Zhao Yujian lay on the ground, his eyes locked onto Zhou Qin, who was also down and shaken, his gaze filled with resentment and unwillingness. But this expression slowly faded from his eyes as the surrounding world grew darker, the exclamations and noise around him blurring into an indistinct hum.

“I’m alive?” Zhou Qin stared hard at Li Yundong before her, her mouth opening as she tried to speak, only to find her throat raw, unable to utter a sound.

Li Yundong was covered in beads of sweat the size of soybeans, his jaw clenched so tight his expression was ferocious and terrifying, as if enduring immense pain.

“God, his arm is dislocated!” Chris spotted the rapid swelling of both Li Yundong’s shoulder and elbow joints. She immediately pushed through the crowd gathered around and squeezed up to him.

Chris knelt down, just about to examine Li Yundong’s injury, when a girl abruptly pushed her hand away and sharply commanded, “Get lost!”

Chris froze, realizing the girl was Su Chan, who had been consistently by Li Yundong’s side. She tried to explain, “He’s hurt, let me look; I know a bit about medicine.”

Su Chan coldly sized up the foreign woman, who was only wearing a bra on her upper body, a look of clear disdain and contempt crossing her pretty face. “A barbarian knows medicine?”

Chris was momentarily stunned, her face immediately flushing deep purple. Her good intentions were met with such a retort?

Chris roared back, face red and neck bulging with anger, “I’ve had professional training! Have you?”

Su Chan didn't bother arguing, merely letting a terrifying, faint green glint flash in her eyes, like a wild beast baring its fangs.

Chris flinched backward a step, startled by the fleeting murderous intent in Su Chan’s eyes. As she recovered and prepared to angrily step forward again, she suddenly saw Su Chan lightly tap a spot on Li Yundong’s chest and whisper to him, “I need to reset the dislocated joints. Yundong, bear with it!”

Li Yundong, covered in sweat, simply nodded at Su Chan, forcing out a strained smile.

Su Chan grasped the joint of Li Yundong’s arm, then gripping his upper arm with one hand and his forearm with the other, gave a sudden twist and a push. With a crack, she popped his dislocated forearm back into the socket, immediately followed by popping his upper arm into the shoulder socket.

Four successive cracks from the joints made the surrounding students’ skin crawl; they broke out in cold sweats, grimacing as if their own arm joints were throbbing with pain.

Yet Li Yundong did not utter a sound. His forehead was slick with sweat, and the muscles in his clenched jaw stood out like rolling steel cables.

The surrounding students could not fathom how Li Yundong had caught someone falling from the fourth floor, or managed to grab a girl jumping from the fifth. But witnessing him endure the relocation of his own dislocated arms up close, without a word, inspired a deep sense of awe.

“Now that is a real man!” some of the girls murmured, covering their mouths, looking at Li Yundong with complex expressions.

Chris stared dumbfounded as Su Chan skillfully reset Li Yundong’s arms. She couldn't help but whisper, “My God, how many times has she done this?”

John shivered beside her. As someone trained in martial arts, he knew very well that anyone familiar with setting joints must also be intimately familiar with taking them apart.

“This girl, as cute as a Barbie doll, is a terrifying killer!” John muttered to Chris.

Chris had stopped filming, but her phone was still held aloft, continuing to record.

After taking several deep breaths, Li Yundong found that his arms, aside from a dull ache, were otherwise fine. He stood up and moved his limbs. Turning his head, he was startled to see both Zhou Qin and Ding Nan staring blankly at him from the ground.

Li Yundong hadn't heard the prior conversation between Zhou Qin and Ding Nan, so he was unaware of the deep rift that had opened between the two girls who were usually inseparable. He nodded to Zhou Qin and asked, “Are you alright?”

Zhou Qin stared blankly at Li Yundong, seemingly unable to believe she had narrowly escaped death. Her gaze drifted, clearly lost in thought, and she remained silent for a moment.

Seeing her lack of response, Li Yundong assumed Zhou Qin was in shock, so he turned to Ding Nan. “Are you okay?”

Ding Nan’s eyes were fixed intently on Li Yundong. She bit her bright red lips hard with her pearly white teeth. Her eyes flickered, but like Zhou Qin, she said nothing.

It was only then that the teachers on the rooftop of the academic building reacted. They rushed to the edge, looking down with expressions of utter despair. Principal Ke saw a figure lying in a pool of blood below and his heart hammered violently; he nearly fainted on the spot. Fortunately, a sharp-eyed teacher pointed down with a cry of joy, “She’s fine! Zhou Qin is fine! Look, she’s still moving!”

As if jolted back to life collectively, the teachers found a renewed surge of energy, replacing their earlier weakness. They bolted downstairs like a gust of wind, shouting as they ran, “Make way! Everyone step aside!”

Principal Ke and the others rushed to Zhou Qin, examining her meticulously from head to toe. Confirming she had only suffered minor scrapes, they let out a collective sigh of relief.

Regardless, this was the greatest fortune amidst the misfortune!

These teachers clustered around Zhou Qin as if she were the center of their universe. Meanwhile, Zhao Yujian, lying in the bloodbath, and Ding Nan, still deeply shaken, were completely ignored—not to mention the deceased teacher still in the classroom and the student struck down whose condition remained unknown.

Chris watched the scene with cold eyes, spitting softly, “Bureaucrats!”

Unexpectedly, though the surrounding teachers didn't hear her mutter, her action of recording on her phone caught the attention of Director Qian.

This dean of academic affairs, who had been reduced to a whimpering mess by Zhao Yujian earlier, now puffed out his belly and condescendingly reappeared before the students, acting as if he were the savior of the situation.

“Hey, who allowed you to film?” Director Qian pointed at Chris, demanding aggressively.

Chris was taken aback and shouted back, “I have the right to a free press!”

Director Qian sneered and snatched the phone from her hand. “Get a grip on where you are! Do you think this is America?”

Having her phone seized, Chris was instantly furious, grinding her teeth. She lunged at Director Qian, who knew that if the video on that phone got out, the school would be finished; that footage would surely spread worldwide!

Director Qian’s hands moved with lightning speed. He extracted the memory card from the phone and tossed the device back to Chris. “You can have the phone. We’ll return the memory card after we confirm the contents of the recording!”

The fruits of Chris’s dangerous, painstaking efforts were instantly confiscated. She was so enraged her vision swam, and she prepared to snatch it back, but John grabbed her arm.

John, uncharacteristically, maintained his composure. He shook his head at Chris and whispered, “Chris, calm down. Don’t start a confrontation now. Let’s try to resolve this through official channels.”

Chris spat viciously on the ground. “I’m going to file a complaint against him!”

Hearing that Chris intended to complain, Director Qian threw his head back and laughed heartily. He waddled over to Principal Ke, whispered a few words, and then pointed at Chris.

Principal Ke glanced at Chris, patted Director Qian’s shoulder, and offered a few words of praise.

A short distance away, Chris and John felt a chill. They realized that resolving this through official channels was likely impossible. Chris cursed through gritted teeth, “Birds of a feather flock together!”

John also shook his head. “Forget it. Let’s go check on the Master.”

Chris grumbled a few more times, then turned back toward Li Yundong. His arms seemed fully recovered now; the areas that had swelled up so quickly moments ago had flattened almost as fast as a deflating balloon.

Chris forgot their argument and her previous annoyance. Her eyes widened as she stared at Li Yundong’s arms, crying out in disbelief, “How is this possible! Your arms were like balloons just now! How are they fine now?”

Su Chan turned to glance at her, lifted her chin, and said smugly, “I told you you don’t understand medicine. Are you convinced now?”

Chris’s face flushed crimson, but she was straightforward and honest, unlike the subtle machinations of Eastern people. “I’m convinced. But can you teach me?”

Su Chan snorted and turned her face away. “I don’t take barbarian students. I advise you not to set your sights on Yundong either; he won’t take you as a disciple either!”

Chris felt bewildered and aggrieved. What era was this? Barbarians? How could this girl’s mindset be that of someone a century old?

Feeling wronged, Chris shouted loudly, “I have Chinese blood! My grandmother is Chinese!”

Li Yundong and Su Chan both paused, exchanging a look. Li Yundong asked, “Your grandmother is Chinese?”

Chris nodded. “Yes, my grandmother’s name is Lin Guoying. She is from Hunan, China. I learned my Chinese and Chinese classics from her.”

Although Li Yundong wasn't exactly warm toward Chris, his attitude was much better than Su Chan’s. He smiled. “No wonder your Chinese is so good. But you have a slight Hunan accent when you speak; you should work on correcting that.”

Chris shrugged, not taking the matter seriously at all. “Why should I correct it? As long as you understand me, isn't that enough? America has fifty-two states; I haven't heard that the other fifty-one all have to learn the Washington accent.”

Li Yundong smiled faintly. He didn't want to argue with Chris over such minor points. He turned his head, looking toward the pool of blood where Zhao Yujian lay, his gaze a mixture of sympathy and melancholy.

In fairness, aside from being narrow-minded and extreme in temperament, Zhao Yujian was excellent in every other way and highly attractive to women. After failing in his romantic pursuit, he chose the most extreme path, achieving a terrifying act of self-destruction.

Li Yundong suddenly recalled something Su Chan had said during their last hospital visit to Zhao Yujian, and he murmured softly, “Even great cultivators cannot escape the consequences of karma…”

Su Chan heard him clearly and couldn't help but sigh. “Indeed. When I saw how Zhao Yujian’s mother spoiled him and constantly protected him, I knew this matter had already sown its seeds of karma and would not end well. Looking now, I was right…”

Chris, watching Li Yundong successfully save those who were destined to die and avert a potentially escalating disaster, nevertheless wore a look of sorrow and did not display any joy. She couldn't help but ask, “You became a savior today, so why aren’t you happy?”

Li Yundong shook his head and sighed. “I don’t want to be anyone’s savior. If it were possible, I wish none of this had ever happened.”

Chris studied Li Yundong intently. Seeing his sincere and direct expression, devoid of pretense, she secretly admired the breadth of his spirit, elevating her opinion of him further. This man, aside from his godlike skills, possesses true masculine spirit and a bodhisattva’s heart. If a guy like this were at my university, the line of girls wanting to date him every week could probably stretch from Harrisburg [the capital of Pennsylvania] all the way to Washington!

She recalled the time Li Yundong had played a trick on John and teased her, and then she thought of his devilishly unbelievable performance in the classroom when she was watching earlier. This blonde, blue-eyed foreigner suddenly became a bit dazed, unsure which one was the real Li Yundong.

Li Yundong stopped talking to Chris. He stared intently at the pool of blood nearby, momentarily lost in thought: The causes of the past led to the results of today, but what causes will today plant, and what consequences will sprout in the future?

Buddhism speaks of cause and effect; Taoism speaks of the cycle of heaven. No one knows what changes this terrible tragedy today has brought to the destiny of every person here.