This Question Was Beyond Their Level

After the maid left, she brought Su Mu a few books the next day to help him pass the time when he was bored.

Su Mu was rather pleased to see the books. Staying in this room all day really was getting boring.

But when he took the books and looked at them, his face immediately fell. He did not recognize the characters on the pages.

That meant he could not read these books even with them sitting right in front of him.

His idea of learning more about this world through these books had now fallen through completely.

Su Mu set the books aside. Seeing that no one was around, he closed his eyes and began trying to return to Earth.

His soul body here did not feel hungry, so it probably did not need food. But if he left his body on Earth without food for too long, he reckoned it would starve to death.

Su Mu still did not dare stay away for too long.

After half an hour of trying, Su Mu finally vaguely grasped something. The next moment, when he opened his eyes again, he was back in his rented room.

He instinctively reached for the phone beside him, but his arm was not very nimble. Su Mu could only activate the phone's smart assistant and ask for the current time.

The smart assistant soon answered. It was already the nineteenth.

If Su Mu remembered correctly, he had spent one day in the Immortal Cultivation Realm, and the day he left Earth had been the eighteenth.

It seemed time passed at the same rate in both worlds.

At that thought, Su Mu immediately felt ravenous and hurriedly ordered two portions of takeout.

The food soon arrived. Su Mu wolfed it down and finally felt much better.

Knock, knock!

Su Mu had only just finished his takeout when a knock came at the door.

"Who is it?"

Su Mu sat in his chair, reluctant to get up. Getting up and going over there took far too much effort. If it was someone with nothing better to do, he might as well just send them away.

"It's me!"

A flippant voice rang out, sounding somewhat relieved at that moment. "You brat, I called you so many times and you never answered. I thought you were dead!"

"Wang Peng?"

Hearing that voice, Su Mu knew it was his best buddy outside. They had shared a dorm room in college.

After graduation, both had stayed in the same place to work. Although they did not see each other often, their friendship was rock-solid. He had not noticed earlier-this guy had actually called him several times?

What was this son of mine doing here now? Now I had to go to all that trouble to open the door.

Helpless, Su Mu got up and made his way to the door with difficulty. Wang Peng urged him to hurry several times along the way.

Once Su Mu opened the door, Wang Peng peered into the room. Seeing nothing unusual inside, he walked straight in.

"What were you doing, tormenting that son of yours? You took forever to open the door."

Su Mu closed the door and struggled back inside, keeping a careful eye on Wang Peng so he would not notice anything amiss.

"Nothing. I was gaming. It was the final team fight."

Wang Peng believed that explanation. When a game reached its most critical moment, everything else had to be set aside.

"Then let's get down to business. Why did you suddenly quit? You didn't reply to my messages yesterday or answer my calls. I thought something had happened to you."

Wang Peng sat down in a chair nearby, looking rather displeased.

Because of this, he had hurried over here, even taking time off work, terrified that something had happened to Su Mu.

From what he knew of Su Mu, once Su Mu started a job, he would work for at least a full year before quitting, mainly because he was poor.

After a full year, there would be a year-end bonus worth a little over a month's salary, which was a considerable sum.

It was already July. For Su Mu to quit at this point was truly strange.

"Nothing happened. I've just been feeling too tired lately, so I quit to relax a little."

At last, Su Mu reached the bed. After sitting down, even his expression relaxed.

As he answered, he took out his phone to look up information.

Based on what he had learned from his inquiries in the Immortal Cultivation Realm, he wanted to see whether anyone here knew a better way to undergo Tribulation Transcendence.

Perhaps some academic whizzes could offer relatively scientific explanations that might prove useful.

But after Su Mu asked around on several forums, all the answers he received were so bizarre that he did not dare relay them to the eldest princess.

If he told her, she might well unleash lightning on him.

After searching for quite a while, he did find a group through one forum.

This was the Foundation Establishment Group, and it included people of just about every age. They gathered together and often ventured deep into remote mountains and forests.

These people's goal was Foundation Establishment. They seemed a little unconventional, but they never bothered anyone else, simply persisting quietly in what they wanted to do.

The sight of this group immediately delighted Su Mu, and he hurriedly entered its number to request to join.

"What are you doing? Got yourself a girlfriend? Having such a good time chatting?"

Sitting nearby, Wang Peng was getting a little annoyed. Seeing how happy Su Mu looked, along with his frequent typing, he thought Su Mu was chatting with a girl.

"No, I'm looking up information."

Su Mu shook his head and answered casually.

"Tch. Since you're fine, I'll head off."

Wang Peng rose. Seeing that Su Mu was all right, he had no intention of staying any longer and left.

Su Mu waved and told him to close the door behind him, without any intention of seeing him out.

They were both grown men. What need was there to see him out?

Not long after Su Mu sent his request to join the group, it was approved, and he successfully entered.

There were not many people in the group, only twenty-eight. With Su Mu now added, that made twenty-nine.

"Welcome, newcomer!"

Perhaps because there were so few members, everyone in the group was quite friendly. Su Mu had barely joined before quite a few people immediately posted messages welcoming him.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with the group members, Su Mu immediately posed his question.

After a brief silence in the group, someone promptly gave an answer.

"That question of yours is already beyond our level. We're still feeling our way around how to achieve Foundation Establishment. How would we know anything about Tribulation Transcendence?"

"Exactly. If someone really has reached that stage, wouldn't you be better off asking the person undergoing Tribulation Transcendence?"

Some of the group members' comments brought Su Mu to a realization. Finding a solution here on Earth for something in the Immortal Cultivation Realm was basically impossible.

To find out whether the tribulation could be transcended successfully, he would still have to search in the Immortal Cultivation Realm.

Even after receiving this answer, Su Mu did not leave the group.

His own experiences had taught him that the people in this group were not wrong to persist. Besides, he felt he was more or less the same kind of person as them. Perhaps they would have some common ground in the future.

Su Mu tidied the room, preparing to return to the Immortal Cultivation Realm and see whether he could find any solutions.

As for this group, there really is such a group of people in real life. They are normally no different from ordinary people, but they do indeed take Foundation Establishment as their goal.

The author thought of these people, so he wrote them into the story.