Jing Pu was dumbfounded, staring at Lie Chun, who was sprawled on the ground, clutching the hoe with all his might and wearing a pained expression. He was completely at a loss.
What... what was going on?!
What was he doing?!
Forget Jing Pu; Lie Chun himself was completely stunned.
This... was terrifying!!
The instant Lie Chun grabbed the hoe, he seemed to see an old man, bare-chested beneath the blazing summer sun, kneeling in the dirt to tend a seedling.
The sun was so dazzling that he couldn't make out the old man's face. All he could see was the sweat glistening on the man's body.
A surge of profound insight rushed into Lie Chun's mind in an instant.
When he came to his senses, Lie Chun suddenly felt a searing pain throughout his body, a pain that felt as if it were tearing him apart.
But Lie Chun knew what this pain meant. It wasn't harming him; it was changing his constitution!!
This... this was the great opportunity his senior had given him!!!
As expected!!! He'd guessed right!!
His senior thought highly of him after all!!
Senior!! Truly, senior was worthy of the title. Lie Chun hadn't said a thing, yet senior had already understood. They'd planned all of this without needing to say a word.
At that moment, Lie Chun's reverence for Jing Pu soared higher than the heavens.
Jing Pu stood there, not knowing what to do. Should he... help him up?
But there weren't any phones around. What if he helped him up and the guy blamed him for it?
Just as Jing Pu was wondering what to do, Lie Chun gritted his teeth and stood up. After taking a deep breath, he looked at Jing Pu and said:
"Senior! I'm fine. I just slipped!!"
Jing Pu raised an eyebrow and nodded blankly.
"Oh... you're all right?"
Lie Chun nodded solemnly.
"Of course I'm fine, senior. Don't underestimate me. I'll see this through to the end. I'll work hard!!"
Jing Pu: "???"
W-work hard?? Work hard at what?
Then Lie Chun turned to hoe the ground and declared proudly once more:
"I definitely won't let you down, senior!"
Jing Pu: "???"
Lie Chun let out a fierce shout, raised his hoe, and yelled again:
"I'll prove to senior that choosing me was absolutely the right decision!!"
Jing Pu: "???"
Jing Pu was completely dumbfounded. He... he'd only told him to hoe the ground, hadn't he?
He hadn't misspoken, and Lie Chun hadn't misheard him, had he?
He'd said to hoe the ground, right? He was sure of it, wasn't he???
Why did it sound like he was about to go eat shit?
This was way too awkward, wasn't it???
Jing Pu was so embarrassed he wanted to shit all over the ground.
It was just hoeing a patch of dirt... Was all this drama... really necessary?
You were hoeing the ground. What did you need to persevere for? If you didn't want to do it, then don't. Go rest over there. No one said you had to hoe it. You were the one who volunteered, weren't you?
Jing Pu stared blankly at him. Was this guy... maybe... a little out of his mind?
At a loss for words, Jing Pu went back to the little pavilion for another hoe, then headed to the other side of the courtyard to work the soil. He felt like stupidity was contagious, and if he stayed around this guy too long, he'd turn into an idiot himself. Better to keep his distance.
Ling Jing, who was in the little pavilion, was just as bewildered. But after watching Lie Chun swing the hoe only twice before gasping for breath, drenched in sweat and wearing a pained expression, Ling Jing suddenly seemed to understand!
That was the opportunity his senior had given Lie Chun!!
But... Ling Jing suddenly hesitated. Was he supposed to hoe the ground too...?
He was an Imperial Prince, the most noble of all Imperial Princes. There was no way he could do something so lowly...
After thinking it over, Ling Jing shook his head, resolute. No—even if it was a great opportunity, he didn't want one that came in this form!
He'd sooner pass up an opportunity than obtain it in such a lowly way.
Ling Jing would rather starve to death than do farmwork and hoe the ground!
Ling Jing was confident that he could rely on himself to ascend to the Upper Realm someday!
Five minutes later, Lie Chun crawled back. He was so exhausted that he could barely keep his eyes open.
Crawling back to the pavilion, Lie Chun picked up the tea in his cup and downed it in one go.
After drinking the tea, Lie Chun seemed to feel a little better—but only a little. At least he no longer had to crawl.
But his mind was still utterly exhausted. He was so tired that he seemed unable to think, like a walking corpse, fixated only on that hoe.
When he finished drinking, Lie Chun dragged his exhausted body back again.
At first, Ling Jing was astonished that Lie Chun had gulped down the tea. Did that guy no longer care about the violent Spiritual Power contained in it?
But when Ling Jing checked Lie Chun's body, he was so shocked that he jumped to his feet.
Holy crap!!!
Lie Chun had broken through!!!
He'd gone straight from the peak of Core Formation to the early stage of the Golden Core realm!!
He was now at the same level as Ling Jing!!
The way cultivators advanced was a little like women giving birth. Usually, when the due date approached, a woman would go to the delivery room and wait, with a crowd of people standing by, ready for anything.
When the day finally came, everyone would be prepared, and the woman giving birth would cry, "Ah, I can't take it! Ah, it hurts so much~~"
But there were also special cases where someone might be walking down the road, and plop! The baby would just drop onto the ground.
Of course, that might be a crude way to put it, but it was more or less the same. Usually, people would go into seclusion to break through before advancing. But some people would suddenly gain insight into something and break through on the spot.
Lie Chun was clearly the latter!!
And judging by his current state, he hadn't even realized that he'd broken through!
Ling Jing was at a loss. What... what had Lie Chun seen just now...?
Ling Jing sat in the little pavilion, stunned for only two seconds. Then, with a whoosh, he shot out of the pavilion and came to where Jing Pu was working, bent over with his face toward the ground and his backside in the air. With a serious expression, he said:
"Senior, please let me help you too!!"
Jing Pu was startled by Lie Chun's sudden appearance. Once he came to his senses and saw how earnest Ling Jing looked, he was baffled. What was with fighting over the work?
After thinking it over, Jing Pu pursed his lips and handed Ling Jing the hoe. He just hoped Ling Jing was normal...
Before Jing Pu could even finish hoping, Ling Jing took the hoe and dropped to his knees with a thump, crying out in pain.
Jing Pu: "..."
What the hell was wrong with all of them?!!
Fortunately, Lie Chun had already set a precedent, so Jing Pu couldn't be bothered with Ling Jing.
Without even looking at Ling Jing, he headed off to get another hoe and work somewhere else, farther away from these two people with their questionable intelligence.
When Jing Pu reached the little pavilion, he happened to glance over at Lie Chun.
But after seeing what was happening, Jing Pu wanted to slam his head into one of the pavilion's pillars and die. This... what the hell??
Was this really the chief disciple of the Divine Sword Sect??!
This was it?
You damn well looked more like the Divine Fool Sect's chief disciple!!
Five minutes had passed, and you'd only dug two damn holes?!
Before you continue