Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation

The final exams ended.

Afternoon.

The weather became even colder, the temperature dropping to negative eight degrees. Pedestrians on the road all kept their hands tucked into their pockets for warmth.

Xue Yuantong walked in front of Jiang Ning, leading the way. She was dressed in a pink and white down jacket, her hair styled in a bun, and her feet were in little cotton shoes, exuding a naturally cute, youthful vibe.

"Why are you walking so fast?" asked Jiang Ning.

"Of course, to go home and sleep," Xue Yuantong replied without turning around.

"Don't you want to eat something first?"

"No need, I'm saving room for hot pot tonight."

Jiang Ning: "Alright then."

Xue Yuantong had invited Jiang Ning for hot pot in the evening, and to prepare for the feast, she intended to rest and gather her strength for the battle ahead!

Back when she lived in the village, Xue Yuantong would always skip a meal in the morning whenever there was a banquet, emptying her stomach.

By doing so, she would feast voraciously at lunch, aiming to eat her way to recouping the money given as a gift!

Jiang Ning pushed his mountain bike out of the campus. Though Xue Yuantong was petite, she was very agile. As soon as they left the school, she deftly jumped onto the back seat, quite adeptly.

Xue Yuantong still sat sideways. First, she clung to the corner of Jiang Ning's clothes with her little hand, pondered for a second, then said:

"Jiang Ning, cycle faster."

Then she stretched out her arms and naturally hugged Jiang Ning, sharing her body heat with him.

Jiang Ning complained, "Don't hold on so tight."

Xue Yuantong scoffed, "It's not like I can't move."

Yet even as she spoke, she loosened her grip a little.

The mountain bike traveled along the street, and the chilling wind at negative seven or eight degrees felt like a knife scraping against the face. People on the street were usually fully geared up.

The occasional car passing by elicited envious glances from the pedestrians.

Jiang Ning activated his mana to dispel the coldness around them.

Upon arriving home, Aunt Gu had returned from work. Xue Yuantong slid off the bike, in a hurry she dashed into the room, her cotton shoes flying off with a kick, shed her down jacket and squeezed into her bed, covering herself with the blankets:

"Mom, I'm going into hibernation, wake me up at seven tonight. Pretend that your daughter didn't come home in the meantime."

"Gone to pieces, bye."

Xue Yuantong closed her eyes.

After hearing the noise, Aunt Gu went to Xue Yuantong's bedroom door. First, she glared at her daughter on the bed, then went over to tuck her in properly, to prevent her from catching a cold.

She also neatly arranged the cotton shoes, and after finishing these chores, Aunt Gu turned on the small desk lamp, filling the room with soft, warm light.

Perhaps it was just a feeling, but the daughter's room didn't seem as cold as before.

Aunt Gu walked to the door and, seeing Jiang Ning, she smiled kindly:

"Tongtong sometimes acts like this, but she's usually very well-behaved."

Aunt Gu felt the need to explain her daughter's behavior to Jiang Ning for the sake of her image.

"Yeah, Aunt Gu, I know," Jiang Ning said, unconcerned as he pushed the mountain bike into the house.

Aunt Gu then took a ball of yarn and sat down in her daughter's room to knit a sweater.

During breaks, she'd pause and look at her soundly sleeping daughter, the corners of her lips curling into a gentle smile.

This kind of life had only appeared in Aunt Gu's dreams in the past.

...

In Jiang Ning's room, the door was firmly closed, the light left on, shrouded in a hazy mist.

He sat cross-legged on the soft bed, his Divine Sense spread throughout the room, enjoying the nourishment of the Soul Suppressing Fragrance like the listless Xue Yuantong on the bed.

Jiang Ning's eyes were closed, as a faint glow intermittently flashed at the center of his brow.

The frequency of the glow's flashing increased, finally becoming steady like the light in the room, a faint red dot shone continuously at his brow.

Jiang Ning opened his eyes, the faint red dot at the center of his brow suddenly shot out, igniting a candle placed on the table. The tiny flame that emerged was surrounded by the red glimmer, teasing the flame into flickering restlessly.

"To my surprise, who would have thought that the Divine Sense could actually reach the 'Burning Lamp' realm."

Though the realms of cultivation of Divine Sense were not as detailed as those of Qi Cultivation, there were still rough distinctions between the different levels.

The Randeng Realm was the first of these levels, attainable only by a few cultivators endowed with exceptional talent and abundant resources, who could refine their Divine Sense to the 'Burning Lamp' extent within the Qi Cultivation Realm.

Once, it wasn't until the late stage of Qi Cultivation, at the Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer, that Jiang Ning's Divine Sense successfully reached the 'Burning Lamp'.

Unexpectedly, now, having only reached the Qi Cultivation Fourth Layer and not yet broken through to the Qi Refining Fifth Layer, he had mastered such a technique.

This was exceedingly favorable for Jiang Ning's plans, meaning that he could use the Divine Origin Shuttle to explore with mana at a lower cultivation level.

For a time, Jiang Ning's mood was quite good. He took out his phone and sent a message to Shao Shuangshuang.

He lived a few kilometers away from Shao Shuangshuang. Following the breakthrough of his Divine Sense, his detectable range had reached three hundred meters, a distance completely insufficient for voice transmission, thus communication through the internet on a cellphone was necessary.

Jiang Ning informed her that, should she encounter any items related to puppets within a four-hundred-kilometer radius and could not make a decision, she might notify him at any time.

After all, now that he had a Spirit Boat, traveling back and forth over four hundred kilometers took barely more than an hour.

On the other end, Shao Shuangshuang replied immediately: "I was planning to report a piece of news to you tonight, but I might as well tell you now. A rare ornamental tree has had its price raised from five million to thirty million because of malicious competition from a rival."

At this time, thirty million was an enormous sum, and an ornamental plant sold at this price would make a name for itself within the inner circles if made public.

Nowadays, with Evergreen Liquid selling enormously overseas and bringing in terrifying sales, the company's cash flow reserves were counted by the billions. Shao Shuangshuang, remembering Jiang Ning's instructions, would immediately throw cash to acquire those items just to deliver them to Jiang Ning as quickly as possible.

Shao Shuangshuang was very clear that these expenses were negligible. With the financial power provided by Evergreen Liquid, they were definitely affordable, and she had come to greatly trust Jiang Ning, even believing that he might have other medicinal products hidden away.

Whether for beauty, vision, or any other aspect, each one represented a market worth trillions.

So, to assist Jiang Ning, the Evergreen Liquid team was buying rare items extravagantly, an act that naturally could not avoid attracting the attention of many forces.

"The team from An City purchased that tree, but there was a problem during the handover, and it was snatched away by another buyer," said Shao Shuangshuang.

"Afterward, I had someone look into it, and it turned out the seller was attempting to test our bottom line on behalf of someone else."

Jiang Ning asked, "Do you have information on the other party?"

Shao Shuangshuang replied, "An City, Lin Zhongsheng Group."

"It wasn't just that tree; several other items we were searching for, as long as they were in An City or Nan City, were all first bought by Lin Zhongsheng Group. Their group's influence spreads across several neighboring provinces; their power is entrenched and complex. Our team was newly established and couldn't compare to them in terms of connections."

"I sent people to negotiate, but they leveraged shares in Changqing Liquid Group as blackmail—if we refused, they hinted that we wouldn't be able to obtain the items we wanted in the surrounding provinces in the future."

"Shares are impossible. At the inception of our company, we decided that shares would not be leaked," Shao Shuangshuang explained.

Jiang Ning said, "Can the financial power of Changqing Liquid Group compare with Lin Zhongsheng Group?"

Shao Shuangshuang said, "Not currently, but our company's analysts indicate that we can catch up in cash flow within two years."

Jiang Ning responded, "Reserve funds for company expansion and operation, as well as twelve months of staff salaries, and use all the remaining financial resources to compete with them in a bidding war."

Money can push even ghosts to grind.

After hearing this, Shao Shuangshuang did not object; she immediately agreed, saying:

"I'll arrange it on my end."

What she didn't say, however, was that by engaging in a price war, Evergreen Liquid's reputation for being wealthy and powerful would spread far and wide. As a result, acquiring other items in the future might lead to inflated prices.

Despite feeling a pang of distress, Shao Shuangshuang also felt gratified. You Lin Zhongsheng Group think you're financially astounding, mighty and powerful, eh?

I'll crush you with money, beat you into submission, what kind of so-called business tycoon are you!

Setting down his phone, Jiang Ning had naturally considered the points that Shao Shuangshuang had in mind.

But by the time that day came, with his cultivation vastly improved and the speed of the Spirit Boat further increased, all that would be needed was for the Evergreen Liquid team to provide information, and he would directly retrieve the Spiritual Objects.

Be it by cunning acquisition or by sheer force, the final word would be his.