For once, He Xiaotian splurged and took a taxi back to his neighborhood.
When he appeared before his parents, Wang Mei grabbed him by the ear, demanding to know where he had run off to all this time and why he hadn’t come back.
He had already concocted a story in the taxi, so he answered all her questions smoothly.
Lying?
You couldn’t expect He Xiaotian to tell the truth—that he’d beaten the crap out of a major Netherworld boss.
Or that he had then hammered some villain who dared attack the Medical University, killing countless evil spirits and paper effigies in the process, and topped it all off by obliterating a thousand-meter-wide Daoist temple with a single strike, right?
He then pulled out a card and handed it to his mom.
Wang Mei wasn’t particularly interested. ’How much money could a half-baked medical student possibly make?’
But when He Xiaotian told them the balance on the card, the entire family was stunned speechless.
His father, He Sheng, even asked if he’d used his powers to rob a bank.
In response, He Xiaotian explained everything in detail.
He said it was the payment he’d received for handling a supernatural case for a wealthy tycoon a while back.
He added that he’d also bought a villa, right in the city center.
Everyone present was at a complete loss for words.
A villa in Shanghai cost more than double the price of one in the suburbs.
So, they began to pack.
Naturally, the idols in the living room and bedrooms weren’t going to be left behind.
After calling his cousin to give him the new address, the five of them headed out in a grand procession toward the Imperial Gardens estate.
Along the way, He Xiaotian made a special stop to buy some talisman paper, cinnabar, inksticks, and wolf-hair brushes.
After much ado and a transfer of over a hundred million from his bank card, the family was finally moved in.
He immediately began drawing talismans, a scene that left everyone somewhat astonished.
’Since when did you pick up the skills of a Daoist?’
His posture, in particular, looked just like what you’d see in the movies—quite the professional.
It was as if the talismans he was drawing were the real deal.
What they didn’t know was that the Daoist talismans He Xiaotian drew were, in fact, real.
And they were even more effective than the ones produced by Dragon Tiger Mountain.
It took him the entire afternoon to draw five Daoist talismans.
A single Ghost-Slaying Talisman was enough to completely drain his spiritual reserves.
He would then have to focus completely on recovering. After all, the villa didn’t have a Netherworld rift, just a dense concentration of Spiritual Qi.
The recovery process was a little slow, but there was one part of all this that was totally broken.
The supplies he’d bought—the talisman paper and so on—were all the most common, run-of-the-mill stuff.
They weren’t high-grade items that had been consecrated by a Dragon Tiger Mountain master.
The so-called wolf-hair brush, in particular, was a fake.
But the Daoist talismans he produced were still top-tier and of the highest potency.
It was a good thing no old Daoist masters saw this, or they would have coughed up blood from sheer frustration.
’Why is it that we have to work so hard, sleepless and without rest?’
’We have to perform solemn and cautious rituals every time we draw a talisman, yet you can do it so easily?’
Erm...
Well, that’s just how it is for a cheater. You can do whatever you want.
He Xiaotian enjoyed a lavish dinner with his family, warning them to keep their Ghost-Slaying Talismans on them at all times. Afterward, he picked a random bedroom and went to sleep.
His tycoon neighbor, Mr. Liu, didn’t come over to congratulate him in person.
He wasn’t home; he’d said in their group chat that he was stuck in a meeting.
Instead, he had his British Butler stop by with a gift.
As for Liu Nan?
He just spammed the group chat with a bunch of congratulatory sticker packs.
His stinginess was on a whole other level, rivaling a certain someone’s brute force.
He Xiaotian had no idea that his three followers, unable to find him at the hotel, had spent the whole night tossing and turning in anxiety.
Don’t get the wrong idea. They were just afraid their hotel room booking would expire, and they’d be kicked out onto the street with nowhere to go.
The next day, He Xiaotian woke up feeling refreshed and invigorated. After enjoying a loving breakfast from his mom, he immediately rushed to the hotel.
Today, he had to go to the Medical University to check on his trainees.
When he managed to arrive at the hotel just before the noon checkout time, his trio of lackeys nearly burst into tears of relief.
"Let’s go."
The four of them hailed a taxi and arrived at their destination about half an hour later.
Standing before the gates of the Medical University, He Xiaotian felt a wave of emotion.
’Just a short while ago, I was just an ordinary university student.’
’Now, I’m stepping foot on the grounds of my alma mater as an instructor.’
The Knife-Seller and the others were completely bewildered.
’Why are we suddenly at a school?’
’He’s not planning on making us teach, is he?!’
It was a good thing He Xiaotian couldn’t hear their internal monologue, or he would have spit right in their faces.
’Teach?’
’You lot would be more suited to being security guards.’
’One of them has decent knife skills, but what else can he do?’
’Is he going to teach the Medical University students how to be prep cooks at a restaurant after graduation?!’
’As for the other two, one of them can at least perform a few magic tricks.’
’He could make a living as a magician after graduation. Not bad, at least he wouldn’t starve.’
’But Feng Yu... his case was truly pathetic.’
’You can’t expect the graduates to go around lopping off heads, can you?!’
"Halt! The area ahead is restricted. No unauthorized personnel," two soldiers carrying live firearms immediately blocked their path.
"Hello. I’m the instructor Roger invited. He told me to come to the Medical University today. These three are my teaching assistants." He Xiaotian had no desire to show off. Making the vice-chief of the Cleaners come out personally to greet him would be just too low-class.
Besides, what’s wrong with them being diligent and responsible in their duties?
"Please wait a moment while we verify your identity."
One of them trotted off. A moment later, he returned.
"Mr. X, please follow me."
As soon as he finished speaking, he turned and led the way.
He Xiaotian and his three followers went after him.
A few minutes later, the five of them arrived at a sports field.
Over a hundred young men and women were gathered on the field.
They were whispering amongst themselves, their heads close together in conversation.
This group had been gathered from all corners of the country.
They all had clean backgrounds, and each of them had siblings.
They had all been selected by the Cleaners using equipment provided by the Energy Research Lab.
Since this was just a small-scale experiment, it wasn’t widely publicized and was conducted in secret.
"He’s our instructor? He looks so ordinary."
"I think his little piggy mask is kinda cute, though."
"I never truly understood the definition of the word ’unremarkable’ until I laid eyes on our so-called instructor. He’s the living embodiment of it."
The arrival of He Xiaotian and his group inevitably sparked discussion.
Especially since he had suppressed his height to about 1.8 meters, the height of an ordinary person.
And while he looked strong, they’d seen plenty of bodybuilders before, so it was nothing special.
The three followers behind him, on the other hand, generated a lot more interest.
There was the Knife-Seller, dressed like a farmer with a leather pouch slung over his back.
Then there was the Magician, who exuded such an underworld aura that you could have told people he was a gangster or a former triad enforcer, and they would have believed you.
And Feng Yu?
Don’t even mention him. The guy had stuffed his Ghost Head Saber into a guitar case.
He looked just like some street-performing busker.
"Shut up!"
He Xiaotian let out a sudden, explosive roar, using the Vajra Lion’s Roar.
Of course, he didn’t use his full power. Otherwise, the students would have all started bleeding from their seven orifices, their organs rupturing before they died in agony.
The crowd of whispering youths was instantly thrown into a state of dizzying confusion by the shockwave.
Losing their footing, they fell stiffly to the ground.
"THUD!" "THUD!"
The sound of bodies hitting the dirt rose and fell, weaving together a ’symphony of sorrow’.