Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life-Chapter 241: Silent Rooting

Late at night in Clear Stream Valley.

In the meditation room, two broken Flexwood Shields brought back from the Repair Hall lay quietly on the ground.

Su Ming sat cross-legged, his expression solemn as if performing some kind of ritual.

"Gather."

With his low shout, the water spiritual energy in the air rapidly converged, condensing at his fingertip into a water sphere the size of a longan fruit.

This was no ordinary water sphere.

Under Lin Yu's guidance of "microscopic perspective," Su Ming had constructed an extremely complex rune structure inside this water sphere.

The outermost layer consisted of three superimposed "Solidify" runes. They were like layers of transparent eggshells, tightly locking the water spiritual energy inside.

At the core was a "Vibration" rune that Su Ming had modified beyond recognition. Originally used to assist earth-attribute spells in creating tremors, it was now being used by Su Ming as a "detonator."

"First step, infiltration."

Su Ming lightly flicked his finger.

The water sphere did not directly strike the flexwood piece on the ground, but instead transformed into a stream of light, silently attaching itself to the surface of the wood piece.

Immediately after, the outermost "Solidify" rune cracked open a tiny gap.

Guided by Su Ming's divine sense, the high-pressure water flow, like the sharpest needle, silently drilled into the wood along the natural grain of the flexwood.

This was the signature skill of the Like Water Art—silent, gradual nourishment.

In just two breaths, the water sphere disappeared completely, as if entirely absorbed by the wood piece.

From the outside, this iron-hard flexwood merely appeared slightly damp on the surface.

"Second step, sealing."

Su Ming changed his hand seal.

The water spiritual energy that had infiltrated the interior of the wood piece reconverged at the core.

This time, they were no longer a flowing liquid, but instantly propped up an extremely tiny, sealed spherical space deep within the wood's fibers.

The "Solidify" rune activated again, forming an indestructible inner membrane within this narrow space.

At this moment, the flexwood piece was like a patient with a tumor growing in its belly.

"Third step..."

Su Ming took a deep breath, fine beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

This step was the hardest.

He had to detonate the internal energy without damaging the external structure.

"Detonate."

His divine sense, like a needle, fiercely pierced into that tiny sealed space, activating the core "Vibration" rune.

There was no flame from spiritual energy friction, only extreme frequency vibration.

The water inside the sealed space was violently churned by this vibration force within a thousandth of a breath, its temperature sharply rising.

Liquid transformed into gas.

Volume expanded a thousandfold!

"Crack."

An extremely faint crisp sound rang out in the silent stone room.

The sound was not loud, not even as loud as breaking a dry twig.

The flexwood piece on the ground merely trembled slightly; it did not explode or burn.

Su Ming held his breath and slowly walked forward.

He extended a finger and gently poked the flexwood piece that appeared completely intact.

"Pfft."

With the touch of his fingertip, that flexwood piece, famous for its hardness and difficult to damage even with a low-grade magical sword, instantly collapsed like a crispy biscuit.

Su Ming pressed down with his finger.

The originally dense wood fibers had now turned into a pile of damp, soft wood pulp.

Completely disintegrated from the inside.

"Hiss—"

Su Ming stood up, feeling his internal spiritual energy nearly depleted, his divine sense utterly exhausted, yet his spirit was unprecedentedly exhilarated.

"However..."

Lin Yu's voice timely poured a bucket of cold water, "The long preparation time is a fatal flaw. Three hundred breaths of casting time is enough for someone to kill you ten times over. In the coming days, your task is to compress those three hundred breaths down to three breaths, or even an instant."

"Naturally."

Su Ming turned and walked back into the room, closing the stone door, "Since the path is open, what remains is nothing more than water dripping through stone."

...

The autumn chill deepened, Clear Stream Valley's morning shrouded in a veil-like mist.

Su Ming stood by the newly cultivated "formation field" east of his cave dwelling. At his feet, eighteen basic formation line nodes had been completely inscribed.

These interconnected nodes formed a small-scale Spirit Gathering and Purification composite formation, the result of his efforts over the past half month.

He did not use formation flags to position and channel spiritual energy like ordinary disciples.

What Su Ming held in his hand was a "Sinking Star Wood" branch cut from a companion tree on the remnant mountain range behind the valley. The branch was straight, its tip sharpened to a point.

The branch served as his brush, spiritual energy as his ink.

He seemed to merge with the earth beneath his feet, his movements as slow as an old tree sprouting new branches. A circle of deep blue water light shimmered around the branch tip—the spiritual energy of the Like Water Art, gentle and enduring.

He did not directly carve spiritual energy into the soil. Instead, using the branch as a guide, he sketched in the air, guiding the water vapor permeating the air and the faint spiritual pulse deep within the earth veins.

This was a bold conjecture from the True Meaning of Basic Rune Deconstruction: runes were not limited to being passively "inscribed"; they could also be actively "guided into formation."

The deep blue water light traced mysterious trajectories in the air. Each time it descended, it was accompanied by an almost imperceptible ripple of spiritual energy, silently seeping into the soil.

He was attempting to use the natural flow of the earth vein's water vapor, with his own spiritual energy as the catalyst, to let the formation "grow naturally" within this environment.

"Sss..."

A strand of spiritual energy flow lost control. The fragile balance just established instantly shattered, and the spiritual energy connection painstakingly maintained between the formation nodes abruptly severed.

Another failure.

This was already the seventeenth time.

"Wrong." Su Ming opened his eyes, his gaze clear, "My perception of the earth veins and water vapor is still not fine enough."

He raised the Sinking Star Wood branch again.

This time, his movements were even slower. His divine sense completely immersed itself, as if he had transformed into a morning breeze in the valley, a drop of dew.

He could "hear" the breathing of the earth's energy deep beneath the soil at his feet; he could "see" the subtle flow of water vapor in the air caused by the sunrise.

His branch was no longer a forceful guide, but instead conformed to this flow, gently nudging it, like skillfully placing a pebble in a rushing stream to alter the direction of a small current.

Time passed bit by bit.

When the eighteenth node was connected in this "act according to the momentum" manner, something marvelous happened.

Between the eighteen formation line nodes, the spiritual energy no longer flowed stiffly. Instead, it surged happily and smoothly, like a combed stream, forming a tiny yet complete cycle.

Yesterday, this formation would collapse after at most ten breaths.

But now, one breath, two breaths, ten breaths... thirteen breaths!

The formation's light flickered once, then finally dimmed slowly. However, those extra three breaths of sustained time caused a faint smile to tug at the corner of Su Ming's mouth.

His formation practice was progressing from "inscription" towards a deeper level of "guidance."

He looked down at the Sinking Star Wood branch in his hand. This seemingly ordinary piece of wood actually had a slight amplification and stabilizing effect when guiding spiritual energy. He silently noted this discovery, then turned and walked back to his cave dwelling.