Sharpening the Axe Won't Delay the Woodcutting

After a while, Wenren De seemed to recover and grew bolder again. He urged Wenren Sheng, "What reclusive expert? You keep saying things your dad can't understand. Hurry up and answer my question: why did I tell you that story?"

"The point of telling that story was that you felt guilty about eating for free every day, so you wanted to inspire me and do as much as you could for me. Sigh, Brother De really is such a kind person..." Wenren Sheng kept his head lowered over his phone, sighing solemnly.

"Guilty my ass! Don't think you can muddle through!" Wenren De flew into a rage from embarrassment, then said righteously, "A father living off his son is perfectly natural; a son mooching off his father deserves it. The fact that I can eat your food for free only proves how well I raised you. Wait, you almost fooled me. I already said it—my point was that sharpening the axe won't delay the woodcutting..."

"Mm, I understand. Thank you for caring, Brother De. I've never been impatient when it comes to work. I always get off on time, and unless there's a real need, I never work overtime." Wenren Sheng looked deeply moved.

"You understand my ass! I mean, look at how dumb Xiao Han is. I heard this afternoon that she can't even place in the top fifty on a regular school exam. Shouldn't you help her sharpen her axe a little?" Wenren De was beside himself and had no choice but to spell it out.

"Hahaha." Wenren Sheng suddenly laughed. "Brother De, it's one thing to pull tricks on her, but you want to pull tricks on me too?"

"Thank you, Uncle, but I still want to work hard on my own." Zhao Han hurriedly refused.

Wenren De sighed and angrily rubbed the dog's head. "You really are stupid. Truly stupid. Working hard on your own is certainly necessary, but it can only determine your lower limit. In the mysterious world, a person's upper limit is often determined by all sorts of external factors. Without Huang Rong giving Guo Jing special coaching and helping him meet all those masters—Hong Qigong, Zhou Botong, Emperor Duan... could he have reached such heights? If he relied only on his own efforts, at most he'd be at the level of the Quanzhen Seven Masters."

"What you said is wrong, Old De. You're completely using external factors to cover up internal factors," Teacher Wu suddenly retorted while reading the news. "Even without Huang Rong, Great Hero Guo had already caught the attention of Quanzhen Sect Leader, Daoist Ma Yu. With Great Hero Guo's moral character, temperament, talent, and diligence, he would have gone on to study under masters one after another. He still could have inherited the legacies of Wang Chongyang and Zhou Botong. His achievements wouldn't have been much worse."

"Impossible. A fool like him wouldn't even know how to seize an opportunity when it was delivered right to his doorstep. He'd just keep missing chances all the way through, and in the end he'd only become a second-rate expert." Wenren De immediately flared up.

As the two argued, a tall figure carrying several large and small bags entered the courtyard. The figure had originally been heading toward the villa, but suddenly stopped in place...

At that moment, Wenren Sheng finally looked up and said seriously to Zhao Han, "Actually, Brother De is right. Since I'm already teaching Extraordinary Memory, I do have a way to help you master it quickly. But you must trust me completely for it to work. I need to use my own Alien Power to activate and strengthen the corresponding regions of your brain in sequence, so that your alien entity can remember those operating routes..."

Hearing this, Old Wu instinctively asked, "You really dare do that?"

"He really is my son, perfectly inheriting my kind nature. This truly comforts my old heart." Wenren De was instantly as happy as a child despite being decades old.

Zhao Han was equally excited inside. Wasn't this the most classic Expert Power Transfer setup? This was protagonist treatment! Narration Mister really delivered! But then she found herself unable to get past the psychological hurdle. She shook her head with difficulty. "Um, Teacher, wouldn't private tutoring between us be a little unfair to the other students? It seems Sister Shan Shan still doesn't know it either."

"Her..." Wenren Sheng frowned. Just as he was about to say something, he saw the two middle-aged men perk up their ears. He immediately said, "Let's talk in the study."

"Tch, as if anyone wants to listen..." Wenren De said resentfully.

"Exactly. Isn't it just young people's business?" Old Wu added gloomily. "You two should watch yourselves. This is Divine Land, not that messy America. Any relationship not intended for marriage is hooliganism. If someone reports you, you'll be shot."

"Wu Liansong, don't be like this. You're scaring me," Wenren De said, getting startled before Wenren Sheng even reacted. "What shooting? Those are outdated rules from the last century."

"I'm talking about your son. Why are you the one who's scared?" Old Wu asked in confusion.

Wenren De had nothing to say, but quickly came to his senses. "Of course I should be scared. That's my son. You keep talking about shooting people—if I wasn't worried, could I still call myself his father?"

Wu Liansong thought it over and nodded. Nothing wrong with that.

But Wenren De suddenly stared at him, looking thoughtful.

Wenren Sheng ignored the two of them. They were just two lonely old men huddling together for warmth.

He got up and headed toward the study. He left the living room and entered the corner of the left-side corridor. Zhao Han hesitated for a moment before following him.

Seeing Wenren Sheng leave, Wenren De immediately grabbed Wu Liansong by the clothes and whispered, "I only realized today that you and Shan Shan have very similar eyes, your names are connected too, and you care so much about her affairs. Could it be...?"

Meanwhile, beyond the corridor corner, Wenren Sheng had only taken a few steps before stopping directly...

Following behind him, Zhao Han felt powerless to even complain. The routines of this father and son really were the longest road she had ever traveled.

"What do you mean, could it be?" Wu Liansong's voice was low. "She's my daughter, my only daughter. It's just that she doesn't acknowledge me and won't let me tell anyone. I'm not as lucky as you. Even though I'm this useless, my wife and son still haven't abandoned me."

Wenren De immediately urged, "What exactly happened between you two? If you tell me, I might be able to help. That child has always been good to me, after all. It's just that she seems too smart, even a little gloomy, so I didn't dare interfere too much in her affairs."

"Yes, she's just too smart." Wu Liansong seemed to want someone to unburden himself to as well. After hesitating for a while, he finally said, "Her mother was just an Ordinary Person, but her mother and I loved each other deeply. We were supposed to spend our lives together. But fate played tricks on us. After Xiao Bai gave birth to her, she was diagnosed with a terminal illness when Shan Shan was thirteen."

Wenren De's expression grew grave. "I think I can guess what happened next. Could it be that you...?"

"That's right. Although technology is powerful now, there are still too many problems medicine can't solve. And those medical-type alien entities were something her weakened body couldn't bear. There was only one way to save her: transplant my alien entity into her..."

"Alien Power can automatically give someone an Extraordinary Physique and eliminate every illness. I had already contacted a transplant institution under the Patrol Division and used my privileges as an expert to force them to approve my transplant application." Wu Liansong sighed deeply.

"Then, it should have..." Wenren De patted his shoulder. He had already guessed the ending.

"Xiao Bai somehow learned about it. She jumped from the twelfth floor of the inpatient building..." Wu Liansong's eyes filled with tears as he clutched his head. "She was right to curse me back then. I was too useless!"

Wenren De remained silent, only wrapping an arm tightly around his old brother's shoulders.

At the corridor corner.

Zhao Han was crying her eyes out.

Wenren De remained unmoved, his gaze deep and distant.

"I never expected Sister Shan Shan to have such a past. No wonder she treated me like that before. She must not want to lose someone she loves ever again." She muttered to herself.

"All right, do you still want to sharpen that dull axe of yours? You've heard enough. My time is very valuable." Wenren Sheng urged her, perfectly displaying the work style of an efficiency-minded person.

"Teacher, how can you be so ruthless, so coldhearted!" Zhao Han said indignantly, raising her tear-streaked face.

"How am I ruthless? How am I coldhearted?" Without turning around, Wenren Sheng lifted a foot and kept walking.

"You are ruthless! You are coldhearted!" Zhao Han puffed up her cheeks and followed him.

"Death is not the end." An extremely familiar yet extremely cold female voice came from in front of Wenren Sheng.

Zhao Han froze. What was going on?

How could Teacher make Sister Shan Shan's voice? "Those were the exact words she told you. I was just imitating her. Think about them carefully." Wenren Sheng did not slow down.

Death was not the end? Zhao Han instantly felt chills crawl down her spine. She stopped crying and felt the air around her turn cold. She hurriedly caught up with Wenren Sheng.

Though this guy was cold and heartless, he made her feel safe...