Xing Ran wanted to give up. This old lady had such a strange personality. If Hai Yi had not praised her so highly, could someone acting like this really teach anyone well?
After following Hai Yi's method to train his Spiritual Power as usual, Xing Ran was refreshed again the next morning when he arrived at Grandma Qiu's shop. He did not have much time to waste here. Infinite Tsukuyomi was only a little over ten years away, and he had no time to reenact those Shaolin Temple apprenticeship routines from his previous life, spending more than a decade before the master had only just shown him the door.
"Don't work today. Take this book and read it. Memorize everything in it as soon as possible." When Grandma Qiu saw Xing Ran enter, she did not even wait for him to greet her before tossing him a tome thicker than a brick.
Was this a turn for the better?
If your school charges so much and still doesn't teach you anything... Xing Ran swallowed the words just in time. With remarkable tact, he slipped into good-student mode, held up the book titled Where to Find Magical Herbs, and began devouring it.
Speaking of the Ninja World's strange and varied Summoning Beasts, Ninja Beasts, and other animals, was there perhaps a book called Where to Find Magical Animals?
Grandma Qiu made several Shadow Clones to handle the business, while her original body resumed the form of a lump on the recliner.
This was a book that recorded all kinds of herbs, including their growing environments, effects, strengths, weaknesses, and precautions. Some herbs came with illustrations, while others had only written descriptions.
It was a dictionary-like reference book. Grandma Qiu probably wanted him to build up his knowledge base and lay a solid foundation first. Sharpening the knife would not delay the chopping of wood. Xing Ran understood. It was time to show his true skills.
Flip, flip, flip—
Since the shop had only just opened and there were no customers yet, the sound of pages flipping rapidly seemed almost like a joke.
Grandma Qiu sat up from her recliner, staring with her sunken eye sockets and wearing an expression as though she had eaten shit. So even I can misjudge someone. What exactly is this descendant from that clan? Did he spend half a month doing volunteer work just to amuse himself?
Xing Ran sensed Grandma Qiu's surprise. Even amid his busy reading, he found time to look up and wiggle his eyebrows at her, wearing the face of a delinquent kid who treated studying like a joke.
Grandma Qiu was speechless. She rolled one dead-looking eye and completely lost interest in paying Xing Ran any attention. She decided that once he finished flipping through the book, she would send him packing.
Time slowly approached noon without anyone noticing. Xing Ran had been reading for nearly three hours. The last customer had left half an hour ago, and there probably would not be any more business for the rest of the day. At that moment, Xing Ran finally turned the last page of Where to Find Magical Herbs.
After letting out a deep sigh, Xing Ran smacked his lips, somewhat regretful. Underdeveloped children were so pitiful. In the original story, Superman had taken only five minutes to read every medical book in print and master knowledge that ordinary people needed ten years to acquire.
Although he had a good memory, his brain's processing ability could not compare to the original plot. For a book of nearly fifteen hundred pages, he needed about ten seconds on average to memorize each page.
"My learning ability still needs improvement!" Xing Ran set down the book and let out a baffling sigh.
Hearing that sigh, Grandma Qiu could not even be bothered to roll her eyes. She was about to bid Xing Ran farewell forever.
Xing Ran could easily guess what Grandma Qiu was thinking. The reason he had shown off by flipping through the book was to deepen her impression of him as a genius. If he did not display his potential while studying, Grandma Qiu would not know his level. It might end up like a top student being placed in a slow class—he could learn many things at a glance, yet the teacher would keep repeating them. That would only be detrimental to him.
Before Grandma Qiu could chase him out, Xing Ran began reciting the entire book from memory.
Grandma Qiu's expression was marvelous, shifting from disdain to surprise, then shock, and finally contemplation. However, Xing Ran's attempt to show off did not achieve complete success. Half an hour after he began reciting the book, Grandma Qiu interrupted him.
"You have photographic memory?"
"More or less."
"It seems you'll learn quickly. Good. Come with me."
Grandma Qiu was always sparing with her words. In Xing Ran's view, she preferred doing things over talking about them. Just like now, Grandma Qiu had never said she would take Xing Ran as her disciple, but in truth, she had already begun considering how to teach him.
Xing Ran followed Grandma Qiu to the backyard of the shop, where she lived. Ever since he had learned to control his X-ray Vision, he had held firmly to his moral boundaries and did not pry into other people's homes for no reason, so this was the first time he had seen Grandma Qiu's backyard.
The main hall was a small room. Books filled the room and occupied most of the space. Though the house was clearly large, only a small room for sleeping remained.
Grandma Qiu opened the door to a room on the south side of the courtyard. It was filled with bookshelves, all of them part of her collection.
"Start with this room today. These are materials for beginners to build up their knowledge base. Once you finish reading them, you can move on to the next stage of learning." Grandma Qiu probably had no other valuables in her home. After opening the door and leaving Xing Ran behind, she returned to the front hall, to the recliner in the fish shop.
Xing Ran had expected there to be many books to study. After all, when he watched anime in his previous life, Tsunade's room had always been lined with bookshelves packed full of books. Medical Ninjutsu was clearly not easy to learn. But Xing Ran had not expected to need to read so many books here at Grandma Qiu's place. Sure enough, ordinary people simply could not become qualified Medical Ninjas. Only top students like Sakura, or people with Kaguya Otsutsuki bloodlines like Tsunade, could reach Kage-level through Medical Ninjutsu alone.
A sudden inspiration struck Xing Ran. Rather than immediately throwing himself into intense study, he returned to the fish shop with a fawning smile. Grandma Qiu seemed to have fallen asleep again, so he said nothing and simply stood beside her with a grin.
"What is it this time?" How could she really fall asleep with someone staring at her like that? Grandma Qiu asked helplessly.
"To learn knowledge faster and better, I want to... learn the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique first."
Back when he had first awakened his abilities, the skill books at hand had been limited, and they had all contained simple things he could learn at a glance. Thus, Xing Ran had never faced an urgent need to accumulate a large amount of knowledge in a short time. But now was different. He had come to the Ninja World to experience an exciting life, not to become a scholar here. Now that the problem of acquiring knowledge had been solved, he needed to digest it all as quickly as possible so he would have more time to consider growth in other areas.
But how could an old woman like Grandma Qiu use the high-consumption A-rank forbidden technique, the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique? All she had ever used was the B-rank Shadow Clone Technique.
The Shadow Clone Technique was not too difficult. After Xing Ran spent more than ten minutes with Grandma Qiu figuring out the Chakra flow of Shadow Clones, he returned to the backyard and became four people.
To be continued.
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