Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Tang Feng sent the students back to the base for recuperation after they had witnessed the novice soldiers’ battle against the evil sect martial artists. After that, he left once more with the other instructors.
After the instructors had departed, several of the soldiers who were driving them said sotto voce, “Several evil sects deployed three higher-rank powerhouses and a team of middle-rank martial artists this time. We’ve managed to trap them in the White Mountains. Your instructors are probably headed there to take part in the upcoming fight.”
The mission that Fang Ping and the others had just completed was small potatoes in comparison.
All of Nanjiang’s Grandmasters had come out for battle. Including some Grandmasters from other provinces, this made up a team of nine. Such a team was definitely not formed in order to take out a few measly lower Rank-3 martial artists.
“Three higher-ranked martial artists?”
Fang Ping and the others were shocked. Were the evil sects truly that strong?
They had deployed three higher-ranked martial artists. Of course, just like the ones in the Catacombs, these were only higher-ranked martial artists, not Grandmasters.
“Our instructors won’t be in danger, will they?”
Many of the students were worried. The soldier who was driving said with a laugh, “It’ll definitely be okay. After all, we already sent nine Grandmasters after them; if there really was a problem, Master Tang and the others would have gone there long ago.”
The students conceded this after some consideration. The situation must be under control if the instructors still had the time to watch them flail about.
...
It did not take long for the cars to reach the base camp.
Fang Ping had just gotten out of the car when a soldier ran out from the camp and shouted, “Fang Ping, you have a call!”
Fang Ping reached for his pocket by instinct. He then remembered that his phone had long since been destroyed during the battle earlier.
“Who would call here?”
Fang Ping was very surprised. He himself did not know the phone number of the camp; only MCMAU instructors would be able to place a call to this place.
In silence, he followed the soldier to the barracks.
Once he reached the barracks, he picked up the telephone receiver and said, “This is Fang Ping.”
“You killed a Peak Rank-3 martial artist?”
Fang Ping mustered up a jovial tone at the sound of that voice. “It was all thanks to mentor’s teachings...”
Lu Fengrou said mildly, “Cut the crap. I heard that you hacked hundreds of times at your opponent and every move used 100cal?”
“That...”
Lu Fengrou suddenly asked, “How much do you weigh?”
Fang Ping was stunned into silence. Lu Fengrou went on, “Regaining Vitality swiftly without the use of pills by extracting energy particles from your surroundings...this is a special ability of a Grandmaster!”
Fang Ping was still stunned.
Lu Fengrou said, “How can a lower-rank martial artist possess an ability characteristic of a Grandmaster?
“First, his bone marrow must be like mercury. In other words, the bone-honing process is crucial. The average person can only hone 90% of his bones, while the prodigy is able to hone his marrow as well. When over 90% of a bone is honed, the marrow will turn as dense as mercury, so the person in question will be heavier than average!
“Second, his Mentality must be higher than the average person. This enables one to extract energy particles!
“If both criteria are fulfilled, one could say that his Vitality will be endless even if he is in the lower ranks!
“If not, he’ll have to prepare to be a research subject. A lower-ranked martial artists with unending Vitality might be able to change a great many things!
“Think about it yourself. If you aren’t able to fulfill those two criteria after you exit the Catacombs, you’ll be alive, but you’ll have to pay a lot of visits to the lab...”
Fang Ping stood frozen in shock. Only after a moment did he manage to croak in a cold sweat, “Instructor, you mean...”
“You flaunted your strength and attracted attention. You brought this on yourself.
“You used countless big moves and showcased your endless Vitality in front of hundreds of people. What did you expect?
“Everything will smooth over if you can fulfill the two criteria I just told you about.
“Mentality...that shouldn’t be a problem.
“The main thing is that your bone marrow needs to be as hard as mercury...I haven’t been able to achieve that myself even now, so you’ll have to think of something on your own!”
“Instructor...” Fang Ping swallowed. He said, mouth dry, “I...”
“There’s no special method for honing bone marrow. The ones who have achieved it can only do it after every bone in their body is honed, including the skull.
“After that, Vitality will naturally seep into the marrow and start integrating itself into the system.
“This is a transmutation that happens within a day. One’s marrow will become as dense as mercury, his Vitality will flow in and out of him like the waves, his muscles will be durable as diamond and his bones as smooth as jade. You might even call him divine! Flaws no longer exist in the human body at this point. He has transcended humanity, both within and without.
“So, for these sorts of people, Vitality replenishment is no longer a problem. Their bones and muscles breathe on their own, extracting energy from the outside world. Their Vitality is always at its Peak.”
Fang Ping’s expression was bitter. To him, all this talk was useless!
The key thing was, how could he achieve that?
Lu Fengrou suddenly said, “Did you know that NMAU’s Wang Jinyang is said to be half a Grandmaster?”
“Eh?”
“Or a potential Grandmaster, more like!”
“This...”
“Maybe Sun City has its secrets. Ask him, see if he’ll tell you. It’s because of his bone marrow. He has Jade Marrow!”
Fang Ping’s heart leaped. “Instructor, you’re saying...”
“Don’t ask me, I don’t know. Maybe you’re like him?”
Lu Fengrou said mildly, “No matter what the answer may be, from now on you have Jade Marrow! Fang Ping, these sorts of assessments are very simple. Jade Marrow weighs much more than normal bone marrow so measuring your body weight is the best thing to do.
“No one will break your bones and spoon out your marrow out for evaluation.
“Those who successfully hone their bone marrow will weigh more than the average person. If you weigh 200 catties now, a person with similar stature but with Jade Marrow will weigh about 250 catties or more.
“Okay, I’ll hang up now. Don’t think that everybody in the world is an idiot!”
With that, Lu Fengrou ended the call.
Fang Ping was already sweating profusely. Ever since Tang Feng’s comments, he had had an uneasy feeling that something was amiss.
He had indeed overplayed his hand this time; not only that, he had not taken any pills either and attracted unwanted attention.
Lu Fengrou had most likely gotten wind of this from Tang Feng.
She had not tried to get to the bottom of it either. She merely informed Fang Ping that there was only one way to solve the problem, which was to spread the word that Fang Ping had honed his bone marrow completely!
Martial artists who had done so would have special abilities; that was completely understandable.
There was nothing wrong with a martial artist in the three lower ranks who could replenish his Vitality faster as a result of having successfully honed his bone marrow,
Fang Ping had no tears to cry even though he wanted to. The system was intent on cheating him—the option to hone his bones over 90% was not yet unlocked!
How could he possibly achieve Jade Marrow?
Lu Fengrou had communicated her other point clearly as well. His life would be preserved, as he was a student of MCMAU—a prodigy, no less, so there was no need to kill him. A small amount of his blood and marrow would be extracted, and he would need to be the subject for experiments now and again—those were mandatory.
Until they had fully investigated and solved the mystery of his abilities though, Fang Ping could say goodbye to his freedom.
At this, Fang Ping remembered Lu Fengrou’s words.
“A potential Grandmaster!”
Fang Ping had never expected Wang Jinyang to be given that accolade.
If he understood what Lu Fengrou meant, Wang Jinyang had honed his bone marrow. That was also completely unexpected.
Fang Ping then remembered that he was currently in Nanjiang, and dialed Wang Jinyang’s number immediately.
“Brother Wang...”
“You’re at camp?”
“Yes, I’ve just completed a mission. Brother Wang, I need to ask you something. It’s...”
“Just say it!”
“I... I think I’ve honed my bone marrow, and I don’t know if there will be any problem. I heard my mentor say that you...”
“You’ve honed your bone marrow?”
Wang Jinyang was stunned. After a moment he said, “Make some time and come to NMAU. I’ll be there for the next few days.”
“Sure, I’ll come immediately!”
Fang Ping did not waste time. He would be in serious trouble if he did not solve this problem soon.
If he did, he would have a way to explain the gap in his resources earlier.
Truth to tell, hints of this problem had surfaced long ago but back then, Fang Ping’s resource gap was too big. He could not possibly hoard so many pills and not use or sell them.
If he really had hoarded the pills, he would not have so much Wealth.
If he had cultivated relying on those pills alone, he would be surprised if he even got to Rank-2. How could he possibly have advanced to middle-stage Rank-3 by merely doing that?
He had deceived Fu Changding and the others by telling them that he had a Grandmaster backing him up.
They had believed him more or less, but in reality, there was no Grandmaster. Fu Changding might not know that, but did Fang Ping really think the Grandmasters would not be able to see right through him?
Grandmasters did not appear at random.
This was not like ancient times where there was no coherent system of communication. An ascension to Grandmaster level was not an event that would pass by unheard of or unnoticed. Even a Grandmaster in the Military Department would be known in martial arts circles; it was only the general public who did not hear much about them.
If the Grandmasters set their minds on getting to the bottom of something, they would find out the truth very quickly indeed.
Fang Ping could only deceive people who were not part of this inner circle; those in the know would obviously not believe him.
...
Upon returning to his tent, Fang Ping packed his things, saying to Fu Changding and the rest, “I have to go out to attend to certain matters. If something comes up, call me...I’ll buy another SIM card soon.”
“You’re leaving?”
“Yes, I have something to do.”
“About the test...”
“Isn’t it finished by now? We only have to wait for our marks to be calculated. We still don’t know when the instructors will come back either. It’s fine.
“I’ll be on my way. If something comes up, remember to contact me.”
Fang Ping hoisted up his backpack and left in a great hurry.
Fu Changding and the others looked at one another in confusion. They had no idea why Fang Ping was in such a rush.
...
Over three hours later.
River City.
It was already past ten o’clock at night so the sky was dark.
River City was not as bustling as Magic City. Even though it was only past 10 o’clock, there were already fewer people on the street.
In a cafe near NMAU.
Fang Ping walked in and waved at Wang Jinyang from across the room.
Wang Jinyang nodded, sipping his coffee.
When Fang Ping reached him, Wang Jinyang scrutinized Fang Ping from head to toe with a measuring gaze. He then furrowed his brow slightly and said mildly, “I don’t see it.”
“Brother Wang...”
“I just heard news that you spent ten thousand cal while in battle?”
“Well...”
“Even I can’t do it. Even if you hone your marrow, you wouldn’t be able to do it either, not unless you hone the marrow of every single bone in your body!”
Fang Ping said in some embarrassment, “Maybe I did. Perhaps I’ve really honed the marrow in my entire body. I don’t know much about it though...”
“Haha
,” Old Wang laughed. He said mildly, “No matter. It’s normal for a martial artist to have secrets. There’s no point in asking you for an explanation.
“What do you want to ask me about?”
“It’s just this...how does one hone bone marrow?”
“There’s no way to do it.”
“Ah?”
“There’s no specific way. You probably came to me because someone told you about me.”
Wang Jinyang said calmly, “In today’s society I’m said to have a gift, but in the past, my condition was considered a disease—an incurable disease where one’s marrow is abnormal.
“I discovered this problem only when I started honing my bones.
“My mentor was still with me back then. He felt that something in my biology was abnormal, so he sought the vice-chancellor out.
“After examining me, the vice-chancellor conjectured that my marrow was becoming jade-like. Of course, I did not investigate further myself; the results are meaningless to me.
“Since everyone thinks so, let it be so.
“I’m not clear why this mutation happened. Maybe it’s as I said, a symptom of some disease.”
“There’s no way to achieve it through cultivation?” Fang Ping’s expression was anguished.
Wang Jinyang abruptly said, “There might be. My marrow might not have completely transformed thanks to the disease. In the past, I think that my bone marrow was in a liquid state, but now it’s slowly solidifying.
“What do you think produced this effect?”
“What?” Fang Ping asked immediately.
“Marrow is found inside the bone. Vitality won’t be able to seep through bone to the marrow under normal circumstances. Honing one’s Vitality is also a way to harness energy.
“After I entered the middle ranks, I always use energy ore to help me in my cultivation.
“I discovered that Vitality can seep into the marrow and hone it after the energy released by the ore reaches a specific threshold and liquefies itself.
“You could give it a try. You don’t need to use the ore, actually.
“There are Vitality Pools in MCMAU. You can try to release the maximum amount of Vitality into the pool and see if energy will seep in to hone your marrow.
“I think it’s possible...
“Of course, no one in the three lower ranks and the three middle ranks has been able to do it even up until now. Even Peak Rank-6 martial artists choose to hone their skulls before their marrow because their skull bones are blocked and their Vitality becomes too concentrated.
“Something like this might require a conduit to succeed. Mentality, maybe.
“I don’t know much about it, to be honest. This is the only solution I know of, however...”
Fang Ping looked even more dejected. Would that work?
Now Old Wang was so extravagant he used energy ore to cultivate!
Energy ore was a restricted substance. In the black market, it sold for one million per gram at the very least and was only sold by grams.
Old Wang had suggested that he try cultivating when the energy emitted by the ore liquefied. This would incur an even bigger cost.
Could the Energy Rooms in MCMAU even do that?
‘I wouldn’t need to stoop to this if the system didn’t rely on points!’
Fang Ping felt helpless.
He suddenly thought of something. His system had upgraded twice: once when his Wealth reached a million and the other when it reached ten million points.
Would it upgrade again if he earned a hundred million points?
Would he be able to hone his bones to 100% after the next upgrade?
It was highly possible!
That meant that now had two paths he could possibly follow...no, just one path!
Earn money!
Whether it was going to the Energy Rooms or adjusting his Wealth to go all the way up to a hundred million points, he would still need money—massive amounts of it!
Only with that could he try out both of these options. He would be stuck if he had no money.
Now he only had 12 million, which meant that he would have to earn 88 million more.
He could not use any of his Wealth either!
‘Money...where can I find such a lot of money...that’s right, financing!’
The only thing Fang Ping could think of to earn a huge sum of money was through someone financing Distance Ltd.!
If the value of his shares exceeded 103 million after the financing, his Wealth would exceed 100 million, and he would have the money to try cultivating with liquefied energy.
Old Wang had only given him speculations by way of an answer, but Fang Ping was very satisfied.
At least he was not completely blind and helpless now. Old Wang had given him a path to follow.
Wang Jinyang did not interrupt Fang Ping when he saw that he had sunk into deep contemplation.
Wang Jinyang sipped from his coffee for a while before he said, “You’ve certainly improved very fast. You’ve killed a Peak Rank-3 martial artist, even if he was considered weak among his peers.
“There are over 1 million martial artists in Sino Nation.
“About 1 million of them are in the three lower ranks. Those who are in the three middle ranks are about one-tenth the number of those in the three lower ranks, so about a hundred thousand total.
“These martial artists are scattered all over the nation, stationed in different Catacombs.
“Peak Rank-3 martial artists are few and far between in some provinces and cities.
“The fact that you’ve managed to kill one means that you’re no longer in the lower levels of the martial arts circles. You’re no longer anonymous.
“You must be careful now. If you can’t find an answer for certain matters, avoid them as much as you can.
“It’s hard to know what someone else is thinking. Even if we have the same foe, it does not mean everyone is on the same side.
“There are different strategies we use against the Catacombs.
“Some want to use force to conquer some of the Catacombs. Some want to postpone this so that the next generation can continue to mature and stabilize. Some want to see if both sides can communicate and make peace...
“There are people behind every policy you can think of.
“You should know what I mean when I say this.
“A middle-stage Rank-3 martial artist, whose grasp of combat techniques can only be considered average, killed a Peak Rank-3 martial artist. You must understand just how big the gap between middle-stage Rank-3 and Peak Rank-3 is.
“Even a Peak Rank-3 martial artist killing a Rank-4 martial artist would be less surprising.
“Middle-stage Rank-3 and Peak Rank-3 are not the same. Do you understand me?
“When the Rank-3 ranking refreshes, you’ll enter the ranks as a middle-stage Rank-3 martial artist. This is not a good thing.
“The more outstanding a person is, the faster they will be targeted. That’s why you have to solve some problems as soon as you can.
“Your mentor might help you buy some time, but to be fair, she can’t always take the brunt of it for you, unless you’re her son, or you’ve become her son-in-law. Pity her daughter has already passed away...
“Of course, you might consider marrying your mentor instead...”
Fang Ping’s jaw dropped. F*ck, what the absolute f*ck!
‘How could you say something like that?
‘Do you think I’m crazy, or that I have a death wish?
‘The Snake King’s still alive!
‘Also, Lu Fengrou’s like, fifty!
‘Is Old Wang so jealous of my prowess that he’s trying to get me killed?
‘He has the gall to sit there and spout such malicious suggestions without batting an eye!’
Wang Jinyang sipped his coffee slowly. He said mildly, “Of course, this is only a thought. Don’t look at me like that. Maybe you’ll succeed.”
“Haha. About that, Brother Wang, you can go try for yourself...”
“I’m not in danger. Why would I do something that makes me uncomfortable?”
Wang Jinyang said reasonably. The corners of Fang Ping’s mouth could not stop twitching. ‘And that means you can say something so irresponsible?’
Wang Jinyang did not muddy the waters further. He said, “It’s not a big deal, actually. You won’t die from being experimented on. They’ll just cut some flesh from you, or draw some blood, or maybe brain matter. Maybe the government will even invest in prodigies like you, so what’s there to be afraid of?”
There Wang Jinyang went again with those snide remarks, just because he was not the one who affected!
Furthermore, he was still deliberately baiting Fang Ping!
Fang Ping’s face was white as a sheet as he gritted his teeth and said, “It’s a fact that my bones are honed thoroughly, just like yours, Brother Wang. If they want to take some flesh from someone, you’ll be the first they take it from!”
Wang Jinyang said nonchalantly, “Some of my bone marrow has been extracted before, actually. But they discovered that mine’s not as potent as a Grandmaster’s and there’s nothing much for them to study, so they gave up on me.
“Maybe your marrow is of better quality, and is more suitable for investigation?”
Fang Ping was speechless. What was Old Wang doing?
Why did he feel the need to constantly scare him?