Chapter 45

"Father, you don't need to worry. Although the Seven Stars Cherry has little medicinal value, it can still serve as an ingredient for many spiritual medicines. So even if it's rare, there's still hope of finding it. You don't need to worry about this; leave it all to me." Shen Lang comforted and said, "Now, try to stand up and see. Walking like a normal person should be no problem."

"Ah? I feel much better, and there's no more of that obstructed feeling in my meridians... But is the effect really this good? Can I really walk now?" Shen Haotian was overjoyed.

Before, he could still get up, but he always needed Shen Lang's mother to support him; otherwise, he couldn't move at all.

"Yes, give it a try." Shen Lang supported his shoulder.

Shen Haotian was extremely excited. He moved his body and swung his legs, and indeed found himself much more flexible, with no more of the discomfort he used to feel.

"I never thought that I, Shen Haotian, would have a day when I could recover to normal..."

He supported himself on the edge of the bed and slowly walked towards the door.

There was no more of that stiffness he used to feel, nor the intense pain that would come with every step...

Shen Haotian's right hand rested on the door frame, steadying himself a bit. He looked at the figure of Little Hong picking vegetables in the hall and called out softly, "Xiao Die..."

Luo Die, who was busy, was startled and quickly turned her head. She saw the familiar figure staggering towards her.

"Hao Tian..." Luo Die covered her mouth with one hand, tears blurring her eyes.

"Master! Master, are you cured?" Little Hong exclaimed, running over to support Shen Haotian.

"Cured, cured! It was Lang who cured me! Hahaha..." Shen Haotian laughed heartily.

He was happy that his injury was cured and proud of his son's abilities.

Shen Lang came from behind to support Luo Die, gently wiping away her tears with his sleeve and said, "Father isn't fully cured yet, but it won't take long. In a few days, once I refine the spiritual medicine, he will be back to normal. Don't worry, Mother..."

He smiled as he spoke, but his heart ached.

For years, his father had been bedridden, and his mother, a frail woman, had been supporting the family...

A year ago, when his sister was at home, things were much better, but when she got a spot and was forced by his father to go to the Jialan Academy...

"If I had awakened this memory earlier, why would Father and Mother have suffered so much?"

Shen Lang's eyes misted over, and he hurriedly said, "Mother, you chat with Father for a while. I'll go find my sister to come back for dinner."

He found an excuse and left directly for the back yard.

No matter how strong-willed or unyielding one is...

In the face of family, it's like a thin sheet of paper, easily pierced by a single tear...

Shen Lang made up his mind to make sure his family lived well, and he would never let them suffer or be bullied by anyone again!

Under the night sky, the usually bustling Shen family residence became eerily quiet, so quiet that only the sound of insects could be heard.

Shen Lang's previous guess was correct. It seemed that the old men of the Shen family weren't too stupid and had already sensed something unusual.

Or perhaps they had heard through some channels about his actions at the Tayan Academy or the Tianfeng Wine House.

So this night was unusually quiet, with no one coming to cause trouble at Shen Lang's home.

This was exactly what Shen Lang wanted; otherwise, he wouldn't mind a bloodbath.

...

At that moment, in the pavilion by the lake in the back yard, a few young men and women were chatting merrily. Shen Lang's sister, Shen Moran, was sitting among them, not saying much, just smiling faintly and occasionally joining in the conversation.

Shen Moran, like a lily in a secluded valley, had an ethereal and pure quality. Even among the handsome men and beautiful women, her silence made her stand out.

Sitting with her were two men and three women, all around her age, about twenty years old. The women were beautiful, and the men were handsome, all with extraordinary auras.

"Sis!" Shen Lang greeted with a smile.

"Xiao Lang? How did you come back? Come over and let me see you..." Shen Moran's usually calm face rippled like a stone thrown into a lake.

"Moran, this is your brother Shen Lang? He's quite handsome! Too bad he's a bit young, otherwise I would have picked this flower... Anyway, I can't get Chu Qingcheng..."

"Oh, little brother is quite handsome. Come, let me hug you..."

Shen Lang, who had been walking steadily, stumbled at the women's words, almost falling into the lake, which made the others laugh heartily.

"My name is Shen Lang. You can call me Xiao Lang like my sister... Whatever you call me is fine, just don't call me little brother." Shen Lang said seriously.

"Okay, little brother, you're really funny, little brother, don't worry, little brother..." The woman who called him little brother laughed and stood up to bear-hug Shen Lang.

"Hmm..." Shen Moran placed her hand on her forehead, unable to bear seeing Shen Lang being teased. She knew her friend's personality all too well.

But Shen Lang's figure moved strangely to the side, skillfully avoiding the woman's hug.

"Hey!" The two young men who hadn't spoken were surprised.

"Alright, Zui Mo, stop joking with my brother. He's still young..." Shen Moran pulled Shen Lang to sit next to her and waved her hand at the women.

"What do you mean young? At sixteen, one is already considered an adult on the Starry Continent. Moran, you can't be so stingy. As the saying goes, 'fertile water doesn't flow to outsiders'..." Zui Mo laughed and walked back.

The women in the pavilion giggled again, making Shen Lang roll his eyes: "You're the fertile water, and your whole family is fertile water..."

"These are my classmates from Jialan Academy. Let me introduce them to you." Shen Moran introduced each one to Shen Lang.

The woman who called Shen Lang "little brother" was Zeng Zui Mo, the one who wanted to pick the flower was Lin Yue, and the one who spoke less was Su Jin.

The other two young men were Yin Kuang, who was as strong as a bear, and Shui Buyu, who was as handsome as a jade statue.

All of them were students at Jialan Academy, outstanding and extraordinary.

Shen Lang was younger than them, so they didn't pay much attention to him, just politely said a few words and returned to their previous topic.

Zeng Zui Mo, who had been playful, now sighed, "This year-end trial was really unlucky for us. We lost a lot. Now our spirit weapons are broken, and we don't know if they can be repaired!"

The others, who had been smiling, immediately shook their heads and sighed.

"There's nothing we could do. Who would have thought that we would encounter a peak-level fourth-grade Red Flame Fierce Bear before we even entered the Crystal Song Forest? Being able to return alive is already a stroke of luck. That beast is equivalent to a ninth-level Qi Wu realm expert..." Lin Yue pouted and leaned on the stone table.

Yin Kuang, with a rough appearance, said in a gruff voice, "Blame yourselves for panicking and running away at the start... If I hadn't been seriously injured while blocking the beast, and if everyone had cooperated and surrounded it, we wouldn't have been beaten so badly, and our spirit weapons wouldn't have been destroyed."

Zeng Zui Mo and the others looked displeased, wanting to argue, but when they thought of how Yin Kuang had heroically blocked the Red Flame Fierce Bear with his spear, they deflated like a punctured balloon and said nothing.

To be fair, Yin Kuang was right. He was the most powerful attacker among them, using a divine fire spear with great skill. If everyone had cooperated and attacked together at the start, they wouldn't have been beaten so badly, and their spirit weapons wouldn't have been destroyed.

"Cough..." Shui Buyu cleared his throat and said, "Now that it's come to this, complaining or regretting is useless. Fortunately, our injuries aren't too serious, and our spirit weapons, though severely damaged, can still be repaired... However, as a team, we lack cooperation. If we don't improve in the next few months, we won't be able to compete with other teams when we enter the Crystal Song Forest again..."

"Compete my ass!" Yin Kuang said angrily. "My injuries will heal in a month, but my life-bound spirit weapon, the third-grade Divine Fire Spear, is now broken. What am I supposed to use to compete? My father won't get me another one... The Jialan Academy's rules are infuriating. They force us to earn spirit stones and gather materials on our own. The spirit stones I get from home every month aren't even enough for one of my previous extravagances..."

He angrily took out a long spear twisted into a "U" shape and threw it on the stone table, startling Lin Yue.

Lin Yue sat up straight and angrily threw a long sword with several notches on it onto the table, saying, "Do you think only you suffered? My Moon Goddess Sword was also destroyed. It was wrong of us to panic and run, but why didn't you tell us that the beast was invulnerable to weapons and had immense strength? If you had warned us, we could have used ranged attacks and might have killed the beast!"

"Enough, we're a team. Complaining like this is unbecoming. Do you want to make a fool of ourselves in front of other teams? You've been arguing about this since the Crystal Song Forest. Aren't you tired of it?" Shui Buyu said irritably.

He then comforted them, "Chu Qingcheng said that he has a good relationship with the head of the Tayan Academy's weapon refinement department, Mo Liusheng. He suggested we ask him for help to see if our spirit weapons can be repaired. Arguing like this will just make us look foolish!"

Yin Kuang mockingly patted the Divine Fire Spear on the table and said, "I'm just here to relax. I don't expect anyone to fix my Divine Fire Spear..."

He sneered and continued, "It's a third-grade spirit weapon made from deep-sea mystic iron. To repair it, we need to find more deep-sea mystic iron. Besides, the fire spirit array inside has been completely destroyed. It can only be restored by re-engraving a third-grade spirit array. Chu Qingcheng's master is a fourth-grade spirit refiner. How many third-grade spirit arrays does he know? It's unlikely he knows the ones we need..."

Everyone's faces darkened, and the atmosphere became even more oppressive.