All I Wanted Was to Coast Through Life as a Rich Man

North Spring Mountain stood six hundred li from Great Qian's Imperial Capital.

The mountain was exceedingly steep, with cliffs on three sides and only one road leading down, guarded by soldiers.

This had once been the seat of the North Spring Sword Sect. Forty years ago, the sect had been destroyed, and the place had fallen into ruin.

"His Majesty's verbal decree: North Spring Mountain shall be your residence henceforth. You may not descend without an Imperial Decree. Disobedience... is punishable by death!"

A thin, pale-faced young man coughed painfully several times. Enduring his discomfort, he bowed. "Gu Yuanqing receives the decree."

"Young Master Gu, there is one more thing I must remind you of. Some things must rot in your belly. If word gets out, it will bode ill for you—and for anyone who learns of it. His Majesty has already shown mercy by sparing your life."

"I understand. Thank you, Eunuch Xu." Gu Yuanqing's smile was bitter. He was a grandson of Prince Gu of the Prince's Manor, born to a concubine, and was himself born of a concubine. His parents had died early, leaving him dependent on the main household, and he had no Cultivation Talent. He had only wanted to wait until he came of age, received his allotment, and established his own household, then lean on the Gu Family and enjoy a carefree life as a rich man.

Who could have imagined that, on the day he established his household, the Prince Gu's Heir Apparent would spot a woman dining alone in a restaurant whose accent was unlike that of Capital City? On a whim, he secretly resorted to underhanded means, abducting her and presenting her to Gu Yuanqing as a coming-of-age gift.

After the banquet, Gu Yuanxuan had eagerly dragged Gu Yuanqing, who was thoroughly drunk, to the bedside. Only then had he noticed the Five-Clawed Dragon Pendant at the woman's waist. She was a daughter of the Imperial Family.

Realizing he had brought disaster upon himself, he had devised a vicious scheme. He knocked Gu Yuanqing unconscious and fed both of them Joyous Union Powder, Dragon Yang Pills, and Drunken Immortal Wine.

Taken together, those three drugs would cause sudden death within four hours. As long as he killed everyone who knew, the dead could offer no testimony. He could pin everything on Gu Yuanqing's lust, claim he had nothing to do with it, and escape unscathed.

He had thought his scheme seamless as a heavenly robe, but how could such childish tricks escape the Imperial Family's eyes?

A few days earlier, a pretext had been found to cripple Gu Yuanxuan's cultivation and exile him to the frontier. Before he had traveled three hundred li, Bandits had attacked and killed him.

His father, Prince Gu's Heir, had been implicated for failing to raise his son properly and stripped of his position as heir.

Prince Gu had been demoted one rank, from a first-rank prince to a commandery prince.

As for Gu Yuanqing, surviving by sheer luck was already an immense blessing. How could he dare say more?

"Good, so long as you understand, Young Master Gu. North Spring Mountain is a forbidden ground of Great Qian. No one will come up here to disturb you. Supplies will be delivered every fortnight. If you need anything, you may ask. So long as it does not violate the Imperial Decree, everything can be discussed."

"You have my thanks!"

Eunuch Xu led the Soldiers down the mountain. In the blink of an eye, only three people remained.

Gu Yuanqing looked at the two elderly servants before him, a man and a woman. "What should I call you?"

The withered old man opened his mouth, revealing a tongue severed at its root. The middle-aged woman pointed at her ears, then opened her mouth without making a sound.

"They certainly thought of everything." Gu Yuanqing sighed softly and cupped his hands. "I'm sorry for the trouble I'll be putting you both through."

The two servants hurriedly knelt.

Guided by the withered old man, Gu Yuanqing reached a small courtyard that was still intact. It had been cleaned reasonably well.

After dismissing the servants, Gu Yuanqing sat in a chair. A coughing fit later, he sighed helplessly. "If things go badly, I'll spend the rest of my life here."

He rested at sunset and rose at sunrise.

Ten days passed in a flash. Gu Yuanqing's health had improved considerably. While walking through the mountains, he spotted a young eunuch of fifteen or sixteen leading Soldiers up with supplies. The two Old Servants were taking the carrying poles from the Soldiers' shoulders, and he hurried over.

"Young eunuch, please wait."

The eunuch leading them stopped and turned without a word.

Gu Yuanqing cupped his hands in greeting. "Could you bring some books the next time you come up? Biographies, storybooks, miscellaneous writings from any school of thought—anything will do."

The young eunuch nodded, still without speaking, then turned and led the others down the mountain.

Gu Yuanqing opened his mouth to speak, but ultimately gave up. In truth, he simply wanted to exchange a few more words, even idle chatter. Ten days on the mountain had nearly driven him mad with pent-up frustration.

Back in his courtyard, Gu Yuanqing sat in his chair and recalled the events of that night, only to realize he could no longer clearly remember the woman's face.

Even now, he did not know her name or exact identity. All he knew was that she wore the Five-Clawed Dragon Pendant, the symbol of imperial blood.

He had no right to hate her. She was a victim too. Yet he had also been powerless in the matter, only to be imprisoned here for life. No matter how he looked at it, he could not accept it.

Before he knew it, the sun had reached its zenith. In his daze, he heard a ding, and a line of text slowly unfolded in his mind.

Host detected to have remained in unclaimed territory for ten days. Residence-binding requirements met. Bind?

Gu Yuanqing froze. At first, he thought he was hallucinating, but after confirming the words in his mind once more, astonishment and delight surged through him. Had his system finally arrived, twenty years late?

It took a good while before he managed to rein in his emotions a little and silently willed it to bind. In an instant, light swirled through his mind. He felt as though his soul had left his body and was floating upward. His view expanded steadily, until the whole of North Spring Mountain appeared clearly beneath his gaze.

The next moment, his consciousness returned to his body. A phantom of North Spring Mountain appeared in his mind, with lines of text beside it.

Host: Gu Yuanqing

Title: None

Cultivation Talent: Mediocre and untalented (a standout among the ordinary)

Swordsmanship Talent: Mediocre and untalented (one in a hundred)

Comprehension: A standout among the ordinary (outstanding)

Residence: North Spring Mountain (mundane mountain)

Residence Enhancement: Cultivation Talent +1, Swordsmanship Talent +2, comprehension +2. Grants one wisp of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi daily.

The corner of Gu Yuanqing's mouth twitched.

Mediocre and untalented? There hardly seemed to be a lower rating. At least his comprehension was reasonably normal.

No wonder he had remained a Third-Level Origin Scholar of the lesser celestial circuit after more than ten years of cultivation, despite being born into a Prince's Manor and lacking neither cultivation methods nor resources.

"Good thing I wasn't obsessed with cultivation, or these twenty years would have been nothing but wasted effort."

"Now I can give it a try. Once the Residence undergoes spirit imbuing, it can become a sect's seat. My Cultivation Talent will improve further then. If I can become a grandmaster, why would I fear the soldiers at the foot of North Spring Mountain?"

Hope rekindled in Gu Yuanqing's heart, and he smiled.

In his previous life, he had died suddenly at work under a nine-to-nine, six-day schedule. In this life, lacking Cultivation Talent, he had only wanted to lean on the Prince's Manor and coast along. But whatever happened, he refused to remain imprisoned deep in these mountains, with his life and death in someone else's hands!

He pondered the system's information a little more, then could not resist sitting cross-legged and circulating his energy.

He immediately felt the difference. In the past, when he practiced his cultivation method, the true qi in his body had moved sluggishly. A single circuit left him utterly exhausted, without the slightest increase in true qi.

Now, his true qi flowed lightly and freely, and his meridians no longer felt clogged. Compared with before, the difference was as vast as heaven and the abyss.

The method Gu Yuanqing practiced was called the Profound Heaven Art, one of the Gu Family's five superior foundation establishment methods. It could refine thirty-six acupoints, forming the Profound Heaven Grand Formation and allowing him to attain true martial.

With a thought, a wisp of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi flowed out of the North Spring Mountain phantom and dispersed through his meridians. The true qi in his body grew rapidly, flowing through his organs and nourishing the body damaged by the drugs several days earlier.

Cough, cough, cough!

After a string of coughs, he spat out a mouthful of stagnant blood. His body felt clear and much more at ease.

He did not stop there. As his vital energy surged, he felt the cultivation level that had stagnated for three years begin to loosen. The Danzhong acupoint in his chest flickered with faint light, shining in concert with the six other opened acupoints as their energy pathways linked into a unified whole.

"I've become a Fourth-Level Origin Scholar just like that? Is this the difference talent makes? No wonder Great Qian's Princess Li Miaoxuan reached true martial at ten!"

Body tempering, Origin Scholar, true martial, grandmaster—these were Great Qian's cultivation realms. Below grandmaster, every major realm had nine levels.

He had cultivated diligently as a child, but the gap between him and others his age had only grown wider. Otherwise, how could someone reborn into this world have willingly abandoned cultivation to coast through life?

"But now, everything is different!"

He opened his eyes, sprang to his feet, and performed a fist routine in the open courtyard. Finally, dripping with sweat, he stood at the entrance and gazed toward the distant horizon, his spirits soaring!

The new book has begun! This time, I'm returning to xianxia...