Awakening the Golden Finger

[Everyone, please don't use your brains while reading. If you've grown one, remember to leave it here.]

[Brain storage]

"Xiao Yu, are you sure you want to follow me and cultivate the Dao?" Uncle Nine sat in the middle of the main hall, asking solemnly.

"I'm sure. Please accept me as your disciple, Master." A small, youthful figure knelt below him.

Wrinkled Wen Cai and Qiu Sheng, with his swordlike brows and starry eyes, stood on either side.

"Good. Bow to the patriarch and offer incense." At Uncle Nine's words, Wen Cai took the incense and Qiu Sheng picked up the incense burner. They slowly came before Lin Yu.

Lin Yu accepted the incense, bowed three times to the portrait, then respectfully placed it in the burner.

Afterward, he kowtowed nine times to Uncle Nine without hesitation, each knock of his head ringing out. Then he picked up the teacup beside him and brought it to Uncle Nine.

"Master, please have some tea."

"Mm, good." Uncle Nine took the cup and had a sip.

Only then was the apprenticeship ceremony complete.

[ Ding~ Detected the protagonist taking Uncle Nine as his master. Join the chat group? ]

Before Lin Yu could even feel happy about being able to learn Daoist arts, a voice sounded in his head.

Join, join! My golden finger, you've finally come (ಥ_ಥ)! Do you know how hard I've had it since I transmigrated? Lin Yu couldn't help thinking.

"All right! I have a junior brother now! Don't worry, Xiao Yu. Senior Brother Wen Cai will look after you from now on."

"Don't worry, Xiao Yu, I will too." Only then did Wen Cai and Qiu Sheng, who had been standing to the side, dare to speak up and celebrate.

They also interrupted Lin Yu as he was investigating his golden finger, so he had no choice but to deal with his master and senior brothers first.

"Hmph, with your half-baked skills, who could you possibly look after?" Uncle Nine mercilessly cut them down.

"Master, junior brother's still here. Give us a little face," Qiu Sheng requested quietly.

"Exactly, exactly," Wen Cai chimed in.

"Master, senior brothers just like to play around, that's all. You should have faith in them." Lin Yu had just completed the apprenticeship ceremony, and thinking of the bond between fellow disciples, he spoke up to comfort them.

"Hmph, I'd sooner believe I could ascend to heaven in broad daylight than believe in them." Uncle Nine really showed Wen Cai and Qiu Sheng no mercy.

"Uh..." The two were left speechless for a moment.

"You two, go practice. Xiao Yu, come with me."

As Uncle Nine spoke, he pushed open a door behind the portrait and gestured for Lin Yu to enter.

"Master, what's this place for?" Lin Yu asked curiously, looking at the room packed with bookshelves and books.

"These are some Daoist arts I copied out by hand when I was cultivating the Dao on Maoshan, along with some accounts of things I've seen and heard. If you want to read in the future, you can come here." Uncle Nine patiently explained as he searched the room for something.

"Oh, right, Xiao Yu, can you read? If you can't, that'll be a bit troublesome." Only then did it occur to Uncle Nine, and he looked curiously at the child of about eight before him.

"I can read, Master. Don't worry." Lin Yu patted his chest with his little hand.

"Here, this is the introductory cultivation technique for us Maoshan disciples, the Maoshan Qi Refining Technique. Take a look at it first, and come ask me if there's anything you don't understand." Uncle Nine took a book from a shelf and handed it to Lin Yu.

Uncle Nine had lived half his life and seen through far too many people. Now that he had given Lin Yu the technique, whether he could cultivate it was his own business. If he couldn't learn it, he could practice the basics properly.

Plenty of people set their sights too high. Only by making him understand his own shortcomings could he settle down and cultivate.

"Yes, thank you, Master." Hearing that it was a cultivation technique, Lin Yu hurriedly accepted it with both hands.

"Master, don't I need to cultivate my heart or something?"

Looking at the cultivation manual in his hands, Lin Yu felt it had come so easily.

"You'll understand once you've read it." Uncle Nine smiled mysteriously, revealing no more.

He had already accepted Lin Yu as his disciple under the patriarch's witness, which meant there was no major problem with the boy. As for cultivating his heart, that would have to wait until he understood whether he was cut out for cultivation. Only then would it be useful. Otherwise, if his eyes were always bigger than his abilities, what the hell was the point of cultivating his heart?

"Mm, you read for now. I'm going out to keep an eye on those two." With that, Uncle Nine walked out with his hands behind his back.

"Sigh, I hope this disciple can give me a few surprises. You two, why aren't you practicing yet?" Seeing the two watching the show outside the room, Uncle Nine spoke as he walked.

Lin Yu could still faintly hear his two senior brothers begging for mercy in the courtyard, along with Uncle Nine scolding them for slacking off.

Lin Yu hurriedly composed himself and excitedly opened the Maoshan Qi Refining Technique. After all, this was a cultivation technique, something every person from Earth dreamed of.

The first page of the book listed the realm divisions of several different systems. For Dao cultivators, they were [Dao child, Daoist priest, ritual master, human master, earth master, heavenly master].

Zombies: [Purple zombie, white zombie, green zombie, hairy zombie, flying zombie, subdued corpse, imperishable bones.]

A note later in the book said that the final stage, imperishable bones, was already beyond the ability of mortals to deal with. It instructed Maoshan disciples to make sure they ran away if they ever encountered one.

Ghosts: [Ashen-heart ghost (gray), white-robed ghost (white), yellow-page ghost (yellow), black shadow (black), vengeful ghost (red), cyan-seizing ghost (cyan).]

Lin Yu carefully read the first page. It mainly explained cultivation realms and the corresponding realms of ghosts and monsters. Lin Yu felt it was much the same as the novels from his previous life.

After that, Lin Yu quickly read through the rest, but the more he read, the more bewildered he became. He knew all the characters individually, but once they were put together, he had no idea what they meant.

"What is all this? 'Depth brings accumulation, accumulation brings extension, extension brings descent, descent brings stillness, stillness brings solidity, solidity brings sprouting, sprouting brings covering, covering brings heaven'... It's so hard!" Lin Yu closed the book in frustration.

"I can't understand it. I'd better look into my golden finger instead." Lin Yu tossed the Maoshan Qi Refining Technique aside and turned his attention to the chat group in his mind.

With a thought from Lin Yu, a transparent chat interface appeared before him. Some names he recognized were chatting on it.

Lin Yu also noticed a store in the lower right corner. It looked much like the bootleg games from his previous life.

It mainly contained cultivation techniques, items, and the like uploaded by group members.

Returning to the chat interface, he scrolled up. He didn't see a single useful message, but he did see a group owner named [Omniscient and Omnipotent].

Looking at that name and recalling the novels from his previous life, Lin Yu didn't even have to think. She had to be a big fraud.

[ Ning Caichen: Everyone, I saw the newcomer come online. ]

[ Huang Rong: Oh, the newcomer's finally online. @Lin Yu, newcomer, post a photo! ]

[ Xu Xian: Newcomer, send a red packet! ]

[ Omniscient and Omnipotent: Young friend, don't be afraid. The chat group invites people from different worlds here to chat, share their thoughts, and help one another. ]

[ Omniscient and Omnipotent: The chat group has check-ins, red packets, a store, teleportation, and other functions. The chat group's level is too low right now, so some functions haven't been unlocked yet. ]

[ Omniscient and Omnipotent: The check-in function is the simplest. Just check in to the group every day and you'll get points. There's no upper limit; how many you get depends entirely on your luck. ]

[ Omniscient and Omnipotent: The red packet function can be used to send physical items and points. The store function lets you buy the items in it with points. ]

[ Omniscient and Omnipotent: Points have lots of other uses too. For example, you can use them to improve your cultivation and comprehend cultivation techniques. ]

[ Omniscient and Omnipotent: The chat group hasn't been officially unlocked yet. It seems you can only get points by checking in and uploading items right now. ]

"Yes, another ten points in the bag!" In another world, Su Xiaoxiao couldn't stop grinning after explaining the chat group's functions to Lin Yu.

Mainly, this was one of only two ways she had to earn points. The other was to sell the useful plot information in her head for the points in the other group members' hands.

After reading the messages, Lin Yu casually checked in.

[ Ding~ Lin Yu checked in successfully and received 1,000 points. ]

[ Zhang Sanfeng: The group owner is right. @Lin Yu, you can ask the group owner. She might know the future of your world. ]

[ Huang Rong: Wow ✪ω✪, is the newcomer really that lucky? He got a thousand points on his first check-in! I only got a little over 100 my first time. ]

[ Yan Lingji: I'm jealous. I didn't even get a hundred. ]

[ Ning Caichen: Jealous +1 ]

In an instant, everyone who was online and lurking was drawn out.

[ Lin Yu: By the way, how does the group owner know my world's future? @Zhang Sanfeng, is she really omniscient and omnipotent like her name says? Curious.JPG ]

[ Zhang Sanfeng: That name is just to make people more willing to believe her. Her world seems to have storybooks about our worlds. Right, I think she calls them movies or something. ]

After reading Zhang Sanfeng's words, Lin Yu fell into thought. He felt that Omniscient and Omnipotent didn't seem to be the kind of big fraud he'd read about in novels in his previous life. After all, she had even revealed the existence of things like movies.

Meanwhile, Su Xiaoxiao had already started checking Lin Yu's information. As the group owner, one of her privileges was being able to view members' basic information.

The other members, however, could only see their names.

[ Group member: Lin Yu ]

[ Age: eight ]

[ World: zombie world ]

[ Potential: mortal (??) ]

[ Points: 1,000 ]

"Hm? Why are there brackets next to his potential? Never mind. For the zombie world, I should first ask if it's that world. If it is, it would be great if I could trade for a few talismans." Su Xiaoxiao looked at Lin Yu with eyes full of hope.