When Lu Yuan opened the door, he saw an old woman standing outside.
It was Granny Liu from next door.
Her back was slightly bent, and her face was covered with enough powder and rouge to make her look several years younger from a distance, though up close the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes still gave everything away. That familiar fawning smile was already hanging on her face before she even spoke.
Standing beside her was a young girl of around sixteen.
She wore a plain but clean light-blue dress, and her features were delicate in a soft, youthful way. Her head was lowered at first, but when the door opened, she glanced up shyly at Lu Yuan, then quickly looked toward the old woman beside her and gave a small nod, as though urging her to speak first.
The early morning light fell across the doorway.
Lu Yuan looked at the pair in front of him and frowned slightly.
Before he could ask anything, Granny Liu spoke first.
"Lu kid, what did you think about the thing I asked?"
Lu Yuan stared at her blankly for a moment.
Then a memory surfaced from the original owner's mind.
This Granny Liu next door was a well-known matchmaker among the loose cultivators living in this part of Qinshui Town. In a place like this, many fellow cultivators, after struggling for years and seeing no hope for further improvement in cultivation, would eventually give up on cultivation and start thinking about marriage, family, and descendants instead. Since they could not place their hopes on themselves, they would place them on the next generation.
Some of them would go find Granny Liu on their own.
Others would be found by her first.
As this thought arose, Lu Yuan's expression turned a little strange.
"Have I already become so hopeless in other people's eyes?" he thought.
That he had actually become one of Granny Liu's targets made him feel an indescribable bitterness.
It was not as if he had completely fallen to the point of being useless. Even though he was only at the fourth layer of Qi Refining, that was still the mid stage of Qi Refining. In a small place like Qinshui Town, where many loose cultivators remained stuck at the first few layers in early stage qi refining stage for life, such a level was not low. It could even be considered above average among the loose cultivators in this area.
Marriage itself was not a bad thing.
But with his current situation, it was simply not suitable. He was barely surviving on his own as it was.
His eyes moved from the old woman to the shy young girl beside her, then back again.
"Granny Liu," Lu Yuan said, his tone polite but flat, "I already told you that I'm not looking for a dao companion. So why are you here again?"
The old woman only looked at him, still maintaining that same unchanging smile, as though his refusal had no effect on her at all.
"Kid," she said warmly, "this girl here is my relative. She has a five-element spirit root and has only just begun cultivating. She's suitable for you."
As she spoke, she reached out and lightly pushed the girl forward.
Then she turned her head and said, "Girl, why are you standing there like a tree? Introduce yourself."
The young girl's ears turned red immediately.
She hesitated for a moment, then finally raised her head and looked at Lu Yuan with visible embarrassment in her eyes.
"Brother Lu," she said softly, "I'm Yu Qing."
Her voice was gentle and a little nervous, like someone who had never done this kind of thing before.
Lu Yuan nodded once.
Yu Qing was indeed pretty. Her face still carried the freshness of youth, and combined with her shy demeanor, she gave people a gentle impression at first glance. But Lu Yuan's heart did not move in the slightest.
He was not some hot-blooded youth seeing a beautiful girl for the first time.
The memories of his past life from Blue Star had already merged with his current self, and the mentality within him was no longer that of a simple middle-aged loose cultivator. Beauty alone could not make him forget reality.
Lu Yuan looked at Yu Qing, then at Granny Liu, and finally said in a steady voice, "Miss Yu Qing is very good. But my current situation is not suitable for taking a dao companion. I appreciate your kindness, Granny Liu, but this matter should end here."
His words were courteous, but his meaning was clear.
Yu Qing lowered her gaze again, her face growing a little redder.
Granny Liu's smile stiffened for the briefest moment before returning as if nothing had happened.
"Lu kid," she said, "why are you being so stubborn? Life is already hard enough. Two people living together is always better than one. This girl is obedient, and she has already stepped onto the cultivation path. What's there to be unsatisfied with?"
Lu Yuan did not argue with her.
He simply repeated, "I'm not considering this matter right now."
Seeing that he had no intention of giving ground, Granny Liu could only sigh and shake her head, though the smile still remained on her painted face.
"Fine, fine," she said. "Young people all have their own thoughts. Since you say so, this old woman won't force you."
But the tone in her voice suggested that she still found his decision foolish.
Yu Qing did not say another word. She only gave Lu Yuan a quick glance, then lowered her head and followed behind Granny Liu as the old woman turned and left.
Lu Yuan watched them go, then shut the door.
Outside, the two entered the house next door.
Only after the door closed behind them did Yu Qing's calm expression completely fall apart.
"Grandma," she said, unable to hold it in anymore, "that person already rejected us, so why are you still pestering him and lowering yourself like this?"
Her voice was low, but the dissatisfaction in it was obvious.
Granny Liu glanced at her, then snorted lightly as she walked further inside.
"Girl," she said, "why do you think I survived until now? Because I'm good at judging people."
Yu Qing bit her lip and said nothing.
Granny Liu sat down slowly, then continued, "In this surrounding area, among all the loose cultivators living here, the ones who don't spend their days running to brothels and indulging themselves in worldly pleasures are already rare. Most of them earn a little spirit stone and immediately go wasting it. Either on wine, women, or useless boasting."
She gave Yu Qing a meaningful look.
"But cultivators like Lu Yuan are different. He keeps to himself, doesn't fool around, and still works hard to live properly. Men like that are rare around us."
Yu Qing lowered her head, listening.
Granny Liu went on, "And his talent in cultivation is still better than yours. You only have a five-element spirit root. He has a four-element spirit root, and he's already at the fourth layer of Qi Refining. No matter how you look at it, he still has some hope of reaching the late stage of Qi Refining in the future."
She paused, then added bluntly, "Otherwise, why would I think of matching you with him?"
The old woman's tone softened slightly after that.
"I'm already this old," she said. "Naturally, I need to settle you early. If I don't think ahead for you now, then when I'm gone, who will?"
Yu Qing fell silent.
The dissatisfaction on her face did not completely disappear, but she no longer argued back.
Granny Liu glanced in the direction of Lu Yuan's house once more, as though still unwilling to let go of the idea so easily.
Inside his own abode, Lu Yuan stood still for a moment after sending away the neighbors.
Then he turned and walked back into the room.
The morning's interruption had left a faint trace of irritation in his heart, but it also made one thing even clearer to him.
In the eyes of the people around him, he had already reached the stage where marriage and settling down were more realistic than continuing to pursue cultivation.
That itself said enough.
Lu Yuan sat down cross-legged on the bed, slowly closed his eyes, and began contemplating the cultivation technique in his mind.
This was the method the original owner had cultivated for many years.
Its name was the Nine Fire Elemental Sutra.
From the memories he had sorted through, this technique could only be described as ordinary.
It had no remarkable offensive power. It had no special supportive effects. It was not some secret inheritance of a sect, nor a rare manual that could make one stand above others.
Its only real advantage was one thing,
It was stable.
For a loose cultivator with no background and no access to higher-level manuals, that stability was already considered a rare merit. At the very least, it meant the chances of cultivation deviation were smaller, and the practitioner could walk forward step by step without too much danger from the technique itself.
According to its contents, the Nine Fire Elemental Sutra could be cultivated all the way up to Foundation Establishment.
That alone already made it more valuable than many broken or incomplete cultivation methods circulating among loose cultivators.
But after reaching Foundation Establishment, it would no longer be enough.
At that point, one would either need to find the subsequent chapter of the technique or change to another cultivation method entirely.