"Although this might be a little presumptuous, we still wanted to ask: could you give us some guidance?"
Ming Lan carefully voiced the question.
Among them, it was better for Ming Lan to ask, since she was a girl and quite pretty to boot. Generally speaking, a request from her stood a better chance of being accepted.
So this time, Ming Lan was the one who asked.
Hearing this, Su Mu looked at their eager expressions and understood their thirst for cultivation.
They had traveled a thousand miles to cultivate here without ever having seen a cultivator. It was easy to imagine how firm their resolve was.
"I could, certainly..."
Su Mu pondered for a moment. These people had been quite enthusiastic toward him in the group chat, and they had treated him kindly throughout the journey here, too. He found it hard to voice a refusal.
When teaching them, though, he would only need to teach them to draw in Qi and regulate their breathing. That would allow them to cultivate, but its only effect would be to strengthen their bodies, a little more effectively than practicing martial arts.
At his words, delight immediately filled their hearts.
Seeing their happy expressions, Su Mu said helplessly, "But I hope you understand one thing. I only stepped onto the path of cultivation a short while ago myself. I don't know what guidance I can give you, or whether I might teach you something wrong."
His cultivation method was not actually particularly precious or rare. Besides, with the cultivation world to rely on now, Su Mu might be able to obtain a better cultivation method in the future.
There was another point, too: Su Mu had his eye on the group owner's financial resources.
Even now, the exact situation in the cultivation world was not entirely clear, and a sense of danger lingered in Su Mu's heart.
If my soul body gets destroyed one day, will I die for good?
Su Mu did not know the answer, but he dared not be too confident, either.
He had thought about it for a long time. What remained on his mind was that, at the very least, he hoped to earn enough money before he died for his parents to live out the rest of their lives in peace and security, without having to keep their faces to the yellow earth and their backs to the sky.
And right now, perhaps he had an opportunity.
None of them knew what Su Mu was thinking. Hearing his words, they were immediately delighted. "As long as you're willing to teach us, we'll already be endlessly grateful!"
As for Su Mu's claim that he had only just gotten started, they did not believe it.
Just think about it. Could someone who had only recently begun cultivating achieve the state Su Mu had been in earlier?
There was another thing: Su Mu had previously asked about undergoing tribulation in the group chat.
Back then, they had only glanced over it casually without examining it further.
But things were different now. Having witnessed the extraordinary phenomena during Su Mu's cultivation with their own eyes, and connecting them to his question back then, they could not help wondering: could the person before them be about to undergo tribulation?
Thinking it over carefully, they realized it really was possible!
Perhaps experts simply preferred to be modest and keep a low profile?
Then they recalled how Su Mu's face had been covered in sweat while they were walking. They felt he must have been undergoing some special training, which would also fit with his earlier remark about treating it as training.
Seeing that none of them would mention the subject of his having only just begun cultivating, Su Mu found it a little strange, but after some thought, he said nothing more.
"It's getting late today, so how about I give you some guidance tomorrow?"
Su Mu spoke as he looked at their blazing enthusiasm.
It was not that Su Mu did not want to teach them now. It was just that he had now crossed the threshold and wanted to see whether doing so had brought him any changes.
What abilities he had gained.
That was why he wanted to put off giving them guidance until tomorrow.
They were a little disappointed to hear this, but quickly suppressed that trace of impatience. They finally had hope of cultivating. Surely they could wait one night?
With that thought, they immediately nodded. "No problem, no problem. Come on, let's eat!"
As they spoke, they poured Su Mu another large bowl of chicken soup.
Once they finished eating, they competed to wash the dishes, telling Su Mu to go and rest.
Unable to win them over, Su Mu could only choose a room.
To his surprise, the rooms in the wooden cabin were very tastefully decorated. Everything inside had been given a wooden exterior wherever possible, so entering felt like staying inside a great tree.
Seeing this, even Su Mu felt that the million or so spent on it was rather worthwhile.
Su Mu closed the door and went into the bathroom to shower. Ever since he finished cultivating, his whole body had felt sticky and somewhat uncomfortable.
When Su Mu took off his clothes and looked, nothing seemed unusual about his body. But when he wiped a hand over himself, he discovered that he was greasy all over, as though coated in a layer of oil.
It made Su Mu so uncomfortable that he picked up the showerhead beside him and began rinsing himself off.
Su Mu washed for a full half hour. Afterward, he immediately felt refreshed and clearheaded, then eagerly sat cross-legged on the bed and entered meditation.
"I don't seem to have found any abilities?"
After entering meditation, Su Mu carefully tried to sense what abilities he had gained, but he could not sense any at all.
Su Mu frowned and kept trying.
Finally, after another half hour, Su Mu sensed something different.
"My hearing seems a little better? What about my eyes?"
Su Mu opened his eyes and, after a moment's thought, drew back the curtains.
"I can see much more clearly than before, too!"
Su Mu looked out. His eyes had actually become slightly nearsighted, and even the details of things relatively close to him would look blurry.
But now, Su Mu could see them perfectly clearly.
Delighted by this discovery, Su Mu immediately ran over to the mirror to examine his eyes.
One look left even Su Mu slightly stunned.
His eyes had once been dull, dim, and lifeless. Now, however, they held a bright luster, like the eyes of an infant: shining, lively, and clear to the bottom.
His eyes alone had improved Su Mu's looks by thirty or forty percent!
Originally, Su Mu's looks had actually been quite average, just an ordinary face in the crowd. But looking at him now, one inexplicably felt that he had an extra touch of appeal.
"Could getting more handsome be one of the benefits of cultivation, too?"
After taking a few looks, Su Mu felt thoroughly satisfied. Then he returned to the bed to continue exploring what other abilities he had gained.
For Su Mu, the night passed very quickly.
But for the group owner and the others, that night dragged on endlessly.
None of them slept all night. Even playing on their phones felt utterly uninteresting. They checked the time on their phones every so often, feeling that tonight was passing far more slowly than any other night before.
Finally, a hazy light began to brighten the world outside, and when everything in sight was still shrouded in gray mist, the time reached six thirty.
Ming Lan and the others promptly climbed out of bed. Wonderful, they had finally made it through the long night!