Chapter 53 "Courtesy Calls for Reciprocity

At the dining table, Li Jing and Liu Sisi had quite a bit of conversation.

Liu Sisi didn’t have grand ambitions for the future.

The main focus was to explore what’s so special about her unique body constitution, learn some knowledge about the Second Realm when she had free time, and try to learn some defense and offense magic skills.

Just these tasks alone would keep her busy for a while.

Examining what’s unique about her body constitution was the most important part.

Having a special body constitution meant that she was born with talents or abilities that were different from ordinary people.

This was a natural advantage.

But it also posed potential risks.

Being different comes at a cost.

Usually, unique body constitutions come with negative impacts, just in different forms.

Like Liu Sisi’s which puts a burden on her body, the case seems quite severe.

Being impacted by her special constitution for so many years, she had given up hope and accepted mundanity. How could she embark on the path of cultivation without clarifying things?

If she encountered another problem due to her unique body type, it would truly be a drastic change from heaven to hell.

As for gaining knowledge about the Second Realm and researching magic skills, these were necessary "homework".

Liu Sisi was born with a unique constitution, one could say she got a head start.

But even if she figured it out, she couldn’t compare with Li Jing.

Cultivation has to advance in an orderly manner.

Learning magic skills requires personal comprehension and exploration to truly master, after mastering them you need to spend time and effort to improve proficiency.

Having money does not solve all the problems.

For her, money is just a brick that knocks on the door of the future.

On the path of cultivation, there are no shortcuts.

...

After eating hot pot, Li Jing escorted Liu Sisi back to her apartment and then returned to his villa.

It was a rather fortuitous coincidence.

He had just landed in the yard when the lights in the villa came on.

Seeing the lights in the house suddenly turned on, Li Jing was momentarily taken aback.

Chen Yuran was the type who didn’t want to get up once she laid down, unless she had to. She wouldn’t leave her pillow unless she had slept for twelve hours.

She closed her eyes at around eleven in the morning, and now it was not yet eight in the evening.

After only nine hours, Chen Yuran got up, which was quite surprising.

After he opened the door of the villa, Li Jing saw Chen Yuran, sleepy-eyed, standing in front of the fridge, with Stinky Tofu wagging his tail at her feet.

Upon hearing the door open, the two, human and dog, turned their heads.

Seeing Li Jing return, Chen Yuran’s eyes lit up.

"I’m hungry!"

"..."

Li Jing.

He had just been wondering why Chen Yuran got up so early. Turns out, she woke up because she was hungry.

With a wry smile, Li Jing entered the door and asked.

"What would you like to eat?"

"Anything, as long as it fills my stomach."

Chen Yuran nonchalantly spoke, then flopped herself on the couch, grabbed a pillow and closed her eyes after a big yawn.

Seeing this, Li Jing opened and closed his mouth speechlessly, chuckling and shaking his head.

The casual, carefree Chen Yuran he saw in private had an endless array of amusing quirks.

It’s hard to imagine that at work, she was a tough, decisive woman.

Turning to look at Stinky Tofu who was still standing in front of the fridge, hoping for something, Li Jing let out a sigh.

"The season is about to change and you’ll be shedding hair, you can’t eat too much salty meat. I can give you a bit for a taste."

Having a cold war with a dog was meaningless.

In essence, Li Jing is not really angry at Stinky Tofu, he’s simply annoyed at himself for being fooled by the false impression of the stupid dog.

In some ways, Stinky Tofu had taught him a lesson.

Even a dog can’t be underestimated.

Stinky Tofu, still in front of the fridge, perked up when he heard Li Jing’s voice, knowing he had "forgiven" him, he "woofed" happily twice and wagged his tail, panting and went up to him.

Brushing away the dog’s head with a hand, Li Jing walked over to the fridge, pulled out a frozen sausage, pinched a small piece off, and turned around.

"Should this be enough?"

At this moment, a delighted-to-the-core Stinky Tofu was following closely behind Li Jing and instinctively lifted his head upon hearing his words.

Staring at it left him bewildered on the spot.

When Li Jing said he would give it a little, he really meant a little...

The sausage in his hand was now smaller than a fingernail and weighed no more than a few grams!

Looking at a stunned Stinky Tofu, Li Jing was very satisfied.

Anger was aside.

The shoe, he definitely made Stinky Tofu wear it.

Stinky Tofu made him understand how devious a dog’s heart can be, so how could he not respond in kind, letting the former know what it means to have a scheming human heart?

...

Ten minutes later.

The feigning sleep Chen Yuran who was lying on the sofa was woken up and served with aromatic stir-fried noodles.

Stinky Tofu, on the other hand, was pitifully lying in front of the dog-food bowl, looking at the fingernail-sized sausage in the bowl with teary eyes.

With her dog leaning in the corner losing faith in his doggie life, Chen Yuran decided to act as if she saw nothing.

She had raised Stinky Tofu for seventeen years.

The heartache, she had already experienced enough.

She knew better than anyone that this dog could not be indulged.

Li Jing, the cause of all this, had learned his lesson and would definitely not soften his heart easily.

Pulling out his phone to check the time, Li Jing asked,

"Why hasn’t Ji Qing come down yet?"

"She’s asleep, don’t worry about her."

Chen Yuran replied without lifting her head.

Upon learning that Ji Qing was still asleep, Li Jing didn’t worry much and started a conversation.

"I went out earlier to have a meal with Sister Sisi, and at the table..."

Before he could finish, Chen Yuran raised her eyes strangely.

"You don’t have to report your dating with other women to me."

At her words, a smirk appeared on the corner of Li Jing’s mouth.

"Can you let me finish talking?"

"Oh."

Chen Yuran responded, continuing to scarf down her stir-fried noodles.

Seeing this, Li Jing didn’t deviate from the topic, and recounted the circumstances that Liu Sisi had mentioned, stating that he had informed Dai Hong as well.

After listening to everything, Chen Yuran’s brows slightly furrowed.

"The situation you described is indeed strange, especially with so much turmoil lately, like the Demon Miasma and the Evil Cultivators’ gang, they might indeed be connected."

As she spoke, she began analyzing.

"However, it will be very difficult to start investigating those who have miraculously broken through to the Second Realm. There’s definitely something wrong with them, but the Patrol System’s investigations require evidence. If people themselves haven’t committed any crime, they are not obligated to cooperate. Blindly approaching them could even get us bitten back, with them taking legal actions on the grounds of invasion of privacy. If we want to investigate, we can only do so discreetly."

These principles, Li Jing naturally understood.

He brought up this issue to make Chen Yuran aware of it, and to see what she thought.

"Has anything like this happened in Jianghai before?"

"No."

Chen Yuran shook her head and replied,

"The situation you referred to does exist in the records of the Patrol System. There are many things in the world that can help those stuck in the One Realm break through, most of which are harmful contraband that people with sane minds would not use. This type of contraband either consists of dangerous synthetic materials that are not fully developed, or lethal poisons."

"The breakthrough phenomenon caused by contraband usually comes at the hefty price of one-time overdraft of the user’s potential or burning their foundation, with a 100% fatality rate."

"As long as people make contact with it, they generally die within three to five days. Modern medical treatments can’t save them, not even with the aid of life-saving spirit medicine."

Knowing about the inevitable death caused by contraband, Li Jing furrowed his eyebrows.

Just as he was about to speak, Chen Yuran began talking again.

"The situation you mentioned should have nothing to do with contraband. The First Hospital is not only the best hospital in North City, it also ranks at the top in the national medical system. They have comprehensive detection methods, and their doctors are all experts specializing in medical-related Magic Skills. If the issue involves contraband, they can definitely detect the anomalies. Those who miraculously broke through to the Second Realm probably used other methods."

"The ’other methods’ you mentioned, would they be one that doesn’t harm their lives?"

Li Jing asked promptly.

"Yes."

Chen Yuran took a bite of noodles and said,

"The vast world is full of wonders, and there are all kinds of spiritual objects, many of which remain unknown to this day. I know of three types of spiritual objects that can forcefully break the obstacle of the One Realm. They are extremely rare and considered top-grade treasures with priceless value."

After speaking, she sighed sadly.

"Even though I’m not sure how those people at the First Hospital managed to break through, it definitely has nothing to do with spiritual objects. Those fools are bound to have problems sooner or later. The Patrol Office can’t expect them to cooperate before anything happens, it’s only when something does happen, will they think of..."

Before she could finish her sentence, the phone tucked in her pajama pocket rang.

At the same time, Li Jing’s phone, which was set to silent mode in his pocket, began to vibrate frantically.