Nine Star Burden

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

During dinner, Jiang Xiao quietly opened the door while holding onto two pounds of cooked beef.

To his surprise, Han Jiangxue had already come out of her room and was standing at the entrance when he unlocked the door with the key. She was waiting for the return of Jiang Xiao who had “run away from home”.

At noon, Jiang Xiao decided to leave the house in order to avoid facing Han Jiangxue’s wrath.

Jiang Xiao tiptoed into the house and made eye contact with a pair of icy cold eyes. 𝐟𝐫𝗲𝙚ｗ𝚎𝐛𝙣𝐨𝙫𝘦𝗹.c૦m

“Ahem...” Jiang Xiao stopped trying to be sneaky and closed the door. “There you go.”

“Where did you get the beef from?” Han Jiangxue asked with a frown.

“I bought it, obviously. Otherwise, could I have possibly robbed an elderly lady for it?” Jiang Xiao retorted casually.

Han Jiangxue continued to ask, “Where did you get the money?”

“I made it, duh. Otherwise, could I have possibly robbed an elderly lady for it?” Jiang Xiao answered. f𝙧ee𝘄𝐞𝚋𝐧૦ѵeƖ.c𝘰𝓶

How did the elderly lady even get dragged into this?

Sensing that Han Jiangxue was about to attack again, Jiang Xiao hurriedly explained, “I went out to take a breather in the afternoon, and then I went to the hospital nearby and treated quite a few patients for free. In the end, the husband of an expectant mother was generous enough to give me 500 yuan. ”

1Han Jiangxue froze for a moment and thought, What in the world?

She had never once thought that the mischievous troublemaker Jiang Xiao would ever go out to make some money.

“You have no idea. That pregnant woman was sitting on the bench while waiting in line. She was feeling dizzy and nauseous. I heard that she threw up everything she ate and I really took pity on her, so I gave her some Blessings.” Jiang Xiao scratched his head and continued, “Her husband almost hit me, but his attitude became better after seeing that his wife was in a better mental state and had regained her appetite. He was very grateful to me and he insisted on giving me 500 yuan. He also said...”

Han Jiangxue raised an eyebrow and asked, “What did he say?”

Jiang Xiao scratched his head. “He also said he wanted me to go to his house to be his wife’s nanny and help her through confinement...”

5Dumbfounded, Han Jiangxue stared at Jiang Xiao and grabbed the beef. “Don’t go out and be mischievous again in the future. What if you end up making others ill?”

“True.” Jiang Xiao nodded, thinking that what she said did make sense.

He decided to avoid treating pregnant women in the future as far as possible. However, Jiang Xiao did manage to clinch a few deals in the afternoon. One of the more successful ones he helped was the child who had accidentally fallen off his bicycle and sustained abrasions on his elbow. Jiang Xiao helped to treat his wounds.

At that time, Jiang Xiao was startled. He saw a child laying in a pool of blood and scurrying into the hospital while crying and screaming. In fact, the situation was not too serious, for he had merely gotten some abrasions.

After giving the child some Blessings, he stopped bleeding.

However, Jiang Xiao still asked the boy to look for a professional doctor to have his wounds checked and dressed in order to avoid getting it infected. After the boy came out with a grin, Jiang Xiao pulled him towards the side.

Jiang Xiao continuously absorbed Star Power and would give the boy a Blessing every ten minutes. Within less than an hour, the boy’s wounds healed completely, and after rinsing it with water, Jiang Xiao realized that there wasn’t even a single scar.

2That gave Jiang Xiao a new idea. Could it be that the “Blessing” technique can get rid of scars?

Scar removal services targeted at women should bring in a good amount of money, eh? They will never scrimp and save when it comes to beauty.

Compared to regular medical methods, Jiang Xiao’s Star Technique was obviously faster, safer and painless.

Not only was it torment-free, but it was also comfortable too.

Hmm...

However, Jiang Xiao’s greatest gain from this trip was a better understanding of his “Blessing” technique.

The description of Blessing was a little vague—”Slowly Restores Target’s Vitality”.

What does Vitality even mean?

2At this juncture, Jiang Xiao knew that Blessing could help restore the target’s physical strength (An example was when Jiang Xiao was training and running), improve the target’s physical condition (the nauseous pregnant woman), and heal the target’s physical damage (the wounded child).

The so-called vitality was rather extensive. Although it was just a Brass Quality Star Technique, it was truly magical!

The only thing that he could not recover was his own mental state. Overusing this Star Technique would not only deplete his Star Power but also cause him extreme fatigue.

“Eat,” Han Jiangxue said while standing in the kitchen. Jiang Xiao knew that the matter that happened in the afternoon was over.

Han Jiangxue placed the minced beef on a plate and looked at Jiang Xiao as he entered. She said, “If there’s anything you want to eat in the future, let me know and I’ll go buy it for you.”

Jiang Xiao was speechless.

He suddenly felt like a kept man.

2The feeling... was really joyous.

1Jiang Xiao asked, “By the way, do you still have enough money?”

Han Jiangxue said, “This is not something that you should be concerned about.”

Jiang Xiao continued, “You’re already in Year Three and in no time, you’ll be attending university. Do we have enough money for you to attend university?”

1Han Jiangxue looked at Jiang Xiao in surprise and remained silent for a long time. “This is not something you should be concerned about.”

Jiang Xiao said, “We can...”

Han Jiangxue immediately interjected. “Hurry and eat. We’ll have to continue with the combat lessons in a while.”

Jiang Xiao answered, “Alright.”

“I have already told you how precious the Awakened of Medical caliber are. In the future, you should try to keep a low profile as far as possible.” Han Jiangxue thought about it and continued, “But you can’t hide it for a long time. You’ll eventually be exposed after you start going to high school. Besides, in order to get more resources, you can’t hide your Medical Star Technique and you even have to do your best to showcase your abilities.”

Jiang Xiao carefully thought about her words and bore them in mind.

Dinner proceeded smoothly, causing Jiang Xiao to think that Han Jiangxue’s anger had dissipated after the buffer period that lasted an entire afternoon. However, that was not the case. Although she didn’t show any displeasure, Jiang Xiao was beaten up by her even more brutally during the combat session, as compared to the one that took place yesterday.

Apart from the different strikes, fight stances and exertion methods, Han Jiangxue also exposed Jiang Xiao to footwork.

That also resulted in Jiang Xiao becoming her punching bag in the second half of the session.

While Han Jiangxue continuously bombarded him with her menacing strikes, Jiang Xiao’s “Defense” and “Dodge” abilities continuously improved, but of course, Jiang Xiao also clearly experienced “Resistance”.

Unfortunately, his Unarmed Combat technique stagnated at Brass Quality Level 2 and did not upgrade.

Learning from morning till night seemed to have become a routine that Jiang Xiao and Han Jiangxue followed for the next two days.

Jiang Xiao asked himself countless times, Why isn’t there a “Physical Fitness” technique in the third tab, Basic Technique? It would be great if I could increase my physical fitness using Skill Points.

Unfortunately, he had no choice but to train day and night.

Although Jiang Xiao had had a hard time the past few days, his body was still rather frail. Well, at least, his Star Power was still at Stardust Stage Level 2.

1Jiang Xiao’s fragile body could only carry a limited amount of Star Power and he dared not use it too many times in a row, for it would make him dizzy. Hence, he had to patiently re-condense Star Power and try to exert his Star Technique again. He had enough of the trouble.

The arduous regime had only been going on for two days, and in the evening of the next day, Han Jiangxue suddenly issued a new order.

“What? We don’t have to train in the morning tomorrow?”

“Yes.” Han Jiangxue threw her gloves onto the ground and turned around to leave the training room.

“You really don’t talk much, eh?” Jiang Xiao muttered as he glanced at Han Jiangxue’s back.

Jiang Xiao would never think that she had given up on him, be it because of her character or the relationship they shared. So... what is going on?

Work-life balance?

That was the most plausible reason Jiang Xiao could think of. However, he could soothe his own pain!

He didn’t need a balance between work and rest since his body could withstand it. All he needed was proper sleep for his brain to fully rest.

This thought gave Jiang Xiao determination.

Jiang Xiao was not Jiang Xiaopi. Jiang Xiao had better self-discipline and clearer goals. He knew the importance of grit and perseverance. Since he wanted to become stronger, he nonetheless got up on time the next morning and went out for a morning workout.

1To his astonishment, his workout caused him to land himself in trouble...