208: Chapter 208 No Ifs (Part 1) 208: Chapter 208 No Ifs (Part 1) Two hurricanes traveled towards the snow waves, their power as immense as clouds swept away by the wind, but they were, after all, man-made maneuvers.
The massive avalanche before them, however, could be described as a disaster-level natural calamity.
The hurricanes scattered the snow waves in their path to both sides, but the trend of the avalanche not only didn’t decrease, it intensified.
The incessant waves of snow rolled on like a river, one after the other.
Wang Kai struggled to hold on, with Kui Tuo Si and Phobos transferring their Inner Strength to him, but to no avail against the encroaching snow.
As the waves drew less than a hundred meters away, Ye Shikai bellowed, using all his Inner Strength to form several barriers.
These barriers couldn’t stop the snow waves but merely slowed them.
“Everyone, jump!” Ye Shikai shouted, his Inner Strength nearly depleted, his body on the verge of exhaustion.
The raging snow wave directly crushed the barriers and charged towards them…
With his Inner Strength exhausted, Ye Shikai passed out at the moment of the impact, his last conscious sensation being that of a hand grasping him…
“Am I dead?” Darkness filled Ye Shikai’s sight, bottomless, but he faintly saw a glimmer of light in the distance.
Ye Shikai struggled to stand and moved toward the light.
“Why does it hurt so much?” Ye Shikai barely moved his leg when intense pain pierced his brain, causing him to gasp from the agony.
His body was full of injuries, with several fractures.
“Why is there no Inner Strength?” Ye Shikai tried to circulate his Inner Strength only to find his meridians and Dantian completely void of it, as if drained dry.
Without Inner Strength, Ye Shikai couldn’t heal his wounds or use the Storage Ring.
“Sword Spirit, are you there?” Ye Shikai asked in his mind, but the silence was like a stone sinking into the sea—no one answered.
Ye Shikai’s mood sank; without Inner Strength, he was like any ordinary person.
Struggling to rise, Ye Shikai limped towards the light, and just as he approached, a blinding brightness forced his eyes shut…
“Ye Shikai, answer this question for us.” A voice echoed in Ye Shikai’s ears.
He abruptly opened his eyes and looked around.
The familiar uniform, blackboard, desk, and the girl he hadn’t seen in years to his right…
Isn’t this a high school classroom?
“Ye Shikai, are you even listening to the lecture?” Ye Shikai snapped back to reality; a teacher was glaring at him fiercely.
Ye Shikai looked at his uniform, feeling uncomfortable, wondering how he had become a student again.
“Um…I don’t know.” Ye Shikai stood up in shock, stammering.
Looking at the problem on the board, it had been years since he last touched textbooks.
“Nevermind, sit down,” the teacher sighed and waved Ye Shikai down.
“What the hell is going on?” Ye Shikai touched his face; it completely felt like his high school self.
Pinching his arm hard, he felt pain.
“Kai, what’s wrong with you?
You seem off,” a voice rang out.
Ye Shikai slowly turned his head and the moment he saw the girl, tears streamed down his face, smiling through the tears.
“Xin, I’ve finally seen you again.” Filled with emotion, Ye Shikai couldn’t help moving forward to embrace the girl tightly.
“Hey, Ye Shikai, get out of here,” the girl Ye Shikai embraced was his first love, Chen Yuxin.
In high school, she left without a word, leaving Ye Shikai heartbroken.
He hadn’t expected a reunion here, but now…in the middle of a class.
A piece of chalk drew a perfect arc in the air and hit Ye Shikai’s head squarely.
The tragic Ye Shikai was sent out by the teacher to stand as punishment, yet throughout the class, his gaze stayed on Chen Yuxin through the window, until the bell signaled the end of the period…
“Kai, what were you doing just now?
The whole class was laughing at me.” Chen Yuxin pushed Ye Shikai away with some coquettish anger, her cheeks burning red.
She had been embraced by Ye Shikai in front of everyone, yet her heart fluttered like a startled fawn.
“Sorry, Xin, I got a bit carried away.” Ye Shikai was a bit embarrassed, realizing that, given the situation, he was just a high school student now.
“What’s there to get excited about?
We see each other every day.” Chen Yuxin smiled angelically, her pale hand gently reaching towards Ye Shikai’s cheek.
Ye Shikai shook his head and suddenly, Su Qingyu’s face appeared before him.
“Don’t.” Ye Shikai shouted, pushing Chen Yuxin’s arm away.
“Ouch, you hurt me.” Chen Yuxin’s arm hit the corner of the desk, turning slightly red.
“Sorry, I’m just not myself.” Ye Shikai instinctively tried to channel his Inner Strength to heal her, only to remember that it was gone.
“Never mind, I forgive you.” Chen Yuxin waved her little hand, passing a water glass to Ye Shikai.
“Hmm, as a punishment, you help me pour a glass of water.”
While Ye Shikai was pouring the water, Su Qingyu’s face continued to pop up in his mind.
What on earth was going on?
He looked down at his somewhat faded school uniform, finding it hard to believe.
Ye Shikai tried to call on his Blade Spirit, but there was no response.
Unaware, the scalding hot water had already spilled out…
“Look at you, so careless.
You used to love to roughhouse, and now you can’t even pour water without getting burned.” Chen Yuxin took out a first-aid kit, retrieved some burn ointment, and carefully applied it to him, all the while scolding him.
Ye Shikai watched as Chen Yuxin seriously applied the ointment, feeling the touch of her small hand on his skin, everything felt so familiar.
In the past, every time Ye Shikai got into fights with other students at school and ended up covered in bruises, he didn’t want his mother to see, so it was always Chen Yuxin who applied ointment for him.
By the time school let out, the bruises would have mostly faded.
Flipping through a textbook he couldn’t understand at all, Ye Shikai felt very conflicted.
He hoped he would wake up from this dream, yet he hoped it would never end…
When school was over, Chen Yuxin suddenly grabbed Ye Shikai’s sleeve, looking a bit excited, a bit hopeful.
“There’s a new restaurant that opened in the city center, let’s go there for dinner tonight, okay?”
“Okay.” Ye Shikai nodded.
They packed up their textbooks and headed straight for the school gate.
From a distance, they saw a group of students blocking the entrance, as if waiting for someone.
Ye Shikai recognized the leader, a guy named Gou Dong, who was an admirer of Chen Yuxin.
After learning about Ye Shikai’s connection with Chen Yuxin, he had constantly targeted Ye Shikai.
Of course, Ye Shikai also found him extremely disagreeable, and every time he addressed him, he liked to add a “Xi” to his name.
“Ye Shikai, you stop right there.” Sure enough, Gou Dong intercepted the two of them.