Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

The air fell into a brief silence.

Su Ming did not speak, his eyes slightly downcast, as if lost in thought.

Inside the Consciousness Sea, Lin Yu’s voice rang out at the right moment.

“This Steward Sun has learned to be clever. He’s not fighting you head-on with technology anymore; he’s playing the business world’s poaching game,” Lin Yu’s tone carried a hint of smug disdain. “The Repair Hall is your foundation—you absolutely cannot lose it. The Vessel Hall resorting to poaching means they can no longer suppress you in terms of products. That’s a good thing. But people’s hearts are fickle, and you can’t prevent every defection. This is indeed a fatal crisis.”

Su Ming naturally understood this reasoning.

For cultivators at the bottom, cultivation meant cultivating resources. Wherever there were more resources, that’s where they would go—this was an undeniable human nature. Trying to restrain employees with so-called “loyalty” and “sentiment” was nothing but a scam cooked up by the black-hearted capitalists of his past life.

To keep people, one had to offer chips they couldn’t refuse, while also adding shackles they dared not break.

Su Ming lightly tapped the table with his finger, producing a crisp “thud” that cut through Wang Defa’s indignation.

“If they’re lured away by double pay, it means their hearts were never truly with the Repair Hall. You can’t force them to stay; let them go,” Su Ming said, his voice extremely calm, yet carrying an undeniable authority of someone at the top.

Wang Defa was stunned, then stomped his foot in frustration. “Hall Master, are we just going to let them dig into our ranks like this?”“Of course not.”

Su Ming raised his head, his gaze sharp as a blade. “Issue an order: starting next month, the base pay for all remaining apprentices in the hall will be uniformly increased by thirty percent.”

Wang Defa was about to speak, but Su Ming raised his hand to stop him. “This is just to pacify them. The real move comes later.”

“Establish a ‘Core Technician’ system immediately within the Repair Hall,” Su Ming said, perfectly applying the modern corporate management concepts Lin Yu had instilled in him to this cultivation organization. “You, Old Li, and Zhang Asheng will personally screen the candidates. Any apprentice who has mastered the core Spirit Gathering patterns and protective line inscription techniques will be promoted to core technician.”

“The pay for core technicians will be doubled directly!”

Wang Defa sucked in a sharp breath. Double pay? That was putting serious money on the line!

“But if they take double pay, they must pay a price,” Su Ming said, a hint of icy severity flashing in his eyes. “All core technicians must sign a ‘Soul Blood Contract’ in front of you. The terms are simple: they can leave the Repair Hall, but for life, they are never to leak even half a sentence of the formation flow logic used here. If they do, heavenly backlash will strike, and their soul will be annihilated!”

Wang Defa’s plump face twitched violently, then his eyes lit up like two lightbulbs. He slapped his thigh in excitement.

“Hall Master, you’re brilliant! This combination of grace and force is absolutely perfect!” Wang Defa burst into laughter. “The Vessel Hall wants to poach our people just to steal our techniques. With the blood contract signed, even if they take our people, they’ll end up with a useless mute who can’t talk! As for the inflated salary, the Vessel Hall will just be supporting idlers for us! Hahaha!”

“That’s not all,” Su Ming said as he stood up, straightening his robe. “Quality is the lifeline of the Repair Hall. Go grab a few of the formation plates recently repaired on the assembly line.”

In no time, Wang Defa came running back, holding several mid-grade shield formation plates that had just been repaired.

Su Ming picked up one of them, his gaze sharpening. In his microscopic vision, the flow of spiritual energy inside the formation plate was crystal clear.

“Watch closely.”

Su Ming didn’t use any tools. He pressed his fingers together like a sword, and an extremely pure wisp of liquid water spiritual energy seeped out from his fingertip. This water spiritual energy didn’t violently wash over the formation lines; instead, like the gentlest hand in the world, it meticulously seeped into the few repaired joints on the formation plate.

Under the stunned gazes of the dozen or so apprentices who had gathered upon hearing the Hall Master’s arrival.

The water spiritual energy at Su Ming’s fingertip moved like a water-grinding effort, bit by bit smoothing out those originally rough and stiff blockages of spiritual energy.

“A formation is not a dead, memorized drawing,” Su Ming said, tossing the formation plate—whose spiritual energy flow had been boosted by a full thirty percent—back to Wang Defa. “Tell them: whoever can master just one-tenth of the finesse in my ‘water-grinding effort’ will be the next core technician. Also, add this rule: repair quality will be assessed monthly. Anyone who ranks last two months in a row will be eliminated outright and expelled from the Repair Hall!”

With this display and reprimand, Su Ming had perfectly laid out his authority, rules, and technical barriers. The apprentices around him looked at him not just with awe anymore, but with a near-fanatical reverence.

Having finished everything, Su Ming prepared to leave.

Wang Defa, ever sharp-eyed, pulled a heavy black storage pouch from his robes and handed it to Su Ming with both hands.

“Hall Master, this is your personal dividend for the past three months, all converted into equivalent mid-grade spirit stones.”

Su Ming didn’t take it. He simply placed the storage pouch on the table. He understood the principle of not draining the pond to catch the fish. Patting Wang Defa’s sturdy shoulder, his tone softened.

“Once the foundation is stable, everyone can have good days. If the Vessel Hall tries any small tricks, ignore them. Let them jump around.”

With that, Su Ming turned and walked out of the courtyard.

——

Back in his cave dwelling, Su Ming sat down on the stone bed and pulled the warm, copper talisman from his robes.

Over the next three days, if anyone had been able to see through the concealment formation above Gazing Star Cliff’s cave dwelling, they would have noticed that every night, the silver-white starlight from the Transmission Pagoda poured down like it was free, turning into a thick beam of light that continuously cascaded onto Gazing Star Cliff.

As the accumulated quota within the talisman was gradually consumed, the liquid spiritual energy lake inside Su Ming’s body began expanding at an astonishing speed.

The deep-blue spiritual energy lake of the Like Water Art intertwined with the silver-white starlight on his body’s surface, forming a massive cocoon of spiritual energy.

Shadow had been enjoying its share of fortune these days. Its belly was round and full almost every day. It crouched at the edge of the light beam, falling into a semi-dormant state of bloodline transformation. The dark golden lines on its feathers grew clearer, and even its short beak began to emit a chilling sharpness capable of piercing metal and stone.

——

On the third night.

The last star beam quota within the talisman was exhausted. After a violent flicker, the silver-white beam of light finally dissipated completely into nothing.

But at the center of the cave dwelling, the massive spiritual energy cocoon suddenly contracted inward.

“Crack!”

It sounded like some invisible shackle had been completely shattered inside Su Ming’s body.

His divine sense turned inward.

The liquid spiritual energy in his Dantian had expanded several times in area compared to three days ago.

Foundation Establishment, Mid Stage—Achieved!

Su Ming exhaled a long breath of stale air, feeling the seemingly endless vitality and power surging within him. A smile, the most relieved one he had worn since entering the sect, finally spread across his lips.

Su Ming flipped his left hand, and a jade token engraved with complex formation lines appeared in his palm.

It was the token to the Formation Peak Secret Realm, bestowed by his master, Xuanheng.

His cultivation had reached the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, and his guardian spirit beast had bonded to him.

“Master, it’s time we set out.”

Su Ming clenched the token, his gaze fixed on the deep night sky beyond the cave dwelling. The true trial of the path of formations was only just beginning.