Chapter 27: Brotherly Love

  When Wang Long brought the King of Ghosts back to the hospital, it was already past two in the morning. His mother, Liu Chu, was leaning on his grandmother's bed, exhausted and had fallen asleep. Wang Long waved his hand, releasing a strand of spiritual energy that enveloped his mother. He whispered to the King of Ghosts: "Ghost King, quickly lift the curse from my grandmother." The King of Ghosts replied: "Yes, master."

  He quickly spat out his own ghost pill, the ghost pill emitted a faint green glow in the dark sickroom, surrounding Wang Long's grandmother and rotating around her. A strand of black air emerged from Grandmother's body, which was sucked clean by the ghost pill. Five minutes later, no black gas could be seen emerging from Grandmother's body again. The Ghost King said to Wang Long: "Master, your grandmother's curse has been lifted, she will recover tomorrow, and I have absorbed some hidden diseases in her body, your grandmother's body will become healthier and healthier." Wang Long nodded and said: "Thank you, Ghost King, you can go back first, if there is anything else, I will find you again."

  The King of the Netherworld Ghosts responded with a nod, just as he was about to leave, Wang Long called out to him again, saying: "I hope you won't harm people indiscriminately from now on. If I find out that you've harmed anyone else, I won't let you off." The King of the Netherworld Ghosts nodded in response: "Master, rest assured, my cultivation of the Great Netherworld Technique only requires absorbing the yin energy of the dead from their graves, I absolutely dare not harm people." Wang Long waved his hand and said: "Go, if there's anything, I'll find you." The King of the Netherworld Ghosts responded with a "yes" before instantly disappearing in the hospital room.

  Wang Long saw his grandmother's complexion slowly improving, her originally pale and bloodless face gradually becoming rosier, and her breathing also gradually returning to normal. Not wanting to disturb her sleep, he moved his mother to a small bed beside her that was specially for serving patients, carefully covering both his grandmother and mother with the quilt before quietly leaving the hospital room. Standing outside the hospital's main entrance, he let out a gentle sigh of relief, finally resolving the issue with his grandmother, feeling very much at ease in his heart. Finding a small hill not far from the hospital, Wang Long set up a defensive array and began to cultivate, having also consumed quite a bit of his spiritual energy during the battle against the twelve fierce ghosts under the command of the Ghost King of Darkness; now that he had some time, he slowly cultivated and recovered.

  The next morning, Wang Long arrived at the ward, and his mother was feeding his grandmother. Seeing Wang Long come in, his mother happily said to him: "Little dragon, it's really strange, your grandmother can eat now, and this morning she even asked me to buy her favorite tangyuan for breakfast. The doctor has checked and said that your grandmother is fine now, just need to stay in the hospital for a few days of observation before being discharged." Wang Long also happily said: "Mom, that's great, you don't have to worry anymore." His mother said to him: "Since your grandmother is better now, go back to school and attend classes, don't delay your studies." Wang Long nodded and said: "Okay, mom, I'll go to school after a while."

  Sitting next to his grandmother, Wang Long said: "Grandma, you're old now, remember to rest more and buy things that are good for your body. Don't be stingy with money anymore." His grandmother smiled all over her face and said: "Little Dragon, I know you have a filial heart. The 20,000 yuan you secretly put under my pillow last time, I haven't used it yet. It's being saved for when you get married." Wang Long's eyes immediately welled up with tears as he advised: "Grandma, your grandson has grown up now. The money I gave you that day was earned from my part-time job. Please don't be stingy and use it to spend." His grandmother nodded comfortingly and said: "Yes, now these kids have all grown up so big. Thinking back, he was only this small before. In the blink of an eye, he's grown up so much." After saying that, she used her hands to gesture how small Wang Long used to be. Then, his grandmother and mother both started reminiscing about Wang Long's childhood. Wang Long listened for a while before getting up to return to school.

  Back to school, it was already noon. Wang Long returned to the dormitory and chatted with Gong Guang and a few others for a while before rushing to his afternoon classes. Gong Guang, Kong Yong, and Liu Wei all chose science courses, with Gong Guang in Class 4 of Grade 2, and Kong Yong and Liu Wei in Class 6 of Grade 2. Although the second year was divided into liberal arts and sciences, their dormitory remained unchanged, and the four still lived together in one dormitory.

  In the afternoon history and geography classes, the teacher specifically asked Wang Long to answer questions. Unexpectedly, Wang Long answered fluently, making the teachers of these two subjects feel very relieved. They thought that Wang Long was always absent from school and would fall behind in his studies. What they didn't know was that apart from attending classes, Wang Long spent all his free time practicing and self-studying high school courses. He had already memorized most of the high school textbooks with his photographic memory and ability to read a page at a glance. Now he sat in class just to hear more knowledge from the teachers that he hadn't encountered before.

  After class, Wang Long was stopped by Dongfang Lan before he could leave the classroom. Dongfang Lan pulled Wang Long to the flower bed beside the school playground and said: "Wang Long, why are you never in school? What are you busy with every day?" Wang Long smiled bitterly and said: "Actually, I also want to come to school for classes, but recently my grandmother was ill, so I went back to see her. Now that my grandmother's illness is better, I'm back in class." After chatting for a while, Dongfang Lan suddenly said to Wang Long: "Tomorrow is Saturday, and the girls in our dormitory are planning to have an outdoor barbecue activity. Will you join us?" Wang Long shook his head and said: "You're all girls, let me be the only boy, I won't go." Dongfang Lan thought for a moment and said: "How about this, we'll organize a joint outing with our dormitory and yours to have a fun outdoor barbecue, what do you think?" Wang Long thought for a moment and said: "If you can convince those in my dormitory, then I'll join you." Dongfang Lan blinked her lovely big eyes and said: "Okay, Wang Long, it's settled then. We'll meet at the school gate at 8 am tomorrow." Wang Long nodded and walked straight to his dormitory.

  After Wang Long left, Dongfang Lan took out her phone and dialed a number, a sly smile spreading across her face. After finishing the call, she smiled complacently.

  Here is the translation:

  After Wang Long returned to his dorm, Liu Wei grabbed Wang Long's hand and asked, "Wang Long, did anything happen today?" Wang Long shook his head and said, "Nothing happened, I just finished class." Gong Guang anxiously blinked his eyes on the side and reminded him, "What about after class?" Wang Long suddenly remembered the appointment with Dongfang Lan and said, "Right, Dongfang Lan told me that tomorrow four girls from their dorm are going to have a barbecue outdoors and asked if we want to go." Liu Wei anxiously asked, "Did you agree to go?" Wang Long said, "I didn't agree." The three roommates in the dorm let out a sigh of relief at the same time. Wang Long continued, "But I said that if you guys agree to go, then I'll go too." The three roommates immediately let out a long breath together. Liu Wei exaggeratedly patted his chest and said, "Why didn't you finish what you were saying in one breath? You're really making us anxious!" Wang Long asked suspiciously, "Did you guys already know about this?" Kong Yong smiled and said, "Yeah, Dongfang Lan told us earlier that if you don't go, the girls from their dorm won't participate in the barbecue with us. Boss, if you don't agree to go, we won't have a chance to get close to the beauties from their dorm." Wang Long gave the three of them a white eye and said, "So you guys are working together to trick me? I treated you guys like brothers, but now you're selling me out for some girls?" The three of them burst into laughter upon hearing Wang Long's words and started fooling around.

  Wang Long decided not to go out and practice tonight, and instead chatted with his three brothers in the dormitory, also savoring this rare tranquility. Liu Wei found a deck of cards and invited Wang Long and Gong Guang to play a game of "Fight the Landlord". Kong Yong was a well-behaved student who usually didn't participate in their card games, and often lectured them like an old teacher, saying that gambling was prohibited in school dormitories. He received many white eyes from the three brothers who played cards. Afterwards, he honestly took out a book and shook his head while reading.

  This time they played a game of drawing turtles, and Wang Long relied on his amazing memory to remember the position of each card. He wouldn't use his divine mind when playing cards with his dorm brothers, but just relying on this memory, Liu Wei and Gong Guang couldn't find a place to draw a turtle after two hours of fighting, and finally ended the battle.

  Wang Long felt extremely happy, as things happened one after another during this period of time. It had been a long while since he had played and joked around with his dormitory buddies like this. Suddenly coming across such an experience made Wang Long feel very comfortable and relaxed.

  Who doesn't want to live a happy and peaceful life every day? However, for Wang Long, such days are also very short-lived. As the saying goes: "The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility." Since he was fortunate enough to inherit Master Hualong's mantle, he must shoulder the unfinished mission of his master. Now that his skills are still shallow, wanting to complete this great mission is truly not qualified. What will happen on the road ahead?

  Wang Long lay on his bed, thinking about some things in his mind, and slowly fell asleep.