by <unknown>
The bald tattooed man glanced at his writing with an eye. He frowned, saying, “If I follow this prescription, one standard dosage would cost at least 50,000 credits. And looking at his absorption rate, he may consume three to five doses every time I give him his medication. That’s a hundred-ninety to two-hundred grand. No matter how I look at him, he looks to be the type of person without money!”
Fiend Blade Peng Hai laughed with ha ha’s. He said with the least bit of concern, “It doesn’t matter. I will pay the costs.”
“Oi Hai, what you’re doing is...” The bald tattooed man did not understand.
Fiend Blade Peng Hai shrugged his shoulders and said, “Old Instructor, wait till the youngster wakes up. You ask him whether, for a month starting this day, he would be willing to come every night to this place to spar 3 minutes with me? If he is willing, I can sign a contract with him. The reward is 10,000 credits a day. Also, he will be supplied strengthening drugs in sufficient quantities!”
The bald tattooed man said, “The reward is a small matter. But after a month of this, the costs in strengthening drugs would not be a small amount of money. It might cost several million!”
Fiend Blade Peng Hai laughed lightly, “I have a premonition. This youngster is absolutely a monster. If I spar with him, my ‘strength precision control’ cultivation will be completed very quickly for certain. I will be able to stand firm in the high levels of the Building Foundation Stage!” What is several million credits worth in comparison? Going to the Demon Beast Wasteland and hunting the head of a high-stage Demon Beast would make that money back!”
“Ding!”
The bald tattooed man’s portable processor rang out a pleasant sound.
Fiend Blade Peng Hai put on his military jacket and walked out to the exit as he said, “ Old Instructor, I just transferred 5 million credits to your bank account. Have it pay the costs of the strengthening drugs. Use however much money is needed to feed this youngster until he's full. Tonight, I still need to go the Crimson Nimbus Second to give a few of the top students in the Important Class a course lecture on ‘Night-time Raiding’. I will come spar with this youngster tomorrow night!”
He reflected on the three minutes just a moment ago, when he was filled to his heart’s content. Fiend Blade Peng Hai all of a sudden felt that the course he will be lecturing in a moment later would be somewhat dull. No matter how strong the top students of the important class were, they would never peak his interest.
This was because their bodies were missing a sort of air — the murderous air of bloodshed!
When he walked to the entrance, Fiend Blade Peng Hai could not help but cast a glance back.
Within the recovery pod, Li Yao’s 36,000 pores were entirely spread open. They were absorbing nutrients in a thoroughly famous and extremely vicious manner from the strengthening drugs. A wisp of strange luster surfaced on his ashy white skin with each undulation of his sternum. Each bundle of muscle fiber and each blood-filled vein gradually floated and surfaced, like a once hibernating Fiend Dragon sleeping in the abyss. They sketched a strong physique that was heart-shaking.
Fiend Blade Peng Hai laughed lightly as he turned around and left.
He was brimming with anticipation towards the three minutes of tomorrow night!
Chapter 23: Eating Without Discrimination |
From Li Yao’s perspective, the events that had transpired tonight were all part of an inconceivable and fantastic trip.
All he remembered was himself being beaten black and blue by the smiling clown and that he had shamefully fainted and passed out. Then, he felt like someone put him in a piping hot sauna. He felt himself bobbing up and down in broiling hot magma.
He had been steeped for a full five hours before he awakened. Li Yao had never felt an ecstasy as pleasurable as this his entire life thus far!
This sense of satisfaction was hard to describe with words and was absolutely impossible to describe using pen and ink. It can barely be described in the following way. It was as if from head to toe in his body every single muscle visible, every single strand of vein, and every single cell had enjoyed an incomparably fine banquet, soaked in a very comfortable bath, and lastly received a meticulous whole body massage for three hours. The pleasure simply carried him beyond the highest clouds!
The only thing was... A dark expression on the bald tattooed gym owner’s face. The owner glared at Li Yao with a bad complexion. It was as if Li Yao had cheated the owner of 900,000 credits!
It was only after the 30 second interval where Li Yao snorted down two large bowls of corn congee, swallowed down four giant sausages that were as large as arms, all while engulfing twenty meat buns, that the owner’s complexion turned a bit better.
“Have you served in the army?” the owner asked him abruptly.
Li Yao stared blankly and shook his head.
“The way you eat is very similar to some special forces soldiers in the army. True special forces soldiers who survived through the malevolent battlefield of slaughter know how to do this. They know how to consume the greatest amount of energy in the shortest amount of time. This is an extremely important skill that raises your survival rate by leaps and bounds! From the way you eat, you must have received special training. If you haven’t served in the army, that means one of your family elders must have been ex-military. Probably someone with an extraordinarily high ranking in the secret forces!” the bald tattooed man explained as he looked attentively at Li Yao’s expression and became completely cordial.
He didn’t continue nagging Li Yao about his background. He just straightforwardly fished out a brand new contract.
“That member you sparred with a while ago was utterly pleased with your performance. He wants to sign a month’s contract with you acting as his sparring partner. Are you interested?”
……
And just like that, on the early morning on the second day, at the same time when Li Yao appeared in front of Crimson Nimbus Second’s school gate with vigor and valiance, his bank account increased by a whole 11,000 credits. An invaluable contract lay in his pocket. His veins rushed and bubbled with a strength that was on the verge of eruption. It was as if his chest was stuffed deeply full with crystal explosives. Each time his heart beated, it was like an earth shattering explosion had detonated!
“There’s still 97 Days, 18 hours, 33 minutes, and 45 seconds until the University Entrance Exams!”
Li Yao stood fixed beneath the front of the University Exam Countdown sign. The flickering digits reflected deep in his irises, becoming two fiendish fanatical flames. He waved his fist with aggression, wishing he could let out a whistle and fly up to fiercely kick the countdown sign into pieces!
“Little Devil, where did you go yesterday? You didn’t even respond to my E-crane message. What happened?” His bro for life Meng Jiang’s voice came from behind his body.
Li Yao did not look back. He tossed the oily paper bag he had in his hand behind his body. The bag landed perfectly in Meng Jiang’s embrace. “I got a fever all of a sudden yesterday, so I stayed at home to rest for the day. Here’s an egg pancake from the Fire Cloud Palm Vender!”
Meng Jiang cried with “wa wa” as he got scalded by the hot bag. He opened the oily bag to look. Eyes brightened as he said, “Wow, you’re rich! You actually gave me an ten entire pancakes. How can I eat all of this?”
“Eat five of them and toss the rest!” Li Yao laughed heartily as he hooked his arm around his best friend’s neck. The two chatted bantered as they walked to the classroom.
“Hey, Little Devil. Did you hear the rumors? Some earth-shattering and explosively shocking news emerged last night about our school!” Meng Jiang said, winking his eyes.
“What kind of news?” Li Yao ate a pancake with each bite. In a flash, he had eaten three scalding hot egg pancakes and looked at Meng Jiang looking stupefied.
Meng Jiang composed himself and said, “Rumor has it that last night outside, out of us mishmash of fish of the C
ommon Class, there was actually a retard who had a conflict with the number one expert of our school, Helian Lie. We don’t know what method he used, but somehow he messed with Helian Lie and made him into a sorry figure. When Helian Lie got home, he was berated by his family elders. It was so bad that he’s grounded in his house for a full week! They forbid him from going out and stirring up trouble!”
“Oh?” Li Yao’s steps slowed and his complexion turned somewhat odd.
Meng Jiang did not notice the change in his good friend. With smiles of delight, he continued speaking, “I heard that this conflict arose due to Si Jiaxue. Alas, we don’t know which one among us Common Class is this heroic and courageous person with this much character. Who made Helian Lie, the tyrant of this school, eat defeat. Nevertheless, this reckless retard will be extremely miserable in their next encounter. I think today there should be a nice show to watch!”
Li Yao asked strangely, “Didn’t you say that Helian Lie’s forbidden to leave his house? That he hasn’t come to school? How can there be any kind of show to watch?”
Meng Jiang shook his head, “Little Devil, normally, you don’t care for the inner politics of our school. That’s why you don’t know about Helian Lie’s influence within the school. It’s not that simple! Let’s not talk about how his father, Helian Ba, is the number one board member of Crimson Nimbus, possessing an enormous amount of influence. Let’s just talk about about Helian Lie himself. He is the president of Crimson Nimbus Second’s Student Council and is also the organizer for several clubs. He possesses a large amount of subordinates with tyrannical strength. No matter what he competes in, there isn’t anyone who can surpass him!”
He paused for a bit. Meng Jia said with a lowered voice somewhat secretively, “Do you still remember? Last year, there was a student in the Ascending Class who somehow offended Helian Lie. Not only was he beaten miserable, but after he was sent to the sick bay, they ‘accidently’ used the wrong medication on him. It took him half a month of lying in bed before he could recover with great difficulty. Then the school actually found an excuse to expel him. Tsk tsk tsk tsk, it truly was a life worse than death!”
Li Yao’s pupils contracted suddenly. “Helian Lie has this much influential power?”
Meng Jiang nodded his head, and with an expression of full of sympathy, he sighed a breath as he said, “You only know just now? If he doesn’t retaliate back, why would everybody have a reason to be so fearful of him? In brief, it doesn’t matter who provoked him last night. That person will need to take the initiative to quit school as soon as possible. At least then they would avoid a round of physical pain. Huh? Little Devil, when did your complexion become this bad?”
“Really, its bad?” Li Yao chewed nonchalantly and burped out loud.
“It’s bad. Who told you to eat six pancakes with a single breath! You fathead. You’re probably stuffed way too full from the last one!” Meng Jian suddenly slapped his back. “Strange, do you have some sort of padding on your back? Why do the muscles on your back feel so hard? It’s like a chunk of rock!” …
Ten minutes later at Gymnasium number 9.
There were a total of nine gymnasiums in Crimson Nimbus Second. The ninth gym was constructed in the oldest decade. Its equipment were the most obsolete, and its conditions were of the poorest quality. It was the primary place for students of the Common Class to practice cultivation.
The gymnasium was somewhat empty. All sorts of cultivation training equipment were set up inside. Over a hundred of Common Class students had already changed into the stretchy training clothes and were engaging in extremely difficult training. The sounds of battle cries, the sounds of strikes landing, and the sounds of iron plates and barbells colliding rang out. All sorts of sounds blended together and resonated under the dilapidated ceiling.
Li Yao squeezed into an examination chamber, getting ready to test out his Spirit Actualization Quotient.
He faintly felt that his Actualization Quotient had increased greatly, as if he had been reborn into a different person!
Chapter 24: A Leap of Advancement |
The world in front of his eyes twisted and warped as a myriad of arcane glyphs flared one by one, changing the world completely into the Great Illusionary Land. Soon, Li Yao found himself in the middle of an enormous arena made up of embedded black stone tiles.
The test he was about to take was a simpler one, so the coming challenges were unlikely to prove as big of a spectacle as the ones from the last exam simulation.
The black stone arena was about 500 meters in diameter. Black walls were placed in all directions reaching towards the clouds. One could see countless passageways the color of blood all around when gazing far into the distance. The faint roars of demon beasts came out from inside them.
The figures of savage demon beasts gradually came into view.
Li Yao warmed up each joint of his body in a loose yet not leisurely manner, causing his body to produce a ringing of “pop pop pop pop” bursts. He thoughts suddenly moved to action when he thought back to last night and the earnest motions of the Federations 5th Sequence of Body Exercises performed by the smiling clown.
“It seems that this exercise is nothing special, there’s nothing profound about this. Forget it. Let’s first test the limits of my speed!” Li Yao ignored the dozen or so demon beasts that were approaching. He knelt on one knee, used his pair of hands to support himself, and stuck his buttocks up, adopting the stance of a starting runner.
“Bowowowowow!” Several demon beasts with scarlet eyes shouted for Li Yao to come over.
“Woosh!” Every single muscle fiber in Li Yao’s two legs burst forth like thousands upon thousands of sharp blades unsheathing. Two gaping holes the size of fists were stamped into the black stone tiled floor. He turned into an image of savageness as he flashed past seven to eight demon beasts!
Li Yao did not pay any attention at all to the eye-catching demon beasts. He only had one thought in his head, and that was to run!
He dashed 250 meters away from the center to the edge of the black tiled arena in an instant. He was 50 meters away from the wall, yet he still maintained his sprinting speed. Just when it looked as if he was about to crash into the wall, his body flew into the air and turned in a strange fashion. His pair of feet stomped heavily against the wall.
“Bang!”
A web of cracks appeared on the wall’s surface. Li Yao was like an arrow let loose from a bow as he shot towards the other side of the arena.
The dozen or so demon beasts had not even grasped half a hair on his head up to this point!
He traveled another 500 meters at lightning speed. Li Yao reversed directions once again and was standing fixed once more in the center of the arena. He had done this in the time it took to glance up at the sky.
“1000 meters in 1 minute and 32 seconds! Not bad. I have improved by 41 seconds over my previous self. The next thing to do is to test the limits of my jumping power!”
Li Yao squatted once again. He took off, sped up, and sprinted forward. Right before two of the demon beasts was about to rip him to shreds, he leapt super high, and like a released flying sword, he pierced towards the sky!
It was in this fashion that he tested his speed, endurance, jumping power, anti-gravity strength, and limit-burst ability under the surrounding pressure of demon beasts.
An hour later.
Li Yao was weary; his strength was spent. He was gasping for breath while he sat in the middle of the dismembered corpses of demon beasts. His face was painted with the wild blood of the vanquished foes.
His eyes pierced through the fog of blood. He gazed towards the sky, brimming with anticipation.
A black cloud was raging in the middle of the sky; a dark wind wreaked havoc while muffled lightning struck in waves; a series of complex calculations was happening. Finally, the Great Illusionary Land produced his current Spirit Actualization Quotient:
“58%!”
“58%!”
When Li Yao saw this sparkling shining figure, he could not help but wave his fist and roar out in excitement.
Two days ago, his Actualization Quotient was only 35%, categorized into the worst aptitude grade. After his mind went through purgatory training in the longest dream with Ou Yezi, his Actualization Quotient actually increased by over 20%. He was only one distant step away from reaching the cultivation geniuses of the Important Class.
Even though he knew clearly that this type of bodily rebirth probably can only happen once, there were still exactly 97 days until the exams. He had the absolute confidence that he could raise his Actualization Quotient by another 10% within this time frame!
The road ahead of him was still very long, but if he could forge onwards and pierce through any obstacles no matter how difficult, he would surely pass the test and join the Nine Elite Universities to step onto the road of cultivation — to become a Master Refiner!
Only when Li Yao left the Illusionary Land and stepped out of the examination chamber, did his heart finally stir greatly with emotion. It took a long time before he calmed down.
He felt an itch in every joint of his body. He felt every fiber of his muscles howling. Every time he breathed, he puffed out steam. His strength wandered throughout his body with nowhere to disperse. It caused him to stir incomparably restless and made him extremely impulsive.
He surveyed his surroundings. Everyone was training diligently. His best bro, Meng Jiang, was nowhere to be found. Li Yao was unable to share in his delight.
He swallowed a mouthful of spittle. The fire of restlessness still remained in his throat. Li Yao took a deep breath and walked to the end of the gym.
An old, dilapidated Strength Tester machine was set up over there.
These days, students were long accustomed to using the Great Illusionary Land to test their strength. They had no interest towards this old artifact with its simple mechanism and glyph array structure.
