The next morning, Xiang Ning woke up with the sun in his face. Squinting, he slowly sat up, stretched, and looked around in a daze before he realized he was on the couch covered with a blanket.
In front of him was his sister, who was taking breakfast very seriously. Sunlight fell on her face through the windows, giving her a rosy glow. She was adorable.
He felt a sense of contentment and bliss when he saw her so serious. Pushing his blanket aside, he strolled up to her and chuckled, “What are you cooking?”
“Egg scallion noodles!” Xiang Xiaoyu’s brows were slightly furrowed, one hand flipping the eggs with a spatula so they were golden yellow on each side.
“Alright, I’m going to brush my teeth.” He ruffled her hair, then turned to the bathroom.
Xiang Xiaoyu turned to look at him, pouted, then continued cooking her noodles.
…...
At the dining table, Xiang Ning quickly devoured the hot noodles. Noodles cooked by his sister were always extra delicious, elevated by two levels just because she made them.
“Big brother, today’s the last day of school before the holidays. Do you have any plans for us?” she asked.
With a mouthful of noodles, he mumbled, “No, but I’ve got a tournament to attend. We’re competing against the top schools from different regions.”
“Oh, alright.” She continued eating her breakfast.
“I heard we’ll be leaving Marsh City for it. Do you have any plans? If you don’t, do you want to come with me? We can treat it as a vacation.”
“Ah? Can I go?” She looked up.
Xiang Ning grinned. “Of course. We’ll likely go to three cities. First we’ll go to Hang City, then Magic City, and finally North Star City. We’ll be traveling straight north. I heard Hang City is famous for its food. Magic City has the world’s most advanced technological tower, with many major researchers working inside, and finally, North Star City is a very special place in China. That’s because, during the Great Disaster, countless soldiers died protecting it!”
North Star City was the most important safe zone in China and was also the administrative zone for all of Asia. But all three were undoubtedly gigantic cities.
Xiang Xiaoyu looked forward to the trip, listening to her brother’s descriptions of each place. She had never left Marsh City and was curious about the world.
After breakfast, the siblings didn’t ride the Windbreaker to school, because they knew there would be a lot of traffic. Instead, they took the mostly empty bus to school and separated at Mingzhe Lake. Xiang Ning walked beneath the dense trees, feeling sentimental. Half a year ago, when he had first walked on this path, he was merely a Physical Tempering stage part-time student. He hadn’t even been a tier one martial artist, but was still full of hope.
Half a year later, he had obtained everything he had never dared dream of. It felt so unreal. He was now a tier four martial artist who helped invent the dimensional ring, and even had an official relationship with Fang Rou. He had many friends, as well, and together they’d experienced many interesting events.
It felt like an entire lifetime had passed. Xiang Ning often reminded himself to work hard and never forget himself. Like his past self, his wardrobe still had more sets of school uniforms than personal items and his house was still a warm little shack of less than twenty square meters.
In the past, whenever he saw newly constructed houses along the main street, he would dream of buying a mansion after he got a job. Then his sister would invite her friends over, and no one would look down on her. But now, as he walked along the path, other people only saw that he was a decent-looking guy and a student, but definitely didn’t know he was sitting on huge riches with cultivation levels that not many could achieve; especially at his age. And people who didn’t know him might think he was a second-generation rich kid.
When he arrived at school, Fatty Wang ran over and grabbed Xiang Ning’s arm. “Xiang Ning, Xiang Ning, I was chosen for the special training classes! We can both attend class together again.” It was difficult to imagine how much effort he had spent to be like Xiang Ning. Although they took their cultural subjects together, Xiang Ning and the rest would go to the inner courtyard for combat training in the afternoons. Fatty Wang always wondered why he had to stay with the rest of the class, and not the training his friends always talked about.
As time passed, the desire to join Xiang Ning grew. Or rather, he wanted to see the combat training classes for himself. He didn’t want to go with the flow, like the rest of his classmates. He would rather swim against the current like Xiang Ning, constantly breaking through and overcoming his past self.
Although he was rarely with his idol, he knew from the stories that recovery capsules were practically Xiang Ning’s second home. Other people might not even use one in their entire lives, let alone use one as many times as Xiang Ning had in the past year.
He still remembered the way Xiang Ning had fought the other students to protect his sister...
“Nice! As I said, with your abilities, it was only a matter of time. You’re already better than some of the students in the first batch.” Xiang Ning was genuinely happy for his meatball friend. Propping his elbow on the fatty’s shoulder, they walked to class with jokes and laughter.
Many people along the way cast admiring looks at them. It was an admirable thing to be able to hang out with Xiang Ning because there was a rumor in school that as long as he liked you, your cultivation would very quickly improve.
Every person in his inner circle had become some of the best students in school. Even the people who went to Third School with him had also experienced huge improvements, leaving the other students far behind.
Did it really have anything to do with Xiang Ning?
Some said yes, some said no, but that was alright. All they could say was that they had been affected by him and started cultivating in secret. Those were the parts that other people couldn’t see.
“Eh, why are we stopping?” Xiang Ning asked as Fatty Wang suddenly stopped in his tracks.
“Nothing, I realized I forgot something. Go to class first, I’ll see you there!” The fatty then turned to leave, leaving behind a confused Xiang Ning.
Xiang Ning turned to look ahead and froze. “Fang… Fang Rou.”
The next morning, Xiang Ning woke up with the sun in his face. Squinting, he slowly sat up, stretched, and looked around in a daze before he realized he was on the couch covered with a blanket.
In front of him was his sister, who was taking breakfast very seriously. Sunlight fell on her face through the windows, giving her a rosy glow. She was adorable.
He felt a sense of contentment and bliss when he saw her so serious. Pushing his blanket aside, he strolled up to her and chuckled, “What are you cooking?”
“Egg scallion noodles!” Xiang Xiaoyu’s brows were slightly furrowed, one hand flipping the eggs with a spatula so they were golden yellow on each side.
“Alright, I’m going to brush my teeth.” He ruffled her hair, then turned to the bathroom.
Xiang Xiaoyu turned to look at him, pouted, then continued cooking her noodles.
…...
At the dining table, Xiang Ning quickly devoured the hot noodles. Noodles cooked by his sister were always extra delicious, elevated by two levels just because she made them.
“Big brother, today’s the last day of school before the holidays. Do you have any plans for us?” she asked.
With a mouthful of noodles, he mumbled, “No, but I’ve got a tournament to attend. We’re competing against the top schools from different regions.”
“Oh, alright.” She continued eating her breakfast.
“I heard we’ll be leaving Marsh City for it. Do you have any plans? If you don’t, do you want to come with me? We can treat it as a vacation.”
“Ah? Can I go?” She looked up.
Xiang Ning grinned. “Of course. We’ll likely go to three cities. First we’ll go to Hang City, then Magic City, and finally North Star City. We’ll be traveling straight north. I heard Hang City is famous for its food. Magic City has the world’s most advanced technological tower, with many major researchers working inside, and finally, North Star City is a very special place in China. That’s because, during the Great Disaster, countless soldiers died protecting it!”
North Star City was the most important safe zone in China and was also the administrative zone for all of Asia. But all three were undoubtedly gigantic cities.
Xiang Xiaoyu looked forward to the trip, listening to her brother’s descriptions of each place. She had never left Marsh City and was curious about the world.
After breakfast, the siblings didn’t ride the Windbreaker to school, because they knew there would be a lot of traffic. Instead, they took the mostly empty bus to school and separated at Mingzhe Lake. Xiang Ning walked beneath the dense trees, feeling sentimental. Half a year ago, when he had first walked on this path, he was merely a Physical Tempering stage part-time student. He hadn’t even been a tier one martial artist, but was still full of hope.
Half a year later, he had obtained everything he had never dared dream of. It felt so unreal. He was now a tier four martial artist who helped invent the dimensional ring, and even had an official relationship with Fang Rou. He had many friends, as well, and together they’d experienced many interesting events.
It felt like an entire lifetime had passed. Xiang Ning often reminded himself to work hard and never forget himself. Like his past self, his wardrobe still had more sets of school uniforms than personal items and his house was still a warm little shack of less than twenty square meters.
In the past, whenever he saw newly constructed houses along the main street, he would dream of buying a mansion after he got a job. Then his sister would invite her friends over, and no one would look down on her. But now, as he walked along the path, other people only saw that he was a decent-looking guy and a student, but definitely didn’t know he was sitting on huge riches with cultivation levels that not many could achieve; especially at his age. And people who didn’t know him might think he was a second-generation rich kid.
When he arrived at school, Fatty Wang ran over and grabbed Xiang Ning’s arm. “Xiang Ning, Xiang Ning, I was chosen for the special training classes! We can both attend class together again.” It was difficult to imagine how much effort he had spent to be like Xiang Ning. Although they took their cultural subjects together, Xiang Ning and the rest would go to the inner courtyard for combat training in the afternoons. Fatty Wang always wondered why he had to stay with the rest of the class, and not the training his friends always talked about.
As time passed, the desire to join Xiang Ning grew. Or rather, he wanted to see the combat training classes for himself. He didn’t want to go with the flow, like the rest of his classmates. He would rather swim against the current like Xiang Ning, constantly breaking through and overcoming his past self.
Although he was rarely with his idol, he knew from the stories that recovery capsules were practically Xiang Ning’s second home. Other people might not even use one in their entire lives, let alone use one as many times as Xiang Ning had in the past year.
He still remembered the way Xiang Ning had fought the other students to protect his sister...
“Nice! As I said, with your abilities, it was only a matter of time. You’re already better than some of the students in the first batch.” Xiang Ning was genuinely happy for his meatball friend. Propping his elbow on the fatty’s shoulder, they walked to class with jokes and laughter.
Many people along the way cast admiring looks at them. It was an admirable thing to be able to hang out with Xiang Ning because there was a rumor in school that as long as he liked you, your cultivation would very quickly improve.
Every person in his inner circle had become some of the best students in school. Even the people who went to Third School with him had also experienced huge improvements, leaving the other students far behind.
Did it really have anything to do with Xiang Ning?
Some said yes, some said no, but that was alright. All they could say was that they had been affected by him and started cultivating in secret. Those were the parts that other people couldn’t see.
“Eh, why are we stopping?” Xiang Ning asked as Fatty Wang suddenly stopped in his tracks.
“Nothing, I realized I forgot something. Go to class first, I’ll see you there!” The fatty then turned to leave, leaving behind a confused Xiang Ning.
Xiang Ning turned to look ahead and froze. “Fang… Fang Rou.”
