Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life-Chapter 158: Li Kai’s Kindness

Su Ming’s reputation as a “prodigy” began to ferment in a strange way among the lower ranks of Formation Peak.

No one claimed he had exceptional talent in formations.

All the circulating versions turned into:

“Did you hear? That Su Ming from External Affairs looked at the accounts and found every flaw in the Shield Formation in one glance!”

“That’s nothing! He drew a diagram and the Vessel Hall obediently raised their material standards!”

“Now when we repair formation plates, we don’t need to think anymore. We just follow his ‘manual’—efficiency’s more than doubled!”

Su — Accounting Mister — Ming, in Formation Peak, had unexpectedly planted his first foothold in a way nobody anticipated.

Month’s end.

Su Ming was in the materials room, receiving the spiritual ink for next month’s practice.

The steward in charge of distribution treated him extra politely, his face full of smiles. “Junior Brother Su, this is your monthly allotment. I picked out the best for you.” As he spoke, he pushed several ink ingots whose quality was clearly superior to the usual pieces in front of him.

At that moment, a silent figure came to the counter beside him.

It was Li Kai.

He was still the taciturn type, head bowed, accepting his own share—the most ordinary materials as a menial laborer.

The two exchanged almost no words, like strangers.

But as Li Kai received his materials and turned to leave, his step seemed to pause imperceptibly. His gaze, faint but deliberate, swept over the pile of high-quality ink in front of Su Ming.

His sight lingered for less than half a breath on one particular ingot, its color unusually dark and its texture appearing remarkably even and fine.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he walked away without a backward glance.

The whole process was so quick it felt like an illusion.

Yet Su Ming’s heart leapt. He was sure this was no coincidence.

He casually reached out, took the ingot that Li Kai’s gaze had “marked,” and slipped it into his storage pouch. His face remained calm, but he was alert inwardly. “Master, what did Li Kai mean by that? What’s special about this ink?”

“Not sure.” Lin Yu’s soul thought carried curiosity. “The spiritual light contained in that ingot seems purer than the others. But that kid wouldn’t act without cause. He’s probably signaling that this is something good. Keep it for now;we’ll test it later and find out.”

…

Another month-end assessment day.

A Formation Peak steward responsible for inspecting repair outcomes frowned as he flipped through the jade slip of records in his hand.

“Strange,” he murmured, “why is this month’s repair submission failure rate over thirty percent lower than last month’s?”

He walked over to Chen Ping and handed him the jade slip, his tone full of disbelief. “Junior Brother Chen, take a look. This month, all the repair plates submitted by the new menials show a major drop in failure rates. Especially… this one named Su Ming.”

The steward’s finger tapped the data after Su Ming’s name.

“He submitted thirty-seven repaired pieces, covering basic formations of Lighting, Rock Stabilization, and Sharp Metal.”

“Assessment result… zero failures!”

“And according to the patrol disciples’ feedback, the average spiritual energy loss during subsequent use of his repaired plates was five percent below the standard value—the lowest of anyone!”

The steward looked at Chen Ping, astonishment written all over his face. “This kid seems plain, even a little clumsy. But how did the things he repaired become… so solid and durable?”

Chen Ping took the jade slip. Seeing the glaring ‘zero failures’ and the efficiency improvement numbers, a complex, already-knowing smile appeared on his face. He patted the steward’s shoulder with a tone of matter-of-fact clarity.

“Senior Brother Wang, you’ll get used to it. This is someone Elder Ma favors.”

…

At dusk, Su Ming walked back toward Courtyard Ding-Qi.

He detoured to the Hall of Meritorious Deeds in External Affairs first.

As soon as Zhao Ping, who handled monthly stipends, saw him, he approached with a beaming face and an even warmer, almost respectful tone than usual. “Senior Brother Su! You’re here!”

He respectfully handed Su Ming a heavy cloth pouch.

“This is your monthly stipend. Elder Ma specially approved one from External Affairs and one from Formation Peak, that’s six low-grade spirit stones total.”

The other menials collecting stipends shot envious, even reverent looks his way. Six spirit stones! That was almost the monthly allowance of some outer disciples! And this was only a menial’s income! 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Su Ming accepted the pouch calmly, thanked him, and turned to leave, as if oblivious to the whispers behind him.

He kept the spirit stone pouch close, feeling the warm, pure spiritual energy through the cloth. There was no ripple on his face, as if this were ordinary.

But for the first time, Su Ming felt a deep sense of security. In this perilous cultivation world, tangible resources like these were the foundation of his foothold and steady progress.

Back in Courtyard Ding-Qi, Su Ming did not go straight into his room.

Instead he glanced up at the southern room still emitting a faint light.

Who exactly was Li Kai? What was his intention in signaling like that? What hidden quality did that ink ingot hold?

Su Ming withdrew his gaze and pushed open his door.

No matter what, strengthening himself was never wrong.

After closing the door, Su Ming efficiently activated the compound formation in his room.

Absolute silence and secrecy enveloped him once more.

He took out the dark-hued ink ingot.

“Master, this object…”

“Hold on. I need to use soul power to probe carefully, confirm there’s no poison, no tracking marks, no spiritual traps.”

“Preliminary probe shows the ink ingot itself doesn’t contain malicious curses, tracking sigils, or explosive arrays—common traps are absent. The spiritual energy contained seems a bit better than what you used before.”

“Let’s first find a discarded, unimportant formation plate to test it on, see what effect this ink has.”

Su Ming immediately pulled out an almost-falling-apart old formation plate from the corner.

“Now, grind just a tiny bit of ink, only enough to inscribe one most-basic rune. While you carve, I’ll fully monitor your divine sense, spiritual energy, and any minute changes in the ink. If anything goes wrong, drop the brush immediately!”

Su Ming inhaled deeply, steadying his mind and calming his spirit.

Following Lin Yu’s instructions, he took only a pea-sized amount of the ingot, ground it carefully, then dipped a spare rune brush until it was saturated.

The brush tip descended, and spiritual energy began to slowly flow in.