High School Student with Immortal Race System

The next day was a rare weekend.

Yang Shen finished his Cultivation on the Celestial Platform, having pulled another all-nighter.

After reaching the third layer of Qi Cultivation, Yang Shen’s nightly "Source" income from the Guiding Technique had increased to twelve points. Furthermore, tending to his Window Spirit Field and Nurturing the Sun Worms no longer ran a deficit; the capacity of his Qi Sea was more than sufficient.

It was almost wasteful, really. He didn’t have enough Spirit Plants and Spirit Pets to use it all.

Therefore, finding a way to expand the scale of both was imperative.

The four little ones now came to the Celestial Platform for Body Forging every morning. Compared to Cultivation, their progress on the Sixth Set of Initial Body Forging Technique was a bit slower.

Even Lei Lv, who was making the most progress, had only just barely gotten started.

This wasn’t because Cultivation was simpler than Martial Arts, but because the latter required more meticulous, patient effort at a young age.

Kids weren’t training their bodies so much as their character.

Cultivation offered "instant feedback." The process itself was comfortable, making it very child-friendly.

But Martial Arts was all about "delayed feedback." It involved months, even years, of hard work, and the final reward wasn’t "comfort" but a social sense of accomplishment. That was a huge test for a child.

If practicing Martial Arts offered no benefits to Cultivation, Yang Shen would have to reconsider whether it was necessary for everyone in the family to walk both paths at once.

It wouldn’t be impossible to just have a few squishy, pure Qi Cultivation practitioners.

He didn’t have the concept of Dual Cultivation of Life and Spirit, but his own experience had already proven that Cultivation and Martial Arts were complementary.

He had already faced off against an Exotic Strange Guest and Witchcraft and Gu Strange People.

He knew full well that if you couldn’t win a direct fight, you’d be crushed head-on until you were dead.

That was exactly how he had won his own battles.

Unless a better option appeared, like a Cultivation Side Body Refining Technique, it was best to stick with the dual-track system for now.

After breakfast, Yang Shen said goodbye to his family, slung on his backpack, and headed for the address Director Liang had sent him.

Today was the day for the contract signing and the shoot.

’In Yang Shen’s mind, Jinkang Pharmacy’s life expectancy wasn’t looking too good, so he had to move fast.’

Jinkang Pharmacy’s main branch had its offices on the third floor. Since their business was selling medicine, they didn’t have many office staff.

But since headquarters had basically gone up in smoke, they had arranged to meet directly at the outsourced production company.

It was located in a mixed-use commercial and residential building on the west side of Jinshui District.

From a distance, he saw a woman around thirty years old waiting. When she spotted Yang Shen, she smiled and waved. "Yang! Over here!"

She was Jinkang Pharmacy’s marketing manager. They had spoken on the phone before; her name was Li Xi.

Li Xi’s attitude was excellent because Yang Shen had saved her life.

Li Xi shook Yang Shen’s hand. "Yang, headquarters is still under repair, so I brought the contract here. It’s already been officially stamped. All it needs is your signature to be effective."

Yang Shen, ever cautious, replied, "Let me take a look at it first."

The woman found an empty office. Yang Shen took out the copy from Director Liang and compared it to the new one, line by line, to check for any loopholes.

After twenty minutes, he confirmed that the terms and wording were unchanged. They had even agreed to his request for the 120,000 worth of Supplements to be paid in one lump sum.

For the current Jinkang Pharmacy, this clause was actually a source of pressure. While the amount wasn’t huge for them, the straws that break the camel’s back are laid on one by one.

Who knew which one would be the last.

But they still agreed, because many people, Li Xi included, owed Yang Shen a favor.

Besides, there’s a difference between feeling the pinch from company funds and from your own pocket.

’You can pledge to live and die with your boss, but you never see the boss sharing the wealth with you. It’s just a job, after all.’

Yang Shen signed his name on the contract.

Li Xi smiled. "You’re pretty cautious, Yang. The finance department is all set. The payment should be transferred around noon, right about when you finish the shoot."

Yang Shen nodded and followed her to the studio next door.

It was a space of roughly a hundred square meters, surrounded by reflector lights, cameras, and other equipment. This was Yang Shen’s first time seeing a professional studio.

The moment he walked in, he almost lost his composure. Three or four cameras were aimed from various angles at the object in the center: a large, soft bed.

Reflector lights were aimed at the bed from all sides. ’If I lie on that, they’ll probably capture every single pore, won’t they?’

Several experienced-looking young women were also there, putting on makeup and changing clothes.

Even though they were wearing safety shorts and the like, seeing them all changing clothes so openly under the spotlights was still rather bewildering.

Yang Shen hesitated. "I thought... we were shooting a school-themed commercial..."

’Is there a bed scene?’

The director walked over, chuckling. "Of course it’s a school-themed commercial! But we need some lifestyle shots, don’t we? This is just one of the sets for today."

Yang Shen asked warily, "Like what... how are we going to shoot it?"

The director brought over the storyboard.

"First like this... then like this... remember, you have to use your left hand... then put on a satisfied expression. I’ll get a close-up."

.....

"CUT!"

In the dark of night, Yang Shen was showering. His chiseled, perfect muscles rippled, each line as sharply defined as a marble statue.

His back, however, conveyed a deep weariness. He leaned his left hand against the wall, head bowed, letting the water cascade over him.

"Insomnia, excessive dreaming, fatigue, inability to process your Qi and Blood Value..."

"At seventeen, are you facing these same struggles?"

"Feeling... like your body’s been completely drained by studying."

On an empty bed, Yang Shen tossed and turned... until the camera slowly zoomed in to focus on a bowl of tonic soup on the nightstand.

"Jinkang Pharmacy’s Good Sleep Conditioning Package, protecting the sleep of high school seniors all year round! For a great night’s sleep and a fresh start in the morning!"

The screen instantly switched from a cool to a bright, warm color palette. Yang Shen sprang to his feet, stood on the bed, and beamed at the overhead camera with a satisfied expression. "Sleep well to learn well!"

The scene cut. Yang Shen now stood against an empty, golden background, holding up a Jinkang Pharmacy sign. "With Jinkang for senior year! You’ll ace the college entrance exams!"

"CUT!!"

After the first take was done, Yang Shen rubbed his stiff face.

’This is actually pretty hard,’ he thought. ’You have to be completely wired for every shot.’

The director walked over, clapping. "Not bad, not bad at all! The effect is great! On to the second one."

"Alright, ladies, you’re up."

"Yang, you start like this... then all these girls come on, with their backs to the camera... you can’t look tired. You have to give the impression that you can... fill them all up."

....

Against a bright, solid-colored background, Yang Shen, wearing an unbranded blue and white school uniform, was lifting a massive dumbbell.

Every repetition looked strenuous, as if he had reached his limit.

Just then, a crowd of "female high school students" suddenly ran in from off-camera and started jumping around him clumsily.

"Wow~! He’s so handsome! The school heartthrob!"

In reality, only their backs looked the part, thanks to their hairstyles. From the front, several of them had the look of retired pros who were... well past their prime.

Yang Shen put on a serious face and started lifting the dumbbell frantically, but his strength was clearly failing him, and he was sweating profusely.

Just then, a massive, two-liter bottle of tonic soup descended from the sky! As if he’d found a priceless treasure, Yang Shen grabbed it and started chugging. GLUG, GLUG, GLUG.

He was completely filled up!

Then, as if he’d been shot full of adrenaline, he grabbed a dumbbell in each hand and started lifting them as if they were made of straw. WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH! His movements were so fast they left afterimages!

"Jinkang Pharmacy’s Power Conditioning Package, making high school seniors’ Power super, super, SUPER!!!"

Surrounded by the crowd of "female high school students," Yang Shen grinned at the camera.

"With Jinkang for senior year! You’ll ace the college entrance exams!"

————————

The entire shoot was finally over. It consisted of four different short videos, eight sets of promotional photos in different outfits, and a random assortment of headshots.

Yang Shen’s face was completely numb.

’All I can say is, shooting promotional material is way more exhausting than I imagined.’

’And a lot more surreal, too...’

He finally understood how those flashy elevator commercials were filmed.

When Yang Shen walked out of the building, he felt like he was re-emerging into the world after an eternity...

Yang Shen just stood there under the sun in a daze until his phone buzzed with a text, finally making him feel like a living person again.

A text from Chen Beiwang: "The money came through, but it’s only 80,000. It’s probably the post-tax amount. You should set up a company next time; there are all sorts of ways to avoid taxes."

Yang Shen let that sink in for a moment. It seemed acceptable enough.

Starting a company was too much of a hassle, especially with the college entrance exams right around the corner.

After texting Chen Beiwang back, Yang Shen immediately opened his system for a look. Sure enough, the system hadn’t registered the "One Spirit Stone Stumps the Nascent Soul Cultivator" achievement.

This was good news. It meant he had successfully fooled the system’s mechanics.

Meanwhile, the location of the other "half of the Exotic Treasure" was still hovering at the mouth of that river, where it met the sea. He didn’t know if it was recuperating or plotting something.

It was over a hundred kilometers away, and underwater.

He would check on it frequently from now on. If there was any hope, he still wanted to obtain the complete Exotic Treasure.

He checked his watch. There was one last thing to do today.

Yang Shen boarded a bus and headed home first.

He harvested a batch from his Window Spirit Field. This time, the harvest was quite thorough; he took all the Jade Marrow Grass, even the ones that weren’t fully mature. Then, he headed for the medicinal herb market.

He needed to clear out his stock and pick some new varieties to plant!