Unacceptable!
What did they mean by suggesting a newcomer like him couldn’t take on the opponent by himself?
They truly underestimated Huang Xiu!
Waving a fist, Huang Xiu, utterly serious, played on a well-known adage. “How can you know you’ll be defeated if you don’t even try? Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river (TL Note: A Chinese idiom signifying the unpredictable nature of fortune, implying that circumstances can change dramatically over time.), never mock a youth for their poverty! Never mock a middle-aged person for their poverty! Never mock an elder for their poverty!”
“Alright, alright, fine!” Professor Yuan nodded dismissively. “Try and you’ll die. Where do you want to be buried? I have a friend who specializes in auspicious burial plots—buy two, get one free. Interested?”
Ever since Huang Xiu agreed to become his student, Professor Yuan had shed the pretense of a dignified mentor, revealing his inherently lazy and uninhibited nature.
Huang Xiu, however, had long since seen through his unreliability, and found himself particularly enjoying this relaxed and comfortable teacher-student dynamic.
After all, he was a free-spirited individual himself.
Indeed, in this instance, it seemed they were truly kindred spirits.
****
As they spoke, the passenger door of the front car swung open, and Yun Ning, clad in a white tracksuit, slid inside.
He fastened his seatbelt, then adjusted his seat forward, only to suddenly feel a soft poke against the fleshy part of his waist.
Turning his head, he saw Huang Xiu.
“Is your injury alright?” he inquired.
“It’s not fully healed, but it’s no longer a hindrance,” Yun Ning replied with a soft smile, glancing back.
“That quickly!” Huang Xiu exclaimed, a hint of surprise in his voice.
He had heard that Yun Ning had broken eight ribs in last night’s battle, and had assumed he would need at least half a month to recover.
To his astonishment, he was already walking freely!
What an outrageous recovery ability this was.
“Everyone’s here! Let’s go, depart!” Professor Yuan bellowed, like a general commanding a charge, as he gently pressed the accelerator.
After a slight tremor, the vehicle turned left and drove onto the nearby national highway, heading directly towards Yanghai City.
As they drove, Huang Xiu finally couldn’t suppress his curiosity any longer. He poked Yun Ning again. “Won’t it grow crooked?”
Turning around, Yun Ning looked somewhat bewildered. “What?”
He hadn’t grasped Huang Xiu’s meaning.
“I mean, your ribs are broken. If you just leave them like that, won’t they grow back crooked?”
Huang Xiu voiced the doubt in his heart.
“Well…” Yun Ning scratched his head, genuinely surprised by Huang Xiu’s peculiar line of questioning.
Nevertheless, he gave Huang Xiu a serious explanation.
“They won’t grow crooked. I can use my muscles to hold the ribs firmly in place.”
Wait a minute!
Using muscles to hold ribs in place… was such a thing even possible?
Shock was etched across Huang Xiu’s small face. Was this the result of a truly seasoned athlete?
It was terrifyingly formidable; best not to provoke him, best not to provoke him!
“Student Yun, it seems you’ve ‘settled’ quite well (TL Note: A term often used humorously to describe a person who has become ‘settled’ or ‘refined’ through significant, often challenging, experiences, particularly in a physical or athletic context.),” he remarked, his expression peculiar.
“Huh?” Yun Ning didn’t understand Huang Xiu’s implication.
Still, it didn’t sound like an insult, so he simply smiled it off.
Professor Yuan, who was driving, clearly understood. He tried to stifle his laughter, but he was, after all, not professionally trained.
Ultimately, he burst out laughing with a loud snort.
He slapped the steering wheel as he laughed. “Hahahaha, Little Ning certainly ‘settles’ often!”
“…….” Yun Ning cast a sidelong glance at his unreliable teacher, sighing inwardly.
What could he possibly do to salvage his teacher’s image?
Never mind, it was beyond saving; let it be!
“Oh, that’s right!”
Yun Ning suddenly recalled something. He pulled an object from his pocket and handed it to Huang Xiu.
“This is for you.”
Staring at the shriveled, green lump in his hand, Huang Xiu looked up in confusion. “What is this?”
He could tell it was once a plant, but he couldn’t discern what kind.
“This is your cactus,” Yun Ning said, recounting his solo return to campus the previous night.
“As I was covering the retreat of the garrison, this little thing hobbled out of the woods and clung to my leg, refusing to let go. I noticed its ethereal energy signature was very similar to yours, so I guessed it was a construct of your ability. That’s why I tucked it into my pocket and brought it back.”
“However…” he scratched his head, “I saw you were sleeping at the time, so I didn’t let the cactus wake you up. But for some reason, in the middle of the night, it suddenly shriveled up into this.”
“My apologies!” Yun Ning said, looking genuinely embarrassed.
The once lively cactus had only become this way because he had stopped it from disturbing Huang Xiu’s sleep.
This made Yun Ning feel it was his fault.
“Senior, this isn’t your fault. In fact, I should be thanking you for bringing the cactus out for me! And I think I probably know why it shriveled up.”
Huang Xiu quickly explained.
According to his guess, the cactus’s sudden shriveling was likely due to him transforming from his female form back to his male form.
This led to his ability, [Sen Luo], falling into dormancy.
It truly wasn’t Yun Ning’s fault; moreover, Yun Ning had no obligation to bring the cactus out in the first place.
Huang Xiu was not one to be unreasonable.
“It’s fine. The self-detonating burdock you gave me last night actually saved my life,” Yun Ning said with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Huang Xiu’s face lit up with pleasant surprise.
“Oh, is that so? It’s wonderful that the mutated burdock could be put to good use!”
Contributing to the garrison’s evacuation filled him with satisfaction.
Furthermore, the mutated burdock was originally another experiment he had conducted with [Sen Luo].
Specifically, transforming plants into modern weapons for use.
He hadn’t expected the effect to be quite good; it seemed this could become a permanent method for [Sen Luo].
Huang Xiu nodded contentedly, then withdrew his gaze to look at the shriveled green mass in his hand, which was now little more than a husk.
He couldn’t help but wonder, “Is this thing… truly my old cactus?”
A flash of the lively green figure from last night appeared in his mind, and he compared the two back and forth.
Huang Xiu indeed found similarities between them.
“So… it’s shriveled down to just a skin. Can a doctor still save it? But it seems… it really can be saved.”
He stroked his chin.
The cactus had shriveled simply because [Sen Luo] had gone dormant and its internal ethereal energy had been depleted.
As long as he transformed back into his female form and infused it with ethereal energy, it could most likely be revived.
“I am the miraculous Dr. Huang, capable of bringing the dead back to life!” Huang Xiu gloated inwardly, proud of his cleverness.
After they had exchanged thanks, the conversation abruptly ceased, and the car returned to its initial silence.
Huang Xiu, for his part, didn’t mind and was too lazy to find a new topic. He placed the cactus aside and turned to gaze out the window, passing the time.
Graceful green mountains undulated in the distance, while checkerboard rice paddies stretched endlessly, forming a golden ribbon of light.
Everything outside the window receded rapidly.
The hissing sound of tires compressing and rubbing against the road was clearly audible, even through the closed windows.
The vehicle sped along the national highway.
From Ying City to Yanghai, the journey covered more than seventy kilometers, which would take over an hour even by car.
Not to mention… they still had to make a “slight” detour.
Finding the car so quiet, Professor Yuan, who was always restless, grew impatient.
“Why is everyone so quiet? Have you all turned mute? In that case, I’m putting on some music!”
As he spoke, he switched on the car’s music system.