Sun City.
The day that Fang Ping returned, was on the 20th day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar.
The atmosphere of the New Year was much festive in a small town compared to a big city. The streets of the small Sun City were filled with people.
Fang Ping did not tell anyone that he was coming home.
Even though he was not home yet, he had already received a few calls.
Over at Nanjiang, the House of Governors asked Fang Ping about his itinerary, in other words, the House of Governors was preparing to come over and send him some gifts for the New Year.
However, all Fang Ping wanted when he got home was some peace and quiet, so he gracefully declined the other party’s good intentions.
Besides the Nanjiang House of Governors, he also received calls from Sun City and also Auspicious Sun City of which Sun City belonged to.
Besides that, a few of his high school classmates also called to ask if he was coming back for the New Year.
Ever since The Second Martial Arts University Championship, Fang Ping rose in fame. He was no longer a nobody with the little fame he had in the beginning, Fang Ping today was called Sino Nation Martial Arts University number one.
Although his number one title was only among the students, to be called number one in the nation was a pretty outstanding title as well.
...
Scenic Lake Gardens.
Fang Ping opened the door and entered. Fang Yuan who was lying on the sofa watching TV lifted her head to look at him, and proceeded to lie back down again and continued watching TV.
Fang Ping was stunned, was this girl blind?
Her brother was back!
“Round Face?”
“Hmph!”
“Fang Yuan, did you not see that your brother is back?”
“I saw!”
“Then why are you ignoring me, you naughty girl?”
Fang Yuan lifted her head again and angrily said, “I don’t want to talk to you, you lied to me!”
Fang Ping’s heart skipped a beat, who told the girl?
Was the situation with the Talent exposed now?
As he was still thinking about this, Fang Yuan pouted and said with dismay, “You said that my Talent can be increased, and you also said that you gave me pills to increase my Talent. But it has been so many days, and my Talent did not increase at all, now my Vitality is stuck at 179cal.
“Fang Ping, you big liar!”
Fang Ping was shocked for a moment, then only did he realize what she was talking about. He became speechless, then he said not so nicely, “Nonsense, isn’t that normal? 180cal is for the twice-honed martial artist...”
“That shows that my Talent is still really low!”
This made a lot of sense, and Fang Ping did not have the energy to retaliate. As he changed to slippers to enter the house, he laughed and said, “Why are you in such a rush, you have reached a bottleneck, to be stuck for a while is normal.
“But your problem of being twice-honed, that will settle itself in a few days.”
Being twice-honed might require some Talent, but the requirement itself was not that high.
Most children of powerhouses would be able to be twice-honed.
Was it because the Talent of the powerhouses’ children was higher?
Not really!
Being twice-honed and thrice-honed was not the same, if they were willing to spend the money, it would not be impossible to breakthrough.
Of course, there were limitations on the human body, some people might not be able to breakthrough.
But if Fang Yuan was able to reach 179cal, then being twice-honed would not be that big a challenge for her.
The girl’s progression was faster than what Fang Ping had expected.
Fang Ping even thought that this girl would only be twice-honed after her first year of high school, but now it had only been one semester.
This could also have something to do with the recent energy in Sun City becoming more concentrated. Humans nowadays would have a higher speed of cultivation, and many normal people, even if they did not indulge in pills, if they were near one of the passageways, their Vitality would still be able to reach 110cal and above.
Just two years ago, the 110cal students had become influential people in the school.
When she heard Fang Ping saying all this, Fang Yuan felt much better, her head dropped onto the sofa and she asked with uncertainty, “Can I be twice-honed?”
“Of course.”
Fang Ping laughed and patted her on the head, he grinned and said, “What a big pig-head...”
“You are the pig-head!”
Fang Yuan rolled her eyes, her mood turning for the better. Her smile returned and she asked gleefully, “Fang Ping, then does it mean that I could be a martial artist soon?”
“I don’t know.”
Fang Ping replied casually and looked around before asking, “Where’s mom and dad?”
“Dad is still at work, and mom went with Aunty Chen to get stuff for the New Year.”
After Fang Yuan said this, she suddenly saw the gift bag that Fang Ping had put aside. As she saw that Fang Ping went to get water, she sneakily went over to have a look and then immediately ripped into the presents.
When she opened the gift box that had her gold ingot doll, Fang Yuan’s eyes became huge!
“How cute!”
After turning to see Fang Ping still pouring water in the kitchen, Fang Yuan forced down her delight and asked, “Brother, did you bring me any gifts this time?”
“I forgot, maybe next time. Or we could go over to the supermarket during the New Year and get you something. Right, someone asked me to bring back a gift for a friend, don’t touch it, if you mess up the packaging, it would be hard to explain.”
“Your friend’s?”
Fang Yuan was shocked and stared at the crystal doll in her hands. With a depressed look on her face, she asked, “You didn’t bring any presents for me?”
“We are a family, I can buy presents at any time.”
“But...”
She looked at the delicate doll in her hands and looked again at the gleaming gold ingot in its hands. Fang Yuan liked it the more she looked at it, and... this doll looked a lot like her!
Her brother was something else, she thought he bought it for her!
Fang Yuan was upset, and stuffed the doll back into the gift bag, and pouted without saying anything else if she did not see it she would be alright.
In the kitchen, Fang Ping was grinning wildly and laughing.
As he brought his cup into the living room and saw Fang Yuan back to her angry self, he laughed and asked, “Are you angry?”
“No!”
“Just look at you, you are about to become a martial artist, why do you not have even a little willpower?”
After teasing his sister for a while, Fang Ping was in a great mood. He laughed and said, “Alright, it was a joke, the present is for you, do you like it?”
“Seriously?”
Fang Yuan’s emotions went up and down like a roller coaster ride, she quickly took out the doll again.
Fang Ping laughed and said, “Silly girl, I have not finished talking, do you see that gold ingot? That is real gold...”
“Gold?”
Fang Yuan’s eyes narrowed into crescent shapes, and she suddenly coughed before going back to her calm self and said in a controlled voice, “I only like the look of the doll, I don’t like the gold.”
Fang Ping chuckled causing Fang Yuan to look ashamed and annoyed at the same time. “Really! I have money now you know! I don’t care about this gold!”
“You? How much money do you have? Come on tell your brother...”
“I will not!”
Fang Yuan had a proud look on her face, she was rich now.
She was doing big business now; Yuan Ping Club has already opened Yuan Ping Company.
Now, she was in business all over Sun City.
Five stationery stores, three snack shops, and she was about to open her ninth franchise store.
Fang Yuan completely spent all of her money, the few rich little tyrants in Yuan Ping Club, also invested a portion, and together they opened Yuan Ping Company.
Although... she was not earning much for now, but Fang Yuan believed, she would be earning big bucks sooner or later.
Her original idea was to start a unique business, but the more she mulled it over, Fang Yuan eventually gave up, she was also scared by some people.
She did not know who spread the rumor, but a few days ago many came to look for her, wanting to partner with her to start up a company.
Some of them even brought cash in the hundreds of millions, and some wanted to partner with her to start a martial arts dojo, others wanted to do other things, there was even one who wanted to start a real estate development.
Fang Yuan did not even need to come up with any money, they just wanted to use her name, and every year she would receive a huge bonus, some were willing to give her bonus shares.
So many of them came and went, and Fang Yuan did not even dare say that she wanted to start up her own company anymore. In the end, she was so unsatisfied, she decided to open a few small shops, although they were not on a large scale, the numbers were still enough. She was now the owner of eight shops.
Fang Yuan was so pleased and contented, Fang Ping only laughed and said nothing else.
Did she think that he did not know?
He was in Magic City and did not care about all this, but his dad was still home.
As the deputy chief of the Municipal Office of Sun City... Old Fang was not promoted this time, but he received better treatment and was enjoying the same perks as the chief.
His daughter was out in Sun City trying to get things done, did she think she could hide from him?
Once the few small shops opened, Fang Ping immediately got the news from his father.
But Fang Ping was too lazy to care about it much, this silly girl, she opened these shops but they were not self-sustaining. The few students in Yuan Ping Club bought their stationery and their snacks from these few shops, and their own people would get a discount as well... what kind of profits could they earn?
Fang Ping did not expose her, Fang Yuan did not want to flaunt her wealth, if she was not as rich as her brother was now at least, she would be knocked down.
After playing with the doll in her hands for a while, the more she looked at it the more she liked it. She said with a big smile, “Fang Ping, this time it is really something, I thought that you would at most buy a few new clothes for me.”
Fang Ping chuckled and said, “If it were me, I would not buy anything at all, if you want to buy something then buy it yourself. Someone else gave this to you.”
“Someone else?”
Fang Yuan was stunned for a second, and with a look of surprise she asked, “Is it a guy or a girl?”
“A girl.”
“Have you started dating?”
Fang Yuan was shocked, and said disbelievingly, “Even you can find a girlfriend?”
Fang Ping heard this and felt slightly unpleasant. With a dark expression, he said, “What do you mean by that? There are thousands out there who want me now, which girl doesn’t like me? Why is it when you say it, it is as though no one wants me?”
Did this silly girl know to say the right words?
Fang Yuan hastily shook her head and said, “No, what I meant was... What I meant was, I thought that it would be hard for you to get a girlfriend...”
Although she said it like this, Fang Yuan was still a little sour as she said, “Who is this girl? Bro, now that you have found a girlfriend, does that mean that you won’t come home anymore? And you won’t be buying presents for me anymore? And, and, is that girl ugly?
“Why are you in such a rush to get a girlfriend, I don’t even know her. Why not wait a few more years, I have plenty of friends that are really pretty.
“How much nicer it is to have a girlfriend that I know...”
How nice would it be if there was someone from Yuan Ping Club who could be her sister-in-law?
In the future, she could still be in charge of the Fang family.
Fang Ping was too lazy to bother with her, so he just laughed and said, “Don’t be ridiculous, there is no girlfriend, just a friend, a girl who is a friend, got it?”
Fang Ping did not say anything more and quickly changed the subject. “Since I will be home for the next few days, you should focus on cultivating, and see if you can complete the twice-honed process.”
Once she completed the twice-honed process, the thrice-honed process would be a walk in the park.
This little girl would officially become a martial artist soon.
But Fang Ping looked at her tiny head and said, “After you complete the twice-honed process, don’t rush into breaking through, just wait for a while.”
If a martial artist broke through too early, then the bones would set.
This girl was only this tall now, even though Fang Ping thought that it was cute, but if she was short she would not look great at all.
Girls at her age grew quickly, once they were done growing, it would not matter even if the bones were set in place.
As for her looks, baby fat, her small round face, these had nothing to do with the bones, so it would depend on however she would grow into.
...
As the siblings talked on, not too long after that, Li Yuying was done with her shopping and came home, carrying all sorts of bags.
At night, Fang Mingrong also came home quite early.
After asking a few simple questions about Fang Ping’s life in school, Fang Mingrong did not say anything else.
Even though he did not ask in detail, that did not mean that Fang Mingrong knew nothing.
There was at least one thing that he knew, a few days ago his son became the secretary-general of the Magic City Martial Arts University Council, this was a semi-official situation.
People from other places might not have noticed this.
However, at Sun City, many people cared about any news related to Fang Ping.
Once the news of Fang Ping becoming the secretary-general of the Magic City Martial Arts University Council came out, the whole municipal government was talking about it.
Sun City’s commander Bai Jinshan met with Fang Mingrong and half-jokingly said that when he met Fang Ping in the future, he would be calling him leader.
This was not a joke.
If they were to look at things according to the administrative level, MCMAU was at the same level as the House of Governors.
The university council was the core component of MCMAU, aside from the vice-chancellor, the other members of the university council had about the same status as the deputy governor of the Nanjiang House of Governors.
If they were to compare the rankings, Fang Ping was at a higher level compared to Bai Jinshan.
Fang Ping was a bad analogy, but another person, who was seriously Bai Jinshan’s superior, was Wang Jinyang, he was a real deputy governor.
As Wang Jinyang had lost to Fang Ping before, NMAU also was not as big as MCMAU, so looking at it, Fang Ping’s status was even higher than that.
As two young prodigies came out from a small town like Sun City, Bai Jinshan’s hair was about to go all white from his worries.
This was good news, but also bad news.
The good news was that Sun City was famous now, and there was more prestige now.
The bad news was with Sun City now famous, its status would increase as well. He as a commander who was Peak Rank-3 was too weak for its standing.
It was alright when a commander of a county-level city was just Peak Rank-3.
Now, however, he seemed really weak.
Fang Ping could not care about this situation with Bai Jinshan, and he would not care about it either. Whoever was the commander of Sun City had no significant meaning to him anyway. He had no problems with it as long as it was not that idiot Qin Fengqing.
During dinner, Fang Yuan tattled to her parents and said that the gifts that Fang Ping brought back were not from him but from a girl.
Their parents did question him for quite a while regarding this matter.
Fang Ping did not hide anything, of course, he did not say much either, he just mentioned about Chen Yunxi.
...
Fang Ping returned to Sun City but did not make it too obvious.
He went home because he wanted peace and quiet, and he did not want to be disturbed by other people.
Even when Wu Zhihao mentioned the students gathering, Fang Ping declined as well. He could have a gathering with them before he left, but not now.
After a few days at home, his parents were preparing to celebrate the New Year. Fang Ping was not idle too, as he was honing his vessels and practicing his combat techniques while instructing Fang Yuan in her cultivation.
The speed at which he honed his vessels was not slow. Of a total of fourteen major vessels, these days, Fang Ping had already honed four of them, which was at a considerable speed.
From the 15th when he had broken through until now, it had not even been twenty days.
The difficulty in honing the major vessels was slightly higher compared to the minor vessels. Reshaping the meridians was a task that required great effort.
Taking five days for one major vessel was fast, if this went on for the next two months, he would be able to reshape all his major vessels by then.
For two hundred and six minor vessels, the speed would be even faster, ten months might be enough.
However, in about a year, Fang Ping would have less motivation to cultivate. During those days, he would focus his energy on combat techniques instead, which included the semi-golden body cultivation.
Semi-golden body cultivation would be easier instead, Fang Ping would only need to use huge amounts of Vitality to continuously wash his flesh and his meridians, and he did not need to care much about the other things.
February the 6th, the 23rd of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar.
Wang Jinyang who did not come back to celebrate the New Year last year, came back to Sun City this year.
Just like Fang Ping, Wang Jinyang kept a low profile when he came back too.
Fang Ping knew that he had returned, but the two of them never met. As New Year’s Eve approached, it would not be too late to meet up and talk after the New Year.
In the next few days, the festiveness of the New Year became more and more evident in Sun City.
The Fang house was also immersed in the festivities.
With Fang Yuan at home, the atmosphere could not be desolate even if they tried. The little girl was running around and being hectic when Fang Ping was home, he had to listen to her, and was ordered around.
Take cleaning, for example, it was all Fang Ping’s responsibility.
It was just because Fang Ping could already fly.
Fang Ping was most suited to clean the window panes and all that. Fang Yuan even suggested to Fang Ping to take advantage of the New Year and open a cleaning business, with its specialty in high-rise windows. Fang Ping almost kneaded her face like a steamed bun.
She could actually say speak and get a Rank-5 powerhouse to do the cleaning.
...
In all the busyness, Fang Ping had put the matters of the Catacombs and MCMAU in the back of his mind.
Before he became a martial artist, all he thought about was to become a martial artist, to become a superhero.
Now that he was a martial artist, and he knew about the Catacombs, the pressure followed along as well.
Although Fang Ping might look very calm usually, he was under immense pressure and stress.
He was not worried about the future of mankind, as that was not his responsibility. At least not for now, he did not have this right.
He did it for himself, for his family, for his friends...
The passageways of the Catacombs were continuously opening, the threat was growing.
Before the two sides entered into war, if he did not have the strength, not talking about the others, he could not even take care of himself.
The stress was increasing, causing him to continuously want to change something.
That was why there was a series of changes in MCMAU, otherwise, Fang Ping might not even have bothered at all.
With a sense of release from placing his burden down, Fang Ping was quite happy these few days while at home.
New Year’s Eve was also fast approaching.