PCJ – Chapter 516 Immortal Fruit

The ball went in again, completely igniting the internal conflicts among the players of Class Five.

Wang Peng blamed his teammate for reacting too slowly, “What’s wrong with you? I told you to come up quickly, and you were just dawdling!”

“You can’t even guard a one-on-one against Class One’s players, and you still have the nerve to blame me? Who am I supposed to blame then?” That teammate’s retort completely shut Wang Peng up.

Furious and humiliated, Wang Peng slammed the basketball heavily onto the ground. “It’s not the fear of god-like opponents, but pig-like teammates that will destroy you!”

“Wang Peng, make yourself clear—who are you calling a pig? I’ve tolerated you for long enough.”

“That’s it, I’m done! Let me make it clear: if I ever play on the same team as Wang Peng again, then I’m the pig!”

The entire Class Five team stormed off, leaving Wang Peng standing there alone, glaring at Zhang Jiaohua with hatred before running off without saying a word.

“We won!” Zheng Wendong and the others cheered excitedly.

“Zhang Jiaohua, you’re amazing! You single-handedly defeated Class Five!” Xu Xiaoting rushed onto the court, shouting excitedly at Zhang Jiaohua.

“Yeah, Jiaohua handled them all by himself. We barely even touched the ball,” Xu Chuan’an scratched his head and laughed.

“I really didn’t expect it. Our class actually had a hidden dunking master,” Zheng Wendong said sincerely. At first, he thought being assigned to Class One meant they would get crushed by classes that had athletic students. Unexpectedly, once Zhang Jiaohua took the court, he quickly turned the game around, leaving Class Five in disarray before the match even properly got going.

Although Li Gaoju was invited by Wang Peng to act as referee, they barely knew each other. Li was also a member of the school team. After seeing Zhang Jiaohua’s outstanding performance, he guessed that Zhang Jiaohua would definitely join the school team in the future, and walked over to say, “Classmate, your skills are really impressive. If you join the school team, it would be like adding wings to a tiger.”

Zhang Jiaohua didn’t reply directly. He had no interest in joining the school team, but there was no need to say that aloud, so he just smiled at Li Gaoju.

“Don’t worry,” Li Gaoju added, seeing his hesitation. “Someone like Wang Peng, even though he’s skilled, wouldn’t be accepted by the school team because of his poor character. Otherwise, every match would end with teammates fighting among themselves.”

After playing basketball for a little while longer with Zheng Wendong and the others, Zhang Jiaohua headed home without even breaking a sweat. Playing against ordinary people almost felt like bullying—he hadn’t even relied on his physical strength yet; just his quick hands and sharp eyes were enough to dominate them. Still, hanging out with peers was a pleasant feeling.

Zhang Jiaohua didn’t know what the future would hold. In this era, he wondered what kind of life a cultivator should live. He didn’t want to end up a reclusive hermit hiding in the mountains, nor did he want to become a madman wandering unseen among the city crowds.

Xu Xiaoting was also a day student. She lived near No. 4 High School, but not in the same direction as Zhang Jiaohua. After leaving the school gate, the two parted ways.

Zhang Jiaohua walked straight home, while Xu Xiaoting stood at the street corner, watching him disappear into the traffic before turning and walking away herself.

Back home, Zhang Jiaohua tidied up a bit and then entered the Cultivation Diagram.

The various fruit trees inside were covered with ripe fruits, but they no longer refreshed endlessly like before. The fruits simply stayed on the trees, lush and unmoving. Fat Monkey picked a peach and brought it to Zhang Jiaohua. Having come to love the taste of the fruits inside the Cultivation Diagram, Zhang Jiaohua eagerly took a bite—and was shocked to find the flavor several times better than before.

“Hmm?” Zhang Jiaohua’s eyes widened in amazement.

“Jiaohua, is it tasty?” Fat Monkey asked.

“Delicious, absolutely delicious! Fat Monkey, what happened here? Why aren’t the fruits falling anymore?”

“After these fruits experienced a thousand cycles of decay and rebirth, they shed their mortal shells and became immortal seeds. Now they bloom once every ten years and bear fruit every ten years. They fall when they encounter metal, wither when they meet wood, dissolve in water, burn when meeting fire, and enter the ground when they meet earth,” Fat Monkey explained.

“Oh…” Zhang Jiaohua marveled inwardly at the mysteries of the Cultivation Diagram.

Just then, Fat Cat plunged into a nearby stream and vanished. After a while, he reemerged, carrying a koi almost as big as himself. The koi’s brilliant colors looked like it had been carved from jade. Its eyes were bright and lively, and it kept smacking its mouth while staring at Zhang Jiaohua.

“Jiaohua, Jiaohua, this fish looks delicious,” Fat Cat said.

Zhang Jiaohua chuckled. If he dared to eat this kind of koi outside, some people would probably come after him in a frenzy. It would be like burning a treasured instrument just to boil water—an unforgivable waste.

Leopard also ran over, holding a bunch of millet. Even the millet had changed—each grain was several times larger than ordinary ones. After peeling the husk, the grains were as big as rice kernels. It was astonishing. Normally, millet grains were tiny, but these were full-sized, and the stalks, instead of being fragile, were as strong and flexible as fine steel wires.

Zhang Jiaohua scratched his head. Was this even millet anymore? The grains were translucent and beautiful, nothing like ordinary millet. If he hadn’t seen the original millet in the Cultivation Diagram, he wouldn’t have believed it.

He plucked a grain and popped it into his mouth—only for it to melt instantly, releasing a rich, fragrant flavor. Amazingly, the millet could be eaten raw!

“I wonder what it would taste like if it were all de-husked and cooked,” Zhang Jiaohua thought.

The moment this thought formed, the Cultivation Diagram suddenly twisted. All the millet in the field pulled themselves out of the ground, shed their husks, and landed in a winnowing basket that had appeared nearby.

Leopard, Fat Cat, and Fat Dog—three little guys—immediately sprang into action. Somehow, they produced a pile of stones and built a stove in front of Zhang Jiaohua. Fat Cat and Fat Monkey brought over an iron pot and placed it on the stove, and Leopard carried over a bucket of water. They filled the pot with some millet and water.

Leopard then fetched a bundle of millet stalks to use as firewood. The stalks burned beautifully, producing very little smoke, and the scent was calming—more soothing than sandalwood. Before long, a mouth-watering aroma of cooked millet filled the air.

The moment Zhang Jiaohua smelled it, his stomach growled loudly. Leopard, Fat Cat, and Fat Monkey surrounded him, their eyes fixed on the pot, obviously drooling with anticipation.