A PY Deal?

May 1, 3066, cultivation punk calendar, evening-

Mingyang City, East District, within the Fifth Ring Road, near Mingyang City No. 1 Technical Primary School, on a residential street, building twelve, apartment 412.

This was the rental Lü Yuan had arranged long ago.

Once he entered primary school, the nursery would no longer be obliged to provide for his basic needs.

On top of that, nurseries were generally clustered around factory districts, a considerable distance from primary schools, and the schools had no dormitories.

So at this point, students had to rent their own homes and take care of all their own food, clothing, housing, and transportation.

Of course, given the talent Lü Yuan had shown in the test, if he really wanted to go back and live there, there was no reason he couldn't.

The director would certainly welcome him.

It was just that there really wasn't much there for him to miss. That cramped, pitch-dark little nest was the road he had come from.

And a man did not retrace his steps.

That, however, was what he told other people.

The real reason, of course, was that he needed a private space of his own. Otherwise, both the upcoming conversation and his subsequent cultivation would be inconvenient.

"Clack, clack, clack-"

In the modestly sized rental, the sound of a cleaver falling came in fits and starts as Lü Yuan moved back and forth in the kitchen.

Cooking had actually been one of Lü Yuan's few hobbies in his previous life.

The process kept his hands moving and gave him something to do, while also giving him a chance to think.

But for the past eight years, he had worked too hard for this day to have many opportunities to take up the hobby again.

Now, though, things were different. Not only had he successfully entered primary school ten years early as a factory-recommended student,

he had also established contact with the ancient cultivator Lü Yuan from another world, and with his and the Immortal Book's help, had become a "Pseudo Spirit Root" in other people's eyes.

He had considerable investment value.

So now that his life and circumstances finally allowed him to relax,

he could finally take up his hobby again and make time to do the things he wanted to do by himself.

"A little salty... I'm out of practice after not cooking for so long-"

After taking a small sip of the chicken soup he'd made with a ladle, Lü Yuan quietly assessed his handiwork.

Even so, he had no intention of making it over. Instead, he thought...

It's good enough. So what if it's a little salty? Does it need to be precise enough to build a rocket?

Meanwhile, his phone kept vibrating and ringing nonstop.

Small companies and GG brokers from who knew where had been doggedly sending him spam all day.

A few of them were even mixed up in scams.

Blocking them did no good; they just kept switching numbers.

So Lü Yuan could only choose to ignore them all.

It wasn't that he didn't want to make money, but signing contracts that might have traps in them for such small gains simply wasn't worth it.

Wasn't taking out online loans a better deal?

After all, he had been busy from morning until afternoon, without stopping for a moment, borrowing from every major and minor lender that opened an account for him or raised his credit limit.

Another 30,000 Spirit Stone Vouchers had landed in his account.

By that count, even without what Lin Qi had lost to him, Lü Yuan already had more than 60,000 Spirit Stone Vouchers' worth of immortal-path potential.

Still, over the long stretch from early morning to evening, he had naturally done more than take out loans, cook for practice, and wait for Lin Qi to visit.

He had spent more of his time thinking.

The problems from before had basically all been dealt with, but two new ones had appeared before Lü Yuan.

First, the difference between his Pseudo Spirit Root and the other Pseudo Spirit Roots he could find information on in public sources.

At this point, Lü Yuan was fairly certain that the information on Pseudo Spirit Roots he had found on Mingyang City's network was somewhat one-sided.

A Pseudo Spirit Root—no, a Pseudo Spirit Root with a Spiritual Qi Aptitude score of 49.68-was far more important than he had initially thought.

Otherwise, judging by the examples online with scores of 45 and 46, the treatment he was receiving now made no sense at all.

Why had he previously thought of using the money he had won from Lin Qi as repayment potential to borrow more?

Because he knew that an ordinary Pseudo Spirit Root would never receive this much investment early on.

That meant his Pseudo Spirit Root had to signify something, but Lü Yuan couldn't figure out what that was yet.

The second question was why the factory manager and the director had acted almost as if they were trying to curry favor with him.

In theory, although the two of them were only the subsidiary's dogs,

they were still at Foundation Establishment. He was just a primary school student who wasn't even a dog yet, hadn't been recruited for the time being, and hadn't even reached Embryonic Breathing.

Why go so far?

They had even been so frightened that they wouldn't take his money.

After thinking about it for a while, Lü Yuan finally arrived at the most plausible answer.

There had to be someone in the subsidiary who had taken a fancy to him and placed great importance on him.

That was what had caused this situation.

And in the first answer, the difference Lü Yuan couldn't figure out might be the reason that person valued him.

"What a headache..."

"To make sure nothing goes wrong, I've been cosplaying as the cultivation punk world's Conan all day long."

Lü Yuan gave a soft sigh. After setting all four dishes and the soup on the living room table, he sat down.

He quietly waited for Lin Qi, a reincarnated Purple Mansion cultivator, to arrive.

As for why he wasn't worried that the person at the company who might have taken a fancy to him could be watching his every move...

Lü Yuan could only say that such worry was completely unnecessary.

Even if the other party was Mingyang City's only Purple Mansion True Person, there was nothing to worry about.

After all, this was no longer the old era-

The bad old habit Purple Mansion cultivators had in the ancient cultivation era of going around ensnaring people and manipulating fate had long since been cast aside by the times.

Nowadays, that bunch from ancient times were defined as nothing but a pack of parasites who lived without striving to better themselves and only wasted Spiritual Qi!

As far as the company was concerned, someone who didn't work to improve their cultivation and create more value for the company, but instead fixated on a few lower-level cultivators and used resources so wastefully,

was the very picture of someone narrow-minded, stupid, and wicked.

A company parasite who deserved to die!

This was an era when everyone had work to do and everyone had a prison sentence to serve. For the company's cultivators, if you didn't strive to get ahead, your colleagues were striving every minute of the day.

Fail to advance and you fall behind; fall behind and you're eliminated. That was the company's iron law.

If there really was some extraordinary person willing to give up their own status and wealth just to watch a primary school student who hadn't even reached Embryonic Breathing every moment of the day,

what more could he say...

If you're that immune to pressure, I might as well give you my ID number while I'm at it.

Besides, although the ancient cultivator Lü Yuan ignored him, he had still kept the Immortal Book in the space shared by their consciousnesses the whole time.

Judging by how it had opened an account for Lin Qi last time,

if a Purple Mansion cultivator really made a move, could they hide it from the Immortal Book?

The one who had bestowed the Immortal Book was a true immortal who could directly pronounce a prophecy that the ancient cultivator Lü Yuan would surely reach Dao Embryo!

The Immortal Book had to be a creation above Golden Core, with Dao Embryo as its starting point.

And a Purple Mansion cultivator wanted to challenge a Dao Embryo cultivator above their level?

That took courage.

"So there's nothing to worry about at all. If you really want to step into the ring, take it up with my Immortal Book!!"

"Only someone who can survive afterward without being treated like a speed bump by the Immortal Book is worthy of coming after me."

Lü Yuan thought this as he prepared a pot of hot water for himself.

"Tap, tap..."

Heavy footsteps came from downstairs, and Lü Yuan merely took a small sip of hot water.

School wasn't out yet, and none of this year's new students besides him lived in this building.

So there was only one answer.

The person he was waiting for had arrived.

"Knock, knock..."

Before long, the knock at the door made Lü Yuan stop what he was doing. He then walked unhurriedly to the door.

He opened it-

Sure enough, it was Lin Qi.

She was a little shorter than Lü Yuan, and her small face was lowered slightly, concealing her expression.

In theory, Lü Yuan should have spoken at this point and invited her in.

But to his surprise, before he could say anything, Lin Qi raised her head and spoke first:

"Our contract isn't complicated."

"So... why didn't you ask for the money this morning? Why did you have me come here tonight instead-"

Lü Yuan didn't answer immediately. This wasn't the right place to discuss those things.

So he simply shook his head.

"Come in first. I just made dinner. It shouldn't taste any worse than the food in the nursery cafeteria."

"We can discuss it in detail inside after we eat."

But Lin Qi didn't move to come in. Instead, her expression grew increasingly strange, and she seemed to have confirmed something.

So she spoke bluntly.

She asked in return, "So... do you want to fuck me?"

Hearing this, Lü Yuan, who had come into tonight's conversation with a basic idea of what to expect and had already worked out how to lead Lin Qi through the process, suddenly coughed.

"What?"

"Of course not!"

Although that lion-like way of speaking nearly made Lü Yuan lose his composure for a moment,

he quickly recovered and raised his voice in denial.

If he didn't deny it, his innocence would be gone!

"Then why didn't you ask me for the money, and instead have me come to your room at night?"

Lin Qi, who still had some boundaries left and had already prepared herself to die rather than submit, put down the money, and leave, nearly lost her composure too as she asked the question.

Lü Yuan: Holy crap, when you put it like that, you kind of have a point.