Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life-Chapter 2: Lucky Kid

The previous "landlord," that unlucky pill-refining fanatic, had exploded himself into a sky of bloody mist.

In the chaos, a faintly glowing ring was mistaken for some shiny bauble by a passing spirit-feather bird with poor eyesight. It snatched the ring in one bite and carried it back to its nest.

Lin Yu lay in the bird's nest for several days, listening to the mother bird and the chicks go about their daily business, and felt as if he was about to comprehend "bird-speech."

That was far more pleasant than listening to those short-lived landlords' dying wails.

He had temporarily escaped the sight of human cultivators. The seal pattern formed by the six blood streaks seemed to quiet down for lack of a "target," no longer emitting such a violent murderous aura.

The stinging pain from the thorny seal wrapped around his soul body had also eased a little, letting him, for once, take a breath.

He even began to enjoy the peace. For now, he didn't have to worry about when the next host would die, nor fret about when that damned seal might explode.

Until today, when a pair of grimy little hands pushed aside the weeds at the edge of the nest.

A pair of striking black-and-white, curious eyes, like two black grapes, stared fixedly at the ring.

Lin Yu's soul flame leapt.

It was a child. A boy of about ten, wearing a patched coarse cloth short jacket, with mud smudges still on his face.

"Wow!" The boy stifled an exclamation and carefully reached out a finger to poke the cold band of the ring.

Lin Yu's soul-body trembled.

This is bad!

A thousand images of reckless kids courting death flashed through his mind. Would the boy flick it like a marble? Trade it with the village idiot for a skewer of candied hawthorns? Or proudly bring it home to his parents like a treasure?

At the thought of the ring possibly falling into the hands of some narrow-minded, greedy villager, Lin Yu felt his spirit weaken. Compared to the previous six landlords who had at least been cultivators, mortals were even more uncontrollable. Their ignorance and greed could be deadlier than a cultivator's killing intent.

Worse, if this child were to die accidentally in his ignorance—even by falling or drowning—the seventh blood streak on the ring might form in an instant!

The "murderous vessel" seal the cyan-robed Taoist had mentioned would very likely collapse the moment the seventh blood streak completed, releasing unimaginable horror. Lin Yu's remnant soul would be the first to be obliterated without a trace!

The boy grinned, showing two rows of teeth, and chuckled. He snatched up the ring, shoved it into his shirt, and nimbly slid down the tree trunk.

Lin Yu felt the boy begin to run with short energetic legs through the forest.

"Second brother! Second brother! Look what I found!" The boy's clear shout pierced the ring's barrier, making Lin Yu's soul go numb.

This is terrifying! Lin Yu panicked completely. The sense of crisis rose like never before. This was no longer just exposure—this was a countdown of life and death!

Kids this age can't keep secrets! If he shouted about it and the whole village found out, bringing unwanted attention or accidents, the next victim of this "murderous-star ring" could very well be this naive boy! And once the seventh blood streak appeared, there would be no turning back for Lin Yu!

No. Absolutely not!

Five hundred years of survival-based cultivation suddenly unleashed an unprecedented will to live. He had to stop this child from revealing the secret, and he had to prevent anything that might lead to the child's accidental death! Passive waiting to die? No—this time he had to act!

There was no other choice!

Just as the boy was about to burst out of the woods toward the village where smoke rose from the kitchens, Lin Yu made up his mind. The thorny seal wrapped around his soul seemed to sense his resolve and trembled slightly.

He gathered the pitiful scrap of soul power he had and warped the ring's inner space. Novel scenes from his past life flashed through his mind—an air of mastery, yes, a demeanor suited to a high master! Immortal bearing, the white-bearded grandpa type!

He forced his faint soul-image into a seated, cross-legged phantom of an old man with flowing white whiskers. Though the details were vague and retained a somewhat translucent, gelatinous texture, the aura had to be convincing.

"Ahem."

An elderly, weak cough sounded directly inside the boy's mind.

Su Ming, who had been running full tilt, stumbled and almost face-planted.

"Who? Who is speaking?" He stopped dead, eyes wide with fear as he looked around. Only the rustle of leaves in the wind answered him.

"Li—ttle child..." Lin Yu's voice sounded again. He deliberately mimicked the tone of the old immortal in dramas he remembered, stretching the syllables to sound distant and mysterious.

Su Ming shuddered, his face paling as he clutched his chest. The voice seemed to come from his own bosom!

His trembling hand took the plain, rustic ring out. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Is... is it you talking?"

"Indeed." Lin Yu kept up the aloof master persona, his heart thumping. "Good heavens, this act is embarrassing. I hope he doesn't think I'm a demon. Worse, I hope his hand doesn't slip and he throws the ring, breaking it and triggering some damn mechanism!"

Su Ming stared at the unremarkable ring in his palm, his mouth forming an "O." Though a mountain village kid, he'd heard elders tell tales about spirits.

He did not throw the ring away. Instead, curiosity overcame his fear and he whispered, "Who... who are you? Are you an immortal grandpa from the mountain?"

This was promising!

Lin Yu brightened inside and continued to hold his pose. "Old man here... is but a remnant soul, sleeping in this ring for a thousand years. Today, I was awakened by you, little child." (Inner thought: Sleeping? More like bound by that damned seal for five hundred years!)

He spoke ambiguously on purpose, neither fully admitting to being an immortal nor denying an extraordinary origin.

Su Ming blinked, his young mind racing. "A thousand years? Then... then you must have lived for a very, very long time?"

"Long enough... to have forgotten the passing of the ages." Lin Yu sighed deeply, letting his tone carry a world-weary sense of a master lonely at the top.

In truth he was thinking: does five hundred years count as long? Compared to a thousand, is it lacking? The key wasn't how long he'd lived, but how to survive until the next blood streak didn't fall!

Su Ming cradled the ring like a priceless treasure, his eyes full of reverence and wonder. He lowered his voice like a conspirator and asked, "Grandpa! Are you very powerful?"

"Powerful?" The phantom hesitated—hard to answer. If he said he was powerful, he would be lying; he was a shabby soul tied up by a seal. If he said he wasn't, how could he manipulate the boy? How would he keep this child obedient and alive?

He chose to shift meanings.

"Old man... no longer concerns himself with worldly affairs. Fighting and killing are acts of the reckless. True doctrine lies in longevity and in... living sufficiently long."

Inner thought: Survive! You must survive! If you live longer, I live longer!

This line summed up his five centuries of survivalist strategy.

Su Ming half understood but seized on a key phrase. "Live long? Like the old locust tree at the village entrance?"

"...You could put it that way." Lin Yu's notional mouth twitched and he forced an explanation. "All things under heaven have lifespans. Cultivators who defy fate fight for that sliver of life. But all that striving often ends as dust. Only those who know how to avoid danger and cling to life can see the final vistas."

Inner thought: For example, I watched over six unlucky fools' graves.

He was already brainwashing his future "new landlord," instilling the core principle—survival above all!

Su Ming nodded as if understanding, then brightened with excitement and said, "Grandpa! You're so powerful! I'll take you home to show my parents and brothers! They'll be so happy!"

With that he bounded off again.

"Stop!" Lin Yu snapped, panic raising his voice eight tones higher, nearly breaking character. The thorny seal tightened sharply with his emotional fluctuation.

Su Ming froze, jolted by the stern command.

Lin Yu immediately realized he'd slipped, and hurried to soften his tone. He adopted a solemn, almost pleading cadence with a barely perceptible urgency and said, "Little child, do you know the meaning of 'an innocent man is punished because he bears treasure'?"