Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Several months later, Auntie followed in passing away.

A once bustling household suddenly became much quieter.

Lin Yuanwang aged visibly and quickly, often sitting at home, staring blankly at the walls.

Jiang Ding quietly observed Lin Yuanwang.

’He has become much lonelier and fragile, the pillars of his mental world having collapsed significantly.’

’Who knows when he’ll rebuild, and if it will be as strong as before when he does.

Parents are a part of our mental world.’

The consecutive deaths of his parents struck him hard, nearly devastating his spirit.

As one of the last relatives in this world, it was necessary for him to stay by his side until human’s inherent instinct for mental adjustment took effect, blurring some aspects of emotions and memories, allowing him to move on.

Foundation-building cultivators are human too.

Due to their more powerful divine souls, their emotions, whether joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure, are even more direct and vivid than those of ordinary people, not machines devoid of feelings just because they practice cultivation.

”Have you thought about starting a family?”

Jiang Ding asked.

Staying still all the time can easily lead to problems.

It’s best to keep busy: working, talking, cultivating—anything works.

”Married, huh?”

After a pause, Lin Yuanwang came to his senses and replied with a bitter smile, ”I used to have a little crush on a girl at the company, but she’s a Qi Practitioner. Let’s wait and see. Hopefully, I can find someone who I’ll share the rest of my life with before getting too involved.”

”That’s not a bad idea; you’ll have a lot in common.”

”But you should also try to arrange for more cultivation time. You’re at the peak of the early stage of foundation building. Let’s strive for a 200-year-old Golden Pill. Then, when visiting grandparents’ tombs, it would make them happy.”

Jiang Ding smiled.

”And getting married, having children, I’ve heard that makes the house much livelier...”

”Children?”

Lin Yuanwang gave him a sidelong glance, ”You, an eternal bachelor, don’t tell me these things you’ve read online. I’ve had a girlfriend before. Don’t you know better than me?”

”Hahaha...”

Jiang Ding gave an awkward smile.

...

At night, after dinner.

A young man in blue and an old woman with white hair and wrinkles, but still standing upright, walked side by side along the riverbank.

Around them were people out for a post-dinner stroll.

There were young couples, families of three with a small child, familial groups with grandparents, and a few individuals or pairs.

Just like many years before, nothing had changed.

Only the people walking the path were no longer the same.

Long silence ensued.

”Dingding, do you know?”

Lin Wanqiu suddenly said, ”These past few years, I’ve frequently attended funerals—of high school and primary school classmates, of colleagues from Rongcheng Steel Plant, of neighbors, of teachers from Rongcheng No. 1 Middle School.”

”It was so frequent that I felt like old friends were passing away every day.”

”Until a month ago,”

”It stopped,”

”I no longer needed to attend any funerals. The last old friend had gone. Apart from those classmates who had done well in junior and senior high and whom I didn’t really connect with, I am now the only one among my friends still alive.”

”Now, my brother has also left.”

”There’s really a feeling of being disinterested in life.”

”This won’t do,”

Jiang Ding shook his head and said, ”Mom is going to be a foundation-building cultivator; she can’t be this fragile.”

After years of practice, she was now at the peak of Qi practicing.

”You’re right,”

Lin Wanqiu sighed, ”This must be what they call severing earthly ties on the Immortal Path. My mindset is very stable now; I can accept whatever comes my way.

Success would be welcome, failure is also fine. They’re just the natural cycles of birth, aging, sickness, and death—such things happen every day, and one more or less doesn’t matter.”

”I plan to attempt the foundation building tomorrow.”

Jiang Ding nodded gently.

”As long as Mom feels it’s right.”

In the matters of cultivation, others can offer help, but cannot intervene, no matter the outcome.

”How are the two little ones doing?”

Foundation-building is a natural process, not to be overly deliberate or tense. Jiang Ding changed the subject.

”The others are not little ones anymore.”

Lin Wanqiu chuckled.

”They’re already thirty-year-olds.”

”My brother lacks a bit in understanding and patience. He’s still at the Great Achievement of Inner Qi in the Eaglet stage, and he’s shown no signs of breaking through. Instead, he’s indulged in a life of pleasure, and he has a whole set of twisted logic—life is but a short hundred years, so we might as well enjoy it early. He doesn’t listen to anyone.”

”Just like his mother.”

”Unfortunately, he doesn’t have another brother who can help him out with everything.”

”It’s fine.”

”Every life is a life, and as long as it’s lived well, no one’s life is more noble than another’s, each has its own splendor.”

Lin Wanqiu sighed.

”As for my sister, her comprehension is average as well, but she’s diligent.”

”Relying on top-notch Martial Dao aptitude, favorable family conditions, and relentless effort, she successfully got into Qianling University’s Daoism Department. She’s in the second term of her freshman year now, in the Chuying Innate Realm, and is working hard to switch to a cultivation method. She should be coming back this year.”

”The little one is really trying. Can she possibly...?”

Lin Wanqiu asked.

”Of course, she can.”

Jiang Ding smiled slightly: ”How about a Premium Foundation Building Pill plus half the resources needed to cultivate from the early stages of Qi Practitioner to the peak?”

It wasn’t that he was reluctant to part with those few Spirit Stones, but giving too many would rob her of her drive, which isn’t good for cultivation.

Cultivation is a combination of practice and study; leaning too heavily towards one side isn’t beneficial.

...

Rongcheng Library.

Outside the best cultivation room.

The whole family was there, Lin Yuanwang, Jiang Yuan, and two young men and women in their twenties or thirties.

”The whole family...”

Jiang Ding sighed softly.

Just how many years has it been? The once bustling home had dwindled to this, just three or four people.

As for the man on Jiang Yuan’s side, at the age of over ninety, he was old and bitter, and he had stopped participating in anything here decades ago.

Naturally, no one had invited him.

”I pray to the heavens to bless grandma with a breakthrough in the Foundation Building Period...”

The stout young man clasped his hands together, walking back and forth outside the cultivation room with a string of prayer beads around his neck, muttering to himself.

”Little Bear, what’s that hanging around your neck?”

The woman beside him slapped him hard, annoyed: ”We are cultivators, what do you need those bald heads for? It’s clearly not the right path.”

”It’s about focus.”

”Master Dao is powerful, but he’s like a carefree crane, unconcerned with worldly matters.”

The stout young man glared at her: ”Also, I’m your older brother, and you’re Xiaoyun. You should call me Mr. Bear, or at the very least, Big Bear. Who taught you to call me Little Bear?”

”Little Bear!”

”Xiaoyun!”

”Bear!”

”...”

The two of them started quarreling as soon as they saw each other, causing chaos.

”Stop it!”

Jiang Yuan impatiently put a stop to their quarrel, making them quiet down: ”With your brother here, nothing will go wrong, stop this squabbling.”

In this aspect, she was very confident.

”Uncle’s here too?”

The two perked up, their eyes roving around.

They were extremely curious about this uncle whom they had only heard of in stories, but had never seen. It was said he was still very small and cute-looking.

Nothing was there.

”Uncle Wang...”

Just as they were about to say something, a noticeable fluctuation in the Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi occurred around them. Their expressions turned solemn as they looked towards the cultivation room, growing quiet.