Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life-Chapter 230: Review

Dusk gathered from all directions, the setting sun like blood, dyeing the white mist outside the Questioning Heart Forest a murky orange-red.

Three days had already passed since the start of the assessment.

Most of the crowd in the plaza had dispersed. Those remaining were mostly the stewards from various peaks who had come to select people, and those menial disciples who were still anxiously waiting for their companions. The previously noisy discussions had long been worn away by the long wait. The air was filled with a weary calm, with only the occasional chirping of insects making the place feel even more desolate.

Suddenly, the perpetually churning Mirage Smoke parted on both sides without any warning.

There was no soaring spiritual light, nor any spectacular phenomena. A gaunt figure simply walked out from the depths of the mist, plain and unremarkable.

Su Ming's face was as pale as paper, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness. His gray robe, soaked through with sweat and then dried by his body heat, showed several creases. But his steps were exceptionally steady, each footfall landing with a precision as if measured by a ruler.

He raised his head, his deep, dark eyes sweeping across the plaza. It was a gaze that seemed to have surfaced from the deepest abyss of the sea, carrying a profound pressure and a silence utterly out of place with the surrounding hubbub.

The plaza froze for a moment.

Over at the Repair Hall area, Wang Defa had been leaning against a tree trunk dozing off. He was jolted awake by Zhang Asheng pushing him from the side. Lifting his head and seeing Su Ming, he was stunned for a moment, then his eyes immediately reddened. His lips trembled as he was about to rush forward, but was stopped by Qingfeng reaching out a hand beside him.

"Don't rush, look at the elder," Qingfeng said in a low voice.

In the distance, Zhao Yin, who had originally thought victory was assured, felt the cold smirk on his face freeze at the corner of his mouth. He stared fixedly at the dull, lusterless white token in Su Ming's hand, his fingernails unconsciously digging into the flesh of his palm. His gaze was so sinister it seemed about to drip with malice.

"He came out? He actually came out alive?"

In the southern corner, Li Kai, who had been sitting cross-legged in quiet meditation, leaned forward almost imperceptibly the moment Su Ming appeared.

His bloodshot eyes locked onto Su Ming like hooks.

As a formation master, he perceived more keenly than ordinary people that the aura around Su Ming, which had originally been somewhat sharp and exposed, was now completely withdrawn, becoming harmonious, obscure, like a stubborn stone sunk to the bottom of a deep pool.

On the viewing platform.

The Questioning Heart Elder, who had been resting with his eyes closed, slowly opened them.

Those eyes did not linger overly long on Su Ming's body, but instead looked directly into Su Ming's eyes.

Old and young, their gazes met in the air.

Su Ming only felt his soul tremble slightly, as if all his secrets had been seen through by that gaze, but he did not avert his eyes, continuing to look back calmly.

"Very good."

The Questioning Heart Elder gave a slight nod, uttering only these two words before closing his eyes again.

These two words were light, yet they struck the hearts of all the stewards present like a heavy hammer.

The Questioning Heart Elder had presided over the Heart Demon Grand Formation for sixty years and rarely spoke to comment on disciples. The weight of these two words was immense, as heavy as a thousand pounds.

Zhang Lie stood up and strode over to Su Ming.

He looked at this menial disciple he had once regarded as a "cheater" with a complex gaze and extended his hand. "The token."

Su Ming respectfully handed over the ordinary-looking white Questioning Heart Token with both hands.

Zhang Lie took it, his divine sense habitually sweeping over the token, then naturally sweeping over Su Ming's body.

In the next instant, Zhang Lie's brow twitched almost imperceptibly.

He sensed an extremely tenacious soul fluctuation. Though faint, it was astonishingly pure, like refined iron tempered a thousand times. This level of soul strength was absolutely not something a menial disciple at the fifth layer of Qi Refining could possess.

Zhang Lie gave Su Ming a deep look, returned the token, turned to face the plaza, and spoke in a steady, powerful voice:

"Su Ming, Heart Questioning within the illusion, duration three days, evaluation — Top Grade A."

There were no lengthy praises, no flowery rhetoric.

But everyone present felt a chill in their hearts.

Top Grade A.

This was the highest evaluation an outer sect disciple could receive in the Questioning Heart Forest assessment.

It meant this person's will was resilient, his Dao heart firm. As long as he didn't die prematurely, he would undoubtedly achieve great things in the future.

A wave of barely suppressed commotion erupted from the crowd. Wang Defa and the others were so excited their faces flushed red.

Su Ming bowed respectfully in the direction of Zhang Lie and the Questioning Heart Elder, then turned and walked towards the Repair Hall group.

"Hall Master!"

"Junior Brother Su!"

Everyone crowded around, offering greetings all at once. A gentle yet somewhat weary smile hung on Su Ming's face as he responded to them one by one.

"I'm a bit tired. Let me rest for a while."

Su Ming said softly. Under the concerned gazes of everyone, he found a relatively secluded spot under a tree's shade and sat down.

Leaning against the tree trunk, he appeared to be resting with his eyes closed, but in reality, hidden by his sleeve, his fingers gently rubbed the surface of the Xuantian ring.

The moment his fingertip touched it, that long-missed, warm feeling of a blood connection surged back into his heart.

"Master," Su Ming called out softly in his mind, a barely detectable tremor in his voice.

"Brat, you still remember to come back."

Lin Yu's voice rang out in his mind. Though it still carried that playful, irreverent tone, Su Ming could hear the poorly concealed relief within it. "If you hadn't come out soon, I was considering whether I should overdraw my soul power to forcibly break open this damned formation and fish you out."

The corner of Su Ming's mouth lifted slightly. The heavy stone in his heart finally settled.

"Master, this Questioning Heart Forest is a bit troublesome."

Su Ming quickly adjusted his mental state, compressing his previous experiences into the most concise stream of information and transmitting it to Lin Yu. "It constructed a perfect illusion. From Qingshi Town to the capital, every detail was flawless. It replicated my memories, even simulated my emotional logic."

"Perfect?" Lin Yu scoffed. "There's no such thing as a perfect program in this world, unless it's a dead loop. How did you break it?"

"A paper-making formula."

Su Ming recalled the scene in the Imperial Study. "The data on that formula in the memorial was precise to the extreme, but it was missing a doodled smiley face that I had agreed upon with Second Brother. That smiley face had no practical meaning, didn't even conform to official document standards, but in my memory, it was more important than the formula itself."

"When I realized that, the illusion began to attack my logic," Su Ming continued. "Xu Qing's reaction became extremely rational, trying to persuade me to stay using logic. Finally..."

Su Ming paused, the image of that sea of fire flashing through his mind. "It activated a fear illusion. People from the Yongchang Marquis Manor arrived at the village, and I saw everything being destroyed."

"Wait a moment," Lin Yu suddenly interrupted him. "In that fear illusion, did the people from the Yongchang Marquis Manor use mundane swords and weapons, or immortal flying swords and spells?"

Su Ming was taken aback, carefully recalling. "They were mundane soldiers and armor. The fire was ordinary fire, not spiritual fire."

"That's good."