Chapter 9: I Heard You Were Sick? THIS Is What Being Sick Looks Like???
The Nine Great Saints gradually awakened.
They felt the power surging within their bodies and were overjoyed beyond measure.
They had all grown stronger.
Su Ning could sense it too — the aura emanating from the tiny figures...
Well.
Actually, he couldn't detect their aura at all.
But the light radiating from the little people had grown a bit brighter.
So they must have gotten stronger, right?
Su Ning stroked his chin and studied the Nine Great Saints.
After a moment's thought, he murmured, "They've gotten stronger, but I don't really feel any difference... It seems like I could still crush them with a single finger."
The little people had indeed grown stronger on their own terms, but standing before someone like Su Ning, they could still be crushed with a single finger.
The Nine Great Saints felt their cultivation soaring to new heights, yet in reality, this progress was to Su Ning what a single drop of water added to a pool — utterly imperceptible.
Seeing the little people had awakened, Su Ning saw no need to keep watch over them any longer.
They exchanged a few words, and the little people were naturally filled with gratitude toward Su Ning, though he didn't take it to heart.
He went off to tend to his own affairs.
He had originally intended to continue cultivating, but on second thought... completing a full Circulation Cycle would likely take him deep into the night, and skipping rest simply wouldn't do.
So he abandoned the idea.
With nothing to do, he felt at loose ends.
And so he simply grabbed a hoe, stripped off his shirt, and started tilling the earth.
Whoosh... thud...
Heave...
The hoe swung high and came crashing down with thunderous speed, burying itself deep into the soil.
He gave a sharp pull.
A massive clump of earth was wrenched free.
Thoom...
He swung the back of the hoe down to break it apart, and the great clod of dirt shattered.
A fresh, earthy scent drifted through the air.
It was deeply relaxing.
Tilling the earth was something Su Ning had done since childhood — his hands had never forgotten the craft.
Being close to the soil always brought a sense of quiet contentment.
"I've gotten stronger — my strength has increased a great deal," Su Ning said to himself with a smile.
Before he had started cultivating, even cutting grass would tire him out. Now he was tilling the earth with such ferocity, and it felt effortless.
He could genuinely feel the overall quality of his body improving once again.
Making a little progress every day was enough to make him happy.
It was a kind of... anticipation — the feeling that life would only keep getting better.
He had hope now.
"I wonder if my terminal illness has been resolved along with everything else. I really should find time to go to the hospital for a checkup," Su Ning said.
He felt better, but that was just a feeling.
More often than not, feelings could deceive you.
A lot of the time it was just psychological. To know whether there had been any real improvement, he would have to go to the hospital.
Huff... huff...
Huff... huff...
In one unbroken stretch, Su Ning had somehow tilled all the land surrounding the house.
He had been fast.
The sky had only just begun to darken.
It had probably taken him no more than an hour.
When it was all done, he was drenched in sweat.
"Even faster than when I was healthy!" Su Ning stared in a daze.
This was cultivation!!!
Though using cultivation to till the earth was a bit of a waste...
The thought made Su Ning feel a little embarrassed.
Other cultivators fought people, fought demons, fought heaven, fought earth, fought fate itself.
They strove for the Great Dao.
They crossed the narrow bridge of life and death.
Their battles were brutal and merciless.
And here he was, using cultivation... to till the earth.
If word got out, he'd be laughed out of the cultivation world.
Fortunately, in this world, it seemed no one else cultivated — only him.
But Su Ning quickly pushed those thoughts aside.
He was busy planning his land, imagining what vegetables he would plant.
"Cabbage here."
"Radishes there."
"Peppers in this patch."
"Cilantro here... hmm, cilantro is the greatest food in the world. It would be wonderful if the whole world were covered in cilantro."
"Strawberries in this section..."
Honestly, setting aside a city's infrastructure, education, and healthcare, farming in the countryside was quite enjoyable.
The more he grew accustomed to this leisurely life, the more Su Ning felt that his former self — desperately squeezing into the city — had been a little unhinged. What kind of future could someone like him, a corporate drone, really have in the city anyway?
Of course, he wasn't saying city life was bad — everyone's situation was different. He was only speaking for himself.
He set down the hoe.
Su Ning bathed.
Then went to sleep.
In the days that followed, he continued to cultivate, clear weeds, and till the earth...
Beyond the area around the house, there was a great deal of uncultivated land nearby.
Every day was full and satisfying.
During this time, Uncle Su Jianguo's family came to check on him occasionally, though they never stayed long. No one else visited, and his phone remained silent...
Su Ning grew stronger with each passing day.
But what frustrated him was that he still hadn't achieved a Breakthrough into the first layer of Qi Refining.
"Oh well, let nature take its course."
As his cultivation progressed, he found himself consuming more and more food.
The groceries he had bought were quickly used up.
He needed to restock on supplies.
"Seeds, rice, vegetables, meat... maybe some dairy products too?" Su Ning drew up a shopping list.
There was quite a lot to buy — far too much for one person to carry.
Not that he couldn't carry it, just that he couldn't fit it all.
"I'll have to borrow Uncle's truck to haul it all..." He folded up the list.
Su Ning headed toward his uncle's house.
Su Jianguo was a lean man in his fifties with dark, weathered skin.
Su Ning's uncle.
He bore a certain resemblance to Su Ning.
The Su family genes were strong — every member shared a few similar features, and you could tell at a glance they were family.
In his youth he had been all muscle and sinew, and even now in his fifties, you could still see traces of that sturdy build beneath his lean frame.
Don't let his age fool you — years of farmwork had left him looking more robust than many men half his age.
It was an ordinary two-story brick-and-tile house with a courtyard.
Su Jianguo was sorting through a load of corn stalks he had just hauled back from the fields. The three-wheeled cart was piled high — out in the countryside, nobody worried about overloading; the cart looked like an ant dragging an elephant, buried under the mountain of stalks.
Su Jianguo and his wife were unloading the corn stalks side by side, talking in low, somber tones.
Su Jianguo hoisted a bundle of stalks onto his shoulder, his clothes covered in corn dust and dried leaves — something most people couldn't bear.
The dust would cause skin rashes, an unbearable itch.
But Su Jianguo had long since grown used to it.
"Sigh... today the city hospital sent a notice saying Little Ning is sick... cancer, no less. Not much time left." Su Jianguo's expression was dark and heavy.
"No wonder he came back to the countryside. It wasn't entirely because of the breakup with Su Yi... I wonder if Su Yi's family knows about this."
Auntie Su scoffed, "Whether they know or not is none of our business. Little Ning is our family's child — we don't need anyone else sticking their nose in. Once you're done unloading, go check on Little Ning right away. He must be in a terrible state right now."
She had never quite gotten over the breakup between Su Yi and Su Ning.
"Poor child."
"Struck down by a serious illness, and not a single person by his side... sigh..."
Both of them were deeply worried about Su Ning.
"We'll go together once you're done."
He had suffered so much...
Losing both parents at such a young age, and now this...
Su Ning had no idea his uncle and aunt were talking about him.
He was on his way to their house.
He didn't feel like he was suffering at all.
In fact, he had been quite happy these past few days.
Free from the shackles of work, he had truly found himself again, his mind at ease.
"Ah..."
"Help..."
"Someone help..."
"Come quick..."
"Is anyone there!"
Just as he neared his uncle's courtyard, he heard Auntie Su crying out for help, and beneath it, the faint, pained groans of his uncle.
"Hm?"
Su Ning's face changed in an instant.
He sprinted into the courtyard.
He found his uncle pinned beneath a toppled, fully-loaded three-wheeled cart.
The man was completely buried, with only the top of his head visible above the pile.
"Uncle..."
Su Ning called out.
Panic overtook him and he didn't stop to think — he rushed forward in a flash.
"Little Ning, it's you... go find someone to help, you can't do this alone..."
Before Auntie Su could finish her words, Su Ning had already dropped into a half-squat, both hands gripping the underside of the overturned cart.
Rumble...
He strained.
The cart — heavy as a mountain — was lifted clean off the ground.
Heave...
He surged with force again.
Right before Auntie Su's stunned eyes, the cart left the ground entirely, shoved by Su Ning and sent rolling away to the other side.
With the cart cleared, Su Ning quickly checked his uncle's condition, asking urgently, "Uncle... are you alright?"
"Li... Little Ning... you... you..." Auntie Su, who had witnessed everything, pointed at Su Ning, too shocked to form a complete sentence.
It was simply too astonishing.
He... wasn't he supposed to be sick? Does this look like someone who's sick?
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