“Samuel Price sir, the Shushan Sword Sect asks Mr. Brooks to look after us.” Adam Reed bowed deeply in midair, and at the same time sent a final message to his disciples—a death order just like his master’s, the highest directive. No matter who it is from the Shushan Sword Sect, upon seeing Ethan Brooks they must respectfully address him as ‘sir’. If Mr. Brooks has any instructions, they must do their utmost to carry them out. At the same time, they must not disturb Mr. Brooks’s normal life. Thinking of those fellow Shushan cultivators who could have ascended long ago but suppressed their power, not daring to face the heavenly tribulation—some even spent hundreds of years preparing, only to still die in the end—Adam Reed felt a surge of emotion. So ascension could actually be this simple.

Ethan Brooks also waved goodbye to Adam Reed. This was the fourth immortal he had seen off. Sword-riding through the heavens and earth—how could Ethan Brooks, who had been obsessed with martial arts since childhood, not yearn for it? Unfortunately, his own body… could casually swallow heavenly thunder, but when he tried to cultivate, he couldn’t practice at all—not even inner energy.

Otherwise, with the favor he had shown the Shushan Sword Sect, and the immortal pills and flying swords he had collected, cultivation would have been easy. It was a pity that back then, Adam Reed’s master had wanted to take Ethan Brooks into Shushan, only to discover that his body was incapable of cultivation. He stayed by Ethan Brooks’s side for three years, researching, but to no avail. Because of this, he attempted his tribulation in the mortal world, and discovered that as long as Ethan Brooks was nearby, heavenly thunder would automatically be drawn into his body.

That was how Ethan Brooks’s connection with the Shushan Sword Sect began. In a flash, Adam Reed had already disappeared into the immortal mist, and Ethan Brooks looked up—“yet another” ascension.

Chapter Two: Departure

He finally returned to the familiar small town. Xinxian Town was originally famous for its large nearby lake and abundant fresh fish, but now, due to severe soil erosion, the lake had long since lost its fish. Half the people in town had gone out to work elsewhere, and the town no longer seemed so “fresh.”

Though remote, it still had over two thousand households, and the tides of the times had reached here to some extent. The most obvious sign was the internet café, which was named “Three Days Fishing, Two Days Online” by Ethan Brooks.

The internet café actually had only twenty computers, all secondhand machines discarded by big cities, but in Xinxian Town, they felt new again.

“There are no computers available now. Sit there and wait half an hour—someone will be done.” Hearing someone come in, a person at the middle computer of two rows of ten didn’t even look up and called out.

Seeing a certain guy, shirtless and sweating, hard at work, Ethan Brooks shouted, “Wait, my foot! Robbery…”

“Hold on, it’s a guild quest—national business, can’t be delayed. The money’s over there, I didn’t take the key out, just get it yourself.” Hearing the voice, John Miller didn’t even need to look up to know Ethan Brooks was back. John Miller was Ethan Brooks’s childhood friend, usually called John Miller. When Ethan Brooks had just graduated elementary school, his parents passed away, and it was thanks to John Miller and his family’s care that he got through the first year. Later, he met Adam Reed’s master, which completely changed Ethan Brooks’s life. After Adam Reed’s master ascended, although Ethan Brooks’s body, for some unknown reason, couldn’t cultivate, after three years of training and spiritual medicine, he never got sick and had his own plans.

After that, he started learning all kinds of knowledge on his own, researching his own condition, and in a flash, many years passed. After John Miller graduated high school, he went out to work, then spent over two years as a net café admin, picking up some tech skills. One time, he came back to chat with Ethan Brooks, who encouraged him to come back and start his own business. That’s how “Three Days Fishing, Two Days Online” came to be. As the only internet café in town, plus the surrounding villages, business was always good.

Ever since the café opened, Ethan Brooks spent most of his time there, learning even more through the internet, while John Miller himself was a super gaming fanatic. If Ethan Brooks didn’t help him manage the place, the café would probably have gone under long ago.

John Miller wanted to split everything fifty-fifty with Ethan Brooks, but Ethan Brooks refused. However, John Miller insisted that if Ethan Brooks didn’t agree, he’d quit. John Miller was as stubborn as a bull—once he made up his mind, it was hard to change. In the end, Ethan Brooks could only let him handle food and drink and get free internet access, and that was that. Actually, Ethan Brooks knew what John Miller was thinking. After his parents died, all he had left was a rundown house on the edge of town. John Miller never understood how he’d gotten by all these years.

Of course, Ethan Brooks couldn’t tell John Miller that he’d spent a few years with someone who had just ascended to immortality, and that person had left him a pile of things. Money was no longer a worry, but some things couldn’t be told to outsiders, much less shown lightly.

Ethan Brooks looked—and sure enough, there was a bunch of keys hanging on the cash box behind John Miller. This guy!

*Slap*—he smacked John Miller’s bare back. This guy was as strong as an ox. “Aren’t you afraid someone will steal the money?”

“It’s my own turf, what’s there to be afraid of!” John Miller said as he kept playing, “You’re back so soon? I gotta say, your idea of a vacation is weird. Instead of going to a big city, you insist on heading into the mountains. Our place is already poor and wild enough, and you still go into the Ten-Thousand Mountains. Wait till I finish this quest, then we’ll have a good drink together.”