Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

“Little junior brother!”

The visitor was none other than Third Senior Brother, Luo Feng. He was dressed in tatters today, his hair a mess like a chicken’s nest, and his Daoist robe was stained with several black scorch marks. He had clearly just crawled out of some exploded formation heap.

But in his bloodshot eyes, there was a barely concealed fervor.

“Senior Brother.” Su Ming rose and cupped his hands in a salute.

Luo Feng didn’t bother with any formalities. He strode over to Su Ming in a few steps, scrutinizing him up and down like a rare treasure, even unable to resist reaching out and pinching Su Ming’s shoulder.

“Damn, this Golden Core’s pressure—so condensed that not even a shred of excess spiritual energy leaks out.” Luo Feng clicked his tongue. “Do you realize that the day you formed your Core, that pure, extreme Dao resonance directly triggered the resonance of the Formation Peak’s core Nine Palace Star Track Array!”

Luo Feng’s tone was full of shock: “The celestial phenomenon was extremely brief. People from other peaks might have just seen it as a spectacle, but Master Xuanheng saw it crystal clear. This Dao foundation of yours—it’s been patched up even more perfectly than a natural one!”

Su Ming’s heart stirred slightly, but on the surface, he put on a perfectly timed bitter smile.

“It was a narrow escape from death.” Su Ming shook his head. “If it weren’t for Master’s elixirs and Senior Brother’s Spirit-Calming Talisman, this junior brother would probably be nothing left but bone ash by now.”

Luo Feng waved his hand grandly: “We’re brothers—no need for that kind of talk. You’d better prepare well for the day after tomorrow’s Dao discussion. That freak Eldest Senior Sister and Second Senior Brother have made another big leap recently. You just formed your Core—don’t let them crush you.”No sooner had his words fallen than another set of light, slow footsteps sounded from outside the cave dwelling.

“Is Su Ming in?”

A crisp voice like silver bells rang out. Qingfeng and Mingyue, two young women dressed in simple, elegant green robes, appeared together outside the cave dwelling.

They carefully held a small white jade jar sealed with a talisman.

“Qingfeng, Mingyue.” Su Ming went out to greet them.

“Congratulations on forming your Golden Core, Su Ming! The Great Dao is within reach!” Qingfeng handed over the small white jade jar. “This is a Hundred Flowers Brew personally prepared by our master, Master Xuanming. It’s made from the essence of over seventy types of century-old flower stamens. It has a remarkable effect on stabilizing the meridians during the early Golden Core stage. Our master specially sent us to deliver it as a congratulatory gift.”

Su Ming accepted it with both hands. Feeling the gentle, warm spiritual energy faintly seeping from the jade jar, he couldn’t help but feel a mix of wariness and gratitude toward that shrewd Master Xuanming. This debt of gratitude was truly piling up deeper and deeper.

“Please convey my thanks to Senior Xuanming on my behalf.”

Su Ming turned back to the stone table and retrieved two delicate jade bottles from his storage pouch, handing them to the two women respectively.

“I’ve just come out of seclusion, so I don’t have much good stuff. These are two bottles of purified Hundred Flowers Nectar. They’re beneficial for your cultivation and beauty preservation. Please accept them.”

Qingfeng and Mingyue’s eyes lit up, and they immediately accepted them with joy.

The two exchanged a glance, and Mingyue couldn’t help but lean in closer, lowering her voice, her tone brimming with gossipy excitement.

“Su Ming, you’ve really made a big splash in the sect now!” Mingyue blinked. “Word outside is that you’re a freak with dual mastery in both alchemy and formations. Not only is your formation skill unfathomably deep, but you even managed to stabilize Elder Qingyang’s alchemical furnace. I heard that even those sword cultivators from Heavenly Sword Peak, who usually walk around with their noses in the air, are privately discussing how they’d break your defensive formation if you participate in next year’s sect tournament!”

As Su Ming listened to Qingfeng and Mingyue’s back-and-forth descriptions, the wariness of “a tall tree catches the wind” grew stronger in his heart. The outside world was elevating his threat level too high. This completely violated the survival rules Lin Yu had taught him.

He waved his hand helplessly, with a wry smile: “Rumors are just exaggerations. I’m just lucky and happen to know a little bit about controlling fire. As for formations, compared to my senior brothers and sisters, I’m still far behind.”

After finally managing to send off the still-excited and gossipy Qingfeng and Mingyue, Su Ming turned around only to find the cave dwelling had fallen into an eerie silence.

He focused his gaze.

There was Luo Feng, crouching at the spot where Su Ming had been meditating.

The “Flexible Water Chain” that Su Ming had casually dispersed had already turned into a few droplets of water, but a faint trace of spiritual energy movement still lingered in the air.

Luo Feng stared intently at that empty space, his eyes losing focus. His two fingers unconsciously traced patterns in the air, muttering under his breath: “External flexibility, internal rigidity… the shear force of water flow combined with the central locking of the Solidify Character Talisman… they can actually be so compatible? If I put this structure into the buffer layer of an explosive formation plate…”

The spiritual energy fluctuations around him began to become extremely unstable. He had clearly fallen into some kind of deep epiphany.

Lin Yu’s soul body drifted over, looked down at Luo Feng on the ground, and let out a cold laugh.

“This third senior brother of yours does have astonishing talent, but this habit of going crazy anytime, anywhere—sooner or later, he’ll get himself turned into a target in some wilderness.”

Su Ming didn’t interrupt Luo Feng’s epiphany. He simply stood quietly to the side.

Su Ming narrowed his eyes slightly.

If he displayed powerful killing methods in the Dao discussion, it would only confirm the outside world’s suspicions.

But if, in front of his master, he could demonstrate a defense system that was exquisitely beneficial to Formation Peak yet utterly non-offensive… then he would become the most irreplaceable cornerstone of Formation Peak, rather than a sharp sword in the eyes of the outside world.

……

The cave dwelling on Gazing Star Cliff once again fell into a suffocating silence.

The ever-bright lamps embedded in the walls emitted a faint orange glow, casting flickering shadows over the formation lines carved into the stone walls.

Su Ming sat cross-legged on the bone-chilling Cold Jade Bed, his gaze calmly fixed on the pool of completely dried water stains on the ground. That was the residual trace left behind after Third Senior Brother Luo Feng fell into his epiphany. In the air, there still seemed to float a faint, unstable aura of fire-attribute explosion.

A ghostly blue light flared up without warning in the dim stone chamber.

Lin Yu’s soul body drifted out from the Xuantian Ring, hovering in midair less than three feet from Su Ming. His soul form was clearer than ever before—even the tiny folds on the edge of his Daoist robe were vivid down to the last detail. But the restrained wave of soul power around him caused a barely perceptible distortion in the surrounding spiritual energy.

“Those three senior martial siblings of yours are no pushovers.” Lin Yu’s gaze followed Su Ming’s line of sight to the ground, and a slow, contemptuous smirk curled at the corner of his mouth. “Eldest Senior Sister Ling Shuang is a pure sword cultivator through and through. She treats formations like a sword sheath, walking the extreme killing path of breaking all techniques with a single strike. Second Senior Brother Qin Yi spends his days strolling around the Beast Peak’s backyard. With his mastery of Life Nourishing Arrays and beast-taming skills, he’s made sure no one in the entire sect dares to cause trouble on Beast Peak. As for that kid Luo Feng…”

Lin Yu’s soul body jerked to a halt in midair, his tone now laced with undisguised exasperation: “He’s been playing with explosions for twenty whole years, treating perfectly good formation plates like firecrackers. You, a brat who just formed his Core, what are you going to compare with them in tomorrow’s Dao discussion?”