Chapter 56: Three Matters

"Xiao Yan, you... are awake."

Gu Qingyi looked at Chen Yan; the girl, her face flushed, greeted him in a thin, high-pitched voice.

Chen Yan could see that this Gu Xiaoniang was also forcing herself to remain calm; such words, adopting the posture of an "elder," were quite out of place.

Chen Yan sighed inwardly but put on a smile: "Gu Xiaoniang, good morning."

"Hmm..." Gu Qingyi actually blushed.

"Have you eaten?"

"... Not yet." Gu Xiaoniang looked expectantly toward the kitchen: "I can't cook, so I was waiting for you."

Fine, I still have to wait on her... Chen Yan gave a bitter smile but politely said: "Then wait a moment; I'll prepare breakfast right away."

He was too lazy to cook; Chen Yan had been working hard outside for many days and was too lazy to turn on the stove in the morning. As for instant noodles, the house did have some... but after eating instant noodles for many days, Chen Yan now felt nauseous just thinking about them, so he simply picked up his phone and ordered some takeout.

A few fried dough sticks, two cups of soy milk, four eggs.

Remembering there was still someone in the swimming pool outside, Chen Yan scratched his head: "Um, what does that old turtle you brought eat?"

Gu Qingyi shook her head: "I don't know; it should be fine eating some fish and shrimp. If not, we can throw it back into the wild lake in the mountains during the day and let it catch its own fish and shrimp."

Chen Yan looked at Gu Xiaoniang.

Making someone work as a housekeeper, not paying wages is bad enough, but also making them bring their own provisions? Even a capitalist isn't this ruthless.

The takeout would arrive in about half an hour; while waiting for breakfast, the two sat awkwardly in the living room, staring into each other's eyes.

Actually, they had chatted quite late last night; Chen Yan asked Gu Qingyi many questions, such as about the Chen family matters, about that 【Domain Realm】, and about the Old Grandma's identity.

Gu Qingyi told Chen Yan that within the Domain Realm, Chen Jue was originally the only son of a single line; after his disappearance, there were hardly any people left in the Chen family's main branch—otherwise, Gu Qingyi would not have had to come to this world to find someone.

As for exactly what great calamity Chen Jue had provoked, Gu Qingyi did not know.

As for the Old Grandma, Gu Qingyi only told Chen Yan that the Old Grandma was very famous among the thirty-six Venerables and was one of the Ancestors of the Ghost Clan in the Domain Realm.

The Ghost Clan is not the kind of "ghost" that people in Chen Yan's world imagine.

To be precise, whether in this world or the Domain Realm, people do not become ghosts after death.

The so-called Ghost Clan is a race in the Domain Realm that cultivates the Ghost Dao.

As for the Domain Realm... Gu Qingyi told Chen Yan that she had rules for coming from the Domain Realm's boundary gate to this world: she must not reveal too much about the Domain Realm to people of this world—unless Chen Yan is willing to return to the Domain Realm as a son of the Chen family, in which case he would count as one of their own.

Otherwise, she could not say too much.

Besides that, Gu Qingyi also spoke about matters regarding cultivation.

Previously, Chen Yan had flipped through all the booklets left by the Old Grandma, which only recorded cultivation methods and spells... but contained no classification of cultivation levels and realms, making Chen Yan's cultivation over this past month somewhat like a blind man feeling an elephant.

According to Gu Qingyi's introduction, the realms of cultivation are divided into three major tiers:

Mortal Cultivation, Transcendent, and Sage Entry.

Each tier is further divided into different realms.

【Mortal Cultivation】 is for ordinary cultivators; from low to high, the realms are: Entering the Room, Returning to Origin, and Ascension Platform.

After the Ascension Platform Realm lies the first great threshold for Mortal Cultivators; cross it and you become a Heavenly Human, fail to cross it and you remain in Mortal Cultivation—within the Domain Realm, over ninety-nine percent of people are trapped in the Mortal Cultivation tier for their entire lives!

Only if one has extremely great talent and luckily crosses over can one enter the Heavenly Human Realm.

This would mean transforming from Mortal Cultivation into 【Transcendent】.

The 【Transcendent】 realms are divided into: Heavenly Human, Golden Body, and Soul Spirit.

Those who can enter the three Transcendent realms are considered part of the ranks of the strong in the Domain Realm.

Above the Heavenly Human Realm, cultivation is extremely difficult; one could say every realm is a great threshold, and the higher one goes, talent and fortune are both indispensable.

And above 【Transcendent】, one enters the 【Sage Entry】 tier.

【Sage Entry】 is divided into three realms: Venerable (Minor Venerable), Earth Venerable, and Heaven Venerable.

To reach Sage Entry, talent and fortune alone are not enough!

In the Domain Realm, there are only two Great Heaven Venerables, four Earth Venerables, and thirty-six Minor Venerables.

·

Gu Qingyi told Chen Yan three things.

The number of people in the 【Sage Entry】 tier is fixed!

The Heavenly Dao of the Domain Realm has a set number: two Heaven Venerables, four Earth Venerables, thirty-six Minor Venerables (Venerables), totaling forty-two individuals who rule over all beings in the Domain Realm; this number can absolutely not increase!

Unless a Venerable perishes and the Heavenly Dao vacates a position, only then can cultivators below break through to a new realm and advance.

If no position is vacated, then those below, no matter how hard they strive, can at most stop at the Soul Spirit Realm; it is absolutely impossible to become a Venerable!

Therefore, within the Domain Realm, Venerables, Earth Venerables, and Heaven Venerables have another title, called 【Sage Tier】.

Venerables are Minor Sages, Earth Venerables are Sages, and Heaven Venerables are Great Sages.

·

The second thing Gu Qingyi told Chen Yan was:

In Chen Yan's world, even if one obtains a cultivation method, no matter how hard one strives or how high one's talent, it is absolutely impossible to enter the Heavenly Human Realm.

One will remain in the Mortal Cultivation tier for life, with absolutely no possibility of breaking through to a new realm!

Although Chen Yan has already begun cultivation, even if the cultivation method he obtained was passed down by a Venerable-level Old Grandma, as long as he remains in this real world, he will never be able to step into the Heavenly Human Realm in his lifetime.

This is determined by the rules of the world.

As for the reason, Gu Qingyi is not clear either; the elders of her clan simply said so, probably because the Domain Realm has its own spiritual qi for cultivation, while the world where Chen Yan is located has none!

·

The third thing Gu Qingyi told Chen Yan was:

Power above the Heavenly Human Realm cannot be used freely in Chen Yan's world.

Therefore, when Gu Qingyi came to this world, she could only use power at the Mortal Cultivation level and dared not activate Heavenly Human Realm power.

Once activated, it would be suppressed and rejected by this world; at best, one would be expelled from this world and fall into the spatial turbulence outside the boundary wall... no one knows the consequences.

In severe cases, it directly brings down the world's rules' backlash, and you vanish on the spot.

·

"So, when you told me before that you were at the Heavenly Human Realm, could take me flying, and let me walk sideways—was that a lie?" Chen Yan had been unhappy the moment he heard it back then!

But Chen Yan said he felt very depressed: I even told you about 【Drifting Half a Lifetime】, and in the end you say you can't take me flying?

"It's not that. My realm is the Heavenly Human Realm. Although I can't use the power of the Heavenly Human Realm here, in your world that has no cultivation inheritance, I'm enough to keep you safe!

In your world I can only bring out the strength of a peak mortal cultivator at the Ascension Platform Realm, but because of the rules of your world, here it can't exceed the Ascension Platform Realm either, so I'm already considered the strongest tier in your world."

Chen Yan thought it over and let it go.

Gu Xiaoniang being here could also be considered the ceiling.

Good enough.

·

The address "Gu Xiaoniang" wasn't something Chen Yan made up on his own—it was the result of a discussion between the two of them.

Calling her "Mom" directly… Chen Yan wasn't that shameless after all; even if you beat him to death he couldn't bring himself to say it. Gu Xiaoniang couldn't stand it either.

Calling her "Mother"… also seemed a bit awkward.

After the two discussed it, they compromised, and Chen Yan called her Gu Xiaoniang.

However… Gu Qingyi was still hiding one thing she hadn't told Chen Yan: for instance, how she'd ended up destitute working at an Extreme Internet Cafe, and the KFC family bucket robbery case.

It wasn't out of embarrassment—well, okay, there was a tiny bit of that reason.

But the more important reason was:

All that talk about taking you walking sideways, if someone messes with you I'll beat them for you…

That was Gu Qingyi exaggerating.

When she, Gu Qingyi, came to this world, she was so hungry she nearly passed out, yet she didn't dare act recklessly just because of her cultivation. Even snatching a family bucket, she had to carefully pray to the ancestors for forgiveness… so miserable she slept in the wind and outdoors, taken in by the internet cafe's proprietress…

The Domain Realm has its own Heavenly Dao of the Domain Realm; a cultivator simply cannot act wantonly just because of their cultivation.

Cultivation in the Domain Realm has something called 【Law Vows】—not clauses on paper, but mysterious oaths made during cultivation. The specifics are quite complicated.

Put it bluntly: an evil cultivator swears to the Heavenly Dao, "I'll do bad things my whole life; if I dare do good, you, Heavenly Dao, punish me!"

A righteous cultivator swears to the Heavenly Dao, "I'll do good things my whole life; if I dare do bad, you, Heavenly Dao, punish me!"

These things, Gu Qingyi had no intention of explaining to Chen Yan.

Anyway, this guy isn't going to the Domain Realm… right?

·

After finishing breakfast, Chen Yan casually used an app on his phone to buy some groceries—fish, meat, eggs, milk, vegetables, and the like, quite a lot.

The great philanthropist Chen, kind-hearted as he was, still bought some fish and shrimp for the old turtle.

Glancing at the amount on his phone, Chen Yan sighed.

Supporting Gu Qingyi was one thing—ethically she was his little mother.

Just consider it support money.

A housekeeper eating this expensively…

Thinking of this, the great philanthropist Chen felt a knot in his chest, opened the door, and called the old turtle, who was lying in the yard sunbathing, into the house.

"First, you've already taken human form, so don't just lie on the ground in the yard for no reason! If a guest comes in, they'll think there's a lunatic living in my house!" Chen Yan looked at the little old man before him and said slowly; "Second, as a housekeeper, you can't not do work. Starting today, sweeping the rooms, doing laundry, and cooking are all your responsibility."

The old turtle blinked, looked at Chen Yan, then couldn't help turning to look at Gu Qingyi.

Gu Qingyi's face was calm: "What Xiaoyan said isn't wrong."

The work has to be done by someone. If you don't do it, am I supposed to?

I served people at the internet cafe for so many days without complaining. Now that I'm the lady of the house, of course I can enjoy it with a clear conscience!

The old turtle sighed: "I humbly obey the Heavenly Human's decree."

Chen Yan looked at the skinny little old man before him: "Do you have a name?"

"…No."

"If not, I'll give you one. You're a turtle cultivator, so from now on your surname will be Gui. As for the name… turtles live long, so I'll call you Gui Geng."

Turtle soup?

Sounds like you're going to stew me?

The old turtle didn't dare argue, and nodded aggrievedly in agreement.

So, over the course of one morning, Chen Yan led Gui Geng around the villa twice and taught him how to use some household appliances.

Washing machine, microwave, dishwasher, sterilizer cabinet, vacuum cleaner…

By nearly noon, Gui Geng was already diligently dragging the vacuum cleaner from room to room cleaning.

Chen Yan took a look. Mm, the work speed was just a bit slow—after all, he is a turtle, so slow is slow.

Zero wages anyway.

Then he turned his head to look at his family's Gu Xiaoniang… Chen Yan couldn't help twitching the corner of his mouth.

This "legitimate mother" was curled up on the living room sofa, with a TV drama on, lazily leaning there watching TV.

The TV was playing a xianxia idol brain-dead drama, but Gu Xiaoniang looked thoroughly hooked.

In front of her was also a bag of sunflower seeds.

"I ordered braised chicken for lunch," Chen Yan called out.

Gu Xiaoniang on the sofa didn't even lift her head, eyes fixed on the TV, and casually replied: "Mm-hmm!"

Well, well. Yesterday she was still a little fairy.

Today she's turned into a Northeastern lass.

But the voice was still that little pinched tone, soft and delicate.

How did she manage that? With such a thick Northeastern accent, yet she was born with a naturally high-pitched, cutesy voice?

After lunch, Chen Yan left the woman and the turtle at home and went out himself.

He went out to handle a serious matter.

Buying supplies to prepare for a ghost marriage ceremony for Gu Xiaoniang at home and his own biological father!

Just thinking about it made Chen Yan feel a bit distressed.

·

【Today's two updates are done; please give some recommendation votes!】

·