Chapter 71: [Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill]
A new week began, and the hottest gossip at school was finally no longer about Yang Shen, the guy who had slaughtered the rankings.
Nor was it the juicy rumor about him having drained Xu Bamboo’s luck. Instead, it was the official start of the "Top Student Study Group."
Physical education classes took up at least half of a high school student’s time at school. Considering that these academic aces also had exclusive evening self-study sessions, they would essentially be together for most of the day.
The top ten students in the grade were effectively pulled out of their regular classes, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a new class entirely.
After a short morning of academic lessons, their entire afternoons and evenings were dedicated to special training. The school had opened an air-conditioned training room just for these top students, and rumor had it that three PE teachers were assigned to provide personal, meticulous coaching.
The coaching was so meticulous, they even guided the injection needles into their butts by hand.
However, not a single person from Class Six was participating. Xu Bamboo had dropped out of the top ten, while Yang Shen was apparently still a ways off. As a result, the students of Class Six felt too embarrassed to even bring up the topic with others, creating a sense of self-inflicted shame whenever it came up.
In the classroom, Yang Shen sneakily took out his phone and sent a message to Lin Yuebai: "Sold?"
Lin Yuebai: "Don’t rush me. You’ll get the money when it’s sold."
Yang Shen silently scorned her.
Xu Bamboo glanced over from the corner of her eye and saw a very typically feminine profile picture: an adorable little Pomeranian with its tongue sticking out.
Clutching her sticker-covered pen, she wanted to ask but didn’t dare.
’If I ask who that is, will it seem weird?’
’Yang Shen doesn’t have to explain to me which girl he’s chatting with...’
’But I’m so, so curious...’
’Who is that bitch!’
Yang Shen didn’t notice the change in Xu Bamboo. He was just thinking that Lin Yuebai seemed a bit unreliable... He hadn’t made any money in a long time.
So, he sent another message, this time to Chen Beiwang: "On?"
Chen Beiwang replied after a moment: "In the middle of it right now (smirk)."
Yang Shen frowned for a second, alarm bells ringing in his head. He immediately sent a follow-up: "Are you seeing another tutor behind my back?"
This time, Chen Beiwang’s reply came quickly: "Oh... you meant our session. For a second there, I thought you’d installed a hidden camera on me, kid..."
The guy seemed busy. He insisted on typing instead of sending a voice message, and it took him a while to reply, "No time like the present. Let’s do it today."
Confirming that he would earn at least 1,500 today, Yang Shen finally nodded in satisfaction.
That guy, Chen Beiwang, had originally said they’d have two sessions a week, but in reality, it was far less frequent. ’As expected,’ Yang Shen thought, ’the desire of the ’Innate Shame’ to get stronger is fleeting.’
Or rather, if he had even an ounce of self-control, he wouldn’t have let himself go this badly.
Other people go downhill; Chen Beiwang swan-dives off a cliff.
Since Xu Bamboo was right beside him, Yang Shen asked in a low voice, "When is Chen Beiwang leaving Jinshui District? I get the feeling I won’t be able to give him many more lessons."
Xu Bamboo poked her dimple with the end of her pen and said softly, "I’m not sure either. I’ve only met him once, but from what my mom said... he seems to be in a state of being protected."
"Protection? Did he piss someone off?"
Yang Shen’s first reaction was to think of Xu Bamboo’s "short-lived" Life Chart. ’Could Chen Beiwang be involved in the fated calamity that’s supposed to befall her?’
’How could I stand for that? I’d have to beat the crap out of him!’
Xu Bamboo shook her head. "I wouldn’t know about that."
She recalled how cautious her mother had been when speaking with Chen Beiwang.
For Xu Bamboo, who knew how proud her mother was, it was a very unsettling memory.
Xu Bamboo always felt that Chen Beiwang was a complicated person, but her mother never told her any "stories from the past." To this day, she didn’t even understand her family’s relationship with him.
’Now... it seems Shenzi and Chen Beiwang are the ones who have a better relationship.’
Unable to get an answer, Yang Shen didn’t dwell on it. Thinking any more about Xu Bamboo’s Life Chart was just going to drive him crazy.
’At first, I thought it was Liu Yuankui, but now I have no clues at all and am just purely guessing.’
’It’s pointless to overthink it. What if the "early death" just meant getting hit by a truck?’
’Who could possibly guard against that?’
’No, wait... if someone at the Marrow Refining Realm got hit by a truck, they might be seriously injured, but it’s unlikely they’d die.’
’It could also be a train!’
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After school that day, Yang Shen first went home to grab a few things before heading toward the villa district.
He had a tutoring session that evening.
Just like the previous times, inside Chen Beiwang’s villa, the "Martial Arts Tractor" was a picture of pure decadence.
He was sprawled on the sofa in a bathrobe. The luxurious mansion was a complete mess, thick with a sneeze-inducing smell of perfume mixed with the stench of alcohol and sweat.
It smelled like a hundred women had just had a sweaty workout in here.
Yang Shen looked around, confused. "Why are there ping pong balls all over the floor?"
Chen Beiwang held up a hand. "Don’t touch those. They’re not clean! I was... working on my leg strength all last night. My legs are a bit weak now, so let’s just chat for a while before we start the session."
Yang Shen didn’t mind. Chatting was billable time, after all. At 500 an hour, he was willing to talk until Chen Beiwang hit his Absolute Essence Stage.
As it happened, he did have other business with him today.
"Chen, I have something I’d like to ask your opinion on."
Chen Beiwang raised an eyebrow, amused. "You’re usually so informal with me. Now that you have a question, you’re suddenly so polite?"
The two of them had bonded over a near-death experience, and Chen Beiwang had a cynical, devil-may-care personality. The sudden formality actually threw him off.
He already considered Yang Shen a friend, despite their age difference.
Yang Shen said, "I don’t mean to be disrespectful by using informal language. We’re usually in a session, and being too formal would make it hard to conduct our business."
"Or how about I call you Student Chen?"
Chen Beiwang laughed. "Ha, that works. ’Student Chen’ has a nice, youthful ring to it. Go on, what’s the matter?"
Yang Shen chose his words carefully. "A friend of my family sent some things over a while ago. He was a seaman and picked them up overseas. It’s two types of medicine and a Martial Arts Technique. I’m preparing for the college entrance exams and was hoping to use them to boost my score, but I’m not sure if the technique has any hidden dangers, or if the elixir pills are safe to consume."
"You’re worldly and knowledgeable, and you’re a Martial Arts researcher. Could you take a look for me?"
Lying is something you get better at with practice, and Yang Shen was becoming quite experienced.
He wasn’t aiming for a flawless story, just one that couldn’t be disproven.
’The "friend of my uncle" was, of course, Uncle Yiming. Chen Beiwang wouldn’t dig too deep, and even if he did...’
’...the man is already gone, lost at sea.’
Chen Beiwang’s interest was piqued. "Oh? Foreign medicine and a cultivation technique? Let me see what you’ve got."
Now that they were on a familiar topic, the guy reverted to his pedantic, preachy nature and said:
"You know, pharmaceuticals and biotech are insanely profitable, so it’s very difficult for foreign drugs to enter Yanhua. Among ordinary people, only sailors can easily get their hands on novel items like these."
Yang Shen opened his backpack and took out his handwritten copy of the Blood Burning Force left behind by Liu Yuankui, as well as two types of elixir pills.
One of the types of elixir pills was, of course, the one also left by Liu Yuankui: the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill, supposedly worth 200,000 a bottle.
He had never dared to consume it.
’A person can’t be so reckless as to knowingly swallow a pill left behind by a villain.’
However, Yang Shen had already reached the late stage of Bone Training and was getting closer and closer to the Marrow Refining Realm, which was the corresponding stage for the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill. He needed a definitive answer on whether it was safe to consume, but he lacked the means to analyze it himself.
The second elixir pill he took out was special, however. There was only one.
It was the Peiyuan Pill that Yang Shen had obtained from the system.
Chen Beiwang picked up the Blood Burning Force first and began to flip through it. Yang Shen added,
"I’ve looked it up online; it’s a cultivation technique with no registered copyright. Of course, my main concern is whether practicing it will cause any harm or if it has other hidden dangers."
Chen Beiwang gave it a quick look and frowned. "Burn your Qi and Blood Value? For a temporary power burst? Your uncle’s friend ran in some wild circles. This doesn’t look like the style of an Ancient Skill... Why wouldn’t it be registered?"
Regardless of how powerful it was, a practical cultivation technique without a registered copyright was like a banknote lying on the ground that no one bothered to pick up.
Even open-source cultivation techniques had copyright holders; they were just licensed for public use...
This thing seemed somewhat useful, but it was far from the level of a Secret Transmission from a Martial Arts Clan. At best, it was a "functional cultivation technique."
Chen Beiwang was unsure. "You know my level of Martial Arts skill; I can’t even beat you... If you trust me, I can ask a friend of mine. He’s an expert in this field."
"But don’t worry, there won’t be any issues with leaks. I won’t mention your name. I can personally vouch for that."
Yang Shen nodded. ’While Chen Beiwang’s morals below the waist were completely shot, the man above the waist was still trustworthy—especially considering how incredibly rich he was...’
’Besides, the Blood Burning Force was just something I stumbled upon. I wouldn’t be too upset even if it got leaked.’
’As for trying to register the Blood Burning Force myself... I’m not that stupid. Registering a copyright requires public disclosure. The origin of this technique is a mystery. What if I register it one day, and the Rebel Species organization comes knocking the next?’
’In fact, if Chen Beiwang or his friend were interested, I wouldn’t mind selling it.’
Setting down the Blood Burning Force, Chen Beiwang picked up one of the bottles of elixir pills. He opened it, poured one out onto his palm, and sniffed it. He stared at it blankly for a long time, as if trying to recall something.
"Wait... is this a Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill? Did Xu Bamboo give it to you?"
Yang Shen was stunned. "You recognize it? Wait, what does this have to do with Xu Bamboo?!"
(Please read the author’s note, it’s important)
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