The Pursuit of Cultivation

[You have successfully reported to Ning City First Sect. Mission complete.]

[Would you like to claim the reward mission now?]

"Claim it."

[Storage Space successfully bound. The host may store items with a thought. Items cannot be living beings.]

With a thought, Ling Yun stored the school uniform and phone in his hand into the system space, then took them back out again.

"A divine artifact!" Ling Yun marveled inwardly.

It might be nothing special in the Cultivation World, but in this modern city, there were far too many tricks he could pull with it—quite a few of them would probably be dancing right along the edge of the law.

The thought flashed through his mind. A playful curve touched his lips as he headed toward Class 3 of Year One.

Ning City No. 1 High School's three main buildings belonged to the three grades respectively. The teachers' offices occupied the first floor, while classrooms started from the second, with four classes on each floor arranged in order. Class 3 was on the second floor of one of the buildings.

Year One had not yet been divided into advanced classes, so everyone had been assigned at random.

The classroom was filled with the particular restraint and unfamiliarity of the first day of school. Most of the students had arrived early.

The good seats, such as the "slacker's paradise" in the back or the "top student zone" in the front, had long since been claimed.

Ling Yun swept his gaze across the few remaining empty seats. Without much hesitation, he headed straight for the "goalkeeper" seat by the door in the front row.

"I'll get to lunch before everyone else. Worth it." He sat down neatly.

Almost the moment he took his seat, obvious and covert gazes throughout the classroom focused on him.

The youth's looks, on par with the dear readers themselves, his tall, straight figure, and that indescribably tranquil air made him especially eye-catching among his immature peers.

The boys watched him appraisingly, while the girls could not hide their curiosity.

Still, the social barriers among high school students were invisible but solid. No one rashly came forward to strike up a conversation. Only their gazes tangled in the air, then darted away.

Ling Yun was happy to enjoy the peace.

He knew all too well that within a week, once these currently reserved people got familiar with each other, every one of them would be wilder than the last when it came to dirty jokes.

He took out his phone and checked the time—there was still an hour before class began.

With plenty of time, his thoughts drifted afar.

Cultivation was already set in stone. Did money now seem like a mere worldly possession?

Once his cultivation rose high enough, moving mountains and filling seas would be nothing extraordinary.

But Ling Yun had never considered revealing his identity. So what if he was invincible on Earth?

Crush the world beneath his feet and make all living beings bow in submission, crawling in fear? How boring would that be?

"In this life," the voice in his heart was clear and resolute, "what I want is freedom and ease, to live life as a game.

I'll make up for every regret from my previous life and seize all the brilliance this life has to offer.

What I want is to become a living legend of this era—to earn admiration and affection from the heart, not cold fear.

"

As his thoughts became clear, an indescribable sense of comfort spread through his body, as though some invisible shackles had quietly shattered.

[Congratulations host, your Dao Heart has become clear, and you have established your path in this life. Reward: Qi Refining Pill ×1.]

[Would you like to claim it?]

"Not claiming it!" Ling Yun instantly snapped back to reality and refused without hesitation.

Was this a joke? The painful lesson from that last "Marrow Cleansing and Tendon Transformation" was still fresh in his mind. If he put on a performance of "an endless torrent" in the classroom, his road to becoming a legend would probably begin with public humiliation.

He would wait until he got home and shut the door before slowly enjoying this precious pill.

Since his goal was to become a legend, that legend naturally had to glitter with gold.

Top-tier Comprehension allowed every detail of his memories from his previous life to surface clearly. The webnovel plotlines that had once stirred his blood, along with the financial storms he had happened to follow, had all become clear puzzle pieces now.

A bold idea took shape: startup capital! He would use foresight beyond the era to leverage astonishing wealth, making it one of the brightest annotations on his road to legend.

His parents' inheritance still had 1.3 million sitting in the bank... Mm, he would take out one million as seed money.

In three years, by the time he graduated from high school, he would turn that money into a figure that shocked the world!

Bitcoin's frenzy, Tesla's rebound from the bottom, the windfall profits from masks, crude oil's shocking plunge into negative prices, Dogecoin's absurd surge... countless key moments rapidly linked together in his mind.

"Then it's settled."

A sharp glint flashed through Ling Yun's eyes.

Of course, he could not mess around on his phone in the classroom for the actual operations. Using a computer at home was the proper way.

"Ring, ring, ring—"

The class bell rang on time, interrupting Ling Yun's thoughts.

A middle-aged man in a somewhat worn jacket, with sparse graying hair, tucked a class roster under his arm and slowly ambled onto the platform, carrying a faint, barely perceptible smell of tobacco.

"Alright, settle down."

His voice was not loud, but it carried the relaxed air of an experienced teacher. The classroom instantly fell silent enough to hear a pin drop.

It was the first day, and no one wanted to leave the teacher with the impression that they were troublemakers.

"My name is Liu Shiguo. I'll be your homeroom teacher for the next year, and I'll also be teaching you physics."

He swept his gaze around the room, his eyes carrying the knowing look of someone who understood them all. "As for me, I'm retiring next year. These old bones of mine really didn't want to take on the burden of being a homeroom teacher, but the Disciplinary Office head wouldn't stop nagging me. So, let's make things easy for each other."

He paused, his tone becoming even more casual. "Those who want to study, I welcome you. Those who really don't, as long as you don't get me dragged into the Disciplinary Office, I can't be bothered to manage you. Let's just get through this year nice and peacefully, alright?"

The familiar opening nearly made Ling Yun laugh.

The reason his first year of high school had been so "comfortable" in his previous life was largely thanks to this laid-back old homeroom teacher.

Surveillance cameras? The old man probably couldn't even be bothered to check them a few times a year.

Liu Shiguo picked up the thermos on the lectern and took a sip, then added unhurriedly, "As for contraband like phones and cigarettes... hand them over now, and I'll keep them for you until vacation."

"If I catch you with them, well, it's no big deal. I'll confiscate them and give them back when you graduate."

His gaze drifted for a moment, as though he had remembered something. "Of course, if you get caught red-handed by that living King of Hell, the head of the Disciplinary Office, you'll get the full package—demerit, suspension, and parents called in. Don't blame me for not warning you."

The classroom was silent, and no one moved. Ling Yun chuckled inwardly. Old Liu, Old Liu, who the hell would hand anything over after that little speech of yours? Besides, once cigarettes end up in your hands, would there really be a day when you returned them at graduation? They'd probably have long turned into smoke rings in your lungs.

Of course, Ling Yun from his previous life knew exactly how much Liu Shiguo could smoke—two packs a day was just the baseline. As for the maximum, that depended on the students' contributions.

Seeing that no one had turned in any contraband, Liu Shiguo did not care. He casually picked up the class roster from the desk.

"Today is the first day of school. You probably don't know each other yet, so we'll start the introductions now, in student-number order."

The class numbers were ranked according to the high school entrance exam scores, and since he had only made it into First High by a margin of two points, Ling Yun was undoubtedly the very last one.

"Let's begin the introductions. When your name is called, stand up and introduce yourself."

If you think this book is good, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you won't have trouble finding it next time.