novelraw Chapter 16 : Chapter 16
Chapter 16 : Chapter 16
Chapter 16: Grandma and Grandpa
Fortunately, Lin Bai did not actually fall asleep.
Even more fortunately, Wang Qian and Lin Su finished their discussion of the Dao after a little over an hour.
It was not because they had already discussed all of their alchemy insights, but because it was time to set out and visit Grandma.
The three of them left the Benevolent Heart Hall, passed through several bustling streets, and arrived at a special area on the edge of the marketplace.
With a single glance, Lin Bai froze.
A whole row of sleek vehicles with a metallic sheen stood quietly parked there. The design of their fronts gave him the sudden illusion of seeing shadows of steam locomotives and internal combustion engines from his previous life.
Unfortunately, they were nothing of the sort. He had heard that these were Spirit-Powered Carriages invented by the Heavenly Craft Hall, driven by spirit stones and formations.
A single ride generally started at one spirit stone, and after a certain distance, if the extra cost came to less than half a spirit stone, it would still be charged as half.
According to the Heavenly Craft Hall’s own publicity, this was to leave room for rickshaw pullers and horse-carriage drivers to earn a living. Only by setting a high price, they claimed, could they avoid stealing those people’s livelihoods.
But Lin Bai suspected that the Heavenly Craft Hall simply wanted to fleece rich suckers, and that explanation was only there to make it sound nicer. Even so, he rather approved of the result itself. After all, a gentleman judged the heart, not the outward trace.
Would anyone actually ride something this expensive?
The answer was yes, and a great many people at that.
The Heavenly Craft Hall truly understood marketing. They strictly controlled the number of carriages sold to the outside world. In Yunmeng City, only major officials and the three great clans owned a few. Even the native clans of Yunmeng City only rented them long-term, and the numbers were limited.
Could no one make imitations?
There were indeed fools who had tried. But the moment any imitation appeared on the market, the Heavenly Craft Hall would swiftly crush it under the charge of “stealing trade secrets.” The authorities turned a blind eye and never interfered.
And the people who rode Spirit-Powered Carriages were all wealthy. If you bought a knockoff and people discovered it, your reputation would be ruined on the spot.
Important figures cared most about their face, and the higher their status, the more true that became, whether that “important figure” was self-proclaimed or genuinely recognized by others.
In some circles, face mattered more than spirit stones. As a result, whenever young masters and young ladies attended gatherings, they had to travel by Spirit-Powered Carriage. There were even people who, despite their households lacking the means, still forced a smile and pretended to be rich.
On top of that, some moderately well-off families, seeing all these “respectable people” riding Spirit-Powered Carriages, would occasionally take one too, just to experience what life was like for the upper class.
With that steady stream of business, the Heavenly Craft Hall naturally made a fortune.
Wang Qian casually picked a Spirit-Powered Carriage that suited her eye, and the two siblings followed behind her.
After each trip, every Spirit-Powered Carriage returned to its designated area to be cleaned and disinfected, ensuring the next passengers a good experience.
To be fair, the Heavenly Craft Hall had done well in that regard. Their service awareness was excellent. When Lin Bai heard that, he felt that perhaps the price did make a certain kind of sense.
After boarding the Spirit-Powered Carriage, Wang Qian took out a card, pressed it against the control panel inside the carriage, and began operating it.
Once she was done, the Spirit-Powered Carriage started up automatically and smoothly began heading toward the southern part of Yunmeng City, while Wang Qian stepped back and sat down together with the siblings.
Lin Bai paused for a moment, then asked, “Aunt, doesn’t this Spirit-Powered Carriage need someone to control its direction?”
Wang Qian replied casually,
“Within Yunmeng City, the carriage can drive automatically. Outside the city, within a radius of five hundred li, it can run in semi-automatic mode. But public Spirit-Powered Carriages can’t go beyond those five hundred li from Yunmeng City. Only privately owned ones can do that after their restrictions are lifted.”
That sounded strangely familiar to Lin Bai.
So it’s basically a self-driving taxi.
Lin Bai still had another question.
“Aunt, then what was that card you just used?”
“Oh, that’s a Spirit-Carriage Card issued by the Heavenly Craft Hall. Any Spirit-Powered Carriage in Yunzhou can be activated with it.”
Lin Su also spoke softly.
“You have to load at least a hundred spirit stones onto the card at the Heavenly Craft Hall in one go.”
Communications and network integration technology?
The sense of déjà vu grew even stronger for Lin Bai.
Those two things alone made him intensely curious. In his previous life, self-driving cars had relied on a combination of AI and other cutting-edge technologies. In this world, what was it? Formations? Spirit energy?
He even had the urge to pry open the front of the carriage and take a look at the structure inside. Sadly, that wish could not be fulfilled, so he settled for examining the interior instead.
The carriage cabin was quite spacious. Five or six people could sit inside without feeling cramped. The décor followed a classic ancient style, and a faint fragrance drifted through the air.
Unfortunately, Lin Bai could not make much sense of it.
So before long, his attention was drawn elsewhere.
This was his first time in Yunmeng City since growing up, and everything felt fresh to him. As the carriage moved along the broad avenue, houses lined both sides in neat rows, and all kinds of cries from hawkers rose and fell without pause.
Women in rather light dresses laughed together in the streets. There were also several people who looked like academy students, likely just finished with their lessons and on their way home. Look, there was even a puppet performance in progress, and the spectators below were enthusiastically calling out their approval.
None of that could be seen in Anning County.
Anning County was not exactly a desolate backwater, but the people there were mostly busy scraping out a living.
In broad daylight, scenes like this were hard to find. If one wanted to see Anning County’s entertainment, one had to wait under the banyan tree after meals for the idle townsfolk to gather, or else go to the deep alleys to watch the strange performers and odd talents at work.
They were two entirely different kinds of scenery. Lin Bai could not say which he liked more. It was simply that he had never seen the other kind before, so everything now felt fresh and fascinating.
Because the Benevolent Heart Hall was in the marketplace, and the marketplace was in the northern quarter of the city, while Lin Bai’s grandmother lived in the southern quarter, they had to cross most of Yunmeng City.
Lin Bai carefully watched the changes in the streetscape. Around the marketplace, shops stood thick on every side, and regardless of whether they sold extraordinary goods or not, the flow of people was unending. The farther south they went, the stronger the atmosphere of everyday life became, until the warmth of ordinary human existence felt especially real.
Wang Qian also began telling Lin Bai more about Grandma’s circumstances.
Lin Bai’s grandmother, Tan Shu, was no ordinary person either. Back then, it had not been for love that she chose to become Lin Bai’s grandfather’s concubine, but rather to seek a breakthrough into the Transcendent-Mortal.
Grandma had originally been nothing more than a farmer’s daughter. By chance, she had obtained a fragmentary inheritance. After cultivating to the Transcendent-Mortal, however, she found herself lacking both resources and follow-up techniques. In the end, she chose to marry Grandfather, who at the time had still been an illegitimate son of the Wang Family serving as a family steward, in exchange for cultivation resources.
Eight years ago, Lin Bai’s grandmother officially broke through into the Transcendent-Mortal. She then moved out of the Wang Family residence, and since she was now in the Transcendent-Mortal, the Wang Family also accorded her the most basic respect.
They approved her request.
As the family’s designated stud, Lin Bai’s grandfather’s task was to leave behind as much bloodline and as many ties of kinship as possible. Nothing else really mattered. According to Wang Qian, after that, Grandfather never came to disturb Grandma again.
“Perhaps he simply couldn’t spare the time,” Wang Qian said calmly.
“The old master is already over a hundred years old now, and he still has more than a dozen concubines around him. Mother’s case is unusual, but it isn’t without precedent.”
This grandfather of his truly was a professional. Even Lin Su, who had long been in Yunmeng City, had only seen him once, and that had only happened after she became Master Jinhua’s disciple.
As Lin Bai listened to Aunt Wang Qian’s explanation, his expression turned increasingly strange.
“Neither Grandma nor Grandpa are ordinary people,” Lin Bai sighed.
His grandmother had relied on her own Dao-fortune and hard work to rise from a farmer’s daughter into a Transcendent-Realm cultivator. One could not dismiss that achievement. The Transcendent-Mortal was by no means low.
As for his grandfather, he was even more of a figure. That old master probably had dozens of children already, and as for the grandchildren, there was no need to even mention them.
Of course, he had become a stud by family decree. After all, many cultivators were martial fanatics, or else after reaching higher levels of cultivation, their fertility declined. Yet a clan’s bloodline still had to be passed down.
Still, apart from companionship, the old master had arranged all other matters properly enough. The reason both his aunt and his sister had been able to enter the Benevolent Heart Hall in Yunmeng City was not just because of their talent. The Wang Family’s support from behind the scenes, through Grandfather, had also played no small part.
That was why Wang Qian spoke of her father without resentment. Her tone was simply flat.
In another fifty years, the old master might well become the King of Backers, Lin Bai thought to himself.
Among so many grandchildren, there would always be a few geniuses. With the Wang Family’s resources behind them, breaking through to the Transcendent-Mortal, or even the Ascendant Realm, would be entirely possible.
“Grandma is an extraordinary person, and Grandpa… is also an extraordinary person,” Lin Bai concluded in the end.
Hearing Lin Bai’s assessment, Wang Qian smiled brightly. She felt the same way.
“Your grandmother is usually quite lonely. Elder Brother is always busy with official duties and often travels out of town, while Second Sister, your mother, is even worse. She may not come back even once a year.”
“As for me and your sister, we also have to cultivate at the Benevolent Heart Hall, so we can only visit when we have the time. You can come see your grandmother more often as well. And since you walk the martial path, she may even be able to give you some pointers.”
Hearing Wang Qian’s words, Lin Bai nodded. Visiting a lonely elder was something he, as a junior, ought to do.
Seeing Lin Bai nod and agree, Wang Qian seemed much happier.
As they talked, the Spirit-Powered Carriage had already entered the southern quarter of the city, and Grandma’s residence was now right in front of them.
Liutiao Ward.