Shang Lin understood She Jinxing's confusion; after all, different species have different perspectives. But this kind of thing couldn't be explained in a short time or with just a few words.

So Shang Lin ended the topic, saying, "This is a matter for the Meng family, let's see how things go before deciding. Right now, the most important thing is to celebrate the New Year."

Huang Li immediately cheered, "Yes, I love celebrating the New Year!"

She Jinxing felt a little depressed. He and the sect leader were no longer on the same wavelength. How could he still serve him properly in the future?

Since Shang Lin and the others moved to the county, the disciples have spent less time in the Dragon Spirit Tower. Now it's even more lively and has a strong New Year's atmosphere.

Shang Lin still dumped all the homework except for foreign language assignments on Xing Tian. He spent his time cultivating, except for necessary shopping. Qiu Niang and Huang Ying took care of the kitchen.

"Old Man Chai" was still recovering from his internal injuries. Hu Tangdi and She Jinxing basically followed Shang Lin everywhere, even when he went out or when he was cultivating. Xing Tian helped Shang Lin with his homework while also teaching him the Chinese almanac.

The most idle person was probably the tower spirit, but like Ji Xiaoyao, he was also obsessed with martial arts dramas—oh no, they were fantasy dramas. However, the God Lord watched them with a critical eye, and his comments were truly dark and venomous.

Sometimes Shang Lin couldn't help but advise, "Are you looking for trouble or something? Besides, all you're saying is to torture our ears. This is the human world. How can you expect their fantasy dramas to be exactly like the real fantasy world? That would be terrifying!"

The deity was momentarily speechless, and after a long while, he angrily berated Shang Lin, "I only have this one little hobby, and you still want to criticize me? What exactly are you up to? Are you just jealous of my success?"

Shang Lin, "..."

Why would he say that even a god has Alzheimer's disease, a disease that only elderly humans get?! And this dialogue, while in the TV series, isn't all criticism!

Sect Master Shang reluctantly conceded, "My mistake, please continue. But aren't you so free that you don't even have time to teach disciples? You were so eager to take on disciples to pass the time at first, how long has it been? You've already changed your mind?"

The Divine Lord rolled his eyes at Shang Lin without any regard for his image. "The beginning is the beginning, and the present is the present. In the beginning, you were so poor that you could barely afford to eat. How could you have bought such a fun thing? If I had a cell phone in the beginning, why would I have taken on any disciples? It would be so much trouble, especially since I am now a tower spirit. Everything I do is paving the way for you, the sect leader. Why would I bother?"

Shang Lin, “…” It was indeed his fault.

However, Shang Lin subconsciously looked at She Jinxing, his face clearly saying, "You're so pitiful, stuck with such a lazy and irresponsible master."

She Jinxing laughed and said, "The Divine Lord was just saying that casually; he is very serious about teaching me."

Well, it's a case of one willing to give and the other willing to receive, and I've become the one struggling to survive in the cracks. No, I should say, the clown is actually myself!

The New Year arrived quickly amidst everyone's busy schedules. On the morning of New Year's Eve, Shang Lin bought firecrackers. There were no restrictions on setting off firecrackers in the small county town, but the price of firecrackers was by no means cheap for the people in the small county town.

Shang Lin felt a pang of regret buying these kinds of things that only make a sound and are consumed quickly, but for the sake of the festive atmosphere, he could only calculate how many he needed from the first to the fifteenth of the lunar month, and buy them all.

Shang Lin wasn't really interested in firecrackers; he only bought them to add to the festive atmosphere. However, he did buy a lot of pots, pans, and dishes. There was no way around it; there were too many foodies in his family, and there simply weren't enough plates for all the dishes, so he had to use basins instead.

Shang Lin didn't care what he ate, and he preferred things with spiritual energy to food. Unfortunately, the only spiritual things in the Dragon Spirit Tower were medicinal herbs, and he hadn't found a second spiritual thing outside.

The first lotus-shaped bronze mirror with spiritual energy was something Shang Lin couldn't figure out on his own, so he had to show it to the ancient dragon who had seen a lot. The dragon looked at it again and again but still couldn't figure it out!

Finally, he only said, "Perhaps when your cultivation level is higher, you will be able to determine what kind of mirror this is, or you can inject spiritual power or even your blood and see if there is any reaction?"

This answer left Shang Lin speechless. However, he had been absorbing the spiritual energy of the bronze mirror and had never infused the mirror with spiritual energy before. He gathered the spiritual energy at his fingertips and then injected it into the mirror.

The lotus-shaped bronze mirror, which was originally unrecognizable, slowly began to show its luster. Even the rust on the mirror surface began to recede from the center outwards, revealing a bright part of the mirror surface.

Shang Lin glanced at the tower spirit subconsciously, "The Divine Lord is indeed very knowledgeable."

However, after a short while, Shang Lin's spiritual power was exhausted, and the mirror returned to its original state. But he saw a beautiful face in the mirror that looked exactly like the original owner's. The beauty had a smile in her eyes, but it was fleeting.

Shang Lin frowned slightly. He had a gut feeling that the beauty in the mirror was the original owner's mother, but unfortunately, his spiritual power was insufficient to see any further. As for bloodletting...

Let's leave that for now. He's such a small and fragile little guy; he won't bleed unless it's absolutely necessary.

But when the mirror was turned on, the face of the original owner's mother was revealed. Could this mirror be related to the original owner's mother?

If it's true, then the original owner's mother wasn't an ordinary person either, right? But how was the original owner anything but ordinary? Not only that, she was also sickly. As for the original owner completely resembling her father, that's even more impossible.

Unable to figure it out for the time being, Shang Lin didn't bother thinking about it. After all, activating the bronze mirror required spiritual power, and he didn't have enough right now. He also didn't want to waste other people's spiritual power, especially since it was the New Year.

The sect's first New Year was conducted entirely according to human customs. First thing in the morning, they put up Spring Festival couplets—red background with gold characters, very festive—and then a "福" (good fortune) character with a carp. After a simple breakfast, those heading out and those preparing dinner got busy.

In fact, no one in the Dragon Spirit Tower is very interested in the New Year, because their daily lives are already very busy and fulfilling, and they don't care about holidays.

Besides, as people live longer, there are fewer and fewer things that can arouse their interest. But the sect leader is human and is eager to make the first New Year after the establishment of the sect a success, so everyone has to pretend to be enthusiastic.

However, on New Year's Day, once the atmosphere was right, everyone's enthusiasm for celebrating the New Year was just like Shang Lin's.

Shang Lin helped with cooking in the afternoon. No, everyone in the Dragon Spirit Tower pitched in, and the atmosphere was lively. Hu Tangdi even used magic to slack off.

Shang Lin hurriedly stopped him, "It's the New Year, don't scare outsiders. Besides, we celebrate the New Year in the human realm, so we should do it the way we do in the human realm, otherwise it'll be no fun."

Hu Tangdi, “…”