Mentality and Vitality surges, and golden bones resuscitation was no different, all needed a lengthy amount of time to get used to.
Despite that, the Fang Ping was much stronger than he ever was.
The stronger his abilities, the easier for him to adapt.
After disregarding the cost and spending nearly 200 million Wealth, Fang Ping spent 5 days to help adapt to the new condition.
In the last 5 days, Fang Ping not only got accustomed to the fresh surge in his ability, but he also achieved an enormous breakthrough in his internal organ honing.
His five viscera were already honed to the maximum limit. As for his six bowels, parts like the stomach, large and small intestines, and gallbladder were also completely honed.
Now, only the bladder and a small portion of internal organs were not honed yet.
In less than a few days, Fang Ping could officially complete his internal organ-honing and step into Middle-stage Rank-5.
On the other hand, Wang Jinyang and the others who broke through around the same time as him still have a long way to go.
...
Cultivation room.
Fang Ping checked his stat changes again:
Wealth: 9 billion (convert)
Vitality: 2450cal (4699cal)
Mentality: 650Hz (829Hz)
Bones Honed: 177 bones (100%), 26 bones (90%), 3 bones (30%+)
Storage Space: 4 cubic meters (+)
Energy Shield: 10 thousand Wealth/minute
“Both Vitality and Mentality have a slight increment. Only 3 skull bones left to hone.”
Fang Ping made some calculations. Once the last three skull bones were completely honed, there might still be another interim change. Right now, he might not be able to bear another transformation.
For the three remaining bones, he planned to wait until his flesh and meridians were honed, which was also after achieving Peak Rank-5, before making an attempt to activate the golden bone transformation completely.
“As for the Combat Techniques, I haven’t been cultivating it. I really need to pay more attention to them now.”
Fang Ping made some mental calculations. Right now, there were a lot of Combat Techniques that he knew.
Manic Explosion, Royal Decapitation, Vajra Punch, Maha Punch, Flight Step... some basic Combat Techniques and Puncture Kick.
This included Secret Techniques like Blood Arrow Method and Old Man Li’s Sword-nurturing Technique.
The two Saber Techniques and the two Fist Techniques actually shared a common origin.
There was an advantage to Combat Techniques with the same origin: the ability to bind them inside and out, cultivating them as one Combat Technique.
Middle-ranked Combat Techniques were in charge of external damage while High-ranked Combat Techniques attacked internally. By cultivating both inside and outside, there would not be a need to cultivate them separately anymore.
“If that’s the case, it’s actually just Saber Techniques, Fist Techniques, the three Stepping Techniques, and a few additional Secret Techniques.”
Fang Ping did not plan to give up on the Secret Techniques.
The Blood Arrow Technique was the same. Though this plaything might only be a Middle-ranked Combat Technique, in reality, as long as they did not hone their face bones completely, even Rank-7 Grandmasters could be killed in a surprise attack.
“Stepping Techniques are cultivated quite well. The rest are falling really far behind.”
Fang Ping summed up his cultivation achievement. Since entering Rank-4 and then to Rank-5, he had advanced too quickly in this stage.
He had just achieved Rank-4 in mid-August and was already a Rank-5 by December.
Since the time he hit the middle-ranks, he took only a little over 4 months in total.
During this period of time, he had been picking up speed on his cultivation progress but paid less attention to Combat Techniques instead. In the Catacombs... making an escape was more important.
It was not powerful Combat Techniques he relied on to defeat the enemy. Instead, it was the combination of many aspects of his physique, Vitality, Mentality and the Secret Techniques to crush others.
Someone like Qin Fengqing, for example, had his Combat Techniques cultivated quite well. If he possessed the same foundation and abilities as Fang Ping, Fang Ping might not be his match.
“I can’t keep relying on my good foundation to suppress others. If I encounter martial artists who are just like me, I’ll be crushed. If guys like Wang Jinyang continue showing other peculiarities, I won’t be able to defeat them, really...”
Fang Ping shook his head. There were reasons for his worries.
Based on Lu Fengrou and the other’s speculations, these guys might portray other peculiarities. If that was true and their Combat Techniques were more refined than his, it would be really humiliating then.
Whilst planning on how he should cultivate next, the sound of someone knocking the door was heard outside his room.
Fang Ping kept his things away and strode out of the cultivation room. He did not touch the door, yet it opened up automatically.
On the other side of the door, Fu Changding saw the door swinging open despite no one being behind it. Seeing Fang Ping sitting on the couch, he was slightly stunned. Then, he gave out a bitter smile and said, “Mentality?”
“Yup.”
Fang Ping nodded gently. Fu Changding wore an envious look. There was no way he could compare to that.
Look, he did not even need to stand up to open the door.
“Take a seat. What brings you here today?”
They actually stayed just opposite of each other. Nevertheless, they have been busy cultivating recently.
Not only Fang Ping, but others like Fu Changding were also under immense pressure. Recently, they had been training assiduously and cultivating painstakingly almost all day and night. Fu Changding had also been staying in the Energy Cultivation Room and rarely came out.
This time, this fellow was also determined in not asking a cent from his family, loaning 3000 credits on his own accord.
There were not many martial artists who would dare to loan so many credits in one go.
Fu Changding took a deep breath and sat on the couch. After some thought, he said, “I just came back from the Martial Arts Society. I brought news on my way since you haven’t been there for a few days now.”
“What news?”
“News about Nanjiang. Brother Zhang Yu and Vice President Liang have also rushed there two days ago. Yesterday, a group of people from President Xie’s batch came out.”
Fang Ping was alert now. He asked, “How’s the situation?”
Fu Changding frowned slightly, saying, “Those who came out are instructors and students who are injured. Many are wounded this time. Although Nanjiang did not start another great war between high ranks for now, plenty of lower and middle-ranked battles have still broken out.
“Some of the martial artists who went in are dead or injured.
“Nanjiang have lost more than ten of their middle-ranked martial artists. On our side...”
With a grave expression, Fang Ping asked, “Someone died?”
“Not that, though. Before they left, they brought plenty of Resurrection Pills with them. But, many of them were critically injured.”
Admittedly, those with and without money would have different fates.
For many martial artists, because they did not have any Lifeline Pills, after their internal organs had been critically injured, they were unable to hold on until they received treatment, hence they died.
Although Nanjiang had also purchased enormous amounts of pills, there were many martial artists to account for. They would already be considered lucky if they could receive one Resurrection Pill.
In the Catacombs, though, one pill might not be enough.
Fang Ping heard his news and heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s fine as long as they’re alive. The injured ones have all returned?”
In the last few days, he had been adjusting to his condition and had no time to pay attention to these things.
“They’re back. But, Dean Luo and the rest are still inside...”
As he said that, Fu Changding chuckled, “Chen Yunxi is still inside as well. But, the seniors who came out said that she was fine. Also, Chen Yunxi is really awesome now. Everyone in the Catacombs calls her the sword fairy now. Two days ago, she cut down many enemies with a swing of her sword, killing seven to eight martial artists who were Upper-stage Rank-3 and above!”
“She did?”
Fang Ping was slightly flummoxed. Then, he smiled faintly, “It’s to be expected. After all, she’s a near thrice-honed martial artist, her Vitality rich, pills aplenty, weapons good...”
After saying one or two short sentences, Fang Ping did not continue.
Fu Changding saw this and found it funny. He asked, “Aren’t you worried at all?”
“That’s none of your business!”
Fu Changding guffawed. After laughing for some time, he did not continue teasing him. He went on, “Other than that, Dean Luo has sent someone to bring enormous amounts of energy stones back!”
Fu Changding said excitedly, “Making this trip this time, I heard that they’ve dug seven to eight small mine veins! Dean Luo wants to sell these energy stones to the university for half the price...”
Fang Ping shook his head, saying, “That’s not necessary. They should get the price they deserve. Everyone risked their lives to obtain them too. The university’s purchasing price was not high to start with. Moreover, by selling it to students, the students themselves have to pay for it too. The university won’t earn this price difference.”
Having said that, Fang Ping added, “It’s good this way. I was still worried that the current energy stone expenditure is too high, that they may not last any longer. With new supplies coming in, it should tide us over for some time.”
Fu Changding nodded in agreement. Then, he seemed slightly hesitant.
Fang Ping was not surprised either. He chuckled, “Just say it. What is it?”
Fu Changding’s visit clearly was not just to relay news. Otherwise, someone would report to Fang Ping as soon as he finished his closed-door training.
“Two things.”
Fu Changding no longer hesitated. He said, “First, you can consider this half-business and half-personal. I have a big brother. He’s 32 years old this year. An Early-stage Rank-5. He’s also considered a genius martial artist.
“He has been working in Capital City’s Department of Investigation Services previously. But, the Capital City’s Department of Investigation Services doesn’t have a lot of missions. There’s not much to do there either.
“My big brother mentioned it to me two days ago. I gave a suggestion, saying that MCMAU is currently hiring instructors...”
Fang Ping forced a smile. “Your grandfather holds a post in CCMAU, though.”
Fu Changding chuckled. “Does it matter? That’s my grandfather. I’m studying at MCMAU too. Just tell me if you’re hiring or not.”
“Of course I’ll hire! Rank-5s are no weaklings either. If your brother is willing to join MCMAU, then MCMAU welcomes him with open arms! Just go through the regular procedure and he’ll be fine. What perfect timing. In a few more months, the next batch of new students will enroll. I’m still worried that there are not enough instructors at the university.”
As he said that, Fang Ping asked, “What about the second thing?”
“I wish to go to Nanjiang.”
Fang Ping raised his brows and went deep into thought. Slowly, he said, “You’ve just entered Upper-stage Rank-3...”
“Upper-stage Rank-3 isn’t considered weak anymore!” Fu Changding took a deep breath before saying, “In the past, people entered the Catacombs at Early-stage Rank-3. Here at MCMAU, because of your suggestions, the Early-stage Rank-3 martial artists are all cultivating now. None of them are entering Magic City’s Catacombs anymore.
“I’m already an Upper-stage Rank-3 now. Until now, I’ve only entered Magic City Catacombs once when I was in Rank-2. I didn’t even stay long too.
“Zhao Lei and Chen Yunxi have only just achieved Upper-stage Rank-3 too. Since nothing has happened to them, then I think nothing will happen to me too.
“Besides, even if something really happens, it won’t be a big deal.
“Martial artists can’t always hide and cultivate at the backlines. This doesn’t match our aspirations...”
“Go ahead, then!”
Fang Ping did not try arguing further. He nodded and added, “Just be careful. Listen to Dean Luo’s arrangement when you’re there. I won’t say much about everything else.”
“OK. Other than that... Yang Xiaoman plans to go together too...”
“She is?” Fang Ping frowned immediately, saying, “She’s only a Middle-stage Rank-3, right?”
“She broke through Upper-stage yesterday!”
“Just broke through...”
“Fang Ping, we’re all martial artists. We have our own paths to take. I know you’re concerned for our safety. But, it may not do us any good if we keep cultivating in the university. It may be better for us to go out and witness some bloodshed and get adventurous...”
Fu Changding’s expression was slightly unreadable. “You’re already a Rank-5. We’re still in Rank-3. Honestly, we’re not so used to it either. A storm is approaching now. Before a full-scale war broke out, the low-ranked martial artists like us still had the chance to train.
“Once we go into a full-fledged war, people like us may never have the chance to even train anymore.”
Fang Ping paused for a moment and said, “Are there anyone else other than both of you?”
“There are a few of them. They wish to go too.”
Fang Ping exhaled a mouthful of air, nodded gently, and said, “Fine. I’m only the Martial Arts Society president, not your parents. Since all of you wish to do so, I won’t stop you. Go ahead if you want to. Go to the logistics department and claim a Resurrection Pill each. Consider it a free gift.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Come back alive, all of you. Don’t be an idiot and charge forward even when you encounter middle-ranked martial artists.”
Fu Changding burst out laughing. “We’re not fools. It’s only training, not looking for our doom.”
“...”
After both of them chatted for a moment, Fu Changding did not stay long. He still needed to inform the others. Tomorrow, they would travel to Nanjiang together.
Nanjiang Catacombs would be completely open soon. The passageway was about to stabilize thoroughly.
At that time, many people would enter.
They could take advantage of the slightly smaller crowd right now. They could possibly gain more in this trip.
...
He had just sent Fu Changding away when in no time, another person came.
Old Man Li walked in. Without saying a word, he picked Fang Ping up and strode out.
Fang Ping was completely speechless. He had no choice but to ask exasperatedly, “Instructor, what’s wrong?”
“Don’t you feel embarrassed asking me what’s wrong?”
Old Man Li’s spit almost splashed on his face. He said irritatedly, “It’s your idea to open up the Celestial Cultivation Room. Look what happened now. You’ve chucked everything to Old Man Huang!
“Old Man Huang has been there supplying Celestiality for the past few days. But now, his Mentality has been exhausted and the Celestiality supply has been cut off.
“Tell me, don’t you feel embarrassed?”
The Mentality for entry-level Rank-7 Grandmaster powerhouses would be around 1000Hz.
Huang Jing had entered Rank-7 for some time now. His Mentality should roughly be around 1500Hz.
In the theory of peak conversion, 10Hz Mentality plus 100cal Vitality could convert 1C Celestiality. Vitality was no major issue for Grandmasters. Mentality was the bottleneck.
Of course, it was really difficult for energy conversion to be perfectly efficient. At least 50% or so would be wasted.
In other words, Huang Jing could exhaust all his Mentality and convert only 100C Celestiality or so.
Mentality recovery speed was generally a sluggish process.
High-ranked powerhouses actually prioritized Vitality Force when they fought under normal circumstances. They would only fight with Celestiality in an emergency crisis.
After Mentality had depleted, with Huang Jing’s ability, even if he could use Vitality to nurture it through Mentality-Vitality fusion, it would be difficult for him to recover completely in less than eight to ten days.
Moreover, Grandmasters needed to cultivate and had missions too.
These few days, Huang Jing’s Mentality had depleted. He had no choice but to stop supplying.
If 100C Celestiality was supplied to one Rank-6 alone, it could last for a fairly long time. However, the main point was that MCMAU had more than one Rank-6.
Plus, the shameless Old Man Li was cultivating by mooching off Celestiality. In less than a few days, the supply had been depleted.
Huang Jing refused to do it now. The old man was still sulking. His mood was especially sour when he encountered the shameless Li Changsheng who mooched off him every day. Huang Jing was so mad he was about to erupt.
Today, Old Man Li wished to go there and cultivate again. As a result, he realized that there were no resources left!
There was no choice; he could only capture Fang Ping to do the hard work now.
As for Wu Kuishan, he was once again in closed-door training. Old Man Li was embarrassed to try to drag him out.
Fang Ping heard what he said and was somewhat astonished, “Isn’t Vice-chancellor Huang’s endurance a little too weak?”
It had only been a few days!
Huang Jing had achieved Rank-7 for quite some time now. Fang Ping did not ask the details on how Rank-7s were differentiated. Thinking about it, Huang Jing should be around middle to upper stage in Rank-7.
“Cut it out. Mentality is really difficult to recover after it is consumed. You don’t know a d*mn thing!”
Old Man Li cursed. Did you think everyone was like you?
Even for a Rank-7 martial artist, it would not be so easy to replenish Mentality.
Besides, one could not actually deplete it completely. If one was caught in an emergency, with a depleted Mentality, even a Grandmaster would be in trouble of losing their life.
Fang Ping curled his lips, calculating in his heart.
If he condensed 1C Celestial now, he needed to spend 1.1 million Wealth for conversion.
100C would be 110 million!
Whereas for a Rank-7 Grandmaster like Huang Jing, under the condition that he did not consume excessively, he could roughly supply two times the full-force supply, which was also 200C, in one month.
220 million Wealth!
It was still hard to judge the price-performance ratio at the moment. Was it more worth it to consume 220 million Wealth or bind a Rank-7 Grandmaster for a month?
Thinking about these things. Fang Ping said, “Why don’t we do this. I’ll supply 500C Celestiality to the Celestiality Cultivation Room monthly, but the university needs to pay me 1 billion...”
Old Man Li shot him a look. The hand grabbing Fang Ping’s neck tightened. He spoke through gritted teeth, “Can’t you ask for less? At worst, we’ll compensate you with some pills and energy stones, that should roughly be enough. Must you profit from this?”
When Fang Ping quoted a number, he knew without asking that he would definitely profit!
Nevertheless, 500C still astonished Old Man Li.
After combining Rank-7 Huang Jing and Rank-8 Wu Kuishan together, they could also supply roughly the same amount in a month.
Of course, that was considering they reserved a suitable amount of combat strength.
As for Fang Ping, a Rank-5 like him could actually substitute a Rank-8 and Rank-9. This kid was slightly terrifying.
Fang Ping complained incessantly, “Instructor, it’s really not expensive at all. The main point here is that my own consumption is huge too. I’ll have to bear the energy coming from the adverse effect. 500C should be enough.
“At present, there are only about 30 Rank-6s at our university.
“Not everyone cultivates there every day. After they have used up their free hours, they will still need to pay cash or credits as well.
“When it’s time to charge a fee then, we can charge a slightly higher price. I think it’s not so difficult to earn the money back.
“Besides, even if you have money, you may not get the Grandmasters to agree to become your cultivation supply machine. That makes sense, right?
“If you quote a price at 1 billion a month now, do you think you can hire three Rank-7 Grandmasters to go all-out and become an energy supply for you for a month?”
“Bullsh*t. Of course you can!”
Old Man Li said irritatedly, “Do you think Grandmasters are all making huge profits? Grandmasters need to cultivate too. Also, their consumption is huge. They don’t have much need for pills, but they do have quite the need for cultivation stones.
“By spending 1 billion, which is 300 million a month for each, I can guarantee that we can hire them!”
300 million a month would be 3.6 billion a year. Of course, Grandmasters needed to cultivate too. After taking out the time for cultivation and missions, there would not be much problem for them to take out half a year’s time.
That would be 1.8 billion. An annual income of 1.8 billion was not something that everyone could achieve, even for Grandmasters.
“Grandmasters are so cheap?” Fang Ping was astonished. “If you run out of money, just go into the Catacombs...”
“Shut up!”
Old Man Li snarled. Would anyone without a doubt make massive gains just by going into the Catacombs?
How many Grandmasters out there had entered the Catacombs, not only did they not gain anything, they had even returned with injuries all over their bodies. That was the norm.
Grandmaster powerhouses would be targeted when they entered the Catacombs. They attracted more attention than the middle and low-ranked ones.
“800 million then...”
“300 million. That’s the highest!”
Fang Ping’s face turned grim immediately. He would be losing money if he agreed. Now, his Celestiality conversion was 10 times the consumption than normal. If it was a normal conversion ratio, he would do it even if it was 100 million, let alone 300 million.
However, this was not the case. To convert 500C, he would have to consume 550 million Wealth.
“Instructor, my consumption is really high. Celestiality is not something that you can obtain out of nowhere. I need to consume huge amounts of energy stones too. I’m only doing this for MCMAU’s sake. What about this, 700 million. I won’t do it for any less!”
“500 million. That’s the maximum. The university can’t afford to pay more!”
Old Man Li was not entirely truthful. 500 million to supply 500C was equivalent to Huang Jing doing it for 5 months now. This time, Huang Jing had only supplied about 100C. He needed to use the remaining time to recover and attend to other things.
1 billion for a Grandmaster to do it for once was actually still really worth it.
After all, even when Grandmasters supplied Celestiality, they were also making consumptions. They might not be able to profit much.
“600 million. Stop bargaining. If you bargain again, I won’t do it anymore. I will also quit as the university council secretary-general!”
Fang Ping shook his head once more. This was the limit. ‘Let me earn a little profit, at least.’
Also, he might not earn any profit. He was saying the truth. He would experience the adverse effect after supplying enormous amounts of Celestiality. After that, he still had to spend some Wealth to heal his injuries.
After calculating it, it was only just enough to cover the cost.
Seeing that Fang Ping said it in an unwavering way, Old Man Li darted him a look. Finally, he nodded and said, “I’ll seek others’ opinions afterward. But, 600 million... that’s 7.2 billion a year... this price...”
Old Man Li sighed softly. It was still too expensive.
If these Rank-6 gained nothing at all, then they would lose a lot of money for sure.
Of course, once the cultivating Rank-6 martial artists had used up their free hours, they needed to pay too. The university’s subsidies would not be much. Even so, it would definitely be up to two or three billion.
Things were different now. Otherwise, MCMAU could not afford to subsidize so much.
Seeing that Old Man Li had agreed, Fang Ping breathed a sigh of relief. There was a need to seek powerhouses’ opinions on certain things.
It was fine as long as he agreed. Otherwise, he would not be able to afford to supply for free either. A few hundred million of Wealth consumption a month. Unless his Wealth suddenly grew so much to the point that it could never deplete, doing it for free now was definitely something that he could not maintain.
Once they had reached an agreement, Fang Ping recalled the golden body cultivation matter. He said, “Instructor, tell me about your half golden body cultivation method. I’ll try cultivating it. See if I can fiddle with half a golden body.”
Last time, Old Man Li did not agree to it. Now, Fang Ping had constructed golden bones. Old Man Li pondered for a moment, saying, “Get the Celestiality matter done and over with first, and I’ll talk to you about this afterward.”
“Alright.”
Fang Ping nodded immediately. Half a golden body... it sounded pretty awesome. Its power was not insignificant either. He was looking forward to it.