Chapter 257 - 255: How Long Have You Had This Symptom?
The dead of night was silent. The grand cultivation session at the Yang Residence had finally ended, but no one slacked off, spontaneously beginning to practice the Sun Wheel Body Refining Technique.
The more they delved into it, the more they sensed the profundity of this Cultivation Technique. The efficiency of Strengthening Qi and Blood Value was significantly enhanced, and it could even self-regulate the medicinal residues accumulated in their bodies.
Moreover, since it was created by Yang Shen, many of its moves were also quite effective in actual combat.
Given its quality, if this were to be sold on the market, you couldn’t even get a whiff of it without paying a copyright fee of several hundred thousand!
It was certain that for some time to come, everyone would practice with tireless diligence.
The Yang Family had not stagnated during the month Yang Shen was away, but now that he was back, things were bound to accelerate.
The Yang Residence only gradually fell silent as the night deepened.
Yuan Rui, feeling refreshed all over, took a shower. After bathing and changing his clothes, he knocked on the door to Yang Shen’s room.
"Master, this student has come to bother you."
"Come in."
There was nothing particularly special about Yang Shen’s room. As a Cultivator who didn’t need to sleep, this was merely a private space for him.
After entering, Yuan Rui saw many strange and peculiar items on Yang Shen’s desk.
A Tiechui, half a sign... a Sea Beast scale?
The sign also had the three words "Clothes Dance Show" written on it... Judging by its size, at least one character in front had been cut off.
’Hmm... as a disciple, it’s better not to be too clever sometimes.’
’If anyone asks, I’m just uncultured and illiterate.’
Yang Shen pointed ahead. "I brought all these back from the outer seas."
"This Tiechui is made of some rare material, the sign is a rare type of wood... and the scale should be from some kind of Sea Beast. As you’ve probably guessed, I have no idea what any of these things do."
Yuan Rui immediately said, "Master’s judgment is surely impeccable. These are definitely treasures!"
Yang Shen didn’t explain further, just assigned him a task. "They need to be put to use eventually, but I don’t have the energy to investigate them slowly. I’ll handle this medicinal herb myself, but you can take the rest back and help me look into them."
"Find skilled people, or professionals—either is fine. In any case, I’ve already confirmed there’s nothing about them online. This is a tedious job, so I’m leaving it to you."
Yuan Rui immediately replied, "Rest assured, Master. This student has quite a few people at my disposal now, and there are many well-traveled and knowledgeable people at Jiangti. I will definitely get this done for you."
Scrape off a few samples, ask around at the Precision School and the School of Life Sciences, and he might just get some results.
Yang Shen then took out a metal plate. "This has runes from Europe. I’ll give you an address. I need you to mail it to the Dongying Remnant Island for me, but make sure it’s done safely."
Cross-border shipping was troublesome enough, let alone to a complex place like the Dongying Remnant Island.
Deng Ming had previously expressed his willingness to help him process the "rune" spoils from the Noon Realm, so he might as well send this over too.
If all went according to plan, when Deng Ming left Harmony Island, the Yang Family would have an additional batch of Rune Weapons, each with different functions.
That stuff was expensive. Most of the broke-ass international students at Jiangti only had One Blade and Half Armor. Yang Shen felt that armor was too conspicuous and required sizing, so it was better to make them all into weapons.
He could give them to the Clan’s Direct Lineage and the Eight Disciples then.
After assigning the tasks, Yang Shen had Yuan Rui go back to rest. He himself continued to compile the contents of the Sun Wheel Body Refining Technique. Having taught it countless times today to both geniuses and duds, he had gained new insights.
The prize pool was still growing.
One day, he hoped to deduce the Sun Wheel Body Refining Technique to the height of being the number one Body Refining Technique in all of Yanhua!
—
On Monday, after handling the family’s development matters, Yang Shen finally returned to school and resumed his campus life.
The moment he stepped onto campus, Yang Shen took a deep breath, savoring the scent of the academic rat race and surreal absurdity in the air, and felt his mind lighten.
The paths were full of sprinting students, the corners were filled with figures secretly giving themselves injections, and the sports field even had young ladies massaging their classmates’ legs. Everything was so free, so unrestrained~!
’The cafeteria food is so good, hehehe~’
Yang Shen stood at the main gate, feeling sentimental for a moment before striding coolly inside.
Xu Bamboo was on his left and Cao Wei was on his right. Yuan Rui and Tian Zihan followed behind, along with a few Named Disciples they met on the way, attracting the gazes of many students.
"Is that a student?"
"I don’t know... so flashy... I love it!"
"Hmph... damn rich people!"
Yang Shen paused for a moment. ’Why does this feel so familiar...’
His class schedule had been reinstated. The first class today was a theory course, Exotic History Research, but the instructor had changed to a man named Qi Zhanzhi.
The previous instructor was an ordinary lecturer in his thirties or forties whose teaching was as dry as a nuclear-powered repeater. Not that the course itself was important; Yang Shen had only taken it for an easy credit.
But after having visited an Exotic Realm himself, Yang Shen could tell upon returning to class that this Qi Zhanzhi was on a much higher level than the previous one. He often cited classics and told stories beyond the textbook, giving "Exotic History" a more concrete and rich image. It also seemed he had been to many Exotic Realms himself.
Right, as a campus celebrity and the number one freshman, the number of people trying to ride Yang Shen’s coattails hadn’t decreased—it had increased.
Many tried to get familiar with him, using "Yang Shen, you’re back?" as an excuse to start a boring conversation, including that young lady from before who had brought him snacks and was quite a catch.
She was still a good hand, but her eyes seemed sunken, and she looked very stressed.
Maybe she’d been playing her hand too much.
The second class was "Advanced Boxing Technique." Originally, only Yang Shen was in this class, as Xu Bamboo hadn’t taken it as an elective. But as Yang’s Eight Disciples each made progress, Cao Wei had been promoted from the "Basic Boxing Technique" class.
Yuan Rui and Tian Zihan had also improved, both in their rankings and their course levels.
After two ranking challenges, the three of them had all risen from the bottom to the middle ranks of their year, placing between 400th and 500th. This wasn’t a result of some internal exchange within the "Crocodile Influence," but something they had earned through sheer combat.
Take Cao Wei, for example. She was already in late-stage Marrow Refining, not far from Innate Rebirth.
One shouldn’t compare her to a monster like Yang Shen. To reach this level within three months of starting university was already extremely impressive. Most people wouldn’t break through to the Innate realm until their sophomore or junior year.
At this moment, Yang Shen was at the edge of Sports Field No. 9. The instructor hadn’t seen him in a while and had pulled him aside to teach him separately later, prioritizing the regular students first.
Meanwhile, on the field, Cao Wei was moving with a vigorous posture, her every move as sharp as the wind. As a well-proportioned Female Martial Artist with long legs, her combat style had always been rather "crazy," highly aggressive and with a powerful presence.
He had just passed down the Sun Wheel Body Refining Technique yesterday, and today he could already see a trace of it. Small, special moves were interspersed within her actions. It seemed she was taking it very seriously.
Yang Shen watched, nodding to himself in approval.
In truth, with Cao Wei’s aptitude and the Yang Family’s support, he conservatively estimated she could reach the Innate realm by the end of this semester. Reaching the True Gang stage before graduation would be no problem at all.
If he passed down an Immortal Technique... the progress would be even faster.
However, he had just established the Blood Contract and taught her the Sun Wheel Body Refining Technique. There was no rush to pour resources into her. Whether it was the mechanics of the Blood Contract Gourd or digesting the Sun Wheel Body Refining Technique, both required time.
As he was pondering, a blurry afterimage suddenly rushed toward him from the side. Yang Shen sensed it and frowned slightly.
But the afterimage moved with the subtle grace of a phantom, casually sitting down one seat away from Yang Shen, not getting too close.
The feeling was very strange. An Innate Martial Artist could also move quickly when sprinting at top speed, but to go from extreme speed to suddenly... sitting nonchalantly on a chair and crossing one’s legs, with posture and movement completely unaffected by inertia...
Even Yang Shen would need the help of the Five Elements Escape to achieve that, and he’d still have to practice the show-off skills.
’You’d have to have a decade of brain damage to be that smooth.’
The newcomer was Jiang Xin.
This Legitimate Son of the Jianghuai Jiang Family still sported the same slicked-back hair and the look of a flashy, rich young master, but a closer look revealed some differences.
’He looks even more punchable now!’
Jiang Xin sat there brazenly, the top three buttons of his shirt undone... revealing a rather well-built chest.
His eyes seemed to be looking straight ahead, but his words were directed at Yang Shen:
"I heard on Friday that you were back, but I didn’t see you at school. Congratulations, you made it to an Exotic Realm before I did. How was the scenery over there?"
Yang Shen felt something was off about this guy...
’He seems to have gotten even crazier...’
A smile played on Jiang Xin’s lips. "By the way, I have some good news for you. After losing to you, I benefited greatly. After a period of devoted cultivation..."
"I comprehended Fist Intent."
Now this genuinely surprised Yang Shen. "A show-off’s Fist Intent?"
"’Ultimate Free Will.’ I named it myself... Zizai Extreme is my family’s Secret Technique, and it was you who awakened my Free Will. After that, I finally understood the true meaning of Zizai Extreme....
"It’s to do whatever I want! Haha!"
Yang Shen sized Jiang Xin up for a long moment before letting out a single sentence:
"How long have you had these symptoms?"