The Reticent Blade - Chapter 160 - Branching Paths

Silvermist Evermore never belonged. Born to unloving parents and cast aside, she had long accepted that life would never offer her warmth—until she was chosen as an apprentice at Moonstone Academy, a place where magic breathes and fate is written in the stars.But her arrival comes with a price. In an act of betrayal and manipulation, Silvermist shatters Frost's staff, the formidable Winter Guardian, unraveling a secret that should have remained buried.Now, bound by an ancient rule, she must take its place—not as a mere apprentice, but as something far more dangerous: Frost’s human staff, the living embodiment of his power.As Silvermist struggles to navigate the treacherous halls of Moonstone, she discovers that Guardians without apprentices are doomed to vanish, and the balance of the four seasons—Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter—hangs by a thread. But the shadows whisper a greater truth: a war looms on the horizon, fueled by the Sandman’s wrath and a hidden enemy who has been pulling the strings all along.Haunted by cryptic dreams, hunted by those who seek to use her, and betrayed by those she once trusted, Silvermist must uncover the truth behind her own existence before she loses herself to the very storm she was forced to wield.Can she survive the weight of Winter, or will she be the final snowfall that buries them all?

“This is the system? This is my trump card? Why did you only give it to me after I died?” Lu Qing crossed over to the cultivation world and spent 200 years to become a Golden Core cultivator. He married, had children, and created a clan.

He only activated the “Clan Development System” after he died from serious injuries. [Spiritual Root Enhancement], [Resource Scouting], [Pure-yang Body]… Which option do you want?

I’ll give it all to you! I truly am your ancestor. Listen to me and I’ll take you to the skies!

Everyone has friends in their lives, right?They can be anyone—good friends, bad friends, or even... friends with benefits.Ahem!Anyway, the point is, everyone has friends. And so did I.I was friends with author of web novel.Yeah, was.A small argument over how the main character should act in novel of [World’s Greatest Hero] led to a fight with my friend, the author.Still frustrated, I stormed out of his house... and that’s when Truck-kun hit me.But that wasn’t the worst part.The worst part? I woke up in a different body—the body of a side character in my friend’s novel.A character who is supposed to die in the prologue.[Your body is dying!][You don’t have much time left.][The creator of this world is mocking you.]F#ck you, Author.F#ck this novel.I will survive, and when I do—I'll beat you to a pulp!

“Battling young masters for some treasures in mysterious caves? No, thank you.What's so special about a ring containing an old sage's trapped soul? I'll just toss it away.Becoming a direct disciple of some big expert with many enemies? Count me out.I'll flip the bird to the pointless struggle in prestigious sects that only attract calamity.What I have here, this opportunity I've seized, is plenty for me.I'll choose safe and steady methods of progress, even if they're slow. After all, I'm just a simple farmer seeking peace through cultivation. I'll rely on myself to pave the way.”- Aksai Everwood (Chapter 7)============Meet Aksai Everwood, a guy who thought he was done with life, but life had other plans.Aksai wasn't always Aksai. He used to be Arman Arlott, a terminally ill dude who decided to take one last wild ride before checking out. Little did he know, a crazy experiment would flip his world upside down. Arman's mind got tangled up with artificial intelligence, and things got seriously weird.Instead of peacefully bowing out, Arman ended up sacrificing himself for some mind-blowing breakthrough. But instead of eternal rest, he got a second chance as Aksai Everwood, a spirit farmer in a new world. Talk about a cosmic curveball!You'd think being a farmer in a serene, pastoral paradise would be easy, right? Nope. Aksai's new world is anything but peaceful. Farming is far from sunshine and rainbows here.Aksai dreams of a chill life cultivating his crops, but in the wild world of immortal cultivation, peace is a rare commodity.Luckily, Aksai's got some serious advantages. He's got a neural link fabric that makes him a whiz at alchemy and array formations, giving him a leg up on other Spirit cultivators. Plus, he has the Enchanted Everwood Farm, a magical place where he can grow all sorts of mysterious cultivation resources with awesome bonuses. This farm comes with perks that make Aksai a one-of-a-kind Spirit farmer.And here's the kicker: the farm is suspended in a spatial junction of all existing realities. That means Aksai can hop between different worlds as he levels up in his Spirit cultivation.With these unique advantages, Aksai ditches the traditional path of joining a sect or a renowned clan. Instead, he explores various worlds, using their unique resources and methods to forge his own path as a Spirit cultivator.What do myriad worlds unlock? A druid bloodline, body cultivation, martial arts, and lots more. Who’d join sects when given such perks?The stage is set for our Spirit farmer. Now Aksai, his companions, and you, his readers, are in for a journey of rebirth, redemption, and a whole lot of dirt under your fingernails.============Additional Tags: #druid #bloodlines #Martialarts #worldhopping #artificialintelligence #coldmc #battlenovel #calculatingmc #villain #farming #spiritcultivation #mindcultivation #bodycultivation #worldhopping #rpgelements #low-keymc #sliceoflife #nonarrogantmc