CHAPTER 19: CHAPTER 18: THE LEGEND OF THE DOUBLE BLACK

"Teacher Yang!" Li Xing was surprised, "You actually eat too?"

Yang Zhou raised an eyebrow. Was that even human speech? If he didn’t eat, what would he do?

"Uh, what I meant was, do you also eat at the dining hall?"

Teachers were a prestigious profession in Datang City, with high salaries and good benefits, living quite a privileged lifestyle, generally looking down on dining hall stews. Plus, being an upper-city aristocrat, he didn’t have to be so modest.

"It’s free, might as well eat it."

Ha, turned out they were fellow-minded. Li Xing thought Yang Zhou had a high level of awareness, so she wouldn’t hold a grudge over him whipping her in class.

Li Xing ordered a meal set and ate while stealing glances at Yang Zhou. She discovered the staff’s ordering system was different from the students’. Because Yang Zhou flipped through ten pages of the menu before leisurely clicking a few times, then a steak, a salad bowl, and a glass of wine instantly appeared on his table, while her menu had only two pages, all set meals.

"Teacher Yang, that steak looks really good. What kind of Star Beast’s meat is it?"

Yang Zhou smirked, "Mid-tier Brisket Beef."

"Mid-tier, awesome! I’ve grown up and never had mid-tier Star Beast Meat. Is it delicious?"

The little girl looked at him with sparkling big eyes, and suddenly Yang Zhou felt a bit rude but couldn’t figure out where this damn guilty feeling came from. He wasn’t sharing a table with the students; each was eating their own food—is there anything wrong? What was going on today?

"Next time... I’ll treat you."

Li Xing’s eyes lit up and quickly said, "No next time! How about this time?"

Looking at the colossal meal set in front of Li Xing and then at her thin frame, Yang Zhou seriously said, "It’s shameful to waste food. You finish what you ordered first."

"Alright!" Li Xing wiped out the colossal meal set like a whirlwind, then very naturally picked up Yang Zhou’s untouched steak and started feasting.

An operation fierce as a tiger left Yang Zhou dumbfounded, and before he could finish being surprised, Li Xing had already finished the battle and was eagerly eyeing his salad.

Yang Zhou pushed the salad bowl forward, thought for a moment, and simply turned the ordering screen around, letting Li Xing order herself.

Yeah ho—!

Teacher Yang is truly a great person!

Li Xing quickly ordered six staff meals and, under Yang Zhou’s increasingly horrified gaze, ate and drank clean. After a satisfied belch, Li Xing was finally fulfilled, touching her belly slumped on the chair.

Yang Zhou was suffocating. This little thing wasn’t a garbage can turned human, was she? That was too much capacity!

"Weren’t you adopted? Did the family not let you eat your fill?" He knew Li Xing’s situation from her detailed enrollment application.

"How could they!" Although Li Xing now saw Yang Zhou in a very favorable light, she couldn’t let him misunderstand Li Yi and Anna, so she quickly explained.

"My usual meal size is normal; it was only because Teacher Yang’s training today was so rigorous that I expended massive physical energy, so I ate more."

So eating a lot, blame him then?

Yang Zhou elegantly sipped some wine and said, "To tell you the truth, today was the first lesson of the semester. It’s the lightest training throughout the term; it will only get tougher afterward, so be mentally prepared. If you lose 100 points, you will be expelled, even if you have Primordial Spirit aptitude."

"Uh-huh, got it."

Yang Zhou initially thought Li Xing would put on a miserable look, or perhaps try to charm him for special treatment. Her reaction was a bit unexpected for him.

"Did you use all your strength today?"

"Of course, I used every ounce of strength."

Looking at Li Xing’s rosy complexion, Yang Zhou squinted his eyes.

He was not one of those who just muddled through teaching; he had been on the battlefield, cleansed by years of iron and blood and well aware that when one’s physical strength reaches its limit without external help to ease it, muscles would stiffen and refuse to obey, with dizziness, nausea, and no appetite, lasting at least a few hours to alleviate.

Just after class, Li Xing was lively as ever, feasting without heed, defying logic. Either she hadn’t exerted full effort, or she had a remarkably unique physique with amazing recovery. He focused on Li Xing’s performance in class all the while, absolutely not as if she was holding back, so it must be the latter.

Despite Yang Zhou’s disdain for racial supremacist rhetoric, he couldn’t deny that certain individuals with such ancestry exhibited inexplicable mythical phenomena.

Yang Zhou’s gaze gradually deepened, and he suddenly wanted to know how much potential this child truly possessed.

"Li Xing, if you can take first place in the final exams besides the scholarship, I’ll also apply to the school to upgrade your student meal ordering system to the staff version."

"Really?"

"Really. So, do you have the guts to take the challenge?"

"Of course! Thanks to Teacher Yang’s high expectations, I’ll definitely strive!"

Initially, Li Xing thought having a free dining hall to eat was happiness itself, but after experiencing the deliciousness of a teacher’s meal, she found people’s desires were endless. Having tasted fine grain, she couldn’t bear coarse fodder anymore. She desperately wanted to enjoy staff meals every day!

"I’m very confident in myself. Teacher Yang, just wait for my good news!"

Nonchalantly ordering herself a staff nutrient solution drink, Li Xing said, "Teacher Yang, can I ask you a question?"

"Speak."

"What is double black?"

Yang Zhou was slightly taken aback. Did she hear what he said on the field today about double black? At that time, she was already on the other side of the field, far apart. Without spiritual power, it couldn’t be done. But he recalled Li Xing’s qualification test showed her spiritual power was none.

Yang Zhou’s gaze slightly astonished, releasing a massive spiritual power probe, whirlwinding like an arrow towards Li Xing, stopping abruptly a few millimeters away from her temple. Li Xing showed no change at all.

Yang Zhou was slightly disappointed. The child had no instinctive response to spiritual attacks, indicating there wasn’t a detection error.

Li Xing’s heart stirred. Just now, Yang Zhou used spiritual power on her, the feeling indeed akin to Divine Sense but without the power of the latter. Spiritual power seemed like a simplified version of Divine Sense.

Li Xing didn’t instinctively defend because she didn’t sense any hostility from Yang Zhou. Using spiritual power on her was merely a test.

Yang Zhou’s combat might be formidable, but his spiritual power was just small compared to Li Xing’s Golden Core Stage Divine Sense; even if he truly attacked her, he might suffer backfire.

Yang Zhou asked, "Who did you hear from?"

Li Xing replied, "At noon in the dining hall, some classmates were discussing me, and I overheard."

Ah, that explained it. Yang Zhou realized he’d overthought. The Element Testing Instrument couldn’t be faulty; he doubted Li Xing had spiritual power! Despite being another double-black member, he’s always been deeply perplexed by this ancient through modern-day mysterious devotion.

Yang Zhou explained, "Double black refers specifically to people like us with black hair and black eyes."

Sipping wine, Yang Zhou continued, "Are you familiar with Qianyuan’s Thirty-six Sages?"

Li Xing nodded.

"The Thirty-six Sages are the gods of the Qianyuan Continent. Legends say they came from another world, bearing the mission to save the Qianyuan Continent. Each had black hair and black eyes, charming looks, broad-minded wisdom, and boundless mana. At that time, Qianyuan people were being eaten by Star Beasts until only one tribe remained. As saviors, the Thirty-six Sages established shelters for the frail Qianyuan people, teaching them spells using Elemental Power to resist Star Beast attacks."

"Among the sages, a few developed feelings while interacting with Qianyuan people, pairing with them and leaving descendants. Five hundred years later, Qianyuan people had learned much useful knowledge and spells from the Thirty-six Sages, capable maturing independently, prompting the Thirty-six Sages to leave the Qianyuan Continent, disappearing without a trace."

"In the millennia following the Thirty-six Sages’ departure, the most dazzling geniuses documented shared the same black hair and eyes. Thus, the supreme lineage of double black bloodline theory began circulating among the populace."