5th of September. Saturday.
The weather in Magic City changed at a whim. It was sunny the past day, but now it was drizzling outside Fang Ping’s window.
Downstairs, a group of freshmen in the middle of cleaning up was cursing Fang Ping’s name while sweeping the floor.
“Fang Ping’s a bastard!”
“There isn’t anything like this back then. Our batch’s so unlucky, coming here just when he’s president.”
“Yeah! My brother was a MCMAU student. When he was at school, he lived so comfortably. Now, everything’s different! When it comes to our batch, we have to challenge other students for dormitories, we have to clean up the school, and we’re fined even if we’re caught spitting on the sidewalk! A fine of tens of thousands! They’re practically robbing us! And the saddest bit is, we won’t even have a mentor if we haven’t advanced to Rank-1!”
“Shut up, all of you. Do you want to be punished? We’re right under his nose.”
The group of students shut up. They looked upward gingerly.
After a few days in MCMAU, they had accepted that this was how their lives were going to be.
Their batch was unfortunate; they had encountered a bastard Martial Arts Society president, the instructors did not give a sh*t and everything now fell under the Martial Arts Society’s jurisdiction.
...
Fang Ping heard every word. He chuckled. “Jot down the names of those people. They’ll be in charge of cleaning up the Martial Arts Society building from now on for a month at least, until we come across another group sabotaging themselves.”
Chen Yunxi felt a surge of sympathy toward the group of people downstairs. They were just putting themselves in front of Death’s door, were they not?
Fang Ping was only a few floors away, and it was so quiet around. There was no way a Rank-4 martial artist would not hear them.
Fang Ping changed the topic. He asked, “Are the credits sold?”
As the president of the Martial Arts Society, Fang Ping quit doing embarrassing tasks such as this one nowadays.
He simply had to hand it to someone else.
The Martial Arts Society office was here to serve him, the president. He did not care how Chen Yunxi did it, as long as she did.
“They are.”
Chen Yunxi felt embarrassment well up inside her as she spoke. She did not “sell” it; even Fang Ping had not been willing to use this word to describe what they had been doing.
According to Fang Ping, this was them sponsoring the freshmen under the name of the MCMAU Freshmen Support Fund committee.
They sold credits to rich students with a lower cash-credit ratio than the school’s.
Those who did not have money would not redeem credits, anyway.
4600 credits was at the same time a lot and too little.
Among the 2000 students, quite a lot of students were willing to exchange credits for money. There would be no credits left after a couple of people exchanged them.
Chen Yunxi said, “They’ve been sold for 125 million yuan in total.”
Fang Ping sighed. He murmured, “We’ve lost too much recently. We lost 13 million from selling them, and we were fined 15 million too. We have to think of a way to fill the gaps.”
28 million!
Regardless, Fang Ping was also rich now—after adding the 125 million yuan from selling credits and the 50 million left after the fines were deducted.
175 million!
He had 90 million Wealth points left with him too.
After selling 4600 credits, Fang Ping’s Wealth increased by 33 million points. These few days, he spent some to nourish his internal organs.
“What should I do with so much money?”
Fang Ping muttered. He had no means to spend cash, actually.
And his 90 million Wealth points. Could they be enough to hone his cranial bones thoroughly?
They were the hardest to hone in the human body.
Honing them was harder than mastering the use of Mentality, even!
Normally, one would only start honing his cranial bones when he was already at Rank-7.
Fu Changding’s grandfather said that Fang Ping was a potential golden body. Li Hansong was, not him.
Of course, although Li Hansong’s cranial bones were honed since birth, the marrows were not honed.
After entering Rank-7, Li Hansong only needed to hone his Mentality until it reached Rank-8 standards. When that happened, his bone marrow would naturally evolve, and he would automatically enter Rank-8.
Wang Jinyang’s marrow was already jade-like, but his cranial bones were not honed completely, so he would have to spend a long time to hone them at Rank-7.
It was possible that his bone marrow would be strengthened once again after his cranial bones were honed completely.
That was something beyond Fang Ping’s current comprehension.
Even some Grandmasters did not know for sure how they would evolve after entering Grandmaster level.
The mutations... Had only happened a couple of years ago.
“The head is a middle or lower-ranked martial artist’s biggest weakness! By a huge margin!
“After the cranial bones are honed and affects the bone marrow positively, other people will be in for a nasty surprise if they think my head’s my weakness.
“How many people did Li Hansong sabotage?”
Fang Ping did not know for how long Li Hansong’s cranial bones were fully honed.
To stomp down his hubris, Lu Fengrou had reminded him to not underestimate the students currently on the Rank-4 ranking list.
Fang Ping was in some aspects stronger than them, but weaker in others.
It was not a given that Fang Ping was stronger than them even when he was at the same rank.
“I’ll try later, see how much I would need to hone a cranial bone... I’ll put it aside for now.”
Fang Ping dared not continue.
His body had only barely recovered after two days.
If he attempted to hone his cranial bones and lost control again, someone other than Lu Fengrou would want to cut him up, even if she somehow did not want to.
He, a Rank-4 martial artist, could already use his Mentality externally and had a jade-like marrow. If a completely honed set of cranial bones was added to that...
He would practically be a lesser version of a golden body Rank-8 martial artist.
No form of mutation could explain someone like him. He had people like Wang Jinyang and Li Hansong to thank for keeping up the ruse for now, but all of them had only mutated in specific parts. Fang Ping’s full-body mutation would attract too much attention.
As those thoughts ran wild in his mind, Fang Ping turned to ask Chen Yunxi, “Yunxi, when can you reach Middle-stage Rank-3?”
Chen Yunxi felt inferior. She whispered, “One or two months later, at least.”
“That is to say that you might be at Upper-stage or Peak Rank-3 at the end of the semester?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
Chen Yunxi said. She then added with more determination, “I definitely can do it!”
“Nice. Maybe you’ll enter Rank-4 during the second semester of sophomore year. You’re much stronger compared to Xie Lei and the like. Our batch really has a lot of talent!”
Fang Ping indirectly praised himself—he was the genius out of all geniuses in his batch.
“Let’s go visit our mentor. I heard that she got her hands on something good. Let’s go open our eyes.”
Fang Ping said no more. It was no fun praising himself when there was not much of an audience.
It would be much more fun if more people were here to listen to him.
Chen Yunxi, the oblivious woman, did not even realize that she was supposed to say some praise.
Something like “Fang Ping, you’re really strong”, “President, you’re so cool!”, “Senior, you were amazing”. A few words would go a long way.
She only knew to stand there all blur. Later, she would probably lend a hand to a person who had tricked her.
...
Villa No.8.
A new front door was erected.
Lu Fengrou’s students were all present.
Zhao Xuemei had advanced to Rank-3 recently as well. Her one-year path from Rank-1 to Rank-3 was much thornier than Fang Ping’s, given that she was only a once-honed martial artist.
She had almost spent all the money her parents had earned from selling their company, and Lu Fengrou had helped her a lot too.
In order to chase after everyone’s footsteps, Zhao Xuemei ate pills like they were jelly beans, to the extent that Fang Ping felt for her sometimes.
Zhao Xuemei’s eyes darkened somewhat when she saw Fang Ping and Chen Yunxi enter the room together, but she composed herself quickly and said, “Fang Ping, Yunxi, are the matters regarding the Martial Arts Society fully dealt with?”
Fang Ping said casually, “It’s nothing much. I wouldn’t have gone if I didn’t want everyone to think that I don’t deserve those 500 credits.”
Everyone could not help but laugh.
The seven people present here were all of high status among the student body.
During the first days of school, several students had broken through to Rank-3.
Currently, the number of Rank-4 students in MCMAU was still at 9, while there were 56 Rank-3 students.
Two of Lu Fengrou’s disciples were at rank-4, while the other 5 were at rank-3. Out of all MCMAU instructors, her disciples were the strongest.
What was most surprising, the three disciples she had taken in the previous year were among them. Fang Ping was at Rank-4 while Zhao Xuemei and Chen Yunxi were at Rank-3.
While the disciples chatted, Lu Fengrou walked down from upstairs.
She held a helmet-like gadget in her hands.
“Do you know what this is?”
Lu Fengrou was in a good mood. She raised the “helmet” in her hands and laughed. “This is a new product fresh out of the Sino research labs. In the past, there was no way to gauge one’s Mentality if it cannot be used externally.
“Lately, the lab is continuously looking for a way to evaluate Mentality.
“This thing is called a Mentality Detector. This can be said to be a breakthrough!
“Even if you cannot channel your Mentality externally, this gadget can measure your Mentality based on your brainwaves and emotional fluctuations.
“After much difficulty, I asked someone to get one for me from the labs. It takes a lot to make one of these...”
Lu Fengrou sounded gleeful. It was a rare sight.
She had said that it “took a lot”. The production cost was indeed extremely high!
Lu Fengrou did not hesitate to shower praises on the device. If this thing was indeed applicable and was promoted well, martial arts education could be more specialized in the future.
If this gadget could be mass produced, the Gaokao would definitely evaluate students in both Vitality and Mentality.
Mentality might be more important out of the two, in fact.
The appearance of a product such as this one could change a lot of lives. It could also affect the society, or even the world, as a whole.
The lives of those who possessed strong Mentality at birth would be changed forever.
Martial artists could also face fewer difficulties if they knew that their Mentalities were inadequate.
The others listened with curiosity and anticipation, while Fang Ping lost interest after the first sentence.
‘I knew how strong my Mentality is all the while.’ When Lu Fengrou had told them that she had gotten her hands on something cool, he had been excited at the thought of possibly leeching some benefits off of her. His excitement was all for naught.
Fang Ping was disinterested, but the others were not.
Liu Mengyao said quickly, “Mentor, can we use it?”
“Of course. I called you here to let you have a go at it.”
Lu Fengrou laughed. “Be more careful, though. Don’t damage it. I own the only one in all MCMAU.
“Wu Kuishan wanted to get some from the lab, but he didn’t get permission even after a few months.
“And he wanted to take this from me, too! Dream on!”
Lu Fengrou always sounded annoyed whenever she mentioned the guy. She was most happy when he was not.
She could only get one of those gadgets because of her father. She would have failed otherwise.
Fang Ping did not care much about this whole affair, but he was interested in Lu Fengrou’s Mentality.
“Instructor, how strong is your Mentality?”
“825Hz.”
Lu Fengrou constantly had a smile on her face recently. She said, “I’ve been frequenting the Pressure Room these few days. I might achieve 900Hz soon!
“When my Mentality reaches 1000Hz, I can corporealize it. When that happens, I’ll be turning something shapeless into something corporeal!”
Lu Fengrou explained.
Something in Fang Ping’s eyes glinted. “Your Mentality will corporealize after it reaches 1000Hz?”
“Yes.”
Lu Fengrou knew that his Mentality was not weak. She explained with a smile, “The corporealization of Mentality is one of the requirements compulsory for one to reach Grandmaster-level.
“In order to become a Grandmaster, there are some criteria that we need to fulfill.
“One, the Sanjiao Gate must be closed. In simpler words, the body is completely sealed. Your essence, spirit, and soul will no longer seep out from the body.
“Second, your Mentality must be corporeal.
“Thirdly, your essence, spirit, and soul must be united, or in other words, one’s Mentality and Vitality are one. You can also say that they are fused together, interchangeable.
“All in all, you’ll understand when you get to that level.
“When the time comes, your Vitality can strengthen your Mentality, and vice versa. The Combat Techniques Grandmaster-level powerhouses use all view Mentality and Vitality as the same thing.
“Unlike us, where Mentality is Mentality, and Vitality is Vitality. They are solitary.
“I’ve closed my Sanjiao Gate now. I’m close to corporealizing my Mentality. When I succeed, I can try to force the unity of my Mentality and Vitality...”
“Force?”
Fang Ping caught the main point. Lu Fengrou’s smile faltered. She said calmly, “Peak Rank-6 martial artists all try to unite their Mentality and Vitality before they succeed in corporealizing their Mentality, but I’ve been failing at that, so I can only do it forcefully.
“Increasing your Mentality is much harder than increasing your Vitality. If one can succeed in uniting their Mentality and Vitality, he can bolster his Mentality with his Vitality, which is faster than what I’ve been doing.”
Lu Fengrou was cultivating in a way that increased only her Mentality.
Other people whose Mentality and Vitality were united can bolster and strengthen their Mentality by increasing their Vitality.
This was why she was still at Rank-6 while Wu Kuishan was already at Rank-8 when they had started off at similar starting points.
Fang Ping said quickly, “Why didn’t I feel it?”
He remembered Zhang Dingnan telling him that he had already united his Mentality and Vitality.
Lu Fengrou said, tickled by his question, “You? You’re still far from that stage. Your Sanjiao Gate isn’t closed yet, so you can’t unite your Mentality and Vitality. He only means that you’ve achieved a peak in both your Mentality and Vitality. If this continues, though, you’ll find uniting them easier when you’re at Peak Rank-6.
“Easier than I find it to be, at least.
“Of course, if you want to be unbeatable to the end, you have to possess the strongest resolve. That isn’t easy.”
Fang Ping laughed. “I definitely won’t have a problem with that.”
Lu Fengrou laughed. She did not say more; the others were far, far away from that point.
“Don’t just stand there. Come try it out. Who wants to come first?”
“Me!”
Liang Huabao was the first to shout. Lu Fengrou did not hesitate to put the helmet over his head. “Focus. Replay your most powerful Combat Technique in your head. Think of the power you release when you unleash your ultimate move!”
Liang Huabao scrunched up his face as he shut his eyes and thought of the power unleashed by his Combat Techniques.
Fang Ping had the urge to laugh; the guy looked like he was constipated.
The screen on the helmet was flickering rapidly. The row of numbers on the screen changed every now and then.
Lu Fengrou looked on for a while. She shook her head.
Soon, Liang Huabao opened his eyes, exhaling, “Mentor, is this okay?”
“Mm.”
Lu Fengrou eyed the helmet and said, “285Hz.”
Liang Huabao asked, curious, “Is this considered high or low? The requirement for Grandmaster-level is 1000Hz, and I’m only at Rank-3! It should be quite high, shouldn’t it?”
Lu Fengrou suddenly understood why the lab did not really want to promote this.
Firstly, the production cost was too high. That was not the main point, though. When the Vitality Measuring Machine was produced for the first time, it was expensive too. The price would automatically go down when the technology was matured.
Secondly, it was because it would cause despair.
There was no method to cultivate one’s Mentality as an individual attribute. Even Grandmasters honed their Vitalities and used them to increase their Mentalities.
A martial artist whose Mentality and Vitality were not united was incapable of that.
This meant that martial artists lower than Peak Rank-6 could only strengthen their Mentalities by increasing their ranks, or by cultivating their auras.
They could strengthen their invincible fronts or their deathly auras.
Achieving high status contributed to that as well. Fang Ping had discussed with Huang Jing and some other people, and reached the conclusion that helming businesses or getting involved in politics could increase one’s possibility of being Grandmaster.
That was another way of cultivating one’s aura.
Of course, that was not scientifically proven.
With those thoughts in her head, Lu Fengrou smiled. “It’s adequate. Not too high, but not too low. Huabao, focus on cultivating your aura from now on. Martial artists who are brave or unflinching tend to have higher Mentalities.”
Everyone looked at Fang Ping.
Fang Ping’s face went dark. “What are you guys staring at me for? I’m brave and I can kill without hesitation, that’s why my Mentality is so high.
“I just don’t want to show it off under normal circumstances.
“If not, how can I possibly kill Rank-5 martial artists when I was in the Catacombs?
“I’m fearless even against a Rank-6 martial artist. Everyone should learn from me on that...”
Lu Fengrou laughed. She did not comment on his words, continuing with the tests.
Liang Huabao had thought his Mentality was pretty high.
Soon, he knew that Lu Fengrou was only comforting him.
He was an Upper-stage Rank-3 martial artist. Out of those stronger than him, the Rank-4 Liang Fenghua was at 380Hz. He did not mind that.
The Peak Rank-3 Ye Qing had 350Hz, and Liang Huabao was not that much weaker than him.
But then Liu Mengyao, a fellow Upper-stage Rank-3 martial artist, had a Mentality of 300Hz!
Liang Huabao was in despair.
Zhao Xuemei was at 295Hz!
Chen Yunxi had 300Hz, surprisingly!
They were only at lower-stage Rank-3!
Liang Huabao was completely dismayed. He said, disheartened, “Am I stooping so low that I’m inferior to women now?”
The girls shot him ugly looks.
Lu Fengrou glared at him too. Why were there more and more annoying people in MCMAU by the day?
Did this kid forget his mentor’s gender?
Lu Fengrou paid him no heed, saying lowly, “I have a hypothesis. The times one has honed their bones while at the aspiring martial artist phase might affect the strength of his Mentality... I’ll compile information later, see how many out of the Grandmasters out there are twice-honed.”
The data was not too hard to compile. If her hypothesis was confirmed to be true, everyone might try to hone their bones as many times as possible while at the aspiring martial artist phase.
The twice-honed, close to thrice-honed, Chen Yunxi had a weaker resolve compared to Zhao Xuemei, in Lu Fengrou’s opinion.
Chen Yunxi’s Mentality was stronger than Zhao Xuemei’s, though, which seemed a little unreasonable to Lu Fengrou.
“Fang Ping, have a go.”
Fang Ping laughed. He said humbly, “Mentor, I’ll pass. Everyone’s here.”
“Cut the crap. Try it on when I tell you to!”
Fang Ping sighed softly. He looked at everyone. “Look away, you all. You’ll be devastated.”
Everyone said nothing as he acted his show.
The results came out soon.
Fang Ping, who could already expel his Mentality, did not need to meditate, conjure an image, or whatnot. He simply sat there and expelled his Mentality.
“699Hz!”
Even Lu Fengrou was speechless.
Her gaze was heated as she stared intently at Fang Ping’s brain. Fang Ping’s expression grew more and more anxious. ‘I shouldn’t have shown off!’
Was Old Lu after his brain again?
“Excellent, maybe... You really can ascend to Grandmaster-level very soon!”
Lu Fengrou praised, eyes closed as she smiled. “Fang Ping, cultivate properly. If I become a Grandmaster soon, then it’s fine.
“If I don’t...”
Fang Ping’s face fell. There were quite a lot of nuances in her words!
He turned his eyes away from Lu Fengrou to the helmet. This gadget, he could take it home to use it on Fang Yuan.
Would the girl’s Mentality reach 100Hz? He always thought that this girl had little talent. She was as cowardly as a mouse, avoided death at all costs, and loved money as much as she loved her life...
“Her resolve’s too feeble, and her Mentality is weak too. Her path will be difficult!”
He said a few words of prayer for his sister in his mind. ‘Whatever, your brother will become stronger. It’s fine that you’re weak.’