Chapter 23: No Doubling, Then Disaster!

"Probably not."

"There are so many practitioners in the Xia Kingdom; how much trouble could possibly be stirred up right under their noses?"

Xu Ran narrowed his eyes and shook his head with a smile.

In truth... when he first heard about the appearance of the Guhu-Chang, he had intended to sneak out to hunt them himself.

But the practitioners of the Xia Kingdom had managed to purge seventeen thousand Guhu-Chang in a mere three days.

Going out at this time?

There wouldn't be a single Guhu-Chang left for his origami to devour.

As for inside the Demigod Kindergarten...

He had taken his mother for a stroll around the grounds, and there was not a trace of ghostly aura left.

"It seems the Guhu-Chang incident has been suppressed once again."

"I hope the Xia Kingdom's practitioners can find the purification device soon."

"As for me, the best choice is, of course, to stay in the kindergarten and grind until I become a master swordsman!"

"My current strength is nowhere near the level where I can crush everything."

Xu Ran planned before he acted.

His mind was steady.

Gradually, the Guhu-Chang incident faded from view.

The days that followed were quite monotonous.

Eating bones, grinding progress, consuming rhinoceros beef, feeding the animals, swimming...

During this period, Li Qinghong taught a class every three days, and her lessons were rather unique.

The mornings were dedicated to learning footwork and evasion.

In the afternoons, she would take the students to the mountaintop to build their courage.

The method for building courage was simple.

She would tuck a child under her arm, have them face the depths of the abyss, and then leap from the five-hundred-meter-high cliff!

This segment was both novel and peculiar.

Although the children were geniuses, their innate fear still made them wail and cry.

More than a dozen children dug their heels into the ground, their behinds stuck out... only to be dragged over ten meters by Li Qinghong until they reached the edge of the cliff.

Xu Ran found it hilarious and silently wiped the sweat from his forehead behind the crowd—not because he was scared, but because his stomach was working hard to digest the bones of a seventh-rank crystal beast.

It was a bit of a struggle.

But for the sake of a Golden Achievement, a little bit of pain was nothing!

Li Qinghong spoke with a stern tone: "No one is allowed to close their eyes; you must look down at the bottom of the cliff. If you close your eyes, I will take you and jump again."

"The emotion a practitioner must overcome most is fear; fear will lead to your total destruction."

"Crystal beasts, resentment gods, ghosts... the fears you will face in the future are a thousand, ten thousand times stronger than this. Are you going to close your eyes and be a coward then, too?"

"Open your eyes and face this fear head-on!"

Li Qinghong's voice was cold, like ice striking glass.

Four or five-year-old children—how could they understand such logic?

As they plummeted, they wailed at the top of their lungs, two lines of tears streaming wildly in the air.

Only a few children could remain calm.

For example, the top four in terms of blood-qi value: Zhu Yuheng, Feng Yan, Bian Yue, and Bie Jingqiu...

However, they were actually just gritting their teeth to hold on.

One look at their pale faces was proof enough.

As for the little fatty in fifth place, Zhuge Huangjin, his screams were like a slaughtered pig, and by the time they reached the bottom, he had turned into a puddle of mush, paralyzed on the ground.

"Xu Ran, step forward."

Li Qinghong called out to him.

"Here."

Xu Ran stepped out calmly and wiped his sweat.

"Are you nervous?"

"No..."

"It’s okay to be nervous; you’ll get used to it. Who doesn’t feel fear? I’ve seen the strongest geniuses feel fear, too..."

Li Qinghong gave a soft huff.

***

Xu Ran: "..."

He didn't offer an explanation.

He let Li Qinghong tuck him under her arm, his handsome face pointed toward the ground.

"Let's go."

Li Qinghong leaped, transforming into a hawk diving for prey, plummeting toward the ground.

The wind roared in his ears.

Xu Ran’s expression did not change; his breathing remained steady.

"Hmm?"

Li Qinghong was slightly surprised. Not a single emotional fluctuation?

Was he scared unconscious, or what?

She sensed him and found that Xu Ran’s expression was completely devoid of ripples.

"Aren't you afraid?"

Xu Ran was indifferent: "What is there to be afraid of?"

Li Qinghong narrowed her eyes and accelerated her descent, yet Xu Ran remained unmoved.

To him, falling from a height of five hundred meters was nothing.

When he was little, he used to crawl all over the ceiling, practicing the Gecko Wall-Climbing technique.

When chasing down Guhu-Chang, he had run with all fours across the walls of skyscrapers.

It wasn't as if he hadn't experienced a five-hundred-meter drop before.

For a period, he had shifted his vision to his paper-folded bat every day, surging up to five hundred meters in the sky.

His goal had been to trigger a flight skill.

Unfortunately, since he wasn't flying in the air himself, he couldn't trigger any magical abilities...

"There are no fear factors in your blood... but why are you sweating?"

Xu Ran made up a random excuse: "I'm afraid of the heat."

"Hmm?"

Li Qinghong raised an eyebrow, ruffled Xu Ran’s hair, and then leaped up with him to return to the mountaintop.

The group of parents watched as Xu Ran remained as calm as water, wearing expressions that were both expected and unexpected.

The two new children didn't have the highest blood-qi values, but they were definitely a pair of oddities.

One liked to scare other children into crying, while the other was nimble in combat, possessed prophetic instincts, and could even dodge the kindergarten director when she tried to grab her.

"Jiang Liuli. Step forward."

The little tiger girl walked up with an arrogant gait, a wide grin stretching across her face.

Li Qinghong: "...Hmm? Why is this little girl’s face full of excitement? Does she think she's riding a roller coaster?"

She tucked the little tiger girl under her arm: "Don't close your eyes, stare at the ground from start to finish."

The little tiger girl: "Got it!"

"Then let's jump."

With the wind howling, the little tiger girl’s hair was blown back into a slicked-back style.

Her round, open forehead glistened, and the chubby flesh on her little face trembled in the wind.

Her sparkling eyes widened, and the excitement in her features grew more intense.

"Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh!"

A series of demonic laughs echoed through the cliffs.

Li Qinghong: "...Oh no. I've encountered two strange minds. Those other excellent children are all overcoming their fear by force."

"But the last little boy, falling five hundred meters, had no internal fluctuation. And this strange girl, is there actually excitement in her blood? It looks like the prelude to a power-up..."

"So what exactly is her constitution? Two super abilities compatible? Or even more?"

Li Qinghong was filled with confusion.

"Whoosh—"

Li Qinghong landed and turned to look at the little tiger girl.

She saw the girl looking unsatisfied, wriggling in Li Qinghong's arms like a little tiger cub.

"Teacher, can we go again 100 times?"

Li Qinghong: "Um..."

Although she wanted to refuse, she still ended up bungee jumping with the little tiger girl a dozen more times.

The "heh-heh" demonic laughter made Li Qinghong’s scalp tingle and left the other parents with complex expressions.

Lin Qian: "..."

The little tiger girl's mother: "..."

Xu Ran: "..."

...

Time flows like water, and in the blink of an eye, 100 days passed.

Eating high-quality crystal beast meat every day + attending classes + grinding progress...

Xu Ran’s life was incredibly fulfilling, and the progress of his magical skills, thanks to his day-in, day-out, rain-or-shine grinding, had surged by 10,000 points.

[Advanced Beast Taming (Minor Success): 0/10,000...]

[Beast Language Mastery (Major Success): 0/50,000...]

[Water-Avoiding Technique (Major Success): 0/50,000...]

[Piercing Weakness (Major Success): 0/50,000...]

[Cloud-Ladder Leap (Major Success): 0/50,000...]

[Gecko Wall-Climbing Technique (Minor Success): 4,000/10,000...]

[Super-Speed Recovery (Minor Success): 2,000/10,000...]

[Cloud-Veil Body (Major Success): 0/50,000...]

[Mysterious Steps (Major Success): 20,500/50,000...]

[Grass-Skipping Lightness Skill (Major Success): 21,000/50,000...]

[Little Xu Flying Dagger (Major Success): 20,600/50,000...]

[Origami Psychism (Major Success): 20,200/50,000...]

[Infant Intimidation: 8,950/10,000...]

[Ten Thousand Scrolls Read: 1,150/10,000...]

Most of his skills had entered the Major Success stage!

"A sight for sore eyes. If they all crossed into the third sequence, how satisfying would that be?"

The world was dangerous.

Xu Ran was not overly proud.

His current blood-qi... was still in the early stages of the Stele Realm! It was far from the level needed to suppress everything.

[You have consumed high-energy food for 100 days, blood-qi value +600 points, Self-Disciplined Baby Achievement +100 points, current blood-qi value: 2,007/10,000 points...]

At this moment.

It was exactly the 1,217th day of his infancy.

His blood-qi value reached a staggering 2,007 points, twice that of Adam at the age of five!

The so-called "Blue Star's Number One Genius" wasn't even fit to inhale his exhaust fumes.

"What do you call 'leaps and bounds ahead'?"

Xu Ran tactical lean.JPG...

[Your stomach has worked hard to digest crystal beast bones for 100 days, Nutrient Extraction (Introductory) progress: 10,000/10,000 points... Maximum value reached, automatically upgrading you to Nutrient Extraction (Minor Success)...]

On the other hand.

His Nutrient Extraction skill had entered a crucial Minor Success stage!

"With this, I should be able to get +4 blood-qi points from one meal, right?"

Xu Ran took a deep breath.

His eyes burned as he looked at the crystal beast meat on his plate.

There were 608 days left until he turned five... If he could get +4 blood-qi points per meal, he could gain +13 points of blood-qi a day.

In 608 days, that would be a total increase of 7,904 points of blood-qi. Adding his current 2,007, he was well on his way to hitting ten thousand!

There was a hundred percent chance of completing the third innate baptism before he turned five and securing his third Golden Achievement!

However.

If his [Nutrient Extraction] (Minor Success) couldn't even double the results, then his 200 days of crazy grinding would have been for nothing...

Doubling his gains or crashing and burning—it was all on a knife's edge!

"I'm counting on you, my godly stomach... You've worked hard for 200 days, struggle a little more and give me a surprise?"

Xu Ran muttered to himself.

He forked a piece of seventh-rank rhinoceros beef and devoured it greedily.

Then, he held his breath and listened intently to the notification sound in his mind...