CHAPTER 482: CHAPTER 482: MUNDANE WORLDLY LIFE_1

Xu Lai hesitated for a moment, then smiled. "Daddy doesn’t like grapes. You can have them."

"Okay then." Xu Yiyi ate the grape.

"Big Sister, I have grapes too. Do you want some?" Qian Xiao toddled over, peeled a grape from his own fruit box, and handed it to Xu Yiyi.

This scene made Xu Lai freeze.

One hundred thousand years ago, I also peeled grapes for my senior sister like this, only we were slightly older than these two. But Yiyi isn’t my senior sister. My senior sister would have eaten the grapes with a smile.

Yiyi put on a serious face and said, "You haven’t washed your hands. I’m not eating it."

Qian Xiao was speechless.

Xu Lai, on the other hand, was very pleased with his daughter’s words.

How could anyone eat without washing their hands first?

He quickly raised an eyebrow and asked, "Daughter, have you washed your hands?"

"I don’t mind my own germs."

As Xu Yiyi spoke, she ate another grape. It seemed a bit sour. Her face scrunched up as she complained aggrievedly, "Daddy, the grapes don’t taste good."

Xu Lai rubbed his daughter’s head and laughed heartily.

"Uncle Xu, do you know about my mom’s pregnancy?" Qian Xiao suddenly leaned in and asked conspiratorially.

"The baby isn’t my dad’s!" Yiyi’s pretty eyes flew open in a glare.

Xu Lai was speechless.

He said helplessly, "Be quiet. Don’t talk nonsense."

Qian Xiao said glumly, "I was just going to ask, Uncle Xu, since you’re a doctor, if you could recommend any good supplements to support a pregnancy. I want to buy them for my mom."

Xu Lai was surprised.

Although Qian Xiao is usually an annoying little brat, deep down he’s actually a warm-hearted kid.

Feeling quite gratified, Xu Lai handed something over. "Here. Tell your mom to dissolve this in water and drink it when you get home."

The pregnancy-supporting item Xu Lai gave him was the gallbladder of a Black-patterned Snow Snake. The item was delicious, but it could also be used in pill refining.

"Thank you, Uncle Xu," Qian Xiao said happily.

"Be a good person from now on."

Xu Lai reached out and patted Qian Xiao’s head as well.

"I’ll definitely try my best!"

Qian Xiao nodded vigorously. But as Xu Lai drove away with Big Sister, the little guy grew pensive.

Uncle Xu’s words... Something about them seems a little off. What is it?

Qian Xiao scratched his head, thinking hard but failing to figure it out.

***

Xu Lai picked up his wife and returned home.

Ruan Tang hugged Yiyi and asked with a gentle smile, "First day of school. Did you miss Mommy?"

"No."

"...You must have. Think hard," Ruan Tang said, handing her daughter a cup of warm water.

Xu Yiyi thought carefully for about half a minute before saying seriously, "No, really, Mommy. But I did wonder for a little while what tasty food Daddy would make for dinner tonight."

Ruan Tang put on a deeply wounded expression.

Xu Lai chuckled. "My daughter still knows who dotes on her the most."

"Hm?" Ruan Tang touched Xu Lai’s forehead and smiled sweetly. "Mr. Xu, you don’t seem to have a fever. Why are you talking such nonsense?"

Xu Lai took her small hand in his and grinned. "I have plenty of other nonsense to say. Want to hear it?"

"Pah!" Ruan Tang scoffed lightly. She knew that rogue Xu Lai would never have anything decent to say, so she opted to go upstairs and change into her loungewear.

Xu Lai kissed Yiyi’s cheek and then glanced toward the sofa.

Ruan Lan, who had been home all day, wasn’t playing games. Instead, she was studying the Go board. The black and white stones were constantly shifting. One moment she was shaking her head, the next she was frowning, and the next she was pulling at her hair, apparently stuck at an impasse.

Xu Lai watched for a moment and said in surprise, "Are you studying Array Setting?"

"You can actually understand this?" Ruan Lan was even more astonished. She huffed, "Brother-in-law, do you even know what the Way of Formation is?"

"Not really. Why don’t you teach me?" Xu Lai said humbly.

Ruan Lan had wanted to act like a sagely expert, but pointing at the Go board, she couldn’t articulate a single word. She suddenly deflated, slumping over the board and crying out in frustration, "Argh! What Array Patterns, array cores, array posture, array structure... it’s all so complicated!"

Of course it is. You don’t even know how the most basic Array Patterns are formed, yet you want to learn about cores, posture, and structure? And judging by the layout on this board, it looks like you’re trying to set up an unparalleled Great Array? That’s pure fantasy!

Xu Lai sighed. "Let me teach you. You have to remember to take things one step at a time."

"No." Ruan Lan didn’t even look up. "I’m not learning Array Patterns. Who says a Formation has to have Array Patterns?"

Xu Lai was dumbfounded. With a dark expression, he asked, "Is that what the legacy in the board told you? That you don’t need to learn them?"

"Nope," Ruan Lan said, puzzled. "I just don’t want to. It’s too hard."

Xu Lai fell silent. He suddenly understood how the ancient ancestor of the Star Origin Sect had been able to create the Starlight Array—a Great Array that defied common sense by not using any Array Patterns.

It was purely due to being slow-witted or just plain lazy! Unwilling or unable to learn Array Patterns, he must have just said to hell with them. ’I’m not learning this!’ So instead, he used things he could understand to set up the Formation... From another perspective, isn’t that a sign of innate genius?

Xu Lai’s expression was complicated. It was no wonder that only Ruan Lan, a terribly awful Go player, was able to solve the remnant game on the board. The ancestor of the Star Origin Sect and Ruan Lan actually had something in common.

But while a master could open the door, cultivation was up to the individual. Xu Lai had already given Ruan Lan the Emperor Scripture and the two Great Arrays passed down by a Great Emperor who had made a brief appearance nineteen epochs ago. One Great Array was for slaughter; the other was for defense. With two Great Emperors having passed down their knowledge so generously, her starting point surpassed almost every other cultivator in the Immortal Domain. How far she could go from here depended entirely on her own fortune.

Even Xu Lai felt a bit envious of his sister-in-law.

Back in my day, my master was merely in the Nascent Soul Realm. The Cultivation Technique he practiced was so third-rate it was embarrassing to even mention, and he never broke through the shackles of the Human Race. I had no background, no advanced Cultivation Technique, and no cultivation resources. The bitterness and hardship I had to endure to get to where I am today, step by step, while bearing such shackles, was simply unimaginable.

"Keep it up." Xu Lai patted Ruan Lan’s shoulder, his voice filled with encouragement. "You’re the best!"

Ruan Lan pushed his hand away with a hint of disdain. "Brother-in-law, can you not use that tone you use to praise a child on me? It’s like you think I’m a three-year-old."

Xu Lai was speechless and decided to leave her alone.

After making dinner, Xu Lai went into the courtyard and took out the Barrier where Jing Ke was being held, trying once again to find any clues.

But, as always, he found nothing.

Xu Lai stood in the yard, gazing down from the peak of Mount Haitang at the dazzling lights of the East Sea, and sank into a long silence.

「Meanwhile, on an island in Sakura Country.」

The island was nameless, yet it was known as a forbidden land for the martial artists of Sakura Country. No cultivator who set foot here, regardless of their Boundary, had ever returned alive.

No one knew that on this nameless island stood an opulent palace. A dozen or so members of the Great Sword Sect, all famous throughout Sakura Country, knelt on one knee outside, their faces fervent with devotion.

"The disciples of the Moon Sect respectfully welcome the Saint!"

These masters of the Sword Sect, all above the Ninth Grade, bowed their heads in unison, not daring to look at the figure seated within the grand hall.

Ji Jie sat on a silvery-white throne as radiant as the moon. She rested her chin in one hand, ignoring the fervent devotees outside the hall. Between her fingertips, she pinched a green grape, lost in thought.

Clearly, she was pondering the few deals she had made with Xu Lai that day.

"The deals were profitable," Ji Jie murmured, her lips curling into a smile as she ate the grape.

She seemed a bit tired. With a touch of disappointment, she closed her eyes.

The Moon was barren. She had always yearned for the prosperity and richness of Earth. But this was her first time visiting, and Ji Jie was deeply disappointed. Earth wasn’t as wonderful as she had imagined.

The grape was sour. Just like the mundane mortal world.