『State: Updated to: Chapter 1312: The Three Great Elders』
『Synopsis:
During his summer vacation, Ning Chen accidentally stumbled into a teleporting array that opened once every two millennia, unexpectedly crossing over into the world of cultivation. Returning after achieving the Nascent Soul Stage, he thought Earth would have undergone drastic changes over the ages, only to discover that merely a single summer vacation had passed... Thus, among this year's freshmen at Qing University, a Nascent Soul Old Monster made his entrance. "You know nothing of the power of a Nascent Soul cultivator."
』
Chapter 1: Return from the World of Cultivation
In the suburbs of Qing City, a nameless, desolate mountain.
"Boom!"
A sudden, earth-shattering roar broke the deep mountain's silence.
A spiderweb-covered cave shot out a human figure, embedding itself into the rock face at a speed faster than a bullet, shaking the ground and mountains.
"Cough, cough, cough, cough... Finally, I'm back."
This was a young man dressed in ancient attire, with sword-like eyebrows, star-bright eyes, and flowing hair.
His name was Ning Chen, and he had just returned from the world of cultivation.
Come to think of it, it was quite absurd. Two thousand years ago, deeply passionate about wilderness exploration, he took advantage of the summer vacation right after graduating from high school to visit this desolate mountain, only to accidentally cross over into the cultivation world via an ancient teleporting array.
Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Purple Palace, Golden Core, Nascent Soul...
With only mediocre talent, it took him two thousand years to break through to the Nascent Soul stage, lurking until he became an old ancestor of his sect.
The teleporting array opened for just a fleeting second every two thousand years. Today, he intended to return to Earth to take a look, but unexpectedly, he was ambushed by a group of mysterious individuals!
"My Niwan Palace is shattered, my primordial spirit is heavily damaged, and my Dantian is ruptured... I'm actually injured this badly?"
"This is bad. The teleporting array was destroyed as well. It's impossible for me to heal these injuries without returning to the lesser Non-Heaven Realm—the Spiritual Qi on Earth is simply too barren."
Crimson blood dripped from the corner of Ning Chen's mouth, his face frighteningly pale.
With a shake of his shoulders, the rock face exploded. He landed in front of the cave and picked up a khaki mountaineering backpack.
"Huh? The backpack I dropped here back then—why does it still look so new?"
Ning Chen patted the dust off it.
A cell phone suddenly began vibrating inside the backpack.
His expression shifted slightly.
Two thousand years had passed; even a Nokia couldn't stay on standby for that long!
He hurriedly pulled out a phone with only 1% battery remaining.
The contact displayed on the screen: Mom!
"Mom..."
Ning Chen felt a sourness rise in his nose.
After struggling and fighting in the cultivation world for two thousand years, the two words "parents" had long become a distant memory.
He glanced at the time: August 29, 2025.
He was dumbfounded.
Two thousand years in the cultivation world, and only a single summer vacation had passed on Earth?
Had his cultivation level capable of moving mountains and filling seas not still been intact, he would have suspected this was all a dream.
"Hello, Mom..."
He pressed the answer button.
"You little brat! Are you trying to get yourself killed? You haven't answered your phone in a month, are you trying to scare your old mother to death?! Tell me, where have you run off to go wild this time?!"
"Mom, being able to hear your voice again... it's really nice."
"Xiao Chen, what are you saying? Don't scare Mom, where are you right now? Are you safe?"
"Very safe."
Ning Chen smiled.
To him, Earth was no different from a beginner village. Barehanded tearing of tanks and slaying fighter jets with a single sword were mere child's play.
Yet, unless necessary, he would never do such things.
His shattered Niwan Palace meant he could no longer absorb the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth to cultivate.
Simply put, he was now like a broken power bank—capable only of discharging power, not taking a charge.
Unless he found some supreme natural treasures to repair himself.
"Xiao Chen, school is starting soon. Remember to go find Aunt Qiao in Qing City. Your mom still has some matters to attend to, I won't talk anymore."
His mother, Chen Lan, hastily gave a few instructions before hanging up the phone.
Ning Chen's face was filled with bitterness.
To make a Nascent Soul Old Monster like him go to college—wasn't this purely making a joke out of him?
"Aunt Qiao is Mom's best friend, also originally from Dongyang County, and later married a wealthy merchant in Qing City."
"I heard I got accepted into Qing University, and Aunt Qiao took the initiative to call and invite me to stay at her place. Mom readily agreed, too. It seems she's somewhat trying to play matchmaker between me and Aunt Qiao's daughter..."
Pondering this, Ning Chen's thoughts stirred, and he flew up into mid-air.
Feeling the spiritual power slowly draining from his body, he let out a bitter sigh and could only drop back to the ground, walking out of the mountains on foot.
...
At noon.
He arrived at the address specified by his mother—a café near the Qing City railway station.
Two young, beautiful girls had already been waiting for a long time.
"Why isn't he here yet? I've already finished my coffee. Shuyan, why don't you just make a call to urge him?"
An adorable girl wearing a Hello Kitty short-sleeve rested her chin on the coffee table, her little lips puckered high. "My stomach is completely rumbling with hunger."
"His phone won't go through at all. I'll give him five more minutes, and if he doesn't show up, I'm leaving!"
Crossing her arms, a cold and elegant tall girl complained. "I really can't figure it out. With so many people in the company, why on earth did Mommy have to make me come pick up this Ning Chen? I was supposed to go to the cat café this afternoon."
She was about seventeen or eighteen years old, with a slender and exquisite figure. She was very tall, standing at a full 170cm, with a head of slightly curly, champagne-colored hair cascading down to her waist. Her delicate, pretty face wore no makeup, radiating a cool and aloof aura.
"Because he's the son of your mother's best friend, duh."
The cute girl rested her head on her hands and chuckled. "By the way, Shuyan, do you think Aunt Qiao is trying to set you up with this Ning Chen?"
"Xiao Tang, what kind of nonsense are you spouting!"
Xu Shuyan said petulantly, "He's just someone who tested in from a small county town. How could Mommy possibly think highly of him? Isn't that pushing her own daughter into a fire pit?"
The cute girl smiled mischievously again, "What if he turns out to be a total hunk?"
Xu Shuyan's delicate brows unknotted, and her face flushed slightly. "Well... then... I suppose I could consider it, maybe date a bit. Marriage would be a bit difficult."
The cute girl stuck out her tongue. "Such a heartbreaker!"
"Are you Aunt Qiao's daughter, Xu Shuyan?"
At that moment, a gentle male voice came from behind the cute girl.
"Ah!"
Startled like a rabbit, the cute girl sprang up from her chair. "Who are you? Why are you suddenly popping out?"
"Are you Ning Chen?"
Xu Shuyan pointed at the young man standing before her, covered in scratches and mud, and carrying a hopelessly tacky mountaineering backpack. Her pretty face gradually grew stiff.
What happened to the handsome guy she was promised?
Was she really going to have to go eat with this country bumpkin?
Wuwu, no way. If anyone she knew saw this, how embarrassing would it be?
"That's right, she is Xu Shuyan!"
At the critical moment, Xu Shuyan grabbed the cute girl as a scapegoat, leaning over to whisper in her ear: "Please, Xiao Tang, save my hide! I'll buy you a tube of lipstick later."
The cute girl, whose name was Jiang Tang, whispered back, "Three tubes, from Givenchy!"
Xu Shuyan patted her shoulder. "Deal!"
Ning Chen: "..."
Did these two little girls take him for a fool?
"Hello, classmate Ning Chen. Coming all the way from Dongyang County, you must have had a really hard journey."
Jiang Tang greeted Ning Chen with a bright smile. "Let's go get something to eat first. We can chat while we eat."
"Very well."
Ning Chen rubbed his belly.
It wasn't that he was hungry, but his shattered Niwan Palace had caused a tiny sliver of his spiritual power to leak away.
Though negligible, if this continued long-term, his spiritual power would keep weakening.
"To think that I, a dignified Nascent Soul cultivator, would one day have to rely on mortal food to maintain my cultivation from dropping."
A bitter smirk crossed the corner of Ning Chen's mouth as he followed the two girls out of the café.
To his surprise, Aunt Qiao's daughter actually drove a car.
And it was none other than a pricey Porsche Panamera.
Mind you, Xu Shuyan was his age and had just started her freshman year of college, yet her family had already bought her such a luxury car, showing just how substantial their financial power was.
"Well? Not a bad car, right?"
Xu Shuyan pulled out her keys to unlock it, casting a sidelong glance at Ning Chen.
To her surprise, this small-town youth didn't have stars in his eyes, which she actually found quite unexpected.
Ning Chen nodded. "Mm, not bad, just way too slow."
Hearing this, Xu Shuyan immediately grew displeased. "Slow? Hmph, pray tell, classmate Ning, what kind of car do you drive?"
Ning Chen casually replied, "I don't have a car. I usually ride the clouds and mist, and occasionally fly on a sword."
"Ride clouds and mist? Fly on a sword? Pfft—"
Jiang Tang burst out laughing. "Classmate, you must read way too many immortal-cultivation novels. You're too cute."
What a total moron!
Does he actually think he's being funny?
Xu Shuyan rolled her eyes and said, "If you think my car is slow, you can take a taxi yourself and let's race to see who gets there faster."
Ning Chen looked utterly indifferent. "Sure."
Xu Shuyan hadn't expected Ning Chen to actually take up the challenge. Surprised, she asked, "Are you sure? We're going to eat at West Lake Yintai City, about six or seven kilometers away from here. Do you dare to race? Whoever loses pays for the meal."
"If you want to race, let's race."
Ning Chen spoke with perennial casualness, sounding like an adult impatient with a child.
"However, let's make it clear beforehand—I have a huge appetite."
Chapter 2: I Told You, I Have a Huge Appetite
Xu Shuyan utterly detested Ning Chen's dismissive and indifferent tone.
Hearing him agree, she beamed like a flower in bloom. "Alright then, see you at Gate 1 of Yintai City!"
With that, she stepped on the gas and sped away.
'I am a local of Qing City, I know these roads inside and out, and I'm starting first.'
'Looking down on a female driver? This meal, you're definitely paying for!'
"Shuyan, did you really just leave him behind like that?"
In the passenger seat, Jiang Tang said worriedly, "It's his first time in Qing City, and he doesn't know his way around. Aren't you afraid Aunt Qiao will beat you if she finds out?"
"What's there to be afraid of? Such a big guy, it's not like he's going to get lost."
Xu Shuyan scoffed lightly.
Though she said that, in her heart she thought, 'Idiot, trying to be a tough guy. Wouldn't it have been better to just swallow your pride and get in the car?'
Not long after the two girls left, Ning Chen also turned into a lingering blur and vanished.
His speed was so fast that even surveillance cameras failed to capture him.
For a Nascent Soul cultivator to shuttle through a city required no invocation of spiritual power whatsoever; his physical footwork was more than enough.
In less than two minutes, Ning Chen's figure appeared at West Lake Yintai City—and a full minute and a half of that time had been spent asking for directions.
He didn't want to use his spiritual sense to cover the entire city.
'Any operation that consumes spiritual power has nothing to do with me, don't ask me to do it.'
Five minutes later, at Gate 1 of Yintai City, two running girls arrived—none other than Xu Shuyan and Jiang Tang.
"Yay, we won!"
The two girls slapped high-fives with smiles.
Little did they know, at this very moment, Ning Chen was already ordering food at a restaurant on the fifth floor.
"This, this, skip this one... and for the rest, bring me ten portions of each!"
"Never mind, make it two portions instead."
Ten more minutes passed.
"Damn fellow, making me wait again!"
Xu Shuyan stamped her little feet in anger. "In my entire life, I've never waited so long for anyone!"
Jiang Tang suddenly thought of a question. "Oh no, Shuyan, do you think he couldn't have gotten lost, right?"
Xu Shuyan knitted her delicate brows. "No way? Didn't I tell him Gate 1 of Yintai City?"
Jiang Tang exclaimed in realization, "There's also a Yintai City in Xixi! He couldn't have run all the way over there, could he?"
Xu Shuyan felt dizzy. "This idiot. Let me try calling him."
She dialed the phone number given by her mother, and to her surprise, it went through.
"Classmate Ning Chen, were you trafficked by human traffickers or something? Why aren't you here yet!"
"I'm already here."
"My ass you're here! I've been standing at Gate 1 for ages, and I don't see hide nor hair of you!"
"Look up."
"What?"
Xu Shuyan raised her head and scanned her surroundings.
Sure enough, she saw a young man with his hands in his pockets looking down at her calmly from the outdoor corridor on the fifth floor.
Jiang Tang gasped, "Look, Shuyan! It's Ning Chen! When did he get up there?"
"This guy..."
Furious, Xu Shuyan hung up the phone and jogged all the way up to the fifth floor. "Ning Chen! When did you get here? Why didn't you say anything? You made me wait for so long for nothing! Don't you know I hate waiting for people the most?"
"I got here a long time ago. Seeing that you two were too slow, I came up by myself to order food. The dishes are just being served as you arrive."
Ning Chen smiled faintly, "I ordered quite a few things, Eldest Miss Xu, you won't go back on your word, right?"
"When did you find out I'm—"
Xu Shuyan froze for a fraction of a second before sneering, "Nonsense! How could you possibly be this fast? You must have cheated!"
Jiang Tang chimed in, "That's right! The route we took was the shortest one. You must have called ahead to have the restaurant make the food, and then sneaked up here while we were waiting for you, right?"
"Hah, Ning Chen, you look so honest on the outside, who would've thought you were so sly!"
Ning Chen shook his head and had no choice but to summon a waiter over.
"Two beauties, this handsome young man really did arrive fifteen minutes ago."
The waiter said honestly.
"Impossible!"
Jiang Tang still refused to believe it. "Fifteen minutes ago, he was still wandering around near North Railway Station unless he can fly!"
The waiter looked awkward. "Well..."
"Forget it, Xiao Tang. If he won, he won. It's just a meal."
Xu Shuyan couldn't be bothered to argue.
She figured Ning Chen must have bribed the waiter for the latter to help him lie.
A guy with such a scheming mind!
She had originally planned to make a friend out of him, but now it seemed they couldn't even be acquaintances!
Walking into the restaurant and entering the private dining room, Xu Shuyan completely froze upon seeing the table packed to the brim with food.
Flaming steak, snow-white shark's fin, sea cucumber soup, papaya stewed with bird's nest, steamed East Star garoupa... she even spotted an earthenware jar of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall!
"What's going on? Did we walk into the wrong room?"
Jiang Tang's cherry mouth hung wide open as well.
The waiter gestured toward Ning Chen. "All of this was ordered by this gentleman..."
"Ning! Chen!"
Xu Shuyan was about to explode, her pretty face flushing with annoyance. "What grudge do you bear against me? Why are you deliberately trying to screw with me? I never took you for that kind of person!"
"I told you... I have a huge appetite."
Ning Chen shrugged with an innocent look. "It doesn't matter if you don't want to treat me, I can pay for it myself."
"No need, I, Xu Shuyan, am a good sport who honors her bets!"
The girl pulled a diamond-encrusted black card out of her purse and told the waiter, "Check, please!"
The waiter brought over the POS machine. "Here you are, miss. Rounded down, it comes to 5,200."
Card swiped, payment settled, all in one smooth motion.
"Please don't ever show your face in front of me again, thanks!"
Dropping those words, Xu Shuyan grabbed Jiang Tang and stormed off.
A mere five thousand wasn't much to the wealthy Miss Xu; the point was that this jerk was deliberately messing with her!
Ever since elementary school, middle school, high school, and now university, no matter where she went, Xu Shuyan had always been the center of attention, the goddess in the hearts of countless boys!
Her family held her in the palms of their hands for fear she might drop, and cherished her so much they feared she might melt—when had she ever suffered this kind of bullying?
"Hey, aren't you going to stay and eat a bit?"
Ning Chen called out, but unfortunately received no reply.
It was obvious that the girl named Jiang Tang was desperately tempted by the table of food, but she was dragged away by Xu Shuyan anyway.
With no other choice, he had to sit down and enjoy the meal by himself.
"Not bad flavor, but not a shred of spiritual qi—chewing it is like chewing wax."
"Am I going to have to eat this kind of stuff from now on? Sigh."
...
"Damn Ning Chen, stinky Ning Chen, this lady never wants to see you again in her entire life!"
Xu Shuyan cursed Ning Chen all the way.
"Rumble~"
Jiang Tang's stomach growled with hunger. "Shuyan, why don't we go back and eat something after all? At this hour, every restaurant has lines, plus you're the one who paid for the meal anyway."
"That's right! I paid for it, why shouldn't I eat?"
Xu Shuyan suddenly stopped in her tracks, turned around, and walked back.
Unexpectedly, a young man walked right up to them from the opposite direction, his eyes revealing pleasant surprise. "Shuyan, what a coincidence! You're at the mall too? We really do have fate on our side!"
"Chen Zhihao?"
Seeing this young man dressed in designer brands with dyed yellow hair, Xu Shuyan felt a trace of imperceptible disgust rise in the depths of her eyes. "Why are you here?"
Chen Zhihao had been her classmate in their senior year of high school—an unadulterated school bully who used his family's power and influence to bully classmates at school quite frequently.
He was also one of her many pursuers.
"To hang out, of course."
Chen Zhihao hid the burning desire in his eyes, putting on as gentlemanly a smile as he could muster. "Shuyan, you haven't had lunch yet, have you?"
"There's a newly opened French restaurant—a Michelin two-star. I've already booked a table, do me the honor?"
"Xiao Tang, you should come too."
Chen Zhihao's smiling gaze landed on Jiang Tang once more.
Her petite, cute face paired with an explosive figure that completely defied her adorable appearance made it hard for him to suppress the blazing heat in his eyes.
Xu Shuyan and Jiang Tang were the most famous sister-like duo at Qing University Affiliated High School.
Xu Shuyan was a renowned beauty, pretty since childhood with an impeccable look, which, paired with her supermodel-like long legs, secured her the undisputed crown of the school belle and made her the subject of countless boys' nocturnal fantasies.
Jiang Tang leaned toward the cute style, though she constantly struggled with being overly blessed in the figure department; usually, she only dared to wear the baggiest clothes.
Chen Zhihao's ultimate dream in life was to conquer this pair of beauties.
"So gross!"
Noticing the strangeness in his expression, Xu Shuyan grabbed Jiang Tang, wanting to leave.
However, Jiang Tang suddenly had a mischievous idea.
"Shuyan, why don't we let Chen Zhihao come with us? Knowing his personality, he'll definitely lock horns with Ning Chen. Then we can just sit back and watch the show—wouldn't that be hilarious?"
Xu Shuyan's eyes lit up slightly. "Right! Why didn't I think of that? You're so smart, Xiao Tang."
Hence, she turned back and offered Chen Zhihao a stiff smile:
"Zhihao, how about I treat you to lunch instead?"
Chapter 3: Don't Disturb Me While I'm Eating
"Zhihao?"
Chen Zhihao thought he was hallucinating.
The goddess called him Zhihao, and wanted to treat him to lunch?
Holy crap, he actually had a chance!
"Sure, Shuyan, where are we going to eat?"
Chen Zhihao suppressed the agitation in his heart and asked.
"Follow me."
Xu Shuyan gave him a pretty, charming smile before turning around and rolling her eyes.
Chen Zhihao obediently followed behind her, bringing up all sorts of awkward conversational topics while secretly muting his phone.
That way, whichever girl he had previously tricked into coming out with him would no longer be able to find him once she stepped out of the restroom.
Arriving at the restaurant where Ning Chen had ordered his meal, the two young beauties led Chen Zhihao inside, where Ning Chen was already devouring his food with gusto.