Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

Lin Yu seemed to see through Su Ming's silent objection. He paused, then added unhurriedly, "Back when I devoured that Wailing Woman Lantern in the dilapidated temple, your teacher's soul body was barely at the early Ghost General stage. That thing was only a quasi-Ghost General-level evil item, but it was still pure Yin evil ghost qi. Plus, I had nurtured it inside this Xuantian Ring for a full five hundred years, solidifying my foundation enough to swallow it in one go."

Lin Yu did some mental calculations: "The soul body has condensed solidly, but when it comes to running the Spirit Nourishing True Explanation, I keep feeling there's an invisible ceiling. This cultivation method has its roots in the spirit races' foundation. Cultivating a human soul body with it works fine in the early stages, but later on... bottlenecks are bound to come. According to the technique's description, the peak of Ghost General corresponds to the threshold of Nascent Soul. Once I cross that line, I'll need either the complete spirit race cultivation method or some auxiliary demonic techniques. But no rush—I'll handle what's in front of me first."

Lin Yu didn't say it outright, but the implication was already clear. As for his current specific cultivation level, he attributed it to some "uncertainty" in the process of repairing the Xuantian Ring's broken Spirit Gathering Array.

Su Ming was an exceptionally clever man. Looking at his master's calm eyes, he immediately understood.

His master was far more solid than before he fell asleep. Back in the Repair Hall, his soul body had been like a patch of morning mist that could scatter at any moment—a single slightly stronger fluctuation of spiritual energy could make him fade for half a day. But now... this body carved like jade contained a pressure that made even him, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, shudder.

What realm had he reached? Golden Core? Or even higher?

Su Ming didn't press further. Those who walked the Way of Survival knew best what "knowing when to stop" meant. Since his master didn't want to say too much, it proved the time hadn't come to reveal the cards yet. His master would speak when he was ready.

"No matter what, Master being able to recover is the best news." Su Ming said sincerely, his tense shoulders finally relaxing completely.

Lin Yu looked at this disciple who understood how to advance and retreat, and nodded inwardly with satisfaction.

To give this kid a more intuitive "wrong impression" of his strength, Lin Yu decided to show a little something.

He slowly raised his right index finger.

"Watch closely."

With Lin Yu's casual words, an extremely faint, deep-blue strand of soul power condensed out of thin air at his fingertip, like a spiritual snake.

Under Su Ming's shocked gaze, this originally formless soul power was compressed to its limit in the blink of an eye, turning into a deep-blue needle about an inch long!

This needle was no illusion conjured by a technique—it was completely formed by materialized spiritual power. The tip was sharp to the extreme, and under the scattered moonlight, it even glinted with a cold, metallic light like a real blade!

Lin Yu flicked his finger casually forward.

"Chi!"

A faint sound almost too quiet to be heard.

That deep-blue soul power needle turned into a streak of light barely visible to the naked eye, instantly passing through a white porcelain teacup placed in the center of the stone table.

The teacup sat steadily on the table, unmoving, without even a ripple in the leftover tea inside.

If Su Ming hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would have thought everything was an illusion.

He immediately activated his divine sense to probe the white porcelain teacup. The moment his divine sense swept across the cup's wall, Su Ming's pupils contracted sharply into pinpricks.

On the hard ceramic wall of the teacup, there was now a small hole that went straight through! The edges of the hole were smooth as a mirror, without any cracks or crazing, as if the porcelain had been born with that piece missing. The needle, condensed from pure soul power, had pierced through solid matter without causing even a single vibration!

"This thing counts as a little trick I just figured out." Lin Yu looked at Su Ming's shocked expression, satisfied as he withdrew his finger, his tone as casual as if he were talking about what to eat for dinner, "Maybe not enough for direct killing power in a frontal fight, but if used to pierce the divine sense defenses of those Foundation Establishment cultivators... heh, enough to make them clutch their heads in pain for a while."

Hearing this offhand remark, Su Ming felt his scalp go numb.

The divine sense was the weakest and most difficult part of a cultivator to defend. If, in a critical moment of life-and-death combat, this silent, physical-defense-ignoring soul power needle stabbed into the Consciousness Sea, even just a moment of pain would be enough to kill an opponent hundreds or thousands of times over.

"Master's method... is impossible to guard against." Su Ming took a deep breath, his voice filled with awe. Having such a hidden card watching his back on the path ahead, he felt far more confident about his upcoming seclusion.

"Alright, stop flattering me." Lin Yu waved his hand, his soul body slowly drifting down until he assumed a cross-legged sitting posture on the empty cushion opposite Su Ming—though not actually touching the cushion, "Your teacher has slept far too long. Tell me, during this time, what have you been up to outside?"

Hearing his master's question, Su Ming organized his thoughts a little, then narrated all his experiences since leaving the mountain without holding anything back.

Starting from entering the capital of Great Xing, he spoke of Xu Qing's five years of patient scheming and planning; how he, at Foundation Establishment cultivation, killed eighteen Qi Refining death-men boosted by evil drugs with a single finger outside East Straight Gate, completely crushing the Yongchang Marquis's last hope; and the smoke-free power transition in the Hall of Golden Chimes, ending with the Yongchang Marquis's entire family being executed.

Then, he spoke of the war negotiations with the Northern Barbarians. He told how Elder Qingquan had revealed the Northern Barbarian State Preceptor's identity as an evil cultivator with thunderous force, and the brutal truth behind the "Undying Iron Cavalry," ultimately forcing the Northern Barbarians to bow their heads and sign a humiliating peace treaty.

Finally, Su Ming's voice grew somewhat low. He spoke of returning home that morning, of his second brother Su Yang's sense of responsibility, of his mother's graying hair, and of his father in the morning mist, silently smoking his pipe, watching him walk away but never calling out to stop him.

When he got to setting up the Three Talents Protection Array and embedding the warning Wood Core into the main room's beam, Su Ming's voice returned to absolute calm.

That was the last anchor he had left in this mortal world.

The entire narration took a full half-hour. Inside the cave dwelling, apart from Su Ming's steady voice, there was no other sound.

Lin Yu listened quietly throughout, without interrupting or making any judgments. Those bright eyes were deep as an abyss, silently watching every expression on his disciple's face.

Until Su Ming finished speaking, the cave dwelling fell into another long silence.

A long while passed.

Lin Yu looked at Su Ming's face, which had completely shed its youth and now held a worldly wisdom tempered by the passage of time, and gently nodded.

He only said one word.

"Good."