C5 Contrast

"Ah..."

In the next moment, a piercing scream suddenly erupted, causing many onlookers nearby to involuntarily flinch. It wasn't the terrifying nature of the scream that shocked them, but the fact that it came from someone they never expected. Instead of the person they initially thought would cry out, it was Zhou Yang.

Zhou Yang was the one screaming.

There he was, lying on the ground, rolling back and forth in apparent agony. His face was pale, drenched in cold sweat, and he was letting out gut-wrenching screams that echoed around him.

"What’s going on?"

The crowd surrounding the scene stood in stunned silence, unable to comprehend what was happening. If they hadn't been certain that Zhou Yang's screams were genuine, they might have thought he was just putting on a show to entertain them.

"What happened?"

"Zhou Yang, who had the upper hand and initiated the attack, suddenly fell to the ground and started rolling around. And those screams... they’re as if he’s in unbearable pain, like a stuck pig..."

"This is unbelievable, like something out of a dream..."

As the crowd stood in shock, their eyes turned to Xiao Tian. He retracted his outstretched finger and, with a still somewhat stunned Qin Wudi, continued walking toward the center of the market.

Could it be that Xiao Tian's strength had returned?

Many couldn't help but entertain this thought. After all, they couldn't imagine any other scenario where Xiao Tian, who was considered a lost cause with shattered energy channels and a broken elixir field, could have left Zhou Yang in such a state.

Wait a minute... Shattered energy channels and a broken elixir field are problems even the elders with Kingbane-level strength in the sect couldn't solve. Although Xiao Tian was once quite powerful, it seemed impossible for him to recover his strength.

Could it be that Zhou Yang had a mishap with his cultivation method and lost control, and it just happened to backfire when he attacked Xiao Tian?

That must be it! This explanation seemed the most plausible.

Xiao Tian's luck was just too good for such a situation to occur. With this in mind, many in the crowd looked at Xiao Tian with a mix of curiosity and disbelief.

At that moment, no one wanted to believe that Xiao Tian's strength had returned.

...

"Xiao Tian, has your strength really come back?" Qin Wudi asked curiously after walking alongside Xiao Tian for a while, while many others assumed Xiao Tian had simply gotten lucky.

"No..." Xiao Tian shook his head. Although his meridians were severed and his elixir field shattered, he knew it wasn't beyond repair. However, fixing it quickly was another story.

"Oh? Then how did you manage to deal with Zhou Yang so effortlessly just now?" Qin Wudi's face was full of curiosity. He was eager to understand what had happened.

"That guy's training had a lot of flaws. Once you see through them, making him suffer isn't hard. Anyway, enough about that. Did you bring the money, buddy?" Xiao Tian casually changed the subject, smiling at Qin Wudi.

"Yeah, I brought it all..." Qin Wudi nodded.

"How much? Enough to splurge?" Xiao Tian squinted his eyes.

"Uh... splurge?" Qin Wudi hesitated, then looked at Xiao Tian with a pitiful expression. "Well... I've only got a hundred thousand in gold banknotes. That's my last stash. Once it's gone, it's gone. You know, ever since I followed you to Doombrows, my dad cut off my allowance. Unless I leave here, he's not going to support me anymore... so let's use it sparingly. Splurging is out of the question..."

"Oh!"

Xiao Tian responded calmly and continued walking forward. Having just been reborn into this world, he wasn't quite sure how much ten thousand gold banknotes could buy. Still, he figured it shouldn't have depreciated too much—after all, it was ten thousand. Although some of the medicines he intended to purchase were quite expensive in his memory, the price difference between the two worlds shouldn't be too significant.

This assumption stemmed from what Xiao Tian had learned about the power hierarchy in this world from Qin Wudi. Here, there were five cultivation professions: warriors, runemasters, runekeepers, alchemists, and artificers.

For warriors, the levels of cultivation were Initiate, Warrior, Innate Battlemage, Grandmaster, War King, Ascended One, Hand of Fate, Saint of War, and Warlord, with each level further divided into one to nine stars. Although different from Earth, Xiao Tian, with his previous life experience as a King Level warrior, found many similarities after organizing some information.

On Earth, martial arts were divided into Yellow Level, Mortal, Earthly, Heavenly, Earthshaker Level, Sky-Breaking Level, King Level, Emperor Level, Venerable Level, Holy Level, and Divine Level. In this world, a War King could condense energy into a core and manipulate divine energy in battle, just as it was back on Earth.

On Earth, the martial arts hierarchy includes the Yellow, Mortal, and Earthly levels, which are considered acquired warrior levels. The Heavenly, Earthshaker, and Sky-Breaking levels represent the innate warrior levels. In this world, both Initiates and Warriors are also acquired warriors, and the innate Battlemage is equivalent to the innate warrior level.

As for Runemasters, Runekeepers, Artificers, and Alchemists, while they seem to follow different systems, they give off a sense of converging paths, reminiscent of ancient sorcerers. This similarity in martial arts hierarchy naturally leads Xiao Tian to think that the value of goods here might be comparable, considering that ten thousand gold banknotes could be exchanged for a significant amount of currency back in Brohari.

Speaking of which, although Xiao Tian currently has no idea how he ended up here, waking up on the continent of Sibruth in the body of someone with the same name, he isn't entirely frustrated. Amidst his confusion, there's a hidden sense of joy. The reason for his joy is that, in just half a day, Xiao Tian has clearly felt that the divine energy in this world is much denser than on Earth.

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