Family

"What do you mean, should be?" Yang Yi was baffled too. Either there was one or there wasn't; what did "should be" even mean?

"Either way, the benefits are in hand." Chu Yuan couldn't be bothered to think that much about it. It was free stuff anyway.

He tossed a Blood Qi Pill and a Bone Strengthening Pill into his mouth, then continued cultivating.

He entered the state in an instant. A certain special energy in the air was drawn into his body, making him feel wonderfully refreshed.

No wonder the cultivators in those webnovels he had read in his previous life could go into seclusion for centuries or even millennia at a time.

It felt this good—who would be willing to stop...

The brief yet immensely important day finally came to an end.

At around six in the evening, Chu Yuan finished his day of cultivation and went home.

He hadn't started out in this world as an orphan. He had a family!

His mother, Han Cui, and a younger sister, Chu Ying, who was five years his junior.

As for his father... he had died ten years ago in a war against the Alien Races.

But the family was not living in hardship. His father had died for Great Qin, so the authorities sent them a monthly allowance.

Besides that, Han Cui ran a small restaurant, and business was fairly good.

Even if Chu Yuan and Chu Ying never amounted to much, it was enough for the family of three to live out their lives safely and steadily.

That was why, despite transmigrating into this terrible world, Chu Yuan wasn't filled with hostility and bitter hatred...

On the other hand, if he could barely stay alive and had to scrape by on odd jobs every day, he would have been wishing for this world to explode long ago!

Having grown up under Blue Star's compulsory education system in his previous life, Chu Yuan did have moral standards—though they were somewhat flexible...

This was the busy hour for the little restaurant, so Chu Ying was the only one at home.

Chu Yuan ignored her and headed for his room.

But the moment Chu Ying saw him return, she hurriedly put down the TV remote in her hand and scampered over, raising her little head as she asked curiously, "Bro! I heard today was the day they handed out your cultivation methods?"

"You sure hear a lot..."

"Hehe, of course." Chu Ying was just about to look proud when she suddenly remembered why she had come over and quickly pressed on, "So? So? Is it hard?"

"...Go do your homework." Chu Yuan was rather speechless. Junior high school did not yet teach martial arts knowledge, so Chu Ying had no concept of it at all. She was just joining in the excitement and asking nonsense.

Locked outside the door, Chu Ying pouted and muttered a few curses under her breath. "Stupid Chu Yuan..."

Having already stepped onto the path of cultivation, Chu Yuan heard every word clearly and couldn't help twitching at the corner of his mouth.

His little sister had been pretty fun when she was young, a soft, squishy little meatball—but the older she got, the more annoying she became.

He couldn't be bothered to deal with her. Lying on his bed, he began to consider the path ahead of him.

There was no question that this was a world of martial arts, and everyone knew that martial arts practitioners definitely couldn't compare to immortal cultivators!

Of course, in webnovels, once one reached the very end—high martial, high mysticism, immortal heroes... it was hard to say which was stronger and which was weaker.

But today, Chu Yuan had already tried cultivating the Essence Tempering Technique.

After comparing them, he discovered that the Evergreen Foundation Establishment Method and the Essence Tempering Technique... refined fundamentally different kinds of energy!

What the Foundation Establishment Method refined was likely the legendary spiritual energy, encompassing all things and giving rise to everything.

What the Essence Tempering Technique refined, however, was merely one kind of energy separated from spiritual energy!

It was like the energy between heaven and earth was a lavish banquet. The Foundation Establishment Method ate everything.

But the Essence Tempering Technique could only pick out and refine one particular ingredient from the spread...

The efficiency naturally could not be mentioned in the same breath.

Setting the future aside for now, at least in the early stages, his progress was absolutely not something martial arts could even touch!

He only needed to accumulate strength step by step...

As for what martial arts realm he currently corresponded to, he had no point of reference, so it was difficult to judge.

Although he now had energy he could mobilize, he definitely couldn't defeat a Warrior in the Internal Breath Realm.

Moreover, he had only a cultivation method, with no means to use it.

That was a problem he needed to solve as soon as possible... Since the system could convert a cultivation method into an immortal cultivation method, it should be able to convert martial techniques into spells too, right?

Han Cui came home earlier than usual today.

She also knew what day it was, so once there were no more customers in the restaurant, she closed up straightaway.

"Bro! Come out and eat!"

Chu Ying's shout sounded outside the bedroom door. Chu Yuan walked out to find that Han Cui had already laid out the food she had brought back from the restaurant.

After taking a few casual bites, Han Cui asked, "How was it today...?"

"Not bad. I underwent Marrow Cleansing."

Han Cui froze. She had cultivated the Essence Tempering Technique herself, so she naturally understood the weight of achieving Marrow Cleansing on the very first day.

Chu Ying's eyes rolled as she picked up her tablet to look it up. A moment later, she let out a startled cry.

"Holy crap! Chu Yuan, you're that awesome?!"

Two pairs of chopsticks rapped her on the head at the same time...

Han Cui could not help laughing, fine lines gathering at the corners of her eyes. "I'll give you some money later. Go buy yourself some supplements."

"No need, Mom. The school already gave me some."

"What the school gives is what the school gives. What Mom gives is what Mom gives." Han Cui stressed the words.

Chu Yuan nodded and continued eating.

Han Cui watched him, somewhat dazed. Her eldest son had displayed a maturity beyond ordinary people ever since he was born. From childhood to adulthood, he had hardly ever given her cause to worry.

Even during the period just after her husband died, it had been Chu Yuan who looked after three-year-old Chu Ying and helped her pull through.

And now, her eldest son had become a martial arts genius too...

The path of martial arts was far from safe, often accompanied by conflict and slaughter.

She worried that one day Chu Yuan might follow in his father's footsteps, but no one would ever urge their child to give up because martial arts was dangerous.

No matter how many systems and rules existed to offer the weak a measure of protection, this world was still one where strength reigned supreme...

In the prefectural capital of Yunan Prefecture, inside a villa;

"Young Master, it's time to set off."

Li Chen withdrew from his stance and took the towel a servant handed him, wiping away his sweat.

"Uncle Zhou, why the rush?"

"This Jianmu Project Quota Dispute has gotten rather big.

The higher-ups have already noticed the school transfer maneuver. Some people were unhappy and plugged that loophole... However, Young Master's school transfer procedures have already been completed, so it won't affect you.

But to avoid any unexpected developments, it would be best to head over as soon as possible..."

"I really don't understand what those people up there are thinking. What could those mud-legged country bumpkins possibly achieve even if they were selected for the project?

What a waste of resources!" Li Chen complained irritably.

Given Great Qin's current situation, they should be concentrating their resources on nurturing prodigies! People like them, the children of Martial Aristocrat Families!

Yet now, something that should have belonged to him in the first place required him to compete with those mud-legged peasants?!

Even if it was only a formality... it still irritated him terribly.

The middle-aged man called Uncle Zhou acted as though he had heard nothing and changed the subject. "There is, however, an amusing bit of news. That little school Young Master is heading to produced a genius who achieved Marrow Cleansing the moment he began cultivating."

"Marrow Cleansing? A genius? Heh heh..."