"What are you thinking about?" Zhou Li walked to the tree and looked up to make eye contact with Huai Xu.
"Did you finish your training?" Huai Xu lowered his head.
"Yes, I’m done."
"Then let’s go." Huai Xu slid down from the tree, landing steadily on the ground. He didn’t answer Zhou Li’s question, instead saying, "Next ti, I’ll catch a demon who knows how to do it and have them shield this place."
"Why do you always like to sit in trees?"
"Trees are good; you can feel the breeze." Huai Xu started walking down the mountain. "They provide shade on sunny days, shelter from the rain, and you won’t get bumped into by people."
"Sounds very comfortable," Zhou Li nodded.
"You’ve made such great progress recently," Huai Xu remarked.
"Right."
"Your power is barely adequate, but your technique is still too clumsy. Against a demon that can really fight, you wouldn’t even be able to touch them," Huai Xu instantly returned to his cheerful deanor, patting Zhou Li on the shoulder.
"What were those Great Demons, and the Heavenly Masters who could rival them in ancient tis, like?" Zhou Li asked.
Huai Xu gave him a quizzical look.
"I an, aside from you."
"Summoning wind and rain, changing the weather, moving mountains and filling lakes, stopping floods and mudslides," Huai Xu shrugged. "Controlling people’s minds, making everyone in a city fall asleep—things like that. Of the ones I just ntioned, you’ve seen all but the last one, right?"
"I have."
It seed I still have much to learn.
In fact, right now I just have a bit of brute strength. Even Huai Xu mostly relies on brute strength. Abilities like changing the weather and controlling people’s minds are the real technical skills. Especially the latter. After reading so many novels and watching so many TV shows, I always thought this wasn’t particularly high-level, that any demon or monster could cloud soone’s mind. But in reality, I can’t even imagine how those Great Demons achieve it. The human brain and its thoughts are mankind’s most complex and powerful weapons; how do they invade them, modify data, and even seize control? And this technique is also the most lethal. When large-scale wars erupt in human society, people die by the millions, even tens of millions. How many can one Great Devil King kill in comparison?
The path was narrow, so Huai Xu lifted the car and turned it around.
They returned the way they ca.
Huai Xu sat in the passenger seat, his body slanted, head resting against the window. He was silent for a while, seemingly lost in thought. It wasn’t until Zhou Li started playing old songs from Brother Nan’s USB drive that he broke the silence. "How’s that person doing?"
"Who?" Zhou Li asked.
"That girl, the Young Heavenly Master," Huai Xu said.
"She probably won’t go to jail," Zhou Li said, keeping his eyes on the road and replying when he found a mont. "Yin Le found a lot of information about the Confusing God and has convinced them that this incident is related to it. The Confusing God is considered an irresistible force, so Rong Mingxia is innocent."
"What about the girl?"
"She also admitted a demon was involved."
"Was it Yin Le who convinced her, or was it you?" Huai Xu asked casually.
"I don’t know." Zhou Li hesitated for a mont but decided not to say anything further. Speaking up then would have seed like I was trying to make excuses for myself.
"What she said might be the truth," Huai Xu offered a justification for her. "She didn’t do anything wrong; she was just a bit extre, and it’s highly probable she was manipulated by a demon. She’s only nineteen, after all."
"Possibly."
"So, has she been released?"
"How could she be? Even if she doesn’t go to prison, she still needs to undergo psychological treatnt," Zhou Li said. "According to our laws, she’s now exempt from jail ti on the grounds of ’ntal illness.’"
"She definitely needs psychological treatnt," Huai Xu shifted, adjusting his position. "It would be best to lock her up and give her electroshock therapy every day. Then she’ll completely turn into a little Demon King."
"That won’t happen." Zhou Li sighed deeply, also feeling a bit lost. "Yin Le has been taking care of her. Besides, proper psychological counseling isn’t as scary as you make it out to be. The doctors are all very gentle and kind, like the older brother or sister from next door."
"Oh, you’ve been?"
"They even gave candy."
"Strange. Why didn’t the psychologist I saw before give candy?" Huai Xu furrowed his brows, looking like he was about to go back that very instant and demand an explanation from that psychologist.
"Yin Le wants to find the Confusing God," Zhou Li changed the subject. "He’s been looking through police archives for similar cases."
"A futile effort."
"I see..."
Zhou Li focused on driving, lost in thought.
「The 18th.」
「Friday.」
The sports field was bustling with activity.
Physical education class was about to end. Today’s activities included asuring height, weight, lung capacity, and performance on the sit-and-reach test.
The school’s machines weren’t very accurate; the numbers were sowhat inflated. Zhou Li’s asured height was three centiters more than what Aunt Jiang had asured with a tape asure during the sumr break. The soles of his shoes probably accounted for one or two centiters; the rest was just the machine padding the numbers, because Huai Xu said he hadn’t grown taller.
Such generous asurents!
The weight asurent, on the other hand, was quite accurate.
Zhou Li had gained a few more pounds. It wasn’t just from absorbing more knowledge; the increase in my Spiritual Power was likely a factor too.
When it was his turn for asurents, Brother Nan ran to his side, craning her neck to see the numbers on the display. Yet, when it was her turn, she insisted on checking the numbers herself first and would only show them to Zhou Li if she was satisfied. Until then, Zhou Li had to maintain a distance of several ters.
A classic case of double standards.
And I couldn’t even argue with her.
For lung capacity, Zhou Li casually blew into the ter as usual, stopping as soon as it hit 4,000. Brother Nan teased him again, saying his score wasn’t even as high as hers.
The sit-and-reach was the toughest part.
Class ended after the physical tests; there was no Tai Chi practice today.
I’m feeling a bit anxious. The next class is the final exam for Tai Chi. I’ve skipped quite a few lessons recently, so I’m feeling a bit guilty. And with my personality, performing in front of so many people always feels embarrassing. I get nervous easily, and when I’m nervous, I tend to make mistakes. I’ll have to ask Huai Xu to take the exam for .
Suddenly, Baozi, wearing an old T-shirt and school uniform pants, walked up to him, looking at him expressionlessly.
"Cousin."
"What’s up?" Zhou Li glanced at her, noticing she was unusually wearing a pair of running shoes. "Why aren’t you wearing your canvas shoes today? Did you wear shoes with thicker soles because you were thinking about the height asurent?"
"I’ve already paid you back. I just transferred the money to you. Please check your account," Baozi said, ignoring the latter part of his question.
"That was quick."
"Please check your account."
"No need."
"Please check your account."
"..."
Zhou Li pulled out his phone and took a look. Only then did he say to Baozi, who was watching him with a serious expression, "Got it."
"Good."
Baozi quietly sized him up.
Zhou Li suddenly felt sothing was off. "I don’t know why, but even though your face is expressionless, I get the feeling you’re secretly laughing. Is paying back money really such a happy occasion for you?"
"Yes."
"Alright. It must be a load off your mind."
"KUKUKU... Yes."
"Wait a minute..." Zhou Li stared at her in astonishnt. "I didn’t mishear just now, did I? You were laughing, weren’t you?"
"You heard wrong," Baozi stated firmly. "I never laugh."
"I see. Is there anything else?"
"Yes," Baozi maintained her serious expression, her gaze fixed on Zhou Li, her hands tightly clasped in front of her. "In a couple of days... the day after tomorrow is Winter Solstice again. Will you guys be going for mutton soup?"
"Oh, right..."
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