidly departed the rainforest.
When he returned to the Lin family, only about ten minutes had passed.
Lin Xiao Tian approached the stone tablet again and found someone already there.
"Yu Xiang…" Lin Xiao Tian called out.
"Where did you just go?" Qin Yu Xiang asked.
"I just went out for a bit."
"Where to?"
"Traveled abroad," Lin Xiao Tian shrugged.
"Just for fun?" Qin Yu Xiang looked into Lin Xiao Tian's eyes.
Lin Xiao Tian considered it for a moment before nodding.
Qin Yu Xiang was displeased.
She took a deep breath and stepped closer to Lin Xiao Tian.
"Xiao Tian, when exactly do you have time?"
"Is something the matter?"
Qin Yu Xiang frowned, "Didn't I just talk to you about this? Have you forgotten so quickly? When will you have time to teach the children to cultivate?"
Compared to Lin Xiao Tian, Qin Yu Xiang had paid more attention to family matters during the past century.
To make the Lin family stronger, Qin Yu Xiang had often asked Lin Xiao Tian to teach the younger generation of the Lin family, but Lin Xiao Tian always found excuses to decline.
"Yu Xiang, the outcome is the same whether you teach them or I do. Apart from the cultivation method I gave you, you can let the children learn everything else."
"What does 'everything else' refer to? Does it include what you taught the Yang family?"
"I can also tell you how to learn those cultivation techniques," Lin Xiao Tian stated directly.
"I want more powerful cultivation techniques. Xiao Tian, you still have some, don't you?" Qin Yu Xiang stared intently at Lin Xiao Tian. "These are your children, they are related to you by blood. Are you going to be stingy even with your own children now?"
Qin Yu Xiang became increasingly agitated as she spoke.
In recent years, Lin Xiao Tian had been solely focused on his cultivation, and had indeed rarely communicated with Qin Yu Xiang.
By the time Lin Xiao Tian realized it, an inexplicable distance had grown between them.
Qin Yu Xiang aspired to fulfill the old matriarch's wish of making the Lin family the top family in the world, but Lin Xiao Tian had little interest in this, leading to increasingly frequent conflicts between them.
Although Lin Xiao Tian always compromised, Qin Yu Xiang did not appreciate it.
"I went to Jin Sha Village a while ago. Guess who I met?"
Lin Xiao Tian shook his head.
"I met Xue Zi Yan," Qin Yu Xiang said, looking at Lin Xiao Tian. "I never expected that after a hundred years, Xue Zi Yan, as an ordinary person, could still be as youthful and beautiful as a young girl, and her physical condition is not bad at all. Why do you think that is?"
"Zi Yan has a rather special constitution," Lin Xiao Tian replied.
"You've helped her quite a bit, haven't you?" Qin Yu Xiang asked.
Lin Xiao Tian did not answer.
In reality, for a constitution like Xue Zi Yan's to maintain its youth, there was only one method.
"Starting tomorrow, you will be responsible for teaching the children," Qin Yu Xiang said before leaving.
Lin Xiao Tian watched Qin Yu Xiang's retreating figure.
After a long while, he sighed.
Lin Xiao Tian, now over a hundred years old, once again took on the role of a tutor, responsible for imparting cultivation knowledge to the younger ones.
For those who couldn't cultivate, Lin Xiao Tian taught them medical knowledge and martial arts, while academic subjects were handled by dedicated instructors.
Qin Yu Xiang also stayed with the children, but she did not teach. Her primary role was to keep an eye on Lin Xiao Tian.
In the evening, the two lay in bed.
Nothing happened.
Lin Xiao Tian recalled past events, feeling a strange sense of nostalgia. He didn't understand how things had come to this point.
Days turned into years, and in the blink of an eye, twenty years had passed.
The children had grown up, while Lin Xiao Tian and Qin Yu Xiang had not aged significantly.
They were now the true living fossils of the Lin family.
Although Qin Yu Xiang was advanced in age, she still participated in family affairs, whereas Lin Xiao Tian was completely the opposite.
When he had time, Lin Xiao Tian would visit other forbidden zones to search for Shen Nong's legacy, and occasionally visit Xue Zi Yan.
Now, besides Qin Yu Xiang, Xue Zi Yan was the person he had known for the longest time. Lin Xiao Tian did not want her to simply disappear.
In another blink, another hundred years passed.