Now that he had money, of course he should spend it. Otherwise, what was the difference between him and a miser?
That Divine Ability Stone worth ten million was obviously beyond Lu Mingyuan's means, and he wasn't planning to buy it just yet.
Because among the treasures in the Divine Ability Treasury, there was one he needed most right now.
It was called "Second Avatar." It cost 10,000 points.
This "Second Avatar" wasn't really a second avatar. With it, he could open another identity, account, or ID in the Divine Ability Treasury—or, in other words, another online persona.
As for his original "Anonymous" account, Lu Mingyuan planned to use it to do some big things. He absolutely couldn't let anyone find out about it. Otherwise, he'd be in danger.
He had to keep the "Anonymous" account hidden and make sure no one knew about it. He also couldn't reveal that he had any connection to "Anonymous."
So he could only think about "Anonymous" in his head. He couldn't even say the name aloud, in case the walls had ears.
As for the account he'd just opened, that would be the identity he used openly from now on. He named it "Road Under Feet."
With another online persona, Lu Mingyuan could finally relax completely. After all, the things he planned to do would surely offend plenty of people. Using just one account would be far too dangerous.
For years, Lu Mingyuan hadn't said a single word on the Heavenly Dao Virtual Network (formerly known as the Divine Ability Treasury). He'd been afraid people might work out who he was based on what he said.
He'd been careful to the extreme.
But now, at last, he could speak freely on the Heavenly Dao Virtual Network.
Now that I have another online persona, I can finally buy things openly on the Heavenly Dao Virtual Network.
Lu Mingyuan couldn't help thinking this, and he was itching to give it a try.
He'd been holding himself back for far too long.
Mm, let's buy Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage first. Otherwise, what a miserable joke it'd be if I couldn't even use the divine ability I created myself in the open.
Thinking this, Lu Mingyuan turned to the page for divine abilities, ready to make his purchase.
Wait...
Just then, Lu Mingyuan abruptly stopped himself and patted his forehead, suddenly feeling a little shaken.
Logically, shouldn't his top priority be creating divine abilities? Wouldn't it seem a little odd to buy one outright?
A hundred Human Luck points took more than two months to save up. He couldn't spend them recklessly, and it didn't fit the persona he usually presented, either.
Better not.
Lu Mingyuan shook his head and abandoned the idea.
Looks like I'll have to earn ten million Luck Points as soon as possible, buy a Divine Ability Stone to fill this gap, and create another divine ability. Only then can I buy Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage again.
For now, he'd have to keep holding back.
Fortunately, the city was safe, and he wasn't planning to go anywhere. He probably wouldn't need it for now.
But I have to hurry!
Never had Lu Mingyuan been so desperate for his divine ability to catch fire, take off, and sell like crazy.
Honestly, if revealing himself weren't so dangerous, he might have given in already.
Luckily, this was Lu Mingyuan's second life. Otherwise, few teenagers of seventeen or eighteen could have restrained themselves.
As the saying went: "If you grow rich but don't return to your hometown, it's like wearing fine silks out at night."
After putting aside his urge to shop, Lu Mingyuan checked the sales for Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage again.
Suddenly, Lu Mingyuan's eyes widened. He felt as if his breath had stopped.
At some point, sales of Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage had reached 11,202. They'd suddenly jumped by ten thousand, and his Luck Points had risen to over a million—almost a tenth of the cost of a Divine Ability Stone.
Why did sales jump so fast?
This doesn't make sense!
In the blink of an eye, the number jumped by nearly another ten thousand, and sales had passed twenty thousand.
After a long while, Lu Mingyuan patted his chest. Good thing I don't have heart disease, or I'd have been a goner.
Have these people gone mad?
But why are the numbers so neat? Could some group be buying them all at once?
Forget it. I can't figure anything out just by looking at the numbers. At this rate, I should have ten million by tomorrow. Then I'll have recouped my costs for real, and I can get started on the next part of my plan.
In the blink of an eye, it was the following morning.
Though it was only a quarter past seven, and the sun had just risen, the streets of Changfeng City were already crowded with people and bustling with traffic.
Some were doing business, some were heading to work, some were laboring in the fields, and others were out shopping for vegetables...
In short, the city was full of life.
"Man at his birth is naturally good. His nature is similar, but his habits grow far apart..."
Suddenly, the clear sound of children reading aloud drifted out from Guihua Lane in the eastern part of the city, seeming to add a glimmer of new hope to the bustling streets.
Now and then, passersby heard the somewhat childish yet remarkably orderly voices and smiled. Their hearts filled with renewed strength.
Following the sound, one could trace it to the depths of Guihua Lane, where an ordinary-looking courtyard stood.
Entering the courtyard and making one's way to the main hall, one found a room of roughly twenty square meters. Around twenty desks and chairs were set out inside, making it look a little cramped.
A group of children, about six or seven years old, sat neatly at their desks, holding paper books and reciting in unison, their voices rising and falling in rhythm.
"Clouds answer rain, snow answers wind; evening glow answers clear sky. The wild goose coming answers the swallow departing; the resting bird answers the chirping insect. The three-foot sword, the six-jun bow; the north of the mountains, the east of the river. The Summer Palace of the Human World, the Guanghan Palace in Heaven. Green willows on both banks beneath the morning haze; red apricot blossoms in a garden after spring rain. Frost in both temples, the traveler setting out early on the road; rain and mist on a straw cape, the old man fishing by the stream at dusk..."
Well, they were reading Enlightenment on Sound and Rhythm now.
At the very front of the classroom stood a young woman in a white dress, holding a book.
Oh? Wasn't that Jing Zhi?
If that was Jing Zhi, then the figure pacing around the classroom had to be Lu Mingyuan!
That's right. This was actually Lu Mingyuan's home.
After Lu Mingyuan's parents died, he was still too young to manage the family's few acres of farmland, so he leased all of it to his second uncle, Lu Yi.
In his spare time from school, he taught the neighborhood children their first lessons, showing them how to read and write.
First, it helped cover some of his living expenses. Second, it was a way of carrying on his mother's work. Third, he had nothing better to do and wanted to keep busy.
As he remembered it, Uncle Jing, who lived next door at the time, had brought his daughters, Jing Zhi and Jing Yue, to Lu Mingyuan, asking him to carry on his mother's work and keep teaching them to read and write.
Of course, Uncle Jing hadn't trusted Lu Mingyuan blindly.
Perhaps because he'd lived a second life, Lu Mingyuan had been precocious. Though his memories hadn't awakened back then, he could still read the Four Books and Five Classics with ease. Teaching children to read and write had been no problem.
Since he'd agreed to teach, Lu Mingyuan had thought, If you can raise one sheep, you can raise a whole flock. After that, he brought in all the school-age children from the street as well. That was how the class had grown to its current size.
Strictly speaking, then, Jing Zhi had once been Lu Mingyuan's student and his very first pupil, even though they were the same age.
Of course, Jing Zhi had since been promoted to teaching assistant and occasionally taught lessons herself.
So this rather informal school was really a joint venture run by Lu Mingyuan and Jing Zhi.
Before you continue