Chapter 2: The Golden Touch is a “Big Shot”

“Finally, you’ve arrived today!”

A voice so familiar it seemed etched into his very bones suddenly echoed in Lin Chuan’s mind, causing his hand to tremble violently, nearly making his soul leap out in fright.

“Who’s there?” he asked warily, scanning the empty stall around him, but no other figure was in sight.

“Look down, your old man is right there in your hand!” The voice was cheeky, tinged with a mischievous familiarity that made it both irritating and endearing.

Lin Chuan glanced down and saw the scarlet ring, now gleaming faintly after being stripped of its rust by a lightning strike. Swallowing hard, he asked in disbelief, “You... you are...?”

“It’s me, your dear old dad!” The voice inside the ring laughed heartily. “Remember your freshman year when you had kidney stones and writhed in pain on your bed? Who carried you to the hospital in the middle of the night for a painkiller injection?”

Lin Chuan felt as if struck by lightning, his legs buckling, and he collapsed to his knees.

That voice... that tone... and the embarrassingly private story only the two of them knew...

“Are you... Xiao Pang?!” His voice trembled like leaves in the wind.

“Hey! My smart boy!” The ring shimmered with delight. “Want me to remind you how you lasted a full forty-eight minutes the first time you exercised with your girlfriend—”

“Shut up!” Lin Chuan blushed fiercely, flustered, covering the ring as if that would silence the voice. “I believe you! I believe, alright?!”

He panted, eyes fixed intently on the glowing scarlet ring in his palm.

Xiao Pang had been his roommate all four years of university, his closest brother, and a dear friend who had suddenly died from overwork six months ago... And now, he was speaking to him through this ring?

“How... how are you here?” Lin Chuan stammered. “And didn’t you... die?”

The ring fell silent for a few seconds, then Xiao Pang’s voice turned serious: “It’s a long story. Simply put, I did die on Earth six months ago, but here—on the Cangxuan Continent—I have lived for a hundred thousand years.”

“A hundred thousand years?!” Lin Chuan nearly bit his tongue in shock. “What kind of cosmic joke is this?”

“Who’s joking?” Xiao Pang scoffed. “Remember in sophomore year when you insisted you had eighteen centimeters, but I measured with a caliper—”

“Five point two four inches!” Lin Chuan interrupted reflexively, then flushed with embarrassment and anger. “Can you please stop bringing that up?!”

The ring erupted with thunderous laughter, that familiar laughter warming Lin Chuan’s eyes.

Yes, this was Xiao Pang—the same friend who skipped classes with him, pulled all-nighters, and crammed desperately before finals.

Throughout university, they were inseparable, so close that even their girlfriends suspected something was going on between them. After Xiao Pang’s sudden death, Lin Chuan had wept like a fool at his grave, dreaming for a whole month about them gaming together in the internet café.

“So... what exactly happened?” Lin Chuan took a deep breath, struggling to calm his emotions. “How did you end up inside this ring? And how did you come to this world?”

“Well...” Xiao Pang’s voice deepened. “It all started a hundred thousand years ago.”

Lin Chuan sat down on the ground, leaning in. The ring grew warm in his hand as Xiao Pang’s voice seemed to echo from the distant past:

“After I died on Earth, my soul mysteriously arrived in this world and attached itself to a boy who had lost his parents young, whose family was destroyed, and who was even killed by enemies himself.

You know, people who have lost their parents and carry family grudges aren’t simple cases. After I became him, I gradually realized my cultivation speed and physical strength were extraordinary. It wasn’t until I found an ancient book that I understood the reason: I carried the faint bloodline of an ancient divine beast.”

“Wait,” Lin Chuan interrupted, “Your divine beast bloodline—could it be a dragon? That would be insanely cool!”

“Your old man is way cooler than any dragon!” Xiao Pang boasted. “With that faint beast bloodline and my Earth-born creative thinking, I cultivated little by little, strengthening my bloodline. In just seven hundred years, I became the number one on Cangxuan Continent!”

Lin Chuan gaped in disbelief. Seven hundred years to become the greatest on Cangxuan Continent? Truly his ‘big son’!

“Later, I ascended beyond Cangxuan Continent—from the top of this little planet to the Small Thousand World, the Middle Thousand World, and even the Great Thousand World. That journey took over sixty thousand years.

By then, even in this universe containing three thousand Great Thousand Worlds, I was among the absolute elite. Until...”

“Until a great war broke out, and I ran into a bunch of ruthless bastards. They outnumbered me, and I was badly injured, barely escaping.”

Lin Chuan gripped the ring tightly. “So now you...”

Xiao Pang sighed. “Those bastards left a tracking force and will in my wounds. Even across the vast universe and three thousand Great Thousand Worlds, they could pinpoint me. To survive, I had to abandon my physical body and most of my powers, existing only as a wandering soul.”

Lin Chuan sighed, feeling sympathy for his ‘big son’.

Sensing Lin Chuan’s mood, Xiao Pang tried to sound casual: “Even without a body and most of my power, your old man is still among the strongest in this universe.”

Suddenly, Lin Chuan had a thought. “So I was brought here...”

“Exactly,” Xiao Pang chuckled, “Thirty thousand years ago, when I returned to Cangxuan, I took on a disciple. Under my guidance, he founded the Dao Court and established the current cultivation city system on Cangxuan Continent. I used these cities to connect with the continent’s unique source power, and with all my strength, I activated the ‘Chaos Heaven Soul-Seizing Formation’ to pull you from Earth.”

“Damn!” Lin Chuan jumped up. “So I’m not some chosen one! You just dragged my ass into this hellhole?”

“Calm down,” Xiao Pang teased, “First, I needed someone I could absolutely trust. Second, with my past experience and your sharp mind, you’d definitely do better than I did ten thousand years ago.”

Lin Chuan rolled his eyes. “So now I’m a transmigrant without a golden finger?”

“Strictly speaking, I am your golden finger,” Xiao Pang corrected, “just... currently in standby mode.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means my soul is so weak right now I couldn’t even crush an ant,” Xiao Pang said helplessly, “Besides chatting with you, I can’t do anything.”

Lin Chuan nearly threw the ring to the ground. “Then what’s the point of summoning me here?!”

“Don’t worry,” Xiao Pang said mysteriously, “Though I can’t help you directly, I was once a top-tier cosmic powerhouse and founder of the Dao Court on Cangxuan Continent. I know many ways and paths to make you strong—fast.”

He paused, voice turning serious: “Chuan’er, I need you. Only you can avenge me, and only you can find a way back to Earth.”

Lin Chuan fell silent. The thought of returning to Earth warmed his heart. Though this world was fascinating, after all, he was a child of Earth.

“Alright then,” he sighed, “Since you’re my ‘big son,’ I’ll do it. But first, tell me what to do now?”

“See that city ahead?” Xiao Pang said. “Tianyun City is only the lowest among the three major cultivation city tiers—Sun, Moon, and Star levels—and even among star-level cities, it’s one of the poorest.

But I predicted your soul would descend here, so I left behind an unclaimed physical body I nurtured after losing mine, plus resources enough to train you into the strongest on Cangxuan.

If you can get into the city’s core secret realm, you’ll gain access to all of it.”

Lin Chuan stared at the towering city walls stretching into the clouds, swallowing hard. “The original Lin Chuan had barely two taels of gold, all spent on buying you this crappy ring. Now I’m penniless and a total novice with no cultivation—can’t even get into the city. How am I supposed to sneak into the core secret realm?”

“Simple,” Xiao Pang said confidently. “You just need to scrounge up twenty taels of gold outside to get a city entry pass.

This ‘city entry permit system’ I modeled after the ‘Beijing entry permit.’ You have to apply to the city lord’s mansion, but really, as long as you pay, you can get it outside the city gate.”

“Wait,” Lin Chuan interrupted, “But you just said you can’t do anything now?”

“That’s right.”

“Then where do I get twenty taels of gold?”

“Back in college, you went to an optics store to get new glasses. In half an hour, you talked nine students into buying seven pairs. The shop owner not only waived your cost but even gave me new lenses.

You’re a natural con artist—just hustle twenty taels in this market.”

Xiao Pang said with absolute confidence, “I’ll support you mentally all the way!”

Lin Chuan was speechless.

“Your old man crossed the universe to help you, and this is how you repay me? Starting off with such a tough task?”

Lin Chuan couldn’t help but feel it was a bit much. Though their trust was unparalleled, being told to hustle twenty taels from scratch was outrageous.

“What can I do? When I designed all this, twenty taels or even two billion spirit stones were nothing to me. I didn’t think about how an ordinary person would start from zero.”

Xiao Pang explained nonchalantly.

Lin Chuan thought it over and realized it wasn’t really Xiao Pang’s fault.

After all, Xiao Pang had once been the universe’s top powerhouse, and even after sacrificing his body and most power, he still surpassed the level of Cangxuan Continent by far. Of course, he wouldn’t consider such mundane problems.

Putting aside Xiao Pang’s initial oversight, Lin Chuan lowered his head, pondering aloud, “For an ordinary person to make money fast, it’s all about buying low and selling high. And the essence of that is information asymmetry. I’m a native Earthling, and the original body’s owner was just an ignorant boy, so naturally, I don’t have a huge information advantage.”

His eyes lit up. “Xiao Pang, can cultivators at advanced levels on Cangxuan Continent really have photographic memories?”

“Absolutely!” Xiao Pang boasted. “In my hundred thousand years, except for the last thirty thousand spent sleeping and waiting for you, everything I’ve seen and heard is etched in my mind!”

“Good!” Lin Chuan stood up. “Your old man is going to make some money!”