Zhou Leng returned home, sat on the sofa, and blanked out for a while.
His mind was filled with the school's medicinal pill rewards and the Mysterious Forest.
Before long, Zhou Leng took out his muted phone.
He checked the class group chat. No one was talking.
Then he checked the Xiaoru Village group and saw a video of Big Yellow. He tapped it open.
Big Yellow was having a wonderful time playing with the children.
He opened the "National Cloud Pioneer Company Second Company Demonic Beast Processing Plant Fifth Workshop" group and gave it a quick look. Aside from a few company notices, there was nothing useful.
For the college entrance examination, Zhou Leng had requested a month and a half of leave from the Pioneer Corporation.
Zhou Leng set down his phone, thought for a while, and sent a message to Mo Hai, the martial arts committee member.
"Mo Hai, there are some matters at home I need to handle. I won't be training with everyone for the next three days. I'm going back to my hometown to train. Sorry."
Not long afterward, Mo Hai replied.
"Alright, I understand. Get some proper rest."
Outside No. 8 High School's gates, Mo Hai put away his phone and sighed. "Guess who dropped out of training for three days?"
Xu Qingjin and the other two beside him all turned to look.
"Zhou Leng gave up. He said he was going back to his hometown to train."
Xu Qingjin lightly bit her lip.
Mo Hai said, "What a pity. He probably ran into some kind of difficulty."
"Maybe he isn't giving up. Maybe he's just changing his training plan."
"Even if he is giving up, there's nothing wrong with that. After all, his injuries were so severe..."
"Let's go."
After resting for a while, Zhou Leng searched for powerful tree-shaped Demonic Beasts from various realms. None resembled the Frost Giant Tree, though he did find something called the Ice Snow Divine Cult. There was very little information about it.
He checked the time, put down his phone, and was about to work out when he noticed a message from Xu Qingjin.
"Why aren't you coming to train with us?" A cat-faced question-mark emoji followed it.
"Something came up at home. You know I like training in the back mountains of Xiaoru Village. It's quiet there, and the training results are better."
"But... doesn't the school have teachers to guide you? Wouldn't that be better?"
"You've met Uncle Li, my neighbor. He's a Force-Generating Stage expert, and his practical combat experience is even richer than the teachers'. With him around, don't worry. If that doesn't work, I can knock on Zhang Xinglie's door in the next building. We grew up wearing the same pair of pants, and he taught me plenty in the past."
"Mm, that's true. You looked much better today than before. Don't forget to recuperate properly."
"Thanks." Zhou Leng replied with a smiling emoji.
"See you at school on Friday. Also, say hello to Big Yellow for me." Xu Qingjin sent a farewell sticker made with Big Yellow. In the image, Big Yellow's right paw, drawn in black lines, was waving vigorously.
"Alright!"
Zhou Leng stared blankly out the dark blue-black window.
After a long while, Zhou Leng opened his phone again and searched over and over for the prices of Qi-Nourishing Pills and Origin-Replenishing Pills.
If he won the Most Improved Champion Award, he would receive medicinal pills worth at least 130,000 yuan.
Training there was a little risky, but...
Zhou Leng searched through his text messages from Zhongwu Bank and tapped one open.
Zhou Leng stared at the balance in the bank message.
12.
After the college entrance examination, the state would stop issuing subsidies.
Zhou Leng looked at it for a long time.
He opened the calculator on his phone and calculated his basic expenses for the next month. After calculating several times, he finally confirmed that he could spend around 1,800 yuan directly.
Zhou Leng first opened the Wuhu app and searched for what foods offered the best value for cultivation. Then he went downstairs and headed straight for a nearby supermarket, selecting high-calorie ingredients, foods, and a small amount of martial artist food worth 1,479 yuan in total.
When he got home, he began stewing a large pot of pork belly, because pork had the highest energy density among common meats.
As the pork stewed, he began frying peanuts.
Peanuts were much cheaper than other nuts, while their energy density was equally high.
Zhou Leng rummaged through boxes and cabinets, preparing for cultivation in the Mysterious Forest.
After sorting things out, Zhou Leng opened his backpack and took out the books one by one, checking whether there was anything he needed to bring.
"Hm?"
Zhou Leng's eyes widened. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small white medicine box.
Red clerical script was printed on the box.
Qi-Nourishing Pill.
Who had given it to him?
Zhou Leng racked his brains. Too many people could have passed by his desk and slipped the medicine box in while he was away.
Lost? Impossible. If someone had lost a medicinal pill worth ten thousand yuan, the whole class would have exploded long ago.
It was unlikely to be a setup, either. He had no grudges with any classmates.
Especially not in the past half year. He had not argued with anyone.
Zhou Leng looked at the Qi-Nourishing Pill, his heart surging like rolling tides.
Only after a long time did he place the Qi-Nourishing Pill in the refrigerator.
After thinking it over, Zhou Leng sent two words in the Class Three group chat.
"Thank you."
Before long, new replies appeared.
"???"
"What do you mean?"
"Zhou Leng, who are you thanking?"
The classmates guessed for quite a while, but none figured it out.
At last, Mo Hai popped up and said, "I understand. Today was the final day of classes. Zhou Leng is thanking every classmate who has accompanied him in this group for three years. Same here. Thank you to every one of you. I hope our friendship lasts as long as heaven and earth. At school, we were classmates; after graduation, we'll be friends."
A row of thumbs-up emojis appeared, then another row of thumbs-up emojis...
"Even if Chairman Mo goes to Dongshan Province, he'll still rise step by step! What lofty ideological awareness! (thumbs-up emoji)" Hu Yi's message appeared.
Mo Hai sent a smiling face.
Zhou Leng also typed out a row of thumbs-up emojis.
Zhou Leng put down his phone and was about to head downstairs when he looked at the pitch-black sky outside and remembered Uncle Li's warning.
"Actually, you can go to a martial arts training hall at night, but you have to pay..."
Zhou Leng silently laid out his training mat and performed a set of Wave-Stacking Palm...
Before going to sleep, Zhou Leng still practiced flicking beans.
After washing up and lying down, Zhou Leng could not feel the slightest bit sleepy.
The Mysterious Forest and the Frost Giant Tree flashed through his mind one moment, the progress award rewards the next, then the Qi-Nourishing Pill...
As dawn's first light emerged, Zhou Leng got up at 5:10 as usual and went downstairs to exercise.
As he walked out of the residential complex, six elderly women stood to one side, chatting and laughing. Zhou Leng went around them.
After taking a few steps forward, a tall, powerfully built figure approached from not far away.
The man had bronze-colored skin, a square face, a large hooked nose, a slightly thick upper lip, and a thick head of black hair that flared slightly like a lion's mane.
His huge eyes slanted slightly upward. His features looked fierce, yet mixed with a childishness that did not match his ferocious bearing.
Zhou Leng narrowed his eyes and looked at the man's nostrils.
He began counting from the instant the nostrils expanded.
One second, two seconds, three seconds... eleven seconds.
The nostrils contracted.
Zhou Leng's eyes widened slightly.
Ten seconds to inhale—Qi-Nourishing had reached great accomplishment.
When Zhang Xinglie breathed, he inhaled for over eleven seconds. He was at least one level above great accomplishment, and his true qi had reached at least perfection.
At Qi-Nourishing Perfection, force emerged through the skin, and one could enter the Blood-Circulating Stage.
As they approached each other, Zhang Xinglie smiled and nodded.
Though they were the same age and in the same grade, Zhang Xinglie stood a head and a half taller than Zhou Leng, like a little iron tower. His muscles stretched his short-sleeved shirt taut, his physique forming a perfect inverted triangle.
His arms were thicker than Zhou Leng's legs.
Before Zhang Xinglie, Zhou Leng's build was no different from that of someone who had never practiced martial arts.
Zhou Leng stopped and clasped his fists. "Congratulations, Senior Brother, on reaching perfection. You'll soon enter Blood-Circulating."
Zhang Xinglie was No. 8 High School's top student in Ru City: first in the science written exam, first in the physical exam, and first in the Martial Examination.
At present, his combined written and physical exam score ranked third in the entire city, while he was the city champion in the physical exam.
By convention, all the students of No. 8 High School called him Senior Brother.
Zhang Xinglie split his mouth in a broad grin. "We grew up wearing the same pair of pants. Don't call me that."
As he spoke, his gaze swept over the green wristband on Zhou Leng's left wrist.
"When did you advance?" Zhou Leng asked.
"Three days ago."
"Impressive! Even at Yunhua University, you'd be among the best." Zhou Leng praised him sincerely.
"You've recovered well. Getting into a martial arts university definitely won't be a problem for you!"
Zhang Xinglie extended his large hand and patted Zhou Leng's shoulder. At last, he gave it a light squeeze, stared into Zhou Leng's eyes, and nodded firmly.
Zhou Leng nodded as well.
"Others may not know, but I do. This difficulty before you can't stop you! No matter how the Martial Examination goes, you're someone who can stand at the pinnacle of martial arts alongside me, Zhang Xinglie! When that day comes, we'll trample West Sea Demon City flat and shatter the Eighteen-Layer Demon Prison!" Zhang Xinglie laughed heartily, revealing gleaming white teeth as he strode onward.
The corners of Zhou Leng's mouth lifted slightly. Zhang Xinglie had been like this since childhood, with a head full of dreams of becoming a saint and ascending to godhood.
And he believed in it without the slightest doubt.
Zhou Leng continued forward as the elderly women's laughter and chatter came from behind him.
"Tsk, tsk. My grandson isn't even awake yet, while he's already finished his morning exercise. How could a child like that not take first place?"
"Xinglie, when you go to Yunhua University, don't forget us old aunties."
"No, no. Even if I go to Innate Mountain, I won't forget." Zhang Xinglie, known as the "Mad Lion," was humble and polite even before the old aunties.
"Just look at Zhang Xinglie..."
Zhou Leng raised his head and glanced at the sky.
Zhou Leng had also tried waking up earlier, but he would always feel weak in body and muddled in mind. Getting up at five was already his limit.
The classmates were the same. Aside from those who regularly ate Meat Medicinal Diet, Qi-Nourishing Pills, or Origin-Replenishing Pills, no one could wake up especially early while still maintaining normal cultivation and studies.
He was not as perfect as Zhang Xinglie, but he had done his best.
Zhou Leng ran all the way to Xiaoru Village. Big Yellow came running from afar, pounced onto Zhou Leng, bared its big mouth, and panted hard.
"Want to come home with me?" Zhou Leng asked.
Big Yellow sprang down in a flash, barked at Zhou Leng, then rolled its eyes and repeatedly jerked its chin toward Ruge Mountain.
Zhou Leng took one look and solved the case. That was how the huge black wild boar had shown him the way.
The mist over Ruge Mountain had already dispersed. Zhou Leng looked in the direction Big Yellow was facing, roughly toward the mountain's rocky crevices.
Zhou Leng looked around and asked quietly, "Do you want to see the Frost Giant Tree?"
Big Yellow nodded repeatedly.
Zhou Leng gave an oh, then suddenly asked, "Can you understand me better than before now?"
Big Yellow froze for a moment, then shook its head desperately, even flinging out droplets of saliva.
Zhou Leng gave another oh. "So it's the same as before. Sometimes you understand, and sometimes you don't, right?"
Big Yellow nodded rapidly.
It had become smarter, but not by much.
Zhou Leng said, "Wait for me a while. I'll run back, finish breakfast, and then come find you."
Big Yellow bared its teeth, stuck out its tongue, and laughed with a goofy heh-heh.
Zhou Leng rubbed the dog's head, turned, and ran back.
After eating Uncle Li's Meat Medicinal Diet once more, Zhou Leng did not circulate his energy to digest it. He took two Qi-Nourishing Pills from the refrigerator, slung on his hiking pack, and headed straight for Ruge Mountain.
On the way, he bought a large bag of dog food.
When he reached the village entrance, he took Big Yellow with him and quickly climbed the mountain.
After running for a while, Big Yellow suddenly let out a loud bark.
Zhou Leng stopped and looked in the direction Big Yellow was facing.
The forest ahead shook, and seven wild boars—one large and six small—walked out.
Before you continue