"Fine, give me a loan. I'll pay it back within the stipulated time limit somehow."
[Excellent choice, host!]
[Ding! Loan Approved]
[Remaining Scum Points: -35,000]
Fucking hell, negative 35,000 scum points... that's gonna be a huge headache to pay back.
After grumbling to himself for a while, he acted as if he had something inside of his spatial ring as a small seed, flashing with azure lightning bolts, appeared in the middle of his palm.
The moment the small azure lightning seed appeared in his hand, Huang Li—who had been watching with expectation for the gift his grandson would give him—suddenly had a change in expression as he stared at the thing in his hand.
"Is that a lightning spirit seed?"
Huang Shi nodded his head with a smile as he replied, "That's right, Grandfather. This is a lightning spirit seed. With this, you can have your own mortal-ranked physique called the Lightning Spirit Root. Although it's just a one-star mortal-ranked physique at the moment, with enough opportunities, it can slowly rise in rank."
Huang Li had an even more incredulous expression on his face as compared to when he received those spirit stones; in fact, he was so shocked that his jaw had been hanging open for at least a minute at this point.
"W-why are you giving me something this precious? Don't you have other people you can give this to? I'm too old for something this precious!"
Huang Shi, on the other hand, shook his head decisively as he passed the lightning spirit seed onto his grandfather, placing it on the palm of his hands as he replied:
"No, Grandfather, this is something that I want to give you. Even though it's true that the talent of cultivators decreases with age, those things won't matter if you are able to breakthrough your limits and reach the Spirit Profound Realm, right?"
"With this lightning spirit seed, you can obtain a Lightning Spirit Root, increasing your talent for cultivation and increasing your chances of breaking through to the Spirit Profound Realm. For me, this is a worthy investment. After all, you are my family!"
Huang Li had tears in his eyes as he stared at this grandson of his, a boundless sense of pride filling his features. Never could he have imagined that the little boy who had always clung to his stepmother—and had grown up to have all sorts of vices—would change so much in just a matter of weeks and become an extremely capable and competent man.
The heavens have eyes! They have granted my grandson exceptional talent and a giving nature. Our family has hope in this world!
As Huang Li started to cry silently, his face filled with nostalgia and pride, Huang Shi remained silent, his heart gripped with both happiness and a sense of urgency.
I need to get stronger. If I want to protect the people close to me, I need to be stronger!
Huang Shi clenched his fists silently as his golden eyes flashed with a sharp light. Finally, after a few minutes of letting his emotions run rampant, Huang Li managed to calm himself down.
"Sorry about that, Shi'er… things have been hard for our family these past few years… and seeing you all grown up… taking on responsibilities for our family makes me very happy…"
Huang Shi smiled as he shook his head.
"Don't worry about me, Grandfather. I am no longer that useless waste that I was before; I can handle myself from now on."
He then pointed at the Lightning Spirit Seed placed in the palm of his grandfather's hand and spoke with a hint of seriousness in his voice.
"It's probably better if you absorb that Lightning Spirit Seed as soon as possible, Grandfather. After all, we don't know if any mishaps will occur if we leave it out in the open like this for too long."
Huang Li nodded his head solemnly as he stood up from the sofa, finding a large empty space within his office. He placed a cultivation mat on the floor before sitting down cross-legged on it.
Before he consumed the Lightning Spirit Seed, he waved his hand; instantly, runes appeared all over the room, strengthening the defensive formations present within. Finally, he opened his mouth and ate the Lightning Spirit Seed whole before closing his eyes.
Instantly, a flashing blue light appeared all over his body. Before long, his entire body was shining with an azure light, as if he were a human light bulb. In fact, if you looked closely, you would be able to see that deep inside of his body, his meridians were slowly starting to change from a pale white color to the color of azure.
Seeing this, Huang Shi instantly stood up from his seat before standing in front of his grandfather and sitting down cross-legged. Right in front of him, he opted to act as his Dao Protector while he had his body reforged by the Lightning Spirit Seed.
This is probably going to take a while; I should cultivate while I wait.
With this, Huang Shi placed a few thousand spirit stones all around his body in a circle before pausing for a few seconds and doing the same for his grandfather, finally closing his eyes and slowly starting his cultivation session.
Hours went by, and currently, it was now around 5:00 PM in the afternoon. Golden light filtered through the room as the sunset was clearly visible.
Suddenly, Huang Shi trembled as he opened his eyes and looked in front of him. All of the spirit stones he had placed around his body had already crumbled, all of their spiritual energy absorbed, as Huang Li opened his eyes at the exact same time.
RUMBLE
A sharp bolt of azure lightning suddenly erupted from Huang Li's body, powerful and potent. His eyes, which had once been black in color, had now turned azure—like the color of lightning—before a massive wave of spiritual energy erupted out from his body, signifying his breakthrough.