Life at Chengying's place was always calm, yet full of surprises especially after he took on two disciples. The surprises only grew more frequent.
Dugu Bo recovered from his injuries quickly less than a week and the moment he returned, he started butting heads with Tang Chen. He knew his natural talent didn't compare to Tang Chen's, so he poured his efforts into trying to surpass him academically.
This made life miserable for Tang Chen. Compared to Dugu Bo, who had an innate gift for scientific research, Tang Chen's talents clearly didn't lie in that direction. He couldn't even invent anything that would surprise their teacher—just finishing the daily assignments was enough to give him a headache.
Their lazy teacher often handed off the task of tutoring Tang Chen to Dugu Bo, which was the most frustrating part for him. Perhaps the heavens were fair after all—while Tang Chen possessed peerless cultivation talent, he definitely didn't have the brain of a top student.
And Dugu Bo, with his overachiever tendencies, held Tang Chen to his own exacting standards. As a result, Tang Chen often felt like he was learning a lot but was also overwhelmed by Dugu Bo's force-feeding style of education.
Even so, Tang Chen's innate talent with martial souls still far outshone Dugu Bo's. One time, after Dugu Bo spent an entire day teaching him how to calculate momentum during collisions between linear and circular motion, Tang Chen actually had a sudden epiphany.
He sat cross-legged, a look of comprehension on his face, which startled Dugu Bo enough to immediately call their teacher. Though Dugu Bo disliked the idea of Tang Chen taking up more of their teacher's attention, he wasn't petty enough to let personal feelings interfere with more important matters.
When Chengying heard that Tang Chen had suddenly entered cultivation mode during class, he was puzzled. But by the time he arrived at the small classroom, spiraling soul power was already swirling around Tang Chen.
Seeing this, Chengying dared not disturb him. Enlightenment was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a soul master. He simply told Dugu Bo not to interfere and said that if Tang Chen didn't awaken within three days, they'd start intravenous support. Chengying then went to prepare glucose and other vital nutrient solutions.
That "moment" of enlightenment lasted a full month. When Tang Chen finally woke up, a neat row of transparent IV bottles lay beside him.
Typically, soul master enlightenment consumes a massive amount of energy, and the cultivator is unable to replenish it themselves. Most only manage a few days before their bodies become weak, muscles atrophy, and it takes a full month of rest to recover.
Fortunately, Chengying had already perfected infusion techniques. Though metal needles weren't fine enough, he substituted goose-feather tubes and specially formulated glucose solutions. Thanks to this setup, Tang Chen was able to stay in enlightenment for an entire month and still awaken full of vigor.
The moment he came to, he saw Chengying walk in holding a bottle of foamy yellow liquid, apparently ready to swap out his IV.
"Teacher?"
"Oh? You're awake? Then I won't give this to you." Chengying casually popped the rubber stopper and chugged the nutrient solution himself. It was mostly glucose, and actually tasted pretty decent.
"How long was I out?" Tang Chen glanced at the pile of empty bottles on the floor and couldn't help asking.
"About a month? I lost track somewhere in the thirties. I'll go make you some congee you haven't eaten in so long that greasy food would be bad for you. So just sit tight and enjoy watching us eat all the good stuff!" With that, Chengying left the small classroom.
Tang Chen stood and stretched a bit. "Has it really been that long? Why doesn't my body feel stiff at all?"
"That's because our teacher massaged your muscles every day for the past month. If he hadn't, you'd be stuck in bed for another month." As Tang Chen looked up, he saw Dugu Bo standing at the doorway, face expressionless.
"Uh… hi, senior brother!" Tang Chen scratched his head. He hadn't expected his usually cold-faced senior to come check on him the moment he woke up.
"Just making sure you didn't die," Dugu Bo replied flatly before turning and walking away.
Tang Chen was puzzled and had been about to go see his "master's wife" when the Ice Empress peeked her head in through the doorway. Honestly, when he first found out that Ice Empress was their teacher's wife, Tang Chen had been extremely awkward—after all, he'd been calling her "Sister Bing" up until that point.
"Pfft! Don't mind him, Xiao Chen. He's just a closet tsundere. Truth is, he was the one watching over your IVs every day. The moment the glucose in the bottle ran out, he'd panic and rush to your teacher to change the drip terrified your blood would backflow into the line.
"Oh, right! Great news we're having braised pork tonight. Hmm… Oh wait, you're only allowed to have congee. Hahaha!"
Tang Chen watched the Ice Empress dash off down the corridor and muttered to himself, "Master and Mistress really are two of a kind." Though what he really wanted to say was that their personalities were equally awful—but out of respect, he kept that to himself.
That night at dinner, Tang Chen looked at the finely stewed meat bits in his congee and thought:
Teacher has always been such a gentle soul.
As he quietly ate, the Ice Empress eyed him suspiciously.
"You had an entire month-long epiphany and your soul power barely increased at all. Don't tell me you enlightened for nothing?"
"Uh…" Tang Chen scratched his head, a bit embarrassed. "Yeah, I didn't really gain much soul power. But I did fully grasp that rotational momentum-based technique Teacher mentioned. Well, in my case, it's more like a hammer technique than a fist technique…"
Pfft—
Chengying, who had been quietly sipping orange juice, suddenly spit it all over Tang Chen's face.
"Teacher? What was that for?" Tang Chen fumbled for a towel, confused.
"Tell me your hammer technique doesn't work like this: each strike is stronger than the last, and every blow carries the power of the previous one. The max is… eighty-one consecutive strikes?"
"You actually knew?" Tang Chen looked disappointed. "So you already knew how to use this kind of hammer technique…"
"Uh… no, I was just guessing! I suck at fighting, remember? Didn't we already test that? You're way stronger than me," Chengying hurriedly covered up. "Besides, this is your own original technique. You should name it yourself! 'Rotational Momentum Hammer Technique' is way too clunky."
Chengying imagined the future where Tang San used this hammer technique against Qian Renxue… just the thought of it made him cringe. If this ended up replacing "Random Cloak Hammer Technique," would it be called "Rotational Momentum Cloak Dance"? That would be ridiculous!
"I can name it myself?" Tang Chen was stunned. Creating and naming a self-made soul skill was a huge honor. He always assumed the naming rights belonged to the teacher who helped develop it.
"Of course! You already know how bad I am at naming things. This move could be legendary leaving the naming to me would be such a waste."
Tang Chen thought back to all the names his teacher had given to other people's kids…
Names like Luffy, Naruto, Ichigo… Yeah, that was definitely worrying. After some thought, he said:
"My hammer technique is wild, fierce, and fast how about… 'Random Cloak Hammer Technique'?"