Deep Sleep

Every year on Lin Chan's birthday, he received gifts from his mother and sisters at home.

This year's gifts were a pair of Tiger Head Shoes, a Tiger Head Hat, a full set of Floral Cotton Jacket, and Cotton Pants.

These were all hand-embroidered by his mother and sisters in a rush, fitting him perfectly.

Dressed in these, Lin Chan looked like a spirited little tiger cub.

After a wonderful day, he returned to his room and looked at the text before his eyes.

[Successfully survived three years in the cultivation world. You may choose one talent from the following.]

[Merge Light: Merge with sunlight, strengthen yang and vitality, dispel yin and cold, replenish deficiencies.]

[Absorb Moon: Absorb moonlight, temper the soul, refine the body, elevate spiritual awareness.]

[Deep Sleep: Efficient sleep. While asleep, you can cultivate, recover from injuries, and extend your lifespan.]

These three talents were each more intimidating than the last, leaving Lin Chan torn with indecision.

Even now, he couldn't make a choice.

'These talents look impressive, but their actual effects might not be as good as imagined.'

Thinking this, Lin Chan finally chose the third one.

After all, Deep Sleep had the heaven-defying effect of extending lifespan.

Every extra year Lin Chan lived, he could choose another talent. The longer he lived, the stronger he'd become.

Even if it only added one year to his life, letting him pick one more talent, it was a solid gain.

After selecting the talent, another rune of a sleeping figure appeared in Lin Chan's sea of consciousness.

It was getting late. Under his nanny's care, Lin Chan shed his heavy clothes, slipped into the covers, and fell into a deep sleep.

The next day, Lin Chan woke up feeling completely refreshed and energized, even his blood and qi seemed a bit fuller.

Children are naturally sleepy. Lin Chan's current body was that of a three-year-old, normally needing a full six hours of sleep each day.

Though he woke at his usual time today, he felt so energetic that he probably wouldn't need a nap.

He could cut his sleep by one hour.

As for the lifespan extension effect, Lin Chan sensed it—one hour, no, it should be just one quarter-hour.

After sleeping five hours, he'd gained about a quarter-hour of life.

A day had roughly a hundred quarter-hours, meaning it would take Lin Chan a hundred days to add one day of life.

If he could live to a hundred and three, he'd gain an extra year.

Of course, it wasn't exactly that simple. The lifespan boost was tied to Lin Chan's sleep time.

If Lin Chan slept five hours a day now, he gained a quarter-hour. If he slept ten hours, he'd gain two quarter-hours.

But right now, Lin Chan was too alert to sleep.

Besides, even if he slept all day and added two years of life, what was the point? Sleep still counted against his lifespan.

"So hungry! Forget it, let's eat first."

After thinking for a while, Lin Chan decided to stop dwelling on it and grab some food.

Nothing was bigger than filling his stomach.

"Aunt Wang, I'm hungry."

Lin Chan said to the nanny taking care of him.

Hearing this, the nanny immediately sent someone to the kitchen.

With the Lin family's masters and servants totaling several hundred people, the kitchen never went cold.

Soon, Lin Chan was eating a bowl of hot meat porridge.

Lin Chan didn't know why he was so hungry today—maybe Deep Sleep consumed nutrients from his body.

That seemed to be it. Though Lin Chan was asleep, his stomach was still working efficiently, supplying him with a steady stream of nutrients so he could grow even in his dreams.

In that case, this talent wasn't inferior to the first two.

Still, Lin Chan couldn't help but yearn for the first two talents.

Merge Light and Absorb Moon, even if their effects were weak, were still excellent talents.

He wondered if he'd ever encounter them again.

So far, he hadn't seen any talent make a return.

Deep Sleep's effect also gave Lin Chan an extra hour of wakefulness each day, which he could spend reading in the study.

The books he read were mostly stories, helping him understand the world's customs and culture.

But Lin Chan still knew too few characters. While he could handle daily conversation and even letter writing, he often ran into unfamiliar words in essays and had to ask Lin Fangzheng for help.

Some Lin Fangzheng knew, some he didn't.

This showed the importance of a good teacher. Lin Chan could only jot down these characters on paper and ask his teacher later.

Just a few days after the New Year, Lin Fangzheng found a teacher for Lin Chan.

It was a pure Confucian scholar devoted to scholarship and self-cultivation—Li Xingxiao, who had passed the Juren examination over a decade ago and was said to have already cultivated Vast Righteous Qi.

Vast Righteous Qi is the entry point for Confucian cultivation, originating from the Second Sage's saying, "I am skilled at nurturing my vast, righteous qi."

However, Vast Righteous Qi at the Qi Nurturing Realm has no great effect—it merely wards off evil and strengthens the body from within.

Vast Righteous Qi is the very foundation of Confucian cultivation.

Nowadays, martial arts thrive among the common folk, while Immortal Cultivation reigns supreme among the transcendent.

In comparison, Confucian cultivation lacks competitive edge, which is why the Confucian path has declined, with no great scholars or sages emerging in the world.

Of course, all this was gleaned by Lin Chan from miscellaneous essays and idle talk—he didn't know the specifics.

In fact, he hadn't even figured out what Immortal Cultivation was all about.

The only thing he had encountered was martial arts.

Lin Chan was still young; he had plenty of time and opportunities to slowly learn about these things.

For now, his greatest reliance remained the annual talent selection.

Choosing an auspicious time, Lin Fangzheng took Lin Chan, carrying the Tuition Gift as a token of apprenticeship, to the Private School run by Li Xingxiao to formally become his student.

At that time, Li Xingxiao had not yet started his lessons, and only a few people were scattered about the school.

"Master Li, this is my son, Chan'er."

Lin Fangzheng pulled Lin Chan in front of Li Xingxiao.

Li Xingxiao wore plain clothes, no gold, silver, or jade ornaments, and even his hairpin was made of wood. He was old, giving him a very aged appearance.

"Master!"

Lin Chan greeted him obediently.

"Good child!"

Li Xingxiao looked Lin Chan over and nodded in satisfaction.

Lin Fangzheng held a high position in Yulin City, so Li Xingxiao had no reason to refuse.

As for Lin Chan being too young—as long as he didn't cause trouble, it was fine.

There were no complicated apprenticeship rituals; Lin Chan could enroll once the Private School started classes in a few days.

Back at home, Lin Yuemian, upon hearing that Lin Chan had gone to the Private School, also begged Lin Fangzheng to let her attend.

Li Xingxiao was a pure Confucian, rigid and old-fashioned, strictly observing the separation of men and women. He was reluctant to teach young children, let alone accept a girl as a disciple.

Lin Fangzheng didn't bother asking and instead went to the City Lord's Mansion. The City Lord's Wife was more refined in upbringing than Madam Zhang, so he planned to place Lin Yuemian in City Lord Luo's household, letting the City Lord's Wife properly educate her.

Lin Yuemian was overjoyed, thinking she could go to the Private School with Lin Chan, only to find herself sent to the City Lord's residence. By the time she arrived, she realized her mistake.

By then, it was too late to regret. She could only follow the City Lord's Wife's daughters in learning and playing together.

After a while, she got used to it.

As for Lin Chan, he was picked up and dropped off at school every day by Uncle Liu.

On the first day at the Private School, Lin Chan was highly regarded, and his Brothers got along very well with him.

Lin Chan was the youngest, and his senior Brothers all took good care of him.

With Uncle Liu escorting him daily, his fierce face deterred anyone from bullying Lin Chan.

From the idle chatter of his senior Brothers, Lin Chan learned about some of the situations in Yulin City.

Yulin City had a total of three Innate Grandmasters: one was Lin Fangzheng, one was City Lord Luo Jingxing, and the last was Xiao Ming.

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