Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the blink of an eye, July came.
In recent days, his parents were busy and so was Fang Yuan. Fang Ping had the least busy schedule.
His parents were busy preparing a celebratory banquet and notifying their friends and family about it.
Fang Yuan was busy showing off… No, she was sharing.
“My brother got into Magic City Martial Arts University!”
“My brother’s teaching me martial arts now!”
“I’m going to Magic City Martial Arts University too in the future!”
“…”
Fang Ping heard these sentences often.
Because he was going off to Magic City soon, Fang Ping realized it was inconvenient for the girl to not have a mobile phone and bought her one.
As soon as he gave it to her, Fang Ping regretted it.
Once the girl’s exams ended, she called more often than Fang Ping did, busy with her business.
Showing off was secondary. For instance, currently, Fang Ping could hear the girl saying quietly on her phone, “I really can’t sell it. My brother said if I sold any more of his stuff, he’d kill me.”
“…”
“No autographs either. He won’t even give me any signatures now.”
“…”
“500 bucks? Yu, you’ve gone nuts—such a high price!”
“…”
“In that case, let me think. How about this—after my brother leaves, I’ll look around the house to see if he left anything behind, then you can come pick…”
“…”
What she said in the beginning had let Fang Ping feel a little relieved that the girl had finally learned her lesson.
That being said, when he heard what she said later, Fang Ping’s expression darkened!
‘Once I leave, this girl will readily pack away my stuff and sell it?’
Fang Yuan probably felt Fang Ping looking at her and suddenly said loudly, “Yu, I’m not free anymore. I’m going to properly practice martial arts for these few days!”
“Uh-huh, that’s it then. See you again when school starts!”
“…”
A corner of Fang Ping’s mouth twitched. ‘You think your brother a fool?’
He had completed a second bone-honing. He was stronger than normal Rank-1 martial artists.
‘We’re only separated by five or six meters, yet you assume I couldn’t hear you?’
Since this girl thought he did not know, Fang Ping was not going to say anything either.
After some thought, Fang Ping opened his mouth. “Tomorrow, Auntie and her family are coming over. There probably won’t be time to teach you pole-standing, so I’ll give you extra training today.”
Fang Ping had decided to first use pole-standing cultivation to take care of this girl.
When they were done cultivating, he would give the girl a few Blood and Qi-replenishing Pills.
Based on Fang Yuan’s circumstances, once she ate the pills, even if she cultivated pole-standing, she would not have much appetite for the next two days.
Fang Yuan would ask their mother to buy more of Fang Yuan’s favorite foods when Auntie and her family arrived tomorrow.
He did not know how the girl would feel seeing everybody dig in except her.
Fang Ping thought for a while longer and was a little hesitant. At this rate, would she get skinny?
If she got skinnier, her small round face would become an oval one, and it would not look good.
He worried about this for a moment. Fang Ping could only tell himself that the Blood and Qi-replenishing Pills would replenish her Vitality, and with enough Vitality, the girl should not get thinner.
Fang Yuan did not know Fang Ping had such plans. She had just been introduced to the martial sciences and was very interested in pole-standing.
The second she heard about extra training, she did not object and was excited instead. “Alright, I’ll go change right away!”
“It’s not urgent. We can start at nighttime…”
“How can it be not urgent? Do it now, Fang Ping, don’t slack off!” The girl’s face was full of displeasure.
Fang Yuan had started to get excited and could not wait to start practicing now.
Fang Ping glanced at her and was happy to comply with her wishes. He nodded and smiled. “That works. When you change your clothes, I’ll start teaching you.”
While the girl skipped off to change her clothes, Fang Ping was already contemplating how hard the extra training should go.
…
More than an hour later.
Fang Ping was crying and panting like a dog. “Brother, do I have to keep practicing?”
“Uh-huh. No pain, no gain. Don’t you want to get into Magic City Martial Arts University?
“If you don’t suffer now, how are you going to get into a martial arts university?”
“But…”
The girl really wanted to argue that he did not go through this!
Fang Ping had been in high school for three years and only started working hard in the final stretch. He had taken it easy all the time before that.
Why was it that she had to start suffering when she was only in junior high?
Fang Ping had long guessed what she would say and smiled. “Your older brother is different from you. I’m a prodigy.
“Don’t rush to deny it!
“If I weren’t a prodigy, how could I have gotten into Magic City Martial Arts University when others couldn’t?
“As you are a normal person, you must work hard. If you can’t suffer this little bit now, you won’t have much success in the future.”
“…”
Only after brainwashing his little sister a moment and noting how she was so tired she could barely stand, Fang Ping was pleased. “That’s enough. That’s all for today. We’ll resume tomorrow.”
“Huh?”
“Auntie and the others are coming tomorrow. Didn’t you say we won’t be training tomorrow?” Fang Yuan protested.
“Non-stop work is the key to practicing martial arts!” Fang Ping’s face was stern. “If I say there’s no training, you’ll slack off. Do you think you can master pole-standing that way?”
“Brother…”
Fang Yuan felt she had been wronged. ‘You were the one who said we won’t be training. How was I supposed to know you changed your mind?”
Just as Fang Ping was going to continue speaking, his phone rang.
He answered the call and waved a hand at his little sister, letting her take a break. Before she left, he did not forget to indicate the laced water for her to drink.
After watching Fang Yuan finish the water laced with Blood and Qi-replenishing Pills in one gulp, Fang Ping was satisfied.
It seemed like there would be a good show tomorrow.
…
The moment Fang Yuan left, Fang Ping immediately smiled and said, “Brother Wang, I’m not bothering you, am I?”
“No, I was out just now.”
Wang Jinyang answered casually, then asked, “Is there anything you need?”
Fang Ping gave a simple explanation of Tiannan Martial Arts University’s matters. Wang Jinyang was silent for a moment. His tone was complicated as he replied, “There’s no big danger.
“Because they weren’t prepared enough, there was a heavy loss of elite students during Tiannan Martial Arts University’s first assignment.
“Now they have to increase the number of students to prevent a shortage of students.”
“Heavy loss?”
This was the point Fang Ping was concerned about. Were martial arts universities really that dangerous?
“Tiannan Martial Arts University had 18 Rank-3 martial artists in their school, 2 more than Nanjiang Martial Arts University!
“In the last assignment, 8 of them were sacrificed!”
Wang Jinyang’s tone was solemn. He had said they “were sacrificed” and not “died”!
The word “sacrificed” was not a word just anyone could use.
Fang Ping seemed to understand a little better. With a more somber tone, he asked, “How could so many people be sacrificed?”
“Some things are more dangerous than you’d imagine!” Wang Jinyang said lightly, “The better you are, the more benefits you enjoy, and the more you have to give.
“I’ve said it before. If you’re fine with being average, then it’s nothing you’d have to deal with.
“But if you want to excel, you need to prepare yourself.
“So many of Tiannan Martial Arts University’s elite students being sacrificed also had to do with them not being well-prepared.”
Wang Jinyang unconsciously thought of that day. Tiannan Martial Arts University had been the first batch to enter the tunnel wracked with powerful and repressive movements.
Xinan Military Department and Xinan Martial Arts University were stronger than Tiannan Martial Arts University. The military unit and Xinan Martial Arts University’s teachers had suitably supreme strength.
It was just Tiannan Martial Arts University’s teachers who were somewhat lacking in strength. When something happened, they were not instantly able to protect those students.
Many of the students went underground for the first time. They had not been prepared enough, and quite a few of them died in a matter of seconds.
Wang Jinyang stopped recalling these and continued. “What you want to know is whether your classmates will face any dangers, right?
“There will definitely be danger, but the problem has been temporarily solved, so there won’t be any big issues.
“They haven’t reached Rank-3 yet either, so there’s no need to worry about it.”
“That’s good…”
Fang Ping released a subtle sigh. He had a good relationship with Yang Jian. If there were any big dangers, he had to let him know no matter what.
“…”
The two of them did not chat about anything else and quickly hung up.
Fang Ping hung up the phone but was lost in thought.
Although Wang Jinyang did not say much, he still felt a heavy sense of danger.
What were elite students?
In all the martial arts universities, Rank-3 was the true elite.
Tiannan Martial Arts University had more than ten Rank-3 students, yet more than half of them were lost in a single assignment. This was too tragic!
What kind of danger and what kind of assignment could have knocked down so many Rank-3 martial artists?
Were there any Rank-3 martial artists in the big Sun City?
Here at Sun City, an assistant was needed to find one Huang Bin. It was hard to say if there were any Rank-3 martial artists here.
It was clear that Rank-3 martial artists were not weak. They were considered bigshots already.
Nevertheless, these bigshots had been so young and had such bright futures ahead of them, yet they were lost in a blink of an eye.
‘It seems I’d better hurry and break through Rank-1. I can’t go on like this.’
Fang Ping made this decision. Dwelling too long in the potential martial artist realm was not necessarily a good thing.
Midway through June, when Fang Ping and Wang Jinyang met up, his Vitality had broken through 180cal, and he had completed his second bone-honing.
However, the better he got, the harder it was for his Vitality to increase, and the more it was depleted too!
Now it was already the start of July. Half a month had passed.
The current Fang Ping’s Vitality growth had slowed down a lot:
Wealth: 3200000
Vitality: 189cal
Mentality: 199Hz
His Vitality was stuck at 189cal, and his Mentality had reached 199Hz half a month ago yet had not moved an inch.
Fang Ping estimated 200 was a big leap.
When his Vitality reached 200cal, it was quite likely that was the time for his third bone-honing.
However, his Wealth points were depleting too fast!
In April, it took 1000 Wealth points to increase by 1cal.
When his body’s limit was reached, it took an average of twenty to thirty thousand Wealth points to increase by 1cal.
After he broke through 150cal, it took an average of forty to fifty thousand.
From the start till now, Fang Ping had gotten more than 6 million Wealth points and had spent 3 million of them by now.
When it came to his third bone-honing, he did not know how much he would need to spend. It was likely he would only be left with around 2 million Wealth points.
Wealth points were more effective than cash. If it had been someone else, would they not have to use up to ten million of their resources?
It was no wonder Wang Jinyang was not pursuing a third bone-honing. It was likely the amount of resources needed for a third bone-honing was similar to the amount it took to reach Rank-3.
Moreover, Fang Ping had spent 500 thousand in cash to buy three bottles of Body-strengthening Elixir from Wang Jinyang at a discount.
The resources he had used were significant.
‘I’ll wait a little longer. If I still can’t manage a third bone-honing by the time school starts, then I’ll break through right away.’
If he did not become a martial artist, doing anything would be like doing it with his hands tied.
It would only be more convenient for Fang Ping after he became a martial artist.
He did not have much cash on hand anymore. He had given his parents 300 thousand and spent 500 thousand to buy the Body-strengthening Elixirs. He was left with a little over 1.5 million.
This money might seem like a lot for regular people, and he could afford quite a bit in Sun City.
What was it like in Magic City though?
He was afraid that 1.5 million was not considered much in Magic City now. It was probably only enough to buy a bathroom in the heart of the city… A slightly bigger bathroom.
‘I’ll continue cultivating at home in July. I’ll leave a little earlier to check out Magic City in August and prepare myself.
‘If I keep going like this, by the time I reach Rank-1, I won’t have two pennies to rub together.’
As for the medicinal pills and elixirs he had on hand, he had to leave the Blood and Qi-replenishing Pills for Fang Yuan, and he had to have the Rank-1 Bone-honing Pill and Viscera-shielding Pill ready to use for his breakthrough.
Only 8 Normal Vitality Pills and 5 Rank-1 Vitality Pills remained.
If Fang Ping could not go on with the money he had, he would find an opportunity to sell them since he did not use Vitality Pills to replenish his Vitality anyway.
‘My head hurts. Who knows what will be different after breaking through Rank-3?’
The students who had died these past few years were mostly elite students who had reached Rank-3 of the martial sciences realm.
Despite Fang Ping having some fear of the unknown, it was harder to deal with the somewhat known but unresolved.