Chapter 11: The Disciple

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[Water of Life]
Effect: Perfectly heals ordinary humans below the martial artist level from injuries such as amputations and severe wounds.

Ruo Feng stared at the dazzling potion displayed on the panel, his heart trembling with excitement.

He said nothing, silently offering a word of thanks to “Bai” in his mind.

“Xiao Hua, remember I told you about a surprise half a month ago?” Ruo Feng smiled at Luo Hua, who sat in a wheelchair across from him, eating from a bowl.

“Of course I remember. I’ve been looking forward to it,” Luo Hua nodded with a mischievous grin, then suddenly his eyes flickered as he glanced at his elder brother—could it be...

Ruo Feng took a deep breath and said, “After we finish eating, you and I will go into the room.”

“...Okay.” Luo Hua noticed Ruo Feng’s serious and solemn expression and knew his brother was not joking, so he nodded silently.

...After the meal.

Ruo Feng pushed Luo Hua into the bedroom.

Outside, Luo Hongguo and Gong Xinlan exchanged a glance, feeling puzzled by Ruo Feng’s unusual and solemn demeanor during the meal.

Why be so secretive and serious about giving a gift?

Fifteen minutes later, the two understood.

They watched in disbelief as Luo Hua shakily stood from the wheelchair and took slow steps on the floor. Luo Hongguo’s eyes reddened, and Gong Xinlan covered her mouth as tears streamed down her face.

Ruo Feng’s own eyes welled up as he carefully helped his parents support his brother Luo Hua as he walked.

From that moment, a heavy stone finally lifted from Ruo Feng’s heart.

“Thank you, ‘Bai’.”

“You’re welcome. I just didn’t want you to waste too much time on trivial matters. Resolving your brother’s problem early means you can devote yourself sooner to martial cultivation, which will also help me sooner.”

“Right, martial arts have always been my pursuit.” Ruo Feng smiled faintly, no longer offering pointless thanks or exposing Bai Chen’s lie.

Though, as “Bai” said, helping him was also helping himself, did Bai really lack the time?

Even without this Water of Life, would Ruo Feng have stopped working hard?

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Ruo Feng silently engraved Bai’s kindness in his heart. He vowed that if one day he truly could help Bai, even at the cost of his life, he would do so without hesitation!

“I won’t disturb your warm family time any longer.”

Sensing Bai’s voice fade into silence, Ruo Feng looked up, smiling warmly at his parents and brother.

After his family had a moment to adjust, Ruo Feng began to explain.

Of course, well-intentioned lies were necessary.

“Dad, Mom, and Ah Hua, for now keep this matter to yourselves. Don’t let it spread and cause trouble,” Ruo Feng instructed.

Luo Hongguo and the others nodded repeatedly. Though ordinary people, they understood how precious a potion that could heal disabilities was—its price must be astronomical for them. Luo Hongguo said seriously,

“Don’t worry, we won’t tell a soul.”

Gong Xinlan and Luo Hua also nodded solemnly.

Seeing his family so serious, Ruo Feng hesitated briefly, then decided to clarify a little more, “No need to be so cautious. Roughly... you only need to keep it secret for about three months. After that, there’s no need to hide it anymore. Xiao Hua’s legs just recovered; it will still take some time to fully return to normal.”

Though they didn’t understand why only three months were needed, hearing this from their son eased Luo Hongguo and the others, relaxing their tense expressions.

“By the way, in a few days I’ll be leaving with my teacher. The trip will last at least a week, maybe up to a month.” Ruo Feng suddenly remembered and said.

He had discussed with Bai—waiting idly in the base city for the martial artist assessment to begin would be a waste of time.

Now, Ruo Feng possessed great power but lacked experience in life-or-death battles; his swordsmanship and agility were average. He urgently needed to go out and experience a fierce, exhilarating battle to fully digest his newfound strength!

“All right, we understand. Xiao Feng, just follow Teacher Bai closely, listen carefully to what he says, and don’t let him down,” Luo Hongguo said solemnly.

When explaining the origin of the Water of Life, Ruo Feng fabricated a story under Bai Chen’s name.

In short, a powerful figure passing through Yangzhou City discovered his talent, took him as a disciple, and gifted him the Water of Life.

This was the best excuse Ruo Feng could think of—explaining both the potion’s origin and justifying his upcoming trip outside the base city.

Bai Chen didn't mind this; the title of “teacher” suited him perfectly.

In fact, it was better this way. As their relationship deepened, Ruo Feng would surely devote himself fully to helping Bai escape his predicament.

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After comforting his family, Ruo Feng returned to the bedroom and began pondering his plan for the upcoming journey.

“The Quasi-Martial Artist certificate will be issued in a few days. During that time, I need to get some money,” Ruo Feng thought to himself.

Going outside the base city didn’t require a martial artist status, but purchasing weapons and equipment or selling monster materials in the HR Alliance Mall did require such identification.

A Quasi-Martial Artist’s status was almost equivalent to a full martial artist in social standing and rights.

“If I don’t want to join another faction, there’s no way to get initial funds... but I have ‘Bai’. I can use points to buy items in the store, then sell them in the mall for money, and then buy again...”

Wait, why go through all that trouble? Why not just ask Bai directly?

Maybe Bai already has weapons and equipment to sell but hasn’t placed them in the exchange store yet. (Ruo Feng didn’t know that all the items Bai gave him were creations of Bai’s own.)

Thinking of this, Ruo Feng immediately contacted Bai in his mind.

“...It’s possible, but your points are too few. If you want higher quality equipment and weapons from me, you’d better provide some materials,” Bai answered after consideration. He didn’t mind revealing this information—if he wanted to produce various things at lower cost in the future, he’d have to trouble Ruo Feng to collect materials. Given Ruo Feng’s cleverness, he’d guess Bai’s abilities.

Indeed, Bai could create a batch of weapons and equipment using his creation ability, but without reference materials, he could only imagine various designs.

For example: a combat suit that can withstand a ten-ton impact?

Or: materials ten times tougher than ordinary steel, sharper than *** and the like.

Of course, he could be more direct—“Create S-class Kuro Alloy weapons and equipment from the Devouring Star World Earth.”

But without a physical template for reference, the energy consumption would definitely be higher.

Previously, Bai had created items like the “Power Lollipop,” “Rejuvenation Pill,” and “Body Tempering Pill” all without templates, relying entirely on imagination. If he had corresponding physical templates or materials as reference, he could reduce the special energy consumption further.

How much it could be reduced depended on the complexity of the item. For a simple pill like the Rejuvenation Pill, which only restores stamina and some vitality, the difference in special energy consumption with or without a template wasn’t significant.

However, for complex treasures like the “Disaster Armor” or the “Five-Color Aurora Lake,” having physical templates was crucial, as the energy consumption difference could be tenfold, a hundredfold, or more.

Put simply: “Creation purely by imagination” consumes more energy than “creation with physical reference,” which consumes more than “creation with both physical reference and materials.”

For instance, if Bai scanned and analyzed the Disaster Armor itself and Ruo Feng collected the materials to make it, Bai would only need to copy and synthesize the materials, drastically reducing special energy consumption.