Chapter 84: Hero Saves Beauty (Part 1)

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  In the Dean's laboratory, Tianba was using his divine sense to examine my physical condition. At first, he was delighted, then shocked, and finally furrowed his brow.

  The atmosphere was somewhat oppressive, where did Grandpa's calmness go? Little Mei's heart was anxious and worried, but there was nothing she could do about it.

  On the contrary, as a party involved, I was in a good mood, cooperating with Tianba's inspection while comforting Xiaomei:

  "Xiao Mei, don't worry, Uncle Tian will think of a way."

  "Uh-huh."

  The little sister nodded slightly more at ease.

  After a long time, Tianba finally let out a sigh:

  "Alas, child, you must be mentally prepared. What a pity! Such a good sapling has fallen under the evil curse of ancient times. I am also powerless to help."

  After hearing this, I was even more convinced that the price of such a curse is so great, and its power can be imagined. On the contrary, there was no big psychological fluctuation, and Tianba nodded repeatedly.

  "How is this possible? Grandfather, you're joking, right?"

  Xiao Mei found it hard to accept this reality and whispered:

  "I don't want little brother to go blind, otherwise who will take care of me in the future? Who will play with me? No...!"

  The heavens were moved by his benevolence and virtue, and the Sage said:

  "Mei'er, Mei'er, don't be like this, isn't Grandpa still here? Grandpa will protect you."

  "Grandpa, you're so great! But you'll get old one day, and in the future, your granddaughter will have to take care of you."

  Xiao Mei weakly said, Tian Ba helplessly shook his head.

  "Xiao Mei, don't worry, little brother will always be by your side to protect you; even if I really can't see anymore, humph, who dares to hurt my Xiao Mei?"

  I regret that I spoke carelessly, why did I vent my frustrations to Xiaomei? This is a heart that needs care and shouldn't be stimulated. The tone was gentle yet firm.

  "Hmm, yes, hmm, little brother. With your words, I'm at ease now. From now on, I'll practice my skills well, and in the future, if anyone dares to speak ill of you, I'll make them regret it. Hmph."

  Xiao Mei clenched her fist, suddenly becoming extremely determined. Tian Ba looked at her with a mix of admiration and envy, and a hint of jealousy, thinking to himself:

  What's going on with that kid? How did he change the precious granddaughter's mind with just one or two sentences? Alas, it seems I've really gotten old. This world indeed belongs to the young!

  "Hmm, Xiaomei's training can't be slack either. Little brother won't let you down."

  I certainly hope Xiaomei will be promoted as high as possible. Since she can turn worries into motivation, I naturally wish her success.

  "Uh-huh, I'll definitely work harder. Little brother, you should too, especially Jing Xiu, maybe this is a way to lift the curse."

  "Haha, I think so too."

  ……

  Tian Ba watched from one side as the two little ones encouraged and comforted each other, seemingly oblivious to his presence. He found it somewhat strange and couldn't help but cough:

  "Cough, ah, cough, okay, okay. You guys are treating me like air. If nothing's wrong, then go back, it's getting late."

  We were all embarrassed for a moment, and it was indeed the most enjoyable topic of conversation, so we all said in unison:

  "Okay, nothing else, let's go first."

  Xiao Mei and I turned around and left together, just as we reached the door, Tian Ba's voice suddenly came:

  "Kid, I just discovered that your spiritual power is much stronger than ordinary people, and I don't know what kind of skill you've cultivated; of course, I don't want to know this, but I hope you cultivate well, in the future you will find something even better than eyes, work hard, I'm looking out for you, safely send Little Mei home."

  Tian Ba only spoke the most crucial thing at the end, still being mysterious and unwilling to say it clearly, obviously intending to test me; but he miscalculated, because as a cultivator, I had already known this fact:

  The mind is sharper than the eyes.

  Of course, on condition that your spiritual power is strong enough and you know how to use it.

  "Thank you! I will cultivate my spiritual awareness well, no problem."

  I said loudly, calmly and deliberately revealing the two words "divine consciousness".

  Watching the figure disappear into the darkness, Tian Ba suddenly realized that this kid had known all along. No wonder he was so calm from start to finish. What a sly little guy! Heh heh, but I like him.

  This pair of brothers is really peculiar, both are making rapid progress! I thought the one who went to do the task was already very cunning, but unexpectedly there's another even more cunning one here, can be mentioned in the same breath as my precious granddaughter, hehe.

  ……

  Here is a castle deep in the mountains and ancient forest, with towering trees that block out the sky and sunlight, casting a gloomy shadow on the ground. The ground is overgrown with weeds and shrubs, and occasionally you can hear the distant roar of strange beasts.

  A group of people proceeded with caution and haste, each person's state a bit off, occasionally exchanging simple conversations.

  "Older brother Gao, why don't we take a rest for a while? What kind of place is this? We've been walking all day and it's still the same scenery."

  A fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl complained.

  "Cheer up, don't complain, it's not safe here, if you don't leave immediately, you won't be able to rest well, just hold on a bit longer."

  Another boy of fifteen or sixteen comforted him with a worried look in his eyes.

  "You guys are really something, not considering our feelings as weak women at all. Alas, I'm done for!"

  Another girl spoke up, and as soon as she said this, she got approval from other girls:

  "It's all right, it's all right, if we keep going like this, we'll be dead from exhaustion before we even leave this godforsaken place."

  "Alright, that's right. We can't just run away aimlessly like this either. Let's take a rest here. You girls recover first, we boys will keep watch."

  This group of people is none other than my brother and his companions, who are currently doing an upgrade task. It seems that at this moment, my brother has become the leader of the team.

  "Alright, since Gao Qiang has agreed, let's rest here for now. You all hurry up and recover a bit, this really isn't a place to stay for long."

  The speaker was the one who had just spoken to comfort and delight, the oldest person in the team, seventeen years old, named Liu Ziqiang; also the most senior student among the young generation of Junlang Village in Tianjiao Academy. Although it's just an ordinary physique, being able to cultivate to PPS2998 at this age is already quite good.

  Liu Ziqiang, although only seventeen years old, looks quite mature and steady, 1.8 meters tall, strong and sturdy, with a down-to-earth image of a rural child.

  "Hmph... look at how caring and loving Ge Qiang is, unlike a certain someone who only now has a change of heart."

  The speaker this time was the first complaining girl, named Tan Huanle, who was about the same age as the second complaining girl, Dai Qingping, both of whom were sixteen years old and had just broken through the PPS 1,100 mark; most importantly, they were childhood playmates and fellow villagers with their brother.

  Different from each other, Dai Qingping has a tall and slender figure, delicate and refined, looking as if she can't withstand the wind, but has the talent of a small family's jade; while Tan Huanle has a plump and full figure, round and full, somewhat coquettish, but is actually open-minded and generous. Generally speaking, they each have their own unique charm.

  This remark left Liu Ziqiang speechless, to say that he regarded Tan Huanle as a younger sister, didn't mind her arrogance and could tolerate it. In this situation, a harmless verbal sparring match can actually ease the tension in his heart.

  "Alright, stop arguing and focus on recovering your spiritual energy, that's the priority."

  Brother has a premonition, the danger has not been lifted and is approaching, hurry up and stop arguing.

  Soon, the girls all found a place to sit and rest, while the boys stood guard cautiously.

  It's a coincidence that there are 8 people here: 4 males and 4 females. Apart from my brother and Liu Ziqiang, the other two males are also familiar faces.

  They were the two oldest among the eight people from the Eight Great Families who had seen them when they went to the treasure room, with a cultivation base of around 1,500 PPS. The bigger one with a kind face was called Huang Dapeng, and the other taciturn one was called Liu Yuanping.

  Four girls, in addition to the two just mentioned, are Liu Zhenzhen and Tian Meigui. They also broke through to around 2,000 PPS with their mentors, similar to their brother who had recently broken through.

  Due to breaking through to over 1,000 PPS, you only need to complete an upgrade task to advance to the tenth grade, which is also the graduating class.

  The eight of them happened to meet while going to receive an upgrade quest, which required hunting and killing magical beasts to obtain beast crystals.

  And the beast crystal that completes the task is also particular, with a minimum level of three and no upper limit: if it's a third-level beast crystal, you need 100 grains, fourth-level beast crystal needs ten grains, and if it's a fifth-level beast crystal, one grain is enough.