In Linzhou Town in the south of Great Gan Kingdom, Li the Blacksmith of the Li Family Forge had recently noticed something that struck him as extremely strange.
His son, who had graduated less than a year ago, had been acting rather oddly. For the past few days, the boy had been holed up in his room, and no matter how often they called, he wouldn't come out.
At first, Li the Blacksmith and his wife had even wondered whether their son had become hopelessly obsessed with that sort of thing. After all, he was an adult now, so it was only natural for him to have such desires.
Once they'd thought of that, the two of them had planned to visit Er'ya, who lived on the next street, and ask for her hand on their son's behalf.
But their son, Li Hai, had strongly opposed the idea.
Li Hai said he was doing something important and told his parents not to worry. But he never said what he was actually doing.
The Li couple remained uneasy. They waited for a good opportunity and carefully searched their son's room, but didn't find anything unusual. And Li Hai seemed perfectly fine these past few days, not at all like someone who'd been working himself to exhaustion. Only then did they let half the worry weighing on their hearts fall away.
Still, since they had no idea what Li Hai was doing in his room, they couldn't quite put their minds at ease.
After dinner that day, Li Hai returned to his room, and his parents began chatting.
"Dear, why not have Hai'er learn blacksmithing from you? It's no good for him to stay cooped up at home all the time."
At this, Li the Blacksmith rolled the homemade tin pipe in his hand and gazed at the candlelight flickering faintly before him, saying nothing.
To be honest, Li the Blacksmith wasn't particularly keen on having his son take up the same trade. A blacksmith at the bottom of the ladder had a hard, exhausting life, with little time to think and no chance to improve his strength.
But there was no helping it. He hadn't made good on his own hopes: he'd failed to get his son into an academy where the Hundred Schools were represented, and had only managed to send him to a private school.
And his son Li Hai hadn't made good on his hopes either. He'd finished his studies nearly a year ago, yet hadn't accomplished anything. He spent his days either at home or out having fun.
At this rate, the only thing left for his son was to inherit the family trade.
At that thought, Li the Blacksmith made up his mind. "All right. I'll talk to Hai'er tomorrow and see what he thinks."
Thinking of how strangely their son had been acting these past few days, Li the Blacksmith's wife, Madam Wang, replied, "That works!"
Just then, an arrogant burst of laughter rang out, carrying far through the quiet night.
"I'm going to be invincible! Hahaha!"
The Li couple exchanged a look, wondering what their son was up to now.
"Dear, that's Hai'er's voice."
"I'll go take a look. Let's see what that rascal's up to, being so secretive."
In another small room in the Li household, a plain-looking young man leaned against the bed and laughed wildly.
That young man was Li Hai.
How could he not be happy? He could see hope now.
As an ordinary commoner, Li Hai had no military achievements in his family and no spare money, so he'd only been able to attend a private school.
There, he'd simply learned to read and write. He could just about make his way through some articles and classics, but his comprehension was mediocre, since their private school had no great teachers, let alone anyone to guide him.
A private school was ultimately nothing like an academy.
Academies had famous teachers from the various schools of the Hundred Schools to guide and instruct their students. A private school, on the other hand, was like Lu Mingyuan's little workshop: all it had to do was teach students to read and write.
That was why private-school students' education was far inferior to that of academy students.
Li Hai had come from a private school. Judging by his ability, even if he was fairly clever and worked especially hard, there was little chance he could raise his cultivation to three stars during his prime.
But about five days ago, a special divine ability had appeared.
This divine ability was different from the others. It created an illusion and then posed arithmetic problems to achieve the effect of stabilizing the spirit.
At the time, drawn by its reputation, Li Hai and a few of his friends had all bought the divine ability, intending to "study" it properly.
Mm. Study.
But on the day he'd bought the Chicken-Rabbit Cage Divine Ability, Li Hai hadn't studied much arithmetic, so he couldn't think of a quick way to solve the problems. And because he was stubborn, he'd gotten into a stubborn contest with the questions.
If he couldn't solve a problem, he absolutely refused to give up.
That stubborn streak had led Li Hai to make an unexpected discovery.
He realized that his Talent Qi was growing at an abnormal rate—much faster than usual.
Because he cared deeply about his own strength, Li Hai went to the Soul Space almost every day to check how his Talent Qi was growing.
That was how he accidentally discovered that his Talent Qi grew faster while he was solving problems—and by an almost outrageous amount.
After testing it again and again, Li Hai found that his Talent Qi was now growing at roughly five times its original rate.
Five times!
How could that not send Li Hai into raptures?
Li Hai had graduated eight months ago, and in all that time, his Talent Qi had only grown from a little over one point two cun to one point three cun.
At that rate, gaining a tenth of a cun in eight months, it would take him twenty years to reach the four cun of Talent Qi required for three-star cultivation, assuming everything went smoothly.
Twenty years...
Li Hai was nineteen. By that calculation, he wouldn't reach three-star cultivation until around forty.
Reaching three stars at forty was already quite good. He'd count as middle class in society.
But that was the most optimistic estimate.
The truth was, even Li Hai couldn't guarantee he'd spend twenty years thinking and studying hard every single day without stopping.
Perhaps in a few years, he'd be just like his father, giving up on cultivation and spending the rest of his life at the forge, mechanically hammering away at the anvil before him. He'd place his hopes in the next generation instead.
And so the cycle would repeat, over and over, forever.
But things were different now. If all went well, Li Hai's growth rate would be five times what it had been. That meant he could reach three-star cultivation in about four years. He might not even be twenty-five yet.
A three-star cultivator under twenty-five—that was the kind of elite produced by great lineages and even schools of thought. They could already be called peerless talents of their generation.
Now, even an ordinary commoner like Li Hai had a chance to fight for that title. How could that not thrill him?
That was why, over the past few days, Li Hai had shut himself in his room, working hard to solve problems and grind through them.
He didn't want to stop for even a moment.
As he put it: the feeling of rapidly growing stronger was just too good.
Still, beneath his excitement, Li Hai did have one small worry: the Chicken-Rabbit Cage Divine Ability had a limited number of problems, just a little over three hundred. What would he do once he'd solved every one of them?
So he'd eagerly left a message under the divine ability, hoping that Master Anonymous would hurry up and add more problems, so his rapid path to growth wouldn't be delayed.
He wanted to use this to become a peerless talent. How could he do that without problems to solve?
Fortunately, just moments ago, "Chicken-Rabbit Cage Divine Ability: Supplement" had been released, and Li Hai was beside himself with joy.
By his estimate, these five hundred thousand problems would keep him busy for several years. By then, he'd surely have reached three-star cultivation.
What would he do when he ran out of problems after that?
He could always make up problems himself.
Besides, once he had strength, he could make money quickly and earn Qi Luck Points to buy other people's problems. And who knew? By then, perhaps this master would have come up with new problems as well.
Just as Li Hai was making plans in his head, a knock suddenly sounded at the door.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Hai'er, open the door."
It was his father.
Li Hai hurriedly pulled himself out of his thoughts. His father must have come over because he'd just been unable to hold back.
As he headed for the door, he wondered whether he should come clean with his father.
The next moment, Li Hai straightened his expression and made up his mind.
Mm. He only had to ask his parents not to tell anyone. Better yet, they could grind through problems with him and rapidly improve their cultivation together.
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