Watching Yun Aoxue’s retreating figure, Chen Xing let out a long breath and muttered, "Looks like the dorm isn’t very safe lately. I’d better hide all my treasures. If Teacher Yun Aoxue finds them, my reputation as a ’pure and gentle young man’ will be ruined."
Ye Xuan, who was in the cultivation center, was naturally unaware of any of this. He had lost all track of time, completely immersed in his endless cultivation.
A Martial Artist’s path is one of defiance against the heavens. It’s like rowing a boat upstream; if you don’t advance, you fall back.
Although he had now reached the Three Veins realm and possessed the Three-Life Martial Soul, he had wasted too much time in the past. To Ye Xuan, this meant he was still far behind and needed to race against every second.
He knew perfectly well that no genius could become a peerless expert on talent alone. A genius who didn’t work hard would end up as nothing but trash, trampled underfoot by others.
And so, Ye Xuan remained as still as a mountain, continuously cultivating amidst the vast Profound Qi.
One day!
Two days!
Three days!
Five days!
It wasn’t until the tenth day that the Profound Qi inside Ye Xuan’s body fluctuated. With a SNAP, as if some kind of shackle had been broken, he abruptly opened his eyes, two beams of brilliant light shooting from his pupils.
Standing up, Ye Xuan muttered to himself, ’Ten days of hard cultivation, and I only opened two more Profound Veins. This speed is just pathetic.’
In just ten short days, Ye Xuan had jumped directly from the Three Veins realm to the Five Veins realm, yet he still thought it was too slow. If any other students heard this, they would surely be jealous enough to bite his head off.
What they didn’t know was that with the amplification of eight times the Profound Qi, Ye Xuan’s ten days of cultivation were equivalent to three months in the outside world. In his mind, even if he couldn’t break through to the Six Veins realm, he should have at least been close. But now, after ten days, he had only just broken through to the Five Veins realm, leaving him quite dissatisfied.
In the end, it was all because that vortex martial soul had absorbed too much of his Profound Qi.
"Hmph. Once I break through to become a Spirit Martial Realm Samurai, if I find out you’re useless, I’ll see how I cripple you," Ye Xuan said viciously. This black vortex martial soul was practically a vampire clinging to his body.
’First, I’ll go back, take a shower, and have a good meal.’ Ten days of hard cultivation had left Ye Xuan completely filthy. Breaking through his Profound Veins twice had also expelled a lot of impurities from his body, and now he stank a little. As for his stomach, Ye Xuan wasn’t particularly hungry. After all, he had stored some food in his Storage Ring, but eating dry rations for ten straight days had made his stomach want to rebel.
Casually erasing the Spirit Patterns he had carved on the wall, Ye Xuan walked out of the cultivation room that had been sealed for ten days.
Seeing him emerge, the students waiting for rooms in the common area all showed looks of astonishment.
"I heard that Ye Xuan went into that cultivation room ten days ago. This is the first time he’s come out."
"Damn, cultivating for ten days straight? Has this kid lost his mind?"
"A freak, a total freak. No wonder I heard Ye Xuan defeated Zhou Yan from the intermediate class. Cultivating this hard, it makes sense he’s that strong."
"Gotta work harder, guys. If this keeps up, the legendary piece of trash is going to leave us all in the dust. Work hard, let’s go!"
"Work hard? Hmph, to work hard, you need the financial backing. Ten days of cultivation costs a thousand Profound Coins. You got that kind of money?"
"That’s a whale! Hey, whale, let’s be friends!"
"Get lost. Whales don’t need friends."
The large group of students buzzed with discussion, their faces a mixture of envy, jealousy, and hate.
After Ye Xuan left, one short, shifty-looking student’s eyes lit up. ’Heh heh, Brother Wang told me to keep an eye on this kid. I’ve been waiting so long my legs have gone soft. Shit, I can finally go back and report.’
The student scurried out of the cultivation center to deliver his report.
When Ye Xuan returned to the dorm, Chen Xing was in the middle of cultivating. Seeing Ye Xuan, his eyes went wide with shock. "Boss Xuan! Weren’t you supposed to be cultivating? How have you been gone for ten days? And why do you look like you just escaped from the slums?"
Ye Xuan couldn’t be bothered to answer him. He walked into the bathroom, took a quick shower, and changed into a set of clean clothes before coming out.
SWOOSH!
The moment he stepped out of the bathroom, a sudden gust of force swirled in front of him. A dark figure, fast as lightning, struck toward his chest.
"Heh heh, Boss Xuan, take this!"
It was actually Chen Xing! He said gleefully, "Boss Xuan, while you were out cultivating, I wasn’t wasting my time either. In ten days, I finally broke through to the Five Veins realm! Heh heh, I, Third Young Master Chen, am a true genius. Now, let me give you a taste of my power!"
Ye Xuan curled his lip and thrust out his own fists, meeting Chen Xing’s head-on.
"Ouch!"
Chen Xing was sent flying back the way he came. With a yelp, he landed hard on his butt, cutting a pathetic figure.
"Damn, Boss Xuan, you’re too ruthless!" Chen Xing howled. "I know you can even beat Zhou Yan! I just wanted you to experience the legendary Profound Qi of the Five Veins realm! You didn’t have to hit so hard. That’s not how you treat your brother!"
Suddenly, as if he realized something, Chen Xing leaped to his feet. His eyes were wide as saucers as he stared fixedly at Ye Xuan and said suspiciously, "Boss Xuan, the Profound Qi you just used... it seemed to be at the Five Veins realm too."
"Your observation skills are pretty sharp."
"Huh?" Chen Xing’s mouth fell open in an ’O’ shape. "Boss Xuan, you’ve got to be kidding me, right? When did you break through to the Five Veins realm?"
"Not long ago."
"That’s just ridiculous!" Chen Xing suddenly let out a howl like a pig being slaughtered. "I worked my ass off cultivating for so long just to break through from the Peak of Four Veins to Five Veins. And you, Boss Xuan, you jumped from Three Veins to Five Veins in just a few days! WAHHH! It looks like my title as Xingxuan Academy’s number one genius is about to change hands!"
Ye Xuan’s face darkened. "When exactly did you ever have that title?"
Chen Fatty said, heartbroken, "I just gave it to myself."
Ye Xuan wiped away a bead of cold sweat. "Right, Chen Fatty, let me see the Cultivation Technique you’re practicing."
Chen Xing looked puzzled. "Huh? Why do you suddenly want to see my Chen family’s Cultivation Technique? You didn’t even want it when I offered it to you before." As he spoke, Chen Xing took out a thin manual, just a few pages thick. "Here, take it. This is our Chen family’s ancestral Cultivation Technique, the Shocking Profound Skill. It’s absolutely forbidden to be passed on to outsiders. If you’re going to cultivate it, be careful. If the elders of our Chen family find out, even I won’t be able to protect you."
Ye Xuan was slightly touched. That was just how Chen Xing was, willing to casually hand over even his ancestral Cultivation Technique. However, he didn’t want the Shocking Profound Skill to cultivate it himself. Taking the manual, Ye Xuan said flatly, "What crappy Shocking Profound Skill? I wouldn’t practice this even if you gave it to me for free. I just want to help you see if there are any mistakes in it."
What Chen Xing handed over was only the basic part of the Shocking Profound Skill for the Vein Condensation Stage. With a quick glance, Ye Xuan understood the intricacies of the technique. He swiftly took out a pen and began making changes. Before Chen Xing could react, Ye Xuan handed the modified Shocking Profound Skill back and said nonchalantly, "From now on, cultivate according to my modified version. This way, you should have a chance to break through to become a Tier One Spirit Martial Realm Warrior within half a year."
"Wha?" Chen Xing took the manual, half-believing and half-doubting. "Boss Xuan, you didn’t see my outstanding talent and decide to frame me with a fake Cultivation Technique, did you?"
Ye Xuan rolled his eyes at him. "Believe it or not."
On the Celestial Profound Continent, Cultivation Techniques were divided into five grades: Mortal, Earth, Celestial, Profound, and King. The Chen family’s Shocking Profound Skill should be an Earth Grade technique. After Ye Xuan’s modifications, it had reached the level of a Celestial Grade, which was more than enough for Chen Fatty.
With Chen Fatty’s talent, he might not be able to comprehend a higher-grade Cultivation Technique. Leaving one with him would be more dangerous than helpful.
Chen Xing studied Ye Xuan carefully, his eyes filled with deep suspicion. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Ye Xuan, but he knew exactly how powerful his ancestral Cultivation Technique was. It was considered a strong technique even among the Earth Grade. Forget a Five Veins Martial Artist like Ye Xuan; even a Tier Five Martial Sect wouldn’t dare claim they could modify it after just a glance. After all, it was the result of hundreds of years of meticulous refinement by the Chen family’s ancestors.
To put the fatty at ease, Ye Xuan had no choice but to say, "Fatty, you should know how incredible my martial soul is, right?"
The fatty nodded in confusion. Besides Ye Xuan himself, he was the only one who knew Ye Xuan’s martial soul could absorb Profound Qi.
"My martial soul has undergone a miraculous mutation recently. I can tell the strengths and weaknesses of most Cultivation Techniques with a single glance. Just now, I made some minor modifications to your technique based on my martial soul’s guidance. Trust me, as long as you practice the version I modified, you’ll definitely be able to break through to become a Tier One Warrior within half a year. Moreover, the Profound Qi you cultivate won’t be any different from your Chen family’s ancestral Profound Qi."
"That’s incredible! Doesn’t that make it even more terrifying than my Chen family’s Spirit Wood Martial Soul?" Chen Xing’s eyes widened, and then he had a sudden realization. "Oh, I get it now! No wonder your strength has been skyrocketing lately—your martial soul mutated! Hahaha, I knew it! How could a martial soul that absorbs Profound Qi be a trash martial soul? Those Soul Refiners in our Blue Moon City are all a bunch of idiots."
Ye Xuan couldn’t be bothered to explain any further. As long as the fatty believed him, that was enough. At the same time, he warned Fatty that he could only practice this manual himself and must not tell anyone else.
"Heh heh, don’t you worry, Boss Xuan. I may be a fatty, but I’m not stupid." The fatty gleefully put away the modified manual. "By the way, Teacher Yun Aoxue has been looking for you several times recently. She said you should go to her office as soon as you get back. Also, you missed the cold-faced instructor’s training class last week. Be careful, he might come looking for you."
Speak of the devil. The two were still talking when a knock sounded at the dorm room door. Opening it, they saw none other than Yun Aoxue.
"Ye Xuan, where have you been, you brat? Come on, you’re coming with me."
Over the past few days, Yun Aoxue had lost count of how many times she had looked for Ye Xuan, only to return disappointed each time, leaving her simmering with frustration. Now that she had finally found him, she grabbed his wrist while speaking and dragged him out of the dorm into the hallway.