Chapter 48: CH-48: Asking Elder Ye won’t do much, will it?

*Chop**Crack*

*Chop**Crack*

On the outskirts of a small and unremarkable village, a young man could be seen chopping firewood in the courtyard of a modest house.

He wore simple linen clothes that were clean and well-kept despite their plain appearance.

His amber-colored eyes carried a calm and soothing warmth, making him seem approachable and easy to get along with. Although his appearance could not be described as extraordinary, he was still quite pleasant to look at.

The rhythmic sounds of wood being split echoed through the quiet morning air.

After some time, the young man finally finished chopping the pile of logs stacked beside him. Looking at his work with satisfaction, he placed the axe aside and sat down on the ground to rest.

Even after hours of labor, there was not a single drop of sweat on his forehead.

A gentle breeze passed through the courtyard as he leaned against a tree.

His eyes gradually became distant, as though he were reminiscing about something far away.

The young man’s name was Gu Changsheng.

That was the name he had been born with in this world.

Sixteen years ago, he had reincarnated into this world from Earth.

At first, he had thought he was merely dreaming.

After all, how could something as absurd as reincarnation actually happen?

Yet as the years passed, reality slowly forced him to accept the truth. He had truly died and had truly been reborn.

Back on Earth, Gu Changsheng had lived a fairly ordinary life.

He was neither rich nor poor.

He worked a stable job, earned a decent income, and managed to save a respectable amount of money over the years.

Understanding how unpredictable life could be, he had even purchased life insurance so that if anything ever happened to him, his family would at least be financially secure.

And he was damn right, while out for a walk when it rained suddenly, and a f*cking lightning strike hit him.

And no, he didn’t die from that, he died because a tree squashed him down, also due to the lightning strike.

His family consisted of his father, mother, and younger sister.

They were not wealthy, but they were happy.

At least...

They had been.

A trace of loneliness flashed across Gu Changsheng’s eyes.

No matter how much time passed, he still occasionally thought about them.

He wondered how they were doing.

Whether his parents had managed to overcome their grief over his death.

Whether his little sister had finally graduated from university.

Unfortunately, those answers were forever beyond his reach.

After arriving in this world, Gu Changsheng initially believed he had simply been reborn in some ancient backwater civilization.

The village he lived in was poor and isolated.

People farmed the land, raised livestock, and spent their entire lives without ever traveling far from home.

There were no modern conveniences. But life was simple and pleasant.

This time, he was an orphan whose mother died while giving birth, but the villagers raised him. For years, he accepted this reality and slowly adapted.

Then everything changed when he turned ten years old.

One day, while wandering through the village, he accidentally stumbled upon a local boy showing off a strange old booklet.

The boy claimed it was a treasure book he had found in the mountains, but no one believed him.

However, Gu Changsheng was curious.

So he traded a stick of candied hawthorn in exchange for the book, which the boy happily took.

He had successfully tricked the boy.

Even now, remembering that incident made him feel slightly embarrassed.

Fortunately, that child never discovered the truth.

The booklet itself appeared old and worn, with many of its pages damaged.

Some sections were completely unreadable.

However, the contents were enough to completely overturn Gu Changsheng’s understanding of the world.

It was a rudimentary cultivation manual.

The booklet described the existence of cultivators who could absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth.

Powerful experts capable of flying through the skies. Sword immortals who could split mountains with a single strike. Ancient beings who could live for thousands of years.

The booklet also contained basic information about the world’s geography, major sects, cultivation realms, and various common pieces of knowledge.

Only then did Gu Changsheng realize the truth.

This was not an ordinary ancient world; instead, this was a cultivation world.

A world where the strong ruled over the weak.

A world where mortals struggled for survival while cultivators pursued immortality, where a single powerful expert could decide the fate of millions.

For a long time, Gu Changsheng had been excited.

After all, which man of culture wouldn’t dream of becoming an immortal?

But the reality, however, proved far less romantic.

The cultivation manual he obtained was incredibly basic.

The cultivation realms mentioned in it were:

Body Refinement Realm

Qi Refinement Realm

Foundation Establishment Realm

And the cultivation technique itself only taught cultivation for the Body Refinement Realm, which was further divided into 10 stages.

To top it off, his talent was quite meager.

After practicing for 6 years, he only reached the 3rd stage of the Body Refinement Realm.

As years passed, Gu Changsheng gradually calmed down, and his dreams of becoming some peerless immortal slowly faded.

He sighed.

At this moment, he had decided to give up on cultivation and focus on enjoying life.

Isn’t it better to be a salted fish and just enjoy life in this village full of mortals?

This village was peaceful, unlike the villages mentioned in novels, which went through all sorts of trouble.

He’d just marry and settle down, enjoying morning breakfasts and evening sunsets.

Just as he was daydreaming, a robotic voice sounded in his mind.

『Ding! System loading successful!』

『Ding! The salted fish cultivation system is at your service, host!』

『No need to work hard, just let the system assist and become a peerless immortal!!』

Several prompts popped in front of him as the sound subsided.

First came shock, and then tears of happiness.

"Finally, my hard work paid off. The Heavenly Will had not forgotten me!"

Heavenly Will (ᓀ‸ᓂ): Who you ni***??

"System, what are your functions?"

After calming down, Gu Changsheng queried in his mind.

『Ding! The salted fish system is an automatic cultivation system, cultivating on the host’s behalf. The time and point of cultivation can be customized by the host.』

A thoughtful expression adorned his face, questions like why it was here now, was it safe, why did it choose him, and many more, but he did not voice them out.

As he knew, knowledge is burdensome, especially about a heaven-defying phenomenon like the system.

It’s better to just go with the flow, be a salted fish all the way.

As he clicked the automatic cultivation function, another panel popped up in front of him.

___

『Cultivation techniques』

『Battle arts』

『Heavenly laws』

『...』

『Time frame: to be decided』

___

He stood stunned on the spot, looking bewilderedly at the panel. Cultivation techniques and battle arts, he could understand, but cultivating heavenly laws!! That’s pure insanity.

To heck with cultivation techniques, he’s going to cultivate heavenly laws and become an immortal right from the start.

As he clicked on that, only disappointment answered his call.

『Ding! Host, please speak human language!!』

"Hehe..."

An embarrassed laugh escaped his mouth as he accepted his mistake. He was just a mortal at this moment; how could he even sense the heavenly laws?

He then clicked on the cultivation techniques, and it displayed the only one he had.

『Cultivate the Rudimentary Body Refinement Technique?』

"Yup, for... umm... the whole night."

『Ding! Initiating automatic cultivation!』

As the system sounded, Gu Changsheng felt himself losing control over his body, as if something else was controlling his body as he sat cross-legged.

Just as he was about to question this, the system, as if aware of what he was going to ask, answered his query beforehand.

『Host need not worry.』

『Ultimately, this process represents a temporary acquisition of regulatory control over the biological mechanisms governing your physical state as it constitutes an essential prerequisite for the operational integrity and functionality of the system!』

Even though most of it went over his head, he barely understood that this relinquishment of his body’s functionality was needed for the system to perform.

Lamenting his lack of wisdom, Gu Changsheng clicked his tongue in wonder.

At this moment, ’Gu Changsheng’ had already positioned himself in a meditative state, cultivating a breathing technique derived from the Rudimentary cultivation technique.

Gu Changsheng was already familiar with this, but was pleased to find out that the circulation of spiritual energy was more effective than usual.

And it’s still increasing!

Becoming 2× faster...

5× faster...

10× faster...

30× faster...

All the way to 100× faster than his own, where it finally stabilized and didn’t increase further.

The infusion of spiritual energy caused the surrounding air to revolve around Gu Changsheng, making a small vortex of wind with him as the center.

After only 5 minutes, he felt a breakthrough coming along.

4th stage of Body Refinement Realm...

After another 20 minutes, 5th stage of Body Refinement Realm...

He happily enjoyed the feeling of breakthrough, though an uneasy feeling crept up his heart, which he dismissed as trivial.

Just like this, the whole night swept away.

...

The next morning.

For the whole night, he was immersed in the ethereal feel of breakthrough, only to wake up the next morning as the first rays of light illuminated his face.

As he clumsily opened his eyes, he found himself lying on the floor.

Sitting up straight, he first felt his newfound strength.

9th stage of Body Refinement Realm.

He had broken through 6 stages, reaching the peak of the Body Refinement Realm.

The Body Refinement Realm is divided into 9 stages – from 1st stage to 9th stage.

After that comes the Qi Refinement Realm, further divided into 13 stages – from 1st stage to 13th stage.

Only after that comes the Foundation Establishment Realm, which he isn’t really clear about.

At the current rate of his progression, he felt the Foundation Establishment Realm was just around the corner.

The Heavenly Will is merciful after all!

Not wanting to waste another moment, he sat in a meditative state and called out to the system.

Freshening up? Eating breakfast?

Put it in the dump!

First, he is going to climb straight to the Qi Refinement Realm. Only then could he think of doing anything else.

But the system poured ice-cold water that not only calmed him down but even caused a shiver through his spine as it intoned:

『Ding! The system cannot perform automatic cultivation at the moment because of the damage caused by yesterday’s cultivation process.』

『The host’s meridians (channeling pathways for spiritual energy) are flawed, which causes the host’s cultivation speed to be extremely slow.』

『The system forcefully expanded the meridians, which resulted in an incredible increase in cultivation, but it also caused the meridians to be damaged.』

『Due to the damage to the meridians, the host cannot utilize his full strength.』

『The host’s meridians will heal themselves slowly, or the host may secure any healing medicinal spiritual plants to accelerate their recovery.』

『So the host should wait a while before thinking of cultivation again.』

Gu Changsheng: Hehhh?!?!

He had finally bought a Ferrari, but found out it ain’t got no engine.

The Heavenly Will is merciless after all!!

He felt a little depressed after hearing this, but recovered quickly.

As the system said, the injury done to the meridians would heal itself. As for not being able to utilize his full strength, it wasn’t like he was looking for a fight anyways, right?

Just as he was silently comforting himself in his heart, someone knocked at his door while a gentle voice sounded in the room.

"Gu Changsheng~ will you come out or should I come in?"

The tone carried a mix of teasing and a bit of anger in it, he thought.

Standing up, he slowly opened the door. With an awkward, cheesy smile on his face, he said apologetically.

"Sorry, I–"

But before he could even finish, a wooden spatula was aimed at his head. He dodged instinctively, taking a step back, causing the spatula to miss by an inch.

[A/N: Aim for the balls, woman! For the BALLS!!!]

Speechless, Gu Changsheng looked straight at the attacker, who was angrily stomping her feet because she missed the chicken undeserving of soup.