In the bustling world forum, a gathering of therapists had assembled, drawn by the reputation of Zheng Ziang. However, Zheng Ziang’s opponent was a name unfamiliar to them, cloaked in anonymity.
Passerby A: Who do you think will win this match?
Passerby B: It’s a no-brainer. Zheng Ziang ranks in the top 500 on the scoreboard, while the other one probably doesn’t even have a rank. Plus, he arrived so late; he must be scared.
Passerby C: You guys have a point. Zheng Ziang is a renowned genius therapist even in our Burke Star. I heard the royal palace sent him an invitation to their annual banquet. His future must be limitless.
The members of the Warwick organization were also rooting for Jiang Ling in their group chat. They had almost given up hope that he would show up.
The team captain comforted Jiang Ling through the small window, ‘Victory and defeat are common in warfare. Zheng Ziang is undoubtedly strong, and even if you lose, don’t take it to heart.’
He knew Jiang Ling had only recently registered for the point-based competition and, judging from Jiang Ling’s attitude, had likely not faced tough opponents yet. He didn’t want this match to shatter his confidence, as they hoped Jiang Ling would continue to climb the ranks, and their organization would rise in status by the end of the year.
From what everyone was saying, Zheng Ziang seemed impressive, which suited Jiang Ling just fine. He wasn’t entirely sure he would win, but he wasn’t too concerned about it either. What mattered more to him was gaining experience in practical battles. His goal wasn’t about climbing the ranks in this points competition.
Wang Chong had been trying to provoke Jiang Ling to come out, and seeing him finally appear, a subtle smile curled on the corner of his lips. He didn’t want Jiang Ling to lose gracefully, at the very least, he wanted him to experience the embarrassment of yesterday when he fainted in the simulation therapy room.
So, he messaged Zheng Ziang: Brother Ziang, this guy called Little Jiang was so arrogant yesterday, demanding to increase the difficulty by a level. In my opinion, today you could ask for another level of difficulty, so everyone can see how formidable Brother Ziang is.
Zheng Ziang squinted his eyes. Until now, he wasn’t aware of the details of Wang Chong’s battle with that person. He didn’t expect that the opponent had requested a higher difficulty level and even won the match. After all, from the points ranking, that person’s score was lower than Wang Chong’s.
To ensure consistent victories and points, Zheng Ziang seldom challenged higher levels than his own. Most of his patients were S-class patients. But if that person had managed to win against S-class patient…
He himself was a S-class spiritualist, and with his extensive theoretical knowledge, it shouldn’t be a problem to challenge a higher difficulty level. Most importantly, Zheng Ziang genuinely wanted to put this person in his place.
Zheng Ziang: Since you’re here, let’s begin. I heard from Wang Chong that you performed well yesterday. How about we raise the difficulty level one more notch today?
As Zheng Ziang issued the invitation, the world forum fell into silence for a moment before the screens erupted with messages.
[Am I seeing things right? Zheng Ziang suggests raising the difficulty level again? But then their patient will be a SS-class!]
[I’ve never seen a SS-class spiritualist in my life. The only ones known to possess SS-class spiritual abilities are the king of the Burke Star and the genius prince of the Charles star, Jiang Qian.]
[It can’t be that exaggerated, right? The simulated patient’s strength must be far inferior to theirs. But apart from the top ten masters on the scoreboard, no one can guarantee success in challenging them, right?]
[Looking at it from a different angle, even if both of them fail, as long as one of them achieves a higher level of healing, it counts as a victory.]
[I have a feeling this Little Jiang won’t agree. Anyone with a brain wouldn’t agree to that.]
Regardless of the circumstances, Zheng Ziang’s request was nothing short of shocking. Even for someone like Zheng Ziang, they didn’t believe success was within reach. To challenge and succeed, one had to either be a SS-level spiritual therapist or have years of experience, preferably as a S-level spiritual practitioner.
Evidently, Zheng Ziang shared this sentiment; he believed he might barely manage it, all the while suspecting the patient’s spiritual strength could overwhelm them halfway through.
Jiang Ling shared this intent as well. Daily point matches didn’t allow skipping levels; only when challenging in the arena could you do that. So, even if Zheng Ziang hadn’t mentioned it, Jiang Ling had it in mind. The simulated appearance of a SS-level spiritual patient was probably closest to Chu Wenyu’s.
Little Jiang: I agree.
As soon as he sent that message, the group members were surprised. They privately messaged him, hoping he wouldn’t act recklessly, but it was already too late. Zheng Ziang was concerned that Jiang Ling might change his mind, so he promptly sent an invitation.
Upon entering the simulation room, Zheng Ziang nearly lost his balance as a torrent of pressure surged towards him. Despite having some foundation in combat, it was challenging to resist. The patient sitting there suddenly opened his eyes, and Zheng Ziang could sense the patient’s spiritual power, as chaotic and complex as a space battle in his mind.
Zheng Ziang attempted to use his own spiritual power to get closer, but he was not only blocked at the door but also subjected to a powerful attack. He had no choice but to stick to the wall to prevent himself from collapsing.
But he was, after all, a genius therapist from the Burke Academy, and although he lacked experience in curing SS-level patients, he wasn’t as helpless as Wang Chong. His keen eyes spotted rare therapeutic herbs not far away. Recalling the contents of his books, Zheng Ziang began to use the herbs to gradually soothe the patient’s spiritual power. He took the opportunity to gently infiltrate the patient’s consciousness. It was like standing on a tiny planet, observing an entire galaxy, slowly guiding the riotous spiritual power in the right direction. While the efficiency was not high, it was much better than the initial state. He could say he was slowly getting back on track.
Zheng Ziang was concerned about Jiang Ling’s situation. To be precise, he wanted to see Jiang Ling defeated. So, amidst his busy work, he took a moment to observe Jiang Ling’s situation. A smug smile even appeared on his face. Even in such a difficult situation, he could still handle it. The other party could never compare to him.
However, as he turned his head, his expression became serious and puzzled.
The other person didn’t use external objects as cleverly as he did, and he wasn’t as hopelessly overwhelmed by spiritual power as he had imagined. At this moment, Jiang Ling had his eyes closed as if sensing something. Most importantly, he approached the patient without being attacked.
Due to his momentary distraction, the initially slow but favorable situation suddenly began to waver. The slightly pacified spiritual power was now completely out of control, attacking recklessly, even targeting him.
Zheng Ziang couldn’t withstand such a frenzy of spiritual power. His head felt like it was about to explode, his eyes bloodshot. Finally, he couldn’t resist any longer, sitting down with a loud thud, coughing up a mouthful of blood. He didn’t lose consciousness, but the chaotic spiritual power made his head ache to the extreme. He didn’t know who he was, what he was doing, and could only howl like a maniac.
From the beginning, Jiang Ling treated the situation with utmost seriousness, fully aware that the patient’s condition was deteriorating rapidly. This patient turned out to be the most difficult and irritable he had encountered since participating in point matches. At first, he truly couldn’t touch the patient’s spiritual power, even sensing a faintly sweet taste in his throat. However, Jiang Ling quickly identified a weakness in the patient’s consciousness and forcefully infiltrated the patient’s mind, overpowering his spiritual power, which was initially stronger but slowly softened, similar to a child.
It was a fierce battle, and it took Jiang Ling some time, but in the end, he completely restored the patient’s spiritual power to its normal state.
Meanwhile, the therapists on the forum, even though they knew the outcome, had been waiting for that moment. Finally, after nearly an hour had passed, they heard the robot’s voice.
‘Little Jiang wins.’
Passerby A: Huh? Did I mishear that?
Passerby B: Hold on, I think there might be an issue with the program…
However, when they saw Zheng Ziang immediately going offline after the room disappeared, they knew that they had heard it right.
Passerby C: Damn, he’s even more impressive than Zheng Ziang, at least a S-tier spiritualist!
Everyone was itching to know more about the match, but they couldn’t watch it live. So, many people spent money within the program to buy a replay of that match, a privilege typically reserved for master-level contests.
If it was already surprising that Jiang Ling had managed to defeat Zheng Ziang by chance, the shock grew when they saw the match details.
[Turns out, he really completely cured a SS-level patient.]
[And the difficulty is obvious, considering Zheng Ziang went insane inside that room.]
[But it seems Zheng Ziang is just a paper tiger.]
The guy who had claimed to be from the Burke Star earlier didn’t dare to show his face.
At the same time, a terrifying thought crossed everyone’s minds ‘Could this guy, Little Jiang, really be just a S-tier spiritualist? It seemed another dark horse was emerging in the rankings.’
Members of the Warwick Group were also observing the match, waiting for Little Jiang to come out to comfort him. But they never expected this outcome.
The group chat was in chaos. In their organization, composed of rookies from various galaxies, they had unexpectedly recruited a god, one even more powerful than Zheng Ziang.
[Captain, Little Jiang must be from a major galaxy, or he couldn’t have this kind of talent and strength.]
[I think he must be from a prestigious school; an average self-taught spiritualist can’t achieve that.]
[Regardless, he actually joined us and stood up for Xiao Jia. We must make sure to keep him!] After all, individuals like Jiang Ling were easy targets for larger organizations looking to poach talent. With Little Jiang, maybe someday Warwick could become a major organization.
Their suspicions were proven right as some major organizations began devising ways to recruit Jiang Ling secretly.
The captain had mixed feelings, unable to recover quickly. However, he was most grateful that he had persuaded Jiang Ling to join Warwick through persistent efforts. He wanted to have a private chat with him but found out that Jiang Ling had already logged off.
As for Zheng Ziang, he smashed his helmet in frustration. He couldn’t bear being the laughingstock and was determined to find out who this Little Jiang was. After all, his family held a significant stake in the Therapist Score Match program, enough to allow him to search for a player’s information.
Jiang Ling, in his calmness, felt a hint of joy. From this battle, he realized that he might not be powerless against the villain’s spiritual frenzy.
Hanging by his bedside was the outfit, rumored to have been hastily designed by the villain’s designer. Jiang Ling could imagine the guy’s arrogant expression. Before sleep, when the mind wandered, Jiang Ling’s thoughts turned to Chu Wenyu’s deep, dark eyes, sharp yet innocent. Everyone likes good-looking people, but when you find everything about someone so adorable, objective appearances don’t matter anymore. Someday, he will make Chu Wenyu willingly unveil his mask. When that day comes, regardless of what was hidden beneath it, Jiang Ling would love it all.
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
