Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation

Night.

Hu City, hotel.

Jiang Ning leaned against the soft sofa, legs crossed, as he lifted the tall wine glass filled with a dark brown liquid, tiny bubbles rising within.

Beyond the expansive floor-to-ceiling windows, lights dazzled everywhere, illuminating the city in a spectacular and eye-catching facade.

He gently swirled the glass, then drank down the cola in one gulp.

As Xue Yuantong fussed with the luggage, she, cradling a porcelain plate, caught sight of him looking so comfortable and couldn't help but tease him,

"Look at you, having the time of your life!"

She wrapped the porcelain plate carefully, placing it atop neatly folded clothes to act as a cushion.

This was a small dish she had hand-painted with underglaze colors back in Ceramic City, the surface white as jade, bearing a vibrant, colorful bird.

This porcelain plate, a witness to her journey, was suited to be a gift for Chuchu.

Their train was scheduled for tomorrow morning at 10 am, a 20-hour journey from Hu City to Yuzhou.

Jiang Ning had booked a deluxe sleeper with a double bed and an en suite bathroom, akin to a standard hotel room, thus the journey promised to be quite enjoyable.

Jiang Ning admired the night view, with no intention whatsoever of helping Tongtong pack.

Despite sometimes complaining, she would have disliked it if Jiang Ning truly lent a hand.

The corners of Jiang Ning's mouth tilted up, his face betraying a faint smile; she was as stubborn as ever.

Reflecting on the distant past when he handled business trips with a hands-on approach, he had indeed found comfort in the clear compartmentalization of tasks of today.

Jiang Ning took out his iPad, and after unlocking it, a page full of game icons appeared, animated elegantly in transition.

This iPad, initially a struggle for Xue Yuantong to navigate, had nearly become her exclusive gaming console.

He once asked Yuantong whether she could actually play all those games she had installed.

Xue Yuantong had replied that even if she couldn't play them all, just seeing them gave a sense of security!

And indeed, Jiang Ning felt that sense of security seeing a whole page of games; even if the whole world lost internet connection, these games alone could keep one occupied for quite some time.

He opened Hearthstone, a game Tongtong often played.

After she had dominated the leaderboard using her Mechanical Mage deck, toppling various masters, she had started to devise new strategies to overwhelm newbies.

Upon entering the game, Jiang Ning found that Xue Yuantong had hoarded a mountain of Gold Coins.

He asked, "Why are you saving so many Gold Coins? Why not spend them?"

Without looking up from her packing, Xue Yuantong responded, "Tsk, you don't understand. I like the feeling of saving money."

Jiang Ning chuckled, "That's funny, because I like the feeling of spending money."

Xue Yuantong didn't value the achievements in the game; even if her account was destroyed, she would still be indifferent—the digital possessions were just that, virtual. To her, Jiang Ning was the most important person.

She posed as a woman of leisure, "Go ahead, spend it. If it's not enough, I'll earn more for you."

...

Xue Yuantong finished packing everything, and by 10:30 pm, after playing games for a while, she reluctantly left Jiang Ning's room, returning to her own.

After she left, the room quickly became quiet as if life had drained from it.

Jiang Ning tapped his finger lightly, and in an instant, all lights were turned off. He leaned back in the darkness, gazing out at the city's dazzling lights.

Becoming a Cultivator, sleep was no longer a daily necessity for Jiang Ning.

However, in order to appear more like an ordinary person, he chose to sleep at night most times, but occasionally, like now, he would sit quietly through the night.

To others, such behavior might seem lonely, since usually only those with insomnia would do so.

But Jiang Ning didn't see it that way; his Divine Sense, like dark clouds, covered the buildings below, the streets, the vehicles—he could "see" many things.

On the street, within a Porsche saloon car, a young woman was cooing to the plump owner of the car, telling him how much she adored him in his absence.

In truth, as Jiang Ning's Divine Sense passed by, the dopamine levels in the woman's brain remained normal—she was lying.

In a building across the way, in a living room, a teenage boy told his parents he just returned from studying, but checking the substance on the boy's clothes, Jiang Ning determined he had just come from an internet café.

Next door at the restaurant, the head chef scolded the assistant chef, who seemed obedient on the surface. But as soon as the young man turned around, his face was filled with malice.

Jiang Ning silently watched everything unfold. Above the night sky of Hu City, it was as if a pair of massive eyes appeared, overlooking the earth below.

Within a two-mile radius, he could find where Spiritual Power was most abundant, the most delicious food, the most beautiful women... all within his grasp.

Such omnipotence, the ability to see through everything, could easily make one succumb, surpassing all rights, wealth, a power on par with that of the Divine, tempting one to indulge.

Yet Jiang Ning used it merely to pass the time. After a while, he withdrew his Divine Sense, closed his eyes, and faded into the darkness.

...

1 am.

Three kilometers outside the hotel, several people stood by the roadside.

A woman, likely in her mid-twenties, was wrapped in a trench coat and of tall stature. At the moment, her face was painted with makeup but filled with rage, bitterness, and spite.

"Find him, you must catch him for me. I want to see what he has been doing behind my back!" she shrieked, her hands flailing about as if stricken with mania.

Beside her, a man with tattoos on his neck, a cigarette dangling from his lips, had a Jianghu aura:

"Sis, don't worry. If your husband dares to mess around, he'll pay the price."

He laughed heartily, "Remember, sis, after the divorce, you give me one of the houses in Su City!"

The woman in the trench coat screeched, "The moment you catch him, beat him hard for me, and that mistress too—beat her to death, strip her bare!"