None of these young men, who were originally in great danger, lost their lives. Luo Jiujiang had not led this team, but he had brought them all back.

After the incident, Luo Jiujiang had a fever for three days because of the inflammation of the wound. After his fever subsided, the Luo clan leader personally pulled him out of bed and beat him up, extending his expected seven-day rest period to half a month.

When Han Qianling applied medicine to him, he once asked him what he was thinking. Luo Jiujiang rubbed his eyebrows and gave a helpless bitter smile.

"They were almost surrounded by the fish, and I felt I could still hold on. What else could I do but charge in? They were about to die, and there was no point in thinking."

There is really nothing good he wants, but if you can handle it, just go for it.

And this person always holds his own in front of outsiders. Han Qianling grabbed the other person's shoulders and felt Luo Jiujiang naturally put most of his weight on him.

In front of him, he didn't need to "block" or "hold up". Han Qianling thought calmly. It was rare for him to have such a peaceful mood. The peace was even a little warm and happy: Because I am not an outsider.

He needed to hold himself up in front of those people because they were outsiders, because they needed him to be strong, smart, and resilient. Han Qianling thought: But I don't need that, I just need him to be Luo Jiujiang.

He helped Luo Jiujiang to the bed, and before he could help him take off his boots, the other party had already fallen into a deep sleep due to extreme fatigue and familiar environment.

Han Qianling's gaze passed over Luo Jiujiang's dark eyelashes, and he subconsciously turned the string of Buddhist beads in his hand that exuded a faint woody fragrance, revealing a smile that reached his eyes.

——————————

The smile had vanished by the time Han Qianling entered his bedroom. He sat cross-legged on his bed, assessing his own state and deciding that this was the perfect time to do it.

The Buddhist beads that he almost never took off his wrist were gone. He had just put them far enough away that if he really couldn't control himself, he hoped that the beads would be kept.

In fact, if things had reached the worst point, it would have been completely meaningless whether that thing was kept or not, but he just inexplicably, persistently, and even he himself could not understand why he hoped that it would continue to exist.

Having made up his mind, he began to concentrate on his Yuan and the spiritual energy in his meridians flowed skillfully and spontaneously, circling around his body for two rounds before flowing into his Dantian.

At this moment, the nearly saturated spiritual energy in his dantian, carrying the newly injected part, surged throughout Han Qianling's body, filling the eight extraordinary meridians, and some invisible barrier silently broke -

The seventh level of Qi Refining is broken.

If spiritual energy made a sound when breaking through an obstacle, Han Qianling would have heard a long, audible explosion—because that sound was actually three consecutive sound waves stacked together. He didn't ascend from the seventh level of Qi Refining to the eighth, but went straight from the seventh level to the foundation-building stage.

A fourteen-year-old foundation-building cultivator is considered a genius no matter which world he is in.

Then there was no joy on Han Qianling's face. On the contrary, his face was pale and miserable. Beads of sweat the size of beans covered his forehead and rolled down his nose. He opened his eyes, and they were full of struggling madness.

As expected, he felt an endless, empty, almost maddening hunger and hatred.

Luo Jiujiang had once commented on the color of Han Qianling's eyes, which weren't pure black, but rather had a hint of blue deep within. However, at this moment, Han Qianling's eyes were bloodshot, and the depths of his eyes seemed to be filled with a gloomy bloodshot color.

He looked at the pots of plants placed in front of his bed. Wherever his gaze passed, the plants withered and died, as if all their spiritual energy had been drained away by some invisible existence. Even the spiritual soil in the pots turned into a handful of dry yellow sand.

This sudden change happened in just a flash, but there was no emotion in Han Qianling's eyes. His face was colder than ever before. There was no positive emotion on his face anymore, only hunger, an endless and long hunger.

If Han Qianling still had a little bit of rationality at this time, he would tell others that this was not hunger, but hatred.

The strongest hatred feels like hunger.

He wanted to devour everything, wipe out everything, whether it was a flower, a pot of soil, a lake, or a piece of clan land... and he could indeed devour everything.

The first thing he did after being pulled out of the cave was to let the elegant and majestic scenery of Beixue Garden wash over him.

Luo Cang stretched out his hand and brushed it over his body, unlocking the last blockage of his sense of smell. He said slowly, "Your friend was here before and drew lots for you in the Seven Islands Competition."

"Oh, he must be getting impatient." Luo Jiujiang clenched his fists and clapped his hands. "Master, how many days have passed since I went in? How many times has Qianling come here?"

"Four days. Once."

"That's unlikely..." Luo Jiujiang rubbed his nose and glanced at Luo Cang quietly, "Master, Qianling is very sullen and has a good personality. Don't take the opportunity to bully him."

The situation was no longer the same as when the three of them first met. Luo Jiujiang and Luo Cang had developed a close relationship as master and disciple. Because of this, Luo Jiujiang dared to speak frankly about whatever was on his mind.

Luo Cang was practically pissed off by his disciple's words: "So sullen? That kid was arguing with him, and when he was trying to be nice with the last sentence, it was because he, Luo Jiujiang, hadn't seen it!" As for the three words "good personality," it was sheer nonsense. He was just an "angry kid," and it was a good thing he hadn't exploded yet. How could he be called on to have a personality?

Now Luo Cang had to admit that his apprentice had a good understanding, excellent talent, and an open mind, but his eyes might be a little blind.

He looked at his completely innocent disciple who had no idea what alien species were and sighed silently in his heart.

Strictly speaking, alien species can be said to be similar to demon species, but demon species are not alien species.

The author has something to say: Thank you for the rocket launcher x2

Thanks to a silly cat for the mine x8

Thanks to Wusuoyo for the mines x2

Thanks to Zhen Ni Ma for sleeping till dawn mine x1