It's Not Easy to Be a Man After Travelling to the Future (WN)

"I am also very happy. You are becoming stronger and stronger ..." said Instructor Number Nine approvingly.

Ling Lan was just about to reply when Instructor Number Five coughed loudly. Ling Lan and Instructor Number Nine turned in unplanned unison to glare at him.

Instructor Number Five rubbed his nose guilelessly and said, "I'm only reminding you all that right now, the pressing matter is to first resolve little Ling Lan's force of presence problem. Time waits for no man ..."

At these words, Instructor Number Nine cast a piercing glance at Number Five. Number Five could only wave his hands again and again in response to the rage in her gaze, indicating that he had spoken unnecessarily. Perhaps it was true that every object has its counter — Number Five's perversity made all the other instructors wary, keeping a safe distance from him whenever possible. Even Number One could do nothing to handle Number Five. But Number Nine was not at all afraid of Number Five. She was the only one who could show any signs of temper towards Number Five, but Number Five was helpless against her, never ever having dealt viciously with Number Nine ...

However, Number Five's reminder also let Number Nine know the mission she was called here for. She said to Ling Lan, "Ling Lan, first take a look at my ability."

She had barely finished speaking when five clusters of blue flame appeared on Number Nine's fingers. The flames that should obviously be producing heat, were paradoxically radiating a biting chill.

Ling Lan was startled. She could not help but reach out a hand to try and touch the blue flames on Number Nine's fingers, but she was quickly stopped by a sharp admonishment from Instructor Number Nine. "Don't touch. It will consume any kind of energy, including your spiritual self."

Ling Lan shrunk back, quickly pulling her hand back. Instructor Number Nine was not like Instructor Number Five whose words were always a mixture of truths and lies — if Instructor Number Nine had said so, then it truly meant that these blue flames could indeed do all of that. Consuming any type of energy ... this was really too horrifying.

Seeing that Ling Lan was no longer planning to move, Number Nine continued, "This is my awakened talent. The element I awakened is actually like yours, a water-based element, but a deviation of it. It's just that the talent you awakened was Ice Affinity, while mine was Ice Flames."

"Ice Flames?" Ling Lan was puzzled. She knew that water had three states — gaseous, liquid, and solid. Its solid state was the basis of her variant innate talent series of ice. Its gaseous form typically pointed to steam or fog series of talents, while its liquid state was the water element's most common form in innate talents. However, she had never heard before that the water series of innate talents still had a variant branch called Ice Flames.

"When I first awakened my innate talent, it was not in this form." Seeing the confusion on Ling Lan's face, Number Nine's cold and serious face actually held a trace of a smile. This slight smile lit Number Nine up, making her incomparably bright, which caused Number Five's eyes to flicker with a strange light as well.

"Ah ..." Number Nine's words were completely beyond Ling Lan's expectations; when she had awakened her innate talent Ice Affinity, it had immediately already presented as ice.

In the face of Ling Lan's astonishment, Number Nine did not say anything to explain, only asking Ling Lan to look closely at the blue flames on her fingertips. As Ling Lan watched, those blue flames radiating an intense chill actually began to change in colour, from blue to pale blue to finally become transparent flames. And then, the flames gradually turned yellow, deep yellow, orange, red, deep maroon, and then, they finally turned into pitch-black flames. What shocked Ling Lan even more was how the temperature of the flames changed as their colour changed — from extreme cold, the temperature of the flames rose slowly until they finally became sizzling hot. Especially when they turned black, Ling Lan actually could not resist that heat that seemed as if it could burn away everything. She could not help but take three steps back — only then did she manage to tolerate that pressing heat.

"Instructor Number Nine, what exactly is going on here?" This was definitely not the water element ...

"You can feel it, right? That's right, I actually have two awakened elements. What I awakened was both water and fire, elements that were universally acknowledged as mutually incompatible. From the very beginning after awakening these elements, my instructor judged that I would never become a Domain master, because these two elements I awakened countered each other and could not coexist. If I pushed on and levelled them up, as soon as the two elements clashed within me, my outcome would inevitably be death by combustion ..." Number Nine recalled how she had completely lost all confidence when she had first heard her instructor's judgment back then. If not for Number One, she might no longer exist right now.

Mandora ... the competition was too fierce. If one could not become strong, one could only be eliminated — this was something a high-achiever like her could not abide.

Ling Lan's eyes lit up at her words. "So, Instructor Number Nine, you managed to find the secret to mix fire and water in the end?" Ling Lan knew very well that Instructor Number Nine was a Domain master now.

"Yes. Number One told me that since the heavens have allowed these two opposing innate talents to awaken in one body at the same time, then there must be a way for the two of them to coexist. The heavens would not push a person to despair. No one had managed to do so before only because they had not found the correct method, not because it was impossible. You must understand that existence is reason enough." Number Nine passed on Instructor Number One's words back then to Ling Lan. Though Number Nine's telling of it was hazy and ambiguous, Ling Lan felt an idea spring to mind. Wasn't this the Taoist theory from her past life: the paths of life number fifty; the heavens spawn forty-nine, while man seeks the final one 1 ? This meant that, no matter the circumstances, the realms of chance would forever leave a thread of hope for survival.

Number Nine did not know whether Ling Lan understood her meaning, so she continued to say, "From that time on, I began to research how I could get water and fire, these two mutually incompatible elements, to coexist. In the process, I was hurt many times, almost entering the gates of hell. Until one time, I turned my water element by force into extreme cold air ..."

"Cold air?" Picking up on the strange phrasing, Ling Lan instantly felt that this might be the key point.

Number Nine's eyes revealed her satisfaction at Ling Lan's agile comprehension, forever able to grasp the key points so quickly. With a smile in her eyes, she nodded and said, "That's right. In fact, for water to turn into a gaseous state, there are two ways. One is to use high temperatures to turn it into steam, while the other is to rely on extreme cold to turn water which has already crystallized into ice to vaporize into gas. This type of gas is the 'cold air' I mentioned ..."

Ling Lan naturally understood this point, so she nodded.

Instructor Number Nine saw Ling Lan nod and knew that Ling Lan had indeed understood. And so she went on to say, "After I changed my water element into extreme cold air, I tried inserting that cold air into fire. You should know that when fire burns, it will produce heat, and cold air can compress this heat indefinitely ..."

"Isn't this another contradiction?" asked Ling Lan, frowning.

"Yes. One side is producing heat while the other side is trying to remove the heat. It looks like they cannot coexist, but what if the temperature of the flame turns cold as well?" Number Nine seemed to be interested in assessing Ling Lan's ability to think. She did not state the answer directly, instead throwing the question to Ling Lan.

"Generally speaking, as long as the core heat of the flame is maintained, in theory, the flame would not disappear," replied Ling Lan after some thought. "However, till now, there has been no consensus on how much heat is needed to maintain the flame. Many scientists even suggest that negative temperatures can also maintain a burning flame, but this theory is currently unsubstantiated with actual numbers and is merely an exploratory theory." Ling Lan found the relevant theoretical discussion within her mindspace. As she spoke, her eyes became increasingly brighter, until she cried out joyfully in the end, "Could it be that Instructor Number Nine has truly found that data point where negative temperatures can sustain a burning flame?"

Instructor Number Nine nodded in satisfaction. "Yes. When I tried to lower the temperature of the flame, as soon as the temperature became low, the flame would become weaker and weaker until it finally fizzled out and died. However, I sensed that this might be the way out for me. After six years of repetitive research, I finally managed to turn the flame cold so that it no longer possessed the heat of fire. And when fire turns cold, it means that its friction against water had been reduced to the lowest point. Right after that, I spent another five years' time to finally fuse that water-based cold air into the cold flame. I just did not expect that the successful merging of water and fire would actually turn into Ice Flames capable of consuming every type of energy ... this thing, even I find it a little horrifying." At this point of her narration, Instructor Number Nine could not help but smile wryly.

At first, she had simply wanted to combine water and fire so she could successfully advance to become a Domain master. But by sheer fluke, her merging had resulted in an extremely horrifying killing move, forcing her to think twice every time she wanted to use her innate talent. Because once she used it, this meant a battle to the death with the opponent. Mind you, the moment Ice Flames came into play, there would be no survivors.

"I'm telling you all this just so you know that in this world, there are no absolutes. Just like in the case of your overly intractable aura — even though its trait is directly contrary to the nature of your body, that does not mean that there is no way to resolve this. Perhaps it will be very difficult to achieve a state where body and aura become one, but I believe that as long as you have patience and research meticulously, once you find the common ground between the two, that will be when you will be able to fully resolve this issue." Instructor Number Nine finally divulged her aim. She had shared her personal testimony so that Ling Lan would not be discouraged and become impatient, but seek a solution slowly.

"Thank you, Instructor Number Nine!" Ling Lan was deeply touched, once again thanking Number Nine sincerely. If even the most difficult and incompatible water and fire could coexist, then there should absolutely be no reason why the problem of her body and aura could not be resolved.

"Little Ling Lan, now you understand, right? If you want to walk your own Dao, then you'll need to depend on your own strength to solve this problem. None of us can help you." At this time, Instructor Number Five who had been acting as wallpaper all this while chimed in with a wide grin.

"Many thanks, Instructor Number Five." Ling Lan turned her head to thank Instructor Number Five, but compared to the thanks she had uttered to Number Nine, this one was obviously less heartfelt, almost causing the smile to drop off of Instructor Number Five's face.

"Ling Lan, since you already understand, then go back! Like Number Five said, everything depends on you now." Number Nine saw Number Five's face stiffen, and afraid that he would bear a grudge towards Ling Lan, she quickly urged Ling Lan to leave the learning space. That appearance of guarding one's child made Number Five roll his eyes mentally ... was he truly such a petty person? Eh? It looked like he really was! Sure enough, the one who knew him best was still Lil Sis Number Nine! Number Five stroked his jaw as he smiled pensively.

Seeing Number Five reveal such an eerie smile, Number Nine sensed the danger even more keenly. She absolutely would not allow Ling Lan to once again suffer Number Five's torments. Thus, she decisively shoved Ling Lan, and Ling Lan immediately felt her consciousness blacking out ...

"Little Ling Lan, remember, the key to resolving this is the Dao you choose. Figure it out quickly. What is your Dao exactly?" In a whirl of chaos, Ling Lan seemed to hear Instructor Number Five say this right by her ear. This surprised Ling Lan — when had Instructor Number Five become so kind?

After what seemed like a long time but also seemed like just a blink of an eye, Ling Lan once again regained consciousness. By then, she had already returned to the real world. She glanced down at the time displayed on the communicator on her wrist. Yep, it was still the same time she had left — only 10 seconds had elapsed since she had been whisked away.