Divine Level Witch Doctor

After tidying up and changing their clothes, Liu Zhu and the other two followed Zhao Yuan toward the classroom for today’s lecture.

On the way, Zhao Yuan received a message from Lin Xue asking if his injuries were any better. After a moment of thought, he replied, ”Don’t worry, I’ve made a full recovery.” Just as he was about to put his phone back in his pocket, another message came in. This one was from Yang Zi. ”How’s my buddy doing today? Can you even get out of bed?”

A slight smile touched the corners of Zhao Yuan’s mouth. ’It feels great to be cared for. It really lifts your spirits.’ He quickly replied, ”Not only can I get out of bed, I can run and jump.”

”For real?” Yang Zi replied instantly, clearly skeptical.

”If I’m lying, I’m a puppy,” Zhao Yuan texted back.

”C’mon, puppy, give your big sis a bark. I’ll give you a bone to chew on.” This time, Yang Zi didn’t bother typing and just sent a voice message.

After a few more messages, Zhao Yuan put his phone away and walked into the classroom for Medical Ancient Texts.

The first two periods this morning were for Medical Ancient Texts, the class students found the most tedious.

There were still about ten minutes until class started, but the room was already quite full. They were, after all, only freshmen who hadn’t yet warmed their seats, so they didn’t dare to casually skip class. By the time they became jaded sophomores and juniors, it would be a good turnout if even half the class showed up for a dull lecture like this.

The moment he entered the classroom, Zhao Yuan was swarmed by the girls from his class, all of them clamoring to take a picture with him. His new title as the ”campus heartthrob” had already spread like wildfire through the school’s online forum. How could his own classmates not know? A few of the bolder girls even took advantage of the chaos to lift his shirt, and the sight of his lean, solid muscles immediately triggered a high-pitched scream that nearly tore the roof off the classroom.

Seeing this, a flash of anger crossed Cao Han’s face, and he let out a heavy snort. He was clearly jealous of Zhao Yuan’s popularity, and he still held a grudge over what had happened yesterday.

Zhao Yuan paid him no mind.

’With petty people like that, the more you engage, the more they act up. It’s best to just ignore them.’

After satisfying the girls’ requests for photos, a disheveled Zhao Yuan found a seat in the middle of the classroom with his three buddies. Before long, the bell for class rang.

The professor for Medical Ancient Texts, Ma Hanqing, strode to the podium with a stern expression. After sweeping his gaze over the students, he adjusted the thick glasses on the bridge of his nose and said, ”Everyone, open your textbooks. Today, we will continue our study of the *Treasure of Life and Form Theory*. This text is found in the *Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor*, and it has three main points...”

Ma Hanqing launched into an unending lecture on the content of the *Treasure of Life and Form Theory*, explaining the key points for translating its crucial words and phrases. The students below were bored but didn’t dare let their attention wander. Ma Hanqing was notoriously strict. If he caught anyone dozing off, playing on their phone, or reading other books, he would write their name down in his little notebook and deduct points from their final exam grade for each offense. Thus, no matter how tedious his class was, the students had to sit ramrod straight, which was its own form of torture.

Zhao Yuan listened for a while and found it boring as well.

The medical knowledge left by Wu Peng was far better than Ma Hanqing’s lecture. It was erudite and well-referenced, yet explained profound concepts in simple terms. Not only was it not boring, it was actually fascinating.

No longer bothering to listen to Teacher Ma’s lecture, Zhao Yuan summoned the Information Leaf and began to study on his own, soon becoming immersed in an ocean of knowledge.

He didn’t notice that Cao Han, sitting in the front rows, was periodically glancing back to watch him.

At first, Cao Han was only watching him out of resentment, but he soon made a delightful discovery: that kid Zhao Yuan seemed to have zoned out, and completely at that. Though his eyes were wide open and fixed on the blackboard, he clearly wasn’t listening to the lecture.

’Excellent. I was just wondering how to get payback for yesterday, and you walked right into my trap.’ A vicious sneer appeared on Cao Han’s face. He turned back around and, taking advantage of a moment when Ma Hanqing paused to drink some water, raised his hand. ”Teacher Ma, your lecture is brilliant! Listening to you has been a true moment of enlightenment. I sincerely believe that to master clinical skills, one must first have a solid theoretical foundation. And the key to building that foundation is this very class you teach, Medical Ancient Texts!”

Cao Han’s words struck a chord deep in Ma Hanqing’s heart. He nodded in satisfaction and praised him, ”Very good. To have such an understanding shows that you are someone who loves to learn and knows how to learn. This Medical Ancient Texts course is the foundation of all foundations, the key of all keys. Only by mastering it can you understand the medical canons passed down by the ancients and learn their essence. Some students might say that translated versions of these classics exist, so they can just read those if they can’t read the ancient texts. But I’m telling you, a translation is not necessarily correct. The quality of a translation varies with the skill of the translator. If you don’t believe me, find a few different translations of the same ancient text. You’ll see that many parts are different, some even with completely opposite meanings...”

Ma Hanqing was now on a roll, beginning to preach the importance of Medical Ancient Texts to the students.

This wasn’t what Cao Han wanted, so he quickly interjected, ”Teacher Ma is right, Medical Ancient Texts is incredibly important. It’s just a shame that some students don’t appreciate your painstaking efforts, Teacher Ma. They just zone out as soon as class starts and don’t take this subject seriously at all!”

As he said this, Cao Han turned his head to look at Zhao Yuan.

And so, Ma Hanqing also saw him—Zhao Yuan, staring blankly, clearly lost in thought.

Ma Hanqing frowned. In his impression, while the student Zhao Yuan wasn’t exceptionally talented, he was at least diligent. He had always been very attentive in class before. ’Why is he zoning out today?’

His expression darkened, and he called out, ”Zhao Yuan!”

Zhao Yuan didn’t react, still immersed in the ocean of knowledge within the Information Leaf.

Ma Hanqing’s face grew even darker, while the corner of Cao Han’s mouth curled into a triumphant, malicious smirk. ’Oh, Zhao Yuan, just you wait. You’re about to get an earful. Teacher Ma is famous for his terrible temper; he’s going to rip you a new one. Getting chewed out in front of so many classmates... you’re going to lose so much face. Campus heartthrob? Hmph. After today, I’ll turn you into a campus joke!’

Liu Zhu, sitting next to Zhao Yuan, quickly nudged him with his elbow and whispered, ”Third Brother, Teacher Ma is calling you.”

That snapped Zhao Yuan out of it. He stood up and asked, ”Teacher Ma, what is it?”

”What is it?” Ma Hanqing snorted coldly. ”What were you just doing?”

”Studying Medical Ancient Texts,” Zhao Yuan replied.

Cao Han let out a snicker. ”Zhao Yuan,” he sneered, ”you were clearly spacing out just now, yet you lie and say you were studying Medical Ancient Texts. Do you really think Teacher Ma is that easy to fool?”

”How would you know I was spacing out?” Zhao Yuan immediately figured it out. Cao Han had to be the one causing trouble.

”I saw you,” Cao Han said with self-righteous indignation.

Zhao Yuan smiled. ”You saw me? You’re sitting in the front, and I’m in the back. How could you see that I was spacing out? It seems you weren’t paying attention in class either.”

Cao Han choked on his words, then flew into a rage out of sheer embarrassment. ”Don’t try to change the subject! Teacher Ma called your name just now and you didn’t even react. If that’s not spacing out, what is?”

”That’s because I was concentrating on my studies!” Zhao Yuan retorted.

Ma Hanqing’s brow furrowed. He also believed Zhao Yuan was lying—claiming to be studying diligently when he was clearly spacing out was just twisting the truth. However, he didn’t immediately start scolding him. Instead, he turned on the projector, pulled up an unpunctuated, untranslated version of the *Treasure of Life and Form Theory* on his computer, and said, ”You say you were paying attention, is that right? Fine. Come on, then. Read this passage I just went over, and then translate it!”