chsdbacks Chapter 21 Have you ever heard of cultivators?
Chapter 21 Have you ever heard of cultivators?
The air was filled with a nauseating stench of blood.
The Blackscale Wolf did not attack immediately.
It stood amidst the seven mutilated corpses, its crimson eyes slowly moving, scanning from Jiang Chen to Wang Kai, and then back to Jiang Chen.
Saliva dripped from the corner of its mouth, falling into the pool of blood on the ground and stirring up wisps of white smoke.
It hesitated.
Although this C-rank monster wasn't very intelligent, its beastly instincts allowed it to sense something was amiss.
The boy in front of me, dressed in an ordinary school uniform, showed no signs of spiritual energy and looked like a harmless piece of meat.
But the more it did this, the more eerie it felt.
The humans who had just seen him fled like stray dogs, but this person stood calmly.
The black-scaled wolf let out a low growl, its front paws pawing nervously at the scorched earth.
Looking at the black-scaled wolf, which was completely different from the one before, Wang Kai couldn't help but ask, "Brother Chen, why isn't this guy attacking us?"
He was afraid.
Jiang Chen's casual remark stirred up a storm in Wang Kai's heart.
Scared?
Is this monster afraid of Brother Chen?
real or fake!
The Blackscale Wolf finally couldn't stand that kind of gaze anymore.
It let out a deafening roar, its hind legs slammed into the ground, and its massive body transformed into a black afterimage, rushing straight towards Jiang Chen!
It's so fast!
It was so fast that Wang Kai's pupils couldn't even catch its trajectory. He could only see a blurry black line streaking through the air, accompanied by a stench!
The gaping maw rapidly enlarged in his field of vision, its stark white fangs nearly half a foot long, with bits of flesh from the students still stuck between them!
Wang Kai's mind went completely blank.
He heard his heart pounding wildly in his chest, the blood thumping in his eardrums, and a hoarse scream that he couldn't even hear himself utter.
Then, everything stopped.
The black-scaled wolf hovered in mid-air.
She was no more than three feet away from Jiang Chen.
Its crimson eyes were still moving, and it was emitting low moans, but it just couldn't move.
It was as if an invisible hand was gripping its entire body.
Wang Kai's eyes widened, his mouth agape, but he couldn't utter a sound.
He saw Jiang Chen raise his right hand, his index and middle fingers together, and casually point forward.
The next second, the Blackscale Wolf's massive body exploded instantly. Scales, flesh, bones, internal organs—everything turned into a cloud of blood mist in an instant.
The blood mist spread through the air, and when the wind blew it, it drifted and scattered around the open space, landing on the mutilated corpses.
Wang Kai's pupils contracted sharply, then slowly dilated.
His brain completely shut down at that moment.
What did he see?
A C-rank monster.
A C-rank monster that can terrify an A-rank talent awakener to the point of wetting their pants.
A C-rank monster that had just been swaggering in front of him and had killed seven Awakened Ones in one go.
Was it turned into a bloody mist by Jiang Chen's single finger?
He didn't even sense any spiritual energy fluctuations!
There was no fire, no lightning, no wind blades, and no sign of any awakening skill being released.
In that instant, everything vanished into nothingness.
He wanted to say something, like, "Brother Chen, what did you just do?", "Was that a C-rank monster?", "Did you already know this would happen?"
But he couldn't say anything.
His mind just couldn't process it.
"What are you still standing there for?"
Jiang Chen's voice rang out calmly, as if he were talking about something perfectly ordinary.
"I'm gone."
He turned and walked out of the forest.
The hem of her clothes fluttered slightly in the wind, without a single drop of blood on it.
Wang Kai stood frozen in place, staring at that figure's back, motionless for a long time.
It took him quite a while to finally find his voice.
"Chen, Brother Chen!"
He stumbled after him, his legs still weak, running like a child who had just learned to walk.
"Brother Chen, what...what...what happened just now?!"
His voice was high-pitched and hoarse, carrying a kind of excitement on the verge of collapse.
"That...that's a C-rank monster! C-rank! You...you only have that much?! Only that much?!"
He stretched out his index finger and gestured in the air as if Ming Jiangchen had just made a move, his face contorted as if he were about to cry.
"Brother Chen, what's wrong with you?! Aren't you a powerless person?! Aren't you the world's first powerless person?!"
His voice grew louder and sharper until it was almost a shout.
"How could you possibly do that?! That's not an Awakened's ability at all! No Awakened could do that! Not even an S-rank!"
"No, S-rank should be enough to instantly kill someone of this level, but... but isn't Brother Chen a powerless person?"
Wang Kai's voice trembled slightly as he spoke.
"Brother Chen, say something! What happened to you?! Did you awaken some incredibly powerful ability on Awakening Day? No, no, no, no, the Awakening Stone wouldn't be wrong, and the globally networked detection system wouldn't be wrong either. You've really been judged as a powerless person..."
He was clutching his hair, he was going crazy.
"How did you do that?! That's not a power that should exist in this world! That, that..."
Seeing Wang Kai's increasingly frantic state, Jiang Chen decided to stop teasing him.
"Okay, okay, I know you're in a hurry, but don't rush."
"These abilities of mine really have nothing to do with awakening or anything like that."
Jiang Chen told Wang Kai that he didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
He is a trustworthy person.
"Then, what exactly is that?!"
Wang Kai calmed down for a while.
"Kai Zi, you must have read quite a few novels over the years. In our Dragon Country, what kind of novels are the most popular?"
"Playing dumb to fool others? Brother Chen, you're a perfect example of playing dumb to fool others right now."
Jiang Chen felt ashamed; though the words were crude, the principle was sound.
"No, no, no, I meant fantasy novels about cultivating immortality."
"Cultivate...cultivate immortality!?"
Wang Kai wasn't stupid; the moment he heard those words, his mind cleared instantly.
The truth behind that night's bombing, the truth behind the destruction of the Liu family, and how the explosion that occurred in that instant today came about.
Cultivating immortality...
Jiang Chen is a cultivator!
"Brother Chen, could it be that you're a cultivator?!"
Jiang Chen nodded silently.
He turned around and looked at Wang Kai.
Those eyes, like two bottomless pools in the dim forest, reflected Wang Kai's face, which was filled with shock and confusion.
"You only need to know one thing."
His voice was soft, yet it reached Wang Kai's ears clearly; every word seemed to be etched directly into his soul.
"What I want to teach you, no one in this world can teach."
He paused.
"And no one is qualified to teach."
Wang Kai's heart suddenly clenched.
He wanted to ask "What is that?", "Why me?", and "Who exactly are you?"
But his mouth was open, and he couldn't utter a single word.
Because he suddenly realized something—
The person standing in front of him was no longer the Jiang Chen he knew.
Or rather, he never truly knew Jiang Chen.
That boy who sweated profusely on the training field, that boy who buried himself in his studies in the classroom, that boy who was dejected on Awakening Day...
These are all just appearances on the surface of this body.
Within this young body dwells an existence he could not have imagined.
"Brother Chen..."
Wang Kai's voice trembled, but his eyes grew brighter and brighter.
"You...you really can teach me? Teach me that kind of...?"
He stretched out his hand and pointed to the cloud of blood mist that was slowly dissipating on the open ground.
"That ability?"
Jiang Chen looked at him.
Those eyes, which had witnessed thousands of years of history, seemed to have seen something interesting at this moment.
Whether you can learn it or not depends on you.
He raised his right hand, his index and middle fingers together, just as he had done when he detonated the Blackscale Wolf.
But this time, a wisp of light appeared at his fingertips.
But it was this faint, almost invisible ray of light that made Wang Kai's breath catch in his throat for a moment.
He felt an indescribable sense of oppression.
"Hold out your hand," Jiang Chen said.
Wang Kai mechanically extended his right hand.
Jiang Chen's fingertips gently touched his palm.
In that instant, Wang Kai felt as if his entire body was set ablaze.
Countless images seemed to flash through his mind: the vast starry sky, the majestic mountains, the rushing rivers, and the burning stars.
The images flashed by so fast that he didn't have time to see them clearly.
But he remembered a feeling.
A feeling of... endless possibilities.
"Your spiritual root is not bad."
Jiang Chen withdrew his hand, his voice calm.
"The five elements spiritual root, although not top-tier, is well-balanced. In this world with scarce spiritual energy, the awakening of such talent is beyond my expectations."
Wang Kai stood there, stunned, staring blankly at his palm.
There was nothing there.
There was no light, no trace, nothing at all.
But he could sense it.
Something inside him has changed.
It was as if a door that had always been closed had been gently pushed open a crack at this moment.
"Spirit...spiritual root?" he murmured, repeating the word.
"What is that?"
Jiang Chen quickly rolled his eyes at him: "Don't be a sucker, did you read all those novels for nothing? Simply put, whatever spiritual root you have, you can learn immortal techniques of that attribute."
"Normally, having a Five Elements Spiritual Root means you can learn all five attributes, which is great for cultivators with abundant resources. However, in this world, spiritual energy is scarce, so it's not a particularly good thing. But with my guidance, you'll definitely be able to cultivate smoothly!"
Hearing Jiang Chen say this, Wang Kai could hardly contain his excitement. He smiled and thought of his parents' helpless yet comforting eyes after he awakened his life profession, as well as his childhood dream.
He was lucky; when everyone was mocking Jiang Chen, he resolutely stood on Jiang Chen's side.
Having a brother like this is enough for a lifetime!