Restart Arc: Chapter 205 — Even Sweeping Can Cultivate!

Following the signposts, Mo Xing found Ryan Apartments. From a distance it looked like an ordinary red building, but as he drew closer, he could sense an extraordinary aura—as if a giant dragon were hiding beneath the soil of this very land, guarding the building with its power. It gave him an inexplicable sense of safety.

"One ninety-eight, one ninety-eight." Mo Xing counted the room numbers under his breath. It seemed there was no dormitory matron in this world, and the room numbers were arranged out of order, so he would have to search door by door.

"Huh?"

Mo Xing was drawn to a small sign hanging by a door, which bore four large characters—"Time Tunnel."

"So it's this room!" Mo Xing moved the sign aside and saw three numbers engraved on the door: 198.

"Ugh—I'm exhausted!"

Hearing the voice, Mo Xing turned around. A young man with a buzz cut, carrying two large bags of groceries, was walking over.

"Hello, need a hand?"

Mo Xing went over and greeted him.

"Thanks, but I only have a couple more steps to my dorm door." The buzz-cut man looked surprised at first, then broke into a smile. "You're a freshman, aren't you? I don't think I've seen you before."

"Yeah." Mo Xing nodded and gave his name. "I'm Mo Xing, a first-year."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Cai Hong, a second-year." The buzz-cut man smiled politely. "If you ever need help, feel free to come find me. I live right next door."

"Sure, thanks, senior." Mo Xing said.

"I'm off now! See you around!" Cai Hong chuckled and walked past with his things.

"Okay, see you next time!" Mo Xing waved.

After seeing off Senior Cai Hong, Mo Xing knocked on the door. There was no response. He knocked again, and only then did the door open. Mian Hua poked half his head out from inside.

"You're back so late—I thought you'd gone and thrown yourself into the lake!" Mian Hua pursed his lips, then after a moment's thought, added, "Hurry up and come in!"

"I'm not that fragile." Mo Xing paused, thinking about what had happened this afternoon. A man just had to tough things out and move on.

"This is our dorm: a living room, one big bedroom, a bathroom, and a balcony." Mian Hua said. "All the basic facilities are here."

"Pretty spacious." Mo Xing looked around, thinking it was much better than his old school dormitory. Although this world had no air conditioning, the room was filled with wind elemental energy. Stepping inside felt like strolling through a mountain valley—refreshing and pleasant.

"This is just the standard dorm, though. The ones next door are even fancier. I'll take you for a tour another day—" Before Mian Hua could finish, the door behind them was pushed open.

Mo Xing and Mian Hua turned around at the same time to see Cai Hong walking in, carrying two bags of groceries.

"Senior Cai Hong..." Mo Xing said in surprise.

"Well, well, long time no see!" Cai Hong also noticed Mo Xing.

"You two know each other?" Mian Hua looked back and forth between them, a flicker of something passing through his eyes.

...

A moment later.

"I told you! Why did you have to hang some sign on the door? I spent ages looking for the dorm!" Cai Hong barked.

"If I hadn't hung that sign, wouldn't you, with your terrible sense of direction, have gotten lost again?" Mian Hua shot back without mercy. "Just tell me—how many times last semester did you fail to find your own dorm? A hundred times, wasn't it?"

"Mian Hua, is your head stuffed with cotton or what?" Cai Hong laughed. "How could it be that many? Don't just make up numbers with your mouth!"

"Cai Hong, you know what? You're a rainbow—a gaudy, colorful rainbow!" Mian Hua said coldly. "A room number that easy to spot, and you still managed to get it wrong?"

"A rainbow is at least radiant and admirable, the envy of others! What about you? What kind of thing are you?" Cai Hong shot back.

"Whoa? You actually think of yourself as a rainbow? That's rich! Why don't you go ahead and call yourself a prince? A lofty, high-and-mighty prince!" Mian Hua smirked.

"Oh, you want to keep going, huh? I can see that after such a long vacation, your Dragon God Power hasn't grown much at all, has it, little bro?" Cai Hong sneered.

"You're the little bro! I'm older than you, and I'm a higher grade than you, so you're the bro of bros!" Mian Hua's face flushed with anger.

"Don't change the subject! Come on, why don't you tell me what level your Dragon God Power is now? Go on, share!" Cai Hong raised an eyebrow.

"None of your damn business!" Mian Hua yelled.

"Um, excuse me, you two..." Mo Xing, who had stayed out of the argument the whole time, suddenly spoke up.

"Mo Xing! You be the judge—who's in the right here?" Mian Hua and Cai Hong said in unison.

"Grrrrl~"

Mian Hua and Cai Hong furrowed their brows and looked at Mo Xing.

"I haven't had dinner yet. Do you guys have anything to eat?" Mo Xing asked, clutching his stomach.

...

A moment later.

"Wouldn't have guessed you'd actually be smart sometimes, stocking up food for the dorm." Mian Hua said, gnawing on a chicken leg.

"The cafeteria's so far, I can't be bothered to run back and forth." Cai Hong took a sip of his drink. "Keeping some extra food around—what's not to love?"

Having eaten his fill, Mo Xing looked at the warm, lively scene and thought to himself that this world was actually pretty interesting. The alcohol here was certainly potent—he'd only taken one sip and already felt tipsy. Sure enough, he really wasn't suited for drinking.

"So dizzy... Going to sleep first." The world before Mo Xing's eyes grew increasingly blurry, the voices faded, and he slowly sank into a deep slumber.

When Mo Xing woke up again, he found himself lying in bed. Someone had covered him with a blanket. He glanced at the clock on the wall—it was 5:30 in the morning. He couldn't fall back asleep, so he got up and went out to train.

"Cai... Cai Hong, the teacher's coming to get you, run..." When he passed Senior Cai Hong's bed, he was talking in his sleep.

"Cai... Cai Hong, don't let that girl trick you again..." When he passed Mian Hua's bed, he was also talking in his sleep.

Mo Xing smiled. It was a familiar feeling.

The few people living under the same roof—though they usually bickered and jabbed at each other, they would still help one another when it counted and wish each other well. This was the bond of dorm-mates, wasn't it?

...

In front of the Ryan Apartments entrance.

Mo Xing focused his mind, gathering power into his right hand. A faintly glowing energy rose from it, but dissipated after a moment.

"I can do it! I know I can!"

Mo Xing concentrated once more, preparing to gather his power.

Suddenly, a hand patted him on the shoulder from behind, startling him into a shout:

"A ghost!"

"Shh! Young man, keep your voice down." An aged voice came from behind him. "Don't disturb the other students' rest."

Mo Xing turned around and saw that the person was—

"Mr. Shen!"

Mo Xing exclaimed in surprise at the old man behind him.

"Young man, I told you, keep it down." Mr. Shen carried a broom and walked past Mo Xing. "If you've got nothing else to do, please move aside and don't get in the way of my sweeping."

"There are so many questions I want to ask you." Mo Xing said urgently, like an ant on a hot pan.

"Then don't come looking for me. Can't you see I'm busy?"

Mr. Shen replied coldly.

"Please, just hear me out!" Mo Xing called out.

Mo Xing quickly ran in front of Mr. Shen, but Mr. Shen ignored him and continued sweeping.

"Just two sentences!" Mo Xing pleaded.

"Go ahead, I'm listening." Mr. Shen murmured.

"Thank you for saving me earlier." Mo Xing said.

"Just a coincidence." Mr. Shen replied.

"With your skills, how could you possibly be just a janitor?" Mo Xing asked, puzzled.

"That's right, I'm just a janitor!"

Mr. Shen raised his head and said with a perfectly straight face. Mo Xing looked into his deep, profound eyes—like a bottomless abyss, filled with countless stories of grudges and grievances.

"Done asking? I need to get back to work."

Mr. Shen lowered his head and resumed sweeping with a bent back.

"Whoever you are," Mo Xing blocked his path, "can you teach me a thing or two?"

"Don't be silly, young man." Mr. Shen looked at Mo Xing, his eyes narrowing into slits. "I'm not a teacher. I can't teach you anything."

"Then... then I'll take you as my master!" Mo Xing said.

"Young man, go back to sleep." Mr. Shen smiled. "Not getting enough sleep affects your thinking."

"I'm serious!" Mo Xing insisted.

"Alright, alright, I'll teach you a move or two." Mr. Shen stopped his broom. "What do you want to learn?"

"How to control my own power?" Mo Xing asked.

"That's simple." Mr. Shen handed over the broom. "Hold this broom, and do as I say."

"A broom?" Mo Xing took the broom.

"That's right. Sweeping can help you control your power steadily." Mr. Shen nodded.

"Really?" Mo Xing said doubtfully. "Are you sure you're not just trying to get me to do your work?"

"Think of it as training." Mr. Shen said.

"Huh?" Mo Xing was even more confused.

"Follow my instructions," Mr. Shen cleared his throat, "sweep three times to the left, then three times to the right. Keep repeating."

Mo Xing felt a little helpless, but since he had no other way to control his power steadily, he could only do as he was told.

"Speed it up!" Mr. Shen called out.

Mo Xing quickened his movements.

"Faster!" Mr. Shen called again.

Mo Xing sped up his sweeping once more.

"Not enough, even faster!" Mr. Shen shook his head.

"Still faster?" Mo Xing swung the broom rapidly, feeling his body was reaching its limit.

"Yes!" Mr. Shen paused. "When I say throw, use all your strength to hurl the broom forward."

"Okay." Mo Xing kept sweeping, dust rising into the air. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew by, and he quickly shut his eyes tight to keep the dust from getting in.

"Throw!"

Hearing Mr. Shen's command, Mo Xing put every ounce of strength into throwing the broom. A dull "thud" echoed in the distance.

Mo Xing slowly opened his eyes. A small dent had been smashed into the wall on the right. Leaves drifted in the air, fruit lay scattered on the ground, and only the broom remained unharmed, lying off to the side.

"What just happened?" Mo Xing said in astonishment.

No one answered him. Mo Xing turned around and realized Mr. Shen was already gone.

"Mr. Shen, where are you?"

The distant bell tower chimed, birds chirped and chattered, and Mo Xing was the only one left on the street.

Mo Xing felt a power surging within his body. He spread open his palm, and a faint white light rose together with the sun on the horizon, flickering in midair—

I can control my power now!

============ Author's Note ============

I'm back!

After waiting so long, I still don't have ideas for new content, so I'm planning to revise from the beginning to look for inspiration (mostly because I have tutoring classes over summer break and no time to write).

I'm filling in the parts that weren't covered before, adding a lot of details and improving the overall story. There may be some repetition, and I hope you'll all bear with me and continue to support me.