Chapter 47: The Entire Family Cultivates
After seeing off the teacher who came to visit from his school, Yang Shen got down to an important task.
Counting his money!
Before leaving for the Training Camp, Director Liang had given Yang Shen a 20,000 cut of the Vajra Sect’s 2 million sponsorship. Now, he had another 20,000 in hush money, plus 3,200 he’d earned from tutoring and the last of his wages from the milk tea shop.
Yang Shen had now earned a total of 44,000 yuan for the family.
It was an absolutely terrifying sum!
It might not cover half a month of Xu Bamboo’s expenses, but it was undoubtedly enough to solve the Jianghuai Yang Family’s most pressing problems.
His aunt had been upfront with Yang Shen; the family’s total savings had previously dipped below twenty thousand.
Yang Shen felt that while this was a lot of money for a high school student, it was still far too little for a family. He couldn’t afford to be reckless.
For a family of six, having only sixty thousand in savings meant their ability to handle any crisis was still practically nonexistent.
Life wasn’t a video game. If someone in the family got sick, they could be wiped out.
So, the bulk of the money had to be saved... except for one thing he wanted to take care of right away.
"Aunt, shouldn’t we buy a burial plot for Uncle? We can’t just keep his ashes in storage forever."
His aunt sighed. "A burial plot... I looked into it a while back. The cheapest one is ninety-eight thousand. Sixty thousand... is only enough for a Tree Burial."
Yang Shen: ...?
"What’s a Tree Burial?"
"It’s... where the ashes are buried under a tree, and the tree serves as a headstone. You can’t have any engravings, but you can put up a plaque... and the urn has to be made of a biodegradable material."
’Holy shit... isn’t that just using the dead for landscaping?!’
"You’re right... We can’t let Uncle have the cheapest option. We’ll wait... we’ll just have to wait..."
All he could say was, for the poor, affording to live was one thing; sometimes, you couldn’t even afford to die.
The small flicker of joy he felt from his "sudden wealth" was instantly extinguished by a slap from cold, hard reality.
Looking at the "large sum" of sixty-four thousand before him now, it no longer felt as stunning.
The family’s fundamental poverty remained unchanged. He had worked so hard for so long, yet his uncle still had to return to nature.
It was all a bit demoralizing.
"Let’s just save the rest of the money, then. At least we won’t have to worry about food for a while. But I’d like to keep four thousand to see if I can find a way to earn more."
Yang Shen felt that the future Immortal Race, the Jianghuai Yang Family, needed its own foundation, something they controlled themselves. They couldn’t just achieve a high level of Cultivation only to scatter and work odd jobs.
That foundation, he suspected, would have to come from the Spirit Plant Inheritance.
However, his aunt had other ideas. "Shen, your college entrance exams are right around the corner. Shouldn’t you be prioritizing your studies? You’ll have to buy Supplements, won’t you? Hard work alone isn’t enough; you need the injections."
Yang Shen quickly shook his head. Sixty thousand yuan spent on Supplements would barely make a difference—it wouldn’t even be worth two days of his own Cultivation.
’Money not spent is money earned!’
As for Yang Shen’s current academic performance, Tao Ying didn’t really ask about it. She saw her nephew’s hard work with her own eyes, how he practiced his punches on the Celestial Platform every morning. Asking too many questions would only add more pressure on him.
In Tao Ying’s view, even after attending the Training Camp, the most Yang Shen could have achieved was progressing from the Mid-stage of Skin Cultivation to the "Late Stage Great Success Peak Great Perfection of Skin Cultivation."
Yang Shen, for his part, didn’t say anything. If he told her, he’d have to explain where his "Source" came from. He planned to wait until the four little ones had taken their first steps on the path of Cultivation, then reveal everything at once to make his story more believable.
A high school student talking about earning money would normally be laughable, but Yang Shen was different. He had been helping support the family for a while now, and in Tao Ying’s eyes, he was already an adult. She just warned him not to get scammed again by something like a "hundred-year-old Ancient Skill."
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That evening, after Tao Ying left for her night shift, Yang Shen gathered the four little ones of the house.
Three thirteen-year-olds and one six-year-old, all sitting obediently at the table.
Yang Shen looked at Lei Lv. "Lv, you’ve been with us for half a month now. You probably know that I sometimes teach Yang Mo and Yang Man how to practice. Today... I’ve decided to start teaching you and Yi, too."
Lei Lv’s eyes widened. "Yang..."
Yang Shen smiled. "Just ’Brother’ is fine... I told you before."
Lei Lv hesitated for a long moment before finally lowering his head, his face flushing as he called out, "Brother..."
Yang Mo and Yang Man discreetly rolled their eyes but didn’t object.
Their first impression of the Lei Brothers had been terrible, but they had seen how diligent Lei Lv was around the house, cleaning every day.
Besides, Tao Ying often lectured her daughters, and the adoption papers were about to be finalized. They were obedient to their mother.
Yang Shen nodded, putting on the air of a "Clan Leader" in front of the children.
"What I am going to teach you is not a traditional Martial Arts Technique, but... an Ancient Skill. It is the exclusive Secret Transmission of our Jianghuai Yang Family. It is strictly forbidden to be passed to outsiders. Violators... will have their Cultivation crippled and be expelled from the Yang Family. You are not to tell anyone else without my permission. I expect you to remember this at all times."
’In front of my aunt, I’m the little fool who got scammed out of eighty yuan.’
’But in front of my little brothers and sisters, you will call me "Lord Clan Leader"!’
Lei Lv asked nervously, "Not even Mrs. Tao?"
Yang Shen coughed dryly. "I have my own plans for your aunt’s side of things. For now, you will all practice in secret."
Lei Lv nodded solemnly, then pushed down on Xiaolei Yi’s head to make him nod too.
’There are only a few of them right now, so this is enough.’
’But,’ Yang Shen thought, ’once the family gets bigger, we’ll probably need a more structured set of rules.’
’Like... clan bylaws.’
Exclusive "Secret Transmissions" were not uncommon on Cyan Blue. The Vajra Sect, for instance, still had several Secret Techniques that only the Abbot and other high-ranking monks could practice. The outside world had known no details for hundreds of years, only that the techniques were incredibly powerful.
The same went for Martial Arts Clans, which were typically built around exclusive Cultivation Techniques and special constitutions.
But just because they were common didn’t mean they didn’t require preparation. For these Secret Transmissions to have been passed down for so long, held firmly in the hands of Martial Arts Clans and sects, there had to be specific rules and regulations in place.
A Secret Transmission would never be patented, because a prerequisite for a patent is public disclosure. Protecting a family’s secret was handled "manually" through rules, regulations, and emotional bonds.
As for the four little ones, Yang Shen would only teach them the basic concepts and the first level for now. He didn’t even use the word "Cultivation," calling it only an "Ancient Skill." He would release more information later based on their progress.
’Anyway, kids are easy to fool.’
’How many Martial Arts Techniques have they even seen? They probably think all Martial Arts are like this.’
That night, Yang Shen explained the basics of the Qi Cultivation Guiding Technique to Lei Lv and Lei Yi, which also served as a review for Yang Mo and Yang Man.
For Cyan Blue Star People, practicing something from the Cultivation Side, with its completely different philosophy, was actually very difficult.
In fact, most people, if they didn’t truly believe in it and spend a great deal of time trying to feel for it, would probably think they were just "sitting there in a daze." After all, it was a completely different path.
Yang Shen had no idea how long it would take them to take the first step. After all, the knowledge had been directly infused into him, giving him a basic level of proficiency from the start.
He had to prepare himself for the long haul.
While the four little ones were left to their own comprehension, Yang Shen took a handful of small stones from his pocket.
He had picked them from a flowerbed on his way home and had already washed them clean.
There were five in total, each about the size of a quail’s egg and of a different color. He had already cast the Gathering Spirit Technique on all of them, turning them into Spirit Gathering Eyes.
According to the Technique’s description, using stones as the base material meant they would only last a month at most. But considering how expensive jade was, and how things like Demon Pills or Magical Treasures were completely out of reach, cost-effectiveness was the priority.
To create these five Spirit Gathering Eyes, Yang Shen had consumed a huge amount of Source, suffering a grievous loss of ten points from his Qi and Blood Value!
He felt completely drained.
Each Spirit Gathering Eye had a spherical effective range covering an area of about three to five square meters. Yang Shen placed one in the living room and another in the bedroom he shared with Yang Mo and Yang Man.
The remaining three would be placed on the Celestial Platform, where he did his Cultivation.
For the four little ones, being in an environment with a higher Source Concentration would help them take that first step more quickly.
And for Yang Shen, it would increase the efficiency of his daily Cultivation and absorption of Spiritual Qi.
Three was also the optimal number for stacking "low-grade Spirit Gathering Eyes." Any more would provide limited additional benefit and could even result in a net loss.
As expected, the four little ones gained nothing that night, only ending up with numb and cold posteriors from all the sitting.
But for Yang Shen... the effect was significant...
At five in the morning, before sunrise, Yang Shen finished his Cultivation with a look of pleasant surprise.
He still lacked Qi Sensitivity, so he couldn’t intuitively judge the increase in efficiency, but thankfully, he had the Di Di Boy.
In a single night, his Qi and Blood Value had increased by 8 points!
’I’ll make back the cost in a day and a half, and the remaining 28.5 days will be pure profit!’
And although his realm hadn’t broken through, he was progressing further and further down this path. His maximum daily Cultivation time had increased from the initial five hours to five and a half before he reached the point of unsustainability.
Perhaps because he was "earning" more, he became much bolder about "spending." With a beckoning gesture of his hand, six bright yellow beetles flew up from the residential community’s garden.
He would waste about 0.6 points of his Qi and Blood Value every day, using the Bee Control Technique to nourish these lazy beetles, strengthening their mental connection with him and providing a few other benefits.
For example... their appetite would gradually decrease until their bodies were completely transformed by Spiritual Qi, at which point they would no longer need conventional food.
’Cultivation is truly magical.’
And the young man was becoming more and more amazing himself!
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