“Ah?” Su Ming looked completely bewildered.

Lin Yu sighed inwardly and began his “First Lesson in Survival,” the life-or-death lesson on how to stay alive.

“This ring is a wonder of heaven and earth. My existence is an enormous secret! If it’s exposed, divine punishment will surely fall!” He intensified his tone, “If you tell anyone about this, whether it’s your parents or your elder brothers, you will bring death upon them, and upon yourself!” Inner thought: Divine punishment my foot, I’m just worried about the seventh blood streak appearing and everyone being finished!

He deliberately spoke with extreme gravity, even invoking divine punishment.

Su Ming’s face drained white. “Death… death? Why? My parents are good people.”

“Precisely because they are good people, they cannot guard such a treasure, nor can they bear the cost of knowing this secret!” Lin Yu coaxed in a leading tone, his voice laden with unquestionable weight, “Think about it, if the village finds out your family has a talking treasure ring, what would happen? If outsiders hear about it, what then? What about those immortal masters who can fly and hide across the lands, what would happen then?”

“They… they would come and steal it?” Su Ming was not stupid; he immediately grasped the crux and turned even paler.

“Not steal.” Lin Yu’s phantom shook its head, the tone grim, “It would be a catastrophe! They would kill to take the treasure, turn your whole family into mute corpses, and then take the ring.” Inner thought: Okay, that’s a bit exaggerated, but the consequences of the seal collapsing are pretty much catastrophic too!

Those words poured like ice water over Su Ming’s excitement. He remembered how the village butcher, Old Wang, had his hand chopped off by passing bandits for hoarding an extra few pounds of meat. A talking ring was far more valuable than meat…

He shivered in terror and gripped the ring even tighter as if clutching his own little life.

“Th-then… what should I do?” Su Ming’s voice quivered with tears.

“Very simple.” Lin Yu judged the moment right and threw out his core objective, “From today on, everything about me and this ring, you must not tell a single soul. Not one word! It is your greatest secret and your greatest responsibility! Can you do that?”

Inner thought: Right, responsibility! Keeping your own life safe is keeping both our lives safe!

Su Ming nodded vigorously, his face taut, his eyes filled with a solemnity he’d never shown before. “I can! I swear! I won’t tell anyone! Not even my second brother! I won’t tell even if I die!”

“Good.” Lin Yu exhaled in relief, feeling the thorny seal that strangled his soul ease by a hair. Convincing a child was still well within reach. Temporarily safe… for the time being.

He looked at the nervous yet resolute boy before him, and that thought rose again, strong and insistent.

Six previous landlords, all mature cultivators, had died so quickly they became nourishment for the seal’s blood streaks. Perhaps… a youth whose nature was not yet fixed, a blank slate who would obey him completely, was the ideal “host”? Maybe that was the key to preventing the seventh blood streak from forming?

He could start over and train him into a perfect heir of survival. If the boy grew strong, Lin Yu would be safe. If the boy lived long and steadily, that damned seal couldn’t find new nourishment in death! His pension plan… no, survival plan could last a long, long time.

“Little one, what’s your name?” Lin Yu’s tone softened considerably, carrying a faint, almost imperceptible hope.

“My name is Su Ming.”

“Su Ming…” Lin Yu murmured the name as if reciting a wish, “Would you be willing to accept me as your master?”

Su Ming froze. Become an apprentice? To an old man who lived in a ring and seemed powerful?

It sounded stranger than the tales told by the village storyteller, but it also… carried an indescribable pull.

“Accept you as my master… what would I learn? How to live longer?” Su Ming asked, curious but anxious.

“Indeed.” Lin Yu’s phantom nodded slightly, looking inscrutably profound, “I can teach you how to identify danger, how to avoid calamity, how to live steadily in this treacherous world. Perhaps… to live like an immortal in the eyes of others.” Inner thought: The point is to avoid anything that could make you croak!

He paused, then offered the final bait, the wish he felt most truly at this moment.

“Do you want to change your fate? Do you want to grasp… the power to survive?”

Those words struck Su Ming’s heart like a heavy blow. He thought of his mediocre talent, his parents’ backs bent from endless work, his elder brothers’ expectations and worries over his future. The power to survive… to change fate!

Those four words planted like a seed, landing deep within him and quickly taking root.

He looked at the ring in his hand and no longer saw cold metal, but a bright, unknown road—a path that could lead his family away from disaster and toward a steady life.

He inhaled deeply, knelt solemnly before the ring, and struck a solid, resounding kowtow against the leaf-strewn forest floor.

“Master!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep