Wang Yan's Hidden Motives

Wang Yan hurried away after finishing his meal, while Chen Ping was still busy.

The reason he had already started soaking and preparing the ingredients wasn't that he had mastered the entire process of making Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. He was simply trying to save time.

After all, it was difficult to cram and learn the entire process of making Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. But if he specifically practiced processing the ingredients—removing the hair from those that needed it and soaking those that needed soaking—it was still fairly simple.

It was much like the Forward and Reverse Turning Staff Chen Ping had previously performed in front of Bei Bei. Learning an entire set of thrusting staff techniques was difficult, but couldn't he learn one or two moves and use them for the time being?

Thus, as soon as he finished processing the ingredients, Chen Ping returned to his room. Like an ascetic monk, he began his daily exercise and meditation.

New technique comprehended: Left Circle Right Square

Proficiency: Beginner

Technique description: After mastering Movement Meditation, you can now easily do other things while maintaining a meditative state in most situations.

Increasing this technique's proficiency will only let you complete two different tasks more skillfully. It cannot let you do more things. If you have such a need, please obtain the 'Secret Technique—Heart Separation Control.'

"Hm?"

Listening to the successive notification sounds, Chen Ping set down the desk he had been carrying on his back in puzzlement and returned it to its original place.

He had actually comprehended a new technique on his own?

Left Circle Right Square. It generally meant the technique of drawing a circle with one's left hand and a square with one's right. As the name of the technique he had comprehended, it was quite fitting.

Moreover, Chen Ping keenly noticed something. This Left Circle Right Square he had comprehended was classified as a technique.

Meanwhile, the Heart Separation Control mentioned afterward by the system was classified as a secret technique.

Then, besides techniques and secret techniques, were there even higher levels of techniques, such as ultimate skills?

He quietly noted this point down, then hoisted the solid-wood desk, which weighed roughly twenty or thirty pounds, onto his back again. He began doing squats, one after another, neither hurried nor slow.

After training for two more hours, he still had to continue learning how to make Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

Earlier, he had crammed for several hours and restarted the Simulation Training Ground dozens of times. Only then had he managed to fully understand how to process every kind of ingredient.

For the time that followed, he still had to maintain his meditation while learning the subsequent ingredient-preparation steps in the Simulation Training Ground.

The Golden Crow Three Rises, the Jade Rabbit Three Falls.

Chen Ping stayed cooped up in his room for three days without stepping outside once.

During the day, he casually ate a little to fill his stomach. He mainly relied on the meals Wang Yan packed and brought back at night to survive.

If Wang Yan had still been somewhat dismissive of Chen Ping's words the previous night, then when he returned home again, he immediately smelled various enticing aromas drifting through the room.

On the kitchen stove, which had gone unused for years, ceramic pots of various sizes were simmering over the fire one after another. The white broth, pure as jade, made one's mouth water at a mere glance.

At this point, Wang Yan could still endure it. He merely swallowed instinctively, nodded, and offered a few words of praise.

But when he returned the next day with another food container to feed Chen Ping, the original white broth had already transformed. It had become clear and translucent, turning into a clear soup.

The aromas of the various ingredients seemed to have permeated the entire room. Wang Yan ate his meal absentmindedly, glancing toward the few pots simmering in the kitchen from time to time.

The faint meaty fragrance in the room seemed to turn into a little hand formed from clouds and smoke. It drifted before Wang Yan, beckoning repeatedly and urging him to come over and eat his fill.

Fortunately, Wang Yan had to work overtime at Shrek these days. He could simply sleep on the floor, so he didn't need to sleep in the Faculty Dormitory.

Otherwise, Wang Yan himself didn't know whether he could withstand the temptation. He might have ruined Chen Ping's ingredients in the middle of the night.

On the third day, Wang Yan returned to the Faculty Dormitory at noon for the first time, during the busiest part of his work, carrying a packed lunchbox.

Seeing that the soup had once again transformed from clear soup into golden soup, Wang Yan suddenly realized that this was the first time he had ever been so excited over a meal.

"When will it be ready?"

Wang Yan rubbed his stomach, which he had just filled. Although he was already full, the fragrance wafting through the room made him feel as though he could eat another meal.

Chen Ping also showed a hint of delight. Making Buddha Jumps Over the Wall was truly grueling.

Fortunately, he had already made it through the most difficult stage, One Soup Three Changes. What remained was just some simple finishing work.

"When you get off work, it'll be ready for you to eat."

Chen Ping gave him a firm reply.

"Wang Yan, you've worked hard lately. You've been working overtime for several days in a row."

At the entrance of Shrek Academy, Wang Yan was walking behind an old man covered in grease, with disheveled hair and clothes torn in several places.

The old man's appearance was truly terrible. His clothes, which should originally have been a white robe, had turned grayish brown, and they were torn in multiple places.

He held a wine gourd in his left hand and a chicken leg in his right, eating with great relish.

"Heh heh, everyone's been working hard lately. It's not as if I'm the only one working hard. The graduating students' files have all been organized. From now until the New Students start school, there shouldn't be any particularly heavy workload."

Wang Yan smiled lightly, revealing a few traces of ease and contentment, along with a thread of absentmindedness so faint it was nearly imperceptible.

"Mm. Mu En is basically resting whenever he can these days. As for me, I really don't want to deal with this paperwork, so I can only make more use of you, boy."

The old man swallowed the chicken leg in two or three bites, calmly and shamelessly admitting that he was a complete loafer.

"Now that there aren't any major problems left at the academy, I can rest easy and make another trip to the Far North."

"Xiaotao's Evil Fire is getting worse with every passing year. If we can't find the Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Marrow and evolve that girl Luo Chen into an Ultimate Ice soul master, Xiaotao probably won't be able to continue cultivating in another year or two."

"Ah, this girl has such a difficult fate. She clearly has such excellent talent, yet she possesses the Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul. Ah..."

At this point, the old man shook his head regretfully and took a few sips of wine.

Wang Yan thought for a while before speaking. "Xuan Zi, do you remember what I mentioned to you these past few days about my Distant Nephew?"

The old man called Xuan Zi nodded. "I have some impression. His Martial Soul actually evolved from a Willow Staff into a Touch Dragon Staff. He's no ordinary person either. He has the right temperament and the right ruthlessness."

Wang Yan smiled. "That's the child. Once things free up, I plan to study the mystery behind that child's Martial Soul Evolution. If I can discover something, perhaps it could even let Xiaotao's Martial Soul evolve from an Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul into her ancestor's Ten-Headed Phoenix Martial Soul."

Xuan Zi brightened at that. "A Ten-Headed Phoenix Martial Soul? We wouldn't even dare hope for a Nine-Headed Phoenix Martial Soul."

"But you're right. This is indeed a direction worth researching. Go and study it. If you can evolve Xiaotao's Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul into a Fire Phoenix Martial Soul, that would be an enormous surprise for us."

Wang Yan nodded in agreement. "Then, Xuan Zi, I won't see you off any farther, Old Person. I'll head back?"

Seeing Wang Yan's expression, as if he was just waiting for him to turn into a streak of light and fly toward the Far North, Xuan Zi snorted coldly and poked Wang Yan's head with an oily finger.

"You sly kid, do you think This Old Man's nose doesn't work?"

"You've got something good stewing at home. The smell these past few days has been different."

"I'm guessing tonight is the day you lift the lid, right?"