p> Jin Sitian skipped over to open the door. She was still smiling before she could make out clearly who it was standing outside the door. Looking down she noticed a knife in his hand but then, darkness enveloped her vision.

***

When she came to, she was in an abandoned building with a single dim light bulb hanging down from the ceiling. Tied behind her was Mr. Tian. There were two men, dressed in an entirely black outfit standing in the room with them. One of them seemed to be on the phone, talking about something she didn’t understand.

Then, another person entered the room. Upon seeing who it was, Jin Sitian was wide-eyed. He had an elegant silhouette and a pair of well-defined eyes. He almost seemed like he was covered in a layer of frost, like an immortal being that has descended from heaven. Her heart raced as the person walked over slowly.

Jiang Shuxuan stopped three steps away from the girl. His gaze was cold and indifferent.

"Which hand did you use to hurt her?" he asked.

Jin Sitian’s pupils contracted upon hearing the question.

On his fingertips danced a frost blade. Jiang Shuxuan looked at her right hand, where her fingertips were trembling. Without warning, the pure white frost blade stabbed straight through the center of her palm. "Is this the one?"

"Or is this the one?" Another frost blade stabbed through her other palm.

"Aaahhhh!" The pain was so immense that Jin Sitian started thrashing violently on the floor. Tears flowed down her face that was twisted in pain as she looked fearfully at her own two hands.

"Aren’t you afraid of heaven’s will? Torturing a regular civilian like this?" Suddenly, a warm, gentle voice came from behind.

Jiang Shuxuan turned around to find Tang Qingqiu leaned against the door frame. The corner of his lips was curled up, forming a smug smile and a hint of curiosity flashed through his eyes.

"Heaven’s will?" Jiang Shuxuan murmured to himself. Walking out of the door, he peered at the boundless night sky. Compared to her, heaven’s will did not scare him one bit.

"So, you’re just gonna leave like that?" Seeing how Jiang Shuxuan was about to leave, Tang Qingqiu couldn’t help but ask. "Why are you leaving in such a rush?"

"Gotta make dinner." Jiang Shuxuan’s voice echoed through the air. At the same time, the space around them warped before he vanished into thin air.

"Make dinner?" Tang Qingqiu even doubted his own hearing. He then remembered the thread Zhu Yuan started on the forum. "Has he advanced into becoming a househusband?"

Tang Qingqiu stood there for a while, looking down at the girl who was wailing in pain. He then recalled the merciless look in Jiang Shuxuan’s eyes. "He really isn’t afraid of heaven’s will it seems..."

What Tang Qingqiu didn’t know was that in the near future, not only would Jiang Shuxuan go against heaven’s will, he would also be several degrees away from completely annihilating this entire realm. And the girl, whom he thought was weak and dainty, was in actuality, much more ruthless than Jiang Shuxuan...

***

By the time Jiang Shuxuan reached home, the soup he had been brewing was already ready for consumption. He tasted a spoonful of it and satisfied with its quality, he shut off the flame before whipping up two stir-fry dishes in a jiffy.

As he was just a beginner in cooking, his clumsiness had resulted in him accidentally knocking over a bottle of cooking oil.

Haha, who was observing Master Jiang cook outside the kitchen went: （⊙o⊙）

And yet, the sound of glass shattering against the kitchen floor never came. Slowly peeling its eyes open, Haha was astonished to find the bottle of oil floating in mid-air.

Master Jiang has invented a completely new way of cooking in the kitchen. Using only his will, the oil, his ladle, and salt... pretty much everything that was involved in the recipe floated up into the air. Whatever he needed, he could just reach out and grab.

Gu Xiqiao was speechless at the sight in front of her.

’I know you’re really capable but use that somewhere else instead of in the kitchen.’

"Brother Jiang, you should just leave this to me." Gu Xiqiao felt weird seeing Jiang Shuxuan, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, work like this in the kitchen. She thought to herself, this must be Master Jiang’s first time touching such equipment.

Jiang Shuxuan reached out and scooped a spoonful of salt from its container. His eyes were fixated on the fiery wok below. "No, I’ll be done soon. Don’t come in here."

Looking at her own hand, Gu Xiqiao manipulated the chi slightly. When her hand recovers, she’ll never allow Jiang Shuxuan back into the kitchen again!

Jiang Shuxuan, who had picked up a couple of skills from the head chef was impressed by himself. ’...I’ve just learned to cook.’

"Haha, you eat first." Gu Xiqiao grabbed the bag of dog food she bought from the supermarket yesterday and poured it into Haha’s beloved bowl.

Haha thought to itself, ’No thanks. I’ve already emptied an entire bag of dog food from stress-eating just now!’

Gu Xiqiao rubbed Haha’s head with a worried expression. "Don’t you love this brand? Why aren’t you eating? Are you feeling sick?"

Jiang Shuxuan, who felt loved moments ago reminded himself, ’I knew it! There’s nothing in this world that I hate more than dogs!’

Haha, who has been emotionally neglected as of late smirked. ’Ahahahaha, look at this coquettish b*tch!’

Satisfied from being showered with concern, Haha began digging in on its favorite dog food. It gave Xixi a look that roughly translated as, "You jealous of me?"

"Chirp! Chirp chirp! Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!" (Slut! Tell me how you managed to seduce our Beauty Qiao!)

Haha slowly munched on its dinner. "Woof! Woof! Woof!" (Call me daddy then I’ll tell you how!)

Xixi answered immediately, "Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!" (Love me harder daddy!)

Haha shot the dumb bird a glance. "Woof woof woof woof woof woof woof!" (First, you’ll have to become a dog.)

Xixi: "..."

Now that Haha was eating, Gu Xiqiao stood up and spared Xixi, who was looking at her like a predator, a glance. She reached up to give it a gentle head rub. "Don’t snatch Haha’s food away, you got that?"

Xixi: "Okay."

’I knew it. I am adopted aren’t I?’ thought the feather ball.

Gu Xiqiao was about to speak to Jiang Shuxuan when her phone rang suddenly. Retrieving it from her pocket, she glanced down to find that it was a call from Professor Jiang. She answered the call.

"Professor Jiang?"

"I think you’ve had enough fun staying at home, haven’t you?" Professor Jiang had never met a student as unmotivated as Gu Xiqiao throughout his entire teaching career. She had the brains but for some reason, she refused to push herself beyond her own limits. But, he was partly at fault for this too. He gave her this task, with the assumption that she would never complete it. Now that she did, he had no choice but to keep his word and fulfil his promise of allowing her time off from school. He felt nothing but regret for doing so ever since. "A member of our alumni is coming back to hold a conference at the faculty building. He’s one of the most successful students our university has ever produced. You must come, you understand? Call me tomorrow!"

Before Gu Xiqiao could turn him down, he had already hung up the phone.

"..."

She suddenly recalled her exchange with Zhu Yuan. Was he the alumni member Professor Jiang was talking about?

A transparent board materialized in front of her, displaying everything there was to know about Zhu Yuan.

Name: Zhu Yuan.

Gender: Male.

Level: Grandmaster level healer.

***

What followed was Zhu Yuan’s achievements, including all his contributions to the international community. Gu Xiqiao was amazed by what she read. She knew that her System had a rating category that started with Starter Level, Intermediate Level, Advanced Level, Elite Level, Master Level, Grandmaster Level, and finally, God Level.

According to the system, most humans on Earth were under the Advanced level and Elite Levelers were as rare as a phoenix. Master levelers were almost non-existent and to her surprise, Zhu Yuan was a grandmaster?!

How old was he?

***

Zhu Yuan’s conference began at 9 am and ended at 11. Upon reaching the entrance of her university, Gu Xiqiao noticed how unusually crowded the place was. The people she met were all well-known practitioners who must’ve attended this event out of admiration for Zhu Yuan.

Finally, Gu Xiqiao understood how popular Zhu Yuan actually was. There wasn’t even the need for her to ask where the conference was being held; she arrived at the great auditorium by merely following the crowd.

Arriving just outside the hall, she did not expect the place to be so cramped. There were teams of police stationed there to maintain law and order. There was a circle of staff surrounding the entrance.

Upon closer inspection, she realized that one needed a ticket in order to get into the hall.

Gu Xiqiao did not have a ticket. She was about to give Professor Jiang a call before a voice came calling out to her from behind. "Ah, Student Gu, you’ve come too?! Hurry on in, students here don’t need a ticket to enter. Just flash them your ID card and they’ll let you in!"

Gu Xiqiao thanked her kind coursemate before heading into the hall. To her surprise, the people in the auditorium were much more orderly than what she saw outside. The students were all sitting according to their classes and upon locating her class, she walked towards her peers.

"Xu Jing, aren’t you in journalism? Why are you here?" Gu Xiqiao almost burst out laughing when she saw Xu Jing waving towards her amidst the sea of med students.

Xu Jing patted her seat clean before pointing towards the camera that was slung over her neck. "Come on, how could I overlook such an event?! Oh right, you must not have heard about Zhu Yuan’s rumors. Would you like me to fill you in on the details?"

"Thanks but no thanks." After all, there wasn’t anything that she didn’t know about Zhu Yuan now.

"Suit yourself." Xu Jing couldn’t hold back her excitement. "I’m all giddy whenever I think about meeting Zhu Yuan in person!"

Gu Xiqiao shot her a nonchalant glance. "What is there to be giddy about? It’s not like your a med student."

"Hey, what do you know? Zhu Yuan’s the most successful person this university has ever produced! His name spans the entire globe! Didn’t you see the row of foreign professors sitting in the front? Apparently they have all just landed here last night, just to participate in this conference." Xu Jing sighed. "Can’t you just let the man have his conference? I’m telling you, this is gonna be a once in a lifetime experience."

"Have you seen Sun Jiajia?" Xu Jing pointed in the direction of Sun Jiajia, who was seated two rows in front of them. "I heard she spoke with Zhu Yuan yesterday. That’s the reason why there are so many sitting beside her. They’re all hoping to get a chance to speak to Zhu Yuan. What do you think?"

Gu Xiqiao glanced at them. "Fools!"

"Ahhhhh! Look! Zhu Yuan looked over! He really looked over in her direction! I knew I should’ve sat with Sun Jiajia!" Xu Jing started yelling like a fangirl.

Gu Xiqiao, who was the one Zhu Yuan was smiling at, thought to herself, ’As I thought, a stupid idol has stupid fans!’