Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

Su Ming fell silent.

In the world of immortal cultivation, debts of gratitude were the hardest to repay. And a ”blank favor” like this, with its scope entirely undefined, was prohibitively expensive. You never knew what you might be asked to do in the future—it could be a suicide mission, a scapegoat assignment, or even something that dragged the entire Cloud Hidden Sect into trouble.

Lin Yu flickered twice inside the Xuantian Ring. ”That old cunning bastard is setting a trap for you,” Lin Yu’s voice echoed in the Consciousness Sea, carrying a rare note of gravity. ”People from Tianji Pavilion are experts at planting nails along the threads of fate and karma. He’s not cashing in now because he’s calculated that your future value will far outweigh a single Ten-Thousand-Year Sky-Blue Stone Marrow.”

Su Ming didn’t immediately respond to Lin Yu.

He lowered his head, staring at the specks of dust wedged between the cracks in the stone bricks.

If he refused, the hidden damage to his Dao foundation would never be repaired, and he would remain trapped at Foundation Establishment for life. The path to eternal longevity would be severed right here.

If he agreed, he would be mortgaging his future to an unfathomably deep old monster at the Spirit Transformation realm.

Su Ming closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He had no other choice. He could only agree.

He lifted his head again, meeting Master Xuanming’s gaze.”Junior agrees.”

Four simple words, yet as heavy as a thousand jun.

Master Xuanming nodded with satisfaction, the wrinkles on his face seeming to smooth out slightly.

Qingfeng and Mingyue, listening nearby, pressed their lips together, as if wanting to speak but holding back. They knew their master all too well—a favor from him was never easy to repay. Which of those senior masters who owed him favors hadn’t ended up thoroughly fleeced in the end?

Master Xuanming patted the dust off his knees and was about to stand.

Suddenly, Qingfeng stepped forward and dropped to his knees with a thud.

”Master,” Qingfeng’s voice was a bit strained, but he forced himself to speak, ”Could we... could we also go to the Central Continent?”

Master Xuanming paused mid-motion.

He turned his head, his deep eyes sweeping over Qingfeng, then shifting to Mingyue, who had also knelt down beside him.

Mingyue kept her head low, her hands tightly gripping the hem of her robe, and said in a small voice, ”Disciple... disciple also wishes to go and see the world.”

Su Ming sat to the side, saying nothing. This was a matter between master and disciples; as an outsider, even a single extra word could overstep.

Master Xuanming’s gaze swept back and forth between his two apprentices. He didn’t lose his temper, nor did he immediately refuse.

In those sunken eyes, an extremely complex emotion flickered.

Silence hung in the air for a moment.

”Fine,” Master Xuanming finally nodded, his voice still hoarse. ”Both of you, come along.”

Qingfeng and Mingyue snapped their heads up, their eyes blazing with barely contained joy.

”Thank you, Master!” They bowed their heads heavily, knocking them against the ground.

Master Xuanming waved a hand, signaling them to rise.

”Go pack your things,” Master Xuanming turned to Su Ming. ”Tomorrow at dawn, gather at the mountain gate.”

Su Ming rose and bowed respectfully. ”Junior takes his leave.”

As he walked out of that path filled with hidden formations and returned to the Gazing Star Cliff cave dwelling, dusk had already fallen.

Su Ming closed the heavy stone gate and activated the cave’s defensive array.

Shadow hopped down from his shoulder, landing back in the corner’s nest of straw, using her beak to preen her black feathers, which were slightly damp with moisture.

Su Ming walked over to the stone bed and sat down cross-legged.

”Master.”

A faint, azure stream of light drifted out from the Xuantian Ring. Lin Yu’s Soul Body slowly coalesced in the center of the stone chamber.

No lamps were lit in the chamber. The faint glow of Lin Yu’s soul body became the only source of light.

”You accepted that blank favor too quickly,” Lin Yu said, without his usual teasing. He hovered in the void, hands tucked into his sleeves, his luster dimmer than usual by a third.

Su Ming looked at the dim soul body, knowing it was his master’s worry.

”Disciple had no other choice,” Su Ming said softly. ”Without repairing the Dao foundation, forming a Core is hopeless.”

”I know you had no choice,” Lin Yu sighed. ”I’m just worried that once you step into a game set by those fortune-tellers of Tianji Pavilion, it’ll be hard to walk out unscathed. And I have a feeling that guy might not just be going over there for your sake.”

A chill ran down Su Ming’s spine.

”You mean, Master Xuanming’s trip isn’t just to help me get the medicine?”

”What do you think?” Lin Yu let out a cold laugh. ”An old fox who hides in the back hills all day, afraid to show his face—would he travel all the way back to his shady old haunt for the sake of a mere Foundation Establishment disciple he’s never met before? That old bastard is definitely using your matter as a pretext to scheme for his own ends.”

Su Ming’s eyes darkened.

”No matter what he’s scheming,” Su Ming tapped his fingers lightly on his knees, ”my bottom line is getting the Ten-Thousand-Year Sky-Blue Stone Marrow. If it exceeds my abilities, I’ll use the Grand Teleportation Talisman without hesitation.”

Lin Yu’s soul body brightened slightly.

”Good, as long as you think that way.”

Su Ming nodded, then took a small jade bottle from his storage pouch and poured out some powder with silvery flecks into Shadow’s feeding trough.

It was the Star Dust Powder Qin Yi had given him.

Shadow immediately poked her head out and began pecking at it cheerfully.

”Get some rest early,” Lin Yu said, glancing at the feeding chick. ”The Central Continent is far more complicated than the Northern Frontier.”

With a flash of light, Lin Yu returned to the ring.

Su Ming closed his eyes and began circulating the Like Water Art.

......

The next morning.

At the Cloud Hidden Sect’s mountain gate, the morning mist had yet to be fully dispelled by the rising sun. A fine layer of dewdrops condensed on the bluish-gray stone slabs.

Su Ming arrived early.

He had changed into a featureless gray robe, made of the most common blue-spun cloth, the kind that wouldn’t draw a second glance even in a mundane marketplace.

Shadow stood on his right shoulder. The little one was unusually spirited today, her glossy black feathers meticulously preened. Her golden eyes were like two points of cold stars in the mist, vigilantly scanning the surroundings.

Not far away, the sound of brisk footsteps approached.

Qingfeng and Mingyue, with bulging travel packs on their backs, came running over in a hurry. Both had also changed into plain robes, but the excitement they couldn’t hide on their faces made them look like pampered young masters leaving home for the first time.

”Su Ming!” Qingfeng waved from a distance.

Su Ming gave a slight nod in response.

Then, a gray afterimage appeared before the three of them without any warning.

No sound of air splitting, no fluctuation of spiritual energy—it was as if he had naturally grown out of the mist itself.

Master Xuanming stood with his hands behind his back, still looking as gaunt and wizened as the day before. He glanced at Su Ming’s unremarkable gray robe, and a glint of approval flickered in his eyes.

”Everyone’s here.” Master Xuanming’s hoarse voice scattered through the mist.

Without wasting a single word, he reached his right hand out from his wide sleeve and casually tossed something into the air.

A palm-sized ebony airship flew out from his hand.

The airship expanded as it caught the wind, transforming in an instant into a spiritual vessel about three zhang long, capable of holding five or six people.

The hull was a deep cyan, lacking the ornate curves and dazzling spiritual light shields of high-grade airships. It hovered silently three feet above the ground, like a massive piece of deadwood.

Su Ming’s gaze was immediately drawn to the hull’s surface.

His mid-stage Foundation Establishment divine sense instinctively spread out. The formation intuition he had honed over the past six months in the Ancient Path secret realm allowed him to see at a glance that this airship was extraordinary.