Not only did Director Su’s fur stand on end, but he immediately called for the nurses. The nurses rushed over with a stretcher, and without a word, they hoisted Ye Yang onto it, pinned him down to keep him from moving, and whisked him straight into the emergency room.
Li Chanyi: “?!”
Ye Yang: “??”
Wait a minute—these two nurse sisters looked like they had slender arms and legs, so why were they so outrageously strong? Ye Yang was so stunned that he couldn’t even break free.
“What’s wrong with me?”
No one answered Ye Yang’s question. Under Director Su’s direction, the two nurses moved so fast they left afterimages. Li Chanyi wasn’t idle either—she was run ragged by Director Su’s commands. In the blink of an eye, several vials of Ye Yang’s blood had been drawn, his eyelids and lips had been pulled back for examination, and Director Su had even carefully felt his pulse.
Director Su’s tightly furrowed brow relaxed slightly. “He hasn’t dropped a cultivation level despite dragging this on so long—seems he has a solid foundation.”
But then his brow furrowed even deeper. “But even with a good foundation, you can’t just be so reckless!”
Ye Yang’s mind was full of question marks. “What’s going on? Can someone please tell me?!”
Before he could figure out what was happening, Shen Ming arrived.
He came in a rush, looking even a bit disheveled as he burst through the door—he hadn’t even taken off his lab coat. Such a careless mistake…
Ye Yang had never seen him like this. Their eyes met, and for a moment, he found himself unable to speak.
They might not have been talking, but others certainly had plenty to say.
Director Su strode over to Shen Ming, his anger blazing. “So you’re his guardian?”
Shen Ming hesitated. He had indeed been Ye Yang’s guardian for a while, but that was no longer the case… Director Su misinterpreted his hesitation and grew even more furious. “Can’t even answer whether you’re family? You’re not trying to shirk responsibility, are you?!”
That question, at least, Shen Ming answered quickly. “No. What exactly is wrong with him?”
Everything that followed happened too fast. Director Su gave Shen Ming a severe scolding. Ye Yang tried several times to explain that Shen Ming wasn’t his guardian, but he never found a chance to get a word in. Strangely, Shen Ming didn’t argue—he just nodded and admitted fault.
Ye Yang exchanged a glance with Li Chanyi. Both saw unmistakable horror in the other’s eyes.
Seeing that Shen Ming’s attitude was decent, Director Su grunted, then gave him a few more reminders about educating the child. Finally, he said, “Fortunately, this kid has a strong physique. Otherwise, dragging it out this long could have caused a major disaster. Once you pick up the prescribed medicine, take him into seclusion immediately.”
Shen Ming nodded repeatedly.
Ye Yang had already been transferred to a private room. As soon as Director Su left with the others, the room fell silent, leaving only Ye Yang and Shen Ming.
The air in the room felt a bit stagnant. Ye Yang was incredibly awkward. He rubbed his hands together and finally spoke first. “I forgot my emergency contact was set to you. Sorry for the trouble—”
Before he could finish, Shen Ming suddenly grabbed Ye Yang’s hand.
Ye Yang instantly forgot what he was about to say. Shen Ming’s hands were large—Ye Yang had always known that. But he didn’t know Shen Ming’s hands could be this hot, almost burning against his own feverish skin.
Ye Yang was sitting on the bed, Shen Ming standing beside it. They were very close—close enough that Ye Yang could feel Shen Ming’s slightly rapid breathing brushing against the top of his head.
He couldn’t help but tense up. No way—was his condition really that serious? Serious enough to make even Teacher Shen react like this?
In an instant, Ye Yang’s mind was flooded with all sorts of chaotic thoughts. He started spiraling, imagining worse and worse scenarios.
Fortunately, Shen Ming quickly composed himself and explained the medical jargon from Director Su in terms Ye Yang could understand.
Demons don’t catch the same viruses and bacteria that commonly infect humans. Ye Yang’s persistent fever wasn’t an illness—it meant he was about to advance.
Moving from the sixth grade to the fifth grade was a particularly difficult hurdle in demon cultivation. The body would exhibit various abnormalities, which varied by race. Many demons repeatedly stumbled at this stage.
If he were in the demon realm, Ye Yang should be in seclusion right now, striving to break through to the fifth grade. But the problem was that Ye Yang was different from normal demons.
He had no racial inheritance. The fragmented memories that appeared in his mind were too advanced—there was nothing below the fourth grade. Preschool had taught content relevant to the eighth grade at most; after all, the curriculum was designed for cubs. Even if Yu Beiji, in his foresight, had separately taught Ye Yang about the seventh and sixth grades, he never could have predicted that Ye Yang would reach the threshold of the fifth grade so quickly.
Not just him—Ye Yang hadn’t expected it either. He didn’t even know his fever was a sign of this.
Shen Ming… Shen Ming was certainly knowledgeable, aware of many things that others, both human and demon, didn’t know. But that didn’t mean he was omniscient. As one of the Four Directional Gods, he had been born beyond the grading system entirely.
That was why, when Director Su lectured him, Shen Ming didn’t get angry at all—instead, he accepted the criticism humbly. He felt deeply guilty, too.
He had been too arrogant. He had noticed Ye Yang’s abnormal temperature right away, but he had been overconfident in his own judgment. He had let his divine power wash through Ye Yang’s body once, found nothing wrong, and relaxed his guard.
Who could have imagined that the transition from sixth to fifth grade would be so calm for Ye Yang? His internal spiritual energy wasn’t disturbed in the slightest—just a bit more lively than usual. And the timing was off too…
Thinking of this, Shen Ming felt not only guilt but also a creeping fear.
This wasn’t the first time Ye Yang had demonstrated traits different from normal demons. He was always defying expectations in unexpected ways.
Even if it wasn’t his own divine blood in Ye Yang’s veins, there had to be something else. Eventually, others would take notice—some might already have.
Ye Yang had no idea how deeply Shen Ming was thinking. After hearing about his own condition and that Shen Ming would take him into seclusion, he relaxed completely.
With Teacher Shen around, what was there to worry about?
The air in the room began to flow again. Ye Yang wasn’t worried about his advancement—he didn’t care much about such things, nor did he have any strong attachment to improving his strength.
Afraid that Ye Yang might be anxious, Shen Ming only talked about his recent research, not mentioning any of the difficulties of advancing. He had been studying new species lately, and there was plenty that Ye Yang found interesting. They were chatting happily when—
“BAM!” A loud crash came from outside.
Their conversation was interrupted. Just as Ye Yang was about to go out and see what happened, Li Chanyi walked in with a strange expression on her face.
“It’s nothing. I just happened to tell Director Su… about your family member’s identity.”
Shen Ming: “…”
Ye Yang: “…” Right.
To be fair, Li Chanyi hadn’t brought it up unprompted. Director Su had asked. After returning to his office, he suddenly remembered he hadn’t asked what race Shen Ming and Ye Yang were. He could tell Ye Yang was an aquatic creature, but not the specifics, and he had almost mistaken Shen Ming for a human.
Li Chanyi scratched her head. She knew that while not many people were aware of Shen Ming’s identity, it wasn’t exactly a secret either. So she told the truth. Who would have thought it would almost scare Director Su into a fit?
Of course Director Su knew that such a powerful deity existed within YCG. But how was he supposed to know that the young man who showed no trace of a powerful aura and had obediently listened to his scolding was actually Xuanwu?!
Remembering how he had behaved just now, he nearly fainted again.
Ye Yang looked at Shen Ming and couldn’t help but find it a bit funny. “Teacher Shen, you scared him.”
Shen Ming: “…” Suddenly feeling wronged.
Over the years of living alongside Ye Yang, he had become more integrated into human society and his aura had softened considerably. Yet somehow, he still managed to scare people. What a misunderstanding.
Once everything was sorted out, Ye Yang was taken away by Shen Ming. Ye Yang wasn’t in a hurry, but Shen Ming was. He didn’t even let Ye Yang go home—he took him straight to the South Sea.
·
Deep beneath the South Sea, in a sea area inaccessible to humans.
Grotesque deep-sea behemoths swam by in silence, but none dared approach the most central area, where a soft glow emanated.
Ever since being brought to this secret realm, Ye Yang hadn’t been distracted for a moment. He focused all his efforts on breaking through to the fifth grade.
It wasn’t because he had strong concentration. The main issue was… this godforsaken place had underwater pressure far exceeding that of the outside world. Ye Yang had to focus his mind at every moment just to resist it. The moment he lost focus, even for an instant, he would be flattened into a pancake…
Although Shen Ming was standing guard, Ye Yang didn’t dare relax in the slightest.
The upside was that with such powerful external pressure, his rate of advancement had increased significantly.
Spiritual energy circulated continuously within his body, driven relentlessly by the outside pressure. Inside and outside working together, Ye Yang seemed to learn by instinct. The spiritual energy, which had flowed like water, formed a sphere of water within his spiritual consciousness and gradually began to compress.
Slowly—he didn’t know how much time had passed—the spiritual energy flowing through his meridians turned into a thick, gelatinous substance. Its flow slowed more and more. Maintaining both physical and mental stability required increasing effort from Ye Yang.
Finally, the spiritual energy almost came to a complete halt. A dense, prickling pain filled Ye Yang’s mind, and he could no longer push it forward even a fraction. Just as he was about to lose support and control over his own body, Shen Ming stepped in.
A strand of divine power, unique to Xuanwu, quietly entered Ye Yang’s body. It spread through his meridians in sync with Ye Yang’s breathing. The prickling pain in his spiritual consciousness eased significantly. Seizing the opportunity, Ye Yang gathered all his energy and gave one final, forceful push—
“Pfft—” The spiritual energy, which had been frozen to the extreme, shrank from a sphere of water into a grain of rice. An invisible burst of spiritual energy exploded outward, and a surge of newfound, more powerful strength spread instantly throughout his entire body.
At this point, his fifth-grade demon core was complete. Ye Yang could now be considered a great demon, more or less.
Shen Ming watched as his divine power merged seamlessly into the demon core within Ye Yang’s spiritual consciousness, then dissipated without a trace. His gaze deepened. He could no longer run from it, no longer deceive himself.
The external pressure that had been so difficult to resist suddenly lightened. Ye Yang had never felt his body so light and agile.
He rose from his seated position. The first thing he did upon opening his eyes was look for Shen Ming. But he didn’t need to look far—Shen Ming was right in front of him, as he had been all along.
“Teacher Shen! I did it!”
Shen Ming nodded. “Congratulations.”
Ye Yang blinked. He felt that Teacher Shen didn’t seem very enthusiastic. Well, while he had been focused on breaking through, Teacher Shen had been standing guard the whole time. It must have been exhausting—he was probably just tired.
Time to go home and let Teacher Shen rest.
With that thought, Ye Yang was eager to return. For once, he was generous and pulled out a teleportation talisman to use as soon as they left the secret realm. But before he could take a single step, Shen Ming raised his hand and stopped him.
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