Chapter 17: The Team Members
Chapter 17: Grilled Fish in Scorching Flames!
The catfish crashed onto the ground, its filthy, waterlogged body not only failing to extinguish the fire, but seeming to fuel it further! The flames roared with a ferocity that even Chen Chushi hadn’t expected; amidst the blaze, the catfish writhed in agony, emitting strange cries that sounded like screams or pleas—he couldn’t really tell, nor did he understand. This catfish, formed from a mass of foul water, was burned alive, reduced to a true fish, its charred corpse releasing an overwhelming aroma of grilled fish…
Chen Chushi tossed over two plates of water to cleave it, slicing the fish into three neat segments, its flesh and bones clearly visible.
He was speechless. “Is that all?”
Though it had been an unexpected encounter, Chen Chushi had hoped for a more exhilarating magical duel. After all, blood and passion are the romance of most men…
[User: “Come on, most would’ve been fish food by now. Aren’t you satisfied?”]
[Charming Classicist: “I understand how you feel. When you invent a powerful spell, you want to test its limits. Perfectly natural.”]
[User: “Judging by your tone, have you reached the sensing stage and set foot on the path of cultivation?”]
[Charming Classicist: “I was talking about our hero, not myself…”]
With the catfish dead, the Dry Dragon Well ceased to overflow. Chen Chushi walked over, peered down, and noticed something unusual. He fetched a rope, suppressed the stench, and fished the object from the bottom before swiftly scrambling out…
It was a stone, half a meter across, smooth and round like a river pebble, its surface mottled in red and black, radiating the foul odor. Upon closer inspection, Chen Chushi realized what it was—a spirit stone. Its original size was hard to determine, but it must have been considerable. After long years at the bottom of the well, perhaps stained by corpses, what should have been as white as jade was now suffused with a sinister crimson, its mere appearance exuding a malevolent aura…
Like the spirit stones of Clearwater Mountain, it repelled spiritual power. How the catfish absorbed it was a mystery. Chen Chushi found a hefty iron hammer at the construction site and brought it down on the stone. With a loud crack, it split into four or five large pieces, blood seeping from the fractures, the stench intensifying!
He couldn’t hold back any longer. He vomited.
After more than two weeks of cultivation, he still wasn’t strong enough; his mental state was too fragile!
It was just an ordinary spirit stone, corrupted by corpses, blood, and filthy water. It possessed spiritual energy, but it was polluted…
Like a tea egg dropped in a cesspit, soaked for two years and then fished out. The faint aroma of egg still lingered, perhaps even more nutritious, but could you bring yourself to eat it?
Chen Chushi did not have the courage to absorb it. He admitted to himself that, at this moment, he was a coward.
The path of cultivation is fraught with peril, paved with bones. And he, who couldn’t bring himself to eat a tea egg marinated in filth for two years, was a coward!
A fierce sense of competitiveness and a stubborn unwillingness to admit defeat made him stiffly turn back. With the stone shattered, the seal of pictographic script within no longer repelled him. Only the stench remained…
I can do this!
He vomited again!
The catfish had not defeated him, but this abomination left behind had taught him a harsh lesson in both spirit and body.
Chen Chushi gave up.
He walked away, with an air of nonchalance.
His mindset had undergone a healthy transformation—cowardice, timidity, these were nothing. He was a man, after all, and a true man knows what to do and what not to do. He simply refused to absorb this thing, just for the fun of it…
It had nothing to do with courage!
He had no further interest in exploring the Well Village, and flipped through the tourist guidebook in his hand.
His next goal: to seek out positive sites, prioritizing legends of immortals and scenic beauty!
Outer Space.
The Xia Nation’s small spacecraft trailed a long plume of fire as it sped along its journey.
Liu Yinyun and her teammates each held a tablet, carefully reading over the missions assigned by their superiors, as well as notes on interacting with the Earthborn descendants…
A five-person team: three men and two women.
They were Liu Yinyun, Liu Qingqing, Liu Jianghai, Chen Jingshan, and Wu Fei.
Each one was proficient in multiple languages and skilled in a variety of fields. Based on their strongest expertise, each held a different role within the group.
Liu Yinyun, though her skills were broad but balanced, was exceptionally calm, decisive, and possessed a strong sense of the big picture. Thus, she became the captain of the Return-to-Earth Team, responsible for communicating with higher-ups and coordinating the team's actions.
Liu Qingqing, whose medical expertise stood out above all—whether in surgery, internal medicine, or even obstetrics and gynecology—had achieved remarkable success in the Xia Nation and was renowned for her boldness and innovation. The leading figures in medicine praised her as an all-around medical genius, and predicted that, barring surprises, she would one day lead Xia Nation, and even the world, to new heights in medicine…
Within the team, she was responsible for their health, serving as the doctor.
Liu Jianghai was a computer prodigy. At twelve, he was already freely navigating the internet, writing his own programs, fluent in multiple languages, flitting through cyberspace like a ghost. His hardware talents were extraordinary as well! How did this genius come to the nation’s attention?
At age twelve, still just a child, he once secretly leaked a huge trove of scandalous celebrity secrets from a corner of an internet café. The thrill was genuine, but what’s the point of accomplishing something great if no one knows? It’s like wearing fine clothes in the dark—utterly pointless! Unable to resist boasting about his exploits to the person next to him at the café, he didn’t realize…
The man beside him was a police officer.
Things got awkward, fast…