Chapter 28: So, I Accidentally Became a Genius?

When Yu Liang stepped out of his small wooden hut, the sunlight fell across the yard in long, slanted beams. The boards creaked as the door closed behind him. His two friends, Xiao Fei and Wei Feng followed him, still chatting lightly about how they would help him pack and maybe sneak a few snacks from the cafeteria before the outer sect attendant arrived the next morning.

But their steps slowed the moment they noticed someone standing outside.

A young man in neat grey robes waited near the stone path. His posture was straight, but he carried himself with that quiet gentleness typical of disciples who spent their days treating others rather than sparring. A bamboo token hung from his waist, engraved with a simple yet unmistakable emblem: The Medical Hall.

Judging by his attire, Yu Liang and his friends immediately concluded where he was from. As if to confirm their guess, the man cupped his fists politely.

"Yu Liang," he said, "I am Bai En, a disciple of the Handyman Quarter Medical Hall. Head of the branch Elder Yao requests your presence."

Yu Liang exchanged a brief look with Xiao Fei and Wei Feng. In the sect, the Medical Hall wasn’t one building as its presence extended across every division. The handyman quarter had its own hall, the outer sect had a larger one, and the inner sect and core area had their own specialized branches. Every disciple, no matter their rank, relied on these halls at some point of time in their life. Their influence ran deeper than sword halls only second to pill halls; after all, injuries were universal.

Yu Liang cupped his fist in his palm. "Thank you for informing me."

Bai En bowed lightly and stepped aside.

Yu Liang turned to his two friends.

"You two go ahead first. I’ll meet you after this is done."

Xiao Fei grinned. "See you soon."

Wei Feng gave a small nod. "We’ll wait at the handyman quarters. Don’t take too long."

After a few more exchanged words, his friends left, and Yu Liang began walking toward the medical hall. The route took him between the huts and narrow gardens, quiet and familiar. Despite everything that had changed, this area still felt like the place he had lived in for years.

As he neared the hall, the scent of herbs drifted through the air. The building wasn’t large, but it was big enough. He stepped inside after greeting two apprentice disciples, and soon an attendant guided him into an inner chamber where the head elder awaited.

Elder Yao was not tall, but his presence filled the room. His hair was mostly white, tied simply behind his head. Deep lines marked his face, not from sternness but from years of observing life, death, and illness.

He gestured for Yu Liang to sit.

"You’ve recovered faster than I expected," Elder Yao said, studying him with a careful gaze. "But there is something I must ask."

Yu Liang straightened. "Senior, please speak."

The elder placed a thin wooden board on the table. Upon closer inspection, there were notes scribbled in neat handwriting, it was observations made when Yu Liang had first been brought in after the battle.

"What exactly happened on the battlefield?" Elder Yao asked. "I am not referring to your fight or the enemies. I am asking about the ’force’ that erupted from your body."

Yu Liang kept his face calm. "Senior means the burst of power?"

"Yes." Elder Yao tapped the board lightly. "Your injuries did not match a normal battle conclusion. Your meridians were swollen, your nerves bloated, and your pores showed signs of releasing something like... pressure. These are classic indications of taking a power boosting pill."

He stopped and looked straight ahead.

"But your blood, breath, and body showed no trace of such a pill. Not a single residual mark."

Yu Liang lowered his gaze slightly, listening without interrupting.

Elder Yao continued slowly, "It’s strange. Your body didn’t simply show signs of stress. It showed the start of a phenomenon similar to force manifestation through body refinement."

He leaned back in his chair, fingers tapping once against the wood. "It was as if... something within your body broke through its shackles and surged outward. Something like the beginning of a force intent, the kind that appears only when someone has pushed their body refinement to a very specific threshold."

Yu Liang did not respond immediately.

Seeing this, Elder Yao added, "Force, in this context, is not raw strength nor it’s Qi either. Think of it as the shape of one’s intent made physical through the body. Most cultivators spend years of decades while just trying to sense it. Yet your body showed signs of it forming naturally."

His tone wasn’t doubtful or accusatory. It was the voice of someone genuinely curious.

"So I ask again," Elder Yao said with a calm expression, "how did this force take shape?"

Yu Liang raised his head as he kept his tone respectful. "Senior... I truly don’t know. It happened on its own. My body also moved on its own. It wasn’t something I understood clearly but it did happen naturally."

For a moment, Elder Yao simply looked at him. Not out of suspension but thoughtful expression.

Then he exhaled softly and shook his head.

"As expected. Geniuses always speak like this."

Yu Liang blinked. "Senior... I don’t think I’m—"

"Yes, yes." Elder Yao laughed and waved his hand dismissively. "You don’t think of yourself as one. You young people always say the same thing. But the body does not lie, Yu Liang. Whatever happened that day... it was anything but ordinary."

He closed the wooden board and stood.

"You may go. You’ve healed well enough. Just don’t overexert yourself for a few days."

Yu Liang bowed. "Thank you, Senior."

As he left the hall, the sunlight felt brighter than before. He walked slowly at first, thoughts settling quietly in his mind.

"Force..." he murmured.

The elder’s explanation echoed inside him.

The phenomenon the elder saw wasn’t wrong but the conclusion was slightly off.

The real reason was simple.

The elder, despite being one of the finest medical experts in the Handyman Quarter, could never have guessed that Yu Liang had taken a Body Tempering Pill in that situation.

It was such a low-grade pill that most people paid it no attention, a pill meant to strengthen the body by such a tiny margin that most cultivators could barely feel its effects.

Yu Liang had bought it from the market before. Handyman disciples occasionally received such pills, and although most considered them nearly useless, he had taken one that day.

Its normal effects were simple, a faint warmth spreading through the body, accompanied by a slight increase in vitality.

But his situation had not been normal at all.

His body had already been refined close to its current limit. The lingering pressure of the battle, the constant stress on his muscles, the last shreds of his endurance, everything had piled up without his notice.

So when the energy of the pill coursed through his meridians, it didn’t settle the usual way.

It burst out, forcing its way through pores, muscles, nerves and manifesting as the "force" Elder Yao described.

A small smile tugged at Yu Liang’s lips.

"So in the end," he muttered, "the pill did work. Just... not in the way it was intended."

He tilted his head slightly, thinking.

Most disciples consumed dozens of those pills during their early training, yet saw barely any improvement. Their bodies simply weren’t attuned to the pill’s energy, allowing most of it to dissipate without producing any meaningful effect.

But his case was different.

His body already absorbed too much... so it overflowed.

The thought made him pause.

If that excess energy had truly formed something akin to force intent... then perhaps—

"I need to study it," he murmured. "I need to figure out exactly what happened."

Then another thought came, an amusing one at that.

"Genius, huh...?"

He chuckled. "Well... as far as covers go, I suppose it’s a good one."

With that, he took a deep breath and moved forward, following the path that led out of the Handyman Quarter.

Ahead of him lay the stone stairs winding up toward the Outer Sect—the place he had once belonged to, before being demoted to the Handyman Quarter.