Notting Academy had finally welcomed the holiday break.
After respectfully saying goodbye to Su Chen, Wang Sheng and the other work-study students gathered their luggage and headed home.
In Dorm Seven, Xiao Wu lounged on her bed, swinging her little legs as she asked, "Boss, where are you going for the holiday? Going home?"
The moment Su Chen heard the words "going home,"
he immediately clasped his hands behind his back and walked to the window, leaving Xiao Wu with a lonely, aloof silhouette.
Xiao Wu stared at him, utterly baffled. She had no idea what had gotten into her crazy boss this time.
"Have you forgotten? I snuck out. My home is a hundred and eight thousand li away from here!"
"Do you know how far a hundred and eight thousand li is?" Su Chen gazed up at the ceiling at a forty-five-degree angle.
Xiao Wu shook her head and honestly replied, "I don't know."
"Do you remember the story I told you?
Xiao Wu nodded repeatedly.
Over the past year, whenever he had nothing to do, Su Chen would tell her all sorts of strange stories, like one about a monkey fighting monsters.
"Back then, Tang Sanzang rode Ultraman to Nebula M78 to seek the true scriptures. Even that journey was only a hundred and eight thousand li!"
He spoke a load of nonsense with a perfectly straight face.
"That does sound pretty far." Xiao Wu seemed to understand, but wasn't quite sure.
"In this scene, in this moment! I want to recite a poem."
Xiao Wu's eyes widened as she looked at him like he was an alien. "Boss, you're a cultured man too?"
After following Su Chen around for a year, she hadn't learned a thing, but her ability to roast people had certainly improved.
What was that supposed to mean?
Su Chen glared, summoning the dignity of a boss.
"Perk up your ears and listen carefully! This poem is a forty-eight-character mantra I composed myself, titled Classic of Poetry: That Sun!"
He cleared his throat, clasped his hands behind his back, and began reciting with a solemn, swaying air.
"When that sun arrives, the eastern dawn first rises."
"Crimson mist sweeps over, like a curtain of silken gauze."
"When that sun cages the azure, mist drizzles through ravines."
"Red stones, winter streams, like a pool of agate."
"That sun's evening mood, a warm dream, like a song."
"Sleep and drift, floating and bathing, like pheasants dancing in flight."
Xiao Wu listened, dumbfounded.
She couldn't understand it, but for some reason, the pronunciation and rhythm seemed a little off.
"Boss, what does it all mean?"
Su Chen smiled enigmatically.
"It means... praising the sun."
[ Ding! Xiao Wu has suffered extremely abstract cultural pollution. Gained Abstract Value: 500 points! ]
Hearing the system notification in his mind, Su Chen was thoroughly satisfied.
He had taught this silly rabbit another profound lesson.
On the muddy dirt road leading to Holy Soul Village.
Two figures trudged onward.
"Boss, wouldn't it be better to go play in the Star Dou Great Forest? Why do we have to go to that godforsaken Holy Soul Village?"
Su Chen had a blade of Blue Silver Grass between his lips.
"What do you know? Just follow me."
Xiao Wu, unconvinced, punched Su Chen with her little fist.
That damn rabbit had become more and more brazen with him over the past year.
Su Chen hadn't gone out much beyond Nuoding City that year, and this time he was making the trip to Holy Soul Village on foot.
He'd wanted to take in the scenery of another world.
But after walking all morning, his legs were killing him.
His eyes darted about. He crooked a finger at Xiao Wu. "Come here."
"What for?" Xiao Wu approached warily.
The next second, Su Chen swung himself onto Xiao Wu's shoulders, grabbed her rabbit ears, and shouted, "Giddyup! Destination: Holy Soul Village! Full speed ahead!"
Xiao Wu's face flushed red with rage. She almost spat up a mouthful of blood.
This bastard really knew how to act like a complete jerk!
But intimidated by Su Chen's tyrannical ways, Xiao Wu could only grit her teeth and keep carrying him along.
[ Ding! Xiao Wu is being ridden like a horse. Extremely abstract! Gained Abstract Value: 800 points! ]
Before long, an old farmer appeared up ahead.
The old farmer was trying to hoist a heavy bundle of firewood onto his shoulder.
Hearing footsteps, he turned around and saw a cute little girl riding a little boy coming toward him.
Huh?!
No!
He rubbed his cloudy old eyes and looked again.
He had seen it wrong. It was a little boy riding a little girl.
Young people these days, what a way to have fun.
Su Chen hurriedly hopped off Xiao Wu and ran toward the old farmer with a smile.
As a dropout who'd slipped through the cracks of nine years of compulsory education, he'd decided to do a good deed today!
Watching Su Chen run over, the old farmer's face softened with kindness. Su Chen saw that and figured everything was going perfectly—he was definitely going to do this good deed.
He walked over and said very politely, "Grandpa, let me help you!"
The old farmer nodded, pleased.
What a good child, so warmhearted.
As soon as the words left his mouth,
Su Chen picked up the heavy bundle of firewood and, with a hearty "Hup!" plopped it squarely onto the old farmer's back!
"..."
The old farmer staggered under the weight, completely stunned.
Didn't he say he was going to help me? Why'd he dump the whole thing on my back?!
Su Chen dusted off his hands. "I do good deeds without leaving my name. Grandpa, tell me, which way is Holy Soul Village?"
Good deed, my ass!
The old farmer's face turned black as the bottom of a pot. He wanted to curse.
He'd just thought this was a well-behaved child, but this little bastard was no good at all.
"Get lost!"
Su Chen pouted in wounded indignation and sighed. "The world's going downhill. Now you get cursed at for doing a good deed."
"Never mind, never mind. It's hard being a good person."
Xiao Wu, following behind him, was speechless, the corners of her mouth twitching like mad.
You call that doing a good deed?
Even a rabbit like her knew he was just being an insufferable jerk!
After a whole lot of fuss, Su Chen finally made it to Holy Soul Village.
As a famous starter village in the Douluo World, it was only natural for Su Chen to come see the sights and leave his mark—and, while he was at it, wreck a certain eunuch's hideout.
"Boss, you've been acting all mysterious. What are you actually here to do?"
Xiao Wu playfully leaned over Su Chen's back and poked her head out, curious.
"If you hadn't spoken, I really would've forgotten you were there."
Su Chen gave an annoyed shrug, flinging Xiao Wu off his back.
Xiao Wu stuck out her tongue, looking rather pleased with herself.
He remembered that in the original story, Ah Yin was in a waterfall on the back mountain of Holy Soul Village.
For one Copper Soul Coin, Su Chen got directions from a local.
Then he led Xiao Wu straight toward the back mountain of Holy Soul Village.
Soon, the deafening roar of rushing water reached them.
Su Chen looked at the ceaseless waterfall. The rock face was smooth, soaring high and steep into the clouds, almost a sheer ninety-degree drop.
The scene filled him with poetic inspiration once more.
"The torrent plunges three thousand feet; I suspect the Milky Way has fallen from the ninth heaven!"
The setting was lovely, breathtakingly beautiful—a perfect place for a date or some outdoor action.
"Boss, I think this poem of yours sounds better than the last one." Xiao Wu praised him from the bottom of her heart.
"None of your beeswax."
Su Chen couldn't be bothered with this illiterate rabbit. With a thought, he redeemed a Flying Soul Guidance Device from the system shop.
Ah Yin, I'm coming.
He pressed the device against his back. It instantly transformed into a pair of metal wings. He slipped an arm around Xiao Wu's waist, drawing a startled cry from her.
The wings beat up and down, carrying them into the air.
Braving the tremendous force of the falling water, they passed steadily through the curtain of water and flew into the hidden stone cave in the middle of the waterfall.
Deep inside the cave, Su Chen spotted a small, man-made stone chamber.
At its center was a little mound of earth, and growing on top was a slender blue plant, utterly unlike ordinary Blue Silver Grass.
Golden patterns lined its leaves, and it radiated a faint yet pure aura of life.
But the plant was in terrible shape, drooping as though it might wither away at any moment.
Su Chen circled the Blue Silver Emperor.
This was Tang San's mother, the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor, Ah Yin.
But she looked half dead. The farmyard fertilizer probably hadn't been applied properly.