Chapter 43: Jiang He Awakens!
At the chief’s office of the Martial Arts Department.
Duan Tianhe was scowling and saying nothing.
Nearby, Cheng Dongfeng had his head lowered whilst holding a hand over his mouth so that he would not laugh out loud. However, his whole body was shaking without end, and eventually he snickered and broke into wild laughter.
“Haha! Didn’t you say that you would tell him everything? Why did you hang up on him?”Duan Tianhe shot him a look and smirked. “That brat is still obsessed about you, you know. He wants a rematch with you fighting at full power. Should I tell him the truth… that you were already using your full power that day?”
Cheng Dongfeng promptly quieted and stopped laughing, grimacing as if he had been forced to eat dung. “Don’t hit below the belt,” he muttered. “You’re too much, Old Duan!”
Duan Tianhe ignored him in his awe. “Still, the kid is really too arrogant. He already asked me that same question back when he was rank four, and how he’s asking it again. Does he really take grandmasters for ornaments?”
And what are his intentions?
I myself just made breakthrough to become a rank-seven grandmaster days ago. And yet you keep asking me about how to kill one… Do you have something against me?
After complaining inwardly, Duan Tianhe threw that matter aside and said, “Anyway, about Linzhou’s martial arts academy, you are definitely getting the job of director, Old Cheng. Don’t try to excuse yourself.”
“You’re having me become director?” Cheng Dongfeng shook his head. “I’m old and uncultured, having left school to train in martial arts with my master since early middle school. Wouldn’t you be miseducating the students if you have me as director? Why not let Jiang He try? The kid is an university student, and with his abilities, he would absolutely make a fine academy director.”“Jiang He?” Duan Tianhe chuckled sourly. “I was ready to recommend him myself… but I just have this feeling that he isn’t too reliable…”
“Then take the job yourself. I’m not taking the job one way or another.”
“Now that the martial arts academies are open, every level of society will turn their eyes there. Who knows if I can continue my cultivation with so many important things to see to everywhere?”
Gritting his teeth, Cheng Dongfeng spoke firmly, “After busying myself for a while, I’m immediately going into seclusion for a charge towards rank-seven. Otherwise, I am not fighting the kid if he challenges me again!”
***
“What the heck is Duan Tianhe doing? He said he would tell me everything, and now he hung up on me in the blink of an eye?”
Jiang He dialed Duan Tianhe’s number several more times, but it just kept going straight to voicemail.
‘The number you have dialed could not be reached at the moment.’
“Fine then, Old Duan…”
Cursing, Jiang He put away his mobile phone. He would stop calling him—because what good was it now? When he became a grandmaster himself, he would punch Duan Tianhe with his boulder-sized fist if he dared to hang up on him again!
In the meantime, he took a nap in his car. Then, after he woke up, he took a few qi pellets and ate one cucumber. After a few mouthfuls, his face changed. He could feel a special energy extending out of his brain and stirring his very spirit. It was an impact that left him simultaneously thrilled and in despair.
It hurt so badly. He felt as if his brain would explode. Enduring the pain, Jiang He tried to use his Strengthened Ning Yang Technique, but to no avail.
“It can’t be… am I awakening soon?” With that sudden inspiration, Jiang He bit down with a crunch and tore off a mouthful of cucumber. “This must be an omen before Awakening… If my hunch is right, the so-called Awakening is a certain stimulation to the human brain, causing the spirit to mutate and form a power… It hurts so much right now… maybe my spirit is lacking!”
Crunch, crunch!
He clutched his head and shrieked bizarrely even as he chomped down on mouthfuls of cucumber.
Bang!
Bang!
The horrific agony made Jiang He unable to help clenching his fist and slamming it heavily on the car door.
The first punch deformed the car.
The second punch sent one of the car doors flying.
And then…
Boom!
There was a dull rumble in Jiang He’s head that sounded like thunder, and his vision went black. He recovered in the next instant, however, and all the pain was gone. In fact, his mind was now supremely clear.
That was when Wang Sizhen, who was a part of the construction crew, ran out of the yard to him.
“What happened, Jiang He?”
He was taken aback when he saw the car door lying a dozen meters away. Jiang He waved him off, gesturing that he was fine.
He then studied Wang Sizhen from head to toe and asked in surprise, “Big Onion Bro, you’re the boss, and yet you do the work yourself too?”
As a matter of fact, Wang Sizhen was wearing a pair of three-quarter pants and holding a big shovel, not to mention that his entire body was full of mud and cement.
“I thought I should help since I would be idling anyway.” He chuckled, before lowering his voice, “Jiang He, about the thing I asked you before… have you made up your mind yet?”
Jiang He gave him a pained smile. “Go finish your work first, Big Onion Bro. I’ll help you when I move into my mansion.”
Taking the ‘bait’, Wang Sizhen delightedly skipped off to work, whereas Jiang He slowly closed his eyes and examined his own body with his inner vision. He scanned throughout his entire body, but did not pick up on any changes.
“Wait! I have Awakened, so what about my superpower?”
Getting inspired again, Jiang He focused his attention to his own mind.
In that very moment, he seemed to see an ocean. A vast ocean of swords. And in the middle of it, a single luminous blade hovered, palpating a stirring presence.
In the next instant, his head throbbed in pain, and he retreated from his inner vision.
“T-that’s my superpower?” Jiang He’s entire face showed shock. “With so many swords in my head, won’t they puncture my brain if there was a sudden explosion?”
And though the ocean of swords appeared illusory, that single luminous blade was somehow very vivid.
Jiang He tried to link up to it.
Oom!
The sword itself seemed to shoot out of his head and hover before him.
With a single thought, the luminous blade danced as if wielded by his hand, and burst out in dazzling radiance. The gust that the sword cut through the air alone… blew up Jiang He’s hundred-thousand-dollar pickup truck.
Still, Jiang He was not concerned with losing a few hundred thousand dollars. Instead, he was full of excitement. When Wang Siyu told him about superpowers, he’d heard that there were people who could control lightning or blades, and thought that she was exaggerating. He did not expect that to really happen to him.
But suddenly, Jiang He coughed out a splatter of fresh blood from the corner of his mouth. The luminous sword immediately became illusory and slipped back into his head.
Wiping away the blood, he worked his Strengthened Nine Yang Technique to restore himself like new while complaining, “What crappy power is this? I can’t even use it for more than three seconds!”
What could he do in three seconds?
He couldn’t even take off his own pants in that time!
And of course, superpowers were used for fights—taking off pants was not a factor.
Nonetheless, Jiang He soon chuckled. “Still, who could stop a slash out of the blue like this one in the middle of a fight? Moreover, I could feel that I’ll be able to wield this blade longer when my cultivation improves and my spirit grows. The damage would also increase, meaning that it won’t be impossible to cut off a head or unleash air blades over thousands of miles away!”
