Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

Chapter 448: Lantai Secret Garden!

Autumn wind swept fallen leaves across the official road, horse hooves striking the packed clay with a monotonous clack.

Three days later.

The capital’s towering gray walls reappeared on the horizon. Su Ming led a rented nag by the reins, blending with merchants and displaced people entering the city, and slowly moved toward the gate with the crowded flow.

He still wore that washed-out gray long robe and a bamboo hat. But any sharp-eyed high-level cultivator would notice that after returning from Qingshi Town, something in Su Ming’s aura had undergone an extremely subtle transformation.

If the Su Ming from before was a sword kept in its scabbard yet still leaking traces of sharpness from time to time, then now he was like an ancient well, bottomless and unfathomable.

All the mundane anxieties, the worries for his family, the killing intent toward the Yongchang Marquis Manor — they had dissipated with the dawn mist after those three knocks that morning at the Su family old residence. His aura had retracted to the utmost, as if he had finally shrugged off a weight he had carried for five years. Even his footsteps on the bluestone slabs were light, as if dropping a single feather.

Past the bustling market, Su Ming returned with practiced familiarity to the secluded courtyard the External Affairs Office had arranged in the city’s eastern district.

He had barely pushed open the gate when Zhou Tong, the junior clerk from the External Affairs Office, came forward to meet him.

"Senior Su, you're back. The room has been cleaned every day. Hot water and spirit tea are ready."

Su Ming nodded slightly, voice gentle. "Thank you, Clerk Zhou. I need to meditate these days. If nothing urgent comes up, do not let anyone disturb me."At dusk, the setting sun ran red across the sky.

Su Ming had just gone through a full cycle of the Like Water Art in the room, sealing the faint spiritual energy stirred by travel. A subtle green stream of light slipped silently through the window lattice and hovered before him.

It was Elder Qingquan’s communication talisman.

"Come to the main hall for tea."

Those five terse characters carried the casual familiarity unique to an elder.

smoothed his robes and

was spacious and bright, four stout hundred-year-old nanmu pillars supporting a lofty dome. Elder Qingquan did not sit at the high seat.

gurgling as steam made the lid hop slightly, releasing a refined tea fragrance. Two

Ming approached the low table and respectfully performed a

"Disciple pays respects, Master."

on wiping a white porcelain teacup with a square

"Back?"

calm, like a family elder asking a

sat cross-legged

water into the white cup with the precision of a

at home

voice carried a sense of

Qingquan pushed the brewed tea toward Su Ming and gave a soft "hmm,"

the world’s vicissitudes, knowing

sip. The tea slid down like a warm current of spiritual energy through his meridians, dispelling the chill of a late

Qingquan also lifted a cup. His gaze swept over the courtyard

the capital for a while now. Have you ever been

Su Ming paused slightly.

compiler at the Hanlin Academy, colleagues had mentioned that place — a site the court listed as an absolute forbidden zone. Vice Director of

the imperial family's private repository for

his cup and shook his head

traces of years and experience. He set his cup down and

the Great Xing Emperor’s private vault? That’s a relic

through the open hall with

Xing. In its day, it