Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation
Chapter 786 - 469: Racing

Chapter 786: Chapter 469: Racing

August 21st.

Jiang Ning got up early with Xue Yuantong and had some breakfast before renting a mountain bike.

Xue Yuantong, curious, asked, "Weren’t we going to ride horses?"

After discussing with the bike shop owner, Jiang Ning used the classic method of offering more money, persuading him to fit the mountain bike with a comfortable rear seat.

He patted the soft seat, "Get on."

"Uh, okay then," said Xue Yuantong as she adjusted her position and obediently sat down.

Just like their trips to and from school in the past, Jiang Ning took Xue Yuantong through the unfamiliar city streets, crossing the city into the countryside roads.

In August, the grassland was an endless expanse of green, with fields on both sides retreating backward like a carpet, as if entering a fairyland.

Jiang Ning followed the road, always ascending, slowly gaining height.

From the back seat, Xue Yuantong looked around, recalling the poetry she learned, "The sky is like a dome, covering the wilderness."

Under the vast sky, endless silence prevailed, as if only they existed, with a great river meandering in the distance.

Xue Yuantong felt in her own smallness.

Suddenly, a deep and powerful call came from the sky.

Xue Yuantong looked up to see an eagle soaring, circling above with its wings spread wide.

"Jiang Ning, Jiang Ning, look, there’s a huge eagle!" she exclaimed.

She could clearly see that the eagle’s wings didn’t even seem to flap, yet it kept flying in the sky.

Jiang Ning asked, "Do you want to fly?"

Without a second thought, Xue Yuantong responded, "Of course I do."

"Hold tight," Jiang Ning said, as he shook the handlebars, performing a 180° drift on the spot, turning the bike to face downhill.

In front of them was a winding road with a drop of 1000 meters in altitude.

Xue Yuantong poked her head out from behind him, gazing down to where the morning sunlight illuminated the hillside, the great river snaking through the depths of the grassland, with the forest and valleys dotting the landscape.

Jiang Ning pressed a pedal, and under gravity’s pull, the mountain bike began to descend the road.

He pedaled faster and faster, and Xue Yuantong clung tightly to him, with the greenery on both sides rapidly receding, as if they were indeed flying.

"Zhou, zhou," cries from above were heard once again.

Xue Yuantong looked up to see the clear blue sky with the eagle still in flight, and realized that it wasn’t still but that the mountain bike was simply moving so fast it kept pace with the flying eagle.

Amid the roaring wind, Xue Yuantong buried her face behind Jiang Ning, her voice carried by the breeze:

"Jiang Ning, overtake it, overtake it!"

Just then, as they approached a curve in the road, the mountain bike, with the momentum of the descent, rushed to the edge so fast that Xue Yuantong’s heart nearly leapt out.

Jiang Ning grasp the handlebars, exerting a tremendous force to make the mountain bike negotiate the curve.

The bike drew a dangerously sharp arc, perfectly navigating the bend. The road ahead was even steeper, and their speed escalated once more.

The groups of sheep on the grassland passed in a flash, leaving the herders stunned in place.

The eagles in the sky followed them onward.

Jiang Ning raised his hand, and the altitude at which the eagle was flying abruptly decreased, as it came flying toward them.

Xue Yuantong was at first thrilled to see the eagle getting closer.

But as it approached, revealing a wingspan nearly two meters wide with a pair of hook-like talons, she became increasingly frightened.

She hadn’t forgotten that the eagle was a large predator, at the top of the food chain like lions and tigers, with no natural enemies.

"Jiang Ning, Jiang Ning!" she cautioned.

"Don’t panic," Jiang Ning said calmly as he stopped the mountain bike.

Xue Yuantong hurriedly got off the bike, while Jiang Ning dismounted, facing the eagle soaring in the sky.

As the eagle flew over their heads, a gust of wind blew past.

Jiang Ning extended his arms and, as easily as reaching into a bag, he grasped the eagle’s talons, effortlessly pulling the bird down from the sky.

The eagle flapped desperately before resigning and folding its wings, motionless, having thought it was about to die just a moment ago.

Xue Yuantong was both shocked and overjoyed as she moved in closer to get a better look.

The eagle had deep brown feathers, was very strong and beautiful, especially the curve of its beak, which was very sharp.

The most surprising to Xue Yuantong, however, was its eyes, which were filled with a kingly majesty.

She thought she was dreaming, "Is it ill?"

Otherwise, how could such a sovereign of the skies be caught by Jiang Ning?

Jiang Ning flicked the eagle’s head and fed it a Spiritual Pill; the eagle moved its beak and tilted its head to swallow.

Gathering courage, Xue Yuantong touched it and smiled happily.

The poor ruler of the skies, now at the mercy of a young girl’s play.

...

The evening of the 21st, at the Guest House.

Xue Yuantong was packing her luggage while Jiang Ning sat by the floor-to-ceiling window, admiring the grassland scenery in the distance, and asked:

"Not going to see the sea anymore?"

He remembered that last year, Xue Yuantong had wanted to see the sea, and it was also on her list of plans before they set off this time.

After a month of traveling, they had climbed mountains, visited lakes, ventured into the vast grasslands, but had yet to see the sea.

"No more," Xue Yuantong said as she folded her clothes.

"Oh, aren’t you sorry?" Jiang Ning said, knowing they still had enough time to see the sea.

Xue Yuantong beamed with a smile, "It’s better to have some regrets!"

She continued, "Besides, Chuchu hasn’t seen the sea yet. I’m thinking of waiting until the summer vacation of senior year to go out with her!"

...

22nd day.

The train from Tai City to Yuzhou.

Zhang Chi, carrying a snakeskin bag, stood between the connecting carriages, scanning the full seats with a muttered string of curses.

The reason he was on the train wasn’t to go climbing mountains.

Rather, Zhang Chi had grown tired of his days carrying cement.

Thinking of how he, an educated man knowledgeable of astronomy and geography, could only earn money by lugging cement, the repetitive, dull work deeply wounded his proud heart.