A Harvest of Cards

That evening, Zhao Ruo returned from Nine Heavens Tower. "Chen Hao, when are you planning to head out into the wilderness? There's still more than a week until the 29th. With your abilities as a Spiritual Thought Master, I'm sure your battle points will soon surpass most people's. Your ranking will be very high, and you won't have to worry about cultivation resources next month."

Chen Hao looked at the lively Zhao Ruo and shook his head. "I'm not planning to go out and hunt monsters anytime soon. Teacher Jiang Fang's guidance has been very helpful, so I plan to learn from her for a while before I go hunting. Besides, with my speed, even one day would be enough for me to hunt plenty of monsters."

Zhao Ruo gave Chen Hao a rather odd look. "Teacher Jiang Fang's guidance really is helpful. I hope it helps you." Then she muttered under her breath, "Another lecher."

Hearing Zhao Ruo's quiet muttering, Chen Hao's mouth twitched. "Don't worry. Over the next few days, Teacher Jiang Fang will help me get in touch with some other teachers for guidance in all areas. It's not what you think."

Zhao Ruo rolled her eyes. "Fine, as long as you don't forget about your battle points. I'm exhausted after a whole day of training." She waved and headed back to her room, muttering as she walked, "It's just that her skin's a little fairer than mine, her chest a little bigger, her backside a little perkier, her waist a little slimmer, and her face a little prettier..." Her voice grew quieter and quieter, until she finally looked utterly exasperated. "I'm so mad!"

Chen Hao smiled as Zhao Ruo stormed off in a fit of exasperation. His senior sister really was an unpredictable one, but that wasn't a bad thing. It made it easy to be sincere around her.

With nothing else to interrupt him, Chen Hao returned to his bedroom. The night passed uneventfully. Early the next morning, just after he had finished warming up, he received a call from Jiang Fang.

"Chen Hao, are you ready? If you are, come to the villa area by the staff quarters. I'll introduce you to a few people."

"All right, Teacher. I'll be right over." He quickly got up, hung up, and headed to the address Jiang Fang had given him.

The War God Rank teachers lived in better accommodations than the students. After all, many of the War Gods here lived with their families.

The War God teachers each had their own small villa. Following the address Jiang Fang had given him, Chen Hao arrived at the entrance to a quiet villa.

The villa's front door stood open, and he could hear voices conversing inside from time to time.

Chen Hao didn't enter uninvited. Instead, he called out from the doorway, "Is Teacher Jiang there? I'm Chen Hao."

"Come in," Jiang Fang called back from inside. Chen Hao walked in.

When he entered the living room on the first floor, he found more than ten teachers already seated there. Their presence alone made it clear that they were all War Gods. "Hello, Teacher Jiang. Greetings, teachers."

"No need to be so polite. Besides, your actual strength probably isn't much weaker than ours."

Chen Hao was taken aback, then said a little awkwardly, "I'm still far behind all of you. I hope I can learn from you in the future."

"Don't be so modest. Let's exchange contact information first. If we have time, we'll let you know. Of course, if you have questions about cultivation, just ask your teacher. We'll probably only be able to spar with you. At the rate you're going, your strength will catch up with ours soon." The teachers exchanged contact information with Chen Hao, then took their leave.

"Were they really that easygoing?" Chen Hao was a little baffled by the teachers' attitude.

"Is that so strange?" Jiang Fang chuckled at Chen Hao's bewildered expression. "Your physical fitness should have reached Advanced War General Rank already, right? Then your cultivation as a Spiritual Thought Master must have reached the intermediate War God level, too. Spiritual Thought Masters are generally stronger in battle than ordinary Martial Artists of the same rank. So your cultivation really isn't that far behind ours. I told them your physical fitness had reached Advanced War General Rank, so they knew what to do. When they meet a genius like you, why wouldn't they build a good relationship now? Do they want to regret it later?"

Chen Hao tapped his forehead. He hadn't expected Jiang Fang to figure out the state of his physical fitness. She really did have a sharp eye. Still, he had made quite a haul just now.

The War God teachers' saber and movement techniques were almost all at the mastery level, and their advanced cultivation techniques varied widely. They weren't of much use to him.

He'd gotten thirteen mastery-level Basic Movement Technique Skill Cards, nine mastery-level Basic Saber Technique cards, one mastery-level Basic Spear Technique card, three mastery-level Basic Sword Technique cards, and one Artistic Conception-level Skill Card each for Basic Movement Technique and Basic Spear Technique.

Three of them practiced Nine Heavens Thunder Blade. Two had reached the fourth layer, and one had reached the fifth.

No matter what the technique was, as long as he could copy it, he'd copy it first. With his current mental strength, copying these techniques barely cost him anything.

"Don't overthink it. It's not a big deal. Once you become an Invincible War God, they'll be able to brag about knowing you. Come with me to the underground training room." Jiang Fang finished speaking and led the way.

Looking at the spacious underground training room, Chen Hao couldn't help admiring it. A War God's accommodations really were something else. The underground training room alone was over a hundred square meters, several times larger than the students' rooms.

Once they reached the training room, Jiang Fang drew her twin blades from the weapon rack and took her place in the center. "Why are you just standing there? Hurry up and choose your own weapon."

Chen Hao froze for a moment. "Oh, right. Just a moment." He took the only Blood Shadow Second-Generation Battle Sword from the weapon rack. It looked like Jiang Fang had prepared it especially for him.

Then he pretended to take the remaining Nine-Hundred-Year He Shou Wu out of his pocket and ate it all.

Before the medicine could take effect, he immediately clicked to use Jiang Fang's Artistic Conception-level saber and movement technique Skill Cards.

A flood of cultivation memories and experience, along with memories of fighting and killing, surged into Chen Hao's mind.

When Jiang Fang saw what Chen Hao was doing, the corner of her eye twitched involuntarily. But since he hadn't used any banned drugs, she didn't stop him.

"Teacher, I'm ready. Be careful—I'm coming!" He raised his battle sword and attacked Jiang Fang. Meanwhile, the memories in his mind began to be absorbed and digested.

As Jiang Fang fended off Chen Hao's attacks, she watched his condition. Seeing that nothing seemed amiss, she relaxed.

His face had simply turned red, and he looked full of energy, which made her a little uneasy.

The two sparred for over an hour. Jiang Fang's breathing had already grown ragged, but Chen Hao still looked vigorous and full of energy.

Was it because of what Chen Hao had eaten earlier? No wonder she'd felt uneasy.

Gradually, Jiang Fang began to feel more and more stifled as she sparred with Chen Hao, because it felt as if she were facing another version of herself.

And as the fight continued, she realized that Chen Hao's strength was growing rapidly. What was more, an indistinct Artistic Conception was slowly beginning to emerge around him.