by Dragon King
Because of Zhao Kuo’s shouts, Zhao Guang walked out of his study room.
When he saw Zhao Kuo blocking Hao Ren on the stairs, he thought Zhao Kuo was trying to embarrass Hao Ren. He yelled, “Zhao Kuo! You better stop now!”
“Brother, it’s not what you think…” Zhao Kuo was at a loss for words. “He, this kid, can release Five Elemental Lightning…”
“Who are you calling kid? Watch your language! Um? Five Elemental Lightning?” Zhao Guang suddenly stopped being furious as he processed Zhao Kuo’s comment and walked towards the stairs.
“You see!” Zhao Kuo opened his palms, and a grey sword energy wrapped in a watery blue sphere appeared.
Zhao Guang looked carefully and found that the sword energy was sparkling like a cloud of mini-lightning.
“This…” Zhao Guang frowned.
“Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll is not a sword technique. We are all fooled by its name! This technique basically uses the five elements to create lightning! Forming swords is a bonus, but creating lightning is the core! It is not as simple as releasing sword energies but creating lightning within the sword energy!” Zhao Kuo said.
Zhao Guang nodded.
“I will contact Premier Xia and ask him to label this Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll as a Blue-Grade cultivation technique from now on!” Zhao Guang quickly went back to his study room.
Zhao Kuo started to get serious even though he rarely does.
“That’s why there was no improvement when I was cultivating this technique. I was in the wrong direction! The sword energy without the basis of the five elements was useless; they only looked good!”
He was crazier than Su Han about cultivation. Zhao Kuo was seized with remorse when he found out the secrets behind the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll. However, since he was already on top-tier Qian-level and weeks away from the Heavenly Tribulation, he did not have the time to re-cultivate and learn the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll.
“This isn’t right,” Zhao Kuo mumbled to himself again while rubbing his chin, “Balance between the five elements. My body is filled with water elements, so how can I balance them? Furthermore, how can it be easy to balance them this delicately?”
His big body almost blocked the entire staircase, so Hao Ren coughed lightly and asked, “Can I go now?”
“Um, you can go,” Zhao Kuo moved aside, but he continued to stand still and mumble to himself, “Perhaps this is a cultivation technique of human cultivators?”
“Thank God! Su Han is not as crazy as him about cultivations…” Hao Ren thought. He walked to the door of Zhao Yanzi’s room and pushed it gently as he walked in.
All he could see was Zhao Yanzi lying on her bed while Zhao Hongyu was patting her head. At the moment, Zhao Yanzi was saying something bad about her class advisor angrily.
“What was happening out there? Was Zi’s Third Uncle giving you a hard time?” Zhao Hongyu, who was hugging Zhao Yanzi, asked.
“Nothing happened. He was just trying to see my cultivation progress.” Hao Ren smiled gently before looking at Zhao Yanzi and asking, “Is Zi okay?”
“She is shameless. Of course, she is fine!” Zhao Hongyu laughed.
“Mom!” Zhao Yanzi complained.
Zhao Hongyu smiled again and pinched Zi’s cheek. She then asked Hao Ren, “I heard from Zi that you have reached ‘Half Kan-level’?”
“Um, I had a little breakthrough,” Hao Ren replied.
“I was wondering why your temperament seemed different today. It turns out that you had a breakthrough again,” Zhao Hongyu said.
“Mom, how is he different?” Zhao Yanzi sat up and asked. In front of Hao Ren, she felt embarrassed acting like a little girl in her mom’s arms.
“When Hao Ren came to our house today, I could feel that his spirit is stronger, and his eyes are clearer,” Zhao Hongyu answered.
“I don’t feel that…” Zhao Yanzi said while she inspected Hao Ren.
Hao Ren, on the other hand, has never been looked at by her like this before, and his face started getting hot.
“This Uncle… Really, his temperament does seem better than before. His eyes sparkle like the stars. It seems like he is even better looking than those celebrities on TV,” Zhao Yanzi thought secretly as she continued to look.
On the other hand, Hao Ren wasn’t used to Zhao Yanzi staring at him. As he felt uncomfortable, he tried to avoid eye contact with Zi and said to Zhao Hongyu, “Auntie, I don’t think I can come and tutor Zi for a few days this week. I have midterms on Thursday and Friday as well as next Monday and Tuesday. The first two days of exams are for foundational courses, and the last two days of exams are for specialized courses. I need to study during those days.”
“Sure, no problem. Don’t neglect your education to tutor Zi.” Zhao Hongyu nodded. She continued, “Oh yes, I also want to ask you about something.”
“Auntie, please ask.”
“Last time when you and Zi came to my studio, I was wondering if you are interested in housing design. The studio has been quite busy lately, and we want to recruit a university intern. The main responsibility is to handle some general stuff during weekends. I was thinking, rather than recruiting someone I don’t know, we might as well find someone we know. Our studio is a little famous in the country. If we hired someone who is not responsible, some important information might be leaked…”
Zhao Hongyu was being humble when she said that her studio was a little famous within the country; her studio was ranked within the top six design studios, and her team was even involved in designing some of the famous buildings outside the country.
Hao Ren answered immediately without any hesitation, “If it’s not too hard, I can help.”
“Great. Thanks a lot! We are really shorthanded recently. Once you finish all your exams, I will pick a time to teach you some basics.” Zhao Hongyu smiled gracefully.
“Okay, Auntie. It seems like it’s pretty late already. I think I will head back now,” Hao Ren said.
“Okay.” Zhao Hongyu nodded.
Hao Ren walked over and picked up some of the teaching materials he left behind last time. Then, he went downstairs and said goodbye to Zhao Guang.
While Hao Ren was leaving, Zhao Yanzi, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, suddenly turned to Zhao Hongyu and asked, “Mom, all those smart university students who specialize in design and architecture couldn’t even get a chance to work at your studio, why him?”
Zhao Hongyu avoided answering her question directly and asked with a gentle smile, “Isn’t Ren becoming more handsome?”
“Huh! He is not handsome at all!” Zhao Yanzi pouted her lips.
152 Valuable Treasure!
Hao Ren got on the bus and went back to school; he had no idea how surprised Zhao Guang and Zhao Kuo were.
Zhao Kuo, as a tier-tier Qian-level cultivator, had almost an immortal body. Even a full attack from a Xun-level cultivator wouldn’t be able to hurt him. However, Hao Ren was not even on Kan-level yet, and he could burn a few hairs off of Zhao Kuo.
It was the difference between heaven and earth from Kan to Qian-level!
If there was a real fight, Zhao Kuo, who was on Qian-level, could easily eliminate tens of thousands of Kan-level cultivators!
Hao Ren fondled the sword energy in his palm as he solidified and dissipated it continuously. Although his cultivation realm couldn’t be improved at the moment, the technique of forming Nature Essence into sword energies could be practiced.
That was the difference between techniques and realms. In order to level up one’s realm, one needed to absorb more Nature Essence continually. However, the improvement of realm relied on both the cultivator’s foundation and the proficiency with the technique.
Su Han was in a higher realm than Qin Shaoyang, but her technique and actual combat power weren’t as strong. Just as Premier Xia mentioned, technically, even someone with lowest Red-Grade technique could reach Qian-level. However, the power of a Red-Grade
technique would be far weaker than other grades.
Similarly, Hao Ren’s realm was not comparable to Zhao Kuo’s, but his technique was something that Zhao Kuo had to be careful of.
Lightning Technique that could break through other elemental techniques was more than enough to intimidate Zhao Kuo!
The bus arrived at the school very soon, and Hao Ren walked to his dorm carrying his tutoring materials.
Zhou Liren and the guys didn’t play cards today, and Zhao Jiayi didn’t go for his training at the stadium. They were all ‘reviewing’ the materials for their courses in the dorm.
The mid-term exams would be starting on Thursday, so they were all tensed up, especially Zhao Jiayi. He had failed University Physics two semesters in a row during his freshman year. Therefore, he couldn’t afford another failure.
Hao Ren put the materials on the desk, freshened up, and climbed into his bed with a textbook.
However, he wasn’t in the mood to study. Secretly, he summarized the remarkable abilities he had acquired after breaking through the first level of the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Technique.
The cultivation method was not that difficult; it was about absorbing the five elements in nature into his own body. It was a fairly slow process even though he had the assisting accessories on his necklace.
One of the fantastic things that it allowed Hao Ren to do was to dissolve the five elements in nature with the balanced Five Elemental Array Formation in his body. That was how he opened Zhao Yanzi’s door; he quickly absorbed and dissolved the metal elements in the doorknob. However, this kind of absorption could not be turned into the five elements that he could store in his body.
The other thing was that the technique allowed Hao Ren to condense the weak sword energies that had a tiny bit of lightning in them. The reason why Zhao Kuo got a few hairs burned was that he didn’t defend. On top of that, this type of attack was weak because Hao Ren couldn’t control the sword energies properly and could only throw them out as if it was a grenade.
However, the sword energies could always become sharper and more akin to a sword after more practice.
The most important thing, for now, was to improve his technique. Hao Ren sighed as he put the sword energy away.
Each of the five elements in his body had decreased to 7%. Although they were now balanced as a whole, this little amount of Nature Essence was still like nothing.
If the reference coefficient for breaking through the third level of the Spirit Concentration Scroll was one, then 7% of that would be 0.07. Along with the other four elements, the total came to 0.35. This meant that Hao Ren’s total Nature Essence had reduced to one-third from before. He could only advance to Kan-level after that number becomes one. That was why Su Han called it Half Kan-level.
Certainly, balancing the five elements improved the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Technique and enhanced its power.
Hao Ren picked up a mechanical drawing book and fell asleep while reading it.
The second day, East Ocean University appeared to be very festive with lanterns and banners hanging everywhere.
One after another, fancy vehicles lined up from the Clear Stream Cafeteria to the library. Many famous people in the art circle came to attend this event. All the art courses were canceled, and students of the Arts Program were busy meeting the influential figures in the field who were rarely seen.
However, this didn’t concern the students of all the other faculties. Therefore, the guys still needed to go to their classes.
Since the mid-term exams were on the day after, all the professors were doing final reviews for the students as usual. The key points that were mentioned during these reviews were usually questions on the exams.
Therefore, although Zhao Jiayi and the guys barely paid attention in class, they were exceptionally attentive today.
Even Zhou Liren was able to completely ignore the pretty girls from the Arts Program who were walking around outside. He had no other options! He failed six courses last semester, and it caused him a heart-breaking amount of money to re-take those courses.
After the Mechanical Engineering Theory Class finished, Xie Yujia walked to the back of the classroom from the front with a big bag in her hand. She put it on Hao Ren’s desk and said, “I made a copy of my notes for all the same courses we have. As for the ones I took before, I found my old notes and made a copy of them too. They are all categorized by different subjects. There shouldn’t be too much difference for the same courses. Also, I highlighted the sections that would be on the mid-terms.”
Hao Ren was surprised at how thoughtful Xie Yujia was and didn’t know what to say. He was planning to beg her for the notes after the class today but had no idea that she made copies for him herself. She also included the courses that she took before and he was taking this semester. She even highlighted her notes so he wouldn’t waste unnecessary time.
The guys beside Hao Ren were all astonished too. The Class President’s notes had always been the most helpful. However, no one dared to borrow them from her. Usually, they would be thrilled if any of the girls would be willing to lend them their notes. But today, the Class President offered a copy of them to Hao Ren herself!
“Oh…” the guys started to make a fuss as soon as they realized what was going on.
Xie Yujia flushed. “Good luck! I’m going to lunch with Ma Lina.”
“Oh…” Hao Ren said after thinking for a bit, “How much was it to make the copies? I’ll pay you back!”
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” She turned around, went back to the front, and walked out of the classroom with Ma Lina.
Hao Ren glimpsed at the thick stack of materials that piled up in the bag and thought, “Nothing? It’s as thick as the Mechanical Engineering textbook.”
The guys in the back shouted as the Class President exited the classroom, “Ren, I’ll buy you breakfast for ten days if you lend that to me to make a copy!”
“Lend it to me first, and I will give my items in the World of Warcraft to you!”
“Me too! I’ll treat your entire room 302 to hot pot!”
“If anyone is getting a copy, it has to be us from 302 first! Others should get in the line!” Zhou Liren, who was very stressed about the mid-terms, suddenly got excited and shouted in rampant.
In their eyes, Xie Yujia’s notes were more precious than any treasures. It was just that they weren’t close enough to borrow it from her. Since she was always the top student in the program and won full scholarships every semester, who wouldn’t want to take the shortcut and use her notes to review for the exams?
Seeing the crowd getting bigger, Hao Ren said loudly, “You can all get a copy, but don’t rush and don’t tear up the original copy! You are in charge, Zhou Liren!”
Zhou Liren straightened up his back and held the bag in his arms. “Here, here, here! Call me Mr. Zhou first, and then I’ll let you have a copy! Let’s see who still have the guts to call me Little Li! Humph! Gu Jiadong, since you beat me in poker the other day and called me a sucker, you are going to be the last one!”
Since Xie Yujia gave the copies to Hao Ren in front of the class, she wouldn’t mind him sharing it with the other guys. Plus, she was not that kind of person; she had always helped patiently whenever the girls in the class had questions. She was always the ‘Captain of the Reviewing Team’ before exams.
Hao Ren and the guys, on the other hand, were comparatively too ‘shy’ to ask Xie Yujia for help, let along borrowing her notes. Hence, they never had the opportunity to enjoy her ‘gift’.
Hao Ren shook his head as he saw the guys in excitement. He walked out of the classroom and headed to Su Han’s office.
The streets were busy, but Su Han’s office was so quiet that one could even hear a pin dropping.
In Hao Ren’s mind, Su Han had always preferred the quietness. As the Regional Inspector, she was dedicated to cultivation. In her theory, governing by non-interference was the best way.
Hao Ren pu
shed the door open and saw her cultivating with her eyes closed.
She looked demure and sweet in her vintage style dress and the delicate chiffon blouse. The long lashes over her eyes tilted up slightly as she looked calm and breathed steadily.
This image under the sun was a hundred times prettier than the beauties on posters.
A ray of red light which indicated the metal element and a ray of blue light which indicated the water element reflected onto each other and surrounded her as a mixture of purple appeared.
The purple light was not settled. It throbbed up and down akin to the heartbeat. Then, it started to throb even faster.
“Would she be breaking through again? …Strange how I said ‘again’…“Hao Ren stood at the door, surprised and bewildered.
153 Cultivate with Martial Arts
Bang!
The purple light expanded, and the air pressure in the office changed with it.
Hao Ren was forced three steps back, and his back touched the door.
Su Han exhaled deeply before opening her eyes in which a bright purple light flashed before vanishing.
She turned to look at Hao Ren at the door and said lightly, “You can go on with your cultivation while I take a rest.”
“Did you make another breakthrough?” Hao Ren walked over and asked her casually.
Su Han didn’t want to answer him, but she said after a moment of consideration, “It’s not a breakthrough of realms but cultivation technique. I’ve just reached level 8.”
In the Profound Cultivation Palace in the East Ocean Dragon Palace, Hao Ren had flipped through the Ice Frost Scroll that Su Han had been cultivating and knew that the technique was divided into nine levels. The cultivation technique was mainly water elemental while its offensive power was metal elemental; It was perfect for Su Han’s Metal Water Body Type.
As a master of Qian-level, Su Han had only reached level 7 of the Ice Frost Scroll, which showed her indifference to techniques; she paid more attention to the elevation of cultivation realms.
Probably due to Qin Shaoyang’s taunts, she advanced to level 8 of the Ice Frost Scroll.
