Though the Dragon Elephant Longevity Art was more difficult, its wonderful advantage was that even sleeping counted as cultivation.
At this rate, he could break through to Mastery in five or six days.
He glanced at his lifespan. It was still 61 years. He couldn't help sighing softly. "I wonder how far I'll have to cultivate the Dragon Elephant Longevity Art before it starts extending my life."
"Second Young Master, breakfast is ready."
A servant called from outside.
Lu Yuan replied, "I know."
After washing up, he headed over at once, only to find Lu Cheng looking rather gloomy, clearly in a foul mood. Unable to help himself, he asked, "Big Brother, what's wrong? Is there a problem with the family business?"
Lu Cheng said bitterly:
"Someone poisoned the pharmacy yesterday. We discovered it in time and caught the culprit, but the Medicinal Materials had already been sold. I sent people to retrieve the poisoned goods, but we were too late. Someone was poisoned. They don't know the reason; all they know is that someone bought Medicinal Materials at our Lu Family Pharmacy and got poisoned. It'll hurt our reputation, one way or another."
Lu Yuan frowned.
"Who did it? Li Yong?"
Lu Cheng gave a cold snort. "The culprit's keeping his mouth shut. We can't get a thing out of him. But who else would pull a stunt like this besides that scoundrel Li Yong?"
"Is the poisoned person in serious condition?"
"He received treatment in time, so it isn't serious. But he's someone important—the county magistrate's nephew. After breakfast, I'll have to bring a gift and apologize in person."
Lu Yuan looked at Lu Longjing. "Father, with Li Yong's temperament, I'm afraid he'll resort to more and more underhanded tricks. We can't just sit back and wait."
Lu Longjing said gravely:
"Don't worry. Li Yong won't dare act rashly for at least a year."
"Why?" Lu Yuan asked, puzzled.
Lu Longjing countered, "You know what our county magistrate is like, don't you?"
Lu Yuan nodded. "I do. The man who scraped the land three feet bare—Third Foot Zhou, the great corrupt official."
The county magistrate of Lingbao County was a notorious crook.
In all of Lingbao County, nearly everyone knew that Third Foot Zhou was a corrupt official.
The saying that "a clean prefecture magistrate of three years leaves behind ten thousand Snow Silver" was no empty boast. In Third Foot Zhou's case, it was an understatement.
There were four powerful landlord clans in all of Lingbao County, but none of them was as wealthy as Third Foot Zhou.
In his ten years as county magistrate, he'd dipped his hands into every profitable business in Lingbao County.
That scoundrel had squeezed the people dry, fleecing them so mercilessly that he'd scraped the land three feet bare and raised the heavens by three feet. That was how he earned his "honorable" nickname, Third Foot Zhou.
Lu Longjing continued, "Third Foot Zhou may be a greedy, corrupt official, but he isn't a fool. On the contrary, he's shrewd and ruthless. You can't trick him easily. Otherwise, how could he have kept his seat as county magistrate for ten years?"
Lu Yuan understood. "You mean Third Foot Zhou must know Li Yong ordered the poisoning. So Li Yong's going to have to pay through the nose."
"Pay through the nose? He'll be lucky if that's all. With this dirt in his hands, Third Foot Zhou will make Li Yong bleed until he's crippled. Just dealing with Third Foot Zhou will exhaust him. How would he dare attack us behind the scenes? Unless he wants Third Foot Zhou to devour him whole."
Lu Longjing smiled confidently.
"Our Lu Family will certainly suffer a minor loss over this poisoning, but Li Yong will be crippled. And while he doesn't dare act rashly, we can press our advantage and keep up the attack!"
"Father, you're brilliant!"
Lu Yuan gave him a thumbs-up.
Compared to his father, an old fox who'd weathered decades in the cutthroat world of business, he was still too green. His father had already planned out a response, turning a crisis into an opportunity.
Lu Cheng also understood his father's plan now, and the gloom on his face lifted. "Father, why didn't you tell me sooner? You let me worry for nothing all this time."
"I was hoping you'd figure it out yourself. Who knew that hard head of yours would still be stumped after a whole day?" Lu Longjing shook his head.
"Your son is ashamed."
Lu Cheng lowered his head in embarrassment.
After breakfast, Lu Yuan went with his father to make a round of the family's shops, hoping to help with whatever he could and lighten the burden on the family business. But there was nothing for him to do. His father had everything arranged in perfect order, so Lu Yuan could only slink back to practice martial arts.
Another five days passed in the blink of an eye.
He woke up feeling refreshed and full of energy.
Over the past few days, Lu Yuan had discovered another great benefit of the Dragon Elephant Longevity Art: it subtly regulated the body's functions.
When he woke, his entire body felt renewed, his blood and qi in harmony, his mind clear. The feeling was too wonderful to describe.
Put simply, it could subtly improve Lu Yuan's cultivation efficiency.
[Name: Lu Yuan]
[Age: 16]
[Talent: High-grade Talent]
[Lifespan: 71 years (24 years remaining)]
[Arts: Ox Demon Fist (Peak Perfection 100%), Great Gale Saber Technique (Peak Perfection 28%), Dragon Elephant Longevity Art (Mastery 1%)]
After six days of work, Lu Yuan had finally cultivated the Dragon Elephant Longevity Art to Mastery.
By his own estimation, apart from waking up refreshed each morning, nothing else had changed. He couldn't actually feel his lifespan getting longer.
Only because he had a status panel could he see the increase in his lifespan so clearly.
In truth, the status panel alone was a pretty useful cheat. It let him see his own progress at a glance.
Why did so many people give up halfway through? Because they couldn't see themselves changing and had no idea when they'd reap the rewards.
If they had a status panel that simply showed their own progress, surely the number of people who gave up halfway would be cut in half.
Lu Yuan was the only one cultivating the Dragon Elephant Longevity Art, and it had taken him just six days to reach Mastery.
An ordinary person might train for six months or a year to reach Mastery, yet still feel no great change in their body. They wouldn't know their lifespan was increasing, either, and would inevitably wonder whether they were wasting their time.
"Spend lifespan to improve talent?"
Lu Yuan asked silently.
[80 years]
"Holy crap. It takes twenty-five years to go from Medium-grade Talent to High-grade Talent, but eighty years to go from High-grade Talent to genius? Then Peerless Prodigy and Innate Sage must take an astronomical amount of lifespan."
Lu Yuan was stunned.
Just imagining it was enough to know those numbers had to be out of reach.
"Dragon Elephant Longevity Art! Mastery, Thorough Comprehension, I'm coming!!"
Knowing he'd chosen the right path, Lu Yuan was brimming with motivation. He wished he could cultivate the Dragon Elephant Longevity Art to Peak Perfection right away and tack on several hundred years to his lifespan.
Time flew like a white colt glimpsed through a crack. Over the past eight months, Lu Yuan's life had been simple but fulfilling.
Apart from occasionally lending a hand at the family's shops, he spent all his time practicing martial arts.
At last, he was facing his second blood change.
A year had passed since he awakened the memories of his past life and activated his cheat, yet he'd only just reached his second blood change. He couldn't even be called an expert in a county.
He was a complete failure as a transmigrator.
Just look at some of the other transmigrators—they'd started conquering the world within a year.
Before you continue