Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

”Ouch! Master, it hurts!” Qingfeng tilted his head, grimacing as he begged for mercy, wanting to refuse but too afraid to, ”Master, your disciple really isn’t cut out for this!”

Master Xuanming gave him a glare and released his grip.

”Cut the whining. Starting tomorrow, memorize one divination every day. If you can’t recite it, then don’t eat.”

Qingfeng let out a despairing wail and sighed to the sky.

Mingyue covered her mouth beside him, shoulders shaking as she stifled giggles.

”What are you laughing at!” Master Xuanming raised his hand as if to strike, and Mingyue quickly hid behind Qingfeng.

”Alright, stop howling.” Master Xuanming waved his hand with a look of disgust, ”Go back to the rear, don’t block your teacher’s view here.”

Qingfeng slouched up, dragging his feet as he trudged back to the stern. Mingyue followed behind, chuckling softly.

Su Ming sat at the stern watching the scene, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

......The deep blue night spread overhead like an enormous, heavy piece of silk, silently draping the air above the flying ship.

Starlight pierced the vessel’s outer protective formation that shimmered with a pale cyan glow and cast silver patches across the deck. The fierce winds from high above were kept out by the formation curtain, reduced to a barely perceptible breeze that flowed slowly along the planks.

Qingfeng and Mingyue leaned against the inner rail, breathing long and steady. The extreme tension these past days in the Central Continent had drained the two young disciples’ strength; now that they fully relaxed, exhaustion washed over them like a tide.

Shadow curled up deep inside Su Ming’s dark collar, the fluffy little head pressed against his neck, occasionally letting out a muffled cheep as if dreaming of some hunt.

Su Ming did not sleep.

He sat cross-legged at the very rear of the ship in the shadows, his back perfectly straight. The Like Water Art within him moved like the calmest undercurrent in a mountain stream, silently running through his meridians and smoothing away the fatigue born of heightened vigilance over the past days.

He slowly raised his right hand and brushed the storage pouch at his waist.

Three items, each exuding a completely different aura, quietly appeared on the deck before him.

A jade slip that gave off a warm white glow, recording a fragmented map of spirit races’ territory and obscure customs from Tianji Pavilion; an ancient gray rubbing diagram of a formation plate carrying the Myriad Treasures Pavilion’s exquisite seventh variant of the ”lead” rune; and finally, a thumb-sized jade bottle, semi-translucent and milky white, containing a single drop of bluish-green liquid.

Su Ming’s gaze settled on that jade bottle. Even through the jade, he could vaguely sense the terrifying vitality of that single drop, as if it could make flesh grow on dry bone.

Ten-Thousand-Year Sky-Blue Stone Marrow.

”Hu—” Su Ming exhaled a barely perceptible breath.

For these three things, his trip to the Central Continent had walked the edge of a blade more than once.

A faint, extremely thin blue ripple spread across the surface of the Xuantian ring. Lin Yu’s soul body slowly manifested in the void opposite Su Ming. He sat cross-legged, one hand casually resting on his knee, eyes scanning the three items on the deck.

”The items are good,” Lin Yu’s voice sounded in Su Ming’s Consciousness Sea, calm and flat with no hint of emotion, ”but did you forget something?”

Su Ming looked up to meet Lin Yu’s deep gaze, then without pausing, calmly gathered the items back into his storage pouch one by one.

”Master means the Heaven-Mending Pill’s alchemy formula?” Su Ming replied within his mind.

”Master, I considered it.” Su Ming’s voice in the Consciousness Sea was unusually steady, ”An item like the Heaven-Mending Pill is a defiance of the heavens; the formula itself is a death warrant. If a Foundation Establishment disciple held the formula and anything leaked, they might not even know how they died.”

Lin Yu did not interrupt. His soul body hung in the air, listening quietly.

Su Ming continued, ”Even if I had the formula, with my current cultivation and my understanding of alchemy, I absolutely couldn’t refine it myself. I would have to find a higher-ranked alchemist. Entrusting an outsider with that means handing over my life and property to them, which violates the foundation of our way. Besides, since my Master had me look for these three primary ingredients, the only explanation is that the formula has always been in Master’s hands.”

Lin Yu fell into a long silence after hearing this.

Ten full breaths passed before he emitted a faint ”hmm” through his nose.

His soul body drifted slightly in the Consciousness Sea, a trace of relaxation barely perceptible in his tone, ”Xuanheng is protective, but his thoughts run deep. For something like the Heaven-Mending Pill, by not giving you the formula, he indeed spared you from a great calamity.”

”I understand.” Su Ming nodded, ”So at Star Pivot Hall, I didn’t utter a word about the formula.”

”However,” Lin Yu shifted tone, suddenly amused, ”on this trip to the Central Continent, you owe that old cunning bastard Xuanming a blank favor. How do you intend to repay that?”

Mentioning Master Xuanming made Su Ming’s brow crease slightly.

He turned his head, looking past the sleeping Qingfeng and Mingyue toward the gray figure at the ship’s prow. Master Xuanming resembled a statue carved from night itself, giving off no hint of living presence.

”What he wants, I cannot guess.” Su Ming answered frankly, ”For a Spirit Transformation powerhouse to need a Foundation Establishment disciple, it must be a nine-deaths-one-life situation. But I had no choice.”

”Yes, no choice.” Lin Yu sighed, his voice sinking low in the Consciousness Sea, ”To those true greats, cultivators at our low level are like drifting clouds outside this flying ship. With a wave of their hand, they decide whether we gather or scatter.”

The radiance of Lin Yu’s soul body dimmed somewhat. He seemed to recall the elderly engraver in that gray-white space, and his own five centuries trapped within the ring.

Su Ming did not reply. He knew his Master needed silence more than consolation.

Shadow turned over inside Su Ming’s collar, a tiny paw accidentally scratching his clavicle.

Su Ming extended a finger and gently pressed Shadow’s small head, soothing it back to rest.

”Master.” Su Ming gazed at the boundless night sky, his voice resolute, ”Once the Dao foundation is repaired, forming a Core will no longer be an obstacle. When I have the strength to protect myself, I will settle these debts of favor one by one.”

Lin Yu regarded him deeply.

”Very well.” Lin Yu’s soul body brightened again, becoming a blue stream of light that vanished into the Xuantian ring.