Chapter 69: The

The three who entered soon saw Xiao Fan standing before the bedroom, and they froze in surprise.

“Dad, Mom, Brother, you’re back so early.” Xiao Fan spoke up first.

“...” After a moment of silence, his father explained, “We thought it was still early, and you’ve been working hard lately, so we didn’t tell you.”

“So Brother’s health is fine now?”

“Yes, we checked this morning—the doctor said he’s recovering fast,” his mother hurried to say.

“I am a body cultivator after all.” Xiao Ming smiled, then turned to Xiao Fan.

Facing his brother’s gaze, he was no longer as nervous as he had been last night.

“You’re getting ready to go out.”

“Yeah, I just woke up and planned to stretch my legs, get some exercise.”

The two brothers exchanged glances for a moment.

“Alright, come back early,” Xiao Ming smiled. “I’m being discharged today—we’ll treat ourselves to something good for lunch.”

“Got it, Brother.”

Their conversation sounded perfectly normal.

Xiao Fan, eager to test the “She Ling Yang Wu Jing,” didn’t think much of it—he figured his brother would assume he was preparing for the third trial.

Thus, he walked past the three and stepped out through the open door.

“Ah Ming...”

“Don’t worry, Mom. We’ll put our things down first, then I’ll follow him and keep an eye,” Xiao Ming reassured her. “I’ve got this.”

Hearing this, the two parents felt considerably more at ease.

Ah Ming was a disciple of the Dragon Elephant Qingtian Sect; his cultivation realm and insight far surpassed what they could ever hope to match.

After calming his parents, Xiao Ming changed into a plain gray outfit and stepped outside.

With a series of crisp cracks, his nearly two-meter-tall frame shrank rapidly, soon reducing to about one meter sixty-seven, his straight spine now hunched.

His nose sank lower, his lips thickened, his skin grew loose and sagging, and patches of gray-black age spots appeared.

In less than a minute, Xiao Ming transformed from a tall, imposing youth into a frail, withered old man.

His clothes, being sect uniform, automatically adjusted to his new form, so they remained properly fitted.

At this point, even if he stood right in front of Xiao Fan, Xiao Fan wouldn’t recognize him.

“Xiao Fan...”

Earlier, as they passed, he had left a mark on Xiao Fan—just a slight perception was enough to know his location.

He leapt straight down from the seventh floor.

Xiao Ming landed steadily beside three children, about seven or eight years old, playfully swinging wooden swords at each other.

The highest-ranked among them was only Qi Refining Level One—and even that was a fake one, possessing spiritual energy but lacking control or physical refinement.

They stopped their play and stared at the old man who had landed beside them.

Their expression summed up one thing: We’re all stunned.

“Grandpa, are you a sword cultivator?” asked the child with Qi Refining Level One, summoning up courage.

“No,” Xiao Ming smiled “kindly.” “I’m a body cultivator.”

“Body cultivator!”

“This is what a body cultivator looks like!”

The other two children exclaimed in awe.

Xiao Ming said no more; with a light leap, he vanished far away.

“Whoa—!” The child who had mustered the courage to ask scratched his head. “Don’t body cultivators fly?”

“Sword cultivators are definitely cooler!”

“My dad says body cultivators are all stable hands!”

“No, they’re brutes!”

Xiao Ming, already far away, paused. At his realm, his hearing and sight were sharp—he could hear voices from great distances.

What the hell kind of world is this? When will body cultivators ever gain respect? Even these little brats have their own hierarchy of disdain.

…………

By the roadside, a plain-looking figure with a gentle aura held a large handful of candies, handing them out to passing children.

“Thank you, Uncle!” the polite ones would say. “Call me Brother, not Uncle,” he’d smile in reply.

Soon, the handful of candies was down to just one—he planned to keep it for himself.

Peeling back the wrapper, the candy gleamed like a beautiful gem, fragrant with fruit.

He placed it in his mouth, closed his eyes, as if savoring it.

After a long while, he opened his eyes and gazed at the children playing nearby, a faint smile on his lips.

“Yuan, you’ve done quite well...”

Had he not been so wary, he might have become a decent friend.

Then he turned his gaze toward the opposite side of the street.

The morning sun shone brightly, casting shadows beneath the trees lining the road.

Beneath one of those shadows.

Xiao Fan crouched, feeding a small snack to a large gray rat with one hand, while gently stroking its head with the other.

Passersby who saw this were unnerved—this guy must be crazy. But among cultivators, weirdos were common, so no one said anything.

‘Stand up!’

Xiao Fan commanded inwardly.

The gray rat immediately rose to its hind legs.

‘Crouch!’

‘Roll over!’

‘Do a somersault!’

No matter what command Xiao Fan gave, the rat obeyed without hesitation.

But somersaulting was too difficult—it tumbled over.

Yet after getting up again, it immediately tried another somersault, repeatedly falling and rising without stopping.

So it really obeys orders completely?

Ding ding!

Two crisp sounds—two spirit coins rolled to his side. Many around him turned to look; some even pulled out phones to take photos.

“Kid, stop making it do somersaults—do something else!” someone shouted.

It was the very person who had just tossed the two spirit coins.

Xiao Fan: “...”

Seeing so many people gathered around him, he felt a wave of revulsion—just like when he’d watched female streamers before.

“Tch! So that’s why this kid was feeding a giant rat—he’s a beast tamer!” someone said.

Beast tamer—a once-glorious profession, now nearly extinct.

After all, even the demonic races above the Union Dao stage were gone.

A profession with a ceiling of Return to Void, and absurdly hard to find a bonded beast—who in their right mind would become a beast tamer?

So now, its transmission was nearly lost.

Xiao Fan hadn’t expected to be mistaken for a beast tamer.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, ignoring them, several more spirit coins—large amounts—were thrown his way.

“Show us something cool! I’ve never seen a beast tamer in my life!” The speaker wore the uniform of the Ji Shi Valley.

Ji Shi Valley—Alchemists—rich people!

Hmm...

After a while, Xiao Fan earned a fortune using nothing but an ordinary rat.

These alchemists really are rich! In the end, the Ji Shi Valley alchemist even tried to buy the beast tamer’s method from him, offering a tempting price.

If Xiao Fan actually knew any beast tamer technique, he’d have sold it.

But he didn’t.

He would never sell the “She Ling Yang Wu Jing.”

And even if he did... whether others could even hear it was another matter entirely. Meanwhile, Xiao Ming, hiding in the shadows, watched all this with growing confusion.

Could it be Xiao Fan wasn’t doing anything bad—he was just here to make money?

But when did he learn beast taming?