A Good-for-Nothing

205. An Uncanny Sensation (I)

 

Translator: Dragon Rider

 

Just thinking about his performing the Quintuple Lightning Enchantment to confound the Human Devil made He Zheng shudder. In that moment, the sensation of an elemental flow of energy coursing through his body had been so horrifying. He had felt as though he were being inflated like a balloon, only that it was not air but energy that had been pumped into him, and for an instant he had believed he would either float into the sky or directly burst.

In fact, his body had indeed been pushed to the verge of bursting on that day.

But He Zheng felt fairly smug at the thought that his first ever attempt to perform a Quintuple Lightning Enchantment, which had been made after he threw caution to the wind, had actually met with success. At least it counted as progress, he thought.

And other than that, He Zheng also discovered although that performance of the Quintuple Lightning Enchantment of his had drained him of internal energy, his body had been automatically recharging itself ever since, which struck He Zheng as a highly enjoyable feeling. To put it affectedly, it felt like rebirth.

He Zheng opened his hand and then balled it into a fist. During the process of his fingers splaying and bending, he felt as though his each and every single cell was filled with power. He Zheng closed his eyes and started circulating his internal energy, following the mental cultivation method. It was a few moments before he opened his eyes, pleasantly surprised by the discovery that he had skipped the second plane of the Thirteen Moves of Qingwei and directly reached the third plane of it.

“It’s time to go.” Li Zong walked out of the room. Seeing He Zheng sitting there in a daze, he stepped up and tapped the table.

He Zheng got out of bed and put on his shoes, ready to leave with Li Zong.

He raised his head and smiled at Li Zong, but for an instant, he saw Li Zong’s face cloud over with viciousness, which gave He Zheng an uncanny sensation, as though this man in front of him were someone he loathed. In that moment, He Zheng even had an overpowering urge to draw the Shadow Sword and kill Li Zong.

The sudden thought made He Zheng start. He abruptly swiveled his head aside, flurried, not daring to look at Li Zong.

“What’s wrong?” Li Zong was confused by He Zheng’s reaction.

“No–Nothing.” He Zheng clapped his hand over his eyes, inhaled deeply twice and shook his head, inwardly telling himself to stop imagining things. Then he slowly turned his head back, still somewhat afraid to make eye contact with Li Zong. At the sight of He Zheng averting his gaze from him, the look in Li Zong’s eyes became even more impenetrable.

“He Zheng.” Li Zong called He Zheng’s name once again. “We may get going if you’re ready.”

“Um.” He Zheng consoled himself that it was just a hallucination, dismissed those wild thoughts from his mind and took Li Zong’s hand which was as warm as always. It was only then that He Zheng’s heart stopped sinking and he felt much more relaxed.

Although the matter of the Human Devil had been handled, it didn’t mean that the Human Devil would never make trouble again. On their way back, all trainees asked Li Zong whether or not the Human Devil had been eliminated.

Li Zong, however, told them that the Human Devil was a derivative of mankind’s desire, which meant that as long as human existed on this planet, the Human Devil would never perish. He Zheng’s heart gave a horrible jolt at these words. Holding his left eye, he gazed emptily out of the window as the scenery in the distance slowly moved out of sight. Everybody was silent, pondering over something.

Ten days later, all trainees except for He Zheng started to receive training aimed at improving their resistance to temptation. Li Zong lived up to his words. He joined hands with Xiang Hailou and made a series of plans, which gave the couple of trainees a really hard time, but when they heard that Wei Cheng and the others were still traveling over hills and dales in the south-west, they couldn’t help but feel lucky. Though they had also been through quite some hardships, it was undoubtedly not as bad as slaving around in godforsaken mountains.

He Zheng, as the star performer during this task, had definitely overshadowed all others. Chen Qianlin was very bitter about it and challenged He Zheng to a duel. Having been ill-disposed towards Chen Qianlin for a long time, He Zheng also wanted very much to have a fight with him.

The last time they’d had a fight, Xiang Hailou had sharply told them off, which had been quite the disgrace to them, so this time around, the two of them agreed that they would not duel in the Supernaturalism Management Bureau (SMB) again, that they should find a deserted place with an anti-magic shield lest their fight catch anybody’s attention.

Early this morning, He Zheng slunk out of home without telling Li Zong, heading for the location for the covert duel.

…

The weather was gradually getting hot. He Zheng got out of the cab and stood near an intersection where vehicles were passing constantly. At the sight of the crowds, his temper inexplicably beginning to fray. He hurriedly went to a nearby ice cream parlor and bought himself a cold drink which felt like a lifesaver. He couldn’t help inwardly cursing Chen Qianlin for not having picked somewhere easier to find. He’d been looking for it for quite some time, getting himself sweaty all over, but still hadn’t found the location for the duel.

He Zheng took out his cellphone and was just about to make a call to Chen Qianlin when someone suddenly clapped him on the shoulder. He Zheng, who was no longer that good-for-nothing he’d used to be and was quite defensive, subconsciously swung a punch in that direction. The man let out a pained cry and fell to the ground, groaning aloud.

Waiters and other customers in the ice cream parlor all looked at them. He Zheng was amazed to see that that person was a complete stranger.

The man struggled to his feet and huffed, “Dude, why is your punch so heavy? You’re a boxer or something?”

Realizing that he was just a common civilian, He Zheng appeared somewhat apologetic.