Enlightenment: Attaining the Dao at Age 8

Su Ruobing wore a complicated expression, her gaze filled with a jumble of emotions as she looked at Li Chang’an. After a long moment, she finally spoke, ”Your growth rate... it’s simply incomprehensible...”

Li Chang’an didn’t know how to explain it, so he just gave an awkward smile. ”It was just luck. Pure luck!”

Su Ruobing let out a soft sigh and didn’t press the issue.

A year or two ago, Li Chang’an had just been a junior in her eyes who needed looking after. But now, before she even realized it, he had grown to a point where even she had to look up to him.

Of course, that wasn’t even the most crucial part.

The most crucial part was—how little time had passed? ’Even with cheats, his rate of advancement shouldn’t be this fast, right?’

As Su Ruobing found herself questioning everything, she couldn’t help but feel discouraged.

She even began to wonder if she was a so-called genius at all, or if she was even suited for practicing Magic and becoming a Reincarnator.

They looked at each other, speechless. Then, Li Chang’an suddenly remembered the message from Su Ruobing asking him to a private dinner and took the initiative. ”Since the guest we were welcoming doesn’t want a reception dinner, how about we eat together?”

Su Ruobing glanced at him, nodding without a word.

After the rather eventful dinner, Li Chang’an returned to Cangxuan City.

The Gu Family had suffered a huge loss and would never let it go. Therefore, Li Chang’an had to constantly monitor the situation at his home base, wary of their hidden thugs trying to sabotage his efforts.

Over the next month, the factory delivered another batch of military-grade weapons, allowing Li Chang’an to recoup five million in liquid capital.

The Lords who received the armaments were full of praise for the weapons Li Chang’an had developed and produced after using them in the field. They all said they would place more orders if the need arose.

With more cash on hand, Li Chang’an felt much more confident. He recruited a new batch of workers and began assembling more production lines.

At the same time, a new Dark Tide arrived.

Last time, due to the sudden appearance of a special mutant creature, Li Chang’an’s Cangxuan City had suffered a massive blow.

Although the scale of this Dark Tide was also quite large, Li Chang’an and Cangxuan City were lucky enough to avoid another attack from a special mutant creature.

Under these circumstances, the Dark Tide seemed rather underwhelming against the now fully armed Cangxuan City.

Cangxuan City’s current defensive rating was on par with Linjiang Prefecture’s.

It boasted a large number of Super Electromagnetic Cannons, Energy Particle Beam Cannons, and various other assorted weapons. As long as no absurdly powerful dark creatures attacked, ordinary monsters posed little threat.

As a result, Li Chang’an didn’t even have to intervene this time. The brave soldiers of the City Defense Army alone were enough to fend off the monsters trying to breach the city.

It’s also worth mentioning that Li Jianfei, who had just acquired Panhu City as his territory from Su Ruobing, was also facing a Dark Tide for the first time.

Newcomer Reincarnators are often at a complete loss when facing their first Dark Tide.

This was especially true for Panhu City, a town that had been breached not long ago and had suffered greatly as a result.

However, thanks to the weapons and troops Li Chang’an provided, Li Jianfei’s situation remained stable, and he successfully defended the city without any major setbacks.

Cangxuan City’s development was flourishing, a scene of burgeoning vitality.

Just as Li Chang’an was considering how to expand production capacity and break through the blockades set by the Gu Family and other conservative arms dealers to win more orders, a call came in from Su Ruobing in Linjiang Prefecture City.

Puzzled, Li Chang’an answered the call. ”Chairman Su, what can I do for you?”

On the other end of the line, Su Ruobing sounded clearly excited and elated, but her tone turned sour when she heard Li Chang’an call her ’Chairman Su.’ She said with a hint of pique, ”You’re a Tier Seven Peak Evolver and a Level 5 Citizen now. In terms of both power and status, you’re far above little old me. Calling me Chairman Su is just embarrassing me!”

Li Chang’an knew he had said the wrong thing again. Su Ruobing had brought this up before, asking him to call her something else, but ’Chairman Su’ had become such a habit that he still hadn’t broken it.

Seeing that she was actually getting angry, he quickly corrected himself. ”Ruo Bing, what’s up?”

On the other end of the communicator, Su Ruobing rolled her eyes but didn’t dwell on it. She got straight to the point: ”Hurry and check the Rebirth Forum! Your weapons have gone viral!”

Li Chang’an: ”?”

He wanted to ask more, but Su Ruobing clearly didn’t give him a chance, hanging up the moment she was done.

Feeling a mix of confusion and nervousness, Li Chang’an opened the exclusive Reincarnator forum.

The moment he opened it, Li Chang’an saw the pinned post at the very top of the forum. It read: ”Brothers, technology has really taken a leap! I used my new Energy Particle Beam Cannon from the Night City Military Technology Group with my Super Electromagnetic Cannon and obliterated a Tier Five Special Mutant Creature in just two shots!”

The post was at the very top of the forum.

Not only was it pinned, but the text was also enlarged and bolded, making it impossible for any Reincarnator on the forum to miss.

The moment he saw the post, Li Chang’an’s heart skipped a beat. He immediately guessed what Su Ruobing had meant by ’gone viral.’

Sure enough, upon opening the thread, Li Chang’an saw that the original poster had attached several high-definition photos.

It was a massive, grotesque creature. The sheer density of its tentacles and eyes was enough to make one’s skin crawl at a single glance.

Now, the monster was lying motionless on the ground, its body bearing two conspicuous wounds—one large, one small—that had almost pierced it clean through.

The larger wound was smooth and clean, making it almost impossible to tell what kind of weapon had caused it.

The smaller wound was still smoking, and you could almost smell the acrid, scorched stench that would make you wrinkle your nose, even through the screen.

And below the images, the poster had thoughtfully provided detailed annotations.

Fire Lion King: ”Hello everyone, I’m the City Lord of a small, remote city in Linjiang. I had some bad luck during this Dark Tide and ran into a Tier Five Special Mutant Creature...”

”I originally thought I was in for a desperate battle with little chance of survival. But to my surprise, all I did was find a way to briefly restrict the monster’s movement, and the weapons I’d purchased from the Night City Military Technology Group in Linjiang Prefecture finished it off instantly!”

After reading the explanation and examining the background in the photos, Li Chang’an quickly deduced the poster’s true identity. It was none other than Deng Ankang, the respected ’big brother’ figure among the Reincarnators of Linjiang Prefecture.

Normally, such a blatant sales pitch would have been met with unanimous scorn from the forum members, and the poster might even have been blacklisted.

But because the pictures were so eye-catching, not only was the post not ignored or dismissed, it actually shot to the top of the forum’s front page.

A Reincarnator replied below the post: ”Seriously? Let me just say, if you’re a shill, go to hell. If you’re a dishonest shill, your whole family can go to hell!”

”What the hell is the Linjiang Night City Military Technology Group... why have I never heard of it? And aren’t Super Electromagnetic Cannons still in the lab research phase? When did they become viable for combat?”

”These photos actually look pretty convincing. Do you have detailed pictures and specs for the weapons? I’ll place an order for two and see how they perform!”

The replies on the forum were all over the place, with people saying all sorts of things.

Li Chang’an even noticed a group of internet trolls, with IPs traced back to Kyoto, frantically spamming attacks in an attempt to suppress the thread’s popularity and hype.

...