“A resounding clap echoed through the air as Professor Yuan strode closer.
“What an incredible ability! Have you thought of a name for it yet?”
At the sound, Huang Xiu slowly turned, the brilliant white light in her eyes gradually fading.
‘A name?’
‘She truly hadn’t considered it before now.’
The morning glory vines quickly retracted, unwinding from their embrace around her.
Her fingers brushed against the thorny green tendrils, and a profound sense of dependence emanated from them, registering clearly within the young woman.
“’Let’s call it [Senluo],’ Huang Xiu stated calmly after a brief pause.”
As her thoughts crystallized, the tendrils suddenly stiffened, transforming into a verdant spear that stood upright before her.
“’Sen carries the meaning of ‘many’ and also represents plant life, while Luo signifies ‘to enumerate’ or ‘to arrange.’ As I envision it, all can be manifested, one by one.’”
The wooden spear proved remarkably sharp, its shaft adorned with intricate, intaglio carvings of morning glories. Beneath the spearhead, delicate, fine tendrils swayed, forming a wooden tassel.
Reaching out, she drew the wooden spear and gave it a few casual flourishes, each movement slicing through the air with a shrill, whooshing sound.
The young woman, intent on making a grand display, attempted a stylish spear flourish, mimicking actions from films. However, the spear’s considerable length proved her undoing; a single slip of her hand nearly resulted in her accidentally impaling herself.
“’My mistake, my mistake,’ Huang Xiu admitted with a sheepish grin, releasing her grip.”
She allowed the spear to clatter to the ground, where it instantly reverted to a network of tendrils, burrowing back into the earth.
“’You are now officially an awakened,’ Professor Yuan stated, shrugging. ‘How does it feel to wield such an ability? Isn’t it truly magnificent?’”
“’It is indeed exhilarating,’ Huang Xiu replied, turning back to face Professor Yuan, whose eyes gleamed with anticipation.”
“’This ability makes me feel utterly omnipotent.’”
Of course, she understood this was merely an illusion; she still retained a clear grasp of her actual capabilities.
“’Would you consider joining Tiandu University?’ Professor Yuan offered, extending an olive branch. ‘Our institution boasts the world’s most comprehensive system for cultivating awakened individuals, complete with full scholarships. Our graduates enjoy the best employment prospects nationwide, with guaranteed placements and unparalleled benefits.’”
“’Precisely, that’s the truth,’”
Yun Ning chimed in from the side, playing the role of an enthusiastic supporter. “’Joining Tiandu University was the single best decision I ever made.’”
“’Let me consider it a bit longer,’ Huang Xiu replied, a look of profound difficulty etched across her face. She truly struggled to make such a momentous decision.”
“’Student Huang,’ Professor Yuan began with a sigh, opening his phone and extending it to her, ‘can you truly go back to being the high school student you once were?’”
Huang Xiu hesitated, reluctant to take the device, yet her gaze involuntarily fell upon her reflection in the phone’s front-facing camera.
What stared back was a face both unfamiliar and strangely familiar: soft, delicate features that still held a faint echo of the youthful boy she once was.
It was Huang Xiu, yet simultaneously, it was not her face.
It was a girl’s face!
The time had come to descend from the euphoria of her newfound ability and confront reality.
Huang Xiu’s gaze grew distant, lost in thought.
Her entire being had undergone a complete transformation, from head to toe, from him to her.
In this new form, she barely recognized herself.
Would Fang Miaoging, Shi Lei, Fang Yongyi, Guan Shuai, and Bald Liu still recognize her now?
Would her parents still acknowledge her as their son?
Huang Xiu vividly recalled that back at the orphanage, her beloved parents had specifically chosen her, an ordinary little boy, with the sole purpose of ensuring the Huang surname continued its lineage in Ying City.
An inexplicable fear began to coil within the young woman’s gut.
Watching Huang Xiu descend once more into a spiral of distress and panic, Professor Yuan scratched his head, a mixture of helplessness and regret clouding his features.
At seventeen, one is inherently at their most sensitive, most vulnerable, and yet, paradoxically, their most resilient.
He knew he shouldn’t have reopened the young woman’s wounds at such a delicate moment.
Yet, he felt compelled to speak, for this was a fundamental issue Huang Xiu could not evade, one she absolutely had to confront with courage.
Avoidance would not resolve the problem; it would merely allow it to fester, eventually erupting at some unforeseen moment.
For an awakened individual, such suppression was nothing short of a ticking time bomb.
“’Why don’t you go back and rest for a while?’ Yun Ning interjected, stepping forward. His tone was resolute. ‘I believe your friends and family will undoubtedly accept your identity.’”
“’After all, Student Huang, did your friends befriend you solely because you were handsome or wealthy? I imagine your bond was forged through shared hobbies and common interests. Will those connections simply vanish because your physical form has changed? Of course not!’”
Without a moment’s hesitation, he rested a hand on Huang Xiu’s slender shoulder, offering a brilliant smile. “’See? You’re still my junior. Nothing has fundamentally changed.’”
The sudden touch on her shoulder made Huang Xiu involuntarily flinch.
Yet, she didn’t pull away. After a moment of profound silence, she slowly turned her head, revealing a faint smile.
“’Senior Yun, I’m truly exhausted. Let’s head back and rest.’”
****
Night fell.
Within a dormitory of the Special Affairs Bureau in Ying City, Huang Xiu burrowed deep into her bed.
Professor Yuan had initially arranged a suite for her at Ying City’s finest hotel.
But Huang Xiu had politely declined.
She was not one to exploit others’ generosity, yet she was meticulously calculating in her own way.
When dining with others, she would silently apportion each person’s share in her mind, based on the number of individuals present.
Once she had consumed her allotted portion, she would promptly cease eating.
Furthermore, if someone offered her a gift, she would invariably reciprocate with one of even greater value.
Huang Xiu couldn’t quite pinpoint the root of this mindset—was it insecurity, perhaps timidity?
Or simply a preference for meticulously weighing gains against losses.
Thus, she was disinclined to accept too many favors before solidifying her decision, as it made her profoundly uncomfortable.
Outside, the moonlight shone brightly, illuminating the rose on the windowsill, which swayed gently in the cool breeze from the bedroom’s air conditioner.
The room was a guest dormitory, simply furnished yet equipped with every essential amenity.
The young woman silently pulled the quilt high, covering her head, yet her fair, delicate feet remained exposed; the air conditioner blanket was not as long as she had imagined.
This ostrich-like maneuver instilled in her a profound sense of security, as though she were shielded by the bed and blankets.
For a while, it allowed her to forget the day’s anxieties.
“’What an astonishing day this has been!’ Huang Xiu murmured to herself, her voice muffled by the quilt.”
The Ten Thousand Realms Elevator, capable of transporting one to any void realm; the endlessly stretching corridor, its end unseen; the world fashioned from flesh and blood.
And then there was the world composed entirely of flowers—it felt as though she had stepped straight into a fairy tale.
Even the method of departure from that world had been unexpectedly whimsical, straight out of a storybook.
“’Eat a single petal, then bury your feet in the ground and imagine yourself as a flower. That’s how you leave.’”
Recalling Professor Yuan’s instructions, a faint smile touched her lips.
Huang Xiu couldn’t help but giggle softly, her elegant eyebrows curving and twitching in amusement.
This single day had been more thrilling, more fulfilling, than any other in her entire seventeen years.
It left her… a little reluctant to depart.
After lingering beneath the covers for a while, the air grew noticeably thin, and the young woman began to feel a slight shortness of breath.
A faint blush bloomed across her cheeks, a tell-tale sign of oxygen deprivation.
Emerging from the depths of the quilt, Huang Xiu gasped, greedily inhaling the cool air that permeated the room.
In doing so, she could distinctly feel the vibrant thrum of life within her.
“’It’s so good to be alive! You all must live well too!’ Huang Xiu murmured to the ceiling, a profound realization settling within her.”
The flowers, imbued with ‘life’ by her [Senluo] ability, merely wilted and returned to their original state once she withdrew her void energy; they did not ‘die’ and transform back into ordinary blossoms.
She had initially believed this to be a mere characteristic of the ability.
However, upon her return to the mundane world, Huang Xiu discovered that the plants here did not exhibit the same resilience.
When she withdrew her void energy, thereby ending the [Senluo] ability, those plants invariably lost their ‘life force.’
Regarding this perplexing phenomenon, Professor Yuan could only speculate that it might stem from the inherent uniqueness of creatures found within the void realm.
Alternatively, he considered that the flowers themselves might possess an intrinsic peculiarity.
After all, these flowers originally possessed ‘life,’ only appearing as ordinary blossoms because they had withered.
Perhaps, when combined with her [Senluo] ability, this unique characteristic was what truly brought about such a strange phenomenon.