Chapter Eighteen: The Unexpected Disciple

  Xiao Xing Meng returned slowly and leisurely, half a day had already passed, Xiao Yan should have already become Medicine Old's apprentice by now. He seemed to be looking for his little wife Xun Er to borrow money, then went to buy wooden spiritual nuclei to prepare medicine.

  Xiao Yan's time of becoming an apprentice was about the same as when he took Nalan Yanran as his disciple. Nalan Yanran had lower innate talent but a higher starting point; Xiao Yan had higher innate talent but a lower starting point. At the three-year mark, after absorbing a rare flame, Xiao Yan seemed to have similar strength to Nalan Yanran's Dou Qi. However, Xiao Yan possessed the rare flame and also had advanced Dou techniques collected from Medicine Master that surpassed those of Yun Lanzong, plus his experience of narrowly escaping death nine times in his adventures outside, making Nalan Yanran no match for him.

  Nalan Yanran's approach was a bit overbearing, but Xiao Yan also made her angry. From Xiao Xing Meng's 21st-century perspective, dissolving these blind arranged marriages wasn't wrong at all! So he taught her some advanced techniques and combat skills to make up for the gap caused by Yao Lao and Yi Huo. He remembered that three years later, their strength was not much different, and in the end, Xiao Yan won with the help of Buddha's Fury Lotus. If Nalan Yanran still lost after learning his techniques, it could only mean that this girl had become lazy after accepting his teachings, and such a person wasn't worth cultivating.

  As for whether Xiao Yan will lose or not, who cares? A big uncle in his thirties is still arguing with a 15-year-old girl. If he loses, just consider it as teaching Xiao Yan a lesson. Xiao Yan isn't a bad person, but he's too concerned about saving face. Anyway, if he loses, there won't be much loss for him. But Nalan Yanran will become a slave for the rest of her life if she loses. How can you, Xiao Yan, set up such an unfair bet and still have the nerve to let others lose?

  Xiao Yan is now estimated to be accompanying Xun Er on a shopping trip to buy medicinal materials, and also using the money borrowed from Xun Er to buy jewelry for her. What a good move! This Xiao Yan can be considered a mastermind. Speaking of which, it seems that this Xiao Yan has no intention of returning the borrowed money?

  As for the plot of Galileo's appearance, Xiao Xingmeng didn't want to watch it anymore. This guy has no perseverance, no talent, and loves to pretend to be dead. Even if he is a person who can turn mediocrity into genius, there is no way to teach well a brain-dead person.

  As Xiao Xing Meng hesitated about whether or not to go to the market to see a small branch story, a commotion in front of him caught his attention.

  Only three adults in front were surrounding a teenager, beating him up. The teenager looked about 15 years old, with dark skin and an ordinary appearance that still had some childishness, but his eyebrows and eyes were extremely ferocious. His cultivation was only at the fourth stage of Dou Qi, looking like just a lowly commoner, yet he was covered in wounds and bleeding all over, but still looked incredibly fierce, baring his teeth and claws, fighting with all his might. He had actually managed to injure those three adults who had six stages of Dou Qi each.

  "Damn it, I was thinking of sparing your life, now go die." Seeing that three grown men couldn't catch a teenager and were even injured, those people got furious. One of them pulled out a knife and rushed up to deliver the final blow.

  That young man had already kicked out a big air, and the excessive blood loss made his consciousness a bit dizzy. Faced with a knife from an adult with higher cultivation than him, how could he possibly dodge it? The knife was cut on his chest, that knife was extremely deep, and fresh blood spurted out, apparently there was no rescue.

  That guy was relieved, but unexpectedly the black youth held a stone stained with his own blood in both hands and struck it back at the throat of the person rushing up! With all his might, he crushed his throat!

  The dark-skinned youth had already been severely injured and fell down.

  The two remaining people saw their companion die like this, and they were all very angry. A fleeing rascal killed a protector of the courtyard, and when this matter got out, it would be laughable to death.

  The fallen youth would have died quickly even if left unattended. Now he was completely immobile, unable to move at all, and could only watch as the two men approached him with knives in hand.

  Apart from closing his eyes and waiting for death, he had no other choice. However, after he closed his eyes, he heard two loud thuds, followed by someone prying open his mouth to feed him something.

  Xiao Xing Meng was never interested in these things, if he were a protagonist with a strong sense of justice, he would have taken action long ago. However, Xiao Xing Meng himself had done similar, or even more cruel things, until that young man and that young man's final blow.

  So ferocious, yet it sparked a hint of interest in Xiao Xing Meng. His talent was only average, but this injury could still kill someone, perhaps there's value in cultivating him.

  He gave him a mouthful of Qi Stopping Bleeding Powder, and after the young man took a mouthful, Xiao Xing Meng did not immediately treat his injuries. Still covering his face with a black robe, he sat down gently beside him and started talking to him:

  "Are you a plebeian? Who are these people?"

  The dark-skinned youth sneered and said, "Guy from the Galle family, hey, if it weren't for these three, I would have won already."

  "Why did they beat you up? It seems like you're working for the Gali family, aren't you?" Xiao Xing Meng noticed that the young man's tattered clothes were actually from the Gali family.

  "Cough!" He coughed up a mouthful of blood, then calmly said: "Nothing much, my father worked for them and starved to death. I couldn't bear the hunger either, so I escaped. They want to catch me back, but going back means starving to death? I'd rather fight it out with them here. Anyway, in the past... cough, I've killed people before."

  When he said these words lightly, Xiao Xing Meng thought of a word: Ashura.

  He is still in a seriously injured state, if he doesn't treat his wounds again, it's likely that he will die from exhaustion of the meridians in about ten minutes. However, he didn't ask for help, isn't he afraid of death? And with these injuries, doesn't he feel pain?

  "Doesn't it hurt you?"

  Like recalling something, he paused for a moment and said: "Pain? Not painful at all... not painful." Then... his head tilted to the side and he fainted.

  This young man's willpower and endurance are a bit too extreme, judging from his performance, being seriously injured is like nothing to him, it almost makes one think he's an analgesia patient.

  This young man's talent is ordinary, but with this willpower that even surpasses Xiao Yan's, he has the confidence to cultivate him into a top-notch expert.

  It's laughable that people in the world take heaven-endowed talent, bloodline and family background as the standard for cultivation. Who knows how many talented individuals have been lost on this continent over the years?

  When the young man woke up again, his wound had been treated and was temporarily out of danger. At this time, Xiao Xing Meng took off the hood of his black robe, revealing a true face that was about the same age as the young man. Sitting aside, he emitted an eerie and gloomy aura just like all the villains' conspirators.

  "Kid, do you want to become strong? And what are you willing to pay for it?" Xiao Xing Meng spoke out the usual lines of Yao Lao, but considering his role and actions, it's more like he's saying it as a famous QB rather than Yao Lao.

  "Hey, I'm just a lowly commoner, I don't have anything, I don't aspire to be a strong person!" The young man clenched his fist and vowed to the person who looked only slightly older than him: "One worthless life, one transaction! Give me food, and I'll work for you!"

  "A person's value lies not in their position, but in their determination. Your determination... Heh heh, looks like your value is quite good!" Xiao Xing Meng revealed a cold smile, looking sinister no matter how you looked at it.

  The guy in front of him, who didn't look like much, had a sinister smile on his face, but the young man wasn't afraid at all. What could scare someone who had abandoned even the fear of death?

  "Killing is something you'll have to do sooner or later, and the ones you'll be killing will be famous strongmen. But anyway, you weirdo, tell me your name first, I'll take you as my disciple, and you'll become the world's worst talented strongman!"

  The young man didn't know why the other wanted to save him, a person with no great talent and not from a wealthy family, and even take him as an apprentice to cultivate, rather than just making him do chores. Still, he followed the etiquette he had learned, forcing his injured body to stand up straight, and bowed respectfully, saying: "My name is Ye Shuang."

  Take this apprentice, it was not in Xiao Xing Meng's original plan. Perhaps he was moved by his extraordinary willpower, or perhaps it was because of the lack of bloodline power that made him feel a sense of empathy, or maybe it was the inheritance from Earth, that kind of sympathy for the underprivileged. Or was it simply that he wanted to use him to test whether he could push an ordinary talented person onto the strongman's pedestal?

  Maybe it's all of the above reasons, but this is the worst qualified yet strongest willed disciple I've had since I started taking on apprentices, I wonder how far they'll go in the future?