Shrek City, East Gate Plaza.
The sun shone brightly, and the streets were teeming with people.
Vendors hawked their wares, Soul Masters chatted, and children played and laughed, filling the place with the vibrant energy of everyday life.
In a relatively secluded corner of the plaza, one that passersby could still happen to glimpse.
Lin Ciyan leaned against the pedestal of a statue honoring one of the first-generation Shrek sages. His legs were crossed casually, and a wide-brimmed straw hat of unknown origin rested on his head, shading most of his face.
He kept his aura restrained, and Invisible Mode quietly activated. Even here, he was like an inconspicuous pebble by the roadside, unlikely to draw anyone's attention at first glance.
But a Soul Master with keen senses would notice the light elements around him slowly and steadily converging, forming an almost imperceptible vortex that quietly flowed into his body.
He was circulating the Great Dream Freedom Scripture while trying to incorporate the active Soul Power compression method and enter "Deep Meditation."
(Ps. He was meditating normally, but it looked like Deep Meditation to other people.)
On the surface, he was as steady as an old dog. In private, he was racing ahead at full speed.
That was his plan—to cultivate as efficiently as possible while looking as inconspicuous as possible in the middle of a bustling city.
He would use Invisible Mode to lower his presence at first, then use the energy fluctuations brought on by his actual cultivation to create a stark contrast with his lazy posture, thereby generating "Slacking Influence."
At first, everything went as usual.
People hurried past without noticing the young man "dozing" beneath the statue.
But as time passed, some Soul Masters with keen senses gradually stopped in their tracks.
"Huh? That kid... is he cultivating?"
"No way. In that position? He looks more like he's sleeping!"
"Wait! Feel the energy around him... It's gentle, but incredibly pure, and it's gathering toward him!"
"Are you kidding? Deep Meditation in a place this noisy? And so... casually?"
Whispers began to rise.
More and more people turned startled, uncertain gazes toward the boy in the straw hat.
What they saw was the ultimate in "ease" and "laxness," but what they sensed was steady, concentrated Soul Power and exquisite control over energy.
The jarring contradiction shook their ingrained understanding of what "cultivation" meant.
Could someone... really lie down and still level up?!
When this blow to their understanding reached a critical point, a pleasant prompt rang out in Lin Ciyan's mind:
[ Ding! You performed "Hidden Cultivation in the Bustling City" at Shrek City Plaza, successfully creating a powerful contrast that sparked widespread shock and self-doubt and effectively spread the concept of "Relaxation Cultivation." Slacking Influence +1500! Current total Influence: 1500 points! ]
[ Ding! Detected that Slacking Influence has exceeded 0. Slacking Cultivation Accelerator activated! Cultivation speed increased by 3%! ]
[ Ding! This action earned Slacking Value +200! ]
Success!
Lin Ciyan was secretly delighted, but on the surface, he remained unruffled. To keep up his persona, he even smacked his lips softly, as if dreaming of delicious food, and carried on "slacking" to the very end.
This one-two punch had worked wonders!
Invisible Mode handled the low-key entrance and created the initial contrast.
The Slacking Accelerator turned that contrast into a real boost to his cultivation speed!
Keeping a low profile while making a fortune—sure enough, the saying was true!
After about another half an hour, when he felt he'd "harvested" enough, Lin Ciyan finally stretched languidly, as if waking from a long dream. He yawned, rose at an unhurried pace, brushed the dust from his backside, and ambled away from the plaza under the crowd's complicated, hard-to-read gazes.
By then, the story of a young man deep in meditation while lying down had already spread throughout Shrek City.
That evening, by Sea God Lake.
Zhang Lexuan watched Lin Ciyan approach, looking refreshed, and couldn't help smiling. "I heard our little genius stirred up a bit of a commotion in the city again today?"
Lin Ciyan grinned, walked over, and sat on a smooth slab of bluestone beside her. Then he leaned back without a shred of decorum. "Sister Lexuan, you're certainly well-informed."
"It was nothing. I just went to experience the hustle and bustle of everyday life and, while I was at it... tried out a rather unconventional cultivation practice."
The evening sun filtered through the leaves, casting dappled spots of light over them both.
A gentle breeze drifted by, carrying a faint fragrance.
"Practice? You mean going to the busiest plaza in town to 'sleep'?" Zhang Lexuan mimicked his tone, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
"Everyone in the city is talking about how a young man cultivates in an unusual way. They say he's the Sleeping Arhat reborn."
"Ah, you flatter me, you flatter me." Lin Ciyan waved a hand with mock modesty.
"I'm just exploring a cultivation path better suited to civilized people like us."
"All that fighting and killing is so inelegant."
Zhang Lexuan laughed softly, her voice like a clear spring striking stone. "You and your crooked reasoning. But..."
She paused, a trace of concern and curiosity in her voice.
"Your Soul Power really did seem to circulate more smoothly and steadily than during an ordinary meditation, even in that state. How did you manage it?"
"Talent. It mostly comes down to talent." Lin Ciyan began spouting nonsense with a straight face.
"Of course, it also helps that I deeply understand the principle of 'following the natural way.'"
"When the mind is still, all things are still; when the mind is relaxed, Soul Power flows on its own."
Watching him clearly talk nonsense while looking as if he were seriously preaching the Way, Zhang Lexuan couldn't resist reaching out with a slender jade finger to gently poke his forehead. "You smooth talker!"
The warmth of her fingertip made them both pause for a moment.
Lin Ciyan rubbed the spot she had poked and grinned. "Sister Lexuan, does that count as bullying your junior?"
"I'm bullying you. What are you going to do about it?" Zhang Lexuan lifted her chin slightly, revealing a hint of girlish charm. In the light of the setting sun, her cheeks flushed, making her even more beautiful.
They exchanged smiles, the air between them warm and easy.
Their frequent contact over the past few months had brought them much closer. They could now joke around freely, surrounded by a subtle, hard-to-describe understanding and fondness.
Yet when night fell and Lin Ciyan entered the Sea of Consciousness for his usual nurturing, he sensed something was a little off.
Xiyao, who usually snuggled against him like a warm little sun, felt somewhat "heavy" today.
The girl of light puffed out her cheeks. Although she still pressed herself tightly against him, the force of it... was almost enough to push him down into the sea of consciousness.
"Xiyao, what's wrong?" Lin Ciyan asked, puzzled.
Xiyao raised her golden eyes and gave him a resentful look, but said nothing. She only huffed and squeezed closer, expressing her displeasure through action.
Seeing her press nearly her entire body of light against him, he could feel her increasingly voluptuous form.
(Because of her time with Lin Ciyan, both of their light attributes had improved accordingly...)
Xiyao was using this to stake her claim and vent her little frustration, though Lin Ciyan had no idea why.
He sighed helplessly and tried to soothe Xiyao with gentle pulses of mental energy, thinking to himself:
It looks like I need to think this "slacking" cultivation through more carefully—not just when it comes to Soul Power, but in other matters too...