147: Chapter 147 Shen Guhong's Problem...

Early the next morning, Lu Cheng walked to the training ground where Shen Guhong usually stayed, as was his routine.

Mornings at Navigator Academy always carried a crisp chill; the streetlights on both sides of the main road had just gone out, and dew drops condensed from the night still lingered on the lamp shades.

Lu Cheng passed through the iron gate of the training ground and habitually glanced toward the spot where Shen Guhong usually stood.

"Not here?"

Lu Cheng muttered, raised his wrist to open his terminal, and sent a message to Shen Guhong.

He waited for half a minute.

No reply.

Lu Cheng frowned.

Using Seeking Good Fortune and Avoiding Bad Luck, he could faintly locate Shen Guhong's position.

The direction of that fluctuation was toward the west side of the academy, where the detached villas for the instructors were located.

"Playing dead in his room this early in the morning?"

Lu Cheng muttered this, but his feet had already changed direction, heading toward the residential area in the west.

The courtyard was small, enclosed by a red brick wall with half-dead vines crawling over the top. The gate was an old wooden door, its varnish peeling from years of exposure to the wind and sun.

Lu Cheng walked up to the door and knocked twice.

"Director Shen? Are you there?"

There was no sound inside.

He knocked twice more, using more force than before: "Director Shen!"

Still no response.

Lu Cheng reached out and pushed the door.

It wasn't locked; the hinges let out a dry creak as the entire wooden door swung inward.

A scent of alcohol mixed with the smell of paper rushed out to meet him.

Lu Cheng froze at the doorway.

The courtyard was littered with paper.

White manuscript paper, yellowed notebook pages, and several unrolled scrolls were scattered everywhere—some stacked together by the wind, some weighed down by stones, and others lying lonely in the cracks of the stone slabs.

The papers were densely covered in writing. Director Shen could still write even though he couldn't see???

Lu Cheng stepped over the threshold, carefully avoiding the papers on the ground.

He glanced down and saw that the content on the pages included diagrams of martial arts technique breakdowns, annotations for Source Power circulation routes, and some things he couldn't understand at all.

Wine jars were scattered haphazardly against the base of the wall...

Lu Cheng's brow furrowed deeper and deeper.

He walked deeper into the courtyard, bypassed a crooked jujube tree, and saw Shen Guhong.

Shen Guhong was lying on an old woven bamboo rocking chair, covered by a rumpled dark gray jacket. His hair was disheveled, and a layer of dark stubble had sprouted on his chin.

On the stone table next to the rocking chair were several empty wine jars stacked up. An unfinished bowl of wine sat on the tabletop, with a shallow layer of murky yellow liquid remaining at the bottom, a dead fly floating inside.

His aura was incredibly withered; his complexion was ashen, his lips were chapped, his breathing was shallow and rapid, and his chest barely rose and fell.

Lu Cheng stood beside the rocking chair, his lips moving, but no sound came out. What happened???

Shen Guhong's fingers twitched.

He sensed Lu Cheng's presence and slowly propped himself up from the rocking chair. The movement was very slow, as if he were lifting a heavy stone pressing down on him.

"You... are here?"

His voice was much hoarser than usual, as if his throat had been scraped by sandpaper.

"Sorry."

Shen Guhong kicked away an empty wine jar at his feet, reached up to gather his loose hair, and forced a smile, "Letting you see me in this state."

Lu Cheng stood there without speaking.

"Lately... I haven't been able to suppress that 'Qi' inside me anymore."

Shen Guhong leaned back against the rocking chair, his tone calm...

"I reckon my days are numbered."

When he said these words, a faint smile still hung on the corners of his mouth.

"I've been thinking these past few days about what to leave behind."

He bent down and fished out a notebook from the ground beside the rocking chair.

The notebook looked very old, with a dark red cover, worn-out white edges, and a crookedly braided black string tied around it.

The moment Lu Cheng's gaze fell on that notebook, his pupils shrank violently.

Inside the notebook contained an extremely condensed fluctuation of blood energy, Source Power, and a fluctuation of martial will!

"This is my entire life's realization of martial cultivation—my entire legacy is in here."

Shen Guhong held the notebook out toward Lu Cheng.

"I am very fortunate."

He turned his head, his blindfold facing Lu Cheng's direction, "To have a student like you in the end."

"Pah, pah, pah!"

Lu Cheng slapped away the notebook he was offering, his expression as rigid as an iron plate.

"What are you talking about? Don't say such ominous things."

His voice wasn't loud, but his tone was very firm.

"Medical technology is so advanced now; what can't be treated? What kind of physical problem can't be handled by the top-tier equipment in the academy?"

Shen Guhong shook his head.

He didn't speak, just raised his hand and pulled off the black blindfold.

The moment the blindfold slipped off, a majestic Dragon Might burst forth from his eyes.

The air was pushed violently outward by this aura; the papers scattered on the ground in the courtyard were all blown up into the air with a rustle, and the wooden door on the wall that hadn't been closed tightly slammed against the wall with a bang.

The empty bowl on the wine table shook twice, tumbled off the edge, and shattered on the stone slab.

It was also at this moment that the Dragon Scale Holy Armor inside Lu Cheng was suddenly activated.

Shen Guhong didn't notice the change in Lu Cheng.

He closed his eyes again and retracted that Dragon Might.

The papers that had been blown up in the courtyard drifted slowly back to the ground, and the sense of oppression in the air slowly ebbed away.

"This aura is constantly eroding my body."

Shen Guhong tied the blindfold back on, his voice even hoarser than before, "I cannot absorb it, assimilate it, or use it."

"Over these past few years, I have declined from the peak of the War King Realm to where I am now. My body is getting worse day by day, and I can only barely maintain myself at the edge of the War King Realm."

"A while ago, this aura started to become more restless."

"I have vaguely been unable to suppress it. I was thinking that before I die, I could leave something behind."

He pushed the red-covered notebook over again.

Lu Cheng looked down at the notebook, then looked up at Shen Guhong.

His expression was strange. According to common sense... this thing was Shen Guhong's fortuitous encounter... but opportunity and risk coexisted...

Although Lu Cheng wasn't sure what kind of fortuitous encounter this thing was... however... the aura it emitted seemed to be something the Dragon Scale Holy Armor could absorb, which might just help Director Shen solve the problem at hand.

"Wait a moment."

Lu Cheng pushed the notebook back.

"I can help you."

Shen Guhong went stiff for a moment.

He turned his head, his blindfold facing Lu Cheng, and his lips moved: "Wh... what?"

The thing in his eyes was something even the three great deans were helpless against.

Lu Cheng said he had a way?

Lu Cheng nodded: "I can try."

He didn't explain much, took two steps forward, and pressed his palm onto Shen Guhong's shoulder.

The scales of the Dragon Scale Holy Armor emerged from the back of his hand, and golden-white light patterns spread forward from his fingertips. The moment they touched Shen Guhong's shoulder, it was like a burning coal falling into snow.

Sss...

A visible, dark red mist was drawn out from Shen Guhong's eyes along the position of his shoulder.

The Dragon Scale Holy Armor was absorbing it.

Lu Cheng could clearly feel that the aura surging over from Shen Guhong's body was some kind of extremely high-level Dragon Origin, violent, manic, and carrying a kind of unreasonable desire for destruction.

And the Dragon Scale Holy Armor, like a sponge soaking up water, swallowed that dark red aura all at once.

Ten minutes later...

Lu Cheng took his palm off Shen Guhong's shoulder.

Shen Guhong's breathing slowly stabilized, and the rise and fall of his chest deepened.

He raised his hand and gripped the air... his own strength had also recovered a portion...

The rampaging Dragon Might in his body had been partially extracted, though not completely cleared. But it had already retreated from the state of being about to burst the dam back to a relatively safe range.

His originally withered aura visibly rebounded by a notch.

Lu Cheng flexed his fingers.

The Dragon Might that the Dragon Scale Holy Armor had swallowed was slowly circulating in his meridians, not yet fully digested, but he could feel... this thing was highly nourishing for him.

"It will probably take another half a year for this aura to recover to its previous concentration."

Shen Guhong remained with his hand raised in a gripping motion, not moving. He was silent for a long while.

"It's fine, I'll just come again when the time comes," Lu Cheng replied, his tone quite relaxed.

Shen Guhong picked up the red-covered notebook and handed it to Lu Cheng again.

"You take this."

He paused, "I have no wife or children in this life, so keeping it is just a waste. I hope it can be of some help to you."

Lu Cheng looked at the notebook but didn't take it immediately.

A War King Realm powerhouse's lifelong martial cultivation realizations—something like this, if placed outside, would drive the entire black market crazy and make people fight tooth and nail to snatch it.

"Thank you, Director Shen."

Lu Cheng took the notebook, cupped his hands, and bowed earnestly.

The moment he held the notebook, the martial will sealed inside traveled up through his fingertips. It was heavy, solid, carrying a sharpness like a blade pressed against the skin, along with a stubborn refusal to accept fate.

Shen Guhong waved his hand and lay back down on the rocking chair.

"Alright, get lost and go train. Don't be late tomorrow."

His voice was still hoarse, but his tone had regained some of his usual style.

Lu Cheng chuckled, tucked the notebook into his clothes, and turned to walk toward the courtyard gate.

When he reached the door, he turned back and glanced at the papers scattered all over the courtyard, then looked at Shen Guhong, who was lying on the rocking chair starting to reach for a wine jar.

"Director Shen."

"Hmm?"

"Drink less wine; you are still injured..."

Shen Guhong waved his hand, signaling him to hurry up and leave.

Lu Cheng walked out of the courtyard and closed the old wooden door behind him.

The hinges let out another dry creak, and the moment the door panels closed, he heard a very light laugh from Shen Guhong inside the courtyard.

His terminal vibrated.

Lu Cheng raised his wrist to take a look; it was a message from Mei Wushuang.

"The contract is ready; come over today to sign it. The procedures with the Education Bureau have been completed; we can discuss the specific details when you come over."

A location was attached at the end—the conference room on the third floor of the administration building.

Lu Cheng snapped the terminal back onto his wrist, stored Shen Guhong's martial legacy into his system space, and then walked toward the location.