The Level Seems Off / Investment

Deng Youcai merely gave a quiet "Mm," his gaze lingering on Qing He Miao for another moment.

He seemed to be looking for something special about this seemingly ordinary adolescent, but said no more.

Clearly, he was not particularly interested in the "little brother" whom the White Immortal Family had mentioned specifically.

He went straight to the point:

"Grandma's already waiting for you inside. Follow me."

With that, he stepped aside, opened the heavy courtyard gate all the way, and gestured for them to enter.

Master Chai hurriedly thanked him and led Qing He Miao after Deng Youcai, stepping into the courtyard, which looked especially imposing amid the deep mountains.

Only upon entering did they discover a whole different world within.

Rather than a farmhouse courtyard, it was more like a small complex of buildings.

The ground was paved with gray bricks, clean and tidy, and several buildings of varying sizes stood within.

But now, most of the buildings had their doors and windows tightly shut, and no other people were to be seen in the courtyard. Only an occasional low bark came from somewhere in the distance.

In the afternoon sunlight, the vast courtyard instead seemed desolate and solemn, as if cut off from the world.

Deng Youcai walked quickly, thoroughly familiar with the paths through the courtyard, leading master and disciple through a maze of turns.

They passed through several moon gates and covered walkways, bypassed the main house, and headed straight for a relatively secluded, quieter little courtyard deep within the grounds.

There was no special marking at its entrance, and its walls were nothing more than ordinary rammed earth, weathered and mottled in places.

The gate was even simpler, made from two thick old wooden planks joined together, giving it an air of returning to unadorned simplicity.

When they reached the entrance, Deng Youcai said nothing more. He merely raised a hand and lifted the wooden gate, which stood slightly ajar, with a faint creak, then turned sideways and went in first.

Master Chai paused outside the gate and took a deep breath, seemingly trying to calm his nerves. He even unconsciously tightened his grip on Qing He Miao's hand.

His palm, rough from years of labor, was slightly damp with sweat.

Only then did he pull his disciple across the humble threshold.

Qing He Miao could feel the strength in his master's grip. Without a word, he silently followed him into the little courtyard.

The courtyard was indeed small enough to take in at a glance.

The patches of earth on either side, which might once have been used to grow flowers and grass, had been carefully turned into two neat vegetable beds.

They contained lush green seasonal vegetables, looking exceptionally plain and full of everyday life.

The group did not linger in the courtyard. Deng Youcai led them straight to the inner room facing the gate.

The door to the inner room was open, and a blend of faint herbal fragrance and stick incense wafted toward them.

Inside was a finely made kang, its smooth surface covered with a clean reed mat.

Beside the kang stood a grand armchair made of heavy timber, its armrests polished to a shine.

An elderly woman was sitting comfortably in the armchair.

Her short, curly silver-white hair was neatly combed, and she looked remarkably spry.

She was short and somewhat plump, wearing a dark blue cotton jacket with a slanted front, with a pair of heavy, large gold earrings of an archaic design dangling from her ears.

On the small kang table beside her was an enamel tray filled with roasted melon seeds.

On a long table against the wall behind her stood a fine bronze incense burner and a small spirit tablet. A thin, straight wisp of blue-gray smoke rose from the burner before the tablet, slowly dissolving into the air.

She was none other than the leading figure of the Horse-Riding Immortal lineage today, one of the Ten Elders acknowledged by the Outcast world—Guan Shihua, the "Shaman."

Chapter 15: The Level Seems Off

Hearing footsteps at the door, the old lady paused in the middle of cracking a melon seed and turned her gaze from the television screen to the two people who had just entered.

It was clear that time had left deep marks on her face after all.

Yet her face was full, and her skin was plump and lustrous.

When her gaze fell on Master Chai and Qing He Miao, her eyes were extraordinarily clear and deep, as though they could see through outward appearances and straight into a person's heart.

Master Chai did not dare show the slightest neglect. He hurriedly released Qing He Miao's hand and bowed deeply.

Seeing this, Qing He Miao immediately followed suit, properly bowing to the legendary elder whose name shook the Outcast world.

"Oh, old brother, don't do that! We're all family here, so what's all this for?"

Seeing this, Guan Shihua hurriedly put down the melon seeds in her hand and brushed off the crumbs. Her voice was loud and hearty, with a typical northeastern accent, and the atmosphere in the room immediately became much more down-to-earth:

"Come on, get up, get up. We don't stand on empty ceremony here."

Only then did Master Chai straighten up, though he maintained his respectful posture and spoke earnestly:

"In the presence of the Grand Headmaster, courtesy cannot be neglected. This old man, Chai Ningshen, has taken the liberty of bringing my unworthy disciple, Qing He Miao, to pay you a visit. Sorry for disturbing your peace, Grand Headmaster."

"What's all this about disturbing me?"

Guan Shihua waved it off, then turned her gaze to Qing He Miao with evident curiosity and scrutiny:

"The White Immortal of your lineage sent word over specifically a few days ago, practically praising this little disciple of yours to the heavens. Said he was an uncut gem seen only once in a hundred years, with a spiritual aptitude so clear and penetrating it was frightening."

She smiled, revealing two rows of still-sturdy teeth:

"If everything the White Immortal said is true, then he's not just your good fortune, but a blessing for our entire Horse-Riding Immortal lineage. Come, child, come a little closer and let this old lady have a good look at you."

Master Chai was delighted to hear this. He quickly gave Qing He Miao a gentle pat on the back and said in a low voice:

"Miaozi, go on. Let the Grand Headmaster take a look."

Qing He Miao did as he was told, taking a few steps forward and stopping about an arm's length from the chair.

Guan Shihua looked him up and down with a warm smile:

"Don't be nervous, child. Just think of it as dropping by for a visit. Let Grandma have a look."

With that, she reached out a hand covered in age spots but still steady and rested it seemingly casually on Qing He Miao's shoulder.

The instant her palm touched his shoulder, a system notification popped up in Qing He Miao's mind:

[Subjected to a probe by LV51 Horse-Riding Immortal Guan Shihua. A strength [fine motor control] check will be performed. Failure will allow the other party to forcibly learn some of your attributes.]

At the same time, an extremely subtle yet unusually gentle stream of Qi spread from the point where her palm touched his shoulder, flowing like invisible water and enveloping Qing He Miao's entire body in an instant.

It was as if a hand had passed through his flesh and bones, directly "touching" the Qi flowing through his body, his meridians, and his acupoints.

Qing He Miao's face remained impassive, but a sudden wave of turmoil rose in his heart. No matter how well he controlled his expression, a tiny trace of oddness inevitably flickered deep in his eyes.

Although this work was called The Outcast, and Mount Longhu's Old Celestial Master, Zhang Zhiwei, was acknowledged to stand in a tier of his own, with an enormous gap separating him from everyone else,

Guan Shihua was both one of the Ten Elders of the Outcast world and the current Grand Headmaster of the Horse-Riding Immortal lineage, as well as an Outcast who had survived from that era and grown to her present stature.

Surely that made her one of the handful of top experts standing at the peak of this world's pyramid, didn't it?

And yet... only level 51?

This level, though far higher than his current one, seemed... not quite as outrageous as he had originally expected.

It seemed that in certain respects, this world's system of strength differed subtly from what he had initially guessed.

Thoughts raced through Qing He Miao's mind, but his body naturally remained calm, and he did not stir the Qi within him to resist or conceal anything.

He let that subtle yet vast force of perception flow through his body and probe it.

Anyway, if the system could be detected like this, wouldn't it be way too lame?

I might as well give up trying to make it in this world.

I could just start planning to pass the Nadutong recruitment exam and land a secure job.

A moment later, Guan Shihua frowned slightly, an undisguised trace of puzzlement passing through her eyes.

"Hmm, forgive me. This old lady may have gotten a little rusty, or maybe I really am getting old and my senses aren't as sharp as they used to be."

She slowly withdrew her hand from Qing He Miao's shoulder and pondered for a moment before speaking calmly:

"This child... has a healthy bone structure. He doesn't have much Qi in his body, but that's perfectly normal at his age. He may become a promising, steady talent in the future. But... it seems... I didn't detect anything particularly 'out of the ordinary' or extraordinary."

As for the "once-in-a-century" quality and the "frighteningly clear and penetrating spiritual aptitude" the White Immortal had spoken of, she had not particularly sensed them.

Qing He Miao had expected this and reacted calmly.

Where did his real "extraordinary" quality come from? How could he not know his own circumstances?

Besides, there were two glaring negative statuses in his system. It was already good enough that she had not given him a worse evaluation.

It was perfectly normal that Guan Shihua could not detect it.

Master Chai, however, was getting anxious.

He regarded this meeting as a rare opportunity for his disciple and even for his own branch of the lineage. Seeing that the Grand Headmaster seemingly had not noticed his disciple's "extraordinary" qualities, he feared the trip would be for nothing.

He hurriedly stepped half a pace forward and made his pitch in an urgent tone:

"Grand Headmaster, would you... would you take another, closer look? Perhaps the child was nervous, or perhaps you didn't probe carefully enough just now? This child's talent really is exceptional! I'm not like Old Wang boasting about his own melons. He learns everything quickly, and he can master almost any cultivation method as soon as he learns it. When he first tried to attain Qi Sense, three days! It took him only three days to get started!

"And he's naturally precocious. His thoughts are completely different from those of ordinary children. His understanding of strength and his views on cultivation sometimes make sense even to me. Everyone who's met him in the surrounding villages says he's the Star of Literary Excellence descended to earth, born to be a top scholar!"

His words were earnest. There was no need to exaggerate anything about Qing He Miao; he only hoped to make Guan Shihua take him seriously.

When he finished, Guan Shihua raised her hand and made a gentle downward pressing motion, signaling him not to get worked up.

She still wore a kindly smile, but her gaze returned to Qing He Miao as she spoke gently:

"Old Chai, don't worry. With the White Immortal Family's personal assurance beforehand, of course I believe what you've said.

"Besides, I'm not a true immortal. If there really are extraordinary natural endowments or hidden talents in this world that even I can't detect, that's not impossible."

Her words both reassured Master Chai and left herself room to maneuver.

Then, instead of probing him with her Qi, she took Qing He Miao's hand and asked kindly, like an ordinary elder showing concern for a younger relative:

"Child, tell Grandma the truth. Your master said you sensed Qi and got started in just three days. Is that true? What exactly did it feel like at the time? Do you remember?"

By now, Qing He Miao had recovered from his earlier wandering thoughts.

He looked at the kindly faced old woman before him, then glanced at his master, whose face was full of anxiety and anticipation. Smiling openly, he said:

"Actually, it didn't take three days."

Chapter 16: Investment

At those words, Master Chai and Deng Youcai, who stood nearby, both froze for a moment. Even Guan Shihua raised her eyebrows slightly.

Before they could ask, however, Qing He Miao continued clearly:

"To be precise, I successfully sensed Qi that very evening, and guided it through one Small Circulation according to the method Master taught me. That counted as officially getting started."