CH 36.1

Character List

Qiao Zhiya: Half-elf, half-dwarf MC.

Chu Rong: Marshal ML.

Ren Mo: aka Master Ren. A mecha master making full manually-piloted mecha.

Chu Yan: ML’s younger brother. Is the same age as MC, currently attending intermediate college.

Chu Huai: ML’s older brother, he’s in politics.

Gu Yan’an: Chu Huai’s wife.

Yuan Xiu: Chu Yan’s bestfriend.

The moment the magic power passed by, the familiar spiritual power gave feedback, but it was not a friendly response.

The magic power that was almost “bitten” by the spiritual power trembled and retreated. However, this confused the spiritual power, who wanted to chase it but couldn’t find it.  Then it stopped still, as if in a daze and didn’t know what to do.

Qiao Zhiya in the dream felt a little strange. He had already confirmed that this trace of spiritual power belonged to Chu Rong. He had treated him twice, and he would never admit this even under a threat, but he had protected his spiritual power during the second treatment. Why now?

If the spiritual power could talk, it probably would say, “I can’t see you”, “Who are you?” and “Don’t mess with me.”

The magic stealthily circled around the spiritual power a few more times, and thankfully, the spiritual power never noticed its existence.

Now Qiao Zhiya, who relied on instinct to drive his magic power, couldn’t mask his emotions at all – it really influenced how the magic power moved inside… Chu Rong’s spiritual sea? Is that the correct terminology of it?

At first, he was overly cautious in this alien place. However, his true stubborn personality shone through. He was like a child spoiled by his parents. The more you ignore him, the more he wants to pester you.

So the magic power floating in the air no longer just circled around the spiritual power, but rubbed against it again. As it rubbed, it released a condensed magic energy into the spiritual power.

Although the spiritual power couldn’t “see” the magic power, it still could “feel” its presence. It didn’t like this arrogant “infringement”. In return, the spiritual power – which was powerful, considering it was SSS-grade – immediately counterattacked on instinct. However, it seemed to be worried about something, as it did hold back on this counterattack.

In result, the strength of the counterattack was too weak, on par with just rough play. Qiao Zhiya misunderstood it. His magic power happily chased after that trace of spiritual power, and even tried to “counterattack” towards that spiritual power.

Ancestor Chu, who was lying on the bed, frowned, half awake – he felt as if he had been molested by a strange yet familiar little bastard.

Just when he was about to wake up from the unbearable harassment, the magic power “counterattack” accidentally overdid its strength. It successfully made a cut as it swished along the floating spiritual power, cleaving it cleanly.

Chu Rong’s subconscious was a little surprised at how unprepared he was to this mischievous force, and was about to drive him out. But this feeling… was comfortable. Despite his spiritual power being cut, it didn’t hurt. If anything, it brought him into a deeper, restful sleep.

After the magic power cut, it again rubbed against the spiritual power like a mischievous child. Thanks to this, the spiritual power could detect its presence, and it wrapped up the magic power, dragged it to float deeper, and prepared to teach it a good lesson.

The magic power was being honest now, letting the spiritual power attack back. As it was dragged deeper, it felt uncomfortable – it just found those disgusting black spots that bullied itself during the last treatment. It stank and felt slimy. The magic power hated it.

With prejudice, the magic power rudely probed into the black spots. At the same time, the earth-elemental magic power was withdrawn, while the wood-elemental was casted into a wide net. Both elementals actively spread deep along the force of the spiritual power.

Qiao Zhiya’s eyelashes moved, showing signs of awakening. He subconsciously made his magic power getting closer, into those things that made the White-Haired Monster sick.

He moved in his sleep, arched more tightly towards the arms of the sleeping Marshal in front of him. He even wrapped his thin limbs into Chu Rong’s waist, hugging him tightly. Qiao Zhiya knew Chu Rong would feel better right away, as long as he successfully cleaned these black spots up.

The spiritual power’s forceful action diminished, and it began trying to expel the magic power as far from the black spots as possible. It was afraid those pollution would hurt the magic power. Qiao Zhiya ignored it, and only used the mildest wood-elemental magic power to block the spiritual power, and persistently drilled towards the place where the black spot was.

The spiritual power didn’t dare to forcefully drive him away, but followed him protectively, pulling him out of danger from time to time.

Qiao Zhiya didn’t know how long he had been drilling, but just when he thought he felt wrong, his brain suddenly thumped, and he “saw” a vast sea. The sea water was white and beautiful, exuding a soothing atmosphere. But, the bottom of the sea was polluted with black, ominous scums.

Qiao Zhiya immediately recognized that it was the black spot that had been mixed with the white spiritual power that had attacked him. Seeing that it was being suppressed by the white spiritual power (that behaved like sea water), he hurriedly drove the magic power around the sea. Avoiding the spiritual power that still wanted to drive him away, he found a corner position, carefully penetrated into the pollution source. The magic power dragged out the trapped black spot to wrap it up, devoured, and purified it.

In reality, Chu Rong frowned in his sleep. He instinctively hugged the youth in his sleep, protecting him in his arms. Qiao Zhiya noticed his movements, but didn’t dare to be distracted. He could only leaned closer into his arms.

Different from the “lively” scene last time, the black spot this time was like a wild beast whose limbs have been pulled out and bound. It could only be passively pulled down by the wood-elemental magic power, and then watched helplessly as it was being devoured by the magic power.

After the spiritual power found out it was impossible to drive away the magic power, it decided to guard the magic power instead. When he was devouring the black spot, he silently protected him and prevented him from being hurt by the sneaking black spot.

This boring work made people sleepy, Qiao Zhiya’s consciousness became even more blurred again. He lightly rubbed the broad and warm chest in front of him, tilted himhead, and fell into a deep sleep again. Only his magic power was still instinctively carrying out the purification work.

In the early morning, Qiao Zhiya, who had dreamed of fighting with the villain in black all night, opened his eyes in a daze. And then, he was shocked silly by the crowd of people surrounding his bed. He instinctively backed away into a corner, cocooning himself with the quilt. He stammered, “W-why are you all here? It’s early? Yeah?”

“Good morning,” The head butler put away a strange instrument, and nodded to Chu Rong who was sitting by the bed with frowning eyes. His eyes were bright as replied calmly, “Master Qiao Zhiya is fine, you don’t have to worry too much, but you—”

Gu Yan’an raised her hand and pressed the butler’s shoulder and patted it lightly, interrupting his words. She looked at Chu Rong and then to Qiao Zhiya. Gratefulness was clearly coloring her voice. “Thank you for helping Xiao Rong to treat his illness. If you’re still sleepy, go back to sleep. After you wake up, you can wash up and go downstairs. I’ll make sure you have a meal ready for you in time.”

Chu Yan, who was full of curiosity and gossip, was forcefully driven away by his older brothers.

Finally, only Chu Rong and Qiao Zhiya were left in the room. Qiao Zhiya looked at Chu Rong who was still sitting on the edge of the bed with a dark face. The youth was clearly confused by the situation, and asked, “Why are you all here? Did I get up too late?” After speaking, he blushed a little. He understood that it was rude to wake up late when he was a guest at someone’s house.

“No.” Chu Rong stuffed him back under the quilt and touched his forehead. His brows were still frowning, as if he was displeased with something. “You were in a coma.”

“Huh?” Qiao Zhiya was stunned.

Chu Rong tucked the youth with the quilt, then took out a few pieces of ink jades from his space button. He placed  those jades around Qiao Zhiya, then patted the youth in the head. With a low voice, he said, “If you feel uncomfortable, continue to rest. I’ll help you get your breakfast.”

“I’m not feeling sick—hey, why is my magic power empty?” Qiao Zhiya probed into his empty magic pool, and suddenly remembered what happened last night. His eyes lit up, and he hurriedly lifted the quilt. Sitting up, he threw himself in front of Chu Rong excitedly, then started rambling, “I helped you yesterday, didn’t I? After those black spots were suppressed by me, they became much more purified than before. I can—”

Chu Rong looked at the youth’s eyes – it was full of joy and anticipation. His heart began to skip beats again, and it felt itchy. He couldn’t help stretching out his arms to hug him, pressing the fluffy blond head on his shoulder, face smushed into the crook of the Marshal’s neck.

How can there be such a stupid person like this Bald Chicken? He’s clearly exhausted, but still chose to ask about Chu Rong’s situation and disregarded his own… Dumbass Bald Chicken.

“…Chu Rong?” Qiao Zhiya was taken aback by his embrace, and the ink jade he was holding fell onto the quilt. Because his face was rested by the taller man’s shoulder area, his voice came out muffled. The hug was also quite tight, he could only helplessly wriggle around. He tugged the White-Haired Monster’s clothes, trying to get his attention. “What’s wrong with you? Is it because my behavior of probing your spiritual power yesterday was not very good? I’m sorry, you…”

“It’s okay.” Chu Rong rubbed the back of Qiao Zhiya’s head vigorously. As he slowly let go of the stupid Bald Chicken, he picked up the ink jade on the quilt and stuffed it back into the youth’s hand. Chu Rong kept his usual tone as he scolded, “Don’t be so reckless in the future, don’t just poke into it casually. Do you know the danger?”

“It was a very dangerous behavior to probe another person’s spiritual power. One of its innate defense mechanism was to counterattack it, and the backlash might be dangerous. Thankfully, it was my own spiritual power, and my subconscious could smell the your magic power from a mile away. If you change it into someone else, you might get attacked. I picked you up on the weekend to let you rest, not to let you explore and exhaust yourself. There’s no second chance of this happening again. Or else.” When he opened his eyes, he saw the now-filled out1as in, he’s heavier than before. Bald Chicken lying in his arms with a pale face. This kind of experience was really not wonderful, and he didn’t want to experience it again.

After Chu Rong woke up, he tried to wake up the youth. However, Qiao Zhiya didn’t respond, and the energy inside the ink jade beside him showed no sign of being absorbed at all. Thankfully, his dasao came to call them for breakfast and used her medical expertise to confirm that Qiao Zhiya was just sleeping normally. To soothe his paranoia, she asked the head butler to bring the physique-monitoring device over, and repeatedly confirmed that Qiao Zhiya was fine.

If Qiao Zhiya’s health was deteriorating because of him, his mental state would affect his spiritual power. It would get out of control, endangering himself and his family. However, he knew he was still disturbed, so the moment he felt the control his spiritual power begin to weaken, he directly left.

There was a strange emotion in his heart that was eager to destroy something, but he suppressed it. He refused to let others notice his agitation. But, the moment he saw Qiao Zhiya open his eyes as usual, this violent urge disappeared completely. Only worry and anxiety was left, overpowering the last embers of anger he felt.

This stupid Bald Chicken was too weak and pitiful. He couldn’t lash out to him – he only used 1/10th of his… irritation when he scolded the youth. After that, he couldn’t help the concern bleed over as he asked, “Does it hurt?”

—His original military majesty melted away, and it left the frosty Marshal as a normal young man who was very, very worried. Chu Rong couldn’t care less, however.

Qiao Zhiya, however, didn’t know the whirling thoughts inside Chu Rong’s mind. He focused on making sure Chu Rong stopped worrying over him. “I’m okay,” Then, he happily leaned over, asking, “So I helped you, right? Are those black spots the thing you suppressed? That vast white sea is the thing called spiritual sea? It’s so beautiful, I really want to see how it looks when it’s not corroded by black spots… I will help you purify it every weekend from now on, okay? There are so many black spots, the sooner you purify, the sooner you can recover—”

“No.” Chu Rong recovered from his own thoughts, and the more he heard Qiao Zhiya’s rambling,  the darker his face became. Without hesitation, he refused the offer. Pinching the youth’s pointy and twitchy ears, he reprimanded, “No. And don’t even think about it.”

Qiao Zhiya frowned and covered his ears, puzzled and unwilling, “Why, this treatment is much faster than using other methods! Plus, I didn’t get attacked by your power, unlike what happened in the warship! You, you just need to let me do my thing, I am capable of eroding those pollution using my mental power! I promised I won’t be in any danger, okay?”

“I don’t like the feeling of being spied on by others,” Ancestor Chu got impatient, and found an excuse to fool him. He picked up the short young man and stared into his emerald-green eyes, hoping to chip away those stubborn determination within. “It seems that you don’t want to rest anymore, get up and have breakfast, and go to martial arts training later.”

Qiao Zhiya stretched out his hand and pulled him, still unwilling to give up, “I can just stay in the corner of your spiritual strength and treat your illness. I won’t run around and spy on your thoughts! Or, or… you can take the initiative to divide some black spots and let me purify them for you! Chu Rong, I want to help you cure your illness.”

“No, I can’t control the source of pollution. If I do anything besides actively suppressing them, I know it will just climb out into the surface to cause spiritual riots.” Chu Rong continued to refuse.

“Then, then I promise not to run around in your sea of spiritual power. Really, I will not be in danger. When my magic power is almost exhausted, I will automatically exit. As long as you hold down the black spots and prevent them from following me out, I will not ——Mmmpphff!!”

Chu Rong simply covered the Bald Chicken’s talkative mouth with his hand, preventing him from saying anything that would make him feel even more irritated.

Qiao Zhiya rushed to pry off the White-Haired Monster’s hand.

Ancestor Chu ignored him, put him in front of the toilet, and said coldly, “You keep squirming like this. Do you want me to help you take off your pants?”

Qiao Zhiya froze. Ears flushing crimson, he struggled to push the stupid Marshal’s big body off him. When he succeeded, he bolted into the bathroom, then closed it with a loud “Bang”.

1as in, he’s heavier than before.