Chapter 51: I Work Very Hard In Cultivation!
Everyone was looking at Jiang He, leaving him at a loss for words.
“Why the stares?” he asked. “Are bombs I throw supposed to blow me up too?”
The absolute defense of dropping to the ground while clutching his head should never be mentioned, as no one would believe him and just take him for an idiot... After all, who would believe you if you show them a pea and call that a bomb?
Indeed, Jiang He was not bothered to craft lies—he just had to refrain from explaining things, and allow the others to imagine what they want.
As a matter of fact, Pudgy Jiang’s eyes was glinting in curiosity, but he did not press the matter. After all, with the Revival of Qi that created superhumans with no end of unique powers, who would not have a few secrets?
Someone cried out, “Chief Jiang, Chief Duan, we’ve found droves of Feral wolf corpses over here!”
It was the superhuman with the all-seeing eye. His voice was so loud that he seemed to be shouting during conversations. It was a side-effect of his superpower—the better his sight was, the worse his hearing became. That was why he would speak loudly to others, and others would have to speak loudly in return for him to hear them.
Pudgy Jiang went down the mountain to take a look. Meanwhile, Duan Tianhe walked around the mountaintop to find three human corpses.
There was nothing left of the physically weak Tong Nan who had been too close to the explosion. But even though Zhang Shan, Li Si, and the earth-type Awakened had died earlier, they were still reduced to ashes in the blast.
Nothing could be identified from the three charred corpses.
Still, Jiang He walked up, identified them by the outlines of their remains, and pointed at one of them. “That old man had a smoking pipe for a weapon. He was an Awakened with B-cla.s.s superstrength, and his chest was shining with golden flashes. He claimed to have Diamond Body but that is just nonsense. Look at the chest wound, it blew up after I hit him a few times.”
“Awakened with B-cla.s.s superstrength? Golden light on his chest... and a smoking pipe for a weapon?” Duan Tianhe eye’s tightened as he said quietly, “That’s Liu Laosan. We have some information about him. He is powerful, being no weaker than rank-six advanced martial artists.”
“Is he that strong?” exclaimed Jiang He in surprise. “But I thought that he was quite weak and couldn’t take a beating. He was much weaker than Master Cheng who held back his cultivation... There was an earth-type Awakened with him, as well as a rank-five pinnacle martial artist. They were all so weak.”
Even as he spoke, Jiang he came to a realization and muttered, “Looks to me it’s not because they’re weak, but Master Cheng was too strong...”
Hiss!
Jiang He gasped as he rubbed his palms together. “If Master Cheng is that powerful when he holds back his cultivation at rank-five novice, how powerful would he be at full power? What a coincidence—I have improved a lot over the last few days, so I’ll spar with him for real when I get back.”
Duan Tianhe’s face went red from holding back his laughter.
“You’re getting ahead of yourself, young man!” exclaimed Pudgy Jiang, having came back up the mountain after checking the situation at the foot.
He could not help retorting against what Jiang He said when he heard him just then, “Though the fact that you wiped out the wolf pack by yourself with bombs does earn my respect, you are still a little short of challenging Master Cheng!”
Clasping his hands behind his back, he strode up to Jiang He, keeping his eyes fixed on him as he flatly said, “It is better for you to face facts, young man, and always remember not to exceed your own reach. A rank-four like you, challenge Old Cheng?”
Those words should have been imposing, but it was funny for Pudgy Jiang to say them, because he was just so fat. With his hands behind him, he looked just like a round ball. Still, Jiang He did not underestimate him.
Instead, he held him in high regard, because he had seen how fast Pudgy Jiang was! He was so quick that he was just two or three notches slower than Jiang He!
Still, high regard notwithstanding, being a young man himself, Jiang He couldn’t help frowning when he heard Pudgy Jiang’s tone of seniority. “Who are you?” he asked. “You know who I am?”
Jiang He had already asked Pudgy Jiang for his name previously.
But before Pudgy Jiang could peak, Duan Tianhe quickly smiled and said, “Jiang He, this is Chief Jiang of the Martial Arts Department in this province.”
Even as he spoke, he discreetly communicated with Jiang He, ‘Don’t pay him too much mind. Pudgy Jiang always runs his mouth.’
Pudgy Jiang frowned. Why did it feel like Duan Tianhe was treating the kid not as a junior, but as an equal?
Meanwhile, Jiang He chuckled and wrapped a palm over a fist. “So, you are Chief Jiang... forgive my manners. That said, though you might be unaware, but I’m already rank-five advanced.”
But since Duan Tianhe had spoken with Secret Acoustics, Jiang He could not afford a direct outburst.
“Hmmm?” Pudgy Jiang studied Jiang He for a few more seconds before turning around to Duan Tianhe, barking, “Old Duan, did you feed me fake information before? Didn’t the data say that he is rank-four novice?”
However, Duan Tianhe’s eyes were widened as he stared at Jiang He too. He had already been stunned by Jiang He’s accomplishments and had not noticed his rank.
After taking a look at Jiang He, he exclaimed in shock, “Rank-five advanced? Really?”
“Yep. Rank-five advanced!” said Jiang He, nodding.
Duan Tianhe was utterly mystified.
What the heck?
Could you stick to normal cultivation, please? You were just rank-four a few days ago, then became rank-five in the blink of an eye and made Cheng Dongfeng puke blood with a few palms. And now, after just a few days, you’re telling me that you are already rank-five advanced?
He stared at Jiang He for a long time and could not help mumbling, “I really want to dissect you for research, Jiang He... How do you even go about your cultivation? Even rockets aren’t that fast.”
Jiang He scratched the back of his head as he thought carefully about it. “Maybe I work harder in my cultivation. Aside from sleeping and going to the toilet, I cultivate twenty-four seven. In fact, I’m doing my cultivation even when I’m eating, watching web dramas, and swiping through video clips.”
Yes!
His cultivation was too hard!
Recently, he had been eating cuc.u.mbers, qi pellets, and carrots for all his three daily meals, and felt like he could vomit. Aside from having a bowl of spicy soup, the only other thing he had eaten was the two catties worth of wolf meat just now...
What, that’s not cultivation?
“To me, that is cultivation!” Jiang He whispered to himself. “I gave up on the joys of cultivation to improve my ability, forcing myself eat to a pile of things that are tasty but I’ve gotten sick of. It should count as cultivation... right?”
Beside him, Duan He had a ‘who-do-you-think-you-are-kidding?’ look on his face.
What is all this nonsense?
He almost believed it... but the cultivation of martial artists is not something to be done half-heartedly. When you circulate your True Qi, being disturbed or surprised would easily steer you down the wrong path.
And yet you would tell me that you did that while watching web dramas and swiping through video clips? Still, Duan Tianhe could not be bothered to get entangled with that problem.
“These mountains are dangerous. You’ll reach the Ningdong Mines if you go any further east, not to mention that a Leopard Python was spotted there. You’ve done well this time, but don’t try anything like this again. I’ve already notified Mu Wanqiu. She’ll send someone over,” he growled.
Jiang He, however, did not hear the rest of what Duan Tianhe had to say.
His eyes were twinkling in delight. “Chief Duan, did you just say that there’s a rank-seven Feral in these mountains?”
“What are you thinking of?” Duan Tianhe started to get nervous. “Jiang He, rank-seven Ferals and rank-seven grandmasters are equal in power. You better not get any funny ideas about the snake before you become a grandmaster!” he said solemly.