The sight of everyone coming over to congratulate him left Zhang Hupan feeling as though he had slipped through time and space. He did not know whether to laugh or cry. Indeed, was someone who could have flown through the skies and burrowed through the earth really worth congratulating for coming first in a 1,500-meter race? Liu Feifei tugged at the corner of her clothes and looked up at him with admiration, while Liu Xizhen smiled and gently wiped the sweat she had deliberately forced out onto her forehead with a tissue. Hu Zhiming and the others offered their heartfelt congratulations, but after seeing Liu Xizhen's intimate actions, they glared at Zhang Hupan with murderous looks and let out sinister chuckles. All of this made Zhang Hupan feel that this race—or, more accurately, this show—had been worth it!
Since Zhang Hupan had entered quite a few events, he rested for a while before taking part in the long jump, high jump, and other competitions. Naturally, under everyone's eager gazes, especially Liu Feifei's expectant look, Zhang Hupan lived up to their hopes and won first place in one event after another. It was worth mentioning that the beautiful Scotswoman Cindy later came to watch and joined Hu Zhiming's cheering squad. A group consisting of two top-class Chinese and foreign beauties and one adorable little girl—while the five men like Hu Zhiming could be ignored—naturally caused quite a stir. Wherever they went, people turned to stare. As the object of the beauties' favor, Zhang Hupan's reputation soared because of them, though he was also battered by the jealous glares of the male students. Hu Zhiming and the others, who were experiencing for the first time in their lives what it was like to be with beauties—and two of them at once—were all smiles. When people looked at them as if they were cow dung (the flowers, of course, were the two beauties), they willfully interpreted those looks as envy and became even more smug and arrogant. They wished the competition could continue until the end of the semester.
After nearly sweeping the entire field, Zhang Hupan, a freshman from a remote mountain village, instantly became famous throughout the School of Environmental Resources. Just as people who did not know him were asking around about him and the beauties cheering for him, Zhang Hupan, Liu Xizhen, Cindy, and the five lecherous comrades who could not be driven away were eating at Zuixiang House near the school to celebrate Zhang Hupan's achievements that day.
Liu Xizhen extended her affection for Zhang Hupan to those around him and did not put on the air of an icy beauty before Hu Zhiming and the others. Instead, she was alluring and gentle at every turn. As for the beautiful Scotswoman Cindy, she came from what was supposedly a developed country and was even less restrained, scattering her charm in all directions. Thus, Hu Zhiming, Li Yong, and the other three men all showed off their skills and showered the women with flattery, making complete fools of themselves. Zhang Hupan repeatedly signaled to them with his eyes, but they remained utterly oblivious. Worse still, Liu Xizhen gave Zhang Hupan a teasing, half-smiling squint with her beautiful eyes, making him so embarrassed that he wished he could crawl into a crack in the ground. He nearly slammed the table and declared that he did not know the group. Of course, Cindy was their teacher, so Zhang Hupan did not need to feel ashamed of the five men's behavior in front of her.
The ancients said that coincidence was what made a story, and it really was an eternal truth. Zhang Hupan was eating at Zuixiang House with two beautiful women for the first time, and he actually ran into Zhao Liya, who had come there to dine with her classmates.
Zhao Liya pretended not to notice Zhang Hupan's table. Others might not have noticed, but who was Zhang Hupan? He was practically an immortal in the legends people told. He saw Zhao Liya glance over perfectly clearly, even catching the fleeting surprise in her eyes and the inexplicable resentment she felt toward him.
Zhao Liya saw Zhang Hupan laughing happily with a woman on either side of him. In truth, he was merely sitting between the two women, but in Zhao Liya's eyes, it was no different from embracing both of them. For some reason, she felt a faint bitterness and even a trace of resentment toward Zhang Hupan.
As the favored daughter of heaven, Zhao Liya not only had a beautiful appearance but was also the daughter of the chairman of China's Zhao Group. Wherever she went, a crowd of young masters surrounded her and fawned over her. Only Zhang Hupan had sat at the same table with her for so many days without ever looking at her properly. Zhao Liya had always believed that her deigning to sit with him was a blessing his family had earned over several lifetimes, yet Zhang Hupan remained completely unmoved. He never fawned over or tried to please her, acting as though the person beside him were merely a block of wood. Because of that, Zhao Liya had bet her roommates on when Zhang Hupan would voluntarily surrender to her, only to lose several times. Now he was chatting and laughing over dinner with two beautiful women. Wasn't that plainly saying Zhao Liya was inferior to them? How could her proud heart endure such an insult? She had already cursed Zhang Hupan from head to toe. Seeing him sitting there in high spirits and getting along with everyone, Zhao Liya felt terribly uncomfortable, as if something that should have belonged to her had been snatched away by someone else. The meal became utterly tasteless, and she hurriedly finished it. When she left, Zhang Hupan's table was still lively and bustling, so Zhao Liya glared fiercely at Zhang Hupan one last time. Poor Zhang Hupan could rack his brains forever and still never understand how he had offended the young lady when he had always treated her with extreme caution and proper restraint.
The same scene was repeated at the school stadium the next day. With extremely restrained conduct, Zhang Hupan won all six events he entered, setting astonishing records in each one. His results left all the upperclassmen, upperclasswomen, and teachers in the School of Environmental Resources dumbfounded, and became one of their favorite after-meal topics. They also reignited the older students' enthusiasm for training. Indeed, losing to a freshman junior was so humiliating. If they did not reclaim their honor next year, they might as well find somewhere deserted and end their lives.
Naturally, Hu Zhiming and the other four were the happiest of all. After Zhang Hupan shot to fame, they not only let go of the anxiety they had been carrying before the competition but often acted as though they were meritorious heroes, rather pleased with themselves for having recognized a hero. They constantly told Zhang Hupan that they deserved credit for recommending him and forcibly extorted several meals from him. Zhang Hupan could only suffer in silence, unable to voice his bitterness. It was not as if he could say, I'm an expert among experts. I simply couldn't be bothered to take part in a competition like this.
What made the five men happiest, of course, was getting to know two beautiful women. They had known the beautiful Scotswoman before, but that acquaintance had amounted to no more than greeting her as "Good morning, teacher" in class. Now they interacted like friends. Cindy had not been in China for very long and did not have many friends there. Before long, she truly came to regard the five clowns as her international friends. The five men took every opportunity to harass her under the banner of practicing their spoken English. Naturally, because they wanted to communicate with Cindy better, they really did grit their teeth and work hard at English. Before long, every one of them could speak nearly flawless British English. Of course, in order to please the beautiful Scotswoman, they focused on British English! When Cindy saw that an iron tree that had not bloomed in a century could make such progress, she assumed that her usual assistance had played a major role. As a qualified teacher, she was delighted and grew even closer to the five men, never realizing that the real motivation had been her stunning figure and charming appearance, which had stimulated their male hormones and spurred them forward. Naturally, Zhang Hupan was always present whenever they went out with Cindy. He would have been a fool not to join in the fun with an international beauty like her.
Life proceeded in a regular rhythm. Zhang Hupan attended classes as usual every day, spent time in the library, and worked at the bar in the evenings. On weekends, whenever he had time, he accompanied Liu Xizhen and her daughter on outings. By then, Zhang Hupan's relationship with them was as close as family. Whether intentionally or not, Liu Xizhen dressed especially youthful and sexy whenever she was with him. Now and then, she would deliberately or inadvertently reveal a glimpse of her proud figure before Zhang Hupan, or press her body close to him as if by accident, always making his heart race and a certain part of him stir. Even so, Zhang Hupan thoroughly enjoyed the stimulating sensation. Being with Liu Xizhen and her daughter gave him a warmth and happiness he had never experienced before.
Before long, November arrived, and Zhang Hupan finally felt that he had glimpsed the tip of the iceberg of human civilization. Since he had been working part-time at the bar, he had devoted extra effort to studying drinking culture and music. By then, Zhang Hupan already knew how to mix all kinds of cocktails. Although he had never actually put it into practice, he was confident that his cocktails would surpass Shangguan Yun's by an entire level. After all, he was a Nascent Soul Stage expert. As for those flashy movements, how could they possibly stump him? Even without moving his limbs, he could control more than a thousand bottles and perform tens of thousands of tricks with them.
If his curiosity had driven him to explore bartending, then music was purely Zhang Hupan's hobby. Soaring through the sky of music brought him joy from the depths of his soul. In the past, although Zhang Hupan understood the essence of music, he did not know how to express that feeling. Now, through his exploration of music, he had mastered the means to manipulate every note and could compose songs that resonated in the depths of people's souls. As for musical instruments, once Zhang Hupan understood their structures and the principles behind their sounds, they were no longer a problem. To someone capable of controlling his Primordial Spirit and mental power, the technical skill involved was nothing more than a child's game.
As for subjects such as physics and chemistry, Zhang Hupan had long since passed beyond the stage of vague ignorance and had already left his classmates behind. He could now understand some relatively cutting-edge papers. He had also gained a certain understanding of Chinese history. As a descendant of Huaxia, Zhang Hupan felt proud of the splendid history his country had once possessed, but he felt even more deeply ashamed of China's backwardness in modern times. He was even angered by the cultivation world's indifference to everything happening in the mortal world. Naturally, like all patriotic Chinese people, Zhang Hupan felt tremendous hatred toward the monstrous crimes the Japanese had committed in China. Especially after hearing that the Japanese repeatedly whitewashed their invasion of China and continued to brazenly visit the Yasukuni Shrine, Zhang Hupan nearly flew his sword to Japan and blasted the shrine with Five-Thunder Arts. (To be continued.)
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