Falling into the mortal world

Lan Qingqing looked down and saw lush green trees right at her feet.

Lan Qingqing slowly descended, and soon reached the bottom of the cliff. She removed the restraints from her body. After Lan Qingqing finished, Feng Caidie also reached the bottom of the cliff.

After removing the strips of cloth from his body, he walked to Lan Qingqing's side. The tall plants and trees at the bottom of the cliff were awe-inspiring, as one never knew what might emerge from the bushes at any moment.

Lan Qingqing surveyed her surroundings. There were crawling marks in the grass on the ground. She crouched down to examine them and concluded that they were likely traces left by a python. Judging from the marks, they must have been left not long ago.

We headed this way, avoiding the python's path. Lan Qingqing searched for datura while observing her surroundings. She looked around for a while...

The trees here are so big that even two adult men might not be able to wrap their arms around them. The flowers inside are also very beautiful, and Lan Qingqing discovered several kinds of rare and precious flowers among them.

The peonies are growing in vast fields here, and colorful butterflies flutter up and down among the flowers. It's such a beautiful scene.

This place is almost exactly as my grandmother described it. It's like a paradise on earth.

My grandmother was a maid in a wealthy family when she was young. When the family suffered a disaster, the guards escorted the mistress away. My grandmother was the mistress's personal maid and stayed by her side.

The woman, about to give birth, had been fleeing assassins all along the way. She had barely managed to escape to this place. Seeing that she was about to give birth, the guards led them to the bottom of a cliff, where they discovered this place.

The woman gave birth to a baby girl at the bottom of the cliff. She gave her jewelry and indenture to her grandmother, hoping that she would take good care of her daughter, and then she passed away.

The guards hastily buried the lady here. The wild beasts at the bottom of the cliff smelled the blood. The woman had suffered a postpartum hemorrhage, which attracted the wild beasts.

Most of the guards died protecting the baby in the grandmother's arms. The grandmother endured more than half a month in the cliff. The guards caught a newborn ewe in the cliff and fed the baby with her milk. That's how the baby girl survived.

During the two weeks the guard spent on the cliff, he also learned about the bottom of the cliff. While it was freezing cold outside, it was warm and lush here because there was a natural hot spring. One day, the guard accidentally ate something and collapsed to the ground, feeling weak all over. When he fell, a tree branch pierced his arm, but he didn't react. He didn't wake up for three or four hours.

The guards sensed an eerie atmosphere; how could a perfectly healthy person suddenly collapse like that? They decided to leave immediately.

Upon reaching the cliff top, they encountered the pursuing assassins. A fierce battle ensued, leaving both sides nearly dead. The grandmother hid in the bushes, and the guards lured the assassins away, allowing her to escape the pursuit. The grandmother fled to Lan Family Village, where she settled with the infant girl. There, she met the grandfather and gave birth to Old Master Lan, Lan Qingqing's grandfather.

The baby girl grew up to be incredibly beautiful and became close to her grandfather. Because her grandmother was as beautiful as an angel, Old Man Lan always listened to her. However, the grandmother died in childbirth while giving birth to Lan Dashu, and afterwards, Old Man Lan could no longer love Lan Dashu.

After that, Lan Dashu lived with his grandmother. Not two years later, Old Man Lan married a second wife, and Lan Dashu became dispensable.

When her grandmother told Lan Qingqing these stories, she never thought they would be of any help to Lan Qingqing.

Lan Qingqing and Feng Caidie walked cautiously, both afraid of making any noise that might attract wild animals. Lan Qingqing came to a grave mound with a stone tablet. Because no one had tended to the grave for so many years, it was almost unrecognizable as a burial ground. If it weren't for the stone tablet, it would be impossible to tell. The stone tablet was leaning precariously.

Lan Qingqing carefully wiped the dirt off the stone tablet. The words on it were carved with a knife and only read "Tomb of Yuan Lingling". There was no surname on it, so her maternal grandmother was probably not a legitimate wife.

Since she was a descendant of Yuan Lingling, she should kowtow to her maternal grandmother when she came here. Lan Qingqing cleared away the weeds on her grandmother's grave.

Then they dug up some soil to add to the grave, making it very large. Feng Caidie silently followed Lan Qingqing in building the grave. Lan Qingqing then moved the stone tablet to the right place and tidied everything up.

Lan Qingqing then knelt down in front of the grave and kowtowed several times.

After doing all this, Lan Qingqing began looking for a place to stay for the night.

Finally, they found a cave not far from the cemetery. After confirming that there were no wild animals inside, Lan Qingqing and Feng Caidie went in. This should be the cave where their grandmother used to live.

Once she confirmed that it was safe inside, Lan Qingqing sprinkled some medicinal powder at the entrance of the cave to effectively prevent snakes, insects, and rodents.

Seeing that the cave was surrounded by bright flowers, Feng Caidie wanted to go forward and pick one.

Lan Qingqing quickly stopped Feng Caidie from reaching out her hand.

"Don't touch it," Lan Qingqing shouted.

Upon hearing Lan Qingqing's words, Feng Caidie quickly withdrew her hand.

"These flowers are also highly poisonous, don't touch them," Lan Qingqing said.

Feng Caidie patted her chest in fright. What a close call! She almost bumped into these flowers.

Inside the cave, faint traces of past habitation could still be seen. For example, there were piles of stones on the ground, dark and charred, likely from burning. There was also dry firewood on the ground.

Lan Qingqing was curious about what the cave looked like, so she walked deeper and deeper into it. She carried a torch as she went down, and there was an underground river with icy cold water inside.

Lan Qingqing sighed, no wonder even the animals didn't like to come; it was too cold inside. In no time, Lan Qingqing was shivering from the cold.

Lan Qingqing looked at the white, crystal-like blocks on the wall and curiously shone her torch on them. What she saw made her laugh. What was this? It was saltpeter.

No wonder it's so cold here. Lan Qingqing plans to take some with her when she leaves.

I'll come back for another visit after I have my own children.

Shivering, Feng Caidie said, "Girl, let's go! It's too cold here."

Lan Qingqing said in a good mood: Let's go!

Lan Qingqing still felt cold after leaving the underground cave, so she gathered some dry firewood and started a fire. At that moment, Lan Qingqing's stomach began to rumble.

Lan Qingqing hasn't eaten anything since this morning.

Lan Qingqing decided to go outside and find some wild game to fill her stomach. After wandering around for a while, she hunted down a leopard. The springs here were all hot and contained sulfur and other pollutants; Lan Qingqing searched for a while before finding one. Rabbits and goats would occasionally appear beside the spring to drink.

Lan Qingqing walked over and startled many small animals away.

Lan Qingqing began cleaning the leopard by the spring. Soon, the leopard was gutted. Looking at the leopard's fur, Lan Qingqing felt a pang of regret and could only bury it. She removed the leopard's head and tail, and buried the internal organs and leopard skin directly in the pit.

When Lan Qingqing returned, she was carrying a cleaned leopard.