Duanmu

Earth, Li Household Hollow.

Li Chengxuan looked up at the high sky and wispy clouds, then down at the fish and shrimp swimming beneath the water. To his surprise, he felt a sense of ease and delight.

The cultivation world had abundant Spiritual Qi, but it also had many constraints.

The predicament of his own Dao Path, the crisis of the Immortal Alliance splitting apart, the arrival of the new-method sects, and so on had left him trembling with apprehension, afraid to relax in the slightest.

After coming to Earth, by contrast, although he could not cultivate, he felt as though the sky was high and the sea vast.

His thoughts flowed freely, without restraint. A State of Mind like this was all but impossible to attain in the cultivation world.

"Is this what those sect geniuses who live in grotto-heavens and blessed lands feel like?!"

"It really isn't bad."

Li Chengxuan chuckled, pushed off lightly with his foot, and headed toward the county seat. "I should look for a Child of Fate with a presence. While I'm at it, I'll visit an old acquaintance."

On the west side of the county seat, at the entrance to a mine.

Li Chengxuan stopped.

Before he transmigrated, the coal mine had been highly profitable.

On holidays and festivals, the mine had spent lavishly on fireworks.

Back then, people from every village for miles around had come to watch. It had been a lively spectacle, and his most vivid childhood memory.

But now it had clearly fallen on hard times.

The once splendid gate was mottled and dilapidated.

Foul water spread across the ground, and hardly any vehicles came or went. The place looked quite deserted.

Li Chengxuan had looked all the way here but had found no one with a substantial presence.

Forget comparing them to Liu Zhijian; they could not even compare to Hua Chunning.

"Presence and fate are profoundly mysterious."

"You can encounter them, but you can't seek them out."

"Otherwise, the cultivation world wouldn't have abandoned the old method, which was clearly more wondrous and profound, to practice the simple and crude new method, which has almost no threshold for entry."

Li Chengxuan had long been prepared for this, so he was not too disappointed.

Now that he had visited the old place, it was time to see an old acquaintance.

Across the road was a supermarket, with water pipes and hardware fittings displayed outside and a sign above the entrance.

Jiabao Hardware Supermarket.

"This should be the place."

Li Chengxuan looked it over and walked in.

The shop was a mess.

A middle-aged man who had put on weight sat behind the checkout counter, scrolling on his phone with the sound playing loudly. When he saw someone enter, he immediately stood up to greet him. "What do you need?"

He glanced up at Li Chengxuan, who wore a black Daoist robe, and looked a little surprised.

Then he took another look at Li Chengxuan's face. Along with his surprise, he was visibly puzzled.

Li Chengxuan remained calm. Rather than fabricate a false identity as one of his own descendants to cover things up, he spoke directly. "Big brother, long time no see."

"Huh?!"

Li Jiabao's eyes widened at once, and he was plainly struggling to believe it. "You... you're..."

Li Chengxuan chuckled. "I'm Cheng Xuan. What, don't you recognize me?!"

Li Jiabao froze, momentarily incoherent. "No... you... impossible... back then..."

Li Chengxuan wasted no time on further explanation. He formed a Method Formula with his hand and tapped the air.

The shock and doubts in Li Jiabao's heart gradually faded, and an inexplicable trust in the man before him arose. That's right, this is my younger brother, who went missing many years ago!

His eyes suddenly reddened. "Cheng Xuan... where have you been all these years?"

Li Chengxuan said only that he had met a reclusive master and gone into the mountains to cultivate the Dao.

Now that he had achieved some modest success, he had come down from the mountains to gain experience.

Li Jiabao nodded repeatedly. After a bout of sighing and reminiscing, he decided to treat Li Chengxuan to a good meal.

As he shut up the shop, he called his wife and children and told them to join them.

The coal mine had once enjoyed glorious days, so there was no shortage of upscale restaurants nearby.

Li Jiabao chose the most expensive one and generously ordered several signature dishes, then started chatting with Li Chengxuan.

Most of the time, Li Jiabao talked while Li Chengxuan listened.

Back then, Li Jiabao had grown tired of school and gone out into society, but he had not made much of himself. Once he was older, he married, had children, and opened a small supermarket to support his family.

Now he had both sons and a daughter, and his life could be considered a happy one.

Just as they were enjoying their conversation, Li Jiabao's wife and children arrived.

Beaming with excitement, Li Jiabao made the introductions.

Li Jiabao's wife was short and somewhat thin, with a shrewd look about her.

His eldest daughter looked almost exactly like her mother, both in face and build.

Both sons were very fat.

Li Chengxuan nodded in greeting, his expression calm.

To him, these people were nothing more than strangers.

Li Jiabao's wife, Liu Lidan, looked Li Chengxuan over suspiciously. She clearly doubted his identity, but said nothing, forcing a polite smile.

But when the signature dishes reached the table, her smile froze.

This meal would cost at least a thousand yuan!

Ignoring the children, whose eyes were wide and mouths watering, Liu Lidan frowned at Li Jiabao. "We can barely put food on the table, and you're still throwing money around like this! We'll have to borrow money for the children's tuition!"

Li Jiabao's face darkened, and he gave Liu Lidan a stern look.

Liu Lidan was not afraid in the least. Instead, she turned to Li Chengxuan and tearfully poured out her grievances.

In the end, when a couple was poor and lowly, everything brought sorrow.

The coal mine was no longer profitable, so naturally the surrounding restaurants and supermarkets had no business either.

In particular, Li Jiabao had believed the lies of a brother he used to run with and advanced the money to supply a large batch of goods to the mine.

As a result, he now could not recover the payment for the goods.

Not only had he failed to make any money, he had also incurred considerable debt.

Embarrassed and irritated, Li Jiabao could only suppress his anger and drink in silence.

Li Chengxuan was single-mindedly devoted to his Dao Path, and he had entered the Dao by consuming [Mortal World Turbid Qi]. How could such domestic trivialities shake his State of Mind? He tasted a bite of his hometown's food and said to the children beside him, "It tastes good. Go on and eat."

The children were clearly used to their parents' quarrels. At Li Chengxuan's words, they immediately began eating in great mouthfuls.

Li Jiabao and his wife were still arguing in low voices.

Li Chengxuan pretended not to hear. He passed a hand over his eyes and looked with the [Qi Observation Technique].

Sure enough.

The family before him all had shallow presences and no affinity with the Dao.

This, too, was the norm in the world.

How could the vast majority of people have any presence or fate? They merely drifted through life in a daze.

The couple argued without end.

The children ate to their hearts' content.

Li Chengxuan sat at the table, but his mind was beyond the heavens.

This, too, was tempering the heart in the mortal world, and beneficial to cultivation.

Just then, another party of customers entered the restaurant. There were plenty of them, a full twenty by the look of it.

Li Jiabao felt he had lost face in front of his younger brother and was secretly annoyed. When he looked up, he happened to spot an acquaintance.

It was the good brother who had tricked him into supplying the mine and left him buried in debt!

"Shihao!"

Li Jiabao immediately rose to meet him and got straight to the point. "When exactly are you going to settle the payment you promised me?!"

Hu Shihao had been wearing a fawning smile. He turned and frowned when he saw Li Jiabao, then waved him away in a low voice. "Get lost! Don't interfere with my business."

To Li Jiabao, collecting the debt was his business.

He had finally caught Hu Shihao, so how could he let him go? Naturally, he refused to leave.

Hu Shihao had finally managed to make a connection with an important person. He seized Li Jiabao by the collar and snarled, "Whatever it is, we'll talk later. If you don't get lost, I'll kill you."

Li Jiabao had drunk some liquor, and with his wife and children watching, he was in no mood to back down.

"You're fucking asking for death!"

Hu Shihao looked back and saw the important person in the crowd wearing a gloomy expression. Furious, he threw a punch at Li Jiabao's face.

Liu Lidan screamed.

The children burst into tears.

The scene descended into chaos.

"Stop."

Li Chengxuan stood up, paying no attention to Hu Shihao, who had inexplicably frozen. Instead, he looked with interest at a refined-looking, bespectacled middle-aged man in the center of the crowd and asked with a smile, "Who are you?!"

The followers around the man wore a variety of expressions.

Some sneered in contempt.

Some shouted rebukes.

Two in uniform even stepped forward, ready to teach Li Chengxuan a lesson.

The bespectacled middle-aged man in the crowd was thoroughly displeased and could not be bothered to give Li Chengxuan another look. He sneered and prepared to enjoy the show, but his body answered involuntarily, "I am Duanmu Ren, magistrate of Stone Ridge County."

"So you're the county magistrate."

"No wonder."

Li Chengxuan nodded in realization. He had some guesses about the dense presence surrounding Duanmu Ren, pitch-black streaked with blood red. Ignoring the two uniformed officers who had already reached him, he pointed to the empty seat opposite and said, "Magistrate Duanmu, sit."

Duanmu Ren was baffled, but also found it amusing.

Who do you think you are? What makes you worthy of sitting at the same table as me?!

Yet regardless of what he thought, Duanmu Ren's body still moved involuntarily through the crowd and sat down opposite Li Chengxuan, chest out and head held high. The sneer on his face had already turned to boundless terror.

Li Chengxuan nodded with a smile.

He had worn out iron shoes searching in vain, only to find it without the slightest effort.

The Child of Fate with a concentrated presence whom he had searched so hard for had actually come to him of his own accord.