CHAPTER 282: CHAPTER 282: WITH ME HERE, I WON’T LET HIM SUFFER

The "Soul Refining Banner" finished "receiving goods," and Hu Zhile had already brought Wan An over.

"Mr. Jiang, Mr. Bai, how have you been since you left that day?" The old man hadn’t been idle these days. He finally managed to benefit by getting a small part of the "Ghost Immortal Scripture" to draw in energy and nourish his soul, and he was seizing the time to study it.

However, given his old age and the relatively fragile state of his soul power, despite having the Cold Crystal Jade provided by Jiang Yuan for absorption, his cultivation progress was still modest.

The more difficult the cultivation, the more he understood the value of cultivators, and he grew more worried about the sudden upheaval that day.

Back then, it started with an extremely terrifying fight, after which Mr. Bai, with a serious expression, urged him to leave quickly, making Wan An feel that something significant might have happened.

Then there were several days of silence; he dared not contact them on his own and just hid in the courtyard in Black Water City, not daring to even open the door, leaving everything to Lin Dayou to buy and bring back.

Today, seeing Miss Hu, who spoke gently, personally come to pick him up, Wan An felt as if he had survived a calamity, finally able to relax.

"Everything is fine. Your precious grandson will be able to reach Foundation Establishment in a couple of days. With guidance from the Venerable Family, it will surely happen naturally." Bai Yunqi countered with a smile, "The Venerable Family just cleaned out the ghosts in the mountains, so you’ll have a lighter workload for now."

Upon hearing about his grandson’s successful cultivation, Wan An couldn’t stop smiling, "Good! Good! That’s wonderful!"

Jiang Yuan glanced at the sidebar task. In retrospect, old man Wan was the real guardian of his disciple. Even though he’s dead, the ghost still remains. Having raised him to this point, he should communicate his plan to take his disciple to find the Lin Family.

So, inviting him to the living room, Jiang Yuan briefly explained what he had learned.

"You mean that year...I was actually chosen?!" Wan An was left gaping after hearing this story stranger than fiction and, after a while, nodded, "Yes, yes, that indeed would make sense.

I was wondering why the process of finding Mingchuan back then is so hazy in my mind. Some things can be remembered especially clearly, while others are so vague that I can’t recall them. It turns out his mother chose me to raise her child on her deathbed.

No wonder when I held the baby, I always thought of heading to remote places. Several times I felt that following me, he suffered too much and considered finding a good family for him but couldn’t bring myself to do it. It wasn’t until we arrived at a deserted island and settled in Riverfront Village, using my hunting skills to settle down somewhere sufficiently secluded, that I felt peace.

Poor parents all over the world, his mother did her utmost. If she had a soul in heaven..."

He paused, realizing the irony, a pang of sorrow washing over him; he was dead yet could meet his grandson, whereas his grandson’s mother, a dignified cultivator, might have disappeared without a trace back then, having no spirit left to linger in heaven.

Wiping the corners of his eyes with his sleeve, Wan An nodded, "Mr. Jiang is indeed considerate. It’s necessary to help him find his family. No matter what, one must know where they come from. Living with awareness of one’s path, not muddling through, is the way to have a clear conscience."

Feeling his emotions surging, he mused how his grandson’s mother was gone, and hiding him away for so many years might’ve dodged vengeful foes but also avoided family searches.

Seventeen years flashed by, and with no word from his wife and child, how many strong men could remain steadfast?

Most likely, he has remarried and had other children, considering the previous child dead.

If Mingchuan sought his roots and returned to the Lin Family, wouldn’t his identity be awkward? A father who hasn’t seen him for years becoming a stranger, a stepmother likely taking the role of household mistress, potential half-siblings possibly vying openly or covertly, he’d be alone, how could he manage?

If he doesn’t seek his roots, what if his biological father, a romantic, is still searching sorrowfully for his wife and child, yet knowing his whereabouts chooses not to approach, wouldn’t that be a mortal tragedy?

"Mr. Jiang, Mingchuan’s life has been harsh. He lost his mother young, and even following me, he hasn’t had a good day. Now that I’m old and frail, I still have to rely on everyone for support. In the future, I entrust Mingchuan to you!" Wan An found it hard contemplating his grandson’s predicament, stood to kneel to Jiang Yuan.

"What are you doing? Get up!" Jiang Yuan was startled, hurriedly supporting the old man, comforting him, "Since I accepted Mingchuan as a disciple, I will naturally consider his matters thoroughly.

Old man, rest assured, as long as I’m around, Mingchuan will not be wronged. If the Lin Family acknowledges this kinship and treats him well, it’s fine. Whether he chooses to stay or not is up to him. If not, from where I stand, I won’t let him go back.

However, this is our business. We can’t make the decision for him. Mingchuan has to choose for himself. We’ll be his support, in case he regrets it one day and wants to leave or return, we’ll fully support him."

Bai Yunqi, arms crossed, listened for a moment, chuckled, "Old man, just put your mind at ease. With the Venerable Family protecting him, young Mingchuan won’t suffer under anyone. No need for them to intervene; I could eliminate them with a flick of my fingers! After all, what are these new emerging cultivation families from the spiritual energy revival worth?"

"Indeed, while there are increasingly more cultivators in the human world now, the foundation is still lacking," Hu Zhile explained gently, "After the last immortal ascended, the human world was devoid of spiritual energy. Without it, cultivators were like fish out of water, and those capable of escaping to other worlds couldn’t just wait around, so they all left;

Those without even the ability to flee exhausted their spiritual power and stored Spirit Stones. Without spiritual energy to replenish, they gradually became no different from mortals, with few surviving the long century to the arrival of spiritual energy brought by the wilderness.

The so-called families and sects now, aside from some ancestors returning from other worlds to watch over them, are mostly those whose cultivation ancestors left some inheritance behind when they left, unable to take all their branches. They started anew with the resurgence of spiritual energy.

Even with deep foundations, after the great ordeal, little remained, and truly lacked the qualification to negotiate with Senior Bai."

Seeing Wan An moved to tears as he swallowed one Calming Pill after another, Jiang Yuan hurriedly shifted the topic to avoid an overly sentimental scene he was not comfortable with.

Though the old man’s cultivation speed was average, the benefits were apparent. Once one began cultivating and absorbing pure energy that gathered within the soul, it greatly strengthened compared to ordinary ghosts, thus slightly enhancing his control over paper figures.

Seeing that it was about time, Jiang Yuan prepared two additional paper figures and paper horses for him, arranged things in the Netherworld, and like before, clicked to return to the main courtyard, bringing two contract pets and disappearing instantly from the small courtyard.

"What a twist of fate..." Wan An sighed at the spot where they vanished.

If time returned to before his death, he would never have believed that meeting a benefactor could lead him to such heights even after dying.

Yet fate is unpredictable and life full of surprises. Now not only could both the grandfather and grandson cultivate, but the grandson had also found immense backing, fulfilling all the hardships of this life in those past years, with smoother sailing promised ahead!

Meanwhile, Bai Yunqi, instantly teleported back to the small courtyard, revealed his original form and "whooshed" into the Spirit Pool, squeezing in time for cultivation;

Hu Zhile sat cross-legged on a rock by the Spirit Pool but was quietly lost in thought.

"Such speed without the dizziness of teleportation, could the Venerable Family cultivate some special technique?" She couldn’t fathom it no matter how hard she tried.

After silently musing for a while, she gave up, realizing the more means the Venerable Family had, the quicker they could escape in the event of a Demon Realm invasion or cataclysm, directly filling her with a sense of security!

So with awe turning into respect, Hu Zhile contributed another wave of goodwill.

"No way, how is goodwill increasing with no logic at all?" Jiang Yuan thought, puzzled over the sudden +100 goodwill.

Gift-giving and culinary creations typically raised goodwill. When he gave a black cloak to Yun Mo, the goodwill shot up instantly by 1000+.

But I didn’t do anything just now, and yet goodwill increased like this?