Hey Transmigrator, Quit Causing Trouble in the Sect—I Just Want to Lie Flat!
Chapter One
Qingyun Sect. Outer sect. The crooked willow tree in the back mountain.
Lin Yuan sprawled across a fork of the branches, limbs every which way, a stalk of foxtail between his teeth, eyelids half shut. A breeze slid over his cheek, and every bone in his body went loose at once.
Ten years since he’d transmigrated into this cultivation world. Ten years of lying flat.
A decade ago he’d been a 996 corporate drone who died at his desk from overtime. He opened his eyes again as a good-for-nothing outer disciple of Qingyun Sect with the same name, a Spirit Root menial who’d been parked at the third layer of Qi Refining for ten years and left there. Anyone in the sect could push him around twice over.
Only Lin Yuan knew he wasn’t useless at all.
He’d bound a ridiculous system. The Supreme Lie-Flat System.
The rules were crude and absolute: the flatter he lay, the less he moved, the less he wanted to cultivate, the faster his cultivation rose. The other way held too. Train on purpose, think too hard, stir up trouble, and it stopped dead. Sometimes it went backward.
Ten years. His guiding creed: if he can lie, he doesn’t sit; if he can sit, he doesn’t stand; if he can hide, he doesn’t show his face. On that creed he’d climbed clear from that third layer to Nascent Soul. In all of Qingyun Sect that made him a hidden big shot, and the Sect Master himself was only Late Stage Golden Core.
Lin Yuan hid it well. Most days he was too lazy to lift his feet when he walked, and his cultivation base stayed pressed down flat. To anyone looking, he was a third-layer Qi Refining waste with no hope left in him.
Fighting, sect wars, Ascension to the immortal realm: none of it beat finding a comfortable spot and lying flat.
Life’s simple. Lie down and you’re done.
He was mumbling that to himself, already half into a second nap, when hurried footsteps crashed into the quiet of the back mountain. With them came a girl’s voice, bright, and a little unhinged.
“Found you! Senior Brother Lin Yuan! You’re lying flat out here again!”
Lin Yuan’s eyelid twitched. Something dropped in his stomach. A bad feeling, arriving ahead of any reason for it.
A heartbeat later, a slip of a girl in an outer disciple’s robe came sprinting up to the willow. Her hair was done in two buns. She planted both hands on her hips and glared up at him, cheeks flushed red from running, round almond eyes wide.
Su Muyao.
A new disciple who’d appeared in the outer sect three days ago. Said a roaming Elder had picked her up, and she’d remembered nothing since waking. The one thing she did remember was how to cultivate, and she did it ferociously.
Lin Yuan had no quarrel with her. Three days ago in the sect canteen, while queuing for food, he’d said offhand that cultivating was exhausting and lying flat beat it. She’d latched on to him ever since.
For three days she’d stuck to him like glue, hunting him all over the sect, trying to drag him into cultivating alongside her. His ten quiet years had been turned inside out.
Lin Yuan pulled the foxtail from his mouth, rolled his eyes and spoke without an ounce of strength. “Junior Sister. Why grind so hard? Isn’t lying flat nicer?”
“Nicer, my ass!” Su Muyao rolled her eyes harder than he had, and her next words came out fluent corporate drone. “Ten years in the same lowly layer and you still dare lie flat? The cultivation world eats the weak. Don’t grind, and sooner or later someone steps on you! Today I’m pulling you up to cultivate!”
She had her own grievances.
She was a transmigrator too, a veteran corporate drone, and overtime had killed her the same way it killed him. She’d woken as an outer disciple of Qingyun Sect, bound to an Involution System. Fail to grind and the system electrocuted her until she questioned her own existence.
She’d looked around the sect and found Lin Yuan, this “waste,” was the perfect partner for grinding. Grind alongside him and the system handed out bonus rewards.
Who knew the man was a pure, unrepentant lie-flatter. Not a word got through.
Su Muyao shoved up her sleeves and started climbing the tree. “Senior Brother Lin Yuan, get down here! Nobody leaves today until you’ve run the Basic Breathing Method a hundred times!”
Lin Yuan looked at all that enthusiasm burning in her eyes, and his head started to hurt.
He really did not want to move.
[Ding! Host’s lie-flat state has been seriously disturbed. Triggering system compensation!]
[Reward: cultivation +1000 points! Current cultivation: Nascent Soul, Middle Stage (suppressed)!]
[Reward: lie-flat comfort +50! New lie-flat location unlocked: top floor of the Scripture Pavilion (no disturbances, dense spiritual qi, lie-flat cultivation gains doubled)!]
The sudden system chime inside his head wiped out Lin Yuan’s bad mood.
So being interrupted by this girl came with a payoff?
Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow, burrowed deeper into the fork of the tree, and put on the look of a man who had given up on shame. “I’m not coming down. If you want to grind, grind. Leave me alone.”
Su Muyao was halfway up and nearly fell, so angry her teeth ached. “Senior Brother Lin Yuan! Could you have some ambition for once? Look at everyone else! Every outer disciple is training like their life depends on it, and all you do is lie flat!”
“Them, not me.” Lin Yuan yawned, eyelids nearly glued shut. “Third layer of Qi Refining suits me. I don’t starve, I don’t freeze, nothing to fight for, nothing to snatch. Comfortable.”
Su Muyao looked at that shameless, unsalvageable heap of a man and wanted to shake some sense into him. There was nothing to shake.
She refused to believe it. Her Involution System, and she couldn’t fix one lie-flatter?
She stood under the willow with her arms crossed. “Senior Brother Lin Yuan, you just wait! I’m pulling you up to grind today whether you like it or not!”
Lin Yuan shut his eyes and ignored her completely, quietly delighted.
Top floor of the Scripture Pavilion, no disturbances, doubled gains?
Best deal ever.
Only this girl was a bit too loud.
Looked like his road to lying flat had met its first real obstacle.
Chapter Two
Su Muyao was a grinder who kept her word.
She simply stood under the willow and stayed there, no longer yelling, just looking straight up at Lin Yuan in the tree with the eyes of someone staring at a heap of mud that would not stick to a wall, and she looked ready to bore a hole straight through him.
Lin Yuan lay up there for half a shichen. Her stare got under his skin, and he could not even nap properly, which he blamed on her.
Oh, he saw her now. This girl was tar. Once she stuck, she did not come off.
[Ding! Host’s lie-flat comfort levels have dropped. Triggering system compensation!]
[Reward: Invisibility Lie-Flat Talisman x1, quantity 1 (lie flat unseen, undetectable by anyone)!]
[Reward: cultivation +500 points!]
Lin Yuan’s eyes lit up, and he was about to silently invoke the talisman when Su Muyao’s voice came again. “Senior Brother Lin Yuan, if you don’t come down right now, I’m going to the outer sect steward. I’ll tell him you’re dodging your training, and get him to sentence you to three months of latrine duty!”
Lin Yuan froze mid-motion. His mouth twitched once.
Latrine duty?
That would wreck his lying flat.
If he could lie flat, he did not work. Ever.
Lin Yuan climbed down, dragging it out. He stumbled on purpose on landing and coughed twice, playing a man out of strength. “Fine, fine. Stop shouting. I’m down. Happy?”
At the sight of him finally on the ground, a victorious smile spread over Su Muyao’s face, like a little general fresh off a battle. “That’s more like it! Come on. We’re testing your Spirit Root! I suspect you’re not a Spirit Root menial at all. Just sealed. Once we know your real root, we grind together, and in three years we’ll both be in the Inner Sect!”
His Spirit Root?
Lin Yuan’s gut lurched.
The system had rebuilt his Spirit Root long ago, into the legendary Chaos Spirit Root, one in ten thousand, and he only had to stand in front of a Spirit Testing Stone for the stone to blow itself apart into a hundred pieces before he did a thing.
If anyone found out, how was he supposed to keep lying flat?
Lin Yuan waved both hands fast. “No. Not going. Test what? I’m a Spirit Root menial. Testing it is a waste of time.”
“Maybe not!” Su Muyao grabbed his arm without asking and started hauling him toward the sect’s Spirit-Testing Hall. “Look at your bones. Nothing ordinary about them! Come on. We’re testing!”
Dragged along at her pace, Lin Yuan felt his bones coming apart. In his head he cursed Su Muyao’s ancestors for eighteen generations.
Ten years alive, and he had never moved this much.
[Ding! Host has been forced into high-intensity exercise. Triggering system compensation!]
[Reward: cultivation +2000 points! Current cultivation: Nascent Soul, Late Stage!]
[Reward: Lie-Flat Recovery Pill x3 (restores your stamina on the spot, lie-flat state maxed out)!]
Half running, half being hauled, Lin Yuan collected the rewards as they came, and his mood evened out a little.
Fine. Moving around did pay well.
It just wasn’t worth the pain.
The Spirit-Testing Hall was nearly empty. One white-haired old steward kept watch, dozing in a chair.
Su Muyao pulled Lin Yuan over to the Spirit Testing Stone, patted him on the back and stepped clear, grinning like a child at a festival. “Senior Brother Lin Yuan, quickly, put your hand on it! Let me see your real Spirit Root!”
Lin Yuan dawdled. He wouldn’t put his hand out.
Su Muyao lost patience and pressed his palm down on the Spirit Testing Stone herself.
The next second.
Hummm.
A hum loud enough to shake the hall rang out, and the white Spirit Testing Stone blazed. Red, yellow, blue, green, purple, five colors braided together, and through them a thread of gold that stung the eyes.
The old steward jolted awake and shot to his feet, eyes wide. “This… this is a Chaos Spirit Root? The one in the old stories?”
He had barely finished the words.
Crack.
A fissure split the Spirit Testing Stone, raced across the face of it, and then bang, the whole thing burst into a cloud of flying shards.
Silence fell over the Spirit-Testing Hall.
Su Muyao’s mouth hung open. Nothing came out. Her eyes were wide as temple bells, going from the Spirit Testing Stone’s shards on the floor to Lin Yuan and back, disbelief all over her face.
Shaking all over with excitement, the old steward rushed over and seized Lin Yuan’s hand in both of his own. “Little Friend! You have a Chaos Spirit Root! One in ten thousand years, they say, and here it is in your body! Qingyun Sect is going to rise!”
Lin Yuan cursed silently. His face, though, wore pure confusion. He pulled his hand back, scratched his head, and looked utterly innocent. “Huh? What happened? Why did the Spirit Testing Stone explode? Is it falling apart from old age? Told you I’m a Spirit Root menial. Testing me is a waste of time. You wouldn’t listen.”
Then he made a point of coughing twice and put on a frail face. “Maybe I’m just so useless the Spirit Stone couldn’t take me?”
Su Muyao: “…”
The old steward: “…”
Who would believe that?
A Spirit Root menial blowing up a Spirit Testing Stone? And lighting up with the glow of a Chaos Spirit Root?
Red to the ears with excitement, the old steward clung on. He clung to Lin Yuan’s hand and wouldn’t let go. “Little Friend, stop pretending! A Chaos Spirit Root is a genius favored by the Heavenly Dao! Come with me to see the Sect Master! He’ll take you as a Direct Disciple for certain!”
Lin Yuan’s heart sank.
See the Sect Master? That meant being dragged into cultivating. Then how was he supposed to lie flat?
Lin Yuan wrenched his hand free and backed away two steps, waving him off. “Not going, not going. I’m a waste. Chaos Spirit Root? Never heard of it. I need to get back to lying flat. No time for your fuss.”
He turned and ran, fast as a rabbit, terrified the old steward would grab him again.
Su Muyao watched his back shrink into the distance, then looked at the Spirit Stone’s shards on the floor. Her mouth twitched. Inside, her conviction only hardened.
A hidden genius, this Senior Brother of hers, and no mistake.
He must be keeping it quiet on purpose, pretending to be a waste.
Good. The more he hid, the harder she would drag him into the grind.
Su Muyao clenched her fists, involution shining in her eyes.
Back on the back mountain, Lin Yuan leaned against the willow, swallowed one of the Lie-Flat Recovery Pills, and felt his strength return at once. Every bit of exhaustion drained out of him. Back in the fork of the tree, he let out a long breath.
[Ding! Host has successfully feigned ignorance. The lie-flat plan remains intact. Triggering system jackpot!]
[Reward: cultivation +5000 points! Current cultivation: at Nascent Soul, Peak Stage!]
[Reward: Lie-Flat Domain (beginner)! Centered on the host, every living thing within ten meters feels an urge to lie flat and lose the will to grind!]
[Reward: Sect Pardon Decree x1! The sect’s cultivation mission board cannot touch you. No one dares punish you!]
His eyes went bright.
Nascent Soul, Peak Stage!
Plus the Lie-Flat Domain and a pardon decree!
Now let’s see that girl try to drag him into the grind.
Back down he lay, deeply content, the foxtail back between his teeth, glee blooming in his chest.
Su Muyao, is it? A grind queen, is it?
You’re a few rounds too green to play this game with me.
Chapter Three
Lin Yuan assumed that once he had the Lie-Flat Domain and the pardon decree, Su Muyao would accept defeat and stop bothering his quiet life.
He was wrong.
Completely wrong.
Su Muyao’s will to grind was sturdier than he had guessed.
Next morning, before the sky had properly lightened and while Lin Yuan was still asleep in the fork of the tree, Su Muyao turned up under the willow with a sword on her shoulder and two copies of cultivation techniques in her arms. One was the Basic Breathing Method. The other, Introduction to the Qingyun Sword Art.
“Senior Brother Lin Yuan! Up! Training time!”
Su Muyao’s voice went off like a megaphone and tore Lin Yuan straight out of his dream.
Lin Yuan peeled his eyes open and looked down at her, his face that of a man who wanted nothing out of life anymore.
He activated the Lie-Flat Domain.
The next second, Su Muyao’s body visibly hitched, the involution in her eyes dimmed, and the sword nearly slid out of her hand, a powerful urge to lie down washing through her until all she wanted was a quiet spot to do nothing in.
“So… so sleepy…” Su Muyao scrubbed at her eyes, yawned, and leaned back against the willow. She nearly dropped off standing up.
Then a warning tone sounded in her head. [Ding! Host has developed a lie-flat urge, violating involution rules. Electric punishment commencing. Countdown: 3, 2…]
“No, no, no! I won’t lie flat! I want to grind!”
Su Muyao snapped awake. She forced herself upright against the Domain, and the light came back into her eyes in one hard flare.
[Ding! Host’s Lie-Flat Domain has been forcibly resisted. Triggering system reward!]
[Lie-Flat Domain upgraded (intermediate)! Range extended to twenty meters. Effect doubled!]
[Cultivation +3000 points!]
Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow.
This girl had something to her, to hold out against the Lie-Flat Domain.
So her Involution System was no paper tiger.
Lin Yuan yawned, too lazy to bother with her, rolled over on his branch and went back to sleep. “Train if you want. Leave me alone.”
Su Muyao gritted her teeth, braced herself against the Domain, and began drilling sword forms. Every move was clean and deliberate, and she shouted slogans as she went. “One, two, one! If you won’t train hard, go home and sell sweet potatoes! Senior Brother Lin Yuan, you’re watching me drill! Doesn’t it make you want to get up and try?”
Lin Yuan covered his ears and pretended not to hear.
Drill sword forms? Too much work.
He wasn’t stupid.
Su Muyao drilled for half a shichen, soaked in sweat, clothes sticking to her, and refused to give up, throwing Lin Yuan a line every so often to try and light a fire under him.
Her stubbornness drew the attention of several Outer Sect disciples.
Fifth layer Qi Refining and up, every one of them, the sort who liked stepping on weaker disciples. Seeing a new girl drilling sword forms and shouting up at the branch Lin Yuan was sleeping on, they got ideas.
Their leader was a young man called Wang Hu, triangular-eyed, sixth layer Qi Refining, a real somebody among the outer disciples. He came over to the willow with two lackeys in tow and said, voice dripping with yin and yang, “Well, well. If it isn’t the new Junior Sister. What are you drilling down here? With that clumsy little skill of yours, you want to cultivate? Give up while you’re ahead.”
Su Muyao stopped her drill and frowned at him. “I’m drilling. What’s it to you?”
“Nothing to me?” Wang Hu snorted and let his eyes slide up to Lin Yuan in the tree. He curled his lip. “I’m saying, you’re mixed up with a third-layer Qi Refining waste. Where’s that going to get you? No eye for talent, clearly. Why not stick with me? I’ll teach you to cultivate. Half a year, and I guarantee you breakthrough to the fifth layer.”
As he said it, his hand reached for Su Muyao’s shoulder, and his eyes went somewhere ugly.
Su Muyao’s expression changed. She stepped back fast, away from his hand. “Don’t come near me! I don’t need you to teach me!”
“Still dodging?” Wang Hu’s face darkened. “Turn down a kindness, is that it? Today I’ll teach you what rules are.”
He raised a hand and swung at her face.
Su Muyao shut her eyes in fright. This was bad.
She was only at the fourth layer of Qi Refining. No match for Wang Hu at all.
Right then, a lazy voice drifted down from the tree. “Do you have to? You’re waking me up.”
Lin Yuan.
Their racket had made sleep impossible, so he had opened his eyes at last, plain irritation in them.
Wang Hu turned and saw him up in the tree. He gave a contemptuous huff. “Oh? The waste wants to play hero? You must be tired of living.”
His palm came up, and he flung a bolt of spiritual qi at Lin Yuan in the willow, meaning to knock him out of the tree.
Lin Yuan frowned. He did not get up. He did not even lift his hand. He flicked at the incoming qi, and an invisible force rolled outward.
The next second.
Bang!
The bolt scattered, and the rebound folded back into Wang Hu, threw all three through the air, and dropped them in the dirt. Blood at their mouths. Their Qi Refining cultivation gone, all at once. Cripples.
Start to finish, under a second.
Under the willow, silence again.
Su Muyao’s mouth hung open. Nothing came. Her eyes went from the three on the ground to the man in the tree and back, wide as saucers.
What… what was that?
One careless flick, and Wang Hu, sixth layer of Qi Refining, was a cripple?
And this was supposed to be a third-layer waste?
Up in the tree, Lin Yuan rubbed his eyes and said, all innocence, “Ah, sorry. My hand slipped. Must be your bad luck. You happened to catch the rebound.”
Su Muyao: “…”
The three in the dirt: “…”
Who would believe that?
Crippled, at the sixth layer, from one flick. A cultivator that far up, put down like that. If that was a slip of the hand, how far must the hand have gone?
Su Muyao’s chin came up, and the admiration in her eyes nearly overflowed onto the grass at her feet.
Big trouble, this Senior Brother of hers was a hidden genius through and through!
That kind of strength was terrifying!
Her resolve to drag him into the grind only hardened.
As for Lin Yuan, he rolled over again and grumbled to himself, Honestly. So loud. A man can’t even sleep.
[Ding! Host knocked some faces around without interrupting lie-flat. Triggering system reward!]
[Cultivation +4000 points! Current cultivation: Spirit Severing, Early Stage!]
[Invincible Lie-Flat buff x1 (lasts one day; during it, no attack can interrupt the host’s lie-flat state)!]
Lin Yuan was delighted.
Spirit Severing!
Now even if the Sect Master came, there was nothing he could do.
Just these few clueless outer disciples were disruptive to a good lie-down.
Lin Yuan spared the three on the ground a glance, couldn’t be bothered, and went back to his long sleep.
Su Muyao looked at the three on the ground, then up at Lin Yuan, drew a deep breath, picked up her sword, and started drilling again.
She would train even harder!
She had to keep up with Senior Brother Lin Yuan!
Grind. Grind till you drop.
Chapter Four
Word that Wang Hu and his cronies had been crippled spread through the outer sect of Qingyun in no time.
Everyone now knew that the new girl, Su Muyao, was tangled up with Lin Yuan, that third-layer waste. And that Lin Yuan, waste or not, had depths no one could measure, deep enough that even Wang Hu of the sixth layer couldn’t touch him.
After that, nobody dared touch Su Muyao or Lin Yuan. Plenty of outer disciples actually wanted to curry favor with Lin Yuan and ask to take him as their master, so they could learn his cultivation method.
Lin Yuan turned every one of them down.
Take a Master? That meant teaching them to cultivate. Exhausting.
He just wanted a quiet place to lie flat.
Su Muyao, though, used the opening to drag him harder than ever.
One day she hauled him to the Qi-Training Room to soak up spiritual qi. The next she pulled him into the Scripture Pavilion to hunt for Cultivation Techniques. The day after that, she had him sparring with outer disciples.
She ran him half mad, but luckily the system’s compensation came in steady and his cultivation shot up, and soon he was at Spirit Severing, Middle Stage, with a pile of new lie-flat artifacts unlocked: the Cloud Bed of Repose, Lie-Flat Spirit Fruits, a Lie-Flat Hot Spring.
None of it made up for the misery of being woken up.
One day Su Muyao came charging into the back mountain again, found Lin Yuan asleep on his floating cloud bed, and shook him awake. “Senior Brother Lin Yuan! Good news! The sect’s opened the outer sect’s Lesser Secret Realm! Spirit herbs and spirit medicine inside, Cultivation Techniques, martial skills! Let’s go! One big grind! We’ll push you through to the seventh layer of Qi Refining in there!”
The Lesser Secret Realm?
Lin Yuan frowned.
Go into a Secret Realm? That meant running everywhere and fighting things.
Terrible for lying flat.
“No.” He didn’t even think about it. “A Secret Realm is dangerous. What if I die in there? Lying flat is safer.”
“Danger is where the challenge is!” Su Muyao grabbed his arm and shook it hard. “You’re this strong, Senior Brother Lin Yuan. The Demonic Beasts in there are nothing to you! We go in, pick some spirit herbs, raise your cultivation. Isn’t that good?”
“No.” Lin Yuan shook his head. “Picking herbs is work. Lying flat beats it.”
“Just come!” Su Muyao broke out her ultimate weapon, whining and swinging his arm back and forth. “Senior Brother Lin Yuan, please, just this once! If I get in trouble in there, you can save me. Please?”
The shaking was making his head spin. Then the system chimed in.
[Ding! Host’s lie-flat has been disturbed. Triggering system mission: accompany Su Muyao into the outer sect’s Lesser Secret Realm, lie flat the whole time, do not attack of your own accord, and do not pick up treasures of your own accord.]
[Mission reward: cultivation +10000 points! Lie-Flat Domain upgraded (advanced)! Unlock ultimate lie-flat location: the summit of Qingyun (Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy gathers there; lie-flat cultivation grows at ten times speed)!]
[Mission failure: all system rewards recalled. Host’s cultivation falls to the first layer of Qi Refining!]
Lin Yuan: “…”
System, are you playing me?
Not going isn’t an option?
Lin Yuan gritted his teeth, cursed the system in his head, and put on a reluctant face. “Fine, fine, stop shaking me, I’ll go — but I’m telling you now, I’m only going to lie flat, and if you get in trouble I’m not saving you.”
“Don’t worry! I won’t cause you any trouble!” Su Muyao’s face lit up, and she pulled him off toward the Secret Realm’s entrance.
Hauled along behind her, Lin Yuan’s heart ached.
Why was lying flat so hard?
The entrance to the Lesser Secret Realm sat on Qingyun’s western side, where a crowd of outer disciples had already gathered, all of them hoping to scavenge treasures inside.
When Lin Yuan and Su Muyao arrived, everyone moved aside without thinking, awe in their eyes.
After all, they had all watched Lin Yuan cripple Wang Hu without even trying.
Su Muyao marched Lin Yuan through the entrance, chin up, chest out, quietly thrilled.
With a hidden big shot like Lin Yuan along, this trip was going to pay off.
Inside the Secret Realm, Su Muyao ran on a shot of adrenaline, hunting spirit herbs and medicine everywhere. Low-tier Demonic Beasts she charged straight at, no hesitation, grind slogans on her lips, full of drive.
Lin Yuan found a stone block steeped in spiritual qi, lay down on it, activated the Lie-Flat Domain, and shut his eyes to rest. Lying flat the entire time, not moving a muscle, not even bothering to open his eyes.
Su Muyao fought and foraged, having the time of her life, and every so often ran back to drop what she’d found in his lap. “Look, Senior Brother Lin Yuan! Qi-Condensing Grass! And a Marrow Cleansing Pill! Take them. Raise your cultivation!”
Lin Yuan waved her off without bothering to look. “Keep them. I don’t need them.”
His cultivation rose from lying flat alone. What use did he have for herbs and pills?
Su Muyao didn’t push it. She pocketed them and went back to grinding and looting.
The other disciples in the Secret Realm saw Lin Yuan sprawled out and were baffled.
The big shot came into the Secret Realm just to lie flat?
Absurd.
Su Muyao had just reached a valley and bent toward a hundred-year Purple River Grass when a seventh-layer Qi Refining black bear demon burst out and swung a paw at her head.
Su Muyao’s face went pale. No time to dodge.
Then Lin Yuan, lying on the stone block, frowned as if the bear’s roar had broken into his nap, and gave a casual wave in its direction.
An invisible force shot out and flattened the bear into paste. It didn’t even have time to scream.
As for the hundred-year Purple River Grass, a current of force caught it, carried it over to the stone block, and set it down by his hand.
Su Muyao: “…”
The disciples around them: “…”
Lin Yuan opened his eyes, looked at the grass by his hand, then at the smear on the ground. All innocence. “Ah, sorry. My hand slipped again. That bear woke me up. Pure accident. And this grass flew over here by itself. Nothing to do with me.”
Everyone: “…”
Do you believe him?
They did not.
Su Muyao ran over, admiration spilling out of her eyes. “Senior Brother Lin Yuan, you’re amazing! One wave of the hand and that Qi Refining bear is dead, and it was three layers above me! That Purple River Grass must have wanted to bind to a master, and picked you. That’s why it flew to you!”
Lin Yuan rolled his eyes, couldn’t be bothered to explain, pushed the grass aside, and went back to lying flat.
[Ding! Host picked up a treasure while lying flat and slapped a face without effort. Mission requirements met. Triggering mission rewards!]
[Cultivation +10000 points! Current cultivation: Spirit Severing, Late Stage!]
[Reward: Lie-Flat Domain upgraded (advanced)! Range extended to fifty meters. Effect ignores all involution systems!]
[Reward: ultimate lie-flat location unlocked: the summit of Qingyun!]
[Bonus reward: Chaos Supreme Treasure, Lie-Flat Pearl x1! While worn, lie-flat cultivation growth doubles again, all outside interference blocked!]
Lin Yuan’s eyes lit up. Suddenly he was wide awake.
Spirit Severing, Late Stage!
And the Lie-Flat Pearl!
Now nobody was going to disturb his lying flat.
Lin Yuan put the pearl on, and everything in him eased at once. The world’s noise went quiet, leaving only the dense spiritual qi pouring in, his cultivation still climbing.
He lay back down, closed his eyes, and a comfortable smile curved his mouth.
Su Muyao watched him and felt her conviction only harden.
Best genius in the whole cultivation world, and he belonged to her!
Lie flat and treasures come to you. Lie flat and your cultivation rises!
Amazing!
She had to grind harder. She could not be the one holding him back!
Su Muyao clenched her fists, spun around, and charged into the depths of the Secret Realm to carry on her grind.
Lin Yuan, meanwhile, lay on the stone block in comfort the whole day, until the Secret Realm closed and Su Muyao had to drag him out.
By the end of that day, Su Muyao had reaped a fortune, and the seventh layer of Qi Refining was behind her. Lin Yuan had lain his way to Spirit Severing, Late Stage, and walked off with a Chaos Supreme Treasure.
A win for both sides, as they said.
Chapter Five
After the Lesser Secret Realm, Su Muyao had become the undisputed queen of grinders among the outer disciples. Seventh layer Qi Refining put her near the top, and with a “hidden big shot” like Lin Yuan at her back, nobody dared cross her.
Lin Yuan, meantime, had become a legend in Qingyun.
Among the outer disciples, a saying had taken root: “There’s a Senior Brother Lin on the back mountain. Third layer Qi Refining, hits like Nascent Soul. Lie flat and treasures come to you. One flick of the hand and a man’s a cripple.”
His name even reached the Inner Sect.
Inner disciples were a proud lot who did not buy outer sect gossip for a second, and as far as they were concerned, Lin Yuan was a clown of a waste who fooled the outer disciples with cheap tricks.
One of them was Zhao Xuan, a Direct Disciple of an Inner Sect Elder, Foundation Establishment, Early Stage, which put him a notch above most Inner Sect disciples and gave him leave to look down on the world in general and on the outer sect in particular.
When word of Lin Yuan reached him, Zhao Xuan was nettled. A waste from the outer sect throwing his weight around in Qingyun? An embarrassment to the whole sect.
So Zhao Xuan took two Inner Sect lackeys and marched to the back mountain, where he found Lin Yuan lying flat in the willow.
“You’re Lin Yuan?”
Zhao Xuan’s voice was ice. Contempt edged it. He looked up at Lin Yuan on his branch as if at an ant.
His lie-flat broken into, Lin Yuan frowned, opened his eyes, glanced at Zhao Xuan, and couldn’t be bothered. “Something you want?”
“Something I want?” Zhao Xuan gave a contemptuous huff. “I hear some third-layer waste from the outer sect has been calling himself a big shot and crippling outer disciples on a whim. You must be tired of living.”
With that, Zhao Xuan let his Foundation Establishment qi show. The pressure of it bore down on Lin Yuan, meant to squash him out of the tree.
Outer disciples who saw Zhao Xuan coming ducked away and kept their distance.
To Qi Refining disciples of the outer sect, a Foundation Establishment cultivator was the sky itself falling in.
Su Muyao happened to be coming out of the Qi-Training Room. She took one look, went pale, and ran to stand in front of Lin Yuan, facing Zhao Xuan. “Senior Brother Zhao! You’re an Inner Sect disciple. How can you bully outer disciples? This is too much!”
“Bullying?” Zhao Xuan glanced at her and curled his lip. “I’m cleaning house for the sect. An outer sect waste putting on airs. Today I’ll teach him what rules are.”
He raised a hand and threw spiritual qi at Su Muyao to shove her aside.
Su Muyao went white. Foundation Establishment qi. She had no way to block it.
Then the man in the tree moved.
More precisely, the Lie-Flat Pearl on him moved.
It felt the attack coming and triggered its own defense. An invisible barrier dropped over Lin Yuan and Su Muyao.
Bang!
Zhao Xuan’s qi struck the barrier and bounced straight back, the rebound threw him three steps back, and blood welled at the corner of his mouth while his face went all shock and no colour.
“What… what is that?”
Zhao Xuan stared at the invisible barrier, disbelief all over him.
A Foundation Establishment cultivator, and he couldn’t break one barrier?
How was that possible?
Up in the willow, Lin Yuan had not even changed position. Foxtail between his teeth, he said lazily, “I said you were waking me up. Did you hear me?”
His voice was flat, and it carried a weight that made Zhao Xuan shiver. It felt like being eyed by a primordial beast. Even breathing got hard.
Zhao Xuan’s stomach dropped. For the first time, he suspected the Lin Yuan in front of him might not be ordinary at all.
But he was a Direct Disciple, sworn to an Elder of the Inner Sect. He could not back down in front of outer sect disciples.
Zhao Xuan ground his teeth, pulled a longsword from his storage pouch and fed it spiritual qi until the blade blazed, then thrust it up at his target on the branch. “Playing tricks! I don’t believe a Foundation Establishment cultivator can’t put down a scrap like you!”
The sword came at Lin Yuan’s chest, sword qi sharp and fast, there in the blink of an eye.
Su Muyao shut her eyes and screamed silently.
The outer disciples covered their faces. None of them wanted to watch.
But what happened next, nobody saw coming.
A centimeter from Lin Yuan’s chest the sword stopped dead, as if pinned by an invisible force, and though Zhao Xuan pushed with everything he had, it would not advance a hair.
Then a tremendous force came back up the blade, tore the sword from his grip, and sent it slamming into his own chest.
Bang!
Zhao Xuan took his own sword full in the chest, spat blood, and flew backward into the dirt. He could not get up for a long while, and his Early Stage Foundation Establishment cultivation had been scattered by more than half in that one instant, leaving him half a cripple.
His two lackeys’ legs went weak. They scrambled to him on all fours, hauled him up, and did not dare look at the tree again.
Silence fell over the back mountain.
Every eye was wide, fixed on Lin Yuan, full of shock and awe.
Zhao Xuan was Early Stage Foundation Establishment, and he couldn’t survive a single move against him?
What realm was this Lin Yuan in?
Su Muyao opened her eyes, looked at Zhao Xuan on the ground, then up at Lin Yuan. Words were not enough for what was in her eyes.
Incredible, that Senior Brother of hers!
Lie there without moving, and a Foundation Establishment cultivator goes down!
This was what a real big shot looked like!
Up on the branch, Lin Yuan yawned, rubbed his eyes, and looked utterly innocent. “Ah, sorry about that. My hand slipped again, and the sword bounced back on its own, so really nothing to do with me. And next time you come and wake me up, it won’t be this gentle.”
Zhao Xuan lay in the dirt shaking with rage and could not get a single word out.
His hand slipped?
Like hell it did.
But he didn’t dare argue. He knew this Lin Yuan was someone not to be crossed.
His two lackeys propped him up, and they slunk off, not daring to look back.
Watching Zhao Xuan’s back disappear through the gate, the outer disciples burst into a roaring cheer.
“Senior Brother Lin is a beast!”
“Senior Brother Lin is insane!”
“Senior Brother Lin, take me as your disciple! I want to learn to lie flat!”
Lin Yuan: “…”
Disciples? Learn to lie flat?
What was there to learn? You lie down. Done.
Lin Yuan rolled his eyes, couldn’t be bothered with them, and went back to sleeping flat.
[Ding! Host slapped down a Foundation Establishment cultivator while lying flat and stunned the whole field. Triggering system jackpot!]
[Cultivation +20000 points! Current cultivation: at Spirit Severing, Peak Stage! Half a step from Void Refining!]
[Reward: Invincible Lie-Flat Body! While the host lies flat, all attacks below Void Refining are nullified. Nothing can hurt him!]
[Reward: Sect Lie-Flat Token x1! With this token, the host may lie flat anywhere in Qingyun — Inner Sect, Scripture Pavilion, even the Sect Master’s Hall. No one may stop him!]
Lin Yuan was overjoyed.
Spirit Severing, Peak Stage!
Plus the Invincible Lie-Flat Body and the Sect Lie-Flat Token!
Now, inside Qingyun, he could truly lie flat wherever he liked!
Even the Inner Sect. Even the Sect Master’s Hall!
Lin Yuan lay back, and a comfortable smile curved his mouth.
Su Muyao came to the willow and looked up at him. She drew a deep breath and swore to herself:
She would grind even harder!
She’d break through to Foundation Establishment as soon as she could and keep up with Senior Brother Lin Yuan!
Grind. Grind till you drop.
Chapter Six
Word that Zhao Xuan had been flattened by Lin Yuan crossed Qingyun at the speed of light: outer sect, Inner Sect, Elders, and at last the Sect Master’s own ears.
The Sect Master of Qingyun, Yun Qingfeng, was at Late Stage Golden Core. He had been stuck there for years and could not break through, and he watched the sect wither year by year, anxious beyond measure.
When word of Lin Yuan reached him, hope lit in Yun Qingfeng’s chest.
Flatten a Foundation Establishment cultivator without effort? Blow up a Spirit Testing Stone? That was a heaven-sent genius. Take him as a Direct Disciple, train him properly, and the sect might one day be led into glory.
So Yun Qingfeng brought several Elders and went to the outer sect’s back mountain himself, where he found Lin Yuan lying flat in the willow.
The outer sect nearly erupted.
The Sect Master, and the Elders with him, coming to see an outer disciple in person?
First time in the sect’s history.
Outer disciples crowded round and kept their mouths shut, watching from a distance, envy and awe in every face, the kind of silence that costs an effort to hold.
Su Muyao was in the crowd, quietly thrilled.
Something else, this Senior Brother of hers. The head of the whole sect had come to him!
Yun Qingfeng reached the willow, looked up at Lin Yuan, and put on a kindly smile, his tone deferential from the first word. “Little Friend Lin, this old man is Yun Qingfeng, Sect Master of Qingyun. I’ve come today to invite you to the Sect Master’s Hall for a talk.”
His lie-flat interrupted, Lin Yuan frowned, opened his eyes, glanced at Yun Qingfeng, and said lazily, “Whatever it is, say it here. I can’t be bothered to move.”
Yun Qingfeng: “…”
The Elders: “…”
The disciples around them: “…”
In all of Qingyun there was one man who spoke to the Sect Master like that. Just the one.
Yun Qingfeng blinked, recovered himself, decided the man must simply be lazy by nature and nothing more, and took no offense; still smiling, he said, “I see a rare bone structure in you, a Heaven-favored talent, a cultivator of genius met once in ten thousand years. I would take you as a Direct Disciple. What does Little Friend Lin say?”
A Direct Disciple?
A gasp went through the crowd.
A Direct Disciple.
The highest station a disciple could reach, taught by the Sect Master himself, with unlimited cultivation resources pouring in. Under one man. Above ten thousand.
What disciples dream of.
Even Su Muyao was looking at Lin Yuan with envy, certain he would accept.
Then Lin Yuan’s answer stopped every jaw in the crowd.
“No.”
Not even a pause. “Direct Disciples have to cultivate. Learn Cultivation Techniques. Handle sect business. Too much trouble. Outer disciple suits me fine. Comfortable.”
Yun Qingfeng: “…”
The Elders: “…”
So in your eyes, the life of a Direct Disciple loses to lying flat?
Yun Qingfeng took a while to recover, then hurried on. “If you become a Direct Disciple, I will promise you this: no sect business to handle, no fixed hours to keep, do as you like, and the sect’s cultivation resources are yours to use as you please. What do you say?”
To keep hold of this genius, Yun Qingfeng would go that far. Even the sect’s own rules.
The Elders chimed in. “Say yes, Little Friend Lin! In Qingyun, a Direct Disciple, you’d stand under one man and above ten thousand. Nobody would dare cross you!”
Lin Yuan turned the offer over.
No business to handle, no fixed hours, resources as he pleased?
Not a bad offer.
Then he shook his head.
No.
As a Direct Disciple he would draw every eye in the sect, and every eye meant every interruption, and that would ruin his lying flat.
“Still no.” Lin Yuan waved them off. “I like the outer sect. No one bothers me. I can lie flat in peace. Off you go. Stop pestering me.”
Yun Qingfeng and the Elders looked at each other, helplessness plain on every face, and said nothing for a while.
They had lived a long time. This was the first man they’d met who would turn down a Direct Disciple’s seat to lie flat in the outer sect.
What a strange creature.
A white-haired Elder could not hold it in. “Do you understand what you are refusing? A Direct Disciple would surely ascend one day and become a great figure in the cultivation world! Do you have no wish to pursue the Dao at all?”
“Pursue the Dao?” Lin Yuan gave a contemptuous huff. “Pursuing the Dao is work. Cultivate every day, fight, scheme against each other. Where’s the comfort in that? For me, lying flat is the Dao. Lying flat is immortality.”
The Elders: “…”
They had no answer.
They had seen lazy men before. Never one this far gone.
Turning down the Dao itself, turning down immortality, for a good lie-down.
This Little Friend Lin was a rare piece of work.
Yun Qingfeng sighed. The man had made up his mind, and pushing would not move him. “If you will not be a Direct Disciple, so be it. From today, you are Qingyun’s Honorary Disciple. Every privilege of a Direct Disciple, none of the sect’s rules. Lie flat when you like, wherever you like. The sect’s resources are yours. Anyone who dares disturb you makes an enemy of Qingyun.”
Honorary Disciple?
All the privileges, none of the rules?
That one actually fit his creed.
[Ding! Host has become Honorary Disciple of Qingyun. Lie-flat rights secured. Triggering system reward!]
[Cultivation +30000 points! Current cultivation: Void Refining, Early Stage!]
[Reward: Lie-Flat Immortal Manor x1! Endless spiritual qi inside, every kind of lie-flat artifact, summonable at will, and no one can enter!]
[Reward: sect-wide lie-flat buff! Across Qingyun, every living thing’s urge to grind weakens. Better for the host’s lying flat!]
Lin Yuan was overjoyed.
Void Refining, Early Stage!
And the Lie-Flat Immortal Manor!
Best deal ever.
Lin Yuan nodded, which counted as agreement. “Fine. Have it your way. You can go now. Don’t disturb my lying flat.”
They breathed out, and the Elders cupped their hands. “Then rest well, Little Friend Lin. We will not disturb you.”
They turned and left, and as they went, Yun Qingfeng made a point of warning the disciples around them. Anyone who disturbed Lin Yuan would be punished severely.
The disciples watched the man in the tree, awe at its peak.
Honorary Disciple!
Direct Disciple treatment in full, and not one rule to bind him!
Senior Brother Lin had it made.
Su Muyao came to the willow and looked up at him, beside herself. “Senior Brother Lin Yuan, you’re amazing! Even the Sect Master came to ask you in person, and made you an Honorary Disciple!”
Lin Yuan rolled his eyes, couldn’t be bothered to argue, yawned, and lay back down on the branch. “Quiet. I’m sleeping.”
Su Muyao shut her mouth at once. She stood under the willow without a word, watching him, admiration written all over her face.
Her grind had a new goal.
Train hard. Become Senior Brother Lin Yuan’s dedicated lie-flat assistant.
Grind. Grind till you drop.
Chapter Seven
As Qingyun’s Honorary Disciple, Lin Yuan’s lie-flat life entered its golden age.
Not a soul in the sect dared disturb him. Disciples volunteered to bring him food and drink, and every sort of lie-flat artifact, all in the hope he would spare them a glance.
Su Muyao went further and made him the target of her life’s grind. Apart from cultivating, every day was tea and water for Lin Yuan, shoulders kneaded, back pounded. She had turned into his personal maid, chanting as she worked: “Senior Brother Lin Yuan, you lie flat, I grind, I’ll support you!”
Lin Yuan had no complaints.
Someone else did the work, and his own hands stayed idle. Life was good.
One day, boredom set in under the willow, and he called the Lie-Flat Immortal Manor out with a thought.
A flash of white light, and an ancient, elegant manor stood in the clearing at the back mountain, wrapped in a pale film of spiritual qi, mist drifting around it like something out of a fairy tale.
The disciples nearby went wide-eyed with shock.
The legendary immortal manor?
Senior Brother Lin had an immortal manor?
Lin Yuan got up, stretched, and walked in.
Inside, he was stunned by what he saw.
The spiritual qi was so dense it had all but turned to liquid — thick enough to swim in. Rare flowers and grasses everywhere. Hot springs, rocking chairs, cloud beds, sofas built for lying flat. Every kind of lie-flat artifact, everything he could want.
In the center stood an enormous jade bed, draped in a ten-thousand-year ice-silk quilt, with spirit fruit and immortal wine within arm’s reach.
“This is what the final stage of lying flat looks like!”
Lin Yuan sighed with feeling, flopped onto the jade bed, pulled up the quilt, picked up a spirit fruit and bit into it. Sweet juice burst across his tongue, dense spiritual qi poured into him, and his cultivation crept upward again.
He turned on the manor’s shielding function. Every sound from outside was cut off. Inside, absolute quiet, nothing but the faint drift of spiritual qi.
Lin Yuan closed his eyes, and a comfortable smile curved his mouth.
Comfortable.
Very comfortable.
This was the life he wanted.
He stayed inside for three days.
Three days of eating nothing, drinking nothing, lying flat the whole time, and his cultivation climbed from Void Refining, Early Stage to Middle Stage. He unlocked plenty of new functions too: automatic massage, automatic watering, automatic peeling of spirit fruit. Lie-flat freedom, complete.
Outside the manor, Su Muyao was going out of her mind.
He had gone in and not come out. She stood guard at the door every day, never leaving, calling in. “Senior Brother Lin Yuan! Come out! I’ll show you my sword forms! Eighth layer of Qi Refining now!”
“Senior Brother Lin Yuan! Come out! I found a thousand-year ginseng for you. It’ll build you up!”
“Senior Brother Lin Yuan! Come out! I’ve organized all the outer disciples into a grind. Just waiting for you to come and inspect them!”
The manor cut off his Lie-Flat Domain, so her Involution System’s effect had doubled outright, and her cultivation speed had gone absurd. Three days, and she went from the seventh layer of Qi Refining to the ninth, a step from Foundation Establishment.
The Outer Sect disciples were being ground to dust. Every day she had them up before dawn, sword forms, breath work, killing beasts, without a moment’s rest. Half dead with exhaustion, and not one of them dared object. They gritted their teeth and ground on.
Even Inner Disciples were shaken by her spirit. Plenty of them, Inner Disciples every one, came over to watch, and some began to wonder whether they had been too lazy themselves.
Qingyun had been ground, wholly, into a sect of grinders.
Up at the immortal manor, the man who’d set it all off lay comfortable for three days, not bothering to open his eyes once.
Three days later, Lin Yuan had lain long enough. A thought, and the manor vanished, and he was standing in front of everyone again.
He had barely appeared before Su Muyao rushed him and grabbed his arm. “Senior Brother Lin Yuan! You’re out! Ninth layer! Look at me!”
As she spoke, the qi of the ninth layer of Qi Refining rolled off her. She looked up at him full of hope, waiting for praise.
Lin Yuan glanced at her and nodded. “Oh. Good.”
A yawn. He was already scanning for a place to lie down.
Su Muyao: “…”
Flat as his reaction was, she was delighted. Her grind had been acknowledged by Senior Brother Lin Yuan at last.
She clenched her fists and swore to herself: I’ll break through to Foundation Establishment as fast as I can and become Senior Brother Lin Yuan’s right hand. I’ll handle the sect’s business for him so he can lie flat in peace!
Her grind went on.
A new spot was waiting for Lin Yuan. The summit of Qingyun, the ultimate lie-flat location the system had unlocked.
Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy gathered at the summit, and lie-flat cultivation growth ran at ten times speed. With the Lie-Flat Pearl and the immortal manor on top of that, his cultivation was a rocket.
Void Refining, Middle Stage. Late Stage. Void Refining, Peak Stage. Body Integration, Early Stage…
Lying flat, he broke through one after another, and soon reached Body Integration, Early Stage, making him the undisputed number one in Qingyun.
Qingyun itself, pulled between his lying flat and her grinding, drifted toward glory, one day at a time.
Under her grind, the Outer Sect disciples’ cultivation rose sharply, and the Inner Sect disciples were pulled along too, taking up serious training. The Sect Master and the Elders, with cultivation resources now plentiful because of Lin Yuan, all advanced.
Qingyun’s name spread through the cultivation world, from a nobody sect to one that commanded respect.
All of it started with one waste who only wanted to lie flat, and one grind queen who could not stop.
Chapter Eight
Qingyun’s rise drew eyes from elsewhere.
The cultivation world was thick with sects and thick with the strong, but four sat at the top: Heavenly Sword Sect, Cauldron Pill Sect, Ten Thousand Beasts Sect and Heavenly Sound Sect. The Four Great Sects held most of the world’s resources, and they did not bother to look at smaller sects at all.
When Qingyun shot up out of nowhere, the lords of all four were annoyed. A small sect throwing its weight around the cultivation world? It didn’t know its own height.
So the four lords brought their sects’ best and came to Qingyun in person to see what cards this newcomer was holding.
Qingyun’s mountain gate filled with big names. All four lords were at Spirit Severing. Their men were Foundation Establishment and Golden Core. Strength to spare, pressure rolling off them in waves.
Outer Disciples trembled where they stood and did not dare breathe.
Sect Master Yun Qingfeng went out to the mountain gate to receive them with several Elders, courtesy on his face, a knot in his stomach.
The four lords had come in person. Nothing good came of that.
Heavenly Sword’s lord was Ye Gucheng, Late Stage Spirit Severing, the strongest of the four, and he glanced at Yun Qingfeng, his voice ice. “Yun Qingfeng. I hear Qingyun has produced a heaven-sent genius, one who can flatten Foundation Establishment cultivators with a flick. We came today to see what this genius is worth.”
Yun Qingfeng’s stomach dropped. They were here for Lin Yuan. He hurried to answer. “Lord Ye flatters us. Qingyun is a small sect. We have no such genius. Outside rumor, nothing more.”
“Rumor?” Ye Gucheng gave a contemptuous huff. “I think not. Without some real ability, how would Qingyun dare strut through the cultivation world? Yun Qingfeng, I advise you to be sensible. Hand the genius over. Otherwise we’ll level Qingyun today.”
With that, Ye Gucheng let his Late Stage Spirit Severing pressure loose at Yun Qingfeng, and the air above the gate went thick as syrup. Yun Qingfeng went white and spat blood. He could barely stay on his feet.
The Elders could not breathe under the pressure either. Every one of them shook.
All four of them threw their cultivation open at once, pressure closing over Qingyun, as if one more breath and the sect would be gone.
Qingyun’s disciples wept outright. This calamity, no one would walk away from.
Su Muyao stood in the crowd, white-faced, fists clenched. She stepped in front of Yun Qingfeng and faced Ye Gucheng. “You’re going too far! Just because you’re strong, you come and bully Qingyun? Senior Brother Lin Yuan won’t let you get away with this!”
“Lin Yuan?” Ye Gucheng glanced at her and curled his lip. “The so-called genius? I want to see what he’s worth. Call him out. Otherwise I’ll kill you first.”
One hand came up, and he threw spiritual qi at Su Muyao hard enough to kill her where she stood.
Yun Qingfeng tried to stop him, but the pressure had pinned him to the flagstones where he stood. All he could do was watch the qi fly at her, and his heart screamed.
Then a lazy voice came down from the summit of Qingyun. “So loud. Can you all be quiet? You’re ruining my lying flat.”
Quiet as the voice was, it carried a weight of its own, and it tore straight through the four sects’ pressure and settled over the whole mountain.
The next second, a figure drifted down off the summit and came to rest on the ground at the mountain gate, slowly, as though the trip had cost him something.
It was Lin Yuan.
He had been lying flat at the summit, and the noise below had kept him awake, so he’d come to look.
He wore an Outer Sect disciple’s robe washed pale, hair a mess, a stalk of foxtail at the corner of his mouth. Scruffy from head to foot. Nothing remotely like a master.
And yet all four Sect Lords’ faces changed at the sight of him, shock in every eye.
Because they felt no cultivation on him at all, and at the same time felt bottomless, like staring into an endless abyss. It made them cold. It made breathing hard.
Ye Gucheng frowned at him and said, low, “You’re Lin Yuan?”
Lin Yuan glanced at him, couldn’t be bothered, and simply pointed at the sky. “You woke me up. Get lost. Don’t pester me.”
“Insolent!” Ye Gucheng’s face darkened. “A snot-nosed brat, talking to me like that? You must be tired of living.”
Up came his hand again, and he hurled Late Stage Spirit Severing qi at Lin Yuan. The qi gathered into a giant sword and came down with a force that could end the world.
That one strike could split a mountain. Even a Spirit Severing cultivator would struggle to hold it.
Everyone shut their eyes. Nobody wanted to watch.
But then everything went sideways.
Lin Yuan didn’t move. Not a step. He gave the qi a casual wave.
An invisible force shot out, scattered the qi, and did not even raise a ripple.
Then that same force went for Ye Gucheng. His face changed. He tried to dodge and found himself pinned, unable to move at all.
Bang!
The force hit him in the chest. Blood from his mouth, and he was thrown backward into the dirt, his Late Stage Spirit Severing cultivation scattered by more than half. Half a cripple.
The three other lords shook where they stood, disbelief all over their faces.
Late-stage Spirit Severing Ye Gucheng, and he had not survived a single move from a young man in a patched robe?
What realm was he in?
Lin Yuan spared the man on the ground one glance and said, lazily, “I said don’t wake me up. If you’re still here, don’t blame me for what happens.”
His voice was flat, and the weight behind it allowed no argument at all. Everyone from the four sects flinched. Not one of them dared breathe.
The three lords hauled Ye Gucheng up and scrambled. “We’re going! Going right now! We’ll never disturb Senior Lin again!”
They fled with their men, tails between their legs, and did not look back.
Silence lay over the mountain gate.
Every eye was fixed on Lin Yuan, shock and awe in all of them.
One move, and Late Stage Spirit Severing Ye Gucheng went down!
So what realm was he really in?
Body Integration, surely. Maybe higher.
Yun Qingfeng brought the Elders over at a run and cupped his hands. “Thank you, Senior Lin, for stepping in. You saved Qingyun’s life!”
The rest of the disciples caught on and dropped to their knees. “Thank you, Senior Lin!”
Lin Yuan waved a hand and yawned, annoyed. “All right, all right, get up. Enough noise. I’m going back to lying flat.”
He turned and drifted unhurried back up to the summit, back to his lying flat, and did not look at any of them again.
He left the whole of Qingyun standing there, not coming back to themselves for a long while.
Senior Lin was something else.
And he really loved lying flat.
Chapter Nine
Word got around fast. One move from Lin Yuan had flattened the lords of the Four Great Sects, and they had slunk off home. Within a day the cultivation world had heard it all.
The news shook the cultivation world to its roots.
Everyone knew now. Qingyun had produced a monster by the name of Lin Yuan. Power that touched the heavens, depth no one could plumb. One wave of his hand and a Late Stage Spirit Severing cultivator ate dirt. And he loved lying flat above all things. Disturb his lying flat, and you had picked a fight with the entire cultivation world.
After that, no sect dared provoke Qingyun. Plenty of them went the opposite direction and came courting. Cultivation resources, rare treasures, curios beyond price, all delivered to Qingyun’s gate on the chance of a single word of guidance from Lin Yuan.
Qingyun Sect became the first sect of the cultivation world. Untouchable.
Lin Yuan stayed on the summit, lying flat, paying the world no mind. His days were a loop: lie flat, eat spirit fruit, drink immortal wine. And his cultivation climbed while he lay there, straight to Body Integration, Late Stage, one step from Great Ascension.
Su Muyao, under the halo of his lying flat, ground harder than ever.
Her Involution System fed off his strength, and the stronger he grew, the more it Defied Heaven. Her cultivation speed passed ridiculous. A month after Lin Yuan flattened the four Sect Lords, Su Muyao broke through Qi Refining into Foundation Establishment.
The moment she broke through, thick spiritual qi burst out of her, and the whole cast of her changed. The green young girl was gone. In her place stood a poised young cultivator, graceful as a young willow.
Word of Su Muyao’s breakthrough set Qingyun boiling again.
A girl who had transmigrated only months ago, from the first layer of Qi Refining clean up to Foundation Establishment. No one in the cultivation world had ever climbed that fast.
Everyone understood the reason. Su Muyao’s involution spirit, plus the halo of Lin Yuan’s lying flat.
The first thing Su Muyao did after breaking through was run up to the summit, find Lin Yuan flat on his back, and burst out, “Senior Brother Lin Yuan! I broke through to Foundation Establishment! Took ten years of grinding, but I got there!”
Lin Yuan looked up, glanced her way, then nodded. “Mm. Noted.”
Then he held out a jade pendant. “Lie-Flat Assistant Jade. Wear it and you can enter my Lie-Flat Immortal Manor, and draw on the manor’s spiritual qi while you’re in there. You’ll cultivate faster. From now on you’re my personal lie-flat assistant. Pour my tea, rub my shoulders, pound my back, and do not disturb my lying flat. Understood?”
Su Muyao stared at the pendant, eyes shining. She took it with both hands, hung it around her neck, and bowed low. “Thank you, Senior Brother Lin Yuan! I’ll be the best lie-flat assistant you’ve ever had! I’d never disturb your lying flat! Whatever you say, east is east! If you want your shoulders rubbed, I won’t pound your back instead!”
Lin Yuan nodded, satisfied. “Mm. Good. Go on then. Pick me a spirit fruit.”
“Yes!” Su Muyao agreed at once, turned, and went to pick spirit fruit, humming as she walked.
Personal lie-flat assistant to Senior Brother Lin Yuan, plus the Lie-Flat Assistant Jade. Double cultivation speed.
A gift from the heavens, that was.
Su Muyao felt her grind road had carried her to its Peak at last.
From then on Su Muyao was Lin Yuan’s personal lie-flat assistant. Every day she kept close to him. Tea, shoulder rubs, back pounds, spirit fruit, immortal wine, and Lin Yuan waited on hand and foot. She did not dare disturb his lying flat, not once.
Sometimes she cultivated right there beside him. The manor’s spiritual qi, plus the jade, and her speed went past ridiculous. Foundation Establishment, Middle Stage came quickly, and with it the title of Qingyun’s youngest Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Qingyun’s disciples saw how she was treated and burned with envy. Every one of them wanted to be Lin Yuan’s lie-flat assistant. Lin Yuan wanted only Su Muyao.
Sect Master Yun Qingfeng could rest easy now. With a monster like Lin Yuan in the sect, and a grinding genius like Su Muyao, Qingyun’s future was bright from end to end.
He quit pressing Lin Yuan to handle sect affairs. He left it to the disciples to keep Qingyun running smooth, so Lin Yuan could lie flat in peace.
And so Qingyun Sect settled into a strange arrangement. Lin Yuan lay flat. Everyone else ground. And all of it was there to keep Lin Yuan’s lying flat safe.
Chapter Ten
Time slid by. A year was gone before anyone noticed.
In that year Lin Yuan lay flat on the summit of Qingyun, a whole year of it, and never once left.
His cultivation climbed while he lay there, Body Integration, Late Stage going to Body Integration, Peak Stage and then up through Great Ascension’s Early, Middle and Late Stages, until at last he stood at Great Ascension, Peak Stage, one step short of ascension.
By name and by fact, he was now the strongest cultivator in the world, and no one argued it. No one came close.
Su Muyao, inside his Lie-Flat Immortal Manor, ground away a whole year of her own, with the manor’s spiritual qi and the Lie-Flat Assistant Jade doing their work, Foundation Establishment, Middle Stage went up to Golden Core. She became the youngest Golden Core cultivator alive and was crowned the number one genius of the cultivation world, a title no one in living memory had ever thought to argue with.
Qingyun climbed to its height over that same year, disciples numbering in the thousands upon thousands, past ten thousand at least, the strongest of them at Nascent Soul, and in name and in fact the sect now stood first in the cultivation world. Most of its resources passed through Qingyun’s hands now, and no one dared cross the sect.
Every sect in the world bowed to Qingyun. Each year they brought cartloads of cultivation resources and rare treasures. All they asked was one word of guidance from Lin Yuan, or a visit from Su Muyao to teach their disciples how to grind.
Su Muyao herself became the involution matriarch of the cultivation world, worshipped by countless cultivators who had never once met her face to face. Word of her slogans had spread across the world:
“Work at your cultivation or go home and sell sweet potatoes!”
“Grinding feels great once. Keep grinding and it feels great forever!”
“You don’t grind, I don’t grind, how does the cultivation world ever grow? You grind, I grind, ascension is no longer a dream!”
The whole cultivation world got ground into an involution world by Su Muyao, one disciple at a time. Every cultivator began to train like a madman. Involution became the fashion, and the strength of the whole world jumped by a wide margin.
The one who had started all of it lay flat on the summit and paid no attention to a bit of it. Lin Yuan’s days were the same as ever: lie flat, eat spirit fruit, drink immortal wine. Now and then Su Muyao disturbed him. The system handed out a pile of rewards, and his cultivation climbed another notch.
One day Lin Yuan lay on the cloud bed at the summit, eyes shut, feeling the thick qi move inside him. He knew what came next. A breakthrough past Great Ascension, Peak Stage. Ascension.
[Ding! Host has lain flat for one year. Cultivation has reached Great Ascension, Peak Stage. Ascension is imminent. Triggering the system’s ultimate reward!]
[Reward: Eternal Lie-Flat Body! After ascending, host may keep lying flat even up there. Cultivation without end. Lie flat and be invincible!]
[Reward: Lie-Flat Immortal Manor of the immortal realm! Ten times the size of the mortal one, a hundred times the spiritual qi, every lie-flat artifact you could name!]
[Reward: Su Muyao bound by Eternal Lie-Flat Assistant Contract! Su Muyao will be host’s lie-flat assistant forever, ascend alongside host, match host’s cultivation, and never betray host!]
Lin Yuan’s eyes lit up. He was quietly delighted.
Eternal Lie-Flat Body!
An immortal realm Lie-Flat Immortal Manor!
And Su Muyao as an eternal lie-flat assistant!
This round, he rode it straight into the immortal realm.
Right then the sky changed, wind and cloud churning, lightning cracking and thunder rolling, and a pillar of light dropped from the heavens, wide as a city, and wrapped around Lin Yuan. This was the Heavenly Tribulation of ascension, the last trial any cultivator ever faces.
Every disciple of Qingyun saw it. They came running up the summit and stood watching him, reluctance and awe on every face.
Sect Master Yun Qingfeng cupped his hands and said, respectfully, “Senior Lin, congratulations on your coming ascension! Qingyun will always be your home!”
Su Muyao walked up beside Lin Yuan too. Her eyes were full of reluctance, and she smiled anyway. “Senior Brother Lin Yuan, I’ll be your lie-flat assistant forever. I’ll ascend with you. In the immortal realm I’ll keep pouring your tea, rubbing your shoulders, pounding your back!”
Lin Yuan nodded. He looked at the crowd before him, and a faint smile crossed his face.
One year of lying flat. He had started as a waste at the third layer of Qi Refining. He stood now at Great Ascension, Peak Stage, the strongest in the world, about to ascend.
His life had been a life of lying flat.
Also a life of invincibility.
Lin Yuan raised a hand and waved to the crowd. Then, under countless watching eyes, he rose along the pillar of light, unhurried, and flew toward the immortal realm he had spent ten years not bothering to reach.
A white glow wrapped Su Muyao too, and she followed Lin Yuan up into the open sky.
Lin Yuan’s lazy voice came out of the sky and carried across the whole cultivation world:
“Everyone in the cultivation world, I’m off. Going up to lie flat. Remember: lying flat is the Great Dao. Lying flat is invincibility. Keep grinding, all of you. I’ll be up there, waiting.”
The voice faded. Lin Yuan and Su Muyao vanished from the sky. The tribulation scattered, and the heavens cleared.
A dead hush fell over the cultivation world.
Seconds passed. Then the world erupted in cheers.
“Senior Lin is a beast!”
“Lying flat is the Great Dao! Lying flat is invincibility!”
“We’ll keep grinding! Ascend early, and go lie flat with Senior Lin!”
And so a legend passed down through the cultivation world. A Senior Lin had made a dao of lying flat and ascended. Nothing in the cultivation world or the immortal realm could lay a finger on him now.
Involution was the main theme of the cultivation world now. Every cultivator ground like a madman, all for an early ascension, and the chance to lie flat beside Senior Lin as an immortal.
Immortal realm.
Inside a manor wreathed in immortal mist, Lin Yuan sprawled across a huge jade bed with a spirit fruit in his mouth. Beside him Su Muyao rubbed his shoulders and pounded his back, still shouting involution slogans.
His eyes stayed shut, and a pleased smile pulled at his mouth.
Comfortable.
Too comfortable.
Up here, lying flat beat the mortal world by a mile.
It seemed his lie-flat road still had a long way to run. No end to it at all.