Outside the Gu family diner, a figure in azure flashed into view.
"Dad, Mom, I'm back."
Gu Xiao called out to the room, striding into the diner with long legs.
"Sister."
The moment she stepped through the door, a tiny tot rushed forward, and when she was still two or three steps away from Gu Xiao, she launched herself into the air.
Seeing her younger sister pounce on her, Gu Xiao quickly took a step forward and caught her.
"Yueyue, you're up so early today?"
Gu Xiao reached out and pinched Gu Yue's dainty little face; usually, she was still sleeping in at this hour.
In the decade or so following Gu Xiao's birth, the Gu couple had another son and a daughter.
The son is thirteen this year and is currently in middle school, while the youngest daughter is just five and hasn't started school yet.
"Sister, let me pinch."
Having had her own cheek pinched, Gu Yue reached out, wanting to pinch Gu Xiao's face in return.
"Yueyue needs to wash her hands before she can pinch Sister, okay?"
Seeing Gu Yue's greasy little hands, Gu Xiao leaned her upper body back slightly, decisively avoiding the child's grasp.
Although her sister was adorable, Gu Xiao couldn't tolerate having oily hands pressed onto her face.
"Hmm, then Yueyue will eat first."
Hearing Gu Xiao mention washing hands, Gu Yue first looked at her own greasy little hands, then turned to look at the small steamed buns on the table, and finally looked back at Gu Xiao, who was holding her.
After weighing her options, Gu Yue decided to prioritize the steamed buns.
"To think Sister ranks lower than a basket of steamed buns in Yueyue's heart—that makes Sister so sad."
Gu Xiao set Gu Yue down in her seat and reached out to ruffle her hair.
"Sister, eat a bun."
Seeing Gu Xiao's 'distressed' look, Gu Yue held a small steamed bun in both hands and offered it to her.
"Haha, Sister already ate. You go ahead and enjoy yours."
Seeing Gu Yue's reluctant expression, Gu Xiao lovingly ruffled her little head again. After exchanging greetings with her parents, she turned and headed up to the second floor.
Back in her bedroom, Gu Xiao first grabbed a change of clothes and headed into the bathroom.
After washing up, she changed into looser clothing, sat cross-legged on the bed, and began her cultivation for the day.
Meanwhile, at the Jing residence.
Inside Jing Yuan's bedroom, the drawn curtains kept the room dim. Jing Yuan was still curled up under the covers, sleeping soundly.
"Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!"
As the clock struck half-past eight, the sound of the alarm echoed throughout the room.
As the alarm blared, an arm emerged from beneath the covers, gripped the edge of the bed, and pulled, allowing a head to finally peek out.
"Ahhh... *yawn*"
Jing Yuan sat up, stretching and yawning.
"Shanhai, turn off the alarm."
Following Jing Yuan's command, the blaring alarm in the bedroom instantly ceased.
Shanhai is the AI chief steward of the entire Jing residence, utilizing the nation's most advanced domestic service system.
"Shanhai, switch to daytime mode."
All the windows in the bedroom utilized photosensitive technology, adjusting their color depth according to external sunlight to maintain optimal brightness inside the room.
In addition, the windows also featured a night mode—the current setting—designed to keep the bedroom dark by completely blocking out sunlight.
The opacity of the windows gradually decreased, allowing bright sunlight to stream in from outside, causing Jing Yuan to squint.
He threw back the covers, got out of bed, and walked into the bathroom.
All his toiletries were already prepared: the cup was filled with lukewarm water, and toothpaste had already been applied to the brush.
In fact, if one were even lazier, Shanhai could handle the tasks of brushing teeth and washing one's face entirely.
He didn't know about others, but Jing Yuan personally disliked that level of automated assistance.
When he emerged from the bathroom, the bed had already been tidied, and the clothes he needed for the day were neatly laid out on the mattress.
After changing, he left the bedroom for the courtyard. Just outside, a maid was pushing a dining cart toward him.
"Third Young Master."
Seeing Jing Yuan emerge from the bedroom, the maid quickly stopped the cart and greeted him respectfully.
"Mhm."
Jing Yuan nodded and turned to sit down at the stone table in the courtyard.
Jing Yuan usually preferred to eat breakfast in the courtyard.
The maid wheeled the cart up to the stone table and began placing the breakfast items onto the surface one by one.
Although it was only breakfast, the spread was quite lavish. However, the portions were small, often just one or two bites of each item.
"Third Young Master, please enjoy your meal."
After setting out all the breakfast items, the maid pushed the cart and left the courtyard.
Once Jing Yuan finished eating, the Jing residence's AI butler would notify her to return and clear the table.
He first took a sip of tea to clear his throat, then picked up a book he had brought from his bedroom, reading while he ate his breakfast.
It had been nearly twenty years since he transmigrated, and Jing Yuan had long grown accustomed to his current aristocratic lifestyle.
This was natural, though. He had jumped from being an ordinary person to a scion of a powerful family, not the other way around. Since his standard of living had drastically improved, there was nothing to dislike or find difficult to adapt to.
Over the years, Jing Yuan had gained a comprehensive understanding of this world.
Based on the history he had studied, he divided the world's development into three distinct eras.
The first was the Pre-Stellar Era—the time before they developed into a stellar civilization. Its general trajectory was quite similar to that of Earth in his previous life.
The second era was the Exploration Era, which marked the beginning of Azure Star's entry into the Stellar Age.
This process was far from pleasant. After entering the Stellar Age, Azure Star discovered that while the universe held countless civilizations, not all of them harbored goodwill toward their planet.
Azure Star, new to the Stellar Age, was too vulnerable. Faced with external technological might and transcendent power, Azure Star's defenses were rendered paper-thin.
The proud fleets of warships built on Azure Star at the time were decimated before they even caught sight of the enemy.
The world of shining stars offered more than just captivating beauty; it held dangers lurking beneath that splendor.
Azure Star, having just entered the Stellar Age, was like a newborn infant and even faced the danger of complete annihilation at one point.
It wasn't until the people of Azure Star mastered transcendent power that the situation began to improve.
After hundreds of thousands of years of effort spanning generations, Azure Star finally established a firm foothold in the sea of stars, founded the Human Alliance, and became a force to be reckoned with in the cosmos.
Jing Yuan named that stretch of time the Exploration Era.
The third era was the present one—an age where they no longer had to worry about being bullied by foreign races.
After thoroughly establishing themselves as a dominant power, Azure Star's leaders changed the calendar designation to the Universal Era, signifying a brand new start.
And today, 2,025 years have passed since that change.