Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

Chapter 90: Two Years

Su Ming slowly opened his eyes.

The whole world was completely reconstructed within his perception.

In the courtyard corner, a late-returning black beetle, its six tiny segmented legs scraping the rough ground, produced an extremely faint "rustle," which registered clearly in his ears.

Under the moonlight, the air was no longer empty. Countless tiny dust motes drifted and spun slowly before his eyes.

He could even feel the cool spiritual energy wafting from the old well, circling him like a wanderer who had finally found a home.

This was the world of Qi Refining.

"Hmph." From inside the ring, Lin Yu's voice carried a just-right weariness and an inability to hide his satisfaction, "Finally, not completely hopeless."

Finally finished guiding this kid through the newbie stage! My golden-bodyguard-cum-mobile-power-bank has finally booted up! The retirement fund plan has taken a solid first step!

Su Ming stood and walked a few casual paces in the courtyard. The Aura Concealment Art moved with his intention, and his entire presence instantly quieted, as if he were a stone in the yard, a speechless blade of grass.

Lin Yu's soul body drifted inside the ring and gave a small "eh."Strange, for a moment just now it felt like this kid's presence had totally vanished. His Aura Concealment Art combined with his own spiritual energy works even better than I imagined.

"Master." Su Ming returned to the room and closed the door.

The exhilaration and novelty from the breakthrough slowly faded, replaced by a deeper bewilderment rising in his chest.

He looked at his empty hands and asked softly, "The disciple has already stepped through the gate of cultivation, but... where does the road beyond the gate lead? I feel like a blind man who has touched the leg of an elephant yet does not know what the elephant truly looks like."

Lin Yu nearly burst out laughing inside the ring.

Good kid, learned to infer and now thinking about philosophy. Not bad, not bad, he has one percent of my old style. Knowing how to ask for directions is better than blindly running headfirst.

He cleared his throat and adopted the seasoned, world-weary tone of someone who had been through it: "Disciple, the fact you can ask that question means your mind has opened. You're no longer that foolish kid who only buries his head in practice."

"You think cultivation is what? Find a deep mountain forest, dig a cave-dwelling, then seclude for a thousand years and come out invincible?"

Su Ming said nothing. The novels he had read before had mostly been written that way.

"Wrong!" Lin Yu's voice was decisive, "That path leads to the fool's grave! The real world of cultivation is far more complex than you imagine, and far more... practical."

"Ordinary life and cultivation seem like two entirely separate worlds, but they coexist under the same heavens. They are like water and oil—immiscible—yet bottled together."

"This bottle is the rigid barrier of class and information."

Lin Yu's voice deepened, carrying the wisdom of someone who sees through affairs: "Think about it. If the methods to become an immortal were available to everyone, wouldn't the world already be in chaos? Would the emperor's dragon throne remain stable? Could the noble lanes of the old families keep their prestige?"

A chill ran through Su Ming. He thought of Zhou Wenhai, of Professor Liu, and of those teachings about power and methods.

"If you want to enter the circle of cultivation, there are two paths: first, let people of the immortal way come to you; second, you go to them. I can’t help you much now. I’ve been trapped in this ring too long. A thousand years changes seas and mountains; the country I once heard of might not even exist."

"The real secrets might be hidden in a deep mountain cavern, or locked away in the highest halls of power, written in the oldest family genealogies, or kept in the emperor's private library." Lin Yu guided him patiently.

"A peasant's son could kneel at a sect's gate until he dies, but an immortal will barely glance. Yet if a high official who holds sway, or a renowned scholar openly shows even a hint of longing for longevity, believe me, 'immortal fate' will come knocking on their door."

Those words split the chaos in Su Ming's mind like a lightning bolt.

He grasped it at once.

What he lacked was never rare materials or peerless methods.

— a qualification that would let him access the

tone carried a concluding ring, "the imperial examinations are

well. When you pass the provincial-level exam and become a Provincial Graduate, you can enter the prefectural city; when you pass the metropolitan exam and become a jinshi, you can stand in the court. The people you meet, the books you read,

Ming exhaled a long breath, and all the confusion and doubt in his

bowed deeply toward the

"Disciple understands."

gaze was clearer and firmer

the top scorer Su Ming at Qingshi County School seemed changed, and yet

school on time, listened attentively, and showed respect to his teachers. Only now, he was no longer satisfied

library

read at an inhuman speed. A thick Prefecture Records volume

still, his reading tastes

he

Spirits, Biographies of Odd Figures from

other students dismissed as distractions, he consumed

his time in Qi

no longer merely hunted for the words "immortal" or

database centered on times,

county lieutenant led three hundred men to surround it with no result,

hundred zhang long, scales glowing gold, vanishing into clouds. Next day

atop Mount Tai, drew

...

slipped by quietly amid the rustle of pages and the

old locust

Zhou Yulin wore a brand-new official robe, radiating vigor. Three years earlier he had passed the autumn provincial exam, last spring he ranked among the top three in the

I cannot say when we will see each other again." Zhou Yulin looked at the now tall and

as his heir to the craft, pouring out all he knew. Everyone knew that in three years' provincial

path be bright. Travel safely." Su Ming

in the small yard sighing as he clutched

I just be the bottom there?" Zhao Rui had grown taller over the two

Ming merely smiled and

while Su Ming would stay at the County School. Because here was

sat cross-legged

and at its center a light shone several times brighter than two

Qi Refining, second layer.

drained every drop of spiritual energy from the

keenly sensed the well's recovery slowing. The well felt like

long-term." Su Ming

enough for your newbie village. To level up, you must change maps. Don't worry, once you obtain your 'qualification,' there will be plenty of pocket dimensions and blessed lands

anxiety and sank his

composed of countless fragments of information was

almost combed through every book with the character

left

histories were evasive; all supernatural incidents were categorized as

with truth and fiction, full of exaggeration and speculation. He found over three hundred records mentioning "immortals," "demons," "spirits," and "monsters," but careful analysis showed most were mythic tales like

for organized cultivation forces, such as sects or old families,

on the table, speaking to Lin Yu, "The world's core information is monopolized. Below a

carried

wasn't

Ming went again to the ancient locust

stall had grown larger than two years ago. He was still thin and quiet, but his brow

No foolish person dared to cause trouble. Xu Qing's stall benefited from being an angel investor of the paper workshop and from his connection