Chapter 90: Metaphysical Metamorphosis
Hua Yi usually dressed with absolute meticulousness. Even when he wasn’t wearing his combat gear, his casual wear leaned toward the conservative side, covering his entire body strictly.
Combined with his long golden hair, it gave anyone who looked at him the distinct impression of a “prince.”
But a shirtless Hua Yi was the complete opposite of his usual image. His entire body possessed sleek, flowing muscle lines, with clearly defined six-pack abs, and the veins on his normally heavily wrapped arms bulged slightly, rising and falling with his breathing.
Perhaps because the internal pollution made wounds much harder to heal, compared to other Awakeners who barely left any scars on their bodies, Hua Yi’s torso bore several scars of varying depths. The longest one spanned nearly half his torso, winding down along the definition of his solid pectoral muscles.
Witnessing this scene, Xiao Shan became even more certain in his heart that Hua Yi harbored ulterior motives.
His biggest hobby was working out, so he knew perfectly well that unless someone was intentionally flexing, muscles would never look as tight and beautifully contoured as Hua Yi’s did right now.
For Hua Yi’s abs and pectorals to be displayed in such a state only proved that while he looked completely relaxed and at ease on the surface, he was absolutely flexing in secret.
It was the exact same logic as when Xiao Shan secretly flexed whenever he showed off his muscles to Luo Shizhen.
How could absolutely everyone set their sights on his little brother!
Xiao Shan glanced at Luo Shizhen with concern.
He knew all too well that Luo Shizhen deeply admired a great physique; while he wasn’t a sucker for a handsome face, he definitely had a penchant for a good body. He couldn’t let him get mesmerized by Hua Yi’s display.
However, Luo Shizhen was not attracted by Hua Yi’s incredible physique as Xiao Shan had feared.
If it had been before, seeing such solid and beautiful muscles would have definitely made Luo Shizhen intensely envious.
But at this moment, his attention was completely drawn away by these scars of all sizes.
“Are all these scars unable to heal because of the pollution?”
Luo Shizhen’s hand gently brushed over the scars, deeply feeling the agony that pollution brought to Awakeners.
Hua Yi, who had remained perfectly composed despite being spectated by a crowd of young Awakeners, finally experienced a slight shift in expression when Luo Shizhen’s hand brushed across his chest.
He was used to conflict, injury, and pain.
Yet he was entirely unaccustomed to being treated so gently.
Hua Yi’s abs tightened even further, the flexed muscles carving out deep definitions. A portion of his pale golden hair draped across his front, and as he shifted slightly, it lightly brushed past Luo Shizhen’s hand like a screen.
He felt inexplicably more uncomfortable. Turning his head away, he stopped looking at Luo Shizhen’s expression and focused entirely on the car’s interior trim.
“Yeah. Not just me; many Guardians have scars like these on their bodies.”
Just as he finished speaking, Hua Yi suddenly felt something was off. The faint pain radiating from the scars was actually beginning to dissolve.
He instinctively turned his head back, only to see that wherever Luo Shizhen’s hand swept past, the pollution surrounding those scars was completely wiped clean.
“Don’t waste your ability. Minor injuries like these are nothing.”
For a Low-Rank Energy User, attempting to clear the pollution of a High-Rank Awakener required significantly more power than usual.
It was just like when Luo Shizhen cleared Xiao Shan’s minor wounds with total ease.
But clearing Hua Yi’s small wounds required an output of strength that was almost identical to when he purified Lu Qiujin back then.
Luo Shizhen did indeed feel the strain—it was that familiar sensation of being stuffed to bursting again—but it was still well within his threshold of tolerance.
He didn’t find it painful.
This feeling was exactly like a food coma or carb crash after eating too much; it might make someone sleepy or a bit lightheaded, but it didn’t cause pain. On the contrary, it felt somewhat addictive.
“It’s fine, Hua-laoshi. It’s just a casual effort for me. If I feel like I can’t take it anymore, I’ll stop.”
Watching Luo Shizhen lower his head with absolute dedication to clear his pollution, Hua Yi had the distinct impression of watching a newborn cub working tirelessly to groom an adult apex predator’s fur.
He didn’t quite understand why Luo Shizhen was so persistent, or how he could help him clear pollution so naturally.
Even if the pollution was cleared now, new scars would inevitably form on his body in the next battle.
Hua Yi didn’t actually care about these scars; after all, it was only a slight ache. As a High-Rank Awakener who possessed the Devour ability, he had long since grown used to enduring pain.
Most of the time, he would only notice a scar had formed somewhere on his body after the battle had completely ended. Usually, he would just wash it casually and ignore it; after all, while these polluted wounds wouldn’t heal quickly, they wouldn’t get infected either, allowing him to go about his daily life without issue.
Not only Hua Yi, but other Guardians were the same way. The higher their rank, the less likely they were to find an Energy User of a corresponding rank to help clear their pollution, leaving them with no choice but to adapt and get used to it on their own.
Just like at this very moment, Hua Yi was indeed exerting force within his body, doing his absolute best to rein in his Qi body and ensure that his Qi, which was far too violent for a Low-Rank Energy User, wouldn’t leak out.
Under normal circumstances, even if a High-Rank Awakener reined in their Qi to the absolute limit, Low-Rank Energy Users would still find themselves entirely unable to even draw close.
Yet Luo Shizhen was an anomaly.
Not only did he draw close to Hua Yi, but he was also completely unaffected as he used his hands to touch Hua Yi’s chest, abdomen, and flanks.
Hua Yi’s expression barely twitched, yet the muscles across his entire body had never been flexed this tightly before. Following Luo Shizhen’s touch, wherever the hand landed, the muscle there would instantly tighten and contract.
Luo Shizhen figured that Hua-laoshi must be nervous.
He was very used to this kind of situation; after all, back when he played the role of Doctor Zhen Shiluo, many patients would get nervous.
There were also some patients whose alienation had already spread across their entire bodies, carrying a certain degree of insecurity, and their reactions when touched were very similar to Hua-laoshi’s.
Luo Shizhen had gradually developed a set of techniques to deal with this type of stress response.
Exactly like petting a cat, he stroked from Hua Yi’s chest down to his abdomen, sweeping over time after time to let him get used to his hand.
However, Hua-laoshi’s level of nervousness seemed even greater than those patients; normally, after just a few strokes, most patients would visually relax.
Yet Hua-laoshi only seemed to grow tighter and tighter.
Xiao Shan watched with his own eyes as a thin layer of sweat broke out on Hua Yi’s forehead.
He: “…”
If he remembered correctly, back when Hua Yi fought that phoenix, he hadn’t even broken a sweat after the battle ended.
Xiao Shan muttered, “…Shizhen, shouldn’t you be inserting the needles now?”
“Right, I’ll do it right away.”
Luo Shizhen had originally wanted to wait until Hua-laoshi relaxed before needling him, but the more he tried to help Hua-laoshi relax, the tighter the muscles became. Having been reminded by Big Brother, he could only abandon the attempt helplessly.
As his hand swept across for the final time, Luo Shizhen let out a yawn, feeling a bit full.
Those large and small scars across Hua Yi’s chest were also healing at an incredibly rapid pace.
Luo Shizhen blinked his eyes, his stomach feeling thoroughly stuffed.
His body manifested the standard post-meal drowsiness, yet his Qi body was unimaginably hyperactive, practically brandishing its claws as it clamored for more food.
Luo Shizhen held it back, maintaining a state of being slightly sleepy but still fully conscious as he took out the silver needles and rapidly inserted them into Hua Yi’s body.
The Qi body, which had just been screaming “want to eat, want to eat,” became even more hyperactive, tunneling along the silver needles into Hua Yi’s interior.
Hua Yi could distinctly feel a surge of Qi that didn’t belong to him invading his territory.
His frame tightened even further, his gaze shifting toward Sui An’s mental power, which hadn’t drawn close but remained steadfastly guarding Luo Shizhen’s side.
This was precisely one of the reasons why Hua Yi had actively volunteered to serve as the guinea pig.
Energy Users were sensitive to Qi; Luo Shizhen’s Qi could smoothly enter an ordinary human’s body, but it wouldn’t necessarily be able to enter a High-Rank Awakener’s body.
A High-Rank Awakener’s Qi was far more violent and much easier to lose control.
But Sui An was a Controller; his mental power was equally sensitive to Qi, and as a High-Rank Awakener, Sui An’s reaction speed could even compete directly against the instincts of a Qi body.
With Sui An by their side, even if any issues occurred during the experiment, his mental power would be able to protect Luo Shizhen in time.
As Hua Yi pondered, he quickly lost the capacity to think about anything else, because he could clearly perceive a surge of highly energetic—even excessively hyperactive—youthful Qi charging rampantly through his domain.
Guided by the perception of his Qi body, the moment Luo Shizhen entered Hua Yi’s domain, he was thoroughly shaken.
If an ordinary human’s domain was like a ten-square-meter shack…
Then Hua Yi’s domain was simply like a massive metropolis.
Countless gases of various colors held their own territories, while an equally vast, sea-like wave of pollution continuously assaulted and invaded them.
This place was exactly like the battlefields described in textbooks; every single moment, minute, and second, combat was actively taking place.
The amount of “gases” and “pollution” killed in a single second was greater than everything inside all the ordinary patients Luo Shizhen had ever treated combined.
This domain was simply too vast.
Luo Shizhen even felt that he might lose himself within it.
Yet he didn’t lose his way, nor did his Qi body feel even a shred of fear.
The white python and the tree roamed around various locations with total ease, acting as if this place were their own hometown. Occasionally, they even wanted to unceremoniously devour the passing pollution, but they held themselves back.
After all, if he ate any more, Luo Shizhen would truly pass out from a food coma.
Like a human stranded in a starry cosmos, he darted back and forth, attempting to locate the previous “fruit.”
Inside Hua Yi’s body, the colorful threads appeared extraordinarily beautiful. A portion of them affectionately drew close to Luo Shizhen, brushing against his body to grant him safe passage.
Another portion stubbornly guarded their posts, floating silently, yet as Luo Shizhen passed by, they seemed to unintentionally brush against a part of him.
Aside from these threads, the vast majority consisted of pollution that threatened to completely submerge the entire “city.” However, because they were wrapped in white mist, this pollution didn’t dare draw near, merely watching from a distance as the white python and the tree strolled past unhindered.
Along the way, the tree even attempted to take root and devour some pollution, but it was promptly carried away by the white python.
Outside, Chu Xiao kept his eyes tightly fixed on Luo Shizhen’s expression, checking his watch from time to time.
“It’s been fifteen minutes. We should wake Shizhen up.”
Normally, when Luo Shizhen treated patients, he would also use silver needles as a medium to allow his Qi body to enter the patient’s interior.
But it usually took at most one or two minutes before he would snap out of it and announce the treatment was complete.
Fifteen minutes was entirely unprecedented.
“Wait a bit longer.”
Xiao Shan was also checking his watch. “Shizhen worked so hard for this result. Let him try a bit longer.”
Lu Qiujin stood in the rear with a shifting expression, but after glancing at Sui An, he still forced himself to calm down.
The Watchman was right there; nothing would go wrong.
If an unexpected situation truly arose, a High-Rank Awakener’s reaction speed would only be faster than theirs.
Time ticked away minute by minute, and Luo Shizhen’s consciousness was still following his Qi body, roaming freely through Hua Yi’s domain.
In just this brief span of time, countless threads and pollution had already “died.” The battlefield was constantly being updated; countless threads snapped, while brand-new threads were born.
Is this the reason why the Devour ability can consume a portion of pollution?
As Luo Shizhen witnessed this scene, he thought of how ordinary humans would experience absolute agony—even to the point of wanting to commit suicide—from losing just a few threads.
Yet within Hua-laoshi’s domain, thousands of threads snapped virtually every single second.
He thought of the expression on Hua-laoshi’s face when he sliced open his own wound—so calm it was as if he couldn’t feel pain at all.
Is it because he is constantly in pain that he doesn’t care about the ache of a wound?
If Hua-laoshi is like this, is Teacher Chen the same? Are Teacher Sui and Teacher Lin like this too?
Luo Shizhen forced his mind to focus, continuing his search for the “fruit.”
This truly was like looking for a needle in a haystack. He searched for a long time without finding anything, leaving him with no choice but to stop for now and try to think of an alternative method.
Before his awakening, Luo Shizhen rarely took the initiative to come up with ideas, mainly because he had always known he was slow-witted, slow to react, and sluggish at thinking through things.
Normally, he was surrounded by classmates and teachers who were much faster and smarter than him; by the time he thought of something, it would already be far too late. Therefore, he only needed to listen to everyone else and obey his elders.
But at this very moment, no one could help Luo Shizhen come up with an idea here; he could only rely on himself.
The white python coiled; the tree took root.
Luo Shizhen thought about it, forcing his mind to settle as he sensed the aura of this expansive domain.
There were unyielding threads fighting desperately, unfeeling pollution eroding the land, and clusters of white mist devouring the pollution.
This white mist, however, was not active at all. Compared to Luo Shizhen’s white mist, it was as if it had already died.
In that case, the fruit he plucked from the tree should be alive, right?
Luo Shizhen suddenly opened his “eyes.”
Found it.
The white mist drifted, arriving before an inconspicuous, cliff-like broken thread. A tiny “fruit” was currently clinging to a thread that had snapped due to the pollution’s assault. It had grown bloated from eating, yet simultaneously served as a bridge, linking the snapped thread back into a complete form.
For Hua Yi’s domain, he possessed tens of millions of threads and was constantly generating new ones, so linking a single broken thread didn’t seem particularly useful.
But the threads within an ordinary human’s domain usually numbered only a handful.
Luo Shizhen opened his real eyes in pleasant surprise.
“It worked!!”
He rarely experienced such moments of pure excitement.
Because there were only the two of them inside the car, the moment Hua Yi sat up shirtless, Luo Shizhen threw his arms around him in excitement.
“It worked! We succeeded, Hua-laoshi! My fruit can independently clear pollution!”
The young man’s body carried a comfortable warmth along with a hint of softness, embracing Hua Yi at point-blank range.
His hair hadn’t been cut in a long time due to missions, the ends growing slightly longer. With the embrace, they swept across Hua Yi’s neck softly like a small brush.
The blonde Guardian froze slightly, hesitating for a brief moment before raising his hands.
Before his slender fingers could even land on the young man’s back, Luo Shizhen had already happily pulled out of the embrace, jumping down from the car to hug Chu Xiao tightly.
Hua Yi: “…”
He watched with his own eyes as Luo Shizhen acted exactly like a hugging machine, cheering as he went down the line to hug everyone one by one.
Xiao Shan, Lu Qiujin, Wen Hu, Cheng Yunshao, Rong Nian.
Even the Yongzhou young man who had helped carry the car received an excited hug from Luo Shizhen.
The only good news, perhaps, was that Luo Shizhen hadn’t hugged Sui An.
The youth merely walked up to Sui An with sparkling eyes, appearing as if he were waiting for his praise.
Sui An did not disappoint his expectations, ruffling Luo Shizhen’s slightly messy hair:
“Well done.”
“This time, you are truly going to change the world.”
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